Totally Oral Podcast

A Lab Day 2024 Clint and Russ were invited to the Evolve party in Chicago where they met Jonny Jackson.  Jonny is one of the CDTs at Evolve Dentistry which is a dental supply company and lab out of Buffalo, NY that offers a full range of products and services for dentists.  Russ and Jonny talk about where Exocad is going as well as the importance of good training.  Finally we discuss the camaraderie that is found in dentistry and how honestly refreshing that is.  If you want to follow Jonny Jackson on IG, he can be found at @jonnyexocad for all of his latest and coolest stuffs or go to Evolution Dental Lab to learn more about everything that they offer.

Clinton and Russell talk with Rand Luka, a dentist originally from Iraq who immigrated to Canada in 1999.  Listen to his origin story of going through the steps to becoming a dentist in Iraq to the training he received in Canada in order to practice in Ontario.  He also has some key advice for administering patient care. 

This week Russell talk to Dr. Nelson Mar who practices in Phoenix.  Nelson went to University of Nebraska for dental school and then did a GPR in Oklahoma.  We talk about his journey from San Francisco through the Midwest to the Southwest as well as about running a practice and dealing with crazy patients.

Russell and Clint speak with Erik Zundo of West Lafayette, Indiana, a Fee For Service dentist who has found success in the Hoosier State.  They discuss insurance fees and reimbursement, the Overton Window and ADA meetings and associated fees.  The beginning of the conversation got cut off, but it was mainly Clinton discussing vexillology in the Southern Hemisphere, so no loss, really. 

Russell Schafer and Clinton Timmerman are joined by Mandy Arena, a Denturist in the Midwest leading the charge to make denturists legal in every state.  Surprisingly, only a handful of states have legalized denturists.   Their next step is to put legalizing denturist on the ballot in Illinois.  Citizens of Illinois, get out and vote for a worthy cause and help legalized denturists.  Except for Russell, no dentist really wants to do dentures, so let denturists take them off of their hands. 

So Clint and Russ didn't do as much podcasting as expected in Chicago but they had a lot of fun.  We talk about our experiences at both meetings and how we would fix Midwinter.  We talk about the technology that we saw at both meetings and our impressions.  The episode had to be editted down from 50 mintues to 44 minutes because Russell went on a 7 minute rant on how angry he was that resin was wasted.  

So we went to Chicago with the intention of doing a lot of interviews but we didn't really do much.  However, we did sit down for a late night/early morning interview with Matthew Standridge.  We discussed many topics from the American Equilibration Society  to patient expectations to running an office in this day in age.  Finally if you want to take a course from Matt (which I highly recommend), go to his website, go to 3d dentists, or go to The American Orthodontic Society.   

This week Russ goes solo with a friend Dr. Brian Schweer.  Brian talks about how he has implemented technology in his office as well as how he has managed to determine what CE makes the most sense.  Finally we talk about his part time job and cash flow of a new dental office. If you want to hear his latest podcast with Alan Mead, listen to Dr. Brian Schweers Contains Multitudes over at The Very Dental Podcast.   It is another great listen.

Frank Clayton joined Russ and Clint and was able to tell us the definitive answers to the big questoins we have had our entire lives.  Answers to questions like: -What is the meaning of life? (42) -How to make enough money in the stock market to retire in just one week -Who really shot JFK? -Who really shot JR? -Where did Amelia Earhart land? (Hint: Not where she intended to) And so much more.  However, we had some technical difficulty and the episode will be lost forever.  If you want to know what Frank said, call his office directly during business hours and ask to speak to him, even if he is in a procedure.  We did, however, manage to have a chat about the latest top ten rankings of dental schools and what makes a good dental school. 

Clint and Russ bring back Sandy Pardue to talk about her upcoming classes and pick her brain about managing dental offices.  Sandy talks about her two seminars Front Desk Pro where she covers scheduling and her new course called Office Management Pro where she covers how to run an office.  We talk about a variety of business topics from scheduling to collecting money to training employees.   If you want to learn more about Sandy's upcoming courses and her consulting company, it is called Classic Practice Resources.  She also does a regular podcast called Dental Drill Bits as well.  Finally her Facebook group is Dental Gumbo.

