Gary Kadi, Author of "Million Dollar Dentistry" and founder of NextLevel Practice

Overview: Dr. Eric Henize is a Complete Health Dentist in Cincinnati. He grew his practice by $432,832 in 12 months

Gary Kadi, the author, documentarian and CEO of NextLevel  Practice, goes behind the curtain with Dr. Henize. The success didn't come easy, so Gary sat down with Dr. Henize to get the story.

GARY:  While I know some of your story, let's now share it.  Before your turnaround, paint the picture for us.

DR. HENIZE: I can't say that my practice was struggling in a major way at that point.  We had our ups and downs, but mine was essentially a practice that was taking good care of people, but was under-performing financially.  We really weren't equipped with an educational case acceptance system that could truly guide our patients into making the best choices for their oral and overall health.  It was honestly more of a disappointment than anything else that after nearly thirty years in dentistry, the finances of the practice were much more hand to mouth and month to month than they should have been.

GARY: That's interesting.  Tell me, how did these challenges evolve since the time you left dental school?

DR. HENIZE: Well, Gary, I had never really been able to come to terms with money in all of those years.  My family didn't live an extravagant lifestyle, and yet I still found myself borrowing against the future all too often.  During the nineties and early 2000s, credit cards with high limits and low promotional rates were very easy to obtain, and during slow times for our practice they offered a short-term fix for cash flow problems.  Unfortunately, the ramifications turned out to be longer-term debt and constant restructuring.

GARY: And now take us through your turn around.  How did it unfold and when did you know that it wasn't just a couple of good months in a row?

DR. HENIZE: When my team were given solid communication and management systems which equipped us to educate our patients and guide, not sell, them into making choices and decisions, that led to a dramatic increase in case acceptance. We learned how to be oral and systemic health advocates, and in the process of truly putting our patients' health first, practice revenues rose precipitously.  I finally realized six to nine months into the program that our results were not a fluke or temporary in nature.

GARY: What advice do you have for dentists who are struggling as you once did?

DR. HENIZE: I would tell them not to give up or give in.  There is a better way to practice dentistry.  The Complete Health Dentistry movement that you have founded and lead offers real hope and guidance for dentists, their families and their teams.  And best of all, it is based upon easily implemented systems that empower team members to create and maintain health-centered conversations and relationships with our patients. 

GARY: What were your expectations when you went into dentistry, and have your financial goals been met?

DR. HENIZE: Coming into the field of dentistry, my expectations were that I would be able to help people have healthier mouths and in the process earn a well above average income.  It made sense to me, because of the necessary educational investment of time, effort and money, that providing dental health care should yield commensurate financial rewards. 

The reality, though, was that without business, leadership and managerial training, my first three decades in dentistry were a mixed bag of trying to learn those things on my own from CE courses and on the job training.  The bottom line is that my financial goals were never truly realized until recently.

GARY: If you were to give a fellow dentist a blue print of how to work towards a brighter not to distant future what would your advice be?

DR. HENIZE: My recommended blueprint is:

1. Discover and record your values and purpose
2. Study personal leadership
3. Take responsibility for your past successes and failures
4. Adopt an abundance mentality
5. Acknowledge your team as your most important customer
6. Seek out like-minded and similarly motivated individuals
7. Learn with and from others
8. Work with a dental business coach

GARY: And do you feel grateful now--as in wanting to give back?

DR. HENIZE: Absolutely!  A major component of the work we do is the tenet of "doing well by doing good."  The better our practice does financially, the more we are able to do for our community.  We have sponsored free dentistry days in our office, have participated in a program for lower income individuals called Dental Options and have been involved in a number of non-dental community philanthropies as well.

GARY: Finally, Eric, what does your economic and bigger picture future look like? 

DR. HENIZE: As Timbuck 3 said, "the future's so bright, I have to wear shades". As a result of my work our practice revenues have more than doubled in the last four years, and we are now in the process of purchasing other practices and teaching those teams how to help their patients the way we have been able to help ours.  Our shared vision is to help 30 million patients get healthy by the year 2020, and we believe that this worthwhile goal is well within reach!

Eric Henize, DDS

Dr. Eric Henize has been a member of the Greater Cincinnati Dental Community for the past thirty years.  He believes in providing his patients with dental excellence in a compassionate and personalized manner. His professional memberships include the American Dental Association, the Ohio Dental Association, the Cincinnati Dental Society and the Northern Hills Dental Study Club. He can be reached at (513) 489-0607

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