Podcast appearances and mentions of Aspen Dental

In this episode, Dr. Tehaum Saood shares his journey as a new dentist, discussing the challenges and experiences he faced transitioning from dental school to practice. He emphasizes the importance of finding the right job, seeking mentorship, and being intentional about career choices. Dr. Tehaum also provides practical advice for new graduates on job searching, interviewing, and navigating the early stages of their careers in dentistry.Dr. Tehaum's page: https://www.instagram.com/onemissiondmd/Engage with the podcast on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/dentaldownloadpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Haley's Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/dr.haley.dds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Keywordsdentistry, dental school, career advice, mentorship, job search, Aspen Dental, new dentist, dental practice, professional growth, dental education, DSO, dental support organization jobs, DSO jobs, reality of dentist, dentist life, associate dentist

The amazing people we talked to in the Ivoclar (https://www.ivoclar.com/en_us) Ballroom during the 40th anniversary of LMT Lab Day Chicago just keep coming and this week we have a stellar line up. First up is Eric Kukucka. Eric came on the podcast years ago to talk about his multiple denturist practices in Canada. But he has since sold them and has joined the Aspen Dental (https://www.aspendental.com/) group as their Vice President of Clinical Removable Prosthetics & Design Technologies. Eric talks about going from making dentures for hundreds of patients to working with a team to produce quality dentures for millions. Then we chat with Chelsea Homire, who has years of dental assistant experience, but when given the oppritunity to learn the in-office lab work, she took off. With a passion for printing, Chelsea is now teaching other offices (and even a few labs) how they can optimize their digital workflow. We wrap up the episode with Brittany Mitchell. You might know her becuase she designed (and made the denture) on our "Just Say No to Brushing" shirt, but she's also a talented removable technician. Brittany talks about starting in at the front desk, drawing a picture that got notices and placed in the lab, falling in love with it, and making digital dentures for a 12 doctor dental group. Don't miss this incredible webinar with Tanya Little, a dentist from beautiful Vancouver, Canada. We would like to invite you to a special webinar that she's hosting with Ivoclar (https://www.ivoclar.com/en_us) and LMT (https://lmtmag.com/) on Wednesday, May 7th, titled "Reflections from a Denturist: 20 Years of Crafting Dentures!". In this program, she will review the incredible history of removables with Ivoclar and focus on the new and exciting evolution based print resin and of course, the PM7. Her goal is to provide you with several key takeaways that will allow you to work smarter and not harder. You can join on May 7th by registering at https://lmtmag.com/webinars/reflections-from-a-denturist-20-years-of-crafting-dentures Are you a dental lab in need of more talent to improve your bottom line and keep production on schedule? Are you a dental tech with great skills but feel you're being limited at your current lab? Well, the answer is here and this is precisely why WIN WIN GO (https://www.winwingo.com/) was created. The dental lab and dental tech community needed a place where labs and technicians can meet, talk about their needs and connect in ways that foster a win win outcome. As a tech. If you're ready to make a change, thinking about moving in the next year or just curious what's out there, sign up today. It's totally free. As a lab, you might be feeling the frustration of paying the big employment site so much and getting so few tech candidates. We understand they don't much care about our industry. WINWINGO.com is simply the best place for lab techs and lab owners to actively engage in creating their ideal future. WINWINGO.com, how dental techs find paradise. Special Guests: Brittany Mitchell, Chelsea Homire, and Eric Kukucka DD.

In this episode of How to Invest in Commercial Real Estate, the guys dive deep into the popular book The Millionaire Next Door and explain why it's giving people the wrong idea about wealth. Time Stamps: 0:00 – Introduction 0:20 – Welcome back to the best podcast in Jenks, Oklahoma 0:33 – Quick updates: Aspen Dental, Grand Rapids, and new deals 1:13 – $600K in Q4 distributions to investors 2:04 – Why The Millionaire Next Door doesn't align with our goals 2:50 – Breaking down the book's premise: Who is the average millionaire? 4:41 – The problem with living below your means as a path to wealth 5:56 – Why saving isn't enough to achieve the millionaire lifestyle 8:13 – Focus on income growth and high returns instead of frugality 10:00 – Set bigger goals: $10 million instead of $1 million 12:33 – Passive income vs. net worth: What should your real goal be? 15:39 – Final thoughts: Don't let frugality keep you from chasing your dreams *Be Sure to check us out on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the Audio version of today's episode!** https://open.spotify.com/show/08KmNvqGV5HjmHUC8fLuce https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-invest-in-commercial-real-estate/id1543470290 Leave a review and win FREE MERCH! https://maps.app.goo.gl/QaaSZnQVWre1HUMH6 Links mentioned in this episode: www.TheCriterionFund.com www.HowToInvestInCRE.TV Invest.HowToInvestInCRE.com To sign up for our exclusive investor list, click below. https://www.thecriterionfund.com/join-our-investor-list CommercialRealEstate #WealthBuilding #PassiveIncome #MillionaireMindset #FinancialFreedom #InvestingInRealEstate #CashFlow #FrugalityMyths #TheMillionaireNextDoor #RealEstateInvesting #FinancialIndependence #IncomeGrowth #BuildingWealth #CommercialInvestments #InvestSmarter

In this episode of How to Invest in Commercial Real Estate, we break down the essential financial metrics every investor should know—cash-on-cash returns, IRR, cap rates, and more. Time Stamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:24 - Kicking off the new year & Thunder game recap 1:01 - Latest real estate deals: Aspen Dental, Cincinnati, and Richmond 2:54 - Updates on gas stations & auto deals 3:37 - Back to Basics: Helping new investors understand commercial real estate 4:24 - The importance of converting earned income into passive income 5:42 - Why commercial real estate is an ideal investment vehicle 8:04 - How we provide investment opportunities for passive investors 10:59 - Understanding the preferred return in real estate investing 12:18 - Cash-on-Cash Returns: What they mean and why they matter 17:52 - What is IRR (Internal Rate of Return)? 20:59 - Cap Rates: What they are and how they affect deals 24:27 - Equity Multiple: How much your investment can grow 27:01 - Final thoughts & encouraging investors to take action *Be Sure to check us out on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for the Audio version of today's episode!** https://open.spotify.com/show/08KmNvqGV5HjmHUC8fLuce https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-invest-in-commercial-real-estate/id1543470290 Leave a review and win FREE MERCH! https://maps.app.goo.gl/QaaSZnQVWre1HUMH6 Links mentioned in this episode: www.TheCriterionFund.com www.HowToInvestInCRE.TV Invest.HowToInvestInCRE.com To sign up for our exclusive investor list, click below. https://www.thecriterionfund.com/join-our-investor-list CommercialRealEstate #RealEstateInvesting #PassiveIncome #FinancialFreedom #CashFlow #RealEstateDeals #InvestingForBeginners #RealEstateWealth #HowToInvest #WealthBuilding #Investing101 #RetireEarly #CommercialRealEstateInvesting #CapRate #EquityMultiple #IRRExplained #CashOnCash #RealEstateSyndication #PassiveInvesting #MillionaireMindset

Jennifer George isn't just running marathons—she's running entire brands into the future. As the SVP of Communications at The Aspen Group, Jennifer has a front-row seat to the C-suite, serving as the voice of leadership for a $4 billion portfolio of brands, including Aspen Dental and WellNow Urgent Care. Over the years, she's transformed global communications functions at companies like Shutterfly and Headspace. In this episode with Ryan, Jennifer dives into how her unique blend of creativity, grit, and optimism has shaped her impressive career. From her early days crafting communications for Unilever to her work at The Aspen Group today, she shares how she's thrived in challenging environments, always seeking solutions that simplify the complex. Jennifer also opens up about the importance of curiosity and staying active in the face of fear, and how "action overrides inadequacy" in any situation. She reveals how she turned self-doubt into a catalyst for bold actions, making a lasting impact on her career and the companies she's helped lead.

In this episode, Dr. Sundeep Rawal, Senior Vice President of Implant Support Services at Aspen Dental, discusses the transformative impact of dental implants and technological innovation in the field. Dr. Rawal shares insights into Aspen Dental's patient- and provider-centered approach, advancements in implant therapy, and how Aspen's Oral Care Center of Excellence is making life-changing dental care more accessible.

In this episode, Dr. Desmon Brown, Vice President of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Support Services at Aspen Dental, discusses the financial and operational hurdles faced by new dental graduates and seasoned practitioners alike. He highlights the benefits of partnering with DSOs and the importance of staying current with technological advancements to ensure success in the rapidly evolving dental industry.

In this episode, Dr. Desmon Brown, Vice President of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Support Services at Aspen Dental, discusses the financial and operational hurdles faced by new dental graduates and seasoned practitioners alike. He highlights the benefits of partnering with DSOs and the importance of staying current with technological advancements to ensure success in the rapidly evolving dental industry.

Visit thedigitalslicepodcast.com for complete show notes of every podcast episode. Join Brad Friedman and Cynthia Krantz as they chat about digital audits, maximizing online presence, and making data-driven decisions to drive business growth. Cynthia Krantz is the founder and President of Mezzo Creative LLC, a social and digital media agency. She has project managed campaigns for the likes of Nike, Aspen Dental and Vinfast Auto. Her company, founded in 2019, works with small to mid-sized businesses in all sectors, marrying big agency strategy with a boutique agency feel.  She has her Bachelor's in Communication Studies from Furman University and a Master's in Journalism from Marshall University. Cynthia is a passionate cook, lover of all things French, and proud to serve on the Executive Board of the Huntington Symphony Orchestra. She is mom to two amazing boys and wife to her best friend and Mezzo's biggest champion, Matthew.

Bela Perez-Torres, Director of Hygiene Strategy & Operations at Aspen Dental Management, Inc., shares her experiences from a mission trip to the Philippines, reflecting on the differences between dental care in the US and the Philippines. She discusses the benefits of being open-minded with workers' schedules and the challenges faced in adapting to new technology.

In today's episode of Clicks2Bricks, we are joined by Ash ElDifrawi in his capacity as the Chief Commercial and Brand Officer for The Aspen Group (TAG), a portfolio of health-services brands. Ash is here to talk about the unique challenges of growing and supporting a national dentistry brand, and he is perfectly situated as two of the brands under TAG's umbrella are the only two national dentistry brands in the country! We learn about Ash's father and son podcast, Hold Me Back, before dissecting the inner workings of TAG as a company. We discuss how TAG's daughter companies are structured, how to overcome the challenges of the modern marketing funnel, the marketing relationship between TAG and its affiliated dental practitioners, and why the company relies so heavily on influencers and social media in its marketing efforts. Ash also explains the roles of customer reviews and AI at TAG, why he believes that marketing should be redefined in line with our evolving world, and how his experience at previous companies serves him in the work he does today, as well as the job opportunities that are currently available at The Aspen Group. Tune in for all this and more!Key Points From This Episode:Insight into Ash's father-son podcast, Hold Me Back.The ins and outs of Aspen Dental and The Aspen Group (TAG). Exploring Ash's journey at TAG and how his role has changed through various titles.A closer look at all the brands under the TAG umbrella and how they're structured. TAG's marketing funnel and the unique challenges that come with it. The thrills and spills of managing the only two national brands in dentistry. How TAG engages with its network of dental practitioners from a marketing perspective.Filling the funnel: understanding what works in today's market. How (and why) TAG uses influencers and social media marketing. Why Ash and his team are more focused on the first visit than retaining customers.Customer reviews and the role of AI at TAG. Ash's unpopular opinion about the evolution of the definition of marketing!How previous experiences at Google, GoGo, and Redbox influence the way he works today. The differences between general cognitive ability, talent, education, and experience. Job vacancies at TAG and how to connect with Ash and his team.Links Mentioned in Today's Episode:Ash ElDifrawi on LinkedInAsh ElDifrawi Books on AmazonThe Aspen Group (TAG)Hold Me Back PodcastAI Xecutive CouncilBob Fontana on LinkedIn RedboxGogo Business AviationRaising Cane'sMarriot International Warby ParkerSOCiClicks 2 Bricks Marketing Leaders Coffee Chat

