Most dentists who have paid for coaching and felt burned share the same story. They signed a long contract, handed over thousands of dollars, received a binder full of SOPs, sat through a few calls, and watched their practice stay exactly where it was. The frustration is real, and the skepticism that follows is earned.
But here is what that experience usually reveals: the coaching was the wrong type, for the wrong season, sold at the wrong level of commitment. That is not the same as coaching being a scam, though scams absolutely exist in this space.
In Episode 46 of My Dental Playbook, Gary Bird and Dr. Blake sit down to answer the question dentists are afraid to ask out loud: Is dental coaching a scam? They walk through a six-point framework for evaluating any coaching program, knowing when the timing is right, and avoiding the mistakes that cost practices time, money, and momentum.
Why Dentists Are Right to Be Skeptical
There are people in the dental coaching space who will take your money any way they can. That is not a cynical take. That is the reality of any industry where the buyer is busy, under pressure, and searching for a faster path forward.
The dentist is a perfect target. You are running a clinical operation, managing a team, handling overhead, and trying to grow, often all at once. When someone presents a compelling promise of transformation, it is easy to say yes before doing the work of actually vetting what you are buying.
At the same time, the right coaching relationship is genuinely one of the highest-leverage investments a practice owner can make. It compresses time. It helps you avoid the costly mistakes that other people have already made. It gives you a path forward that you could not see clearly from inside your own practice. The goal of this post is to help you tell the difference.
The Six-Point Framework for Vetting Dental Coaching
1. Talk to Someone Who Has Already Been Where You Want to Go
This sounds obvious, but most dentists skip it. When evaluating a coach or a program, the first question to ask is: who else has gone through this, and can I talk to them?
Do not rely on testimonials on a website or reviews in a Facebook group. Those are easy to curate. Instead, find someone you already know and trust who has either worked with this coach or is currently in the program. Ask them directly: What did you implement? Did it work? What was the coach actually like once you were inside?
As Dr. Blake puts it, dentists are generally open books. They want to help each other. If you ask someone you trust for an honest read, you will usually get one. The key word is trust. Feedback from a peer you respect carries more weight than anything you will find by searching online.
2. If You Cannot Find References, Be Willing to Be the Guinea Pig at Low Risk
There are coaches who are genuinely excellent and have not yet built a large following. Newer programs with smaller track records are not automatically bad. But if you cannot find third-party validation, the way you test the waters is with a low-commitment entry point.
Take a single course or attend a one-off event before signing a long-term contract. If that experience delivers something real, something you can implement immediately and see results from, it is a reasonable signal that there is more value inside the larger program. If the entry-level experience feels thin, that is your answer before you spend twenty or thirty thousand dollars to find out.
3. The Problem Has to Be Bigger Than the Price Tag
If your hesitation about coaching is purely financial, the problem you are trying to solve probably is not urgent enough to drive real change. That sounds harsh, but it is one of the most important things Gary and Dr. Blake discuss in the episode.
The practices that get the most out of coaching are not the ones who reluctantly test it out. They are the ones who are genuinely frustrated with where they are. The stagnation feels unbearable. The inability to attract new patients, retain good team members, or push past a collections ceiling has become a problem they will do whatever it takes to solve.
When the problem is that real, the investment stops feeling like a risk. It starts feeling like the only option.
4. The Goal of a Good Coach Is for You to Outgrow Them
This one reframes the entire relationship. A coach is not a permanent fixture in your business. They are a guide for a specific season of your growth.
Gary describes this directly from his own experience: after a year and a half with a particular coach, he realized the problems that coach was hired to solve had been solved. The coach could not help him reach the next level because they had never been there themselves. Rather than viewing that as a failure, Gary celebrated it. The relationship had done exactly what it was supposed to do.
Dr. Blake compares it to parenting, or to a jiu-jitsu trainer whose student eventually beats them in a match. A great coach wants that outcome. Their success is defined by your growth, and when you outgrow the relationship, that is not an ending. That is the point.
Expect to work with more than one coach over the lifetime of your practice. Different challenges require different expertise. Plan for transitions rather than treating them as betrayal or failure.
5. Coaching Is Not a Quick Fix
Many coaching programs lead with what is called a quick win. They come in, make an immediate adjustment to scheduling or case presentation, and collections jump. That early result is real, and it serves a purpose: it validates the decision you just made and builds trust in the process.
But that quick win is not the work. It is the front door.
