Introduction

Dr. Blake Hamblin had been stuck around $200,000 a month.

Then his practice nearly hit $750,000 in collections in a single month.

The interesting part wasn’t the number.

It was what happened next.

Instead of celebrating and moving on, Blake immediately started asking:

How do we do that again?

That’s the mindset behind reverse engineering your best month.

You don’t need to build a $750,000-a-month practice to use this framework. Maybe your normal month is $150,000 and you had one month at $200,000. Maybe you’re at $300,000 and briefly hit $400,000.

The number doesn’t matter as much as the question:

What happened during your best month that can be intentionally reproduced?

That changes the way you think about growth.

Instead of chasing a bigger number, you start working backward from a number you already proved was possible.

“Okay, this can be done. So now how do we just reproduce it?”

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3. Start With a Number You Can Actually Reverse Engineer

The first step is not hiring another associate.

It’s not adding more marketing.

It’s not opening another location.

It’s knowing your numbers.

Blake’s approach starts with establishing realistic production targets across the practice.

For a healthy multi-provider practice like his, he looks for hygiene to represent roughly 22% to 25% of overall production.

In a smaller practice, around the $1 million to $1.5 million range, that target can be closer to 30%.

Those numbers aren’t a pass-or-fail test.

They’re signals.

If you know what percentage should come from hygiene, you can work backward to determine what doctor production needs to look like.

Then you go one level deeper.

Turn the monthly goal into daily targets

Suppose you know the practice needs a certain amount of doctor production each month.

Now ask:

• How many doctors are producing?
• How many days is each doctor working?
• What does each doctor need to produce per day?
• How much does each hygienist need to produce?
• How does the number change when another provider joins?
• Where is the gap between the target and the actual?

This is where a big annual or monthly goal becomes useful.

Instead of saying:

“We need to grow.”

You can say:

“Our hygienist needs to average another $300 per day. What would it take to find that?”

Maybe it’s an X-ray that wasn’t taken.

Maybe it’s a laser treatment.

Maybe it’s treatment that wasn’t identified.

The point is that the team now has something specific to solve.

“You gotta start with a baseline number that you know you need to hit that’s realistic.”

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4. Your KPI Will Change as Your Practice Changes

A dental practice isn’t static.

It changes as the dentist gets better.

It changes as the team gets better.

It changes as patients become healthier.

It changes when associates join.

And that means the KPI that mattered two years ago might not be the KPI that matters today.

Gary makes an important observation here.

When you first open a practice, you’re still developing clinically. You’re learning how to identify treatment. You’re learning what you’re capable of doing.

As you improve, you start seeing opportunities you didn’t see before.

Then something interesting happens.

You treat your patients.

They get healthier.

You fix the problems.

Eventually, there may simply be fewer problems left to solve in that existing patient base.

Now your growth problem changes.

You may need more new patients.

Or more providers.

Or more capacity.

Or a different mix of treatment.

That’s why you can’t blindly chase the same KPI forever.

Ask what is limiting you now

Your limiting factor might be:

• New patients
• Hygiene production
• Doctor production
• Treatment acceptance
• Provider capacity
• Operatories
• Associate development
• Your own time

The right question is:

What is the current constraint?

Then reverse engineer the solution around that constraint.

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5. Stop Making the Owner the Production Ceiling

This is where Blake’s strategy gets particularly interesting.

He still enjoys practicing clinically.

But he recognizes something important:

The practice can’t reach its next level if everything depends on his production.

If Blake keeps producing at his current level, there is a ceiling.

His solution is not simply to work more.

It’s to develop other doctors who can reproduce the type of dentistry he currently performs.

That changes the owner’s role.

Instead of asking:

“How much can I personally produce?”

The question becomes:

“How much of what I do can I teach someone else to do?”

Develop associates through real mentorship

Blake described how Dr. Farrell developed over roughly two years.

At first, there were normal frustrations.

Patients didn’t always say yes.

Treatment wasn’t always identified.

Opportunities were missed.

But as communication and training improved, the associate started seeing more of the dentistry that was already sitting in the practice.

Now Blake is applying the same approach with a newer associate, Dr. Rustum.

Instead of simply giving her a production KPI and saying, “You need to do more,” Blake is spending time helping her understand how to get there.

Her development becomes one of the highest-value uses of his time.

“Let me show you how.”

That distinction matters.

A production target tells someone what you want.

Mentorship teaches them how to get there.

Read: #1 Mistake With Dental Associates

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6. Shadowing Can Accelerate Associate Development

Blake’s newer associate isn’t simply being sent into the practice with a number to hit.