Have you ever considered how vulnerable your practice might be to a cyberattack? In this episode, Reuben and I delve into the alarming issue of cybersecurity threats targeting the dental industry. With recent warnings from the FBI about credible threats, it's clear that dental practices need to take cybersecurity seriously. We explore the potential consequences of these threats, the crucial need for comprehensive security awareness training for staff members, and essential steps to prevent email-based attacks.The conversation goes in-depth into why using Microsoft 365 for enhanced email security is a game-changer for dental offices. Reuben also discuss the importance of working with IT experts to set up robust cybersecurity measures. Whether you're a dental professional or someone concerned about the security of sensitive patient information, this episode offers loads of practical advice. Don't miss out on this vital information that could protect your practice from devastating cyber attacks.What You'll Learn in This Episode:What are the credible cybersecurity threats currently targeting dental practices?Why is security awareness training crucial for dental office staff?What steps you can take to prevent email-based threatsHow Microsoft 365 can enhance your dental practice's email securityWhy should dental practices consider consulting IT companies for cybersecurity solutions?Take action today to secure your dental practice's email communications and protect sensitive patient information!‍‍Sponsors:For DSO integrations, startup solutions, and all your dental IT needs, let our sponsors, Darkhorse Tech, help out so you can focus on providing the amazing care that you do. For 1 month of FREE service, visit their link today! https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/darkhorse-deal/‍You can reach out to Reuben Kamp here:Website: https://www.darkhorsetech.com/Email: sales@darkhorsetech.comPhone: 800-868-4504Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarkhorseTech‍Mentions and Links: Businesses/Services:Henry ScheinAspen Dental‍Organizations:HIPAAFBIChange HealthcareUnitedHealthcare‍Software/Tools:DentrixEaglesoftOpen DentalChatGPTOutlookMicrosoft 365G Suite‍People:Bill Gates‍If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041‍Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)‍Michael: Hey, Ruben. So talk to us. What's happening right now for this Monday morning episode, we're going to be talking about something specific when it comes to security, Michael: What's going on? Reuben: Emergency pod. First of all, emergency pod, Michael. Michael: All Reuben: right. You know, those, uh, Reuben: those sirens Instagram are overused, but in this case it Reuben: does apply. FBI warns of credible cybersecurity threats of the dental industry. that's why we're talking today. Michael: Okay. So what's happening. This happened. One of the articles we're looking at is on may 8th, so Michael: like not less than a week ago, less than a week, a couple of days ago, something's going on specifically with this cyber security threat. To all Michael: dental practices everywhere in the nation or Reuben: yeah, so it is morphed into that over the last few days. So basically, uh, the FBI was monitoring, uh, a hacking group, Reuben: connected to change healthcare, connected to United Healthcare, connected to Henry Schein, connected to Aspen. You know, all these groups have obviously made the Reuben: headlines in the last uh, year or so uh, change healthcare, obviously being uh, most recent, Reuben: they were actually investigating a threat because they were attacking the plastics. Surgery market. And Reuben: then they shifted their focus to Reuben: oral surgery. And that's kind of, that was the, the Reuben: splashy update from last week, right? Reuben: May 6th, May 8th. And now the FBI uh, FBI is Reuben: basically saying general dentistry is now being targeted as well. So, Reuben: See, it went from outside the dental industry to a dental, you know, specialty. And now to the majority of dental practices out there are you Uh, actively being targeted. Michael: So then a couple of things, I mean, we Michael: obviously want to know what to look out for, but what's the consequences here? Michael: If let's just say. We did end up accidentally doing something that we weren't supposed to do, like Michael: opening up an email or clicking specific Michael: link, you know, stuff we don't really know. Reuben: Yeah. Let's all the way to the end is you're bankrupting of practice, right? We Reuben: go back one step that is, you know, uh, the Reuben: overwhelming majority of practices that suffer a cybersecurity attack go out of business. All right. So we're starting at the end, we're working backwards. So that, that means. you, Or if you are a doctor or a staff member, you Reuben: clicked on a staff member, clicked on it. an email, a link that downloaded a payload to your office, right? Ransomware is, is most of what we're talking about here. Reuben: And that ransomware, let's say you're running Dentrix or Eagle software, open dental, one of these, uh, you know, server based practice management Reuben: softwares, that ransomware was able to embed itself into your practice management software, right? Patient health information, Reuben: uh, x rays, uh, social security numbers, medical history. You know, all the stuff that we call protected health information or EPHI electronic protected health and Reuben: they get that data and they exfiltrate it or take it out of the office, that is a Reuben: breach, which then feeds me into most practices that go through a breach, go out of business, and then you're, you're no longer an owner of a practice, you're an associated at another practice. I guess that is actually the last step. And that Reuben: is why this is so important is because Reuben: it's so darn easy to protect yourself from this Reuben: happening. But only 6 percent of the dental offices out there are HIPAA compliant. So hackers go, wow, we have a 94 percent Reuben: chance of getting into this office. Thank God. But, and that's why, Reuben: Honestly, it's like Dennis and the, the only really industry Reuben: less compliant the dentistry, Reuben: you guys can make fun of them is chiropractors. Reuben: So, Hey, those are the industries that, that are go after because of the lowest hanging fruit. if you Reuben: have dogs at your house, and Michael, you know, Reuben: I have, you know, 10, 000 dogs that live with me, Reuben: a robber does not want to come rob my house, because they're going to be attacked by a bunch of dogs. they want to attack the house. That the owners are on vacation, there's no animals, it's dark, you know, they Reuben: are opportunistic just like any other profession. So Reuben: that is why they're going after the dental industry specifically. Michael: Gotcha. Something you mentioned, man, where you said staff members click on it. I think the most common Michael: thing. I mean, one of the practices I worked at the actual doctor clicked on it and Michael: ended up paying. But like with, when it comes to the staff members. Do they need to receive specific training for this? Or Reuben: yeah, we call it security awareness training or SAT for short. Uh, not to be confused with the test Reuben: that is, it is coming back now. turns out it's a great predictor. If you're going to be okay at college, Reuben: um, I digress. So basically security awareness training trains your staff. who, You Reuben: know, you got to give to them. They're Reuben: busy. They're your phone calls. There's patients in front of them. They're scheduling, their billing, they're checking people out. There's Reuben: a lot going on. So you kind of have to, you know, if they do have an email come through Reuben: and it looks like it's from UPS, or it looks like it's, you know, from a Reuben: credible source and they don't, they don't have their guard up and they click Reuben: on it. It's Reuben: really hard to come down Reuben: on that person right? Reuben: You're expecting a lot out of them. And, and, and also, you know, be, have your, you know, your hat on your cyber Reuben: hat on and be vigilant at all times for through. So it's really important that you set up like. Let's not do a free Gmail account, right? That Reuben: has no security protection. Reuben: It's really important that you have an email system. I recommend Microsoft Reuben: 365 for all businesses that will stop those emails from coming in to begin with, because it never made it through Reuben: the spam filter. Right. Uh, the phishing filter. Reuben: So what's it worth that your staff. Doesn't even have to see that email that's worth a lot, right? Reuben: And then secondarily, let's say it is something that's more sophisticated, right? AI is obviously Reuben: playing a huge role in these emerging threats because it's no longer, you know, Prince of Nigeria Reuben: asking you for money who doesn't speak good English. It's like a perfectly crafted Reuben: email that's written by, uh, Beauty. so what security awareness training does is it, uh, it's a campaign. So like, if Reuben: I set this up, I'll randomly send out emails to your employees, right? If they click on a message that they Reuben: shouldn't have. have. Reuben: They are forced Reuben: down the training loop of, okay, Reuben: you have to go to school to realize like, what does a real email looks like? You know, is this Reuben: an external sender? Is it an internal sender? So it Reuben: really, it's just another, uh, training element, but you know, we're in the prevention business, right? I don't, I don't want Reuben: to clean stuff up. I want to play default. I want to block stuff from happening. And Reuben: of course the client wants that too. Michael: Gotcha. Okay. So then right now, what steps can we do or what to look out for? What can we look out for? What steps can we do when it comes to preventing this threat that's happening today? Absolutely. And Reuben: I'm going to focus on email because that is, the Reuben: FBI is, the warning is specifically tied to email. It's the easy, again, we talked about ease of Reuben: access is the easiest way to get into a Reuben: business is to send someone email. I can Reuben: send Bill Gates an email right now. Right. It Reuben: It doesn't matter. I have his email. I get sent to him. and so there's hundreds, thousands of practices out there that use Reuben: friendly smiles at gmail. com. So the Reuben: to action is sign up for a Microsoft account. It's Reuben: going to do two things. One, uh, it's going to give you that increased protection we talked about. Reuben: Two, It's more professional, right? It's more professional to receive an email, not from friendly smiles at gmail. com, Reuben: but office at friendly smiles. com, right? You're using your domain name. Reuben: tied to your website. It's professional. Maybe you have a signature. It just gives your, the people you're communicating with Reuben: patients, staff labs. an air that, you know, you are a professional Reuben: business. So, it Reuben: just have to be for cybersecurity. It can be to kind of raise your professionalism as Reuben: a business. Gotcha. So get that first. Microsoft three, six, five. Reuben: Microsoft 365. It's a, it's a suite of products, right? We use Microsoft 365 Reuben: for open dental cloud hosting, but we also use Microsoft 365 for email for Microsoft teams, for one drive. So Reuben: there's a lot to it, but we're really specifically talking about, email or some people refer to as outlook, which Reuben: is a specific email product that Microsoft offers. Okay. Michael: Okay. So we do that next steps. Would that be the only step or that's it? Reuben: We're only going to focus on. Protecting yourself from the credible threat Reuben: the FBI, we can have a hour long about all the other stuff you need to do, but please, the takeaway from this is really bolster your email security. Michael: Gotcha. Okay. So get that So if we have it already, we don't got to worry about Reuben: IT company check it your it company, check it out, Ask them a question. Hey, am I doing Reuben: I need to do? If you don't have an it company, I run one. I Reuben: can help you out, but there's a lot of companies out there. So, either, you know, if you have an incumbent IT company, just reach Reuben: out to them, say, Hey, Can you guys get me set up with this? Or hey, I'm running this. Is there anything better we can do? Cause Reuben: there are some nuances there that are a little technical, but you know, you as the, uh, you as the client really shouldn't really have to worry about setting that up. Gotcha. Michael: Awesome, man. Any other pieces of advice you wanted to mention in this episode? Reuben: The FBI got involved, so they don't just like, Reuben: uh, creep into the dental industry, Reuben: uh, just cause they get bored. Reuben: So this is, it's a credible threat and just, it's a great reminder to just do the, Reuben: honestly, I'm just asking you guys to do the bare minimum here. Reuben: it's just sign up for secure email, which is also a HIPAA Reuben: compliance requirement, just. Just for the record. Yeah. Michael: Is that the only option? Microsoft Office Michael: 365? Or we can go with another one? Reuben: I mean, G Suite is also an option. So there is free Gmail right at gmail. com. And G Suite is Google's business version. And Reuben: that, that does have a much higher level of security than the free Gmail. You Reuben: do have to add, uh, an encryption element to it to make it HIPAA compliant, but I Reuben: just bring up Microsoft 365 because it is the lowest expense, easiest way to do this. Oh, lowest expense. how Michael: much is it? Reuben: Four bucks an email. Man. Yeah. So it's Michael: pretty easy. It's Reuben: cheaper than G suite. Yeah. It's, it's just, and then you don't have to worry about the whole. Encryption piece, uh, like you do with G suite. So Reuben: that's why I mentioned Microsoft 365 and also most it companies have a relationship with Microsoft and they can set this up for you. Gotcha. Michael: Awesome. Ruben, thank you so much for this. We appreciate it. Anybody listening go take action right now. Michael: And if anyone has further questions, where can they reach out to you? Reuben: Hey, sales at dark horse tech. com. I'm all over Facebook. You can bother me Reuben: on there or 800 868 4504 be happy to help anybody out. Thanks Awesome. Michael: that's going to be in the show notes below and Ruben, thank you for being with me on this Monday morning episode. Reuben: Thanks Michael.

How does one navigate cultural and language barriers as an exile from their home country AND build a thriving practice? Welcome to this enlightening episode where we step into the unique journey of Dr. Monzer Shakally, a remarkable dentist with an extraordinary backdrop: born and raised in Damascus, Syria, yet carving out a stellar career in the U.S. His narrative winds from his comfortably privileged upbringing in a medical environment to a twist with the breakout of the Syrian revolution, leading him down a path of arrest, exile, and eventual resettlement in the U.S.In this episode, Monzer takes us along on his odyssey from the throes of revolution and exile to his pursuit of dentistry in Iowa, a step driven by his resolve to create a unique niche in the dental space. Listen in as he shares the challenges of early days in America, wrestling with language barriers and chipping away at cultural dissimilarities, through to his triumphant emergence from dental school and his thoughtfully decisive move to settle in the balanced charm of Scottsdale, Arizona. Monzer also delves into his professional journey, tracing his hard-earned lessons from a dissatisfying stint at Pacific Dental Services to his present status operating a thriving dental practice. This episode is more than an account of resilience and determination, it is a beacon for all those navigating their routes to success in the dental profession.What You'll Learn in This Episode:Monzer's intriguing journey from Syria to the United StatesThe cultural and educational challenges Dr. Shakally overcame in the pursuit of his careerHis experiences in corporate dentistry and the wisdom gained from itHow Shakally turned a new opportunity into a flourishing dental practiceStrategies for avoiding pitfalls such as insurance dependencyThe ethos that underpins Shakally's profession and personal journeyStrategies to ensure patient satisfaction and operational efficiency in your practiceDon't miss this episode full of valuable insights and inspiring tales of resilience. Start your journey to mastering the business side of dentistry by listening today!‍‍Sponsors:‍For high quality AND affordable dental supply options, visit The Dentists Supply Company(TDSC) website today! Our listeners get a special deal - 25% off on orders over $500 - Just type in the special code: TDM25 at checkout for your exclusive offer. AND if you're a member of your state's Dental Association, you may be eligible for additional savings upon providing your ADA number. Click or copy and paste the link here to save today! https://www.tdsc.com/‍Guest: Dr. Monzer ShakallyPractice Name: Southern SmilesCheck out Monzer's Media:Website: https://ssmilesdental.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drshakally/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-monzer-shakally-dds-54945989/Email: meezdds@gmail.com‍Other Mentions and Links:‍Software/Services:Henry ScheinPPO ProfitsImplant PathwayQuickBooksKleerBooks/Publications:How to Buy a Dental Practice: A Step-by-step Guide to Finding, Analyzing, and Purchasing the Right Practice For YouDental Operations Manual: Detailed Systems to Run your Dental PracticeBusinesses/Brands:Pacific Dental ServicesSignature Dental PartnersAspen DentalHeartland DentalCerecVan Hook LabPeople:Dr. Farran (30 Day Dental MBA)Elon MuskPodcasts:Dental UnfilteredCommunities:DentaltownOrganizations:UNHuman Rights WatchUS Embassy in EgyptMusic:Frank Sinatra - My Way‍Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]‍p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.

‍‍Is cybersecurity one of your top concerns as a dental practice owner? If not, today's episode will likely change your mind. Join me in this important conversation with IT expert Reuben Kamp, where we delve deep into the chilling event of the recent cybersecurity attack on UnitedHealthcare. UnitedHealthcare was manipulated into transferring a shocking $22 million in Bitcoin to a hacker group known as "Black Cat" and this incident will serve as a firm reality-check and wake up call for everyone in the healthcare industry.In our discussion, Reuben unwraps the tangled mess of this cyber-crisis, explaining how these ransomware attacks are affecting dental practices just like yours. Are you aware that a disturbing 6% of dental offices have already faced such debilitating attacks in 2022 alone? Our conversation pivots around the critical importance of stringent cybersecurity measures, such as HIPAA compliance, robust firewalls, ongoing risk evaluations, and how these can be your safeguard against such threats. Stick around as we close with vital insights on the gaping vulnerabilities that led to the UnitedHealthcare breach and how Reuben and his team, at Darkhorse Tech, take proactive steps to ensure that their clients remain secure and HIPAA compliant.What You'll Learn in This Episode:The chilling details of recent cybersecurity incident involving UnitedHealthcareHow ransomware attacks can deeply affect your dental practiceThe importance of stringent cybersecurity measures, including air-gapped backupsThe crucial role of HIPAA compliance and ongoing risk assessmentsInsights on the vulnerabilities exploited in the UnitedHealthcare incident and how to avoid similar breachesThe proactive steps taken by Dark Horse Tech to ensure client securityRemember, investing in reliable cybersecurity measures is the first step in protecting your valuable assets. Make sure to tune into this crucial episode and equip yourself with a robust defense arsenal against the rising tide of ransomware attacks!‍For DSO integrations, startup solutions, and all your dental IT needs, let our sponsors, Darkhorse Tech, help out so you can focus on providing the amazing care that you do. For 1 month of FREE service, visit their link today! https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/darkhorse-deal/‍You can reach out to Reuben Kamp here:Website: https://www.darkhorsetech.com/Email: admin@darkhorsetech.comPhone: 800-868-4504Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarkhorseTech‍Mentions and Links: Businesses/Services:UnitedHealthcareHenry ScheinChange HealthcareAspen DentalUPSConnectWiseOther Mentions:BlackCat HackersBitcoin‍If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Episodes, ask me on these platforms:My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041‍Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)‍Michael: Hey, Ruben. So talk to us. What's one piece of advice you can give us this Monday morning? Reuben: Wow. Well, we're going to talk about cybersecurity. just recently we had United healthcare. I think you've heard of them before. Uh, they just wired 22 million in Bitcoin to a hacker group called black cat.that name is familiar. It's cause they hit Henry shine three times last year. So. This Monday morning broadcast is about cybersecurity and how you can protect your dental practice. Michael: Interesting. Yeah. You sent me that the literally right before we're about to record right now, the link to it and it happened, it says on March 1st, a Bitcoin address connected to, and then it 350 So then they basically United healthcare paid them, right? Reuben: So the full story is. Last week, uh, they noticed something was wrong with their system. this is Change Healthcare. They're owned by United Healthcare. their role in a, in a dental practice is they are the middle man. They process claims.They are also involved on e prescribe, right? narcotics, you know, you're clicking your button in your practice management software, that's getting sent to the local pharmacy. That is actually still down by the way. so we're, we're 10 days with so far. and the E prescribed modules that are powered by that are down.What just happened? Um, but you were referring to that article I was talking about is I was going to ask you how, how many Bitcoin do you think 22 million is? But I think I already told you, it's not that much, it's like, 22 millions, about 350 ish Bitcoin. and you can see how devastating the attack was because they actually paid it.which is insane. I think, uh, you know, when you, when you think about organization, a business that gets. Hit by ransomware. Why don't they have backups? why do we have to pay this ransom? You should have backups. Well, they either didn't have backups Which again just absolutely insane for an organization this size the backups were also encrypted which again is just mind boggling For a company of this size that they didn't take their internal IT Uh, seriously.Michael: Interesting. So then let me ask you, because this has happened with UnitedHealthcare, oh, huge organization, right? So how could this be prevented and can something like this happen on a smaller scale, like a practice, single practice, single doc practice? Reuben: Yeah, I mean, the stats last year. So we, um, I should say 2022 because we don't have clean data yet for 2023.That's still being compiled. So the big kind of flashing yellow banner here is 6 percent of all dental offices had an issue with ransomware. In the year 2022. So I mean, quick math, 250 practice locations, uh, 6%. So that means 15, 000 dental offices dealt with ransomware last year. It's not a small number, the problem is getting, you know, even data further than that. Basically, once this happens and there's a breach and patient health care information is involved. we're talking about radio silence, right? The, the OCM, these government organizations try to keep it unless it's a giant thing.They, they try to keep it relatively under wraps. Right. So this is something that a large percentage of the industry is dealing with, I mean, think about like. If 6 percent of all the drivers on the road got into accidents, that would be a monstrous number. so to answer your question, small dental practices, small DSOs, emerging DSOs, midsize DSOs, large DSOs, like Aspen Dental that got hacked last year, they're all dealing with this same problem.But UnitedHealthcare is a larger target. Right, so they're going to attract black cat is like the creme de la creme of the hackers out there. they were the ones that did shine, as I mentioned before. were not involved in the Aspen Dental, but you know, those are three big, splashy events, that happened and are breaches because patient health information, in this case, six terabytes of patient health information, claims data, social security numbers, treatment performed, that's why they paid 22 million.Michael: Okay, so you mentioned two things. Their backups, they probably didn't have a backup or their backups were not encrypted or encrypted or something like that, right? You said Reuben: so how you're supposed to do backups is you're supposed to have two copies. One can be connected to your server and the other one needs to be what we call air gapped, basically one step removed.And the reason is. What we're talking about right here. You get hit that one that's actually connected to your system directly is also going to get compromised. So that's why you need to have an air gap. You know, sometimes that's a cloud backup. that's probably the easiest way to explain it to the audience here is like you have a local backup, you have a cloud backup backup should be set up to be air gapped so that I mean, we can talk about ransomware with the building burns down, you want your backups not in all in one, not have all your eggs in one basket.So backup. if anyone ever pays the ransom, you know that their backups are not working properly here's what happens when you have a backup hacker comes in, they encrypt your data. You say, Oh man, that sucks. And then you kick them out of the system, clean it all up and you restore from your backup.You do not have to pay. The ransom, the ransom is there because they are saying, Hey, you want your data back? You have to pay to get it. Well, you should be like, no, I have, I have backups. I'm not going to pay you go away. so it's just like, if you ever see an article about someone making a ransomware payment to hackers, it's because their backups didn't work.Now there's a lot that goes into protecting a dental practice. Backup is just one part of that, but it's a hundred percent of the time that if they're paying the ransom, it's because they don't have backups. Michael: Interesting. Okay. So then this can be prevented. How besides having backups, like you just tell your it company, like, Hey, make sure everything's backed up.That's it. Reuben: Yeah. I'll just, uh, for the sake of ease, assume everyone works with a competent it professional. So yeah, you should say, Hey, it company, am I HIPAA compliant? Are all my systems HIPAA compliant, right? Cause that should really answer the question, uh, questions, you know, one through 100 that follow after that firewall anti ransomware antivirus software, or you're keeping your computers up to date, you know, all this boring stuff, dentists just want to practice dentistry.And then we, you know, keeps us up at night over here on this side of the world, um, and backups. Which are the last line of defense, right? You get hacked. It's because something got through your firewall. Something got through your email filter. Something got past your antivirus software. The only reason we're talking about backups is because everything else failed.Michael: Hmm. Okay. So this is the last resort kind of thing is if Reuben: you're using backups, let's say outside of, I guess let's just continue to focus on ransomware, right? Because if your server fails, Hey, I've got a backup. No problem. We're going to get a new server. We're going to, but again, when we're talking about, if you're down because of ransomware and you're making a payment to this company, it's because you don't have backups.You would just tell them, hey, thanks for, uh, that headache, go away, cause you wouldn't have to worry about it. Michael: how common is this Ruben? Honestly, like within practices, have you seen this? Like, Oh my God, ransomware has happened. Reuben: Yeah, we don't have to deal with it as an IT company. We work for currently 1077 distinct practice locations, right?That's a lot of patient health information. A lot of different networks. We're not dealing with ransomware. Okay, and it's because it's not rocket science. It does take. Someone who's devoted and pays attention to the market, you do what HIPAA says you get a firewall in there, you get anti ransomware, you make sure the network is set up properly, you make sure, you know, Wi Fi is secured, backups, and this is not something you deal with.So, you know, the fact that it's affecting 15, 000 dental offices and, you know, it's crazy. It's affecting the small, the medium, and the large, right? No one is being spared by this. You know, uh, people continue to hire professionals that are, are saying, Hey, yeah, we got you covered doc. But what's actually happening is, is not that, so, you know, it's, it's a really hard.Position for the doctors in, right. You get, let's say you get a referral from buddy who's not in healthcare that doesn't, you know, Hey, I got a great it guy. Well, it's really important that he knows what it takes to protect your practice. Right. And again, yeah, backups is one part of that. I would argue it's the most important part, right?Backups equals downtime. They're not set up properly downtime. Patients are walking in the door, your systems are down, you can't take x rays, they're looking at you in the face, it's embarrassing that your technology doesn't work, let's just skip that and just do it right the first time. Michael: Mmm, gotcha. Okay, so it's more like the HIPAA compliance type of deal.You gotta ask them, hey, are you HIPAA compliant? And if they're like, yeah, sure. Like, yeah, sure. Reuben: Well, uh, yeah. And then I guess the, the, the follow up question, the magic words you could say is at, you know, where's your risk assessment, ask them for a risk assessment. And that's basically they have to give you a report.And this is the first thing. If you ever get audited by OCR office of civil rights, who's in charge of enforcing HIPAA and the fines and all that, that's the first thing they asked for, where's your risk assessment, right? It is. your self evaluation, It is, Oh yeah, we have this old CBCT that only works with a Windows seven PC.Okay. That's an identified vulnerability in your system. That should be in your risk. So that's just one example. It's basically an analysis of your practices, security profile. Michael: Gotcha. Okay. So in a nutshell, United healthcare, were they not HIPAA compliant? Reuben: We know they're not HIPAA compliant because they paid the fine.Michael: We can Reuben: skip right to the conclusion, which is, again, you're paying the fine, you didn't do your backups properly. We know that six terabytes of patient health information have been compromised. Names, date of birth, social security number, treatment provided. We're talking about, you know, claims. So prescriptions, I mean, this is a monumental event, uh, in the industry.Michael: Yeah. And it just happened because of an email. Reuben: So I'm glad we got to the why right? So we look at Aspen Dental. We look at Shine last year. Exactly what you just said is true. It happened just because of a single email, right? We can talk about fishing. Fishing is Someone pretends to be someone else.Could be UPS, it could be your boss, they want you to click on a malicious link. So someone from, let's say Shine, clicked on the link, it encrypted their information, all of a sudden, you can't order supplies from Henry Shine's ordering website or for your rep, and, uh, they got hacked a couple times just because of some hubris that happened.But, this changed healthcare, UnitedHealthcare situation is actually a different attack vector. All right. So we learned the lessons from that one. It was a great reminder, train your staff, have good email filters. Okay. This one, you want to guess how they got, you're never going to guess because it's so stupid.All right, Michael, you know what remote access software is? Michael: Yeah. Where you can access it from like a, another location, right? Reuben: Yeah. All right. Well, United healthcare. Wanted to save some money, so they bought a program and hosted it themselves, I'm a small business owner like many people listening here.I do the real thing It's a cloud product. It gets updated in real time. They bought a old product to use called connect wise And they hosted it in their own facility. Okay. And didn't update it. So black cat found the vulnerability cause it hadn't been updated in years, got into the system and the rest is history.So lessons are, I mean, this, this is applicable to windows security updates, right? There's a reason that Microsoft releases them. call it patch Tuesday, right? There's that Tuesday they it's because people like black cat are getting into the system, right? Researchers as well are identifying and windows is releasing, patches to fix those holes in the system.All right, well, imagine if, you know, you wait a couple of weeks, probably not that big of a deal, right? For your system to be out of date by a couple of weeks, take it back a month, still probably not six months. That's getting to be a little worrisome, right? That vulnerability has been known for six months.Okay. Oh, now we're talking about four times that amount of time. And I keep going back to the size of these companies and it's the hubris. It won't happen to me. is just, again, it's one of those things you don't think about. I call it roads and bridges, right? You don't think about it until you haven't paid enough attention or spend enough money on it, and then something like this happens.Michael: Interesting. All righty, Ruby, man, and your company dark horse tech covers this, right? So if I were to sign up with you guys. Immediately and ask you, Hey, make sure you do the HIPAA compliance. Everything it's already cut. Reuben: We do not enter into client engagements without this being in place, this protection being in place.So yes. And, uh, you know, to further accentuate presence in the industry. Um, if something ever did happen, right, I started this 12 years ago. This is not something we've dealt with at all. If something were to happen, that is going to be on our cyber liability insurance, not the clients, because that would be a failure of a service that we're providing to them.So it's, it's probably a topic for another day, but, uh, I will leave you with, please have your it company sign business associates agreements. MME Reuben Kamp Ransomware DRAFT: Nice. Okay. Awesome. Ruben, I appreciate your time. And if anyone has further questions, where can they find you? Reuben: CEO of Dark Horse Tech, dark horse tech.com. I am admin A DMI n@darkhorsetech.com.Um, email, call me numbers everywhere. You know how to reach me on Facebook, I'm around. Michael: Awesome. And that's gonna be in the show notes below. So if you wanna ask Ruben any more questions or concerns or look into Dark Horse Tech at the same time, going to channel Notes below. Look for Reuben's name and look at those links there.And Reuben, thank you so much for being with me on this Monday morning episode. Reuben: Thanks Michael.‍

