EP #12: Mentorship, Culture & Care

Mentorship and patient care aren’t strategies—they’re the foundation.
Grateful for this conversation with Nick Moen of Patient Win Insider (@patientwin).
Blessed to work alongside a team that leads with grace and genuinely loves hosting guests and patients alike. That’s how exceptional experiences are built.
What does mentorship look like in your world?

#MentorshipMatters #PatientCareFirst #ToothTribe #PracticeCulture #LeadershipInDentistry #PatientExperience #DavieDentist

Transcript

Meet Dr. Alex And His North Star

SPEAKER_00 0:01

All right, welcome back to PatientWin Insider. I'm Nick Mowen, and today I'm joined by Dr. Alex Simeday, founder of Simeday Dental in Davy, Florida. Dr. Simeday has built a reputation for relationship-driven dentistry, strong mentorship, and a practice culture built on trust, consistency, and human connection. Today we're diving into what's working, what's broken, and where the future of dentistry is headed. So uh thanks for coming on, Alex.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Nick, I'm flattered. Such lovely words.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Let's get into it. I I uh in past conversations with you, you've talked about um how meaningful mentorship is and how it's harder to find today. How did you find early guidance in your career? And then what does your kind of mentorship model look like that you use with your team?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

That's a great question. First of all, I want to say congrats on on the podcast and all the success that you guys are having. I know it's really blowing up, so that's good for you, man. That's that's really cool to see. Obviously, due to all the amazing guests that you have, right? Yeah, well, you're one of them. Um so about mentorship, yeah, like I feel like in in all careers, right? I was gonna say professional careers, but all careers, having someone that will kind of take you under their wing and show you the ropes and and so you know, the the areas where you can succeed and potential pitfalls. And um, it's just it's so important to ultimately having a long, successful, rewarding career, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Yeah.

Mentorship Origins And Paying It Forward

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Um, for me, that that process started very early. Um, you know, when I first went into college, I was uh an econ and finance major. I was convinced I wanted to be a stockbroker. And uh the more I learned about it, the more I realized that was not really the the life for me. Um and it led me to my quarter life crisis. You know, what do I do? How am I supposed to commit to one thing for the rest of my life? Um and it was actually a conversation with with my mom where she threw out dentistry as an option, and I just started kind of you know poking my nose into that world and trying to learn about it and and shadow. And uh it was through that shadowing, actually wearing a trust me, I'm a dentist t-shirt way before I had the right to wear that t-shirt. And a dentist at my gym, uh Dr. Morales, said, You a dentist? I was like, No, but I'd like to be one day. So he kind of took me under his wing and and and taught me so much, and I'm eternally grateful to him for all the time that he spent with me and and just and sometimes it's not even just professional related, right? It's just it's it's life, right? And this is uh this is someone who's you know not better than you, not more special than you. They've just they've been where you are. Yeah, so um that was always kind of my my north star when it comes to to to being the mentor. And um, you know, for me personally, I've always enjoyed teaching and education and just uh helping helping the younger generation get to where they want to be. Yeah. So uh I was lucky enough to to hire an assistant early on in my career who wanted to be a dentist, yeah. Uh Dr. Tart. She is now my associate. So she started off as my assistant. We worked together for a few years. She went to my alma mater, University of Florida, Go Gators. And uh, you know, now we share an office, which is by far the coolest accomplishment of my professional career. And um, yeah, it's just you know, we've had so many assistants come through through the practice that have gone on to dental school. And um, you know, I think our current count is six, maybe seven. Wow. Um you know, many of them move away, right? Dr. Tart is is very special. Like we get to, like I said, share an office now. But uh, you know, they've they've gone to dental school and set up shop and set up their lives all over the country, and that's just such a such a rewarding thing to have been a part of.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Oh, sorry, it just froze there for a minute.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

There, there you are, you're back. Um, so yeah, so how did um I mean how did it how do you identify somebody that has kind of the drive, the talent and potential early on um to to, you know, with that success story with Dr. Tower, like what did you see in them?

