Bite-sized dental wisdom in under 2 minutes.

There are a lot of things I don't miss about owning a dental practice. Getting handed a two-week resignation letter… is definitely one of them.

You know the feeling: someone walks into your office, shuts the door, and you can already tell this conversation is about to ruin your Tuesday.

They hand you their notice, and while you're politely listening, your brain is already working through how you're going to replace them, who's going to cover their schedule, and how much of a disaster this next month is going to be.

On the inside, you're absolutely pissed, starting to panic, and holding back the ugly tears.

On the outside, you say, "Okay, thanks for letting me know," and then you walk into your next patient appointment like absolutely nothing happened.

Which brings me to Halloween.

Because I think practice owners spend a surprising amount of time wearing masks, and I'm not talking about the surgical kind.

There are plenty of days when things are going terribly behind the scenes, but you still have patients to see, a team to lead, and a schedule that isn't going to magically fix itself.

And the last thing you need is for the entire office to start losing their shit because you're losing your shit.

So you put on your brave face, figure out a plan, and keep moving.

Now, I'm all for being honest with your team. I think people deserve to know what's going on, especially when something directly affects them. But there's a difference between communicating a problem and dumping every emotion you're experiencing onto everyone else.

When someone quits, you can be frustrated. You can be worried about how you're going to replace them. You can even go home and complain about it for the next three hours. But tomorrow morning, your team needs to know who's covering the schedule, what the plan is, and that someone is actually handling it.

And I think that's one of the harder parts of leadership that you don't really understand until you're the one responsible.

You don't always get to react the way you want to in the moment. Sometimes you have to wait until you're in the car to call your spouse to give them the full rundown of why you're now selling the practice.

And by the next morning, you've decided to keep the practice after all and are back to figuring out how to cover the schedule.

So this Halloween, while everyone else is putting on costumes, just remember that practice owners have probably been wearing theirs all year.

And sometimes that calm, confident face you're putting on is exactly what your team needs while you figure out the rest.

Happy Halloween, everybody. And if someone hands you a two-week notice today, I am very sorry.

-Dr. Alex

P.S. This is one reason I built Milo. When someone quits or calls out, you should not have to hold the whole office together from memory. You should be able to see what needs to be done, who owns it, and what still needs attention.

Then you can deal with the actual emergency.

P.P.S. Starting Tuesday, November 3, you'll also get an email from me whenever a new episode of Just a Couple of Dentists drops. Eric and I cover all the stuff dental school skipped, and we'll boil each episode down to the good parts so you don't have to listen at 2x speed. Same list, nothing to sign up for. And don't worry, Fridays aren't going anywhere.