Episode 130 features Eric Kukucka, Vice President of Clinical Removable Prosthetics & Design Technologies at Aspen Dental, an American dental support organization with nearly 1,100+ locations. Eric is also an influential advisor, speaker and product tester for some of the largest and most successful dental companies in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Watch this episode to learn more about how Eric started in denturism and his role as VP.

"We want top-tier, board-certified plastic surgeons that want to grow, care about their staff, and care deeply about their patients."When others preach the benefits of practice consolidation, they often talk a big game about how they'll "take the stress of your back office off your plate so you can focus on surgical." They promise to provide a fail-safe marketing strategy or a dominant sales force or airtight accounts receivable — and maybe it rings just a little hollow. Maybe a just a little too good to be true.On the other hand, today's guest Michael Burke has the real world experience and know-how won from actually managing practice consolidation at scale.As a leading executive at ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers, Michael played a key role in growing a handful of practices to a network of over 70 locations while helping to navigate the company through three different purchases, ultimately resulting in an acquisition by Aspen Dental.As Michael emphasized, one of the most pivotal secrets to success in the midst of growth and change was the strength of a consistent management team that provided stability throughout ClearChoice's evolution and acquisition.Today, as the President of Athenix, Michael works to partner with plastic surgeons who are ready to grow their practices for real. Without telling the doctor what to do, he and his team provide the guidance and resources to fuel that desired growth, thanks to significant investment from Latticework Capital Management, which focuses exclusively on building leading healthcare companies.Michael's inspiration springs from a transformative personal experience in which a medical technology he was involved with played a pivotal role in saving the life of a family member. From that point on, his professional life has been driven by the desire to be a part of businesses that have the power to genuinely change lives — Athenix being no exception. Hear all about it for yourself on the latest episode of The Technology of Beauty.» Apple Podcasts | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/technology-of-beauty/id1510898426» Spotify | https://open.spotify.com/show/0hEIiwccpZUUHuMhlyCOAm» Recent episodes | https://www.influxmarketing.com/technology-of-beauty/» Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/thetechnologyofbeauty/» LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-technology-of-beauty/The Technology of Beauty is produced by Influx Marketing, The Digital Agency for Aesthetic Practices. https://www.influxmarketing.com/Want more aesthetic insights? Subscribe to Next Level Practices, the show where we discuss the ever-changing world of digital marketing and patient acquisition and bring you the latest ideas, strategies, and tactics to help you take your practice to the next level. https://www.influxmarketing.com/next-level-practices/

Tune in for today's industry updates.

Join us as we delve into the world of innovative dental care with Dr. Theresa Wang, Chief Clinical & Development Officer at ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers. Dr. Wang shares her insights on the latest advancements in fixed, full-arch restorations, the importance of patient-centered outcomes, and her advice for aspiring prosthodontists. This informative conversation will leave you inspired about the future of oral healthcare.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