When she isn’t with a patient, she’s shadowing Blake or Dr. Farrell.

She’s watching.

She’s asking questions.

She’s looking at cases.

She’s seeing how another doctor identifies treatment.

And sometimes the teaching happens on a tooth that isn’t even being treated that day.

Blake can point out:

“If we were working on this tooth, here’s what I would look for.”

That creates a different learning environment.

The associate isn’t just being told what she missed after the fact.

She’s learning to see opportunities before they’re missed.

Mentorship has to be sought out

There’s another lesson here for associates.

If you want mentorship, ask for it.

If there’s a doctor in your office who is producing at a level you want to reach, ask to shadow them.

Ask questions.

Watch how they communicate.

Look at how they diagnose.

Study how they present treatment.

You don’t have to pretend you already know everything.

As Gary points out, asking for help doesn’t make you look stupid.

It shows that you’re trying to learn.

For practice owners, the lesson is just as important:

Create an environment where people can actually learn from the people around them.

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7. Buy Back the Owner’s Time

Eventually, the practice owner has to make a difficult decision.

What work should I stop doing?

That’s harder than it sounds.

When you’re used to producing clinically, stepping away from the chair can feel like taking a pay cut.

And it may be.

At least temporarily.

Blake describes this as a “phase out.”

As associates become capable of producing more, his clinical schedule can change.

The goal isn’t to stop practicing because he dislikes dentistry.

The goal is to create room for higher-value work.

That might include:

• Training associates
• Mentoring doctors
• Building systems
• Developing the team
• Planning future capacity
• Working on the business
• Handling opportunities only the owner can handle

The long-term vision for Blake is eventually becoming less clinical, not because he doesn’t enjoy dentistry, but because he enjoys developing people.

That’s an important distinction.

Your highest-value hour isn’t always your clinical hour

Read: Why Most Dentists are Trapped in a 24/7 Job (And How to Fix It)

Gary and Blake use a simple way to think about this.

If an hour of your time is worth $500, but someone else can perform a task for $20 an hour, you need to ask why you’re doing that task.

The answer isn’t always “delegate everything.”

There are stages of business where the owner has to do more.

But as the practice becomes financially stable, you gain the ability to buy time back.

Blake gave a simple example outside dentistry.

He could change the oil in his generator himself.

Or he could pay someone to do it.

Earlier in his career, doing it himself made sense.

Later, paying someone else made more sense because the time was worth more than the money saved.

The same concept applies inside the practice.

Read: Why Some Dentists Take Home More Without Working More

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8. The Owner Should Do What Only the Owner Can Do

This may be the most important operational idea in the episode.

Gary describes it simply:

The owner should do the things only the owner can do.

In a dental practice, that means looking at the owner’s schedule differently.

If another dentist can perform a bread-and-butter procedure, why should the owner necessarily be the one doing it?

Blake is already thinking about moving away from routine fillings and other procedures that another doctor can perform.

That creates capacity for more complex treatment.

It also creates time for leadership.

Think about the value of the chair

Imagine Blake can produce $25,000 during a four-hour block because he’s doing a complex case.

If another doctor can handle three routine crowns in that same period, Blake doesn’t necessarily need to be the one doing those crowns.

The question becomes:

Where does the practice get the greatest return from Blake’s four hours?

That’s optimization.

It’s different from simply asking how much dentistry the owner can personally do.

“The owner should only be doing the things that the owner can only do.”

Read: If You Stopped Doing Dentistry, Would Your Business Survive?

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9. Move From “How Much?” to “How Optimized?”

This is where the path toward $750,000 or $1 million changes.

At some point, adding more patients isn’t enough.

In fact, adding more patients can create a new problem.

If you don’t have the capacity to serve them efficiently, more demand can make the practice worse.

Blake recognizes that his physical space gives the practice significant capacity.

But eventually, even that capacity has a ceiling.

That’s when the question changes.

Not:

“How much can we do?”

But:

“How optimized can we be?”

Match the right provider to the right treatment

Blake describes a future where providers have different levels of capability.

Maybe Blake is the only person who can perform a particular complex procedure.

Maybe Dr. Farrell can perform three implants at a time.

Maybe another associate can perform one.

That gives the owner a way to allocate treatment based on skill.

The goal isn’t simply filling every chair.

It’s making sure every chair is being used by the right person for the right type of treatment.

That is how you create more production without simply adding more hours.

“We switch from saying how much can we do to how optimized can we be.”