Spotting Talent And DMD Bound

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Um I don't know, to be perfectly honest with you. I wish there was like this tidy little rubric, right? That you can use to identify that talent. It's just like certain people you you you meet them and you just sort of get that sense that you know this this person's going somewhere, right? Yeah, uh, I'd love to hitch along for the ride and help in any way that I can. Um you know, just like Dr. Tart, uh future Dr. Fitzgerald Connor was also my assistant. He's graduating in June, and he's also gonna join the practice, you know. So um it's not to say that all of my assistants that wanted to go into dental school have have gone through that path, right, and and accomplished it. Um I personally kind of see it as an uber win when we dissuade people successfully, you know, because so one of one of my side businesses is a dental assisting school. Yeah. And it's called DMD Bound, right? And it's called DMD Bound because I have always firmly held the opinion that if you are considering dental school, you should go become a dental assistant. Sure. Because that is a 10-week path where you can get chairside immediately, get your gloves wet, and literally test drive dentistry. Yeah, right. Like with an expanded functions dental assisting certification, you are able to do a whole lot of dentistry without the dentist in the room, right, right, and really gain a sense if this lifelong commitment that is going to cost me many hundreds of thousands of dollars is right for me. You know, we've had four or five kids that were convinced they wanted to be dentists, and they had their stuff together, yeah. Yeah, these are great students, they've shadowed, they've done research like they are on track. And after actually working in dentistry for a few months, they're like, I don't think this is the right path for me. Yeah. And holy smokes, what a win that is, right? Like saving this person years and hundreds of thousands of dollars. I I see that as an equal win. And I I stay in touch with a lot of them, and some of those are the most rewarding mentor-mentee relationships. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, to see where they go from there. Yeah. What about the kind of the patient experience? I mean, you know, moving from dental assistant to dentist, I mean you become a surgeon, right? And your patients are it's kind of one of the most human surgeries you can do where your patients are awake, uh, and and you know, vulnerable, and I mean, they they're aware of the treatment they're getting, their eyes are open. So how does you know how does that shape the way that you approach um approach treatment and and that next step of becoming a dentist and and doing surgery?

SPEAKER_01 8:00

You mean with regards to to the kids that go through the the dental school process? Yeah. I mean, I guess my view might be a little bit skewed on that because they've been my assistant for months or years, right? And they've they've sort of come up in the culture of the practice and seen how we do things firsthand. So hopefully the idea is that they're translating some of the some of the things that we do well and adopting those, and maybe sometimes giving us a little fresh perspective as to things that we could be doing better.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Right. Um, something that's super important to us in the in the practice is that we're under a constant state of iteration. Sure. All right, we have we have an operation manual that breaks down every single thing that we do, but nothing's written in stone. Right. So we're always looking for a better way of doing things, and very frequently those voices and that perspective come from a new person. Right. Right? Like we bring on people onto the team who have the talent, right? Maybe not necessarily the skills yet, but they have the personality, they have the drive, they have the commitment to excellence, they have the empathy and the warmth and the it's a whole thing, right? Uh, I guess I should be writing down my rubric right now. Um But you know, having that fresh, that infusion of of a new perspective is is super helpful for us in how we how we ultimately do things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Well, and that you just kind of pointed out what you see in in I mean, uh like in Dr. Um Dr. T like like looking at that spark or or knowing that empathy is a big thing, like relating to the patients, and how does how does that reflect in kind of productivity? Or like I mean, are you booking all day every day? Are you you know, especially adding adding more doctors to you know to be able to treat patients? Like, what does that look like?