Today's episode is proudly sponsored by Darkhorse Tech, your go-to Dental-driven IT solutions company!‍‍‍Picture this: You're running a dental practice, and your patients' trust and data are your top priority. Enter Darkhorse Tech, the guardians of your patients' information, the solution to your IT headaches, and the force behind your seamless tech integrations.Your practice deserves the best, and Darkhorse Tech delivers.Click this link for an exclusive offer: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/darkhorse-deal/AND if you're listening before November 27th, 2023, take advantage of their Black Friday deal! https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/darkorse-black-friday-deal/‍Guest: Reuben KampBusiness Name: Darkhorse TechCheck out Reuben's Media:Website: https://www.darkhorsetech.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarkhorseTechInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/darkhorsetech/Email: admin@darkhorsetech.com‍Other Mentions and Links:‍Companies/Software: Benco Open Dental Microsoft Azure Flex Mango Dentrix Ascend Eaglesoft CareStack Oryx Archy DEXIS Carestream‍Useful Terms: DHCP - service that hands out IP addressesDNS - how devices resolve internet addressesGateway - how you get to the internetHIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act‍People/Communities: Howard Farran (podcaster + blogger)‍Dentistry Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran (podcast)‍Dental Town (blog/website/community)‍Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍‍My Key Takeaways:I'm moving to cloud based software. Do I still need IT support?How to spot out IT companies that may be dishonest.How does your IT company help with HIPAA compliance?The basics on IT with firewalls, antivirus, and internet connectivity. Why do we need reliable options for these?Why the D.I.Y. mentality is often not the right call with your IT solutions.‍Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]‍p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.‍Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)Michael: All right. It's time to talk with our featured guests. Beloved person. Everybody adores him. Ruben Camp. How's Reuben: it going, man? You know how hard it is to be beloved and an IT guy at the same time. So, I'm doing great. Thanks, Michael. I've been doing this 11 years and just happy to be talking to you today.Michael: No, man. We appreciate it. We appreciate everything you're doing. I know you guys have, um, done a lot for the dental community, also startup community as well. Just practices in general. Um, at the same time, this is not your first episode with us. You've been with us, you've guided us through some processes.And at the same time, we're going to answer some of the most major questions today. But before we do that, if you can kind of give us a gist or a rundown, been doing this for Reuben: 11 years. That's right. Well, this is in Dark Horse. Um, Dark Horse is something that I started. It was, it was just me, you know, back in 2012.And, uh, we we've grown throughout the years. We got about 65 employees, about 1000 clients, uh, that are in the dental space. That's pretty much all we focus on is dental. So, uh, how I got into that is I used to be a Benco technician. So I used to do corporate it for, you know, the bad guys and, uh, you know, they really love selling birds and bibs and all that stuff.But it was kind of an afterthought. So I really wanted to. Um, you know, start a company where service was the, uh, the main forward, not selling consumables. So, Mm-Hmm. Uh, other Interesting. My dad was a dentist. That's how I got into this industry. I think everyone has a really interesting path about how you found dental.I know you do Michael as well. Right? We all kind of get dragged in somehow. Yeah. Um, you know, went to school, uh, at Chapel Hill to, to be a dentist and decided I didn't wanna do that. So, uh, yeah. Benco dark horse. Here we are. So you Michael: left Benco mainly because you were not seeing what you wanted to see, or what was the reason?Reuben: Yeah. So, I mean, there are a sales. Company first, right? So they're, you know, all the meetings and all the messaging and everything like that. It was, it was about how do we sell more product? How do we sell more CBCTs? How do we, you know, get more accounts and sell them consumables? You know, I call it burrs, bibs and everything else.and they had I. T. Because you know what? They didn't want shine or Patterson to be in that office. they almost like they had I. T. As a defensive mechanism, but not as like a core, something that they were putting a lot of resources in to develop. So, you know, I'm very passionate about what I do, uh, customer service and dental.That's kind of like, that's my niche. So, you know, let's say if Benco was 80, 20 sales to service, right? We have three people in sales out of 65 people. So you can see just by the demographics of our, you know, how we're made up. Most of our people are in places to support our clients, not to sell, you know, to shove something down their throat.So that was very important to me just as a service technician that started a company versus You know, we have a lot of competitors out there that have just either, you know, either bought an IT company and they're just trying to squeeze it for profits or, you know, someone who does not understand customer service, but hey, they're really good at a P& L statement.Yeah, yeah. Michael: Did you specialize that in Chapel Hill IT? Reuben: No, I had biochemistry because I was, uh, that's pre dental based. Anything that's in the sciences basically is pre dental. So that's, uh, computers. that's just been kind of my thing for, you know, for as long as I can remember, you know, nine, 10, 12, got into building computers and fixing them and started a company in high school called it's good computer solutions with and we run around and.Anybody that knows Ithaca, it's Cornell. So we fix it in Cornell professors at all hours of the day. And anyway, so it's just kind of been a passion self taught passion Michael: of mine. Yeah. Cause I was going to ask you out of all the. Things you were doing in Benco. Why did you pick to hone in on IT? Reuben: Uh, for that solution?You know, they wanted me to be a dual trained tech, right? They wanted me not only to go into an office install a computer system, sensors mount a CVCT, calibrate it, do all that stuff. But they were like, you know it would be really great if while you're there someone's, you know Cuspidor doesn't work if you could also be crushing on the mechanicals, you know, suction, all that stuff, you know, amalgam separators.And I was, uh, I was just so, I was so talented at the I. T. side of things that I never really got that opportunity to learn on it. And that's fine because that's not really a passion of mine. Um, You know, those, those systems are kind of gross. What goes down the drain when they get clogged up. Uh, so, uh, there's some very talented, we call them core service technicians, right?The core equipment in the office. and we'll leave it up to the professionals, but, Michael: Gotcha. Okay, man. Interesting. So then fast forward, you started Dark Horse Tech and this is where you're at now. Now, I know we're going to kind of talk about, and let's kind of jump into that if we can. A lot of people do have.Open dental, right? and so break it down to me. What are the confusions when it comes to having that and then I. Reuben: T. Absolutely. So kind of how we got here is, you know, dark horse version 1. 0 was we were a small regional upstate New York company. I mean, it's good. New York, small town, 30, 000 people, 30, 000 college students.And, you know, that was the old way of doing things. And then, you know, we got a break and Howard for and hired me. And Howard was in Phoenix, so that was our first, I can't drive to your office, right? And we nailed it. he was running Open Dental, in his office. And that really gave us the confidence, uh, and exposure, right?Went on his podcast, got a, got a forum to, introduce myself to the dental community, which at that time was still. Dental town now about a year after that interview, it's like everyone fled to Facebook groups and then I followed, them over there. so dark horse version 2. 0 is not just, you know, we're five minutes from your office.It's. Hey, we're dental specific. That's our edge. If you're in Hawaii, if you're in Alaska, if you're in rural Nebraska, we'll support you. No problem. You know, we'll make it work. And Dark Horse version 3. 0 has been cloud. Right? So, and that's kind of where we're segwaying in here today. Is open dentals, you know, great company.They're well known for their customer service. That's what I care about. Right? So when you hear me singing companies phrases, that means when you pick up the phone and call them, they treat you well, and they solve your problem. so we've always loved open dental. and so the confusion has come up just recently.So cloud. Open that up. There's two versions. There's the one you just that everyone pretty much has right now, which is you call them up. You buy a license key and you put it on your server. And right. It's a local system. And then there is. Open Dental's internal cloud offering, like literally they hosted at their HQ in Oregon, and that is a separate version.So there are only 2 versions of Open Dental. However, this is where the confusion comes in, like professionals like us, right? We use Microsoft and Azure as their cloud platform. We take the first version, the normal version, the one that works with, you know, Flex and Mango and Medento and Swell, all your third party integrations.We take the one that you've been running on your local server, and we put it in the cloud. So same version, integrations all work. that's still version 1. Version 2 is the one that OpenNL offers, and they have a pricing sheet online that you can look at, but it does not have integrations with third party.Which is tough for me because that's when I hear feedback about OpenDental, the products, right, the support's great, but people really love using all the third party integrations and they love the ability to switch, right? If something's not working for them, uh, there's nine other paperless companies you can go to, right?Um, you know, or like, you know, Flex is a great example, right? Flex is only written for OpenDental. And they do a really good job of what they do, right? Does not exist in any other practice management software. Cannot, cannot replicate it. But let's say the owner general manager flex pissed you off. You can switch software.So you can't do that with any other platform out there. So to break it down really simply. There's the off the shelf open dental, and that's the one that, you know, that we're in large part supporting putting in the cloud, um, creating awesome solutions for single practices, multi site practices and D.S. O. S. And then there's the internal open dental cloud offering. We honestly across our, you know, we have right now 1050 clients. We have zero people on that second version. So Mhm. that is where most of the confusion has come in the space when you try to have a conversation like over Facebook, over text. It's really hard to parse that out, and then when people call Open Dental, it gets even more confusing. Really? Michael: Okay. let me ask you, when it comes to cloud, do you still need IT for that? You still need Reuben: IT. So, HIPAA compliance are just, they're linked together, right? It's just like, alright, you read the, you know, what you need to do to, you know, to protect your patient's health information.Need to have a firewall? That doesn't go away. Uh, you need to have the antivirus software that does not go away. you need to have a backup system that does go away as long as you don't have 3D images, right? Those don't go to the cloud yet. Those stay local, right? this is something that a conversation needs to happen.It's really hard for me to like text somebody back and forth and explain all this. I'm glad this podcast exists because I can now cite it. Like, hey, before you even talk to me, listen to our conversation here. IT is absolutely reduced by going to Open Dental Cloud. Again, the first one, the off the shelf one I'm talking about, it is not erased, right?Michael: Open Dental will help you with Open Dental. Anything else in your practice, printers, security cameras, internal cameras, sensors, CVCTs, PCI compliance, all that is, is traditionally still on the company. Gotcha. Okay. So then what are the frustrations when trying to explain this then I guess, do people still understand it or they're more like.What, Reuben: you know, it's I. T. there's like, I can't give my full explanation because it crosses the border into I. T. jargon and the three letter, you know, acronyms start coming out and everyone's lost. So what we typically do we share our screen, right? We say, Hey, this is exactly how it's going to work on your office.Okay. Okay. Okay. Um, take the example of somebody that is on a server based open dental solution. Right now. We say, hey, you know what? It's the same version. We're going to put it in the cloud. Your staff is going to walk in the morning. They're going to see an open dental icon. They're double click on it and they're not even going to know what's in the cloud.Execution is actually very simple, right? from the customer's point of view, right? There's some expertise that goes into, migrating to the clouds, you know, getting the cloud server where it needs to be security. All that stuff takes technical expertise, but the staff walking in the morning, double clicking on open dental that does not change.So, um, that's why it's been such a successful implementation is because it's like it's still open dental that people know and love. Uh, it's just not on a local server in your office. And, you know, historically, the cloud has been slower, right? But with Microsoft's, you know, recent introduction of a couple of different protocols that are again, here comes the three letter acronyms.RDP is now AVD, which as a virtual desktop, we're seeing now that the cloud is faster than a local server. So it's not only that it's it's 2023. Of course, this should be in the cloud, is actually, just as fast or even faster than a local server. So it's, uh, you know, a really great time to talk about.This is when you're looking to replace your server. It's like, hey, do you want to, you know, do you want to write a check every 5 years? Right? And maintain that hardware. And when you replace it, there's downtime to transfer it, or you go to the cloud. You know, it's a really great time to, to talk to your IT company about, um, options.So you don't have to buy one time, part of our cost. Michael: Gotcha. So then it's easy. I guess, how often should you replace the server then? And then what really does cloud based I guess servers or softwares kind of cover, right? If you were to give us like bullet points of this is what it covers easily. Boom. And then how often should we replace the server?You're like, Nope, I'm still sticking with what I know. Trying to Reuben: servers five to seven years is a pretty safe, um, window of time, right? It is. If your server goes down, that means your patients are waiting. So, that is not worth something cheaping out on, right? It's kind of the brains of the operation.Now, if you go to the cloud now, you don't have to work at hardware anymore, right? And you look at Microsoft's data the industry. This is this is true for voiceover I. P. As it is for any cloud service. They talk about nines, right? They talk about what is your uptime? How many nines are there past the 99 percent point, right?And Microsoft has four nines. So that means you have about a minute and a half downtime a year. I've never seen it go down, but technically I guess it's gone down for a minute and a half on average every year. 99. 9999 percent uptime, which cannot be replicated at all by a local because all these services, you have Amazon, you have Google, you have Microsoft, just to name three.There's competition part, you know, the cost of storage is going down. The cost of servers is going down. It used to be, it didn't make a lot of sense for a single practice to go cloud, uh, only for multi site and now it's just, everyone should go cloud because it's, more cost effective. Hmm. Michael: So that's the key most cost effective then, right?Especially if people are trying to. Gotcha. Okay. So then going with that to you, Ruben, because you've, you've worked with hundreds of practices or you are working with hundreds of practices. Reuben: Hundreds of practices that use Open Dental and more, you know, more practices that use Dentrix and Eaglesoft and CareStack and Oryx and all those software.So, you know, I, I see the entire industry. We're kind of focusing here on Open Dental, but, um, I mean, Open Dental, it's no secret is, My favorite software, I don't know if I've still ever seen a negative comment about open dental. Michael: So then to you, what would be, if you're trying to be super cost.Effective, but efficient to start off, what would it be the best kind of like formula or stack to use for this? Reuben: So it all goes to fit, right? What makes, if we're, we're saying everything is equal, it's an easy answer. Right. but the problem is certain softwares are better suited for dentists. Right.There's, of course, the feature set standpoint, and you can only find this out by talking to these companies and doing demos. Is this going to work for my practice and how I manage and bill and all that stuff? Um, you know, and the other side of this is you want? Do you want something that's all inclusive, right?Let's let's take dentrics ascend. Uh, for example, you pay a higher bill, right? Then you would pay to open down, but you get every single service that you could want. The problem is you have to use all those services, right? There is no alternative. if you're a dentist that wants to use the best software, that's why open dental still exists, right?It may look, it's from like, it's from the 1990s and they haven't updated it, but you know, what makes it so powerful is. honestly, it's like the app store on, on Apple, right? It's a, it's a great phone, but you know, what's great about it? The app store, you can download whatever you want.It's got the best ecosystem out there. So you go into open now and you're like, you know, flex is a really great example. that program alone It's just so incredibly powerful, right? You don't have those options with an all inclusive software, but maybe you're a dentist and you're just like, you know, I don't want to worry about having to sign up for Open Dental and then Flex and then, you know, Practice by Numbers and then Mango Voice.I don't want to have to do all that. Right. Which is, you know, why companies like Archie exists because they'll, they'll say, Hey, we'll give you practice management. We'll give you phones through mango. It's included in your bill. We'll give you patient communication. We'll give you all this stuff. So you kind of have to ask the question of what kind of person are you?Are you justlet me sign up for 1 thing and I'll just use whatever they have. Or do you want to be able to be like. I want to work with the best, patient communication company. I want to work with the best clearinghouse. I want to work with the best, patient portal company, credit card company.That's who I am. That's what a lot of dentists are out there. I mean, Open Dental is still the number one software for startups. Um, when we see people have all the choice in the world, Open Dental is still being... over 50 percent of start up practices are still going open nettle. and that's why, it's more of an ease, uh, question, right? Single pane of glass, it's all here. Freedom of choice is on the other Michael: side. Gotcha. So one is more like all one subscription type. Yeah, like for example, like Oryx, right? If you were to just go with Oryx, all in one, exclusive, you know what I mean?Inclusive everything, Reuben: I'm going to get Oryx, uh, and I'm going to get phones. I'm done. Yeah. Michael: It's easy. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But if you want the, like the other side, right? The freedom to choose. Reuben: So we have opened 400 startups. I've talked to most of these people and then, even, even more people, right.Because the ones that didn't go with us. Right. I, and I hear their story. And like, I think the reason Open Dental is appealing. Is because, let's go back to the 2012, you know, I'm leaving Benco, I'm risking, that's, that's a health insurance for our family that's half the income for our family and I'm leaving with nothing and I'm saying, like, you know, I have a dream to create a great it company and I'm, I'm going for it.Right. and that's who the startup people are, plus a million and a half dollars in debt, which I do not have. that's a whole nother layer. So, you know, when you talk to these people, they're like, this is my dream practice. I want it to be freaking awesome, right? And I'm not sure those companies can, can meet that standard, right?They're, they're trying to be the jack of all trades. because when you peel back the layer. You know, let's again, just let's go back to Ascend. That's like 10 different companies, right? They've stitched the software all together to make it all look and feel like a cohesive interface.But the practice management module is different than the image, right? That's a separate software, right? So you're talking about one company who's trying to develop and, you know, and push forward 10 different platforms. It's really hard to do, right? And it's one reason why we're like, Hey, mango, do your thing.Just frickin nail the phones, right? And a lot of I. T. companies do do phones. We just feel like it distracts from our core purpose, which is like. All right, we're going to be awesome at support. We're gonna be awesome at startups, which is basically support as well, you know, and we're gonna be great at the cloud, right?let's just focus on these three things. That is our competitive advantage. When you try to broaden in any segment, I mean, Dennis probably know this from trying to bring in, let's bring in ortho, let's bring in oral surgery in house, and you try to be A plus at all these different things, it's really hard.It's the same thing with software companies. Everything in the startup, it's a conversation. I listen to what people want and, you know, anytime they're just like, this has to work. I want this practice to be the, you know, the best patient experience. It can be it usually inevitably points to, to a single software company.Michael: Yeah. Okay, cool, man. That's awesome. And then, so with that kind of being said, I know cost kind of comes in the mind. That's the question that a lot of people really ask is how can they start cutting down on their I. T. or how can they minimize that I. T. bill or have you seen this? Where people are like, Hey, I just got like new fees on my it bill or something like that.What, what is up with that? Reuben: The new fees thing? Uh, well, I mean, if you add computers, it just depends how your IT is set up, right? there's. Uh, on the back end, I can tell you, as somebody who runs an I. T. company, we get charged per device, right? So it's natural for your I. T. company to then bill you. It's the fairest way to do it.We get charged for ten, you know, antivirus agents. You have nine servers, nine workstations and a server. That's ten. Lines up. So usually when you see I. T. bills go up office ads, a computer office ads, email services. It's, it's stuff like that. I mean, unless you're just working with, you know, shady folks that just move numbers, you don't notice, um, you know, we do price increases, uh, annually because we give our staff raises.Guess where the price increase comes from. what we hear from our clients, we want to work with the same people again and again. That's retention. And that means you got to give people a reason to stay here. Besides like, Hey. You like ribbon, you should stay here, but usually that means promotions and raises and all that good stuff.let's pivot to how do you cut down on IT costs, right? not someone who is, let's say, there's a lot of IT companies out there that prevent their clients from going to the cloud because they so fear, like, oh no, it's not ready yet, it can't do what you want to do. But they're really protecting their butts, right?They're like, oh, my client goes to the cloud. I'm going to lose revenue. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about how to lose IT companies revenue. so think about, any software out there. Dentrix. Uh, Eaglesoft open, right? We have a server uh, we have to back up that server and the office says, you know what?If that server goes down, I don't wanna be downed at all. Alright? So then we need a backup and disaster recovery system. So when we go cloud, let's just make it very, very simple. Let's leave three D out of it. Let's, let's treat it like it's a pediatric office and everything is two d imaging. I'll pick on Oryx for now, right? I know it's a good partner of ours. I know Rania. I love the products. When you go, or let's say you're on Open Dental and DEXIS imaging locally, you go Oryx, what goes away on the IT side? Well, I don't have to manage your server anymore. That is one of the highest costs on there.That goes away. I don't have to back up that server that I'm not managing anymore. So that goes away. So what does that leave? That leaves how much support you want, right? And so that's either you pay as needed or you want unlimited support for your practice. A firewall that is still a HIPAA requirement in antivirus software.I'm just trying to keep it as simple as possible, like there's patch management and all this stuff you have to keep your computers up to date that should, go along with the antivirus and all that stuff. But, some big stuff comes off, but you still have a lot of requirements, and things to protect on the network.Gotcha. Michael: Okay. So the requirements still stay, but now when you say the biggest expense, which is the servers, right? That kind of comes off, how much are we looking to shave off when that happens? Reuben: Yeah, so I mean, I can only talk about myself. Right. And our company. so again, the two biggest costs are support.Let's say you're paying for unlimited support. We call that our gold plan, right? Unlimited phone support and server management. So let's say an office is on a 600 a month plan with us unlimited support, and they go to a cloud based agreement. You could be looking at 150 a month in savings. Okay, Michael: but server management, right?Or the Reuben: server? Server, yeah, the server in the backup system going away, you could go down to 450. Michael: Okay, but everything else, the bare bones requirement. Reuben: Percent savings. Michael: So when it comes to like the, let's just say they did that and they went with the works, they did all that and they're like, Ruben, help me out here, man.Like I need, give me the bare bones that what we can do. How does that look? And, and is that feasible for the long run? And they're like, I want to grow, Reuben: but give me the bare bones. Well, depends on how much your staff calls in, right? If your staff doesn't call in. You should be on a bare bones plan, right?You shouldn't be on just like, Hey, cover me for HIPAA compliance, cybersecurity, make sure I don't get hacked. Let's go. the thing is most of our clients call in, they use the service they pay for. So it's, it's completely up to the client. I think it's a really. Smart decision as, uh, as a business owner, not to put a barrier between your staff needing help and like, Oh, you know, Dr.Clark's going to get a bill. If I pick up the phone, right? Things are broken. Your staff doesn't hesitate. It gets fixed done, right? That's the stuff that, you know, the dentist doesn't see while they're in the treatment room is like, you know, the scanner doesn't work. So your staff is so much less efficient because they had to, you know, create a workaround.Right. Because they know if they call, you know, Dr. Clarkson and get you know, bill in the mail 10 days from now, he's going to be like, Hey, Nancy, what the heck? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. You know, it's uh, you know, And Michael: I feel like that kind of creates like more, uh, you're scared. You won't even tell the doctor, you know what I mean?You're like, oops, I pray, tell her you'll lie about it or something, right? In order to not feel, you're creating some type of weird environment in your office when you do that. Right, Reuben: right. I can't imagine how much stuff. Wouldn't get done if I was the bottleneck at my company, it's like, Oh, no, we can't reach out to that company until Ruben approves it.It's like, Oh, my God, I wouldn't get anything done. Um, but to answer your question, like, if you, let's say it's a, it's a medium or sized or smaller office. You stripped out the unlimited service and you're just like, Hey, I'm going to Oryx and I want no frills, right? Just give me, compliant and protected.You could easily be in the 200 to 300 range. Yeah. Yeah. Michael: But the unlimited, like give me an example, like why, or from your experience, if you can give me like the top three, why does staff call in a lot? Let me Reuben: just pull up our service board right now and just list off what people calling about your PCS compliance scan a PCI compliance scan, it's a test for I. T. Professionals. It's like, you know, what settings do you have on on your firewall? Do you have antivirus software? When were the last? So it's basically a test for I. T. People. That's a really great thing to offload to us because that thing takes like 30 minutes to complete.Right? questionnaire and then you have to schedule the scan. You have to know your internal IP address that spectrum gave you to run. Anyway, uh, that's one example. let's see. Questions about switching a panoramic PC to server PC. So this office, they have a imaging database on their pan PC and they want to.They want to talk to us about what it would take to move that to the server PC to consolidate that, um, create remote access, right? That's something that's included with all of our plans. Great remote access for, my new remote employee, uh, so that they can log into a lab computer, let's see, install remixes on computers that were just installed, uh, by the office.uh, workstation two cannot print, create new windows user on consultation computer. and then, oh, this one's great. Uh, shout out to Becky Scott from Lincoln Children's Dentistry. Help my son get fortnight to work on our office Wi Fi. So, you guys, you guys cover all kinds of help my son get fortnight to work.Yeah, I mean, there's... You cover everything. IT companies, uh, you know, we're, again, we're dental specific. We coach our people to call us on anything. There's, there's really two setups. There is the like IT company that say, Hey, that's a vendor problem. You need to call them directly. And then there's us, right.And, and some other really good companies in the space who have vendor management built in, and that's the expectation that like your staff. Is taking care of patients. They're not like waiting on hold with Carestream or, you know, gen X or Dexus, you know, they're, they gotta take care of patients. Like, yeah, wait on hold while, you know, while we're, you know, working at home or, or at hq.So, but Michael: that, I, I think that's really good to have though, because I feel like, uh, a lot of the times you waste time looking for it, right? When we can just go to you and then you give us the solution. Hey, it's a vendor, Hey, it's this. And so I'm sure you've heard of this a lot, and this is a question when I asked and the Dental Market Society Facebook group, like in other places, they send us this one a lot, uh, when VoIP, right?So they're saying kind of like we're having an issue with our phones and then VoIP says there is no issue or it can be any other vendor, right? That says there is no issue on our end. So then it falls back on you or what, what happens there? Reuben: Yeah. So, you know, in the example of the bad it company that says call your vendor, you're stuck in the middle as the client, that's the worst, you know, you feel helpless, kind of feel a little pissed off and you're like, what, and so our clients never have to feel like that anymore because we're just, we are them.In that scenario, we're hunting down the solution the ticket will not get closed until the issue is resolved. So let's talk about voiceover IP, right? A lot of, you know, a lot of people that is the standard. Now, of course, you should have it. It's really great if you have a hybrid, you want to offer jobs that are hybrid or even full remote, right?Voiceover IP is like the only way to pull that off. So you install your new phone system and you're having call quality issues. the number one most likely culprit is going to be your firewall. Okay, so if the phone company says, Hey, our servers are great. Everything looks really good until it hits your office.And so let's assume they're right. Yeah, you know, let's assume AWS is not having an issue. Firewall is gonna be number one. Internet quality is going to be number two. And number three is going to be the device that controls your network. Sometimes that's the server. Sometimes that's the firewall. But basically, you know, my, when you, when you go to Starbucks and you join the wifi, you're getting an IP address from something, right?You're not just, just magically connecting to the internet. Something is handing you an address. Okay, so those are the three things that again, if you have an I. T. Company, they're going to be able to diagnose that stuff pretty quickly. They're going to be able to run, let's say, in the Internet stability.They're going to be able to run a ping test. Let's say you spectrum. They can see is your Internet like a D. C. Current. Is it just flat? Or is it like, is it just Jerry? And it's all over the place. You know, voice needs a very, consistent connection to work well, not a lot of traffic, but just needs a stable connection.Firewall. Well, if you just leave the firewall stock unconfigured, it's just going to be constantly scanning that phone traffic, and then you're going to call quality issues. So, what we do is after the office let's say they get mango, they plug their, uh, yelling phones in, they show up on the network.we do a couple different things, but just to keep it simple, we whitelist them, right? we tell the firewall. These devices are safe. Don't hammer them. Right? Don't constantly bombard them with internal threat protection stuff. there's a couple other tips and tricks you could do, but it's more kind of for your, your I.T than like a D. I. Y. Stuff. So we won't talk about that. Yeah. And then there's the device that hands out I. P. Addresses. Right? So you could be out of I. P. Addresses, right? You have such a large office. You've maxed out. You plug that phone in. It doesn't even connect to the Internet. you could have I. P.Address conflicts, right? So, uh, you let's say, the phone's working great. You connect your laptop, That router gives, uh, your laptop the same address as the phone. One of those devices is going to win. Okay, uh huh. Right, so there could be an IP address conflict. Um, and I'll just throw out some, some other words if people are taking notes here and they're going to send it to their IT company.DHCP, that's what, that's the service that hands out IP addresses. DNS, that's how devices resolve internet addresses, right? Google. com is actually 8. 8. 8. 8. Okay, right. So when you type in google. com, it's touching a DNS server and it's saying, what is this? And it goes, Oh yeah, that's 8. Of course. Well, here you go.You don't know that's happening, but DHCP, DNS, and lastly, gateway. Gateway is just how you get to the internet. So I know that's, that's a lot of technical jargon, but you know, for the, for those of you who are DIY er, like furiously writing your, your IT company to email right now, just put all those words in there.Michael: Wait, quick question, leaving firewall stock? What does that mean? Like you said, if you just leave your firewall stock. Reuben: Okay. So let's say you get a firewall. Plug it in out of the box. You don't do anything. All right. What you're going, you're going to have phone issues. You're going to have issues with anything that is internal that needs to broadcast external.Okay. So think, think about. Open dental e services thing about, credit card, right? You have a credit card reader that thing needs to authenticate their credit card and come back if you leave it stock. It's going to turn off access to all of these devices that you rely on your practice to work on. Now, it's not going to not work 100 percent of the time.but these are the things that your I. T. commission should be doing. They should be whitelisting these known good devices. Um, so there are no issues and you don't have to worry about this stuff at all. Gotcha. Michael: Okay. Interesting. So this is basically why we hear all the time where they might be like, hey, it's not us.Call your IT company. Reuben: It's not us. It's you. Um, yeah. Uh, It's usually, it's also usually the firewall and, and not to get into a soapbox here. IT is, it's really hard because there's not like a set of standards. So again, anybody, including me, I should say, You know, self taught, just have a lot of experience, can be an IT person, right?So, you know, you come along and someone's like, Oh yeah, I can do all of that for half the price. Right. And it's just like, okay, but what are you getting? And it's like, uh, none of this stuff is HIPAA compliant. It's like, no wonder it's half price because it's not actually protecting your office. You know, you, do want to work honestly with folks that care about their patient's data.Right. Because that's what I care about doing a good job. but I tease one of those tough industries, right? There's not a lot of regulation in terms of, who can, um, be an I. T. person, if you're an I. T. person that's working with a dentist, you have their trust and you breach that trust by selling them something that is not HIPAA compliant.There are no ramifications for you. So it's, somewhat of a wild, like I'm in this, this position where, you know, I've been around long enough and I have the respects, uh, of a lot of people out there and there are other companies like medics dental, that, that do a really good job in this space. And, you know, we like to say we're the good guys, right?We don't cut corners. We do the right thing. We take care of our clients. But then there's the rest of the market and it's, really hard to have, conversations because the dentist is always stuck in the middle, right? They're hearing one thing like from a colleague. Oh, this endodontist who has five offices in Illinois uses this guy and pays him, pays him 40 bucks a month and that's everything you do.I'm like, yeah, okay. You know, it's half of these, like, okay. I want to fight to keep the client. The other half is like, this person has been fed a load of, you know, BS. And I'm not going to be the one that's going to be able to convince them that they were given wrong information by their endodontist friend.So it's like, yeah, it's just, mistake. In that scenario. Michael: No, that's good. Because in that scenario, what would be like the, I guess in your terms, like the BS, like the stuff where you're like, Ruben, I see that all the time, man, where I'm like, Oh, look, your fellow it person here just wants to let you know.And then they give you like a list of everything or whatever. And you're like. What? You know what I mean? it looks like they pretty much are saying like, we can do the same thing, but like, 40 bucks a month Reuben: I'll the name, but I'll give you a real example.So we had, we had a dentist that recently left us, right? Um, and they, they were under a, a one year startup deal. Right. So we give folks lower pricing, on the startup price. they just have to sign a one, just a one year term, uh, initial term. Then it's month to month after that. So it was like month six in this, dentist, uh, was struggling, right?Her practice wasn't growing as fast as she wanted to. So she was making calls to vendors to be like, Hey, what can you do for me? and this is was kind of alluding to the endodontist. This is, that's kind of the story, right? She talked to a colleague who used a guy, um, for his practices and was like, Hey, I'm really struggling, but I'm not going to hold somebody to a contract if I'm affecting their business. Yeah, yeah, that's not why I got into this industry, right? Is to make every single dollar I could from a dentist, and it's like, tell you what, let's make a deal here. Send me what they sent you if they are truly matching what we are providing.Like, just let's, let's part ways, right? Go there, save some money and, you know, let's part as friends. so got an email a week later and they're like, the plan is we're going to take your HIPAA compliant firewall and we're going to replace it with a home router for Best Buy. It's like, okay.And then we're going to take your HIPAA compliant backup system and we're going to install a free Dropbox. I'm like, okay, so I didn't even read the rest of the email. I just stopped there and I was like, all right, so let's let's figure out how to work together. They're not giving you a HIPAA compliant solution.You know, like, if I can help you in any way, take some pressure off your business, let's do it. And that email came back with basically, I was the bad guy for pointing out that they had been given bad advice. So I have two choices in this moment. I can keep continuing to try to work with this person or I can just let them go.And I chose to let them go. I don't want to have to be bad guy. I don't do high pressure sales. I don't do scare tactics. or if you trust another person. More than me if by all means, please go work with them, but you know, peace of mind sleep at night I told the doctor everything that they were not getting you know They were literally compromising their patients health information.can't work with that person, you know Michael: yeah, so they were more upset that you didn't agree with the other IT companies like Janky solutions, you know what I mean? Like, Oh, like, Hey, we're Reuben: just like a perfect they're doing what we're doing for less money, show me, cause I would love to know how to be more efficient.Just, I'm curious, like, how did, how is this possible? And it turns out the solution was, we're just going to pull stuff off a Best Buy that belongs in someone's home. And so you're good.Michael: That, that story really gets into the essence of the complexity of being an IT professional in healthcare.Yeah. Yeah. And we got to go one of these days, we got to do an episode about how important it is to be HIPAA compliant. Cause I know we kind of touched that. Well, we touched that in this episode, but we kind of touched that in previous ones of, it's mega important, you know.Um, in order to do that. So Reuben: it should be like car insurance, right? It should not be opt in, opt out. it's like, yeah, I kind of want to be a little compliant, but then I want to ignore all this stuff, you know, that actually costs a little compliant and like, who's safe. Henry Schein got hacked twice, Aspen Dental.And this is just this year, Aspen Dental had over a thousand practices get hacked. I don't know what it's going to take, and I try not to, you know, worry about all the dentists that didn't take my advice went down a different pathway, but. This is what I talk about. I want to work with people that care about protecting their patient.is a passion of mine. I want you to care about protecting your patient's health information. Yeah, Michael: and I like that about you, man. It's because, like, your transition... Every time I think Dark Horse has been running, you guys have been... Moving the needle closer and closer to quality, right? Over like, we got to get more sales, more people, more things.and every time you guys have ever sponsored, right? You're never like, how many leads are we getting or anything like that? It's more like, Hey man, like let's, let's. Let them know about this. Let's let the people know about that, right? important Reuben: stuff. My marketing strategy can be distilled down into two words.Good vibes. I just want, like, good vibes that kind of, you know, reverberate throughout the anals of the internet, right? Just like, uh, you know, someone has a question on, uh, you know, dental marketer group about imaging software. Whatever. We'll jump in. I'm not gonna solicit you. Here's an answer. Great.If you look me up and you want to reach out, that's awesome. But that has been for 11 years all organic growth. And why? Like, we love partnering with with you. Michael's just like, here's a podcast that is just about let's get as much information. Let's clear up confusion in the industry.I'm not asking you to work with me. Take all this information back to your IT company and protect yourself. And if you love your IT guy, keep working with him. I'm here if you want an option, but like, I really hope you care about compliance before you call. Michael: Yeah. And if you guys want to know how to get Fortnite to start working in your office.Reuben: That's the Michael: firewall. Yeah. I remember, uh,Ashley one time caught you, right? Like about a fridge or something Reuben: like that? so actually once called me when her power went out.Hey, my, uh, you know, my, uh, computers aren't turning on, I was like, can you call your electric company and that goes back to just like we, again, when we train our clients calls for anything, sometimes they do. Yeah. And no, no, no. Yeah. Call NYSEG or, you know, call your local power company.Uh, happy to help out and pick up the phone and all that. But yeah, no. Michael: That's awesome. Ruben, we appreciate your time, but before we say goodbye, can you tell our listeners where they can find you? Reuben: Oh, yeah. Um, I'm all over the internet. So you'll see me just popping around in and out of Facebook groups. Uh, my direct email is admin at dark horse tech.com and go right on our website and hit contact us. And that will, uh, generate a little, link to schedule a call with us. DM me on Facebook, you can DM me on Instagram. You'll see. Instagram, if you want to follow us at dark horse tech, that's where I post, you know, anytime we're doing a startup. I post all the pictures out there.Right? So if you're interested in working with us, or just interested in like, what are the newest latest startups looking like? we're, we're pretty much doing one or two startups a week, right? So we did about 87 just last year. and so yeah, follow along. that makes me feel good.Cause I'm the one doing all that posting. So please like, like my photos. Michael: Please like my photos. Awesome guys. So that's all going to be in the show notes below. So definitely go check it out. Follow Dark Horse Tech on their social media. And at the same time. Click on the first link in the show notes below to check out the exclusive deal that dark horse tech is giving you go ahead and do that.And Ruben, thank you so much for being with us. It's been a pleasure and we'll hear from you soon. Appreciate it, Michael.‍

