First Case Forward

Find a $20,000 case on your existing patient list. Plan it with our team. Close it at the chair.

90 days. One case. From the patient you select to the case you close — with our team alongside yours.

Take the 3-minute assessment → Book a consultation

10 spots per cohort. Cohorts open quarterly.

The gap

Knowing how it works isn't the same as doing it.

Most dentists understand how comprehensive case acceptance works in principle. Patient selection, documentation, the treatment plan, the case presentation — the methodology makes sense in the abstract.

Then they go back to their practice. The next Monday morning, the same routine patients walk in. The same hygiene checks, the same six-month bookings, the same comprehensive case walking out as a $200 cleaning. Knowing how comprehensive case acceptance works doesn't translate into closing one.

The gap isn't intellectual. It's operational. It's the difference between understanding the methodology and running it on a real patient, with real records, on a real plan, with your own team — and knowing the plan you present was built to a standard you can stand behind.

First Case Forward closes that gap. One case, 90 days, guided one-to-one by our team from the patient you select through to the case you close.

The 90-day program

Four phases. One case. Closed.

Found, documented, planned, and presented — with the DSD team behind you every step, from the patient you select to the case you close.

Find

Find the case in the patients coming through your door

Most dentists tell us they don't have $20,000 patients. They almost always do — whether it's someone they've known for years or a patient walking in for the first time. The patients are there. The lens isn't.

You build the DSD case selection lens — the specific clinical and conversational cues that separate a routine hygiene visit from a real comprehensive case. Then you identify your strongest candidate already on the schedule, and build the lens into how you review your own appointment book, so every patient gets evaluated for what they could have, not just what they booked for.

Document

Document the case right, in one appointment

The case can stall in the gap between spotting the opportunity and turning it into a plan — usually because the records came back incomplete and the plan can't be built from them.

You're equipped with the DSD documentation protocol — the photos, video, and scans the Planning Center needs — so you capture everything correctly in one visit. No second appointment. No missing piece holding up the plan. You'll know exactly what to capture and how, so your candidate's records go to the Planning Center ready to plan from.

Plan

Your case plan, built with the DSD Planning Center

This is the core of DSD — the plan you don't have to build alone between patients on a Wednesday morning. The DSD Planning Center is our interdisciplinary team of dentists and designers who complete hundreds of cases a month and live inside this work every day.

Your records go to the Planning Center on your behalf, briefed so nothing is lost in the handoff. They lead the plan — facially-driven smile design, treatment sequencing, restorative options — built to your specifications and the standard used by 10,000+ dentists worldwide. A dedicated channel keeps you connected throughout. You walk into the presentation with a plan built by working backward from the ideal outcome: you know exactly how to get there, and your patient can see the result before treatment even starts.

Present

Your first case, coached and presented

Most case presentations lose the case at the money conversation — the patient hears "cost" before they feel "value." This is the moment everything upstream comes together, and where Dr Luken coaches you directly.

Dr Luken de Arbeloa builds your patient presentation from the completed plan — structured around the emotional arc of problem, solution, financial story — then coaches you through delivering it: every slide, the clinical narrative, the financial framing, and the objection handling that moves a patient from "let me think about it" to "let's do this." You deliver it at your second appointment under 1:1 coaching, and walk out with the case accepted.

Your team

Backed by the team that built the methodology.

You're coached one-to-one on calls — through selection, documentation, and the close — backed by the DSD Planning Center and 1:1 presentation coaching from a senior DSD clinician. Not a portal, not a forum.

DSD

Coaching & Training

The DSD Team

Clinicians and educators who've spent years refining this exact system across hundreds of comprehensive-case practices. They coach you one-to-one through selection, documentation, and the close — on calls, at every milestone.

DSD

Planning & Design

DSD Planning Center

The interdisciplinary team of dentists and designers who turn your records into a fully-developed case plan, built to the standard used by 10,000+ dentists worldwide. This work is included for the case you're working on.

Presentation Coaching

Dr Luken de Arbeloa

A senior DSD clinician who builds your patient presentation from the completed plan and coaches you 1:1 through delivering it — the clinical narrative, the financial framing, the objection handling, and the close.

