The Orthopreneurs Podcast with Dr. Glenn Krieger

I've seen orthodontists spend so much time chasing titles, awards, and outside recognition. Whether it's being voted the best orthodontist in town, displaying certifications, or comparing themselves to other practices, we've become obsessed with proving our success to everyone around us. But here's my question: Does any of that really matter if you're not building a life and career you're proud of?
In this Five Minute Friday, I'm sharing why I believe internal validation is far more valuable than external recognition. I talk about my own experience with local awards, ABO certification, and even competing in jiu-jitsu, and why I've learned to appreciate accomplishments that require genuine effort rather than recognition that simply looks impressive on paper.

💬 Quotes

"You will lead a happier, healthier, lower stress life if internal validation drives you much more than external validation."

— Dr. Glenn Krieger

"We need to navigate by the light of the stars, not by that of every passing ship."

— Dr. Glenn Krieger, quoting General Omar Bradley

🎯 Key Takeaways

Intro: Why external validation is overrated (00:27)
Why being voted the best orthodontist in town doesn't necessarily mean much (00:44)
The difference between genuine recognition and asking people to vote for you (01:11)
What jiu-jitsu taught me about earning recognition (01:34)
Why I chose not to renew my ABO certification (02:22)
Why difficult accomplishments mean more than easy recognition (03:29)
The value of working hard to earn your place in orthodontics (03:39)
What real, measurable practice success looks like (04:15)
Why chasing meaningless recognition can cheapen our profession (04:44)
Internal validation vs. external validation: Which one drives your happiness? (05:18)
What you'll actually remember about your career when you're 80 (05:35)
Choosing mentors who reflect the values you want to live by (05:53)
The difference between marketing an award and believing it defines you (06:30)
Why private practice vs. OSO/DSO ownership doesn't determine quality (06:55)
Final takeaway: Set your compass by what truly matters (07:28)

🟦 Additional Resources
I want you to ask yourself a simple question: Are you building a career that makes you proud, or are you building one that you hope impresses everybody else?
There's nothing wrong with awards, certifications, or recognition. Celebrate them. Use them in your marketing if they help your practice. But don't let them become the measure of your worth.
Instead, focus on the things that actually matter. Become a better orthodontist. Make a difference in your patients' lives. Build meaningful relationships. Find mentors who inspire you. And create a practice that allows you to live a happier, healthier, more profitable, lower-stress life.
Stop chasing every passing ship. Set your compass by the stars.
And as always, if there's anything I can do to help you along the way, reach out to me. I'd love to hear from you.
👉 Close More Cases Meeting:
https://closemorecases2027.com/home 
👉 Airway Meeting:
https://web.orthopreneurs.com/arizonasleepandairway2026 
👉 For more information about Orthopreneurs, visit:
https://orthopreneurs.com/
👉 Become an OrthoPreneur and join the free Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/OrthoPreneurs

In this episode, I sit down with longtime orthodontic industry strategist Chris Bentson to take a hard look at where our profession is headed. We talk about four consecutive years of relatively flat or declining growth, changing birth rates, increasing competition from GPs and large groups, and why the traditional model of building a practice primarily around adolescent patients may need to evolve.
But this isn’t a doom-and-gloom conversation. Chris and I dig into where the opportunities are—from adult orthodontics and minor tooth movement to digital workflows, remote monitoring, custom braces, outsourcing, AI, and creating a truly differentiated patient experience. We also talk about why simply buying technology isn’t enough. If you don’t implement it at scale, build your practice around it, and communicate its value to patients, you’ve added cost without creating an advantage.
We finish by looking at where AI and robotics could take orthodontics, what may happen next in the OSO/DSO world, and why the orthodontists who are willing to take calculated risks and think more like business owners will have enormous opportunities ahead of them. The profession isn’t disappearing. But the way we practice it is changing—and the sooner we embrace that, the better positioned we’ll be.

💬Quotes

“You just gotta be smarter and you gotta do it differently.” 
— Chris Bentson
“You gotta quit arguing about it as a doctor and you gotta decide what you want to look like and then just go.” 
— Chris Bentson

🎯 Key Takeaways

Intro + Chris Bentson’s 37 Years in Orthodontics (00:00)
Is Flat Growth the New Normal? (04:39)
Five Forces Changing Orthodontics (08:10)
The Demographic Problem Orthodontists Can See Coming (10:26)
“No Whining”: There’s Still Enormous Opportunity (10:51)
Why I Built My Practice Around Adults (11:36)
The Future Practice Could Have Far Fewer Employees (15:03)
Technology Isn’t Expensive If You Actually Use It (17:32)
Specialize Within the Specialty (18:02)
The Three Pillars of Digital Differentiation (21:41)
AI, Robotics & the Future of Clinical Orthodontics (24:00)
Your Future AI CFO or COO (28:27)
What AI Still Can’t Replace (31:47)
Where OSOs and DSOs Go From Here (36:17)
Stop Treating OSOs Like a Moral Question (46:35)
Stop Arguing With the Future (47:54)

