My Jameson Journey: Milestones and Metrics with Dr. Jarod Johnson

Carrie Weber:

Welcome to the Jameson Files. It’s so great to have all of you tuning in once again. As part of the Jameson Files community, I’m Carrie Weber as always, and I’m your host. Today I am really happy to be joined by a Jameson client, an amazing pediatric dentist from Iowa, Dr. Jarod Johnson of Arctic Dental. Dr. Johnson, thank you so much for joining me today.

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Yeah, Carrie, I’m really excited for this opportunity. I know we’ve had to push things off a little bit, but we finally got a time we could connect. I’m super excited to be with your listeners today.

Carrie Weber:

We made it happen. You know, if there’s anything about you and I, we’re persistent. We’re not going to give up. You know, I think it was my husband, Jess, that actually asked if you want to be on the podcast. And I’m so glad that he connected those dots because we connected and had our first conversation a little over a year ago now. That’s kind of hard to believe. I think it was spring of last year, am I right?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Yeah, I think it was. I think we started with Jameson in July of last year, and we got started figuring out how to make that happen in the early part of spring.

Dr. Johnson’s Beginnings as Pediatric Dentist

Carrie Weber:

And as I was preparing to meet with you for this recording, I was thinking back on that in our conversation and something that really stuck with me was how refreshing it is when you get to talk to doctors and practice owners that really understand the benefit of continuous development and learning. Something that I recognized about you in the past year and even when we were first talking was that you were so genuinely interested and curious and ready for guidance and mentorship and everything that we do. You just take it and you run with it. It’s just amazing. And I think that’s kind of a part of your nature, too, because you’re also an educator. So I’d love to give you a chance as we start off to just share a little bit about your dental journey and what caused you to fall in love with dentistry. You’re a pediatric dentist, so pediatrics especially. And what is it that really drives you from that educational and continuous learning side of things? Would that be all right?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Yes, so both my parents are dentists and my uncle is a dentist. They’re all retired now. But they really got me involved in dentistry early and it was a big part of my growth as a kid. I would go to all the dental conferences with them on trips. It was just an exciting time to learn about. 

And then in high school, I always made a point to take one art class, even though I was very strong with my science and my math, I made a point to take that class every semester and I really enjoyed working with my hands. So they kind of fit together. 

I ended up applying to dental school and got into that and was interested in pediatrics. And I wasn’t sure if I could deal with really little kids because behavior can be one of the most challenging parts of pediatric dentistry. But I had the opportunity to be a coach at the junior high for basketball and football during my time in undergrad. And that kind of got my interest. And when I got into dental school, the rotation didn’t seem as bad. And personally, I love pediatric dentistry because it’s different every day. You get to tell jokes. You don’t have to be as serious. And I think one of the things that is really rewarding is to have that patient that came in and wouldn’t even sit in your chair, crying in the corner, and all of a sudden three years later, they’re giving you a hug. 

Carrie Weber:

I love that. So am I right that you were in Nevada for some time before you moved to Iowa? Is that correct?

Becoming Involved in Dental Education

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Yes, so I had the opportunity to go down to UNLV in Las Vegas and train there. It was a great experience. I loved it. We didn’t have any other residency programs, so we just had ortho. So all the kids, whether they came in with an impacted tooth or they came in with a need for a root canal, we had that opportunity if we wanted to take it. And I got a great experience. And one of the things that I learned down there was taught by Dr. Ron Leman. It’s something with vital pulp therapy. It’s one of my passions, but it wasn’t something that was as mainstream as it is today. 

And that’s really what got me into education ten years ago. I did my first webinar on Dentaltown. Through that, I’ve had other opportunities. I now own my own CE company. If you want to check out our hands on course, we have one coming up in Minneapolis later this year.

And we do some free content for you throughout the year. And it’s just been fun because I don’t think pediatric dentistry really is as difficult as people make it out to be. It’s not like you’re doing these huge implant cases, but you have to understand the nuances and diagnosis and just the basics of dentistry to make it work. 

