Do you ever envy the business of your dentist?

In many ways, dentistry is similar to your auto service business. Nearly every mouth needs some dental care just like every car on the road needs service. The dental hygienist is doing the cleaning and the flossing like the tech who's in the oil change bay performing the preventive maintenance. Both places are full of high-cost and high-tech equipment. The dentist has several exam rooms or chairs just like the shop has many bays. (Even the chairs go up and down like your lifts.) The dentist takes care of the diagnostic work along with some tooth poking, prodding and drilling. In a service shop, there is usually a main guy (service manager, head technician, shop owner) who gets involved with the complicated problems. The dentist wears protective glasses while working, and I hope you do, too. And, the price of the service from both places is usually more than the customer wants to pay. Many similarities.

When you think about the diagnostic part of the dentistry business, you have to respect it.

You go in for your appointment and basically they start looking for problems. They have a set schedule that tells them how often the insurance company will pay for "routine" X-rays. And, they are applying fluoride treatments and sealers on kids' molars. When they find a problem like a cavity, here come more charges.

Usually you don't go to the dentist with a problem; you are i...