Earlier this week, I was on a Lunch and Learn call with a brother and sister whose practice was started by their dad more than 50 years ago.
He died in 2019 from undiagnosed, untreated sleep apnea.
The sister told me their dad had snored for years, seen multiple specialists, and never had anyone connect the dots. She described what it felt like to read the coroner’s report: underdeveloped lungs from a lifetime of shallow breathing, an overdeveloped heart from decades of strain, and the guilt that followed.
While she was sharing the story, she turned to her brother and asked, almost as if she already knew the answer,
“Do you feel guilty that we never made Dad get a TAP appliance?”
He said quietly, “Yeah… I do.”
You could feel the weight of that moment.
No theatrics. No big speech.
Just a family telling the truth about what they lived through and what they are determined to prevent in other households.
That loss was the beginning of them changing how they practice.
And that is where their marketing strategy really begins.
What Their Story Changed
Before their dad passed, they were a general dentistry office doing what most general practices do: restorations, hygiene, routine care.
Solid dentistry. Steady practice.
After his death, reflective questions started getting louder
- Why did no one see this sooner?
- Why didn’t we push harder?
- How many other families are walking around with these same signs and no answers?
- Are we suffering like Dad was?
The sister answered first by taking concrete action to change how she supported patients:
- She took a deep financial risk to invest in airway training – alone – before her brother joined her.
- She became a Vivos advocate, helping other providers get comfortable with treatment.
- She and her brother both went through sleep testing and treatment themselves.
- She rebuilt her clinical framework around airway and early intervention while still serving as a general dentist.
- She made a decision to make sure the patients in her practice had an alternative to the health trajectory her family endured.
The steps in her journey are the bricks in the foundation of her messaging strategy.
This isn’t about using emotionalism to push a “Marketing Initiative”
Her Thought Leadership & Personal Brand will grow to the extent that she is willing to continue to tell the truth about what happened, how it changed her, and what she is doing differently for her patients because of it.
It is a lived reality shaping her decisions, her systems, and her conversations every day.
She didn’t tell her story with polish or performance.
When I asked her to tell me her story she said: “I can’t promise I won’t cry.”
She did cry because for her, airway isn’t a clinical topic. It’s a wound, a wake-up call, and a responsibility she carries every day.
She told me what it was like to make the first big decision after her dad died: signing tens of thousands of dollars worth of loans to get airway training, alone, before her brother bought in.
“I almost threw up when I signed the paperwork,” she said. It was the biggest step she had ever taken in her career, and she took it from conviction, not convenience.
After her own sleep study, when she learned she had moderate sleep apnea, she said, “I didn’t think I was going to make it through my forties.” That line stayed with me long after the call ended.
This is why her story matters. This is why her strategy works.
Everything she says to a patient now comes from this lived place, from the experience that reshaped how she practices, leads, and sees every person who sits in her chair.
That is story and strategy working together.
Most Airway & Biologic Providers Have a Moment Similar To This. In many cases, they minimize it or don’t see the true impact of it so they don’t talk about it.
Your story may or may not be as dramatic as the one I’m writing about. That doesn’t make it any less important to share.
Families are not looking for scripted language. They are looking for providers who care for a reason.
And they can feel the difference.
When you quietly explain why airway and whole health matters to you, not in a dramatic speech, but as someone telling the truth, people hear it.
They sense that you’re not simply “adding a service.” You’re trying to keep other families from going through what yours, or your patients’, went through.
Examples of Providers Who Let Their Story Shape Their Strategy
Here are three providers we work with who model this approach. Their examples show how a clear, lived story can naturally shape a practice’s strategy.
Each of them arrived here through a different doorway.
For Dr. Ebrahimian, it was her sister.
For Dr. Sabet, it was her children.
For Dr. Porter, it was his patients.
Each story is distinct, but the pattern is the same: a personal truth that reshaped their entire approach to care.
Dr. Ariana Ebrahimian – Ebrahimian Integrative Dentistry
Dr. Ariana Ebrahimian openly frames airway as a root cause issue and connects it to long-term health.
She uses simple, actionable language: “start simple,” “update your health history,” “look at breathing first”. She builds everything around that message.
Her story isn’t about being a hero.
It’s about understanding patterns, catching problems earlier, and helping families thrive.
Patients and parents can feel she isn’t selling treatment.
She’s trying to prevent what she saw in her own sister (who required double jaw surgery in her early 20s) and what she sees daily in her chairs.
Dr. Evie Sabet – Developmental Dentistry
Here it is in short, simple sentences:
Dr. Evie has built an all-in-one collaborative care practice. She also founded the Craniofacial Sleep Study Club. She trains the providers who refer to her. These include pediatricians, ENTs, lactation consultants, myofunctional therapists, and others.
She’s a general dentist and mom who couldn’t figure out what was happening with her own children.
So she went on a mission to understand craniofacial development, learn about airway health and bring a collaborative care clinic to serve her community.
