CEO Chairside helps dentists grow smarter, faster, and more profitably. Hosted by dentist and entrepreneur Dr. Greg Grillo, each episode delivers practical strategies in dental marketing, patient experience, leadership, KPIs, and AI—along with candid interviews with practice owners, DSO leaders, and industry experts. From new-patient flow and case acceptance to overhead control, hygiene reactivation, transitions, and fee strategy, you’ll get step-by-step ideas you can use this week. Subscribe for actionable insights, templates, and stories from the front lines of modern dentistry.
The Fiscal Squeeze, And Who's Actually Winning From It
Over the past five years, the cost of running a dental practice — equipment, supplies, staff wages — has climbed 23%. Reimbursement has barely moved. That gap isn't a bad quarter. It's a structural squeeze, and it's quietly reshaping who owns dental practices in America.
In this episode of CEO Chairside, Dr. Greg Grillo breaks down the real numbers behind the fiscal squeeze hitting independent practices right now; tariff-driven supply costs, a hygienist shortage 91% of practices are fighting, and why dental spending is falling behind the rest of healthcare.
Then he tackles the question most owners aren't asking: why there are now more private-equity-backed DSOs in dentistry than in any other healthcare vertical, and what that means for the future of independent ownership.
But this isn't a call to panic-cut your budget. Dr. Grillo makes the case for the distinction that matters most in a year like this one — knowing the difference between an expense that just drains your margin and a lever that pays you back. Cut both with the same knife, and you don't protect your practice. You shrink its ability to ever recover.
Drawing on 30+ years of practice ownership, his time as a Navy Dental Officer, and his work inside practices nationwide through Method Pro, Dr. Grillo gives you a clear-eyed read on where the money is actually going and what to do about it before the market decides for you.
In this episode:
The real five-year cost data behind why margins are shrinking
Why private equity is consolidating dentistry faster than any other healthcare field
How to tell an expense from a growth lever, and why cutting both the same way backfires
Four moves to make this month, before the squeeze makes the decision for you
If you've felt the pressure but couldn't put numbers to it, this episode does that for you.
16 Sept 2026
The AI Builders Just Hit the Brakes. Here's What That Actually Means for Your Practice.
This week, the CEO of a major AI company did something almost unheard of: he asked the industry to slow down. Dario Amodei's warning was backed publicly by Sam Altman and Elon Musk — and it's a different kind of alarm than the "AI will take your job" headlines that dominated 2026. This one is about control, not just jobs.
In this episode of CEO Chairside, Dr. Greg Grillo breaks down what's actually happening , separating the job-loss narrative (which has been walked back more than once this year) from the safety-and-control warning that's now coming directly from the people building frontier AI. You'll hear why one of these fears deserves far more weight than the other, who financially benefits from you being scared, and exactly what this news should change about how you evaluate AI tools in your own practice.
Drawing on 30+ years of practice ownership, his time as a Navy Dental Officer, and his work inside dental practices nationwide through Method Pro, Dr. Grillo makes the case that the right response isn't panic and it isn't blind optimism; it's asking sharper questions before you buy anything.
In this episode:
What changed this week, and why it's more serious than the job-loss warnings
Who profits from AI fear, backed by real data on CEO incentives and sales economics
The difference between frontier-AI risk and the narrow tools already in your practice
The vendor due-diligence questions every practice owner should be asking now
If the headlines about AI have you unsure what's real and what's marketing, this episode gives you a clear way to think it through.
3 Sept 2026
70% Are Using It. 2% Trust It. What That Gap Is Costing You.
Roughly seventy percent of dentists are either using AI or seriously considering it. Only two percent say they trust it more than their own clinical judgment. That gap isn't a footnote; it's the reason so many practices buy AI tools and quietly abandon them a few months later.
In this episode of CEO Chairside, Dr. Greg Grillo breaks down what's actually happening with AI adoption in dentistry right now, not the vendor pitch version, the real data. You'll hear where AI is genuinely validated (and where it isn't), why nearly a third of dentists who try an AI tool eventually walk away, and the three questions every practice owner should ask before signing a contract, not after the invoice shows up.
Drawing on 30+ years of practice ownership, his time as a Navy Dental Officer, and his work inside practices nationwide through Method Pro, Dr. Grillo makes the case that the dentists winning with AI aren't the ones with the most tools. They're the ones who defined what "good" looks like before they bought anything.
In this episode:
The real adoption numbers and why trust hasn't caught up
What AI is actually validated for in dentistry (and what's still just marketing)
Why most AI tool abandonment happens fast, and what's really driving it
Three questions to ask any AI vendor before you sign
If you've bought an AI tool and aren't sure it's paying off, or you're about to, this episode is for you.
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