The Special Lists
The Special Lists
Podcast Description
The Special Lists, presented by Referral Lab, is the podcast for dentists and dental specialists. Running a dental practice isn’t easy, and if you’re in private practice, it can sometimes feel like you’re on an island. That’s why finding your people—those who’ve been in your shoes and can share real, lived experiences—changes the game.Referral Lab is for dental specialists, helping you track, manage, and convert every referral. It’s about improving case acceptance, boosting team performance, and strengthening relationships with referring providers so your whole practice runs smarter. This spirit of connection drives The Special Lists podcast.Hosted by the team behind Referral Lab, we bring you hard-earned wisdom from practice owners and dental professionals, each guest sharing their own "special list" from the wins, mistakes, and lessons that shape their practices today.Got a question for us? Send us a message at speciallists.com (with two L's!)Transform your referral workflow with Referral Lab, the purpose-built platform for dental specialists to track, manage and convert every referral. Request a demo at referrallab.io Cameron FullCo-Founder of Referral LabCameron Full, co-founder of Referral Lab, is a strategic problem-solver with expertise in business management and digital solutions. He combines leadership, creativity, and technology to drive success across various industries.Michael Seda, DMD, MSPeriodontist and Co-Developer of Referral LabDr. Michael Seda is a laser-trained periodontist serving Marin County and San Francisco. As part of an elite group offering FDA-cleared laser gum treatment, he focuses on patient-centered care, advanced technology, and personalized treatment plans.Jason Souyias, DDSPeriodontist and Co-Founder of Referral LabDr. Jason Souyias is a periodontist, educator, and co-founder of Referral Lab software. He teaches dentists and hygienists, including as a Pikos Institute faculty member. In his Port Huron private practice, he's known for excellent patient communication and experience. He's passionate about his work and dedicated to helping other dentists.The Special Lists is a production of The Axistheaxis.io
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on topics relevant to dental practices, such as improving case acceptance, enhancing team performance, and fostering stronger relationships with referring providers. Episodes cover a variety of subjects, including sharing 'special lists' of wins and lessons learned, addressing mistakes in practice management, and discussing advanced techniques in dentistry.
The Special Lists, presented by Referral Lab, is the podcast for dentists and dental specialists. Running a dental practice isn’t easy, and if you’re in private practice, it can sometimes feel like you’re on an island. That’s why finding your people—those who’ve been in your shoes and can share real, lived experiences—changes the game.
Referral Lab is for dental specialists, helping you track, manage, and convert every referral. It’s about improving case acceptance, boosting team performance, and strengthening relationships with referring providers so your whole practice runs smarter. This spirit of connection drives The Special Lists podcast.
Hosted by the team behind Referral Lab, we bring you hard-earned wisdom from practice owners and dental professionals, each guest sharing their own “special list” from the wins, mistakes, and lessons that shape their practices today.
Got a question for us? Send us a message at speciallists.com (with two L’s!)
Transform your referral workflow with Referral Lab, the purpose-built platform for dental specialists to track, manage and convert every referral. Request a demo at referrallab.io
Cameron Full
Co-Founder of Referral Lab
Cameron Full, co-founder of Referral Lab, is a strategic problem-solver with expertise in business management and digital solutions. He combines leadership, creativity, and technology to drive success across various industries.
Michael Seda, DMD, MS
Periodontist and Co-Developer of Referral Lab
A clinician and entrepreneur, Dr. Seda brings 19 years of private practice experience to his periodontal and implant surgery practice in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dr. Seda’s interests are rooted in evaluating and influencing private practice management systems in dentistry. He wants to increase practice efficiency, establish a greater sense of collaboration and trust among practice team members, and enhance quality of care and service delivered—all while maximizing and growing profitability.
Through associateship opportunities early in his career, Dr. Seda was exposed to various private practice leadership and business models. He witnessed first-hand inconsistencies in the degree of success and failure owners experienced in private practices. This ignited his passion for learning what empowers practices to thrive and grow successfully while delivering a highly satisfying patient experience.
He is particularly interested in using cutting-edge analytics platforms to measure advanced practice metrics. He leverages these to design data-driven strategies to enhance referral patterns, scheduling systems, case acceptance rates, and other key performance indicators that lead to practice growth and patient satisfaction.
His education spans several disciplines, including a degree in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, a Doctorate degree from Harvard University (DMD), and a Master’s degree in Periodontics and Oral Medicine from Columbia University.
Jason Souyias, DDS
Periodontist and Co-Founder of Referral Lab
Dr. Jason Souyias is a periodontist, educator, and co-founder of Referral Lab software. He teaches dentists and hygienists, including as a Pikos Institute faculty member. In his Port Huron private practice, he’s known for excellent patient communication and experience. He’s passionate about his work and dedicated to helping other dentists.
The Special Lists is a production of The Axis
theaxis.io
The thing nobody tells you about running your own dental practice is that the anxiety doesn’t quiet down — it just gets louder for the first 20 years, and then you look back and realize none of the things you were afraid of actually happened. Eman Traynor knows. She built Traynor Periodontics & Implants from scratch in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1998 and ran it solo for 27 years on a steady drip of stress she now wishes she’d ignored.