I think a lot of general dentists maybe shy away from kids when they don’t need to. It would help to have those kids treated in your chair and not take up time for kids that really need to be in my chair. So that’s been one of my passions is how do we get GPS and pediatric dentists to be more practical with the approach? I think it’s very simple to do, but it’s hard to understand if you don’t understand the basics that go behind the skill of growth and development and managing decay at the same time. We see periodontal patients every three months. Why don’t you see your high-risk caries kids every three months? That’s what we do at my office. And we can maybe reevaluate something. The kid has a positive experience with the cleaning and now we can get to the restorative. There’s practical ways to do things that we aren’t really trained to do because people think of only what insurance is going to cover.

Carrie Weber:

That’s interesting, so it sounds like the education piece is important, creating your own CE platform, lecturing– because you lecture across the country too on all of this, yes?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Yes. So if someone gives me an invitation, I’ll be happy to take a look at the proposal and see if it works. I’ve got young kids, so if it works with the family. I’m speaking at SmileCon this year. I’ve got an opportunity here in western Nebraska later next month. And one also virtually for Wisconsin, their pediatric dental association. I’ll be with them in September. So lots of opportunities. Virtual’s great. And then also in person is another opportunity. It’s something I’m passionate about and I’m happy to get anyone more information if they want to get in contact.

Carrie Weber:

And you know, it’s interesting, the passion piece has to play a part because, just like you said, there’s the dental practice, you have a family, you have a lot of pieces like that. And so how do you make those decisions? How are you balancing that between the passion to educate, but also the passion for your practice and your patients, and obviously keeping that time ready and available for your family?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

I think that’s one of the things that’s been a little bit more difficult. And obviously, if it’s going to have to wait, it’s going to be the CE. Family is first, and then I have patients to take care of. Usually, I’ll work on the CE stuff on Friday, so I’m getting a lot of stuff done today. I probably need to look at hiring someone to assist with this a little bit more so I can be a little more organized than I am right now. But as things come along, we look at the schedule and see if we can make it work. And if we can, we do. And we try not to let it be too much of a disruptor in those other two areas. 

Handling Changes with Insurance Relationships

Carrie Weber:

Of course. So when you and I first spoke, you were about eight years into owning your dental practice. As you’re looking at the 10 year mark, because now you’re nine years in practice ownership, what do you feel you are looking forward to or working on for your practice right now that perhaps other pediatric dentists would appreciate or would love to hear your insights on?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

I didn’t think I’d say this, but I think a lot of my colleagues are now getting out of insurance and going PPO, and we’ve had a lot of challenges recently that we’re trying to address at my office. And it’s not something, I just want to rip the bandaid off right away. But we’re working through things, and that’s one thing that’s been helpful to work with Jameson is to see how to make the schedule more effective. How do we figure out how to navigate withdrawing from some of these insurance companies without affecting the bottom line? And as an owner, something you worry about is losing an insurance company. Who’s going to stay with you and how do you retain those patients? 

So some of those things are things I think people right now are very aware of. I see a post on Instagram about dropping Delta almost every day. The world has changed a little bit with Covid and inflation and insurance. And I think a lot of people are finally moving away from it. And I think there’s a right way to do it to be successful, but you have to have some help to hold your hand along the way because we didn’t go to school to learn how to communicate on dropping insurance. You learn dentistry.

Carrie Weber:

Exactly. Most dentists aren’t going into dentistry thinking, oh, I can’t wait to figure out how to balance my business with insurance. And I’m sure it comes, you know, the insurance piece– I remember talking to you about this when we first connected and we first started with you—the insurance piece is difficult for any dentist no matter what your specialty. Especially as it continues to stake its claim in our profession. But I have to imagine from a pediatric dentist standpoint, I’m sure there’s a lot of struggle there for you in your decision making because you obviously want to help these kids. Every dentist wants to help their patients. But I think there is this balance between how you can best serve your patients and how you can keep your practice healthy. 

Fine Tuning your Practice to Better Serve Your Patients

I think that’s something that you’ve been wrestling with and trying to find that fine balance in terms of keeping a growing, thriving, healthy business and practice, and also being able to provide dentistry at the level that you want to provide it. And you getting to be in control of your philosophy of care and not being controlled by these other entities that are playing such a huge role. As you’ve been working through this, how has that experience been for you? Do you mind sharing a little bit of that?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Yeah, I think so. I did a startup right out of residency, and I think one of the problems as a young dentist or a new dentist is that you want to be the dentist for everyone. You start your business, you have no patients. You want to welcome anybody that wants to come in. And when you get busy enough, you start to have too many patients. And there comes a point when you can’t take care of everyone.

