Dr. Arun Garg on Building a Thriving Practice in the AI Era

I've known Dr. Arun Garg for almost eight years. He was one of Lasso MD's first clients, and over the years he's become someone I genuinely learn from every time we talk. So when we sat down at the IDIA Symposium in Hawaii, I wanted to capture a real conversation — not a scripted interview.

We covered a lot of ground: his journey from university professor to running eight practices, the DSO debate, what separates thriving practices from struggling ones, how patients are finding dentists through ChatGPT, and why 70% of new patient revenue comes from follow-up — not the initial close.

Here's the full conversation:

If you don't have 40 minutes, here are the biggest takeaways.

The One Thing That Separates Thriving Practices from Struggling Ones

Dr. Garg has trained over 20,000 dentists through his implant seminars — and he's quick to point out that number came from decades of small, boutique groups of 10-15 people, not stadium-style lectures. He gets to know every doctor personally. So when I asked him what separates the ones who build thriving practices from the ones who struggle, his answer was immediate:

Mindset.

Not clinical skill. Not location. Not the insurance model they chose. Mindset.

"If you've got the mindset — this is my goal, this is what I want, this is why I want it — that is completely different than 'I don't really have a goal, I don't really know why I want it, I just kind of...' Completely different."

This tracks with everything I've seen in 14 years of dental marketing. The practices that grow aren't always the most talented clinically. They're the ones where the owner has decided — truly decided — that they're going to build something, and they don't quit when it gets hard. Because it will get hard.

The DSO vs. Private Practice Debate Is Missing the Point

This is a hot topic in dentistry right now, and Dr. Garg has a unique perspective — he runs fee-for-service private practices and is an equity partner in an 80-office DSO. His take?

There's room for every model. The question is whether you're playing the right game.

Fee for service works for many. PPO works for many. HMO works for many. Medicaid works for many. But if you're playing a PPO game in a fee-for-service business, it won't work. And vice versa.

Something he said that stuck with me: PPO write-offs aren't a cost problem — they're a marketing budget. If you signed up for the PPO, the write-off is the price you're paying for patient acquisition. You can't complain about it and simultaneously benefit from the patient flow it creates.

The key is knowing your model, your marketplace, and your patient demographics — then executing accordingly. A fee-for-service practice in a blue-collar neighborhood with zero marketing isn't going to work. A Medicaid practice where you're the only provider in a 100-mile radius might do fine with no marketing at all.

70% of New Patient Revenue Comes from Follow-Up

This was the stat that hit hardest. Dr. Garg pulled the numbers at his own practices: 70% of new patient revenue came from follow-up closes, not from patients who said yes on the first visit.

Let that sink in. If your practice is only doing one or two touches with leads, you're leaving two-thirds of your potential revenue on the table.

Most dental practices give up after one or two follow-ups. Dr. Garg's approach — informed by CRM practices he borrowed from outside dentistry — is to keep following up until one of three things happens:

1. The patient says they went to another office
2. They explicitly say they're no longer interested
3. You've made seven to ten touches

The magic happens between touch seven and ten. This aligns with everything we know about sales, and it's why we built lead nurture automation into our platform at Lasso MD. For practices that don't have the bandwidth to manually follow up with every lead, automated SMS drip campaigns — with the right verbiage, at the right frequency — can recover that 70% that would otherwise disappear.

And the verbiage matters. It's not "you're overdue for a cleaning, schedule an appointment." It's "you mentioned you were interested in veneers — did your needs change? Want to see a digital mockup?" Context-specific, value-driven, human.

Patients Are Finding Dentists on ChatGPT Now

This is where the conversation got really interesting. Dr. Garg told me that in the week before our interview, three patients came in who found him through ChatGPT. One flew in from Texas for a sinus lift because ChatGPT told him Dr. Garg was the best in Miami for that procedure.

He didn't even know he was showing up in AI search results.

This is the reality of patient behavior in 2026. Over 60% of users aren't getting past the AI overview on Google. They're reading the AI-generated answer, then going directly to ChatGPT or Perplexity to ask follow-up questions. The traditional SEO playbook — rank on page one, drive clicks — still matters, but it's no longer the whole game.

I broke down the three layers of AI optimization during our conversation:

• AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): Quick questions, quick answers. "What do I do if I crack my tooth?" — structured FAQ content that AI can pull directly.
• GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): Local intent with specifics. "What does it cost to fix a chipped tooth in Honolulu?" — content that includes location, pricing, and a clear next step.
• LLMO (Large Language Model Optimization): Complex questions with in-depth answers. This is where blogs, clinical content, and published research make their comeback. Dr. Garg's nine-plus publications are exactly the kind of authoritative content that LLMs love to reference.