🟦 Additional Resources
Take a hard look at your practice and ask yourself: Am I building for the orthodontic market that existed ten years ago—or the one that will exist ten years from now?
Look at your patient mix. Look at how many visits your treatment requires. Look at your staffing model, your technology adoption, your use of monitoring and outsourcing, and—most importantly—whether patients can clearly explain why your practice is different from the orthodontist down the street.
You don’t have to chase every new idea. But you do have to decide what you want your practice to look like and start moving toward it.
As Chris says, the opportunities are still there for the taking. The orthodontists willing to take a little more calculated risk may ultimately be the ones who enjoy this profession the most.
👉 BCP Advirsors: https://bcp-advisors.com
📞 800-621-4664

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
👉 Airway Meeting:
https://web.orthopreneurs.com/arizonasleepandairway2026 
👉 For more information about Orthopreneurs, visit:
https://orthopreneurs.com/
👉 Become an OrthoPreneur and join the free Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/OrthoPreneurs

We talk constantly about increasing case acceptance because it’s one of the fastest ways to grow an orthodontic practice without spending more money to bring additional patients through the door. But before you can improve that number, you need to answer a surprisingly difficult question: What exactly counts as case acceptance?
In this Five Minute Friday, I break down the different ways practices can calculate case acceptance and the situations that can make the number confusing. What happens when someone is ready for orthodontics but needs periodontal treatment first? What about someone who starts six months later, a patient who isn’t financially ready, or a child who simply isn’t ready for treatment yet? Depending on how you define the metric, those patients can completely change your numbers.

💬 Quotes

“Whatever it is you choose, just do that all the time.”
— Dr. Glenn Krieger
“You want to revolutionize your practice overnight. Pay fastidious detail to your case acceptance.”
— Dr. Glenn Krieger

🎯 Key Takeaways
Intro: What does “case acceptance” actually mean? (00:32)
Why practices need a clear definition of case acceptance (00:42)
When does a patient who needs periodontal treatment count? (01:05)
What happens when a patient starts months later? (02:04)
The different ways practices calculate case acceptance (02:36)
Why consistency matters more than the specific formula you choose (03:10)
The macro-tracking analogy: Measure the same way every time (03:20)
Why long-term trends matter more than individual months (03:56)
Be honest about what your case acceptance numbers are telling you (04:24)
Why I believe 85–90% case acceptance is achievable (04:40)
Why orthodontic case acceptance should be relatively straightforward (04:58)
My personal definition of case acceptance (06:11)
Who I consider “ready to start” when calculating the metric (06:24)
A simple example of calculating case acceptance (06:37)
Why increasing case acceptance can grow your practice without more new patients (07:06)
The potential impact of a 15% improvement in case acceptance (07:35)
Final takeaway: Track it correctly, consistently, and closely (08:02)

🟦 Additional Resources
Before you worry about improving your case acceptance, make sure you actually know what your number is.
Define what counts. Track it the same way every single time. Look at your trends over months and years instead of celebrating or panicking over one month. Then ask yourself where you can improve.
Personally, I look at the number of patients who started treatment out of the number who were truly ready to start. If ten patients were ready and eight started, that’s an 80% case acceptance rate. Simple.
And once you know your real number, start working to move it.
If you want to go much deeper into the systems, psychology, and doctor-TC process behind increasing case acceptance, join me at Close More Cases, April 2–3, 2027.
👉 Close More Cases Meeting:
https://closemorecases2027.com/home 
👉 Airway Meeting:
https://web.orthopreneurs.com/arizonasleepandairway2026 
👉 For more information about Orthopreneurs, visit:
https://orthopreneurs.com/
👉 Become an OrthoPreneur and join the free Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/

In this episode, I sit down with Brian Wright, founder and CEO of New Patient Group and WrightChat, to talk about what orthodontists need to change if they want to thrive in today’s market. Brian breaks down his “Five to Thrive” framework—leadership, culture, sales, hospitality, and marketing—and explains why the practices that continue investing in these areas are the ones creating separation while everyone else is blaming outside forces.
We dig into everything from missed new-patient calls and rising no-show rates to price shoppers, team training, consumer behavior, and why the old orthodontic playbook simply doesn’t work the way it used to. Brian and I also share practical strategies for changing the way your team handles new-patient calls and consultations, including one of my favorite approaches for dealing with patients who say price is their number-one concern.
The bigger message is simple: you can’t control the economy, demographics, competition, or what other practices are doing. But you can control how well you lead, how your team communicates, how effectively you create value, and whether you’re willing to invest in getting better. If your practice—or your life—isn’t where you want it to be, waiting for conditions to improve isn’t the answer.

💬Quotes
“Nobody’s asking you to like it. You just need to embrace it.” 
— Brian Wright
“Sales is a dirty word in healthcare, but it shouldn’t be because all it means is educating ethically to place more value on what you do.” 
— Brian Wright

🎯 Key Takeaways

Intro + Meet Brian Wright (00:00)
The Five to Thrive Framework (01:34)
How Many New Patients Are You Missing? (03:01)
Your Receptionist Is Part of the Sales Process (07:00)
Orthodontics Is Changing (10:06)
Why the Old Playbook No Longer Works (15:00)
The “New Normal” in Orthodontics (17:52)
Invest When Everyone Else Pulls Back (21:20)
Focus on What You Can Control (25:12)
Cost vs. Investment (33:20)
How I Handle Price Shoppers (39:01)
Can Leadership Be Trained? (45:33)
Make More, Work Less (47:50)

🟦 Additional Resources
If your practice isn’t performing the way you want it to, don’t wait for the market to fix it for you. Pick one opportunity from this episode—your phones, new-patient experience, treatment coordinator process, leadership, hospitality, or sales—and start improving it now.
👉 To learn more about Brian Wright and New Patient Group, visit NewPatientGroup.com 
👉 The Brian Wright Show:
https://www.youtube.com/c/NewPatientGroupHouston 

And most importantly, ask yourself: Is your practice—and your life—the way you actually want it to be? If the answer is no, the only person who can begin changing it is you.
👉 Airway Meeting:
https://web.orthopreneurs.com/arizonasleepandairway2026 
👉 For more information about Orthopreneurs, visit:
https://orthopreneurs.com/
👉 Become an OrthoPreneur and join the free Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/OrthoPreneurs

We spend so much time thinking about marketing, advertising, referrals, and getting more people into the top of our sales funnel. Those things absolutely matter. But if those patients are already walking into your office and your case acceptance isn’t where it should be, you may be overlooking one of the biggest opportunities sitting right in front of you.
In this Five Minute Friday, I break down three basic ways to increase profitability: bring more people into your funnel, improve case acceptance, and reduce overhead. The problem with overhead is that there’s a limit to how much you can realistically cut. But improving case acceptance allows you to generate more production from patients you’ve already spent the time and money to acquire.

💬 Quotes

“Increase your case acceptance. That’s the key. Increase your case acceptance.”
— Dr. Glenn Krieger
“If the case acceptance didn’t go up, you are leaving money on the table.”
— Dr. Glenn Krieger

🎯 Key Takeaways

Intro: The sales funnel, closing, and getting more starts (00:25)
How to make more money without increasing new-patient volume (01:02)
Three ways to improve profitability in your practice (01:40)
Why improving case acceptance can be more powerful than cutting overhead (02:37)
Why you can’t simply cut your way to profitability (03:48)
How your sales funnel should nurture patients before the TC room (04:36)
Why you need to know where the consultation is headed before it begins (05:04)
The simple math behind case acceptance (05:24)
Why you need to accurately track your true case acceptance rate (06:06)
How a 10% improvement can translate into significant additional production (06:41)
Why most practices may overestimate their case acceptance (07:17)
The metrics you should be auditing over the course of a year (07:50)
The opportunity when fewer patients are coming through the door (08:10)
The change you can start making without spending more on marketing (09:26)
Why the doctor/TC process needs a repeatable system (09:44)
The step-by-step science behind improving the close (10:17)
What the Close More Cases meeting will cover (10:57)
Final takeaway: Keep marketing — but put more effort into closing (12:54)

🟦 Additional Resources
Keep marketing. Keep advertising. Keep looking at your overhead. But don’t spend all your energy getting more people through the front door while ignoring what happens once they’re already inside.
Know your numbers. Audit your case acceptance. Train your TC. Understand the doctor-TC relationship. And build a repeatable system for moving patients through the consultation process.
If you want to dive much deeper into the psychology of buying, the words that matter, and the systems I use to improve case acceptance, join me and Victor Antonio at Close More Cases 2027.
👉 Close More Cases Meeting:
https://closemorecases2027.com/home 
👉 Airway Meeting:
https://web.orthopreneurs.com/arizonasleepandairway2026 
👉 For more information about Orthopreneurs, visit:
https://orthopreneurs.com/
👉 Become an OrthoPreneur and join the free Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/