Dr. David Galler is a high honors graduate from the University of Pennsylvania College of Dentistry and member of the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Honor Society. He completed a general practice residency at the Brooklyn Veteran's Administration Hospital. Originally from Long Island, he moved back to New York and practiced for 20 years in Downtown Manhattan. After that, he moved to Chicago, where he practiced in Skokie, ILL, and served as Senior Vice President of Aspen Dental. While at Aspen Dental, he helped launch their Invisalign Program. For 2 years, he trained, educated, and mentored more than 800 Aspen Dental offices. Dr. Galler has proudly transformed thousands of smiles with Invisalign® aligners. In just a few years after completing his Invisalign training, he became one of the country's top providers. As a featured speaker at numerous study clubs, webinars, and national and regional events, Dr. Galler has created a strong following of practitioners wanting to learn more about treating patients with aligner therapy.  His disciples (called Gallerites) are credited with treating about 20% of the entire North American Invisalign GP Case Starts. Dr. Galler currently serves as President of the American Academy of Clear Aligners and watched it double in prestige and size during his tenure.Dr. Galler is credited with several key innovations in the Clear Aligner field, including GST (Galler Spacing Technique), Ortho Munchies, and the Galler Engine- Dr. Galler's own proprietary algorithm using the Invisalign Clincheck system. Dr. Galler is credited with several key innovations in the Clear Aligner field, including GST (Galler Spacing Technique), Ortho Munchies, and the Galler Engine- Dr. Galler's own proprietary algorithm using the Invisalign Clincheck system. Professional Organizations: American Dental Association and Second District Dental Society Honors & Recognition: Omicron Kappa Upsilon National Dental Honor Society and Invisalign Elite Premier Provider Publications: NYSDJ 2009 Jan "Multi Discipline Approach to Congenitally Missing Teeth", "Galler Spacing Technique"- DENTSPLY International Manual, Dental Town Apr 2008, 2011 Invisalign Case Gallery Publication Inventions: Galler Spacing Technique (GST) for inter-proximal reduction used by 3500 dentists nationwide