Patient Experience And Culture By Design

SPEAKER_01 10:05

That's the that's the$64,000 question, right? Like, what's the right balance? Yeah, right. Um on how we schedule. We we are a very low volume office. Right? Like our new patient experience is 90 minutes uh with nearly an hour dedicated doctor time for that new patient. Sure. Um you know, like you so graciously said in the intro, you know, we are we are a relationship-driven practice. And you know, honestly, that's that's marketed a lot. I don't know, I've never seen a practice that says, hey, come to us, we're gonna treat you like crap. Right. Right? Like it's just you don't really lead with that. Yeah. Um, but I hear it from so many people all the time that the experience that we provide them is just it's it's revolutionary for them. It's just like unlike anything they've ever experienced, not only at a dental office, but any sort of doctor's office or service in general. And I once heard someone say that the greatest luxury you can afford someone is your time. Yeah. And we we that we take that seriously, right? Like we we don't book a whole lot of patients. I'm not seeing 20 patients a day. Yeah. Right? Like, I want to make sure that Nick feels like he's the only person in the building when I'm with him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Well, how do you so if you're centered on like connection with the patients rather than volume, I mean, from a business perspective, I have to ask, like, how does that affect production and profitability?

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Um, we could make more money if we crammed more patients in. Yeah. You know, period. Yeah. It's just what does success mean to you? Yeah, great. Yeah. Right. Like for a lot of people, the bottom line is the ultimate measure of success. Right. And obviously, we're running a business. Like the bottom line matters, right? If we were losing money, we'd just close up shop because what the heck are we doing? Right. Right. But I like going home feeling like I may have changed someone's life today, right? Like at the very least, I change someone's perspective of what the doctor-patient relationship could or should should be. Should, yeah. Right. And um, you know, I it's super rewarding because we see it in all of our all of our Google reviews. I call them love letters. Like, if anyone checks out our Google reviews, they are paragraphs of how people are just conditioned to expect one thing, and it's just completely different than what they anticipated.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

So is this kind of this this ethos or these cultural values, is that something that you emanate from the top down with your team?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Um, a lot of people say that, that the whole culture starts top down, and maybe, maybe it starts that way, but it is 100% sustained from you know, bottom up. You know, it is it is my team that is a very zealous guardian of what the patient experience is, because they like going home and feeling like they they may have changed someone's life that day, right? So once once you get a group of people that all have that same shared mentality, right? The whole culture thing just becomes it's not something you have to even curate anymore. It's just it just it is, right? Like it's a group of people that like people and want to serve them. And again, like sort of like our mission statement is literally to wow patients, yeah. Right? So we want to create wow moments, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

And uh I guess if the system's working that well, right, but you did say that that there's still flexibility, even though everything's written out in operations, where does that flexibility come in? I mean, is that efficiency in technology or you know, the the way I I mean, yeah, how does that how is like where does that come in? Where is the flexibility?

Profit, Purpose, And Defining Success

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Um, I kind of love that question, because a big a big reason for me having become a dentist is all the toys and the tech and the gadgets, and it's just really fun. Um so yeah, we're we're definitely constantly adding new technology, and and sometimes that technology is you know very disruptive to our systems, meaning it really kind of revolutionizes how we're able to go about things. Um and sometimes it's just a small little tweak, right? That either benefits the the patient's experience or it benefits the team's experience, which ultimately leads to the patient's experience. Um so yeah, I mean, from CT scanners, all sorts of intra-oral scanning, um, you know, oral I oral cancer detection systems, uh, which we're huge on. Um and sometimes things as simple as like, what is your your like system for contacting patients and staying in touch with them, right? Yeah, like we're we're so savvy nowadays. I feel like maybe running a dental office 15, 20 years ago was a much simpler process than it is now. Yeah, you know, consumers know what to want and and how they want to um interact with services and businesses. And um, you know, sometimes it's little things, little new implementations that allow us to stay fresh and and always keep you know, keep our business fresh, keep the relationship with the patients engaging and exciting and moving forward.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Yeah, and I mean you're still growing, like you're still accepting new patients, right? So, what uh I mean, how do you get this message? Like you want to wow each patient? Like, how do you get this message out to them? Are you doing advertising? Do you have, you know, what's front desk operations like? What's what's kind of the system for bringing in these new patients that haven't experienced the wow yet?

