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Chris Bentson is widely recognized as one of the most famous names in orthodontics. Few others have as much business acumen, credibility, data, and research as he does with his team at Bentson, Copple and Patterson. Every year, Chris fields hundreds of calls from orthodontists and gives dozens of presentations about the industry's current and future state.

1. What advice would you give yourself today if you were a 25-year-old entering this industry?

    

   It would be best to learn the fundamentals of how orthodontists make money. With orthodontics, many didn’t understand the fundamentals of profit and loss basics. I was fortunate to have practice data and figured it out quickly – which allowed me to establish more of a consultative relationship with orthodontists early on. I would say, “If I’m going to be successful, I’ll relate my services to their success and how they make money.” I would ask anyone entering this industry today: Do I like this market? Do I want to work with people in this market? Do I understand this market including how doctors make money? Do I believe this market has long-term viability and growth? If I feel optimistic about those things, I’d immerse myself in the market details such that you add the most value to the doctors because you understand their business.

    

2. What book, or books, do you give most as a gift?

    

   I’m not a huge fiction guy, but I love everything Pat Conroy has written. I also love biographies. People who have done extraordinary things have extraordinary stories. You find that when you read biographies, people have overcome so much. We have a book by Bob Burg called The Go-Giver, which describes the culture around which we’ve built our company. It’s a business parable that teaches the principles of contribution, abundance, service, and success. I find that people learn best from stories and we’ve given several hundred copies of it over the years to orthodontists. I’m also a huge fan of Scott Galloway. He teaches brand marketing at NYU-Stern School of Business; I love how he writes and his authenticity, and my favorite recently is The Algebra of Success. It’s more of a philosophy book on what makes people successful. To the younger people, especially dental graduates, I usually give The Defining Decade by Dr. Meg Jay. The book teaches that the financial decisions you make during the first ten years of making money, whether that occurs after high school, undergrad, dental school, or receiving your orthodontic specialty degree, will largely determine your financial wealth trajectory. I love this book. Still give it away a lot.

    

3. What’s the best value for $100 to spend at a practice?

    

   The more generous you are to the people who help you, the better off your business. I’d spend $100 on my team – I’d spend it on pizza, nail polish, something in a small way that shows I appreciate them. Good leaders do that, but we do not do it often enough. I’d also choose to spend $100 on my wife. I’ve habitually told others, “If you want to do something for me, do something for my wife.” She’s helped me immensely.

    

4. What’s a moment in your career that at the time was a failure… but led to who you are today?

    

   If you look at any entrepreneur’s endeavor, there are times when, if the winds blew a little more one way or the other, it wouldn’t have survived. That’s certainly the case for me. I got here from an exciting route from Atlanta to Greensboro. I purchased an orthodontic valuation and transition company from an orthodontist and quickly learned I didn’t have the skill set to do the work. The next six months were the most miserable of my professional career. The skill set I lacked was in accounting. I didn’t have the discipline to sit at a desk eight hours a day and look at the numbers in a way that you had to evaluate a practice. I was more of a vision and a voice guy – so I needed someone else to execute the detail work. I was stressed. I drank a lot. I became pretty isolated. We didn’t need much money to meet payroll back then, but I remember distinctly if we got $13,000 a month, we’d be ok until the next month. Man, I was scared. I got professional guidance and help from a mentor – and my first hire was Doug Copple. Through a series of fortunate events, I convinced him to leave his fast track to partner with a public accounting job and to fill in the expertise that I didn’t have. My initial failure was that I wasn’t honest about my skill set. The lesson learned is to surround yourself with those who fill your gaps. Everyone who works for us, or with me, has the opposite skill set and, in many cases, the personality of me. The people I work with are fact-finders and detail-oriented people, so I can be out there talking about what’s going on, and they can do the behind the-scenes heavy lifting required to get all the numbers right. There were moments when I asked if I had made the right decision in purchasing this business. You have to know your gaps and have people fill your gaps. Becoming successful in our company has been hugely gratifying.

    

5. What’s the balance between asking for help and thinking you can do it yourself?

    

   I think one of the most significant weaknesses of smart people is their reluctance to ask for help. Meet any orthodontist. They graduated at the top of their high school class, undergraduate, and dental classes. They have rarely encountered anything negative (academic performance-wise). Then, they get out and find a challenging business environment. The inclination is I’ll figure it out. I‘ll stay up. I won’t sleep. I’ll numb myself with whatever it takes. But ask for help. Know yourself. Be honest with yourself sooner. Asking for help from qualified people is the fastest way to get out of the ditch you may find yourself in.

    

6. You get to put up a billboard that everyone will see on their way to work; what’s on it?

    

   No One is Against You. They’re Just For Themselves.

    

   I think the world today is too thin-skinned. We need to stop taking actions and comments so personally. Your boss is not against you. Your patients are not against you. Your referring providers are not against you. The AAO is not against you. In a broader sense, your spouse is not against you. People act for self-preservation. They act on what they believe is best for them – it’s the story of the human enterprise. We will have a healthier place if we understand this concept as employees, leaders, moms, dads, and fathers.