We get it — when it comes to your practice's IT, it can all get a little confusing. That's where Darkhorse comes in. With a laser focus on serving dental practices of all shapes and sizes, they are here to roll up their sleeves and tackle your IT needs, no matter how complex. Our listeners get their first 30 days FREE, so start your journey with Darkhorse today: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/darkhorse-deal/‍‍Guest: Brady FrankBusiness Name: Freedom Dental PartnersCheck out Brady's Media:Website: https://freedomdentalpartners.com/Email: brady@freedomdentalpartners.comDr. Frank's Book DDSO Strategies: https://www.ddsostrategiesbook.com/ddso-bookDr. Frank's Free Real Estate Valuation: https://freedomdentalpartners.com/re‍Other Mentions and Links:Marquette UniversityRick WorkmanHeartland DentalPacific Dental ServicesAspen DentalREIT - Real Estate Investment TrustRick KushnerComfort DentalT. Harv EkerEscrowRE/MAXBlockbusterFixer Upper - Chip and Joanna GainesBRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat)Bank of AmericaCostco‍Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍‍My Key Takeaways:Why is it best to partner with other dentists and entrepreneurs?What makes a practice ready to sell at a profit?What is the current landscape of real estate and how does this affect the dental industry?How to maximize your ROI when purchasing a practice space.How to get into the cost to benefit mindset and spot a good deal.‍Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]‍p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.‍Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)Michael: This is the dental marketer the podcast where we teach you how to effectively market and grow your dental practice My name is michael arias and my mission is to help you the practice owner attract new patients immediately And effectively market and grow your business so you can become the go to dental practice in your community Now, what is one of the best ways to grow wealth in the dental industry?Well, The answer, my friends, may surprise you. And we've got just the expert to break it all down for us. We're sitting down with Dr. Brady Frank, a third generation dentist who has not only carved out a successful career in dentistry, but has also ventured into the world of entrepreneurship. Invention and thought leadership.Now, Brady's journey is one filled with hard earned wisdom and expertise in various facets of the dental industry. So in this episode, we'll be exploring some key points that could revolutionize your understanding of wealth growth in the dental field. So grab a notepad because you won't want to miss this.First up, what we're going to be talking about is why it's often best to partner with other dentists and entrepreneurs, and Brady will shed light. On the advantages of opportunities that come with collaboration. Next we'll explore what makes a dental practice ready to sell at a profit. Now this is vital information for anyone looking to maximize their returns in the industry.And then we'll delve into the current landscape of real estate and how it affects the dental industry. Real estate is a crucial component of any dental practice and understanding the market dynamics. Is key. And then we're also going to learn how to maximize your return on investment when purchasing a practice space and Brady will share strategies to make your investment work smarter, not harder.And then finally, we'll discuss the cost to benefit mindset and how to spot a good deal in the dental industry. This financial perspective is essential for anyone aiming to achieve financial success. And Brady's extensive knowledge and experience in the dental industry, entrepreneurship, and real estate make him the perfect guide Through these topics.mean, He's not only a successful practitioner, but also a mentor and author, and he has co founded Freedom Dental Partners, a platform that brings his expertise to others. So if you're looking to grow your wealth, this episode is tailor made for you. And one critical question I wanted to ask you.What could your practice achieve if every technological aspect worked flawlessly? I mean, Have you ever thought about what your dental practice could achieve if tech headaches were a thing of the past? Well, sTick around for after the interview because I have something just for you. But for now, let's dive in with Dr.Brady Frank. Brady. How's it going? Brady: Doing great. Michael. So excited to be on your podcast now, Michael: man. We're excited to have you. If you can, give us a little bit of a rundown of your past, your present. How'd you get to where you are today?Brady: great question. I, uh, back in 1999, which means I'm an old guy, right? I, uh, I had a wrist injury in dental school. Um, they told me I wouldn't be able to practice dentistry. So I checked out a bunch of books at the Marquette Dental School Library, realized I'd probably have to own practices, but not practice in them to make a living and put two practices under contract as a senior in dental school, bought the building, Buildings and practices ended up owning seven practices in the first five years had 28 different associates and, um, made pretty much every mistake back in the early two thousands and really just got deeper and deeper into group practice than DSOs real estate ended up.having a bunch of patents in dental implants manufactured around the world and, uh, really had a big focus on implants through there and where I am today is really just helping dentist groups expand and kind of get to the next level in dentistry. Wow, man. Michael: So you did a lot. So then real quick, when it came to owning the practices and at the same time working with many associates and team members and everything like that, what were some of the If you can recall major mistakes that you felt like if only we did small pivots, it could have, could have made a huge Brady: difference.Yeah, so early on, um, I'd say the first decade of me owning group practices and other practices in real estate, I'll get my mistakes on the practice side and on the real estate side. On the practice side, I didn't create alignment. Or shared ownership or partnership or whatever we want to call it with the doctors in the practice.I just had them as associates or employees. And so that was probably my biggest mistake early. I ended up selling those practices to the doctors, But I could have created much larger groups with shared interests, with shared equity. And I just didn't understand that back then. Uh, my biggest mistake in real estate was.Probably just not buying enough real estate. I buy tons of real estate. Now I'm, I got 62 properties going to closing. the founder of Heartland, uh, Rick Workman, he's made billions of dollars on his DSO, but more billions on real estate and 80 percent less time with 80 percent less effort, Pacific dental services, they won't sell to private equity right now.Because they're doing so well in real estate. Aspen, another big BSO, they develop almost all of their own buildings, and then they sell them to REITs, and that's how they capitalize their growth. Rick Kushner, of Comfort Dental, was at a meeting at Marquette Dental School, my alma mater, and my friend organized it, and he said, he said, Rick, why, you've got, you know, 400 partners, all these locations, why are you still doing this?He said there's a secret, it's about real estate. So I didn't really leverage real estate to the full extent my first decade, but this last decade I've, made more money in real estate than group practices and I've done a, been very well with group practices. So that's where most of my teaching is and that's where I share on how to really crank it out with real estate and not make the mistakes that I did my first decade in Michael: it.Gotcha. Okay. So then real estate is primarily what you're teaching right now. Brady: So I would say my primary teaching is how dentists can expand like I did using real estate profits. To fund their expansion. Don't go to banks, don't get in debt. Go. Don't go to private equity. Mm-Hmm Use real estate profits to fund your expansion.So I mainly teach that, but what I also do is take doctors who have done very well and I clump them together. in dentist owned DSOs. In fact, I wrote a book about it, The DSO Strategy, Dentist Owned DSO Strategies. And I might just kind of look back a graph. I'll pull the page out, make it easier. This is kind of groups getting together.Forming one entity and getting a much higher multiple of sale. So I basically helped docs early, early, our team, I should say, uh, helps docs early phase growth, use real estate to fund their expansion. And then once they've gotten to a certain size. 368 12 locations, how to merge with other successful dentists and get a much higher valuation and then make a bunch of money and do it all over again, basically, and own a bunch of real estate through the process.So that's kind of my main thing is teaching on DSOs, MSOs, and then how that works with real estate and how it fits in with expansion. The reason 80 percent of my teaching is there is because real estate is actually really a simple investment. and so just a lot of my teaching is on the other stuff.And then the real estate kind of becomes the bedrock or the foundation of all the other components. Michael: can you give us like right now, like a step by step system or process on how to use real estate profits? Brady: Yeah. So going back to my mistakes early on, I would buy a building, a dental building. I would hold it for anywhere from three to 10 years and then I would sell it.During that time period that I held it, I had cash flow. And when I sold it, I got a big chunk of money. And someone said something, Canadian entrepreneur who did really well. His name's T Harv Ecker. And he said this in one of his seminars. Um, I've never made as much money operating a business. As I have selling a business and he said, same with real estate.And at that time I realized the longer I held on to a piece of real estate the more time I had into it. The more I had to manage that property, yes, I got monthly cash flow. But at the end of the day, you have to, as a dentist, you're at the top tax bracket, you've got to pay full taxes on that money.So the timeframe with which I held properties that I bought, went from three to 10 years down to like two or three years. Because of capital gains, you have to hold it over here. But then it got down to like a year and now in many cases, it's down to three hours, like literally I'll put a property under contract, I'll find a buyer.I'll get it filled and I won't even close on it. I'll close it, but I'll own it for three hours that the buyer comes in, might put 20 million into the escrow company, pay off the seller with 5 million of it, have 20 million of profit. and one of my mistakes was I did real estate alone without partnerships early on when you do big projects, you need partners, other people to go into the building with their businesses, and then we share the profits.so I would say that I used to do things. Solo, like I can do this. I'm entrepreneur. I can employ the dentist, right? I'll be the guy and I used to have kind of I didn't think so, but other people thought that I thought I was always right like 20 years ago But maybe looking back I did feel like I was right and I had to follow my face a few times to realize Oh, man, there's so many people smarter than I am.Let me be mentored by some of these billionaires who've done really well And since that time, I've done a lot more partnerships, a lot more collaborative work, and you know, I try to always believe, hey, if this is the amount of knowledge out there, hey, Brady, you're right here. So don't think of yourself as someone with all the answers.Realize that you're going to learn from each person that, that is an expert in that subject matter. And so, with real estate. I've focused less on buy and hold, more on flipping it, just like the big, the biggest, most successful DSOs and healthcare groups do. And then I have not, I've decided to do it in partnership with others, uh, rather than just trying to do it myself.So much more leverage with other people's time, other people's money, other people's Business growth. so that's where I am today is mainly doing collaborative work, partnering with a lot of different doctors, hundreds of them. and really, I'm adding value to others, helping them not go through the mistakes.I have and both real estate and growing groups too. Michael: Got, okay. So then if we wanted to right now use real estate profits, what are the first steps? Let's just say right now, okay. You know what? I do wanna do this. I do want to do that flip that you mentioned, or you know what I mean? I'm looking to acquire another practice, but I don't know if I should just expand it and keep it, or.What are the steps for Brady: this? Yeah. Um, there's kind of two categories of real estate. One category you already own it and you're figuring out what, what's, what's the best thing I can do with this asset, buy and hold it, sell it and get it, get a bunch of liquidity, pay off a bunch of my debt and then also real estate that you don't own yet.I'll go over both of those, really quickly. the first one with real estate that you do own, you would be like me, 10 years ago, buying it, holding it, getting some cash flow, paying on your debts. Right. And then having this big payday someday, whenever you sell it, I realized that entrepreneurs, which I think most of the people listening to this are are going to do a lot better.reducing their debt, getting a bunch of cash in their bank and doing more stuff than playing the 10 year game with that, real estate. So if you own a piece of real estate, I encourage you. And if you want, I can, um, even give a link to a software that shows you how much the value of your current property is.Yeah. I would encourage you to, to, look at what would life look like if I sold some or all of my real estate, what would I do with that cash? What would life look like with less debt and could I expand my practice or practices, um, in my main business? So, so that's number one. Number two is for those that also are like, Hey, I own real estate.I like it. I'd love to see what that looks like. If I had a liquidity event there, paid off debt, you know, use that to buy more locations. But I'd also like to know, all right, Brady, what does it look like? Buying real estate for the sole purpose of having a massive game, right? And so here's the strategy with that and we can come back into that later and I saw you nod your head I can I can do a qr code I'll hold it up in front of the screen or we can put it in the in the chat and you'll you can plug your Building information.It'll spit out of value. It's pretty awesome software. so the other component is, Hey, I don't own real estate. how do you make the most in real estate? So most dentists think that if I build a dental building and sell it, Hey, I built it starting to make a profit right now because of inflation, it costs on average 420 bucks a foot to build a dental building with the land and everything.420 bucks a foot. The buildings that I buy, I never pay over a hundred dollars a foot. Never. It's 30 bucks to 80 bucks a foot. and they call that, that's way below replacement cost. Meaning, if you were to build that today, it cost you 400 percent more. So here is why we're able to do that.The office and retail markets of real estate Started going down because there were more vacancies because e commerce Amazon went out there and no one, you know what I mean? People weren't buying designer jeans. So that affected then COVID hit and a lot of businesses went virtual. Another big hit to the commercial real estate markets.And now we've got AI that is supposed to replace 62 percent of task related jobs within three to five years, which means more of a hit to real estate. interest rates are higher now. So whenever interest rates go up, real estate market goes down. The only shining light in real estate right now is the healthcare real estate market.Anything backed with a dental lease or a healthcare lease. that real estate is skyrocketing. Office and retail is going way down. And that arbitrage is where we're playing. So we buy a building that's vacant, without any tenants. Dirt cheap. You move your business into there, just like Aspen does, or Heartland, or one of the others.Once you move your business into there, the building is now occupied. Okay. And, um, the software that I'll share, it actually picks out all these vacant buildings that you can choose from around America. Is that crazy? Yeah, that is cool. Yeah. So, so basically you could, and it matches it up. It's the AI component isn't complete yet, but the AI component watching match your, what you plug in to the buildings that are available.through 20 different databases of buildings, right? So it picks all these on loop net with a remax, all these, and it finds all those buildings, even the ones that are off market at auctions. Okay. So then you're, so then you make an offer on that building and an ideal world, it would already have a build out that is actually fits a dental practice.Like I did a, I bought a med spa for five 75, put a 15 operatory in there. Sold the building for 2. 4 million, like a year or two later. And that practice was a DeNovo, a startup. It did 503, 000 the first month. Cause I used partner dentists. And one month later I bought a strip mall, vacant strip mall and had a blockbuster in there that was gone.If you remember blockbuster. Yeah. Yeah. Blockbuster gone. Right. it had a blimpy sobs gone and some drive through coffee thing. And it was near a hospital. It had an oral surgeon near it, an endodontist. I bought it for 330 grand 10, 000 square feet. The seller was a physician because there was a hospital nearby.He said, I'll sell it to you. But only if you give me 10 percent down, cause I want the cashflow on the 330 grand. So I put 33 grand into it and then the rest was seller financing. And I sold that about two years later for just a little over 2. 4 million. Right. That was a thousand percent return and the tenants paid for their build outs in there.Right. so those buildings, those vacant buildings, that massive arbitrage of profit, that is what you can use to expand your business. So in that group that I owned in Southern Oregon grew from zero to eight million in less than four years. The group ended up having an eight figure exit with the DSO. And I grew that based on profits from real estate. Not only did I pay cash for everything. equipment, any build out stuff, but I actually had millions of dollars left over just on that arbitrage, buying real estate really low and selling it at market value, which happens to be really high compared to what you buy it for.So the key is, is this, Michael, Buying buildings dirt cheap that are perfect for dental practices or other health care and then occupying them with a practice, your new practice, a de novo, or moving an acquisition into there, like a merger from a three op guy into there. And then once you are occupying that building.The lease rate is what dictates the value. And then there's a whole world of buyers out there who buy real estate based on cashflow. Very easy to sell these for market value, but here's the deal. Nobody wants a vacant building. So owner users like us, Dennis are in a powerful position to occupy the building that we buy.And then basically flip that building, realize the profits. And, and, and the main point is the less and less time that you own the building from 10 years, all the way down to three hours, the greater your returns on an hourly rate, right? Meaning that profit explodes when you sell it.If you wait 10 years to sell it, you amortize your profit when you sell it all the way back over 10 years, incrementally per hour, your profit on that property is very low. Whereas if you buy a property and sell it a year later, right? Incrementally every hour you've owned that property is monetized based on the sale price.so that is in general kind of what I've done with real estate and we're in a great time right now. So much vacant dirt cheap real estate and so much opportunity. dentistry is exploding. Great opportunity for groups to expand and use real estate as their tool. Okay. Michael: Interesting. So how, I guess through all that, how easy is it to occupy one of these vacant buildings?Brady: So in some buildings, are very, set up for dental. Like that med spa that I bought and put 15 ops in it. Yeah, they had massage rooms. I just dropped dental chairs in each room. Very, very inexpensive. They had a waiting room already. It was gorgeous facility. very low, low, low costs for build out.The, um, strip mall that I had bought at that time, which kind of started this process for me of DeNovo's and real estate. Um, was a big open space and blockbuster and that took an actual build out inside. So that cost 400, 500 grand now, uh, bought the building for three 30 sold it for 2. 4 million, right? So even after 400, 000 in a buildout, that's still close to 2 million in profit, still worth it.But basically the buildings that you choose that are better suited to fit dental, the less you'll spend on TIs and the more retained profits you'll have, which can go into your retirement account. Which can pay off student debt, which can go into buying more practices, right? And recycle that. so, yeah, there is a kind of an art to that and the software really, uh, kind of, uh.Dovetails into what existing buildups look like you can kind of see what those look like and all that good stuff Michael: gotcha, and so you bought the You started this process without getting a loan from the bank or anything like that to be like, hey I'm going to expand I want to do this you you did it from your own Brady: or yes so so what happened is that was this was in 2010, which is 13, 14 years ago that I started this de novo and real estate component.But before then I already sold a couple of groups, owned other real estate, sold it. So I was doing well. So I just self funded. I didn't use debt. I just bought these properties and then occupied them and added other tenants to them, the strip mall. I had a chiropractor and a blood lab. got it 100 percent occupied and sold it to a 1031 buyer.Um, so for those that are like, Hey, have to take on debt and do that. So we have a big family office network. So doctors don't have to come up with money on the front end. They can be a tenant partner. In these projects, right? our team at Freedom, uh, Dental Partners, we've got a team that just teaches how to do the stuff.in fact, several of the projects of the 62 buildings going to closing right now are, are just that. One guy is a guy named Kevin up in Chicago. I actually partnered on this building to buy it. we bought it for two million and we're selling it for five million, right? Just a little bit of time later It's got 20 000 square feet.It's got a total of 40 dental laboratories in it Yeah, it's got perio and oral surgery and He's putting a big implant practice there and we're kind of teaming up on that. so not like you have to pay dirt cheap for them. I mean, you can pay two million for a building and still make three million dollars on it.So, so we do a lot of those, those as well. Michael: Okay. And then how, right now, if someone wants to sell, what should they do? What's like your recommendation if they're like, okay, I'm looking to sell. They know the common most way to sell. Right. Yep. Yeah. What are your recommendations? Brady: Yeah. So first of all, I would kind of assess your building.what is the, the value look like? And, I don't know if a lot of folks watch yours via video or it's audio, but do you mind if I share my screen and I can kind of... Yeah, Michael: Yeah. And if anybody right now, if you're listening, uh, definitely go in the show notes below and watch the video version of, especially of this portion Brady: right now.Yeah. And I'll just kind of go with this. There it is. So I just spoke, I don't know if anyone gets dental economics. I'm sure you get that magazine. And, uh, I've written a bunch of articles in there and they invited me to speak again in, in Las Vegas and this QR code, Freedom Dental Partners forward slash RE. So if you can't see it, it's just freedom dental partners. com forward slash RE. basically you just plug in, uh, the data on your building and we've got a whole team that basically figures out what the value is based on a few important factors.And those factors are your lease rate or what your lease rate could be. Um, the ability to have a corporate guarantee on the building, and then we work with several multi billion dollar REITs that then basically are buying a lot of the properties we put together, and we know the value of that. So we can, we'll email you back the value, um, it doesn't cost you anything obviously for that, but it's another example of how dentists can partner together to get higher value, because the average value a dentist can receive from selling their building as part of a group of other dental buildings is about 35 percent higher.So if a building is worth 500 grand on its own with these other factors, you're making whatever that is. So So that's that I'll unshare right now, but happy for anyone to use that resource and we had a bunch of people use that at the dental economics event and get back their values on their buildings and how that all works and with an explanation.But anyway, yeah, so that's that's Michael for those that already own their building that want to, you know, have some profit event from the real estate they own. But the biggest, I will say, the biggest profits are in taking these buildings, finding, you know, the ones that are easily, moved into a dental practice component, and then being able to turn those buildings, have a profit, and operate your dental practice there, and effectively expand without any debt and actually making money while you're expanding.Michael: Yeah. Okay. Okay. And I know, um, I guess, how do you know if a building is perfect? Because I think if you want something bad enough, you kind of can convince yourself like, this is perfect. But if Brady were to walk in there, you can tell us like, man, Michael, this is not perfect at all. This is, this is not a good building.So how can Brady: we tell? Yeah, yeah. So, so I look at it from, um, kind of an investment. Objective. If someone's going to do, let's say it's your second practice or your third or your 10th, you almost have to look up, look at it as a cost to benefit ratio. So I really don't look at any buildings or recommend any dentist look at a building unless they can make at least a half million dollars.if you can buy it and some of your costs are going to be X and you can still make a half million dollars. That's a great deal because now what you're doing is you're kind of getting your dental practice expansion going along for the ride But you're also being a real estate investor And and I think we all know that the majority of the world's wealth was gained or is held In real estate and and what we're doing here really is taking a undervalued asset class office and retail In our market today and just converting it to Basically healthcare, which dental fits in that mix, which is the most highly valued real estate right now.it's no different than I think Chip and Joanne Gaines that buy a house, fix it up and sell it for more. It's just a lot easier and more lucrative in this market right now because we can buy vacant buildings for such a low price. And sell them for such a high price. Michael: So this is kind of like, I've heard of this method.It's like the BRRR method, kind of like that BRRR method where you buy, right? Like rehab, refinance. Yeah, Brady: it totally is. So Michael, we should delve into that a little bit because I'm sure people don't know the acronym. Buy rehab, rent, refinance. So that's what it is. Now, here's the big cool part about it. Okay, we buy these vacant buildings, right? Rehab, well, you're gonna put your business in there or you might go with a bunch of other businesses and do it in partnership Which is some of my favorite way of doing it more profits than that offer.Okay, rent Your practice is gonna be renting it, right? Refi. Now there used to be a trend where, hey, I'll pull that money out and I'll just stack up my debt and keep getting more and more debt. and so I used to do that and I realized that the more debt that I had, The less I felt like I could go out there and pursue entrepreneurial stuff because I had a lot of debt.You know what I mean? Yeah. so the only difference is buy rehab rent and it's yourself as part of the tenant mix your, your own tenant. And then instead of refinancing, just selling, making a bunch of money, not having debt. And now you can focus on being productive, being an entrepreneur, and not kind of stacking up your debt as you go, even though refinancing is still a option in many cases.Michael: Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Okay. So yeah, it's buy, rehab, rent, refinance, and then repeat. Brady: Yeah. Yeah. and with these, this model. Absolutely. So, so the key is you need to know how to do a startup profitably. And with Freedom Dental Partners, we are launching a course very soon on how I just in Novos and grew from zero to 8 million.One was an acquisition, but three De Novos, zero to 8 million, no PPOs, believe it or not. Wow. How to, yeah. How for to market for that, how to add partners. How to get them off the ground, you know, most people say, Oh, you'll, you'll be profitable in two years. My first month on the second location did 503, 000 with 210 grand of profit, the first month, and that was that med spa.so I'm putting a program together that folks can follow a free program just to go over how that worked. then we got a done with you component where we can have our, four recruiters where you can recruit. a junior partner, who's gonna be there, how does the marketing tie in, you know, is there an implant bent to the practice, all that good stuff, but yeah, it, it, really.The de novo or startup fits in with the real estate strategy, unless you're going to merge an older docs practice into there. Um, but I found any money that you would have spent on that acquisition. If you just spend that on marketing and you know how many patients per dollar you're spending coming in is, and especially with your techniques, Michael, to have a team that's going to Costco and going to these bricks and mortar places around town doing lunch and It's an incredible way to build grassroots around that.And once you hit, once you at least break even on that, you know, if you follow the plan really well, you, you know, profit the first month, but let's say it takes you six months to break even. Great. Now you've got an incredible asset, you made money on the front end, and now you're going and doing another one of these things and you're literally growing without SBA loans. of America, right? Without needing to be backed by private equity. And when you do sell your group, now it's just all cash to you, right? You don't have to pay off debt and then have a profit. you're growing without debt. And, and I found you grow faster and you take more risks with your growth when you got money in the bank and you don't have debt.Then it's like, Oh, I can do this. Let's try this. Hey, it's no big deal if I try that. And, and those that have the freedom to try new things, And to get kind of aggressive in business, they're the ones that usually win because they're actually trying new things. hitting a single, a double, a homerun.Oh shoot, maybe they didn't do very well on this one, but it didn't affect them. So yeah. So anyway. Michael: No. Yeah. That's interesting. And then I think that's the tricky part there Brady. It's like, cause it sounds, I mean, to me at least it sounds easy, like, okay, let's be profitable. And then we can sell, right? But I feel like a lot of, um, especially like, you know, startups and acquisitions, they kind of get stuck in there where it's like, dude, it's been one year and I haven't even broken even yet.Like, you know what I mean? Kind of thing. Brady: Yeah. So here's kind of one of the secrets with this model. I marketed 30 grand a month, three months before I opened that location where we did 503, 000 the first month. most dentists put in their budget, like instead of 3 percent for marketing, I'll do 6 percent and it just never works.So you kind of have to do a marketing blitz to do it. I had 340 or so new patients that first month it was hundreds. And we did consults before opening it and treatment scheduled. So, so the key is you have to be able to do a massive marketing budget. And most people don't want to do that using debt, they're just backpedaling them, right? It's like, oh crap, I'm putting all this money into marketing. I don't know if the marketing is going to work. So with that, I had already done a real estate project before that made a bunch of money. And then I'm like, Oh, I've got several million in the bank.I don't mind dumping 30 grand in the marketing, right? From a variety of sources, radio, TV, postcards. You know, Google AdWords, Facebook ads, funnels, all that, even a local newspaper. And I went on radio and talked and did a little, I was on a radio talk show, they gave me the radio ads. So you kind of have to do anything and everything, and that creates this massive momentum where you get all this press coming in, right?And then the statistic ends up working out, which is, 80 percent of new patients that come into a practice, 80 percent of new patients, the internal referrals come from those that have been in the practice 12 months or less. So when you do external marketing, you're automatically building your internal referrals and people don't understand.They think, Oh, this 62 year old doc that's been in town for 30 years. He's getting all the referrals, right? Cause he's been there forever. Nope. He's getting four to six new patients a month. It's the new docs who are marketing heavy that are getting the internal referrals. Cause they're, they're bringing in fresh patients, right?And so you have to understand that external marketing begets what we all want, the internal referrals. And with a great campaign like what you do, Boots on the Ground, Lunch and Learns, that's huge because you're with folks, they're talking about it, you're in local businesses. So, so that is the key to market really heavily and, and do that.But, but when you do that, you know, you can, you can literally. take care of your financial future with just the real estate profits and grow a group Debt free. Michael: Gotcha, man. Okay, that's interesting. Good. That's good to know like kind of getting that momentum started right there. one of the final questions I wanted to ask is Right throughout everything you're kind of seeing and this is just to get into the head of someone who isn't totally involved on the clinical Side of dentistry, right?What do you dislike or hate about dentistry right now? Brady: I would say there's this kind of chasm between, private equity backed DSOs and then the rest of independent dentists and dentists getting together and, um, being funded. outside private equity. So private equity back DSOs. That simply means that some corporate body and institutional investor owns the majority of that entity, which means when it recaps what it sells, the majority of those profits Go to the private equity company or the institutional investor.Very little goes to the actual dentist doing the real work on the ground. On the other side of this equation are yes, individual dentists, but also dentist groups that are funded by their own debts, by their own sources of funding, like the real estate that we talked about. And it's kind of a battle right now.what I hate is that More dentists aren't doing enough research to understand that these big private equity backed groups are not investing in real estate. In 2016, they wrote something in a private equity journal that said don't invest in real estate, but the founders of those groups have formed exclusive arrangements.And they get to invest in all the real estate. They're making a killing billions of dollars. And all of these groups that kind of watch the big groups, they're saying, oh, we'll just lease. We won't own the real estate because they don't own it, but the founder is owning the real estate. So what I don't love is that there's not a ton of information being given out.over here with the huge groups that are private equity back. And there's a lot of dentists that aren't taking the time to research how that really works. And I think that's my goal is to, yes, certainly show a couple decades of failures and successes, but to also show, cause I've, I've looked deeply inside the innards of all these DSOs.I've helped a lot of them and consulted a lot of them and worked with the main attorney group who set them up. so I think what I don't love is that chasm between the two. And I think the individual dentists, the business folks that are working with dentists, those groups that are watching the big DSOs and emulating them and just leasing space, not realizing there's a huge real estate play there.and those that don't realize, Hey, we can clump together like at Freedom Dental Partners and have a big group with a big liquidity event and benefit our futures. you know, financially, just like the big boys do. I think it's that chasm that I hate the most. And that's I think what I'm here to do is educate, show how they're doing it and then interpret how that works and make it easy so that Dennis can flourish just like those big groups.And then I think what's gonna happen is if here's the big groups and here's Dennis and smaller It's going to equalize out because now we're using all the secret tools, techniques and protocols that they are. We leveled the playing field and we actually maybe even have an edge on our side, especially with kind of some of the real estate stuff we've talked about today.Michael: All right, man. Awesome. And then any final pieces of advice that you'd like to give to our listener? Brady: Um, I would say if you're young and you're just starting out your career and you did an acquisition or a startup, you're a business person involved with a small group, look at ways of collaborating more like, uh, you know, Freedom Dental Partners, we've got hundreds of dentists around the country who are building small groups together and getting involved, Google Freedom Dental Partners, see some of the deals we've done, some of the DSOs we've bought, we've bought a number of DSOs, and uh, just get involved and look for folks that are really, uh, kind of on the, on the forefront of doing this stuff, look for folks that are partnering with others, that are sharing, and uh, I would say just, look very closely at those that are banding together because those are the groups that are forging, ahead and really competing with each other.With the big boys. unfortunately it's not the one or two or three location groups that are kind of competing as the big boys. It's, it's those one, two or three location groups or 10 location groups that are banding together, creating a formidable force to elevate through partnerships that are, that are really making a difference out there today.Okay, man, Michael: that's good. So then if anyone had any questions or concerns, where can they find you? Brady: Yeah, just go to brady at freedom dental partners. com brady at freedom dental partners. com and I can I can get to where you need to go Michael: Awesome. So guys that's going to be in the show notes below. So definitely check it out And at the same time brady, thank you so much for being with us.It's been a pleasure and we'll hear from Brady: you soon Awesome, michael. Have a great one Michael: Thank you so much for tuning into that podcast. And Brady, thank you so much for being a part of the podcast. We really appreciate you coming on and sharing your wealth of knowledge. And at the same time, if you want to ask Brady any questions, go in the show notes below or the description below, and you can click on his links and reach out to him there.Definitely check out his website and see what he has to offer you as well. Along with any of the freebies that he mentioned in the episode, you can download them in the show notes below as well. So go ahead and do that now. Have you ever thought about what your dental practice could achieve if tech headaches were a thing of the past?That's where a fantastic IT company comes in. Now think about your day at your clinic strip away any worries about server crashes or data breaches. Man, if you can do that, that'd be amazing. With Dark Horse Tech, that's your new reality. They deliver IT solutions that align perfectly with the rhythm of a busy dental practice, so your attention never strays from patient care.Now, I wanted you to ask yourself that critical question. What could your practice achieve if every technological aspect worked flawlessly, because that's not a hypothetical anymore. It's a real possibility with dark horse tech and to make the decision even easier, dark horse tech is introducing a limited time offer.That's too good to pass up. If you start with dark horse tech today, your first month is a hundred percent free, that's right. Your initial 30 days of service are free of charge. It's their way of showing you the difference, the right it partner can make. So choose dark horse tech and take the first step towards a future where your dental practice can thrive uninterrupted by it concerns.It's time to let technology elevate your practice. Not complicated. So go in the show notes below, click the first link in the show notes below to check out the offer. And at the same time, you can see what other practice owners are saying about dark horse tech. And if you like what you see, then you can go with them. But remember the limited time offer is. First 30 days are completely free. So grab this opportunity and see what seamless it service feels like with dark horse tech. It's not just about managing it. It's about mastering your practices potential. So going to show notes below, click the first link in the show notes below to check out more, and that's going to do it for this episode.Thank you so much for tuning in and I'll talk to you in the next episode.‍