Her passion shows up in her teaching, her website, and in how families and colleagues talk about her.
It is a story of service, not self-promotion.
Dr. David Porter – Synergy Dental
Early in his career, Dr. David Porter started noticing patterns in his patients he couldn’t explain. So he went looking for answers.
He is now a national leader in biologic and airway-focused dentistry.
He communicates through a simple, memorable framework: AIM : Airway, Infection, Metals.
The book he wrote and his website make it crystal clear that his clinical approach goes well beyond fixing teeth.
It connects oral conditions, airway health, and whole-body wellness.
His story is the backbone of his messaging.
Parents who attend his webinars or land on his site can feel that he isn’t just offering services. He’s offering a new way of thinking and a new way of healing.
None of these doctors are telling their stories in an overly dramatic or overproduced way.
They’re telling the truth, clearly and consistently, in a way that helps families understand what’s at stake.
The brother and sister we began with didn’t set out to build a story-driven practice. Their story found them.
You’ve probably had a moment like this. Maybe it was quiet and personal. Maybe it was dramatic and changed everything at once. Maybe it was somewhere in between. It might even have happened without you realizing what it meant.
The 5 Signs Your Practice Has a Story Problem
Up to this point, we’ve looked at practices where the story is alive. Not manufactured, but taken from real life, real consequences, and real conviction.
What most practices don’t realize is that a missing or muted story is often the root cause of their marketing challenges.
Not the logo.
Not the website.
Not the SEO or lack of it
Not the social media posting frequency.
It’s the absence of a clear, human reason for why any of this matters.
Here are five signs your practice may be struggling with a story problem and why fixing it matters more than any tactic you’re currently optimizing.
1. Families Don’t Immediately Understand What Makes You Different
If a patient or parent can’t articulate what sets your practice apart after interacting with you – DIGITALLY OR IN PERSON – there’s a story problem.
People remember people.
The patients you really want are moved by why you care FIRST.
THEN, they consider what you offer.
Featuring yourself as a compassionate thought leader on your website and in your social feeds also differentiates your practice by giving patients & parents someone they can trust, relate to, and feel guided by.
2. Your Story Isn’t Showing Up Anywhere Families Can See It
If your story lives only in your head (or only comes out in long consults) families won’t understand why your philosophy is different.
Most practices talk about services. Very few talk about why those services matter.
If patients and parents can’t see your conviction in your website, bio, social posts, or consult flow, they will default to comparing you on price, convenience, or benefits they don’t fully understand.
A clear story gives them a reason to choose you before they ever meet you.
3. Your Marketing (and Team) “Sell” Treatment Before Explaining Purpose
When story is alive, your team doesn’t sound scripted. They sound aligned.
When story is missing, communication becomes mechanical:
- “Here’s what we recommend…”
- “Here’s what insurance covers…”
- “Here’s the cost…”
Families don’t feel conviction. They feel process.
A strong story gives your team and your media language that feels human, grounded, and real.
4. You’re Doing More Marketing but Seeing Fewer Results
A story problem often shows up as wasted effort:
- Ads get clicks but no calls
- Social posts get views but no appointments
- Videos get watched but don’t move anyone
This isn’t a traffic issue.It’s a connection issue.
Marketing amplifies what’s already there. If conviction is missing, marketing only makes the absence louder.
5. You Feel the Disconnect Between Who You Are and What People Hear
This is the sign doctors feel most deeply.
You know there’s depth behind your work. You know why you care this much about airway, early intervention, prevention, or whole-health dentistry. But families aren’t hearing it.
That gap between your inner clarity and your outer communication is the hallmark of a story problem.
Why This Matters
When a story is clear, everything gets easier:
- The right families find you
- Consults become conversations, not defenses
- Treatment acceptance grows naturally
- Your team speaks with alignment
- Your marketing actually works
Families don’t respond to content. They respond to conviction.
And conviction always has a story behind it.
I told the brother and sister team that what they need now is clarity, honesty, and the courage to speak from the place their conviction was born.
If You’d Like Help Diagnosing Your Story
A Legitimate Lunch & Learn (Not a Veiled Sales Call)
If you’re unsure whether your practice has a story problem or how deep it goes? We can look at it together.
During a one-hour Lunch & Learn, we will:
- Identify whether your story is clear, hidden, or underdeveloped
- Spot the specific gaps where meaning gets lost
- Evaluate whether your online presence reflects who you really are
- Clarify the parts of your story that naturally build trust
No pressure. No pitch. Just clarity and an honest diagnosis.
Upcoming Events Worth Your Time
Collaboration Cures 2026
May 15–16 at the University of Pittsburgh. A grounded place to reconnect with leaders in airway, sleep, and integrative wellness, and return with renewed clarity.
Dr. Hang’s E.C.H.O. Mentorship (2026–2027)
A small-group mentorship for providers committed to early intervention, whole-health orthodontics, and deeper case understanding led by one of the field’s most experienced pioneers.