Carrie Weber:

Yes.

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

And you have to realize that at that point, that taking on so much, you’re doing a disservice to your patients because let’s say they come into you with a toothache and you do the diagnosis, a limited exam, and now all of a sudden you book them four months later. That’s not a service to that patient. That’s not a service for anyone to have that as a dentist. Like, oh my gosh, I’m going to have to tell them, do you know how much my team hates telling them? You just created all this urgency for me to get this tooth fixed, and now I’m going to be seen in four months.

Carrie Weber:

Yes.

Finding Ways to Give Back to the Community 

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

That’s a hard conversation. And to realize that you have to draw back and you can’t take care of everyone. And I think that’s okay. I think there’s ways to do it.  One of the things I tell all my participants at my CE courses, because you’re learning something new that you’ve never before… And this is an opportunity. One of the stories I tell involves our kids’ school. They go to a Catholic school. We’re not Catholic, but we’re Lutheran, but they go there. We value the school. And they came to the office to ask for a gift. It’s a live auction and a lot of people give away trips and other things. They said, why don’t we do a kid’s mouth dental case for free, and I can do whatever I want. We’ll find a kid maybe at the school or in the community that’s in need and we’ll do their whole case for free. And they said, well, that’s not going to go for anything, Dr. Johnson. So I said, oh, I’ll match up to a thousand dollars with a donation. We’ll see what happens. Ended up going for $10,000.

Carrie Weber:

Wow.

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

And I got to do… We don’t have a lot of kids that do all zirconia. So I got to do my first full mouth of zirconia for that kid for free, the Sprig EZCrowns. And what a great service. What a great story. And I got to learn something new. So if you want to learn something new at your practice and you want to help someone out, there’s great ways you can partner with this. 

I spoke to a group of endodontists and I said, why don’t you go do a root canal for someone that’s underserved for free? How are you going to get a job if you don’t have a front tooth? Yes. What great service is that for that patient? And I think there’s ways that you can still take care of your community and take care of people. And I know that you have a lot of dentists that do the same. I know Dr. Miles Davis, I was on CDEL with him and he did an amazing case for someone at his church. There’s just ways you can still give back and still take care of those people if you want to. And I think have a better opportunity to really take care of those that have maybe a little bit more of a need than some of those that don’t. If you take that up.

Carrie Weber:

You just packed in so much insight in terms of a lot of things that I think doctors of every type of focus wrestle with. Because truly, when you step back and you think beyond the model, beyond the patients, beyond the plans, you’re only one person and your practice’s performance, your patient care is going to be limited by your own capacity. And it just speaks to vision. It speaks to having an awareness and a clarity of what’s most important to you as a clinician and as a practice owner of what right looks like in terms of your patient care. And that sometimes the things we do to try and grow our practice afterwards turn around and become things that inhibit us from being able to provide ideal patient care. 

And I love the thought process that you can still support your community. You can still do things that serve your heart for caring for your patients while also recognizing, creating parameters, almost as boundaries for your practice can be even better for you and your patients than just being a free for all for whoever. And you’re right, nobody can be the right person for everybody. We’re not the right fit for everybody. You’re not the right fit for everybody. But the great news is, there are others, right? We’re not doing anybody any favors by trying to be everything for everyone. And so I love that you have really, really honed in and focused on creating an ideal practice, not only for yourself personally, but for the patients that come through. I think that’s really a great path to be on. 

Can you believe you’re almost 10 years into this practice?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

It doesn’t seem like it’s been, it’s gone quickly. It doesn’t seem like it’s been 10 years, but I think that one of the things I really enjoy is just creation and being a creator and building things. It’s what’s really been a passion of mine. And it’s fun to see the practice grow and try to keep up with the changes. There’s always going to be challenges. We’re going through a little bit of a challenging time now. And I think when I look back, we’ve always been successful no matter what challenges have been thrown at us. I think resiliency is something we need to look at too, as, as practice owners and dentists. We’re going to get through things and you’ve survived your worst day. 