The actual work is addressing the underlying issues that created the plateau in the first place. Those might be a culture problem, a hiring and retention issue, a leadership gap, or a breakdown in systems that no single SOP is going to fix. That work takes months, not weeks. If you go into a coaching relationship expecting transformation in three weeks, you will either be disappointed or, worse, you will mistake an early bump in production for a solved problem when the real issue has not been touched.
As Gary states plainly: this is a six-month, twelve-month, eighteen-month commitment. The coach who tells you otherwise is either selling you something or does not understand what sustainable growth requires.
6. At the End of the Day, It Is a You Problem
This is the one most practice owners do not want to hear, and it is the most important point in the episode.
You have not reached your goals yet because you have not yet become the version of yourself capable of leading your practice to them. That is not a criticism. It is a description of how growth works. Coaching is not something that happens to you. It is something you participate in actively, apply relentlessly, and show up for consistently.
Dr. Blake gives a concrete example: in groups he belongs to, the live calls are where the real value lives. But it is easy to skip the live call because it is recorded. Catching the replay feels like the same thing, but it is not. The person who shows up, engages in real time, and immediately looks for ways to apply what they heard gets five times the return.
The steps the coach gives you are only as valuable as the action you take with them. Ownership of that implementation is entirely yours.
Coaching Vs. a Scam: How to Tell the Difference
The line between a poor coaching fit and an outright scam is real, and it matters.
A scam takes your money without delivering anything of substance. A poor fit delivers something real that does not happen to match what your practice needed at that stage. Confusing the two leads to blanket cynicism that keeps dentists from finding the relationships that would actually help them.
When evaluating any program, look for these warning signs: long contracts with no trial option, vague or unverifiable results claims, a resistance to connecting you with current or past participants, and pricing structures that create urgency before you have done any due diligence.
The programs worth your time tend to offer a low-risk entry point, connect you readily with people inside the community, and are honest about what coaching can and cannot do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is dental coaching worth the investment? For the right practice at the right stage, dental coaching is one of the highest-return investments available. The key variables are the quality of the coaching, the fit between what the coach offers and what the practice actually needs, and the willingness of the practice owner to implement what they learn. Coaching that is mismatched to the practice’s current problem, or coaching that goes unapplied, will not deliver returns regardless of price.
How do I know if a dental coach is legitimate? The most reliable test is direct conversation with people who have gone through the program. Look for coaches who offer a low-commitment entry point before a large contract, who can readily connect you with current or past participants, and whose case studies include practices at a similar stage to yours. Avoid programs that rely heavily on urgency, vague promises, or testimonials you cannot verify.
How long should dental coaching take to work? Expect a meaningful commitment of six to eighteen months before the deeper problems in a practice are addressed. Early quick wins are common in the first thirty to sixty days, but those are not the measure of whether coaching is working. Sustainable improvement in culture, team retention, systems, and collections growth takes consistent effort over a longer period.
When should a dentist consider hiring a coach? The clearest signal is when the pain of staying where you are outweighs the cost or discomfort of changing. Stagnating collections, high team turnover, difficulty attracting new patients, or a feeling that you have hit a ceiling you cannot see past are all signs that outside perspective may be what moves things forward. If the problem feels big enough that price is not the first objection, that is often the right time.
What is the difference between a dental mastermind and one-on-one coaching? A mastermind places you in a group of peers who are solving similar problems, with structured accountability, shared learning, and access to experienced facilitators. One-on-one coaching is more personalized and targeted to your specific situation. Both have value at different stages. Masterminds tend to deliver more implementation accountability because you are surrounded by people actively doing the same work.
Can a dental practice grow without a coach? Yes, but it typically takes longer and costs more in avoidable mistakes. The role of a good coach is to compress the timeline and help you see what you are too close to your own practice to see clearly. Many of the most successful practice owners attribute a significant portion of their growth to finding the right coaching relationship at the right time.
What This Means for Your Practice
If you have been sitting on the fence about coaching, the question worth asking is not whether coaching can be a scam. It can, and some is. The better question is: what problem am I trying to solve, how big is it, and am I ready to do the actual work that comes with the guidance?
If the answer is that the problem is real, urgent, and worth solving, the framework above gives you a clear path to evaluate your options without walking in blind.
Join the Mastermind
Gary Bird and Dr. Blake run a dental mastermind that meets monthly. It is structured around accountability, honest conversation, and practical implementation. The entry point is $299 with no long-term contract, which is a deliberate choice: they would rather you test it out and experience the value than sign a commitment before you know it is the right fit.
If you have questions about coaching, want help identifying what is actually holding your practice back, or just want to be in a room with people who are actively growing their practices, come join the conversation.
Listen to Episode 46 of My Dental Playbook here or wherever you get your podcasts.
