Host: Greg Essenmacher
Guest: Michal Butler – Vision Dental Partners
In this episode of The Tooth Sleuth Podcast, host Greg Essenmacher welcomes Michal Butler, the powerhouse behind operations at Vision Dental Partners. They dive into leadership, culture, patient experience, and the lessons learned in scaling a modern dental organization — with a few laughs and lighthearted digs at Brad Hughes' famous Ferragamos.
Michal shares her unconventional entry into dentistry — she joined Vision Dental Partners just six weeks after open-heart surgery.
What started as a temporary favor turned into a 16-year career of leadership, growth, and transformation within the organization.
The group began as a single practice and expanded significantly, acquiring their second office in 2019.
Vision's philosophy: patient experience over profit. When patients are happy and trust the team, financial success follows naturally.
Greg and Michal emphasize that great patient care begins with great team leadership.
Vision Dental Partners focuses on:
Team development and empowerment.
Consistent training and coaching.
Creating genuine value and connection with patients.
Every quarter, Michal hosts in-person leadership meetings with practice managers and regional leads.
Each session includes:
Reviewing practice metrics and patient reviews.
Discussing leadership versus management principles.
Open brainstorming and strategy alignment.
Reinforcing documentation, communication, and consistent check-ins.
Michal notes the hardest part of scaling isn't logistics — it's people alignment.
Lessons learned: "Fire faster when values don't align, and coach constantly."
Vision Dental Partners runs as a Doctor Partnered Organization (DPO) — balancing technology and human connection.
Vision's internal mantra: "We're a media company that just happens to do dentistry."
They aim to redefine how dentistry is perceived — authentic, modern, and patient-centered.
Michal emphasizes consistent communication of "the why" to every team member to ensure mission alignment.
Greg highlights the constant trade-offs between time, talent, and treasure.
Investing time in leadership and people development always yields the greatest return.
Rapid-fire questions with Michal:
Worst bad breath ever: During a tooth extraction on a perio patient — she almost passed out!
One thing she'd change about her smile: Whiter teeth (though she already loves her smile).
Dental product she wishes she'd invented: The dental implant — "It's amazing to have a permanent solution like that!"
Consistency is key in leadership and communication.
Patient experience is the foundation for lasting success.
Strong leadership empowers team culture and trust.
Document everything — clarity drives accountability.
"Coach up or coach out": act fast to protect team culture.
LinkedIn: Vision Dental Partners
Featuring: Dr. Brad Hughes & Team
Follow: The Tooth Sleuth Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and LinkedIn