Welcome to the Men's Health Unscripted Podcast! We're thrilled to kick off Men's Health Month with a very special guest, RJ Adolfi, the CEO of Medical Mancave. RJ boasts an impressive background as the former CEO of Aspen Dental and currently serves as the Chief Growth Officer for Hope 4 Cancer. In this episode, RJ shares his expert insights on healthcare accessibility and his groundbreaking efforts to reduce friction in the healthcare landscape between patients and doctors. Discover how he's spearheading the creation of a comprehensive, one-stop solution for men's health, ushering in a new era of accessibility and convenience. If you're an entrepreneur or someone with a keen interest in innovative business mindsets, this podcast is a must-listen. Join us for engaging conversations about men's health and the transformative power of RJ and his team's approach to healthcare accessibility. Don't miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights on Men's Health and healthcare accessibility and accountability. www.medicalmancave.com www.hope4cancer.com Find Us: www.menshealthunscripted.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/menshealthunscripted/support

Bulletproof Dental Practice Podcast Episode 312 Hosts: Dr. Peter Boulden  and Dr. Craig Spodak Guests: Jeff Hopeck KEY TAKEAWAYS: Introduction Introduction: How to Become Bulletproof The OPM Hack and Sophisticated Hacking Existing Problems and Vulnerabilities Rise of Human Hacking and Exploitation Social Hacking and Target Exploitation Protecting Investments and Expanding Practical Advice for Protection Web Scraping and Dark Web Taking Action and Seeking Cybersecurity Establishing Cyber Baseline Transparency and Cybersecurity Cybersecurity Concerns and CEO Worries Facing Competitive Challenges Micro-Awareness and Key Insights Safety Measures and Human Hacking Story Conclusion: Creating Awareness References: Bulletproof Mastermind  Bulletproof Summit Mighty Networks: Bulletproof Dental Practice

“Leadership is critical because it shapes the culture.”-Anahita CameronHave you ever been tapped on the shoulder for a new opportunity?  Have YOU tapped someone else on the shoulder?  We don't see ourselves the way others do, and we can all benefit from people seeing potential in us that we don't see.  Today's guest has benefited from being “tapped” throughout her career, and this experience informs how she now leads the People function.My guest is Anahita Cameron, Chief People Officer for Thrive Pet Healthcare. Anahita is a change-driven healthcare and retail operations Human Resources executive with a proven track record fostering organizational growth while honoring a commitment to employees, customers, and local communities. She has deep expertise in all aspects of workforce management and prioritizes strong culture, employee engagement and retention while building meaningful relationships and collaborations cross-functionally. She has previous senior leadership experience at Aspen Dental, HealthPartners, Target Corporation, and Banfield Pet Hospitals. She maintains a lifelong commitment to community service and has served in numerous board leadership roles for nonprofit organizations.In this episode of Talent Management Truths, you'll discover:

Marcelle Parrish, Chief Marketing Officer of Aspen Dental & Michael Shuman, Chief Executive Officer of Membersy discuss the impact of dental membership. Marcelle and Michael discuss: Current trends with the dental insurance market How are membership plans playing a role in expanding access? Why is now the right time to implement a membership plan? How do you ensure consistency throughout all your practices? Complexity of offering a membership plan Much more To find out more about Membersy visit https://membersy.com/. To schedule a demo visit https://bit.ly/44N0lLa . If you would like to find out more about joining Aspen Dental visit https://careers.aspendental.com/us/en . If you like our podcast, please give us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review on iTunes http://apple.co/2Nejsfa and a Thumbs Up on YouTube. Our podcast series brings you dental support organization and emerging dental group practice analysis, conversation, trends, news and events. Listen to leaders in the DSO and emerging dental group space talk about their challenges, successes, and the future of group dentistry. The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry has listeners across North & South America, Australia, Europe, and Asia. If you like our show, tell a friend or a colleague.

IMPORTANT! We are changing podcast hosts soon. You'll need to point your podcast app to our new site: https://www.odysseymgmt.com/podcasts/chew-on-this-a-dental-podcast Do people still click on suspicious email links? They sure do! Aspen Dental had a large data breach. We talk about how offices of all sizes can be hit by this. The importance of patient safety comes up as we discuss a very sad patient death coming out of Washington state. We end on a light note - did you know that Kevin has Nigerian blood in him? Perhaps he's sending the emails out to practices .... hmmm.  As always, more info is in the links below. Thanks for listening!   Resources/Links from Show:  https://komonews.com/news/local/king-county-dentist-suspended-on-charges-after-patient-dies-license-general-anesthesia-down-syndrome-unsafe-practice-disregard-for-safety-intubate-emergency-medication-unsuccessful-surgery https://aspendental.mediaroom.com/cybersecurity-incident-statement https://compliancy-group.com/aspen-dental-hit-by-massive-hacking-incident/ Teresa's new insurance class is open for business! Use code COT for $75 off. Our thanks to our loyal listeners 

What a week it has been in the world of dentistry!  Aspen Dental has experienced a huge cyber attack affecting many offices and patients.  Meanwhile, the government is hard at work to determine what needs to be done about workforce issues in the medical sector.  All of this and more with your friendly News Gal -JB.  

The Cybercrime Wire, hosted by Scott Schober, provides boardroom and C-suite executives, CIOs, CSOs, CISOs, IT executives and cybersecurity professionals with a breaking news story we're following. If there's a cyberattack, hack, or data breach you should know about, then we're on it. Listen to the podcast daily and hear it every hour on WCYB. The Cybercrime Wire is sponsored by KnowBe4. To learn more about our sponsor, visit https://knowbe4.com • For more breaking news, visit https://cybercrimewire.com

Tune in for today's industry updates.

In this episode, Dr. Desmon Brown, discusses the importance of workplace inclusion and how his environment has affected his relationship with dentistry.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

In this episode, Dr. Desmin Brown, discusses the importance of workplace inclusion and how his environment has affected his relationship with dentistry.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

Tune in for today's industry updates.

In this special episode we are joined by Dr. Lauren McDonough, Vice President of Practice Owner Development at Aspen Dental, to discuss her recent travels to Akumal, Mexico to provide an underserved population with dental care.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

Tune in for today's industry updates.

In this episode, Alex Mehler, DMD Vice President of Endodontic Support Services, discusses the niche of endodontics in dentistry. Dr. Mehler gets into the specifics of crafting a role that benefits dentists or DSOs and how that role can better patient experience.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

In this episode, Alex Mehler, DMD Vice President of Endodontic Support Services, discusses the niche of endodontics in dentistry. Dr. Mehler gets into the specifics of crafting a role that benefits dentists or DSOs and how that role can better patient experience.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Mark Adams, Chief Clinical Officer at ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers, to discuss the future and technological improvements of the implant industry.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Mark Adams, Chief Clinical Officer at ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers, to discuss the future and technological improvements of the implant industry.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

In this episode, we are joined by Sarah Sharfstein, Vice President of Category Development and Strategy at Aspen Dental, to discuss incremental growth through aligners and the flexibility of Motto aligners to consumers.This podcast is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

In this episode, we are joined by Julie Frantsve Hawley, Executive Director at The Aspen Group's Oral Care Center for Excellence, to discuss the Oral Care Center for Excellence and how it is changing lives across Illinois.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

In this episode, we are joined by Julie Frantsve Hawley, Executive Director at The Aspen Group's Oral Care Center for Excellence, to discuss the Oral Care Center for Excellence and how it is changing lives across Illinois.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

In this episode, we are joined by Julie Frantsve-Hawley, Executive Director at The Aspen Group's Oral Care Center for Excellence, to discuss the Oral Care Center for Excellence and how it is changing lives across Illinois.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Payam Ataii, DMD, MBA Senior Vice President Orthodontic Support at Aspen Dental, to discuss how clear aligners are continuing to bypass traditional metal braces and more.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Payam Ataii, DMD, MBA, Senior Vice President Orthodontic Support at Aspen Dental, to discuss how clear aligners are continuing to bypass traditional metal braces and more.