SPEAKER_01 16:32

So I love that question. Um we do, we do, you know, some external marketing, uh, generally always education based. Um, you know, we have we have a podcast, somebody dental podcast, if any anyone's out there interested, uh, where we you know delve into dental yes topics, things that are dental trending topics, and whole body health, really. Um you know, I feel like sometimes dentistry has has insulated itself from you know the rest of the healthcare world. And the fact of the matter is that you know the bot the mouth is a part of the body, right? And um the connections, the oral systemic link is is very, very real. It's something that we discuss a lot on the on the podcast. Um but ultimately, Nick, the immense majority of our new patients come from WoWed patients. Yeah. Wow. Right? Like if you go and you have an experience that's unlike anything else, you're gonna go home and you're gonna tell your wife, honey, uh, you will not believe these people are out of their mind. But they had my music playing when I walked in, they had a welcome screen for me and a like a warm blanket. Like it's it's very, very different. Yeah. So um, so yeah, I mean, all the external marketing is is important and it helps, but the majority of our business is again relationship driven. Yeah.

Iteration, Tech, And Wow Moments

SPEAKER_00 18:01

And then what um, I guess you know, maybe not disrupting the systems that you have, but the flexibility in the systems, like kind of going back to toys or tech or innovation, like what's the thing you're most exciting excited about currently that that is um that you're you're having to implement or or include into the the systems and operations?

SPEAKER_01 18:24

So two things. One thing that I'm about to start using for my my my consultations is uh AI-driven smile design. Oh yeah, cool. And it's it's I mean, things are evolving fast, right? Like I'm I'm able to take a picture of you and in about four minutes have uh a video of you, right, with a brand new smile where you can see how it looks from multiple angles, and it is just mind-blowing stuff. So things like that are really gonna take the the aesthetic, the cosmetic consultation to a whole new level because now it's not just what I see in my mind's eye as possibilities for Nick. Like Nick can see it with his own eyes, right? And it just it really comes to life. Yeah. Um so that's one. I'm very excited about the AI-driven smile design. But uh in-house printing is is another another big one. Um, material science moves fast in dentistry, and the ability to create and make very high-quality um restorations, things like crowns or large fillings or things like that, that we used to always have to send to a lab and then get it back two weeks later. You know, we're getting more and more possibilities to just make that chair side, right? Literally print it out of resin and ceramics and give you something permanent in a Single visit. So that's something that's that's been on the market for a while in different forms, and now it's really reaching a level where it makes a lot of sense for um, you know, for a little guy like me. Right. I am a very low volume office. Um I have four rooms, right? Four private rooms where we close the door and it's just your little, you know, your little spa cocoon for the for the for the time that you're there. Um you know, and there are larger offices out there that have implemented things like this in in the past, you know, but they're seeing tons and tons of patients, right? Yeah. So for the technology to get to the point where, from a cost point of view, it makes sense for a practice like mine, we're starting to get to that point. Yeah. So that's something that I'm looking at now. And maybe in, you know, this is the year where we start incorporating that.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Cool. So if you're incorporating new technology, like you obviously have to have a team that's able to adapt to some of that flexibility. So, how do you um what's your like philosophy on hiring and retaining the right people for your team that you know, if you want to keep innovating or using new toys, you know, like like who are you looking for? Depends on the toy.

