Debbie speaking to an audience at a professional dental education event

Speaking · Workshops · In-practice training

Speaking & Workshops

Practical sessions for orthodontic and dental teams on patient experience, generational team dynamics, digital workflows, and Canadian orthodontic insurance. Written from inside the practice, not from the lecture circuit.

01 — Why book Debbie

A speaker who is still in the practice.

The frameworks have been tested on real teams. The workflows are current. Everything is built to be useful by the Monday after the event.

Debbie still works as Treatment Coordinator and Practice Manager at Discover Orthodontics while leading Little Deb Consulting and serving on the Align Technology Faculty. That keeps every talk grounded in what is actually happening at the front desk, in the operatory, and on the schedule right now.

As an Align Technology Faculty Member, a graduate of Mastering the Business of Orthodontics at the Wharton School, and an active educator across Canada and the United States, Debbie has presented for study clubs, dental and orthodontic associations, private practices, and continuing education programs. Every session is built around implementation. The goal is not a notebook of ideas. The goal is what the team does differently next week.

02 — Speaking topics

Six talks. Three areas Debbie has lived inside.

Any topic can be delivered as a keynote, workshop, half-day, or study club session, and is shaped to the audience, the format, and what the event is actually trying to do.

Patient Experience and Communication

A clinician in a white coat speaking with a smiling patient across a consultation table

The New Patient Visit Is a System, Not a Moment

By the time the patient sits down with the doctor, most of their decision has already been made. It started on the phone, in the parking lot, at the front desk, and in the handoff to the treatment coordinator. This session pulls that sequence apart and shows your team how to design each step on purpose.

Session focus

Walking the new patient journey from first call through case acceptance, naming the friction points most teams stop noticing, and putting a repeatable process in place that any team member can run.

Audience

Treatment coordinators, front office leads, practice managers, and clinical teams.

Learning outcomes

A straightforward way to audit the new patient flow you already have
Scripts and handoff language that earn case acceptance through clarity, not pressure
A workable system the team can run starting Monday morning

Two front office team members welcoming a patient at the practice reception desk

The Front Office Runs the Patient Experience

The patient relationship is usually won or lost before the clinical team ever walks in. The front desk sets the tone, the pace, and the trust. This session treats the front office as what it actually is: the most strategic team in the practice.

Session focus

Phone skills, scheduling philosophy, financial conversations, and the daily habits that let the front office drive growth instead of getting in its way.

Audience

Front office teams, office managers, and practice owners.

Learning outcomes

Language and structure for the calls and consults that move the needle on case acceptance
A scheduling philosophy that protects both clinical capacity and patient flow
Practical tools that make financial conversations easier for the team and clearer for the patient

An older dental patient smiling while looking in a hand mirror in the treatment chair

Communicating with the Aging Dental Patient

Older patients walk in with different expectations, different decision-making styles, and often physical or cognitive needs the practice was never set up for. The teams that adapt build extraordinary loyalty. The teams that don't usually never realize what they lost.

Session focus

Small, specific adjustments to communication, consent, treatment planning, and the in-office experience that respect the aging patient and still keep the day on time.

Audience

Clinical teams, treatment coordinators, and front office staff in general and specialty practices.

Learning outcomes

Communication shifts that build real trust with older patients and the family members who come with them
Consent and treatment-planning approaches that head off confusion and second-guessing
Operational adjustments that improve the visit without slowing the schedule

Team and Leadership

Three women of different generations collaborating around a notebook

Four Generations, One Practice

Most dental teams now have four generations working shoulder to shoulder. They communicate differently, take feedback differently, and read leadership differently. The friction is real, and it usually shows up as turnover before anyone names it.

Session focus

Where generational differences actually show up in the day-to-day, what they cost the practice, and how leaders build a culture that holds the whole team together.

Audience

Practice owners, office managers, team leads, and full clinical teams.

Learning outcomes

A clearer read on what each generation actually wants from work
Leadership habits that lower turnover and lift daily collaboration
Workable tools for feedback, meetings, and communication across the team

Workflow and Operations

A clinician reviewing a digital intraoral scan on a chairside monitor with a patient

Owning the Technology Is Not the Same as Having a System

Most practices have spent serious money on scanners, imaging, practice management software, AI tools, and treatment planning platforms. The efficiency gain rarely lands the way the brochure promised. The technology is almost never the problem. The system around it usually is.

Session focus

Building the workflows, handoffs, and accountability that turn the tools you already own into real operational gains.

Audience

Practice owners, office managers, clinical leads, and teams adopting or expanding digital workflows.

Learning outcomes

A clear way to spot where your technology is sitting underused or misused
Workflow frameworks designed around the tools the practice already owns
Implementation steps that actually bring the rest of the team with you

03 — Audiences served

Where Debbie has spoken.

01Study clubs
02Dental and orthodontic associations
03Specialty and general dental practices
04Conference and association meetings
05Continuing education programs
06In-practice team training sessions

04 — Speaking formats

Four ways to bring Debbie in.

Keynote

A single anchor talk for a conference, association meeting, or specialty event, shaped to the audience and the program around it.

Workshop

A working session with frameworks the team can actually use back at the practice. A good fit when the event includes hands-on learning.

Half-Day Session

A longer format that allows one topic to be explored in depth, with room for discussion and team-level application alongside the teaching.

Study Club Presentation

A focused session built for the pace of a study club: practical, conversational, and rooted in the questions members are working through right now.

05 — Faculty & involvement

Credentials and current work.

Debbie is an Align Technology Faculty Member and a graduate of Mastering the Business of Orthodontics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She has spoken across Canada and the United States and brings more than 25 years of clinical and operational work from inside orthodontic and dental practices.

Alongside the speaking work, she continues to serve as Treatment Coordinator and Practice Manager at Discover Orthodontics. That keeps every presentation tied to the real work of running a practice today, not the way it ran ten years ago.

Speaking engagements can be structured to qualify for AGD PACE continuing education credit when appropriate. Little Deb Consulting is an approved PACE Program Provider (Provider ID 439316). Credit attribution and subject codes are determined per activity and disclosed on the registration materials for each credit-bearing event.

For practice owners

A note on private team training

Most of the topics on this page can also be delivered inside your practice as a private team training. Those sessions are shaped to your team, your current workflows, and the specific outcomes you want to move.

If you are a practice owner looking at a private training rather than an external speaking date, mention that in the inquiry form below. The response will be scoped accordingly.

Speaking inquiry

Share a few details about your event and Debbie will reply personally, usually within two business days. If you already have a topic in mind, tell us. If you are still working it out, that is fine too.