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10. Expect a Step Back Before the Next Step Forward

Here’s the part that can make growth uncomfortable.

You may have to make less money before you make more money.

Blake is very open about this.

When your income is tied heavily to your clinical production, moving away from the chair can feel financially irresponsible.

You’re intentionally reducing something that works.

Why?

Because you’re building something that can eventually work at a larger level.

This happens when you:

• Hire an associate
• Invest in training
• Add capacity
• Increase marketing
• Build leadership
• Open another location
• Develop a partner track
• Delegate work you used to do yourself

There is risk involved.

There is also a reason for doing it.

You are trading some of today’s income or time for future capacity.

“Sometimes you’ve got to take a step backwards to take a step forward.”

That doesn’t mean every dentist should take the same step.

Blake makes that clear.

You need to know what you actually want to build.

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11. Don’t Reverse Engineer Someone Else’s Life

This is an important distinction.

The goal isn’t to copy Blake.

It isn’t to copy Gary.

It isn’t to copy another dentist producing $1 million a month.

Your best month should be reverse engineered against your own goal.

Blake talks about the idea of different currencies.

Money matters.

Time matters.

Freedom matters.

The ability to work clinically matters.

The ability to develop people matters.

Those currencies aren’t worth the same thing to every dentist.

One owner may want $1 million a month.

Another may want $300,000 a month and Fridays off.

Another may want to remain highly clinical.

Another may want to eventually become non-clinical.

There isn’t one correct answer.

Start with your vision

Before you reverse engineer the number, define what the number is supposed to give you.

Then build the practice around that.

If the goal is more time, the answer might involve replacing your clinical production.

If the goal is higher production, the answer might involve more providers and more capacity.

If the goal is a better lifestyle, the answer may actually be a smaller practice.

Growth only makes sense when it takes you toward something you actually want.

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The Reverse Engineering Framework

Take the ideas from this episode and turn them into a repeatable process.

Step 1: Find your best month

Don’t start with a fantasy number.

Find a month when your practice performed better than normal.

Then ask what happened.

Step 2: Break the number into components

Look at:

• Doctor production
• Hygiene production
• Number of providers
• Days worked
• Production per day
• New patients
• Treatment opportunities
• Capacity

Step 3: Identify the current constraint

Ask what is actually keeping you from repeating the result.

Is it people?

Capacity?

Production?

Treatment?

Your own time?

Step 4: Find the person who can solve the constraint

If the answer is an associate, develop the associate.

If it’s a team problem, train the team.

If it’s capacity, build capacity.

If it’s an owner-time problem, delegate the work someone else can do.

Step 5: Reallocate the owner’s time

Move the owner away from tasks that others can perform.

Use that time for the things only the owner can do.

Step 6: Recalculate the model

Your practice will change.

Your KPI will change.

Your capacity will change.

Your team’s capabilities will change.

So keep reverse engineering.

The framework is not a one-time exercise.

It’s how you continue finding the next constraint.

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Key Takeaways

• Your best month contains clues. Study it instead of treating it like a fluke.
• Start with realistic baseline numbers and work backward into daily production targets.
• Your KPI should change as your practice, patients, providers, and skill levels change.
• Associate development can become one of the highest-value uses of an owner’s time.
• Mentorship works better when associates can watch, ask questions, and see how experienced doctors identify opportunities.
• The owner should gradually move away from work that other providers can perform.
• Growth eventually shifts from volume to optimization.
• Sometimes you have to accept a short-term financial or production step backward to create a much larger step forward.

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Conclusion

Nearly hitting $750,000 in one month wasn’t the end of the story.

It created a new question.

How do we make this repeatable?

That’s the real value of a breakthrough month.

It proves something.

Maybe it proves that $750,000 is possible.

Maybe it proves that $200,000 is possible when you normally do $150,000.

Maybe it proves that your team can handle more than you thought.

Maybe it proves that an associate can eventually replace part of your production.

The number itself isn’t the point.

The point is that you now have evidence.

Use it.

Break it down.

Find the constraint.

Develop the people who can remove it.

Then move your own time toward the work that creates the most value.

And when the practice changes, do it again.

That’s how you stop hoping for your best month and start building a system that can reproduce it.

Read: The 6 CEO Focus Areas That Create Dental Practice Momentum

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Listen to the Full Episode

Want to hear Dr. Blake Hamblin and Gary Bird break down how Blake nearly reached $750,000 in a single month and what it would take to make that performance repeatable?

Listen to Episode 52, “$200K to $750K: The Month We Reverse Engineered,” for the full conversation.