Carrie Weber:

Yes. That’s funny. I was actually being interviewed for a podcast recently and I talked about the same thing. I said, you know, in business ownership…yes, it takes vision. Yes, it takes all of those. But I think also the business owners that go the distance have a little bit of grit to them. You have to have a little grit to your resilience because there’s always something around the corner, right? Autopilot doesn’t really exist in a small business owner’s world. And you have to embrace that, I think, to a degree and be a continuous learner and look for resources to help you stay focused and stay moving things forward. 

Looking to the Future

So when you think about… because you do, you have a lot of dental peers that are coming to your classes that I’m sure you engage in on a regular basis. So you spend a lot of time when you’re lecturing with your pediatric dental peers and you are very connected with a lot in the profession. So as you think to the future, what are some things that you would encourage other pediatric dentists to look forward to or look toward for their practices or for the future of your specialty?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

I think some of the most popular ones right now are probably with tongue ties and airway. I see a lot of people heading down that road. For me, I’m still kind of on the therapeutic. I know SDF came around when I was graduating residency, and oh my gosh, Carrie, I thought cavities are going to be gone. We’re going to have no more tooth decay. I have $400,000 worth of student loans and I’m not going to be able to repay this. And well, that’s not the case, there’s plenty of work out there. 

But I’m excited with therapeutics. I see a lot of things coming onto the market and I know the ADA is coming out with some new salivary testing, but how do we match? We have those patients that come in, they’re asking, “Why do I always get cavities? Why do I always have new stuff? I brush twice a day, I eat healthy.” And I think with this testing and then matching that with the therapeutic, the probiotics that are out there, the Povi-One from Advantage Arrest, that’s available now, all these things are tools, but we don’t really have the research to know what’s going to be best for which patient. 

And for me, the reason I’m excited about it is because if we can prevent a cavity that I don’t have to work on, we can avoid the sedation. We can avoid a difficult experience with a young child. And that’s going to be less stressful on everyone, I think, on the parent, on me, and on the kid. So I’m excited to see where that will go with the research, with the therapeutics out there. 

Add xylitol in and arginine. I know that’s something that has been shown… And even with some of the new research that was just in Jada earlier this month, they’re showing the shift of the pH with arginine being the key role in that mechanism of action for the SDF study. So I think those things are exciting and it may not be something that is clinically impressive, but I think it’s something we should be aware of as clinicians when we’re trying to reduce our stress at the office.

Carrie Weber:

Yes. Well, I love it. I love anything that’s proactive and preventive, and I think there’s a lot of parents out there that are looking for that kind of care for their kids. And as we all know, the primary goal of pediatric dentistry is to create really engaged and good adult patients, too, to help them have positive experiences and a healthy relationship with their oral care. And I think the approaches that you’re taking and the passion that you’re bringing to the forefront speaks to that. And I think that’s something that a lot of other doctors can connect with you on is how to become a proactive, preventive resource for their patients, to create not only healthy patients today, but that they will be healthy patients in the future. That’s the goal. Right? Great, healthy smiles for a lifetime.

Structuring Your Practice to Reduce Stress

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

That’s one of the things we looked at when we were looking at my schedule and how far out things were. What are some things that we can do? We sat down with Becky from Jameson and we got our whiteboard out and we broke into groups and we said, “Hey, what are things we can do to reduce the stress of our operative load?” Good or bad ideas. Right? Whatever it was. Then all of our team wrote it down and then we got together in a meeting and we went through and said why one would or wouldn’t work. And one of the things that really came out of it was, we’re not doing a lot of sealants because I don’t have the time, so we’re going to switch to recommending more sealants and getting those on the schedule. So we’re not having that tooth need the occlusal lesion and then taking up operative time with these high-risk kids.

And we’re not recommending prevention as much. So we came up with a plan at the office. I was selling the Just Right toothpaste, which is a 1.1% sodium fluoride prescription toothpaste at cost. I doubled the cost of that and I said, “Hey, for every tube that this team sells, at the end of the month, we’re going to take $10 per tube and we’re going to break that up between everyone.” And they got a nice check at the end of the first month. And we did a lot for our patients. We’ve actually had patients that are coming back now, they’re saying, “Oh, I didn’t have any cavities. Can I get another tube of that toothpaste?”

