If a friend built a million-dollar business, you'd say "good for them." If a dentist does it, suddenly someone's getting ripped off.

In this episode, Dr. Kyle Stanley and Dr. Martin Mendelson take on money shame in dentistry the guilt, discomfort, and defensiveness that shows up when dentists have to talk about fees, accept high incomes, or watch patients push back on treatment costs. It comes from everywhere: patients, family, team members, other dentists, and often from inside the dentist's own head.

Kyle didn't feel money shame early in his career he had no money. He was $2 million in debt between his house, his practice, and his school loans. But he was deeply uncomfortable talking about fees, especially with friends and family. It took him 8 or 9 years to get there.

The fix, as Martin frames it, isn't toughening up it's communication. A doctor at an urgent care laid out the fees and the alternatives matter-of-factly before treating Martin for an allergic reaction. No guilt, no apology. Just clarity. That's the model. You're not withholding care when you present the cost. You're actually doing the patient a disservice when you don't.

Selling isn't sleazy when it's about helping someone get what they actually need. Set the expectation. Own your fees. Be ready for a no and be okay with it.

For more info or to join their live CE course, go to www.wellnessindentistry.com

Join Carabelli Club here and save $600 on your yearly membership: https://hubs.la/Q03QQGmD0

If you'd like to chat with Martin about disability insurance, you can click here to find a time on his calendar. He's a licensed agent and happy to connect with you.

Get Kyle's founder's discount for Pearl AI by scheduling a demo here: https://discover.hellopearl.com/referral/kyle-stanley/

Do dentists hate each other? Kyle and Martin have thoughts.

In this episode, Dr. Kyle Stanley and Dr. Martin Mendelson dig into one of dentistry's more uncomfortable realities — the way dental professionals treat each other online, and why it's making everyone's job harder. Zirconia vs. biomimetic. Graft or don't graft. Hazmat suit for amalgam removal. The clinical debates are real, but the comment sections have become something else entirely.

Kyle is clear: most dentists he's met — across 48 states and 50 countries — are good people trying to do their best with the tools and training they have. The bad actors are a fraction of a percent. But that fraction is loud, visible, and giving the whole profession a reputation problem. And when your patients walk in already convinced you're going to upsell them, you feel that every single day.

Martin's push is on how dentists disagree, not whether they should. There's a difference between a nasty comment and a principled rebuttal. And if you genuinely believe a colleague is harming patients, keyboard bravery isn't the answer — the state board is. Public pile-ons don't change minds. They just give skeptical patients more ammunition.

The antidote to all of it? Study clubs. Mastermind groups. WhatsApp threads full of dentists from around the world actually helping each other. That version of dentistry exists too. Go find it.

For more info or to join their live CE course, go to www.wellnessindentistry.com

Join Carabelli Club here and save $600 on your yearly membership: https://hubs.la/Q03QQGmD0

If you'd like to chat with Martin about disability insurance, you can click here to find a time on his calendar. He's a licensed agent and happy to connect with you.

Get Kyle's founder's discount for Pearl AI by scheduling a demo here: https://discover.hellopearl.com/referral/kyle-stanley/

The hosts of a wellness podcast are here to tell you: you might be doing wellness wrong.

In this episode, Dr. Kyle Stanley and Dr. Martin Mendelson turn the lens on themselves and on the overachiever personality type that dentistry selects for to ask a genuinely uncomfortable question: when does healthy become obsessive?

Kyle doesn't drink, has never had a sip, tapes his mouth at night, won't bring his phone into the bedroom, and deliberately avoids tracking his sleep because he's watched friends develop anxiety over bad sleep scores that then caused the bad sleep scores. His sister-in-law used to get out of bed at 10pm to walk around the block just to close her Apple Watch ring. That's not wellness. That's a new form of perfectionism wearing wellness clothes.

The dentist brain measures success in tenths of millimeters. That same brain, applied to protein intake and step counts, can turn self-care into self-torture. Martin introduces the AimSmart framework to counter it: set a maximum, a middle ground, and a minimum for every wellness habit. Because one will always be greater than zero and giving yourself permission to hit the floor without shame is what keeps the habit alive long-term.

Grace isn't the same as making excuses. Know the difference, and give yourself some.

For more info or to join their live CE course, go to www.wellnessindentistry.com

Join Carabelli Club here and save $600 on your yearly membership: https://hubs.la/Q03QQGmD0

If you'd like to chat with Martin about disability insurance, you can click here to find a time on his calendar. He's a licensed agent and happy to connect with you.

Get Kyle's founder's discount for Pearl AI by scheduling a demo here: https://discover.hellopearl.com/referral/kyle-stanley/