AI Smile Design And In‑House Printing

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Right? Like bringing in the uh the in-house printing, you know, milling, things like that, uh, will take at least one rock star, you know, team member, generally an assistant who is good with computers and good with design, uh, to sort of take up you know the mantle when it comes to to those things. Um I'm very blessed that I have you know a team that is a team of rock stars, right? So as we incorporate new technologies, they're just they're they're all in. They want to learn. We do the trainings, uh, we help each other out, and it's just it's uh you know, it's a so it's a community effort. Yeah. But it it is it is definitely a consideration. I mean, we have a lot of you know business owners that listen to this this podcast, and you know, what's the old saying, get the right people in the bus and then put put them in the right seat on the bus, right? Like you gotta hire the right team and then depending on their talents, right, allocate different things. But certainly bringing in new toys, I think it's something to consider. Like, how is this going to integrate into how we do things and how disruptive will it be?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Yeah. Well, especially if you have operations and systems, you know, nailed down. Well, you're leaving room for flexibility in the culture, and if you're keeping these rock stars around, I mean, is that um is that kind of your definition of success now? Has it changed since you started the practice what it a decade ago?

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Yeah, for sure. Um you know, I I started the practice, I think the practice just turned 14. Wow. So I was in my late 20s. Um I'm in I'm 42 now, so thankfully my perspectives have changed a little bit from my late 20s to now. Um but yeah, absolutely. My definition of success has changed. And where it may have been driven more by the bottom line before, sure, it's those those other things that matter so much more now. Um longevity of team is is huge. Um because that the whole like self-sustaining culture thing requires continuity. Yeah. Right? And if you have you know a revolving door of people, then it's gonna be harder to maintain that culture. Yeah. Right. So thankfully, all most of my team members have been with me for many years. Yes. Uh, you know, and we live in South Florida, so people move away, people uh dental assistants go to dental school, right? And become dentists. So there is some turnover, but that stability is is huge.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Yeah. And I guess looking back, what would you what piece of advice, I guess, would you give yourself or or an you know a new practice owner that's you know maybe focused on the bottom line and uh to avoid burnout? Because that's one thing I've heard a lot uh from guests on the podcast is like at some point most doctors and dentists are they get burnt out because they they are maybe have the wrong definition of success, or maybe it's a culture thing, or um, there's a I guess there's a lot of reasons for it, and and there's some definitely some symptoms that are diagnosable, but what would you say to yourself starting a practice or somebody starting a practice to to focus on to get where you are now, maybe quickly?

Hiring Rock Stars And Team Longevity

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Um that's a great question, man. It's it's so case-dependent, right? Um I think first off, really concretely defining what success means to you is is important, right? But then again, that's gonna evolve as your own personal life circumstances evolve. Um you know, for me a big shift was when I when I had kids, right? That just kind of incorporates a new frame of reference for life in general. Um I I finally determined that my north star for success as far as my practice goes was to make somebody dental the best job that anyone on my team has ever had. I want it to be the best place to work at a period. Because I feel like that ultimately takes care of everything downstream.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Right. Um so number one piece of advice for anyone starting a new practice. Number one piece of advice for anyone in life is pick the right person to marry. And I think along with that, just extrapolate that to your professional life. Surround yourself by the right people. Yeah, right. And then really things just maybe don't take care of themselves, but you're gonna be able to take care of them with a much better, you know, disposition and just you're gonna feel a lot better doing it. Yeah, I mean we're applying hopefully that burnout is you know burnout's real. Because dentistry is a tough profession, and kind of going back to what we said earlier, if if I can dissuade someone at the right time from making a mistake and committing to it, awesome. Right? And even when it is for you, I've had periods of my career where I felt burnt out. Yeah. Right? You know, I I there's this uh there's a study done where the average dentist's blood pressure spikes 20 points every time they give an injection. Yeah. I mean, let that sink in for a second, right? Like we are doing invasive procedures like this close to the patient, right? Staring at each other's eyes, and we get it, you're scared. I'm scared that I'm gonna hurt you, right? Like, that's the last thing I want to do. I want Nick to walk away feeling like, man, that guy's got magical hands. I didn't feel a thing. Yeah. Right. And we feel that pressure, right? So it's it's it's real. So having the right people, like if you have that pressure from a clinical standpoint, and then on top of that, from a team standpoint, like you're not happy. Holy smokes, man. Just you know, close up shop now.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Yeah. Well, and and then you're bringing it back to your, you know, the rest of your life outside the practice. 100%. What maybe what are some strategies you're using outside of the practice for for self-care and to avoid burnout, or or did you, you know, in order to maintain a happy, you know, work-life balance and family and all that?