Carrie Weber:

I love that.

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

A great way to reduce the work and the operative schedule. It’s a huge benefit for your patient because they’re not having new work to do. So they love that. And then also they’re leaving with the product. And a lot of dentists will feel guilty for selling out of their office. And you shouldn’t, because if you write a prescription, less than half of those ever get picked up. The benefit is, it is for everyone, for the patient, for your team, and for you to have less stress on your operative schedule. Which is great. I know I don’t make as much money doing that, but I feel a lot better and I’m not stressed and there’s plenty of other work to go around to fill in the rest of the schedule.

Carrie Weber:

Well, there’s something to be said about feeling a lot better and not as stressed.

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Absolutely. 

Carrie Weber:

There’s a lot of value behind that. Right? You know sometimes success doesn’t have a dollar sign by it. Sometimes your success is, I have balance, my chest doesn’t feel as heavy at the end of the day or at the start of a day. Right? And I think you’re making great strides and you and your team are making some great decisions to try and figure out how to honor your vision. How do we honor these patients? And how do we create a practice that can sustain over time to not only help you achieve your goals, but also be something that you can be proud of when you look back? And I think that’s a beautiful thing while you’re also, not only contributing to your community with a practice such as yours, but you’re also contributing to the dental community through your education. And so for that, I think we should all be grateful that you take the time and the energy to do so. 

Connecting with Dr. Jarod Johnson in the Future

So SmileCon this fall? Yes?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Yep. We’ll be in New Orleans. So that’ll be a wonderful meeting. I’ve never been to Louisiana, so I’m excited to go down there, and enjoy SmileCon. There’s a few other exciting things that will be going on at the meeting with surprise and delight that I can’t share with you, but there’ll be some fun things if you haven’t been to a SmileCon.

Carrie Weber:

Okay, great. So for those of you who are planning on going to the ADA SmileCon this year, I would really recommend that you find Dr. Johnson in his courses and look for him on the horizon in upcoming meetings and through his CE. 

So Dr. Johnson, any way that people can reach you or find out more about your schedule or your CE opportunities?

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Yeah, probably the best way is to follow me on Instagram, @drdoublejs, The Practical Pediatric Dentist. That’s probably the best way to reach out. If you want to go to our website, pediatricdentalce.com.  That’s another way you can access some free courses online and look for the webinars that are coming up. And then I’m super excited again to be at SmileCon. We’re going to be sharing some of the tips that I’ve learned for wellness, talking about how you structure your practice so you can reduce your anxiety and stress. 

And there are some key fundamental things that we’ve actually worked through with the FDI and then also implementing that with Jameson. Becky’s been really helpful. Just one example I’ll share with you is we were at the point where we would have a full day scheduled. I have 50 to 60 patients and we have an emergency call and now we have to find a way to put them.

So instead of slamming that onto our day, we already have a blocked out time that can’t be filled until the day before. So the emergency calls, you’re not adding on an additional patient. You’ve already reserved a spot for them and that just reduces your stress. So just some examples like that. But we’ll walk through that toolkit that the FDI has on stressors on your dental team as well, and kind of come up with some ideas for resilience because it’s something that I’ve really been working on. I know being in dentistry has not been easy lately, and I think if we look at the situation and analyze it, we can make it easier to do. And I’m just excited to share. That’s not as much clinical dentistry, but it’s something that I’ve been working through personally just for myself to be healthier. So I’d love to have you join me at SmileCon. There’ll be two presentations on that, and then another one on a panel.

Carrie Weber:

Well, I think that sounds amazing. So I would highly encourage all of you to do that. I know a lot of dentists that need that type of support and that type of help. So Dr. Johnson, I just wanted you to know how grateful I am for you spending some time with me on this podcast and how grateful I am for the connection that we have and for our work together and for what you contribute to the profession. So thank you for being with us today.

Dr. Jarod Johnson:

Yeah. Thanks for having me on. And I hope everyone enjoyed the show today.

Carrie Weber:

And thanks to all of you for joining us on another episode. I hope that you’ll find Dr. Johnson’s information online, find him on Instagram. And until next time, be well and we’ll see you soon.
Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Jameson Files. Visit us online. You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify. See you next time.