Methodology Architect

Christian Coachman

The methodology behind the program is Christian's life's work. He doesn't deliver one-on-one inside the program, but the system is built on his framework and refined with his team.

Investment

One program. One case. One price.

$3,900

one payment for the 90-day program

10 spots per cohort. Cohorts open quarterly.

Present your case within 90 days, and if you're not at $20,000 yet, we keep going with you at no extra cost for up to another 90 days.

The promise

$20,000 in 90 days. That's the promise.

What we promise

$20,000 in accepted treatment.

Not a timeline full of maybes. Not a stack of theory you hope pays off. We promise $20,000 in accepted treatment, planned and closed with our team beside you. We've done this for years — the number doesn't scare us.

If you're not there yet

We keep going with you.

Present your case within 90 days, and if you're not at $20,000 yet, we keep working with you at no extra cost for up to another 90 days. The system stays with you either way — every framework, every script, every piece of the program.

Fit

This isn't for everyone. Here's how to tell.

We say no to dentists who aren't a fit. Honest filter — both directions.

First Case Forward is for you if

You're eager to understand and embody the methodology of comprehensive case acceptance and are ready to apply it on a real patient.
You see patients in your chair with aesthetic, functional, or restorative needs beyond single-tooth dentistry — even if you haven't yet identified them as comprehensive cases.
You're open to working alongside the DSD team through the program.
You want a defined engagement with a clear endpoint, not an open-ended subscription.
You're ready to commit time over 90 days to seeing one case through.

It isn't for you if

Your clinical work is focused on single-tooth, emergency, or pediatric procedures.
You want done-for-you case planning without the coaching component — the DSD Planning Center serves that need standalone.
You want to fix one case, not build a workflow you'll use on every case after.
You can't make space in your schedule for a focused first appointment and case presentation.
You can't make time for the scheduled sessions over the 90 days.

What this looks like in practice

Dr Yelena's $25,000 case.

Six months ago, Dr Yelena had a patient she was convinced would walk.

The treatment plan was $25,000. Comprehensive treatment had been presented before but not accepted. Yelena ran the case presentation again expecting to lose the case.

Instead, the patient said yes. And started treatment immediately.

What changed wasn't the patient. What changed was the case presentation — and what Yelena had in front of her when she ran it.

A real story built around what mattered to this specific patient. A confidence framework for the four objections every comprehensive case patient brings into the room. The structured way to walk a patient toward yes.

She closed the case confidently. That's what we coach.

Questions

Things people ask before they book.

What if I don't have a $20K case in my current patient base?

We'll figure that out in the consultation before you commit. If your patient base isn't ready, FCF isn't your starting point — and we'll tell you that honestly. There's no point taking your money for a program you can't get value from yet.

Is this for me, or for my whole team?

First Case Forward is built around you, the doctor. You're the one we coach through selecting, documenting, and closing the case — because you're the one who has to see it work first. Your practice plays its part in running the appointment, but the coaching is focused on you, not team-wide training.

What happens if I haven't reached $20,000 in accepted treatment by Day 90?

As long as you've presented your case within the first 90 days, we keep working with you at no extra cost for up to another 90 days — six months in total. The system stays with you either way — every framework, every script, every piece of documentation from the program.

Is this the same as DSD Provider Membership?

No. Membership to the DSD Planning Center & Lab allows access to our treatment planning and manufacture services with a different scope and commitment shape. FCF is a defined 90-day engagement focused on one specific case. Different products for different needs.

Do I need to be a DSD Planning Center client already?

No. The DSD Planning Center work is included in the program for the case you're working on. After Day 90, if you want to keep working with the Planning Center on future cases, DSD Provider membership is the path — we'll walk you through it if it's the right next step.

How do I know if I'm a fit?

Take the 3-minute assessment, then have a 30-minute consultation with our team. Both are free. We'll tell you honestly whether FCF makes sense for where you are right now.

Ready to start

Close your first comprehensive case with our team alongside yours.

Two ways forward. Both are free.

Take the 3-minute assessment → Book a 30-minute consultation