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Yeah. Um, again, I don't want to say anything here that makes it sound like I've got all that figured out. Like, you know, mental health is a thing that we all struggle with and it's not constant, right? It's episodic. We go through periods of it where we feel a little more down. It's like, man, you know, how much longer can I do this? And then we get past that and we fall in love again with the profession and and we we keep going, right? But to me, to me, working out has always been the great leveler, right? At whatever stage I was at, whether it was college, grad school, my professional career, um, you know, argument with my wife. You know, I go for a run and it just gives you perspective, right? It just puts you in a different frame of mind. It, it, it allows me to think, like kind of step outside of my box and think about things in a different way.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Yeah.

Burnout, Balance, And Daily Habits

SPEAKER_01 28:55

So I've always, you know, I try to start every day with a run so I can I can, you know, go get into the day with a positive frame of mind, you know, and all those endorphins rushing in.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Um and yeah, you know, trying to stay active, trying to stay healthy, making good decisions. Because ultimately, too, if we don't feel great, we have a tough time dealing with things when they go sideways, right? So, you know, the better we feel, both physically, mentally, spiritually, um, the better equipped we are to deal with things.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Yeah. Well, and uh, I mean, you kind of said you don't have it figured out, but you have a lot figured out. You know, I I mean the mentorship and the culture and I mean the practice is successful in your eyes. You're wowing patience. So, where where do you think it's headed? Like what does it look like in five years? I mean, you got a 3D printer, uh, you know, work life balance is uh hopefully still good because you're taking you know good care of of the practice and yourself. So sky's the limit. Like, where do you see yourself in five years?

SPEAKER_01 29:58

Um, that's a great question. And the answer to that kind of kind of you know evolves sometimes day to day with new ideas and things like that. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm super excited for for Connor, for future Dr. Fitzgerald to join the team uh next year. That'll happen in June. Um so at that point, we may be you know looking at purchasing a second practice, um, maybe just relocating, expanding, um things like that. So, you know, it really is about I also want to get into teaching. I really, really enjoy teaching. So, you know, we have um we actually have a dental school kind of right down the street from the practice, so um very excited about potentially getting my my feet wet if when the you know in academia. Um but we'll see. And obviously always, you know, keeping dentistry a part of my life because I love what I do.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Yeah. And you're sharing some of that as an interviewer on the interviewer side on your own podcast. Uh, how does it feel being on the other side of it? Like what have you learned from interviewing your peers and colleagues?

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Um, it's it's it's fun being on the other side. You know, uh to me, what's great about podcasts is that I just like connecting with people and just having a conversation. Yeah. You know, so um I don't really see it as like interviewer, interviewee, right? It's just let's let's have a chat, right? Let's talk about something interesting and and and have a good time. You know, and hopefully it you know, it registers with someone out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Well, uh, why don't you plug your podcast and your practice so people can can find you.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Yeah, sure. So, like I said before, the podcast is the Semaday Dental podcast. You can find us on any and all platforms. Um so check that out. Uh subscribe if you like it. And even if you don't, throw me a bone. Um and the practice is Semaday Dental. We are located in Davy, uh, which is our little cowboy town just outside of Fort Lauderdale in South Florida. And um we've been there since 2011, so it's been about 14 years and hope to make it at least another 14.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Amazing. Uh Alex, it's been great having you on. I really appreciate you sharing your experience and expertise and vision with your practice and and and your life.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Thanks, man. Really appreciate it, Nick. And continued success, man. You're doing you're doing wonderful things. Thanks. Well, until next time. Ah, I like that.