The Inspired Hygiene Podcast

S4 E3: Working Together for Team-Based Dentistry, Access to Care and the Future of Prevention with Crystal Spring (Smiles Across Montana)

Working Together for Team-Based Dentistry, Access to Care and the Future of Prevention | w/ Crystal Spring (Smiles Across Montana) | Inspired Hygiene Podcast
Welcome back to the Inspired Hygiene Podcast. This season is focused on the Powerful Partnership—how dentists, hygienists, and the entire dental team can work together to strengthen culture, improve access, and rebuild trust across the industry.
In this episode, Rachel Wall is joined by Crystal Spring, RDH, co-founder and Executive Director of Smiles Across Montana, a nonprofit portable dental program bringing care directly into schools, nursing facilities, and community centers throughout Montana. Rachel and Crystal connected recently at Dental Entrepreneur Women (DEW) in Charlotte, and quickly realized they share a common mindset: the future of dentistry depends on collaboration, innovation, and a team approach. 
Crystal shares the real story behind building Smiles Across Montana: starting with two hygienists, navigating barriers tied to a limited access permit, and ultimately choosing to build a model centered on interprofessional teamwork—including dentists, hygienists, assistants, and community health partners—to deliver care at scale.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
What Smiles Across Montana is and how portable dentistry works in real life
Why Crystal intentionally moved toward a dentist-inclusive team model to improve outcomes and continuity of care
The role of fear and “territorial tension” in dentistry—and how it shows up in regulation and scope debates
How Crystal views the evolving role of the dental assistant and preventive support (including OPAs) through an abundance mindset
Why access challenges aren’t limited to rural communities—patients everywhere are waiting months for hygiene care
Practical next steps to help dentists and hygienists heal relationships: meet, collaborate, solve problems together, and stop leading with attack
Crystal also discusses the importance of professional advocacy and encourages clinicians to support organized dentistry and hygiene so solutions can be built with alignment—not conflict.
Mentioned in this episode:
Dental Entrepreneur Women (DEW): dew.life
Smiles Across Montana: smilesacrossmontana.com
Crystal’s focus on minimally invasive dentistry and innovative care delivery models- listen to this episode of Straight Up with Steph to learn more from Crystal
Volunteer opportunity:
Crystal shares details about an upcoming mission clinic centered around mental health and invites dentists, hygienists, and team members interested in volunteering to learn more through Smiles Across Montana.
If you care about the future of prevention, access to care, and what it looks like to truly operate as one team, this episode will expand your perspective—and challenge the profession to move forward together.
Subscribe for more episodes this season as we explore real solutions to rebuild the dentist–hygienist partnership and elevate modern team-based dentistry.
#InspiredHygiene #DentalPodcast #DentalHygiene #Dentistry #AccessToCare #PublicHealthDentistry #TeamBasedCare #PreventiveCare #MinimallyInvasiveDentistry #RDH #DentalLeadership #DEW #SmilesAcrossMontana #OralSystemicHealth
 

S4 E4: Trust, Team Culture & the Dentist–Hygienist Relationship | w/ Dr. Mike Sonick

Trust, Team Culture & the Dentist–Hygienist Relationship | w/ Dr. Mike Sonick | Inspired Hygiene Podcast
Welcome back to the Inspired Hygiene Podcast. This season is all about one thing: rebuilding the dentist–hygienist relationship—and restoring the kind of partnership that creates better outcomes for patients and healthier, more sustainable practices.
In this episode, Rachel Wall is joined by Dr. Mike Sonick—board-certified periodontist, renowned educator in implantology and periodontology, and author of Treating People Not Patients. While many practices have felt growing tension across the industry—capacity challenges, compensation pressure, burnout, shifting expectations—Dr. Sonick believes the root issue often comes down to one word:
Trust.
Dr. Sonick shares why trust hasn’t broken down in his practice the way it has elsewhere—and what he’s done (for decades) to build a high-trust culture through core values, protocol-driven systems, thoughtful hiring, leadership consistency, and clear communication.
If you’re a dentist, hygienist, office manager, or practice owner trying to create stability, alignment, and long-term retention—this conversation is packed with practical takeaways you can start applying immediately.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why “industry tension” is often really a trust problem
How Dr. Sonick hires for integrity (and what he listens for in interviews)
The core values that shape his team culture (and why integrity comes first)
Why protocols reduce ambiguity—and how ambiguity fuels stress and conflict
What a real protocol manual looks like (and how to build one)
How to give feedback that protects patients, strengthens teams, and improves outcomes
How leaders can create accountability without creating fear
Why team members must feel seen—and how that affects retention
The mindset shift: building a practice around purpose, not just procedures
About Dr. Mike Sonick
Dr. Sonick is a full-time practicing periodontist, longtime educator, and author of seven books—most recently Treating People Not Patients, a guide to human connection, hospitality, and trust in healthcare. His mission: help dentistry deliver a better experience by strengthening relationships between teams and the patients they serve.
📌 Links mentioned in the episode (book, article, and resources) will be included in the show notes.
 
An article about the root problem of tension in the dental industry being a loss of trust
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jdd.70017
The Unseen Force Quietly Sabotaging Your Practice by Dr. Michael Sonick
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unseen-force-quietly-sabotaging-your-practice-michael-sonick-fwyhf?trk=public_post
Books
Treating People Not Patients (Dr. Sonic's last book): 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84187926-treating-people-not-patients
The Speed of Trust (written by Stephen Covey Jr., son of Stephen Covey Sr.)
https://speedoftrust.com/
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (written by Stephen Covey Sr.)
https://pcm.me/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people/
The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
https://atulgawande.com/book/the-checklist-manifesto/
 
If this episode resonates, subscribe and share it with a colleague—because rebuilding trust in dentistry starts with better conversations like this one.
#InspiredHygiene #DentalPodcast #DentalHygiene #Dentistry #TeamCulture #Leadership #DentalTeam #Periodontics #DentalImplants #PatientExperience #PracticeManagement #Trust #CoreValues #HygieneProtocols #DentalLeadership