    

7. What is the best investment you made in this industry?

    

   Sometimes, you’re at the right place and time, and there’s an element of luck to many successful stories. Thirty-five years ago, I was young in my career, and an old teacher started a mentor group called Radical Mentoring. It was targeted at 20-somethings that the teacher thought would be CEOs of companies someday. We met for four hours once a month on a Sunday. There were two retreats, and you had assignments each week. You read one book a month; you had to write a business plan and present and discuss; you had to talk about your marriage, life balance, your view on money and budgeting, and the physical aspect of being a leader and human being. But we learned about success. This program has trained several thousand people, and that was a pivotal moment in my young life. Get a mentor. Have someone you meet with on a cadence you can talk to about what’s troubling you, your dreams, your vision, and what’s in the way of getting that vision. Best investment I’ve made.

    

8. Do you think many orthodontists have mentors?

    

   No, I don’t. They have many friends they went to school with, but mentors are few and far between.

    

9. What’s an unusual habit you love about the industry?

    

   The reason that I love orthodontics is because it’s fun to deal with really bright people. The Achilles heel of dealing with bright people is that they think they can do everything themselves. So, the unusual habit is that they almost universally cannot delegate, which orthodontists have improved on. They are just so reluctant because of the way they are wired. They can’t watch someone else do it because they know they can do it better. If you want to scale at any level and have a better practice-life balance, delegate. The happiest doctors and those growing the most have learned to delegate tasks to the team, and the orthodontist's job is keeping the team accountable vs. doing everything themselves.

    

10. What’s a bad recommendation that’s touted as an industry “best practice”?

     

    By and large, it’s being more focused on digital marketing as the best way to grow their practice. I wouldn’t say I like the trend of spending money on digital marketing as your only or best marketing source. Instead, you must roll up your sleeves and spend more time with your patients, community, and referrals. People buy from people. Branding your business as the “go-to” is not a marketing program or event – it’s about relationships. You have to be at the school fairs and the fire stations and be in-depth in your community, and I think digital marketing as a ‘magic bullet’ is a poor idea for growth. Don’t get me wrong, you need a portion of that. You’ll find that these patients that show up from digital marketing are not always the patients you’re used to – their conversion rates are lower, their dental IQ is lower, and they are generally price sensitive - so be more complex - Know Yourself. What is my business about? Your team members should be able to recite what this business is about to you. Not necessarily are we boutique, insurance is driven, volume, etc… but more what do we value and stand for. Sift every decision through this value filter and tell this to every patient, referral, and the community. If you can communicate the value you want to bring patients, you will be okay.

     

11. What new beliefs have you adopted in the industry?

     

    My kids will tell you I translate everything into dollars. I ruined Disney World for them, saying, you go to Disney and bring a stack of $100s and drop one every hour. Even when you’re sleeping. So, I translate most things to money or profit. Orthodontic practices were fairly predictable regarding how much they spent for every dollar they collected for seventy years. However, today, the story is about digital, which has upended the P&L for most practices. How do you figure out how to trade $200 brackets for a $1,200 lab fee? I understand fundamentally how to do that. If you want to grow, you need to go deep into digital, in my opinion. Today, digital means aligners, digital braces, and remote monitoring. Why should you do this? Because you can get a board-quality result that’s as good as analog braces in less time. More importantly, it’s what the consumer wants. Fewer visits result from digital orthodontics, but also more efficient and board-quality results. If I can treat a patient with a digital solution more conveniently, efficiently, and with “as good” or superior results, why wouldn’t I? I believe digital technology is the future; it answers a lot of questions for the consumer and the doctor. It addresses staffing concerns. Mostly, it gives doctors, staff, and patients time, and it can be done very profitably.

     

12.  What’s one thing that is so intuitive to you yet the hardest to convey?

     

    It’s being able to convey the value of digital; you get high-quality clinical outcomes, you spend less time getting these outcomes for doctors and staff, so you can have a smaller physical plant with fewer people in it, and the patient gets a custom result in less time than analog options. I use a term in our shop, “Facts are Friendly,” to diffuse emotion from the argument. The data with digital is hands down the winner. And I see 35-45 year olds wrapping their arms around this, but it’ll take a generation to get us there. I don’t think bracket companies are spending more R&D money to improve brackets. The brackets we have today are as good as they’ll get. Today's advancements are in digital space, digital aligners, digital braces, and digital technology to communicate between patients and doctors.

     

13. Let’s say you visit a practice, you can’t leave until they do this one thing…? 

     

    A written purpose statement or mantra used to be common but is less so today – we need to get back to that. It can be a saying or a belief system that speaks to this practice. It answers how we’re going to hire, whom we’re going to hire, how we’re going to be involved in the community, and that we evolve by listening to data, to the consumer, and the market as we make decisions for the business. Our purpose allows us to explain why we believe we are the best for doing business here. Doctors and leaders spend far too much time thinking of the next new thing to implement vs. the more core idea of “who are we and “what is our business about.” Look at the businesses that express and deliver well; it’s all around their purpose: Ritz Carlton, Chick-fil-A. Why? The leaders know what this business is about and have taught it to their team so that every player can exemplify the purpose to the customer.

     

14. What’s your advice for anyone in the industry over the next year?

     

    I would say spend half a day by yourself and think about nothing else but what you want your business to look like on Dec 31, 2025. I don’t think we get alone and do this exercise enough. Sit by yourself and write this out; go back and express it to your team. Best advice I can give.

My Take: Chris is one of the most knowledgeable business minds in the industry. But he’s worked hard to earn that title. What was surprising was how difficult and low his journey was at the start. I don’t think enough people realize this when they see him on stage. His success was earned, not given. I also loved his parting advice: Sit by yourself and write where you want to be by year’s end and express that to your team or peers.

To connect with Chris, email him at: [email protected]