The honest truth? AI optimization is the wild, wild west right now. No one has a definitive playbook. Anyone who tells you they're the "best AI optimizer" is selling you something. But a strong SEO foundation naturally bleeds into AI optimization — it's about structuring your content so these engines can easily find, parse, and cite it.

Video Marketing: Uncomfortable but Undeniable

One of my favorite moments in this conversation was Dr. Garg admitting that he — a guy who gives in-person seminars every single week — freezes up on camera. I'm the same way. We both laughed about it.

But here's what he said next: every single time he's done video, the ROI has been massive. He told the story of a videographer who shot ten one-minute videos for his implant seminars. They posted them and basically forgot about them. Months later, one of his alumni mentioned that all his associates were signing up for Dr. Garg's courses because they loved his "video ads."

He didn't run any video ads. Those ten organic videos were doing the work.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, video is worth ten thousand. Even when it's uncomfortable. Even when you don't think you're good at it. The early Gary Vee content was terrible compared to what he produces now — but he just put himself out there.

My advice to every practice owner: you don't need a script. You need a few good questions that prompt you to talk about what you know. The magic happens in post-production. And honestly? We all carry 4K cameras in our pockets now. There's no excuse not to start.

Know Your Brand and Your Avatar Before Anything Else

When I asked Dr. Garg what his marketing playbook would look like if he were starting from scratch, his answer was razor sharp:

Brand first. Avatar second. Everything else after.

Brand: Are you the Ritz-Carlton or the Courtyard Marriott? Are you the boutique fee-for-service practice or the high-volume PPO office? Neither is wrong — but you have to know which one you are, because it changes everything about how you market.

Avatar: Who are you marketing to? Facebook skews older. Instagram skews millennial. TikTok skews Gen Z. Ferrari doesn't run TV ads because their buyers aren't sitting around watching TV — they're at executive airports. You have to know your target audience to know where to reach them.

And one more thing he said that I loved: practice owners spend too much time agonizing over the name of their brand. Facebook meant nothing until Zuckerberg built it. Ferrari meant nothing until Ferrari made it Ferrari. The name doesn't matter until you make it matter. Spend that energy on knowing what your brand represents and who you're trying to reach.

Revenue Attribution: Know Which Half Is Working

Dr. Garg referenced an old marketing saying: "Half the money I spend on marketing is wasted. The problem is, I don't know which half."

That second line is what kills practices. If you don't know which marketing channels are driving patients, you might be doubling down on the wrong half. You'd never perform a clinical procedure without knowing the success rate. Why would you run marketing without knowing the ROI?

This is something we've invested heavily in at Lasso MD — connecting every new patient back to the specific marketing event that brought them in. It's changed our client relationships from vendor-client to true partnership, because we can sit down and say "here's what's working, here's what's not, here's where we should reallocate."

Transparency isn't just a nice-to-have in dental marketing anymore. It's the baseline.

The Bottom Line

If you take one thing from this conversation, make it the follow-up stat: 70% of new patient revenue comes from follow-up, not the initial close. If your practice isn't systematically following up seven to ten times, you're leaving the majority of your marketing investment on the table.

And if you take two things, make the second one this: patients are already finding dentists through ChatGPT. The practices that show up in AI search results — because they've invested in authoritative content, structured data, and a strong digital presence — are going to win patients that their competitors don't even know exist.

Dr. Garg has been ahead of the curve for decades. If you want to learn from him directly, check out the Garg Institute for boutique implant training and practice growth education. And if you want to talk about what AI-powered marketing looks like for your practice, let's connect.

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Thanks to Dr. Garg and the IDIA for hosting us in Hawaii. If you're an event organizer and want me to bring this kind of conversation to your stage, book a speaking inquiry.

Sources

• Building a Thriving Dental Practice in the AI Era — Dr. Arun Garg & Pete Johnson — Full video interview, IDIA Symposium Hawaii 2026
• International Dental Implant Association — IDIA official site, founded by Dr. Arun K. Garg
• Garg Institute — Dr. Garg's boutique implant training and practice growth education
• Implant Seminars — Continuing Post-Graduate Dental Education — Dr. Garg's CE course platform (20,000+ alumni)