If you take a normal procedure in the lab, film it, and put it online, how many people do you think would watch it? Well when Tiffany Carroll and Amanda Shelly do that when working at Aspen Dental (https://www.aspendental.com/), they get MILLIONS of views. Tiffany and Amanda come on to talk about how they found their way to Aspen, a day in the life at Aspen, the opportunities provided to them, the move to digital, and creating content on social media that goes viral. Have you seen the high prices of precious metal these days? Kulzer Refining (https://www.kulzerus.com/en_us/en_us/heraeuspreciousmetalsrefining/scraprefining.aspx) knows that you are using less Precious metal in your lab these days, but if you send in half of what you sent in 5 years ago ,your scrap return will be higher than it was 5 years ago! You won't believe how much money your scrap is worth right now! Kulzer Refining reimbursement to you is after their 10% refining fee . They have zero additional fees! If you need any free shipping containers, which contain a UPS prepaid, full insured label, please visit mydental360.com/refining or call the Director of Precious Metal Refining, Tony Circelli, directly at (914) 906-1843. Mention the Voices From the Bench podcast and Kulzer Refining will add an extra 5% to your scrap! Kulzer Refining. Tested, Trusted, and Honest. Two dynamic teams have joined forces to rock the intraoral scanning world! Whip Mix (https://www.whipmix.com/) has added the 3Shape TRIOS® (https://info.whipmix.com/en/3shape-trios-contact-us) line of scanners to its line of digital solutions for the dental office. Together, this dynamic duo can get your dentists scanning, providing you the reliable scans you need for your lab work. If you are interested in learning more about helping your dentists, go to: http://tinyurl.com/Whipmixtrios Special Guests: Amanda Shelley and Tiffany Carroll.

A video is going viral of an empty Aspen Dental. Fans get to decide which Taco Bell item makes a comeback.A K-9 officer gets to retire in Feeling Good in the D.

Riz Hatton shares the latest news on the Dental + DSO industry.

In this episode we talk about implantology and strategic practice training post-dental school. Tune in to hear about some of the gaps in knowledge dental graduates may face coming out of dental school and preparing to use implant therapies.This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

Riz Hatton talks about what's new in the Dental industry.

Dr. Scott Cignetti joined Rick to tell him about the event this Saturday for vets to receive free dental care at any of the 7 locations around Pittsburgh.

America's Heroes Group Roundtable Aspen Dental Care National Community Outreach Panelist: Dr. Jere Gillan Jr, DMD - US Air Force Veteran and Aspen Dental Practice Owner with multiple Offices in the Orlando, Florida area

Laura Dyrda shares the latest news on the dental industry.

It is so good to be among our fellow lab friends. After having no show in 2021, LMT Lab Day Chicago (https://lmtmag.com/) happened with a great vibe in 2022. While less people attended, the ones that came where ready to be out and about and many stopped by the Preat (https://preat.com/) booth. This week we talk to four people that attended. First up is wife and husband team from Georgia, Christina and Brian Heaslip (http://www.digitaldentallabs.com/default.html). They talk about working together, presenting together about B & D Dental zirconia (https://www.bnddental.com/zirconia.html), and the upcoming Ladies of the Mill Summit (https://www.ladiesofthemill.com/). Then we talk to Katie Boteler from Aspen Dental (https://www.aspendental.com/). Newish to the industry, Katie talks about working at Affordable Dentures (https://www.affordabledentures.com/), Aspen, and the real reason Katie came to Lab Day. Then we wrap up the episode talking to past guest Jonathan Thompson about the importance of a good CAM software and his company WorkNC (https://www.worknc.com/). If you want to save, and also grow, Gro3X (https://www.gro3x.com/) is, where you should go! Resins (https://www.gro3x.com/collections/print) to print night guards, for high-impact and flex, look no further, because we have them at Gro3X. Burs (https://www.gro3x.com/collections/mill) for your mills, Zirconia (https://www.gro3x.com/collections/aidite) for your crowns, with Gro3X you will be the hottest lab in town! And last but not least, if you seriously want to grow, add Gro3X Aligners (https://www.gro3x.com/pages/aligners), and your doctors will say Wowww! Is your lab in a position to take on new customers? Do you have the capacity to service more doctors? AmericaSmiles (https://americasmiles.net/) has helped hundreds of labs across the country to acquire new dental accounts. They're the biggest name in Dental Laboratory marketing. Don't waste time mailing and calling hundreds of doctors just to see poor results and hear overwhelming rejection. Let AmericaSmiles do all the heavy lifting for you. For just $195 a month, the AmericaSmiles One Voice program will help you skip to the front of the line. They'll prospect your local or target area, produce your creative marketing, and do all the cold calling to leave you with extremely qualified appointments; guaranteed to help you find your ideal clients and grow your business. Visit AmericaSmiles.net/One-Voice to learn more about how you can increase your lab's bottom line. Use promo code VOICESFROMTHEBENCH during checkout to qualify for a month-to-month agreement enabling you the freedom to cancel the marketing service any time! If you'd like to speak with an agent who can answer your questions about a time-tested, completely done-for-you approach to marketing, please call 708 279 9031. Join AmericaSmiles One Voice today - Getting new dentists to try your lab has never been easier. Whip Mix (https://www.whipmix.com/)'s new VeriWhirl (https://www.whipmix.com/products/veriwhirl-dental-3d-printed-parts-cleaner/?product=technical_resources) resin cleaning station is the ideal piece of equipment to use in the 3D printed resin post process. It's oscillating, multi-speed stirrer produces a tornado-like vortex every 30-seconds, and guarantees efficient, effective and powerful cleaning whether the units are individual or still attached to the build plate. The two alcohol baths make an effective step-wash system. It cleans more efficiently and there is less alcohol needed, since it is re-used for both a fresh bath and a dirty bath. The VeriWhirl's intelligent design offers features such as Mode, Time, and Start/Stop button display which gives the operator full and automatic control of the cleaning process. A mesh basket used in the wash container makes it easy to keep track of small printed parts when cleaning. The affordable unit's one-year warranty ensures peace-of-mind for the owner. Visit whipmix.com (https://www.whipmix.com/) or call (800) 626-5651 for more information about this great new product. Special Guests: Brian Heaslip, Christina Heaslip, Jonathan Thompson, and Katie Boteler.

In this episode we look back on insights shared in some of our top preforming episodes from 2021. Tune in for a collage of experts' thoughts around evolutions in Dental practices + DSOs in the next couple of years.Featuring:Heidi Arndt, dental industry executive, consultant, and former Strive Dental Management CEOMerritt Dake, Chief Executive Officer, Rock Dental BrandsBarry Lyon, Dental Director, Dental Care AllianceSarah Sharfstein, Vice President of Category Development & Strategy, Aspen Dental

Emily Boyd talks about Aspen Dental's free dental care for Military Veterans & Spouses coming up in Tennessee & Mississippi in November. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dental care isn't just about oral health; it's fundamental to your overall health, according to Dr. Arwinder Judge, chief clinical officer at Aspen Dental Management. In this episode, Dr. Judge discusses the digital transformation of dental care, how Aspen Dental emerged from the pandemic, and how his organization is providing free dental care to veterans across the country. This episode is sponsored by Aspen Dental.

Sarah Sharfstein is the Vice President of Category Development and Strategy at Aspen Dental Management Inc. Her focus is on creating and growing the Orthodontic business. In an already consumer-centric company, she has focused on leveraging technology to optimize the consumer experience and help dentists and their teams educate their patients about the benefits of clear aligner therapy. The ultimate goal is to help more patients say YES to orthodontic treatment. Sarah believes in making orthodontics affordable for all consumers, not just the 1% of patients who get treatment today. As the largest and fastest-growing network of branded dental practices in the country, Aspen Dental's unique systems and processes make it easy for General Dentists to deliver high-quality orthodontics at an affordable price. At the forefront of change in the Orthodontic market, she is hyper-focused on ensuring that the strategy for Aspen in this category is forward-thinking and at the cutting edge of a rapidly changing category. Prior to joining Aspen Dental Management, Inc. Sarah was a leader at Align Technology, the makers of Invisalign. While at Align, Sarah held a variety of positions including directing a regional sales team, developing Align's business optimization program, and leading all orthodontic study groups. She developed Align's Key Opinion Leader program and led the Professional Marketing and Education group for the orthodontic channel.

In this episode, Emmet welcomes Sarah Sharfstein, Vice President, Category Development & Strategy at Aspen Dental. They discuss how to scale in multiple areas simultaneously — what's needed to support both clinicians and at the practice level to be successful. Sarah gives an inside view into the strategies Aspen is using to scale. She and Emmet dig deep into the challenges, potential solutions, and opportunities that come with adding specialties to any dental organization. Before joining Aspen's leadership, Sarah spent about 12 years at Invisalign in a variety of different roles. From her experience, it was a natural transition into her role at Aspen to help develop their orthodontic category, driving its utilization in a scalable way to deliver good clinical outcomes.

Welcome to season 2! For our 12th episode of the Women in Dentistry podcast, we have Dr. Anita O. Imadomwanyi. Anita is Director of Clinical Support & Charitable Giving, for Aspen Dental Management, Inc, (ADMI), one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing dental service organizations. At ADMI, she serves as a clinical liaison to both providers and office teams, while enhancing support programs and resources provided to doctors. As Director of Charitable Giving, she supports Aspen Dental's Healthy Mouth Movement outreach initiatives, which include veteran programs, Day of Service and Mouth Mobile, to provide free dental care to veterans in need; as well as the Healthy Smiles, an international dental outreach program, to provide oral health care and education to children, individuals and families in need. Dr. Imadomwanyi is a people and culture-first leader with over a decade of industry expertise. As a devoted health care professional, she has an outstanding track record providing dental care services to diverse populations, coaching dentists and office teams, and staying on the cutting edge of dentistry. Dr. Imadomwanyi is a member of the American Dental Association, Peoria Dental Society, Special Needs Dental Association. While she was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, and is based in Chicago, Illinois for her ADMI position, she and her husband reside in Toronto, Ontario. She enjoys spending time with her husband, humanitarian service, cooking, art, fitness, fashion and interior design, speaks three languages and is a professional baker. Join us as we talk about "Allowing Your Passion for Access to Care, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to Support Clinical Guidance and Leadership Development"

We are back with season 2! "Should I apply to dental school despite the challenges dentists face during this COVID19 pandemic?" Today, we have Dr. Whitney White joining us on our first episode of season two. Dr. White obtained her Doctor of Dental Surgery at the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Dentistry and is currently an associate dentist at Aspen Dental. She has also recently received the Ameritas VIP award for providing exceptional services to her patients. Join us as we talk about applying to dental school during the COVID19 pandemic.

Sarah Sharfstein, Vice President of Category Development and Strategy for Aspen Dental, joined the podcast to talk about growth and the company's strategy around clear aligners.

Dr. Arwinder Judge is Chief Clinical Officer at Aspen Dental Management, Inc. (ADMI), where he's responsible for developing, implementing, and leading programs that support the dentists who own and operate Aspen Dental-branded practices. A member of ADMI's executive leadership team, Dr. Judge serves as a clinical liaison to nearly 1,200 dentists across the country, providing professional development, support and mentorship to dentists at various stages of their careers, from new dentists to experienced professionals. In his role, he leads a team of clinical support directors who onboard and acclimate new doctors to Aspen Dental, while also helping Aspen Dental practice owners grow and expand their practices. Dr. Judge is a frequent speaker who plays a leadership role in the company's recruitment efforts as well as for doctor development programs. A staunch supporter of continuing dental education, he also serves as chairperson on ADMI's credentialing committee and served on the national advisory board for CMA Insurance. Dr. Judge is active as a member of the American Dental Association, New York State Dental Association, Fifth District Dental Society, and Onondaga Dental Association. He was previously a member of Empire Dental Political Action Committee, Indian Dental Association, and Oswego Dental Association, where he was a member of the Peer Review Committee. Dr. Judge has been recognized twice by the New York State Dental Association for his dedication to the profession and patient care. Before joining ADMI in 2008, Dr. Judge owned and operated several dental practices, and was president at East West Management Services. He received his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) from New York University College of Dentistry and holds a certificate from the Executive Management Program from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management.

ConsortiumCRE was established out of the conviction that there was and is a need in the market for a high quality, specialized real estate and tenant representation firm. ConsortiumCRE has quickly become a major force in the industry with seasoned professionals guiding us, significant regional marketplace knowledge, extensive retail and developer relationships spanning decades and by developing innovative and comprehensive plans for our clients. Mission Statement To provide the highest quality of real estate services to our clients by demonstrating a high degree of knowledge, honesty, integrity and trust. We will remain intensely focused on locating new sites for market development that will yield the highest degree of success. We will strive constantly to remain on the leading edge of change in this industry. History Over twenty five years of retail and restaurant tenant representation experience with many of America's finest brands to include past and present clients: uBreakiFix, Brixx Pizza, Famous Footwear, FedEx, Primrose Schools, DOTS, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Primrose Schools, FedEx Office, Omaha Steaks, Simply Fashion, Kohl's, Hilton Hotels, Choice Hotels, TJX, Ascena Retail, CATO, Shoe Show, Brown RG, Rack Room Shoes, Goodwill Industries, Macy's, Nordstrom, Target, Goodrich Cinema's, AT&T, Aspen Dental, and Firehouse Subs. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Ash ElDifrawi, the Clinical Psychologist, Marketing Executive, Author, and Father-Son Podcaster, joins the show to share his journey from writing a book on the psychology of happiness to leading marketing for Aspen Dental, Redbox, Gogo, and more. Hear the science behind happiness, the key marketing lessons Ash has learned, how Moore’s law applies to different industries, the most surprising thing about happiness, and the thought-provoking podcast he does with his son. Listen to Hold Me Back at HoldMeBack.com and get Ash's book at TheTenWorlds.com

Bob Fontana, CEO of Aspen Dental Management, announces groundbreaking & exclusive news! He reveals never before disclosed info about their recent expansion into medical aesthetic clinic management and how the DSO is evolving into an HMO (health management organization.) We also discuss their recent Clear Choice Management acquisition and the growth of their urgent care clinics, Wellnow Urgent Care. If you want cutting-edge knowledge from an industry giant - this podcast is for you! Our podcast series brings you dental support and emerging dental group practice analysis, conversation, trends, news and events. Listen to leaders in the DSO and emerging dental group space talk about their challenges, successes, and the future of group dentistry. The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry has listeners across North & South America, Australia, Africa, Europe, and Asia. If you like our show, tell a friend or a colleague.

Episode 11 Highlights ADA’s update to its Code of Conduct regarding COVID-19 decisions Unlicensed dentist charged with sexual assault  Did cost factor into his popularity?  Uptick in home remedies and tooth care - related?  Alex Carico’s story: Santa’s 8 year old dentist! Peeping bathroom bandit in an Aspen Dental office and why employees are suing Don't skip the background check when hiring new employees! How Teresa and Kevin came to the dental field   Quotes    "We know that doctors took these (code of ethics) as guidelines, and blew right past them. Guidelines are just guidelines." "I talked to dentists who said I'm going to do what's best for me because I am getting 10 different answers."  "(Cancer patient Alex) got to be the lead dentist for Santa Claus."  "I have seen real dental offices that look like imposture offices so I would love to see what an imposture office looks like."  Regarding makeshift dental offices: "I know times are hard but if that is where I need to go to get dental work done, we have a problem." Regarding the bathroom bandit: "I hope the lesson that comes out of this is that you need to know who you are hiring." "Hiring for a heartbeat is never a good thing." Resources from the show:    8-year-old cancer survivor gets to be Santa's dentist Unlicensed dentist charged with sexual assualt can see more charges against him pending/  Clifford Law Files Lawsuit Against Dental Clinic for Cameras Found in Bathroom Link to ADA pic of young Kevin, Teresa and Rita Zamora  Links **If you like the show then I’d appreciate a good rating. Tell your friends. Even podcasters ask for referrals!**   Connect with Kevin on his IG page and at DrBicuspid.com Connect with Teresa on her IG page and on Facebook

Dr. Barakat has been a practicing dentist since 1998. After finishing his Residency, he moved to VA and worked with a group practice from 2003-2010, started his own practice in 2010, built the Smiles group in Northern VA from 2010-2019, and has been with Guardian Dentistry Partners since 2019 as Chief Clinical Officer. Mark previously led marketing, media, CRM, corporate communications, public affairs, employment brand and recruiting for Aspen Dental from 2012 to 2017 and now has been with Guardian Dentistry Partners for 9 months as Chief Operating and Marketing Officer. Join the community on Dