About Smiles & Cents | The Dental Wealth Partners Show
Dentistry is one of the best wealth-building professions in America—but only if you make the right financial decisions along the way.
Smiles & Cents is built for dentists who want more than just production and collections. Each episode is designed to help you turn income into lasting wealth through smarter decisions, clearer strategy, and a more intentional approach to your financial life.
Along the way, we bring in real dental entrepreneurs—practice owners, builders, and industry leaders—to share firsthand insights on what’s working, what’s not, and how they’ve built their success.
This is how financial planning actually plays out in the real world.
If you’re looking for clarity, control, and a plan that compounds over time, you’re in the right place.
He Bought a Rundown Rural Practice for $237K - Now He’s Building a $12M Dental Group | Dr. Randy Jones
He graduated second to last in his dental school class. He bought a rundown rural practice with pink wallpaper and carbon paper ledger cards for $237,000 - owner financed, because no bank would loan to him. Eight years later, that same practice is on track to do $2.3 million this year. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis sits down with Dr. Randy Jones - founder of Magnolia Smiles, a five-location dental group serving rural Mississippi - for one of the most honest and practical m...
11 Oct 2026
The Year-End Financial Checklist Every Dentist Needs Before December 31 | Smiles and Cents
Most dentists reach December and think about tax planning when it is already too late. In this episode of Dental Wealth Partners, Ian McGinnis and executive coach Jeff Rutland walk through the complete year-end financial checklist every dentist should be working through right now - from maxing out retirement plans, to cost segregation studies, to paying your kids through the practice, to why your supply order and your team bonuses are both financial decisions worth making before midnight on ...
4 Oct 2026
He Turned a $15,000 Van Into a Dental Practice With 50% Margins | Dr. Kwane Watson | Smiles and Cents
Most dentists worry about their rent. Dr. Kwan Watson made his rent $1,000 a month - by putting his practice on wheels. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis sits down with Dr. Kwan Watson - 26-year dentist, first-generation practice owner, former Kentucky DSO regional director, app founder, mobile dentistry pioneer, and now CEO of VanTech Dental Partners - for one of the most original stories in the history of the show. From tripling a practice in under five years straight out ...
27 Sept 2026
How to Value a Dental Practice - And Find One Before It Even Hits the Market | Dr. Richard Low
Most dentists look at a practice listing and ask one question: what are the collections? Dr. Richard Low says that is the wrong question - and the second-wrong question after it. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis and Dr. Richard Low break down how to actually evaluate a dental practice from the ground up - starting with the anatomy of the practice itself, before ever opening a profit and loss statement. From the operatory formula that tells you exactly how big a practice can...
20 Sept 2026
How a 3rd Generation Dentist Built a 9-Practice Group From Zero Outside Money | Brad Hughes
Most dentists think you need big cases, implants, and a huge team to reach $4 million in production. Brad Hughes did it out of four chairs - and has not placed an implant since 2012. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis sits down with Brad Hughes - third generation dentist, CEO of Vision Dental Partners, and self-described born entrepreneur - to talk about what it actually takes to go from one inherited practice to nine locations, bootstrapped entirely with his own money and no ...
13 Sept 2026
Startup vs Acquisition: A New Dentist's Honest Story of Buying His First Practice | Dr. Hayden Coffee
Most dentists plan their practice purchase for years. Dr. Hayden Coffee got a phone call on a Friday, had an attorney draft a letter of intent by Friday afternoon, and closed on a dental practice 45 days later. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis sits down with Dr. Hayden Coffee - a young dentist, former class president, and now proud practice owner - to walk through the entire process from associate to owner. The decision to abandon a nearly signed startup lease. Meeting his n...
6 Sept 2026
How Two Hygienists Are Adding $250K+ to Dental Practices-Without Seeing More Patients | LD Coaching
Most dentists think the way to increase hygiene production is to see more patients in less time. Laura and Danielle think the opposite - and the numbers back them up. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis sits down with Laura and Danielle - founders of LD Coaching, also known as the Diamond Girls - two hygienists who met in hygiene school in 2005, burned out from clinical practice, and built a consulting company that is transforming dental hygiene departments from the inside out....
30 Aug 2026
How Better Leadership Adds $250,000 to a Million-Dollar Dental Practice | Smiles and Cents
Most dentists are brilliant clinicians. Almost none of them were taught how to lead. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis sits down with Jeff Rutland - executive coach, leadership strategist, and 31-year veteran of coaching everyone from Chick-fil-A owners to naval employees to now the dentists of Dental Wealth Partners - to talk about why leadership is the most underrated growth lever in a dental practice. The number is not subtle. In a million-dollar practice, better leadersh...
23 Aug 2026
Die With Zero vs Dave Ramsey: Which Financial Philosophy Is Right for Dentists? | Dr. Richard Low
Two of the most popular financial books ever written give completely opposite advice. Dave Ramsey says save everything. Die With Zero says spend it now. For dentists, the answer is more nuanced than either book alone. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis and Dr. Richard Low go deep on what retiring well actually looks like - from the identity crisis that makes dentists come back after selling, to the Die With Zero philosophy and its real limitations, to why the golden window wit...
16 Aug 2026
Money Represents Your Time - Are You Spending It Right? | Dr. Richard Low | Smiles and Cents
Every dollar you spend is a piece of your life you traded for it. Most dentists never think about it that way. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis brings Dr. Richard Low back for one of the most honest and wide-ranging conversations the show has had - covering the real relationship between time and money, how to buy back your life without feeling guilty about it, why burnout is really about identity misalignment, and the question every successful dentist eventually has to answe...
9 Aug 2026
What Your Dental Practice Is Really Worth-From an Orthodontist Who's Been on Both Sides
Most dentists buy equipment because a rep told them it worked for somebody else. Most dentists sell their practice without understanding what it is actually worth. And most dentists leave hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table when they finally exit. Dr. Keith did things differently. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis sits down with Dr. Keith- an orthodontist who built and sold a four-location practice in Louisville, relocated his family across the country, earned an MBA...
2 Aug 2026
How to Sell Your Dental Practice for Maximum Value - Before It's Too Late | Dental Wealth Partners
Most dentists spend 30 years building their practice - and then sell it without ever knowing what it was actually worth. In this episode of Dental Wealth Partners, Ian McGinnis and executive coach Jeff Rutland break down exactly what dentists need to do before selling a practice - from cleaning up the books, to choosing the right valuation method, to why slowing down hygiene in your final years could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars at closing. Whether you are two years out from re...
26 Jul 2026
How Much Do Dentists Actually Need to Retire? The Honest Answer | Dental Wealth Partners
Most dentists in their fifties are either guessing at their retirement number-or they have never calculated it at all. In this episode of Dental Wealth Partners, Ian McGinnis and executive coach Jeff Rutland break down exactly how dentists should think about retirement-not as a finish line, but as the point where you get to choose how you spend every day. From bond ladders to cash balance plans, from the Monte Carlo theory to the real reason DIY investing fails, this is one of the most practi...
19 Jul 2026
What Most Dentists Get Wrong About Growing Beyond 3 Practices | Dr. Mike Huggins
Most dentists who try to grow beyond three practices hit a wall. Some burn out. Some blow up their partnerships. Some lose the culture that made them great in the first place. Dr. Mike Huggins did it differently. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis sits down with Dr. Mike Huggins - founder and owner of Life Dental in Oxford, Mississippi - to talk about how he went from a 27-year partnership that was going nowhere, to building a 15-practice dental group with a culture strong eno...
12 Jul 2026
Writing a Book, Running a Practice & Raising 4 Boys - Dr. Joseph Houlik | Smiles and Cents
What does it actually look like to grow a dental practice, write a book, raise a family, and still show up for your spouse every week? In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis sits down with Dr. Joseph Houlik - dentist, practice owner, and author of The Wealthy Dentist - for one of the most honest and personal conversations on the show. From high school sweethearts whose father-in-law happened to be his childhood dentist, to four boys and a baby on the way, to a two-year book writi...
5 Jul 2026
Born or Built? A Former NFL QB on Leading a Dental Practice That Actually Works | Tyson Lee
Most dental practices have a vision document nobody reads, core values nobody lives, and a team that doesn't know what winning looks like. Tyson Lee, former Mississippi State quarterback, Rams organisation alumni, school principal, and now Director of Leadership at Bates Orthodontics, joins Ian McGinnis on Smiles and Cents to share the five questions every dental practice must answer to build a team that performs, a culture that holds, and a leader who is not doing everything alone. This is n...
28 Jun 2026
The Investing Order Every Dentist Needs: Liquidity, Roth IRA & Compound Interest | Dr. Richard Low
Most dentists know they should be investing. Almost none of them know the right order to do it in. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis and Dr. Richard Low lay out the exact sequence every dentist should follow to build real financial freedom, starting with liquidity, moving into Roth accounts, and understanding why compound interest means the best time to start was yesterday. Dr. Richard Low admits openly at 39 he still feels behind. That honesty drives one of the most practical...
21 Jun 2026
Roth vs Traditional IRA: What Dentists Get Wrong | Dr. Richard Low | Smiles and Cents
Dr. Richard Low admits it upfront: most dentists never talk about Roth versus traditional accounts. Not once. Not at dental investment group meetings, not with their financial advisor, not even with each other. In this episode of Smiles and Cents, Ian McGinnis breaks down exactly why that silence is costing dentists real money — and walks through the simple framework that makes the Roth versus traditional decision almost a non-issue for most high earners. This is the episode that explains mar...
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