In this episode of The Dental Economist Show, host Mike Huffaker speaks with Dr. Sara Mahmood, founder of Brush 365, about building a multi-location group on what she calls "dentistry with integrity." They talk about leadership, technology, patient experience and the inner game of running a business.
Dr. Mahmood began her MBA the night she graduated from dental school, and she opened her first practice from scratch in 2017. Today she owns six Brush 365 practices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with a seventh on the way. She has bootstrapped the growth herself and still owns 100% of the company. She holds a Mastership in the Academy of General Dentistry (MAGD) and has more than 2,500 hours of continuing education. She is a key opinion leader for Dentsply Sirona and a brand ambassador for Philips, and she was named to both the Dallas Business Journal's and Incisal Edge's 40 Under 40 lists.
Sara explains how she turns a core value into culture across every level of the organization. She covers why she uses new-patient offers and maps every patient touch point, and why investing in technology such as CAD/CAM, guided surgery and CBCT is one of her biggest advantages in recruiting doctors. She also shares why she has turned down approaches about partnership and sale, and how she uses AI to take tasks off her plate.
The conversation also looks at why so few women are on dental stages and in leadership, how Sara and her husband run their family like a business, the books that shaped her, and what's next as she builds her first ground-up office.
Episode chapters
00:00 Starting an MBA the night she graduated from dental school
03:30 Learning business from her dad
06:10 Year one, and turning "dentistry with integrity" into culture
09:30 New-patient offers and designing the patient experience
13:30 Access to care and the story behind the Brush 365 name
15:00 What a founder-led group offers, and why she isn't selling
18:40 What young dentists should learn first
21:10 Where AI helps dentists most
23:00 Women in dentistry and why representation matters
28:00 Running a family like a business
31:35 The books that shaped her
34:45 Why she's still bullish on dentistry
36:50 What's next, including her first ground-up office
41:00 What has taught her the most about leadership
Connect with the team:
š Mike Huffaker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/huffaker/
š Planet DDS: https://planetdds.com/
š Dr Sara Mahmood on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarathedentist/
You can also listen to our podcast here:
š Apple Podcast: https://shorturl.at/ikORx
š Spotify: https://shorturl.at/SMInC
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