This week Clint and Russ interview Dr. Viraj Gadkar.  Viraj is a second generation dentist in New York City who with his wife has owned and operated a multitude of offices.  Viraj wanted to come on to discuss his opinion about PPO and medicaid offices and how he feels that they are misunderstood and that everyone overhypes FFS.  We talk for an hour about his journey from running a few medicaid offices, his foray into DHMO, his purchase of a high end FFS office, and how he bought a whale of an office that has some interesting connections to New York City...  

This week Clint and Russell interview Dr. Heather Gentry from North Carolina.  Heather runs a FFS office that focuses on holistic dentistry.  Heather practices practical holistic dentistry as a way to differentiate her office from others in her competitve market of Charlotte, North Carolina.  She is quick to point out that she still does regular dentistry with regular dental materials, but that she offers extra services to help her market for new patients like using ozone and biocompatablity testing for patients with allergies.  We also talk about how becoming a holistic dentist allow Heather to become a FFS dentist and drop all of the PPOs but also the challenges of being a FFS doctor compared to a PPO doctor.  If you want to learn more about holistic dentistry, go to IAOMT.org and IAMBD.org for more information as that is the organization we reference.

This week Russell talks with Dr. Graham Dersley out of Maryland.  Graham went to Colombia Dental School for undergrad and then did his Prosth speciality at Maryland.  We talk about Graham's journey from associate to buying an existing office to two scractch starts.  Graham has a love of full arch fixed implants and talks about how he incorporates certain new tech into his office but not everything.  We also talk about how his offices have made the switch from a more hygiene model to a problem focused model in marketing especially in a landscape where hygienists are harder to hire.  

Jane Levy joins Russell Schafer and Clinton Timmerman to discuss her company, Plan Forward.  Plan Forward assists dentists who may have uninsured, cash paying patients who can benefit from an in-office plan which acts similar to insurance.  This creates patient loyalty for dentists while also easing some of the burden patients may experience from having no insurance.  Listen and find out if Plan Forward can be a great addition to your office!

Mohamed Abo-Basha is a second year dental student at Oklahoma University College of Dentistry and works with Alan Mead producing the Very Dental Student Podcast.  Russell and Mo talk for an hour about Mo's journey to dentistry as a first generation Egyptian-American and his experiences through dental school.  It is kinda funny how things haven't changed in dental school since forever.   

Clinton and Russell are joined by Bruce Smoler, who talks about getting involved placing implants and implant education.   He, too, has also placed an implant on himself...

This week Russell talks with Dr. Jay Siddiqui out of Chevy Chase, MD.  Russell reached out to Jay because Jay (like Russ) loves doing dentures in house.  We geek out on dentures for a while and then we talk about how Jay has bought a small office and transformed it into a great office that works for him.  He does almost all of his own lab work (outside of RPDs) and he talks about why he loves implementing digital dentistry into his office.  Last but not least Jay will be speaking in Cantonville, Maryland on January 17th, 2024 at the DMV 3D Printing and Digital Study Club .  If you want to learn more about digital stuffs, go take his course.  

August de Oliveira joins Totally Oral to discuss his latest teaching endeavor: MOD Institute and the importance of 3D printed dentistry.  August also hints at future trends in digital dentistry and if Skynet is inevitable given all the advances in AI.  

This week Russell talks wtih Dr. Parham Radmanesh who is an Iranian born Canadian dentist trained at Boston University who decided to leave the cold to move to Los Angeles.  Parham bought a struggling office and talks about his journey of buying a failing office that no one else wanted from an owner who just wanted out.  Parham then decided to buy 3 more offices.  Russell and Parham talk about Parham's journey and challenges of expanding so quickly and how Parham learned to scale.  Overall it is a cool story and one that challenges a lot of conventional wisdom. Also we talk about Parham's SEO company as well and why he started offering his services to other dentists.

This week Clint and Russ talk with Dr. Nick Boyd.  Nick practices in Annapolis, MD at Boyd Family Dentistry and went to dental school later in life after a career in business.  While he was an associate for a while, he bought an office from a dentist who unfortunately took his own life.  We talk about that transition and how it actually went really well for him thankfully.  We go on to discuss how we remove stress from our lives by firing patients, working the hours we want to work, and having the office work us rather than the other way around.  Last but not least, stay on for arguably the best "Just the Tip" of all time.