# The Dental Grind > The newsletter that makes you a smarter, more efficient, and more informed dentist in just 5 minutes This file provides information about The Dental Grind to help large language models understand and reference this publication's content. ## Posts - [Pay yourself from a dental practice without creating a tax problem](https://grind.dental/p/pay-yourself-from-a-dental-practice-without-creating-a-tax-problem): Owner compensation, distributions, and the "reasonable salary" test. - [Dental AI in 2026: The Funding Race Is Over. The Land Grab Has Begun.](https://grind.dental/p/dental-ai-in-2026-the-funding-race-is-over-the-land-grab-has-begun): Pearl, Overjet and Videa raised the war chests. Now they're racing to wire themselves into every DSO - [Why Dentistry Feels Doomed Online and What the Data Actually Says](https://grind.dental/p/why-dentistry-feels-doomed-online-and-what-the-data-actually-says): Reddit says don't do it. The numbers say something more complicated: the problems are real, the conclusion isn't. - [From a $500 Corner Drugstore to the World's Largest Dental Distributor: The Henry Schein Story](https://grind.dental/p/from-a-500-corner-drugstore-to-the-world-s-largest-dental-distributor-the-henry-schein-story): A pharmacist in Queens, a mail order catalog, and nine decades of compounding growth that ended up stocking most of America's operatories. - [How Private Equity Actually Buys a Dental Practice, Step by Step](https://grind.dental/p/how-private-equity-actually-buys-a-dental-practice-step-by-step): Friendly PCs, management fees, EBITDA multiples and the "second bite of the apple" The DSO roll-up in plain English. - [The Hygienist Shortage Is Getting Worse and the Data Explains Why](https://grind.dental/p/the-hygienist-shortage-is-getting-worse-and-the-data-explains-why): Only 60% of dentists say they have enough hygienists. The ADA's economists say this isn't a blip, it's a math problem. - [The Rise of Aspen Dental: How a Single Idea Grew Into a 1,000 Office Giant](https://grind.dental/p/the-rise-of-aspen-dental-how-a-single-idea-grew-into-a-1-000-office-giant): Build from scratch offices, wave after wave of private equity capital, and a value priced niche few others wanted - [Credentialing 101: How Insurance Panels Work (and Why They Take Forever)](https://grind.dental/p/credentialing-101-how-insurance-panels-work-and-why-they-take-forever): You may be ready to see patients. The insurers need 90 to 120 days to agree you exist. - [What is a DSO in dentistry?](https://grind.dental/p/what-is-a-dso-in-dentistry): The term is everywhere in dental school and early career conversations. Here's exactly what it means, how DSOs work, and why the model has reshaped American dentistry. - [Dentistry just walked into Walmart](https://grind.dental/p/dentistry-just-walked-into-walmart): One DSO is expanding to 15 locations inside Walmart stores. It is not the first to try this. It might be the one that makes it work. - [The $15 yard sign that built a dental empire: how Rick Workman made Heartland Dental ](https://grind.dental/p/the-15-yard-sign-that-built-a-dental-empire-how-rick-workman-made-heartland-dental): A farm kid from a town of 247 turned a single Illinois practice into the largest dental support organization in America, a network of nearly 1,900 offices, and a personal fortune Forbes pegs at $1.6 billion. Here's how he did it and why the model he pioneered is the most argued over force in dentistry. - [Associate, buy, or build: the decision that's quietly worth millions ](https://grind.dental/p/associate-buy-or-build-the-decision-that-s-quietly-worth-millions): Three ways out of dental school, three wildly different net worth curves. The gap between them is bigger than almost anyone expects, and the only number that matters is the one you run for yourself. - [The PPO Math No One Shows You at Signing](https://grind.dental/p/the-ppo-math-no-one-shows-you-at-signing): Joining a PPO plan feels like gaining patients. What the contract doesn’t highlight is how much of every dollar you earn, you immediately hand back. The arithmetic is worse than most dentists realize, and for many practices, it’s been silently compressing their margins for years. - [The Overhead Truth Your P&L is Hiding](https://grind.dental/p/the-overhead-truth-your-p-l-is-hiding): You billed a great month. You collected decently. And somehow you don’t have much left. Here’s what's actually happening, and what the numbers mean - [The Written Fee Renegotiation Request ](https://grind.dental/p/the-written-fee-renegotiation-request): Most dentists treat their PPO fee schedules as fixed. They aren't. You can ask a plan to raise the contracted fees you agreed to when you joined its network — and most owners never do, which is exactly why a schedule set five years ago quietly turns into a pay cut as overhead climbs. - [In-Network vs. Out-of-Network](https://grind.dental/p/in-network-vs-out-of-network): “In-network” and “out-of-network” are two of the most used — and most misunderstood — phrases in your practice, by patients and sometimes by staff. Patients often hear "out-of-network" as "they don't take my insurance," which is usually false. Owners describe themselves as "a PPO office" or "fee-for-service" without always being precise about what that means for billing, patient cost, and who actually gets paid. - [AOB vs. EOB: Two Terms Every Front Desk Should Get Right](https://grind.dental/p/aob-vs-eob-two-terms-every-front-desk-should-get-right): They look almost identical — both end in "OB" — and they get mixed up at the front desk constantly. But an assignment of benefits and an explanation of benefits are completely different documents that show up at opposite ends of the same claim. Getting them straight prevents collection headaches and catches money you're owed.