If you’ve ever stared at your practice’s P&L sheet, staff drama, insurance write-offs, and patient no-shows and thought, “This is not what I signed up for in dental school…” then Gino Wickman’s book Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business might just be your new best friend (right behind your suction tip).

Enter the Hero: The EOS
Wickman’s Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) isn’t just corporate mumbo jumbo for C-suite executives in glass towers. It’s a straight-talking, clear-headed, no-nonsense system for organizing your chaos into clarity.

And let’s be real, dentistry is a chaotic business. One minute you’re helping someone chew again, the next you’re deciphering hieroglyphics on an insurance EOB that reads like it was translated from ancient Sumerian by a drunk actuary.

So, how does Traction help?

1. The Vision Component: Where Are You Drilling, Doc?
EOS starts by asking: What’s your vision?

And no, “I want to help people” doesn’t count. That’s the default setting in your dental school diploma. Wickman forces you to define your 10-year goal, your 3-year picture, and your 1-year plan.

In dental terms:

Where do you want your practice to be in a decade?
How many ops?
What kind of patients?
How many times will you yell, “We’re dropping Delta!” before actually doing it?

Application Tip: Dentists who align their team around a crystal-clear vision stop spinning their wheels. They make confident decisions, like saying “no” to low-paying insurance plans that bleed them dry and “yes” to high-value patients, fee-for-service models, or even that second location.

2. People: Get the Right Butts in the Dental Chairs (and at the Front Desk)
Wickman’s rule? Right people, right seats.

Translation: Just because Stacey's been at the front desk for 12 years doesn’t mean she should still be there, especially if she thinks PPO means “Probably Pays Okay.”

EOS helps you build an Accountability Chart (not an org chart, big difference) so each role in your practice has clear responsibilities, and each person is evaluated on whether they “get it, want it, and have the capacity to do it.”

Dental Reality: The wrong hire can cost you more than just payroll. It costs you peace of mind, patient retention, and sometimes your sanity. EOS gives you permission to stop tolerating warm bodies and start building a dream team.

3. Data: Run Your Practice on Numbers, Not Feelings
Most dentists run their practices like they do their fantasy football teams: based on vibes, gut feelings, and which staff member brought cupcakes.

EOS says “no more guessing.” You pick 5-15 key metrics and track them every week. New patients, case acceptance, hygiene reappointment rate, AR over 60 days—whatever moves your needle.

Now, imagine this: You spot a trend early—collections are dipping. Instead of blaming the economy or Mercury in retrograde, you dig into the data and realize it’s because your insurance write-offs have tripled. Time to renegotiate, drop plans, or call Veritas Dental Resources (wink wink).

4. Issues: Call Out the Elephants (Even the One Named Insurance)
EOS encourages you to run “Level 10 Meetings” with your team where the top priority is solving issues permanently.

Dentists usually hate confrontation. So when insurance denies a legit SRP claim for the 37th time, you eat the cost and stew in silence while your front desk cries in the break room.

EOS says: put the problem on the Issues List. Solve it. Create a protocol. Empower your team. Move on.

Bonus Tip: Use this time to vent about United Concordia. It won’t fix your fee schedule, but it’s emotionally cathartic.

5. Process: Clone Your Genius, Avoid the “Dr. Only Knows How to Fix It” Syndrome
Ever feel like you’re the only one who knows how things should be done?

EOS helps you document core processes so your practice can scale, train new hires faster, and stop relying on “tribal knowledge” that disappears the moment someone quits to open an Etsy shop.

Your insurance verification process? Written out.
SRP claim documentation? Standardized.
Patient financial discussions? Scripted.
Handling a dental Karen? Role-played and rehearsed.

6. Traction: Get Sh*t Done (Finally)
This is the “action” part. EOS teaches you how to set quarterly “Rocks” (major priorities), meet weekly to check progress, and actually hold people accountable.

It stops the whack-a-mole leadership style where you fix one problem, and another one pops up before you’ve had a chance to finish your coffee.

The Villain in Our Story: Dental Insurance
Of course, in this tale, our villain wears khakis and a smug grin and goes by the name Dental Insurance. Insurance is the greasy wrench in your well-oiled practice machine. It’s the saboteur of your profits, your time, your relationships with patients, and your mental health.

But here’s the plot twist: EOS helps you wrestle control back from insurance companies—not by fighting them directly, but by running a tight ship that makes smarter decisions.

You’ll know when a PPO plan costs you more than it’s worth.
You’ll be able to track what plans result in the most denials or lowest reimbursements.
You’ll have clear scripts and processes to communicate out-of-network transitions to patients.
You’ll build a team that backs you, not babysits the bad systems you’ve tolerated for years.

Final Thoughts: From Chaos to Clarity
Gino Wickman didn’t write Traction for dentists. But dentists are entrepreneurs. Business owners. Leaders. And many are doing it with one hand on a curing light and the other juggling 12 flaming swords.

EOS gives you six simple tools to build a practice that runs like an actual business, not a benevolent hostage situation orchestrated by dental insurance.

So if you're tired of “hoping things get better” or saying “someday I’ll fix this,” stop. Get Traction. Then get a grip.

Want help wrestling the insurance beast while you implement EOS?
Veritas Dental Resources can help you tackle your insurance issues while you tighten up your business. We’re your insurance nerds, negotiation warriors, and back-office lifeline so you can focus on building the vision you want.

Benjamin Tuinei
Founder – Veritas Dental Resources, LLC
📞 888-808-4513
Services: PPO Fee Negotiators, PPO Fee Negotiating, Insurance Fee Negotiating, Insurance Credentialing, Insurance Verifications
Websites: www.VeritasDentalResources.com, www.VerusDental.com