Zach Dykes

Discover why successful orthodontists focus on abundance over competition. Learn practical systems to grow your practice by serving more families better.

Most orthodontic and dental practices sit on a goldmine they never touch. Every day, people call asking about treatment. They request information. Then life happens and they disappear. But buried in those old leads are your future patients. The difference between practices that grow and those that plateau? Persistence.

Growth feels good. New signage. New markets. New potential. But here’s the catch: opening another location doesn’t guarantee success. It guarantees overhead, stretched resources, and thinner margins. One orthodontist learned this after years of splitting attention across multiple offices. His breakthrough? He closed a location everyone called a “goldmine.” His practice grew 50 percent in a year. True growth isn’t about multiplying offices. It’s about mastering what you already have before chasing the next opportunity.

Most orthodontic leaders think motivation lives in the paycheck. Add a bonus here, throw in a perk there, and watch performance soar. Except it doesn’t work that way. True motivation isn’t bought. It’s built. Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca proves it every day with three psychological pillars: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. When you weave these into your culture, motivation becomes self-sustaining.

Right now, thousands of ads are flooding Meta. Your future patients are scrolling past most of them. The question is not how to post more. It’s how to convert strangers into patients before they ever pick up the phone.
The answer: turn every social profile into a trust funnel. Treat your channels as sales assets that earn trust with video, keep people inside your world long enough to like you, then point them to a clear next step.
A trust funnel converts a social channel into a sales asset. Instead of scattered posts, you deliberately design profiles and content to shepherd a cold viewer through a sequence: discover you, understand you, like you, and finally act.

Most practices treat treatment coordinators like script readers chasing conversion numbers, but the best TCs do so much more. They’re the heartbeat of the office—the emotional anchor for families making life-changing decisions. By balancing passion, purpose, and processes, TCs transform anxious first visits into lasting trust, fuel practice growth, and shape a culture where patients feel cared for, not sold to.

Discover the three overlooked assets inside your orthodontic practice that can double new patient numbers without spending another dollar on ads.

Most dental practices have it backwards – they chase marketing miracles while their internal systems leak patients. Learn why 80% of high-ticket dental success comes from operations, not ads.

Most orthodontists know how to move teeth, not money—and that’s exactly why many hesitate to start their own practice. The Ultimate Startup Course for Orthodontists bridges that gap. Built specifically for orthodontic professionals, it covers everything from mindset and financial planning to marketing, team building, and growth strategies. No generic advice—just the proven playbook to turn your clinical expertise into a successful, future-proof practice.

Your team feels micromanaged. Your systems create chaos. Sound familiar? The answer isn’t picking sides in the people vs. processes debate. It’s designing systems that make your team unstoppable while keeping patients coming back for more.

Ever watch a patient nod politely through your treatment presentation, then disappear forever? You’re not alone. Most orthodontic practices accept mediocre case acceptance rates as “industry standard.” Here’s the truth: your 50% conversion rate is costing you over $200,000 annually in lost revenue.