What follows is her special list: five hard-won lessons from a 31-year periodontics career, the ones she wishes someone had handed her at the start.
Leading with embracing risk and failure, she admits anxiety is part of the path, but the path leads somewhere good, and you arrive whether you enjoy the trip or not. Eman didn’t, and that’s the regret she opens with.
Walking through operations, she advises systemizing everything because discipline sets you free. Hire one more person than you think you need, because running lean costs more than the salary you saved.
Master your data, because you can’t run a business on feel. She names her consultant (Mary Ann Spears), her platform (Referral Lab), and the moment she stopped reacting emotionally to bad days because she finally had the numbers to tell a different story.
On technology, her rule is simple: never buy version one. She likes Freed.ai for chairside notes (it learns her words and emails the patient a summary after the consult), but she’s not an early adopter, and that’s by design.
She closes with her case for solo practitioners not staying solo in spirit. The five people you spend the most time with shape you. For Eman, those five came from the Seattle Study Club, including her hosts Cameron Full and Dr. Michael Seda.
Guest
Dr. Eman Traynor is the founder and solo periodontist at Traynor Periodontics & Implants in Greenwich, Connecticut, where she has been in private practice for over 27 years. She earned her DMD at Washington University School of Dental Medicine in St. Louis in 1991, completed a general practice residency at Barnes/Jewish Hospital at Washington University Medical Center, and earned her Master of Science in periodontics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995, where her research focused on the link between insulin-dependent diabetes and periodontal disease. Her practice is an affiliate of the Seattle Study Club, and she directs both Traynor Periodontics & Implants Study Club and an affiliated hygiene study club. Born in Egypt and raised between the UK and the US, she built her Greenwich practice from scratch in 1998 and has stayed solo ever since.
Learn more about Traynor Periodontics & Implants: tpigreenwich.com.
Follow Eman’s practice on Instagram @traynorperiodontics
Questions answered by this episode:
1. How do solo dental practitioners deal with anxiety long-term?
2. Why do most dentists hold onto employees too long?
3. Is it better to over-hire or run lean in a dental practice?
4. How do you build standard operating procedures in a dental office?
5. What KPIs should periodontists track to grow their practice?
6. Should I be the first to adopt new dental technology?
7. Does Freed.ai work for chairside dental notes?
8. Is the Seattle Study Club worth joining as a solo dental specialist?
9. How do you start a solo periodontal practice from scratch?
10. What advice would a 30-year periodontist give her younger self?
About The Special Lists
The Special Lists, presented by Referral Lab, is the podcast for dentists and dental specialists. Running a dental practice isn’t easy, and if you’re in private practice, it can sometimes feel like you’re on an island. That’s why finding your people—those who’ve been in your shoes and can share real, lived experience—changes the game.
Referral Lab was built specifically for dental specialists, helping you track, manage, and convert every referral. It’s about improving case acceptance, boosting team performance, and strengthening relationships with referring providers so your whole practice runs smarter.
This spirit of connection fuels The Special Lists podcast. Hosted by the team behind Referral Lab, we bring you wisdom from practice owners and dental professionals, sharing the wins, mistakes, and lessons that shape how they run their businesses today.
Got a question for us? Send us a message at speciallists.com (with two L’s)
Transform your referral workflow with Referral Lab, the purpose-built platform for dental specialists to track, manage and convert every referral. Request a demo at referrallab.io
Hosts
Cameron Full
Co-Founder of Referral Lab
Cameron Full, co-founder of Referral Lab, is a strategic problem-solver with expertise in business management and digital solutions. He combines leadership, creativity, and technology to drive success across various industries.
Connect with Cameron on LinkedIn
Jason Souyias, DDS
Periodontist and Co-Founder of Referral Lab
Dr. Jason Souyias is a periodontist, educator, and co-founder of Referral Lab software. He teaches dentists and hygienists, including as a Pikos Institute faculty member. In his Port Huron private practice, he’s known for excellent patient communication and experience. He’s passionate about his work and dedicated to helping other dentists.
More about Port Huron, Michigan periodontist Dr. Jason Souyias
Michael Seda, DMD, MS
Periodontist and Co-Developer of Referral Lab
A clinician and entrepreneur, Dr. Seda brings 19 years of private practice experience to his periodontal and implant surgery practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Seda’s education spans several disciplines, including a degree in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, a Doctorate degree from Harvard University (DMD), and a Master’s degree in Periodontics and Oral Medicine from Columbia University.
More about Bay Area periodontist Dr. Michael Seda
Follow Dr. Seda on Instagram @sedaperio
Co-hosts: Cameron Full, Jason Souyias, DDS & Michael Seda, DDS
Producer: Eva Sheie @ The Axis
Assistant Producer: Mary Ellen Clarkson
Engineering: Cameron Laird
Theme music: Papa Funk, spring gang
Cover Art: Dan Childs
The Special Lists is a production of The Axis.
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