After coaching hundreds of endodontic practices over 30 years, Dr. Ace Goerig has seen every version of the same challenges repeat themselves. In this Q&A, he speaks directly about the three mistakes he encounters most often and what practices can do to correct course.

A: The most common mistake is treating the schedule as a passive tool rather than an active strategy. Most practices simply fill available time and hope for the best. The top practices design their schedule deliberately, with specific blocks for specific case types, protected emergency access, and daily production targets that are tied to how appointments are actually structured.

When the schedule is reactive, the whole day becomes reactive. You lose control of flow, the doctor gets pulled in every direction, and the team defaults to firefighting. That is exhausting and expensive. When the schedule is architected with intention, the day feels entirely different, and so do the results.

A: Under-delegation. It is the most consistent bottleneck I see in practices that have hit a ceiling on productivity. The doctor is doing things that a well-trained assistant should be doing, which means the doctor is performing below their highest value for a meaningful portion of every clinical day.
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This is not always about a lack of capable team members. Often it is about a lack of defined systems for delegation. The doctor has never clearly articulated what they expect the team to own, so tasks default back to them by habit. Solving this does not require hiring different people. It requires building a clear delegation framework and holding the team accountable to it consistently.

A: Neglecting the referral relationship in the name of being too busy. This is one of the most costly mistakes a practice can make, because the consequences do not show up immediately. They show up six months or a year later when a key referring office has quietly shifted its referrals to someone else.

Referral relationships are not self-sustaining. They require consistent, intentional care. That means having a designated person responsible for referral outreach, a system for following up after complex or sensitive patient situations, and a genuine culture of appreciation for the offices that trust you with their patients.

The practices that invest in referral relationships consistently, not just when they feel they need to, are the ones that build referral bases that are both deep and resilient. That is a significant competitive advantage in any market.

Every one of these mistakes is correctable with the right systems and the right guidance. The first step is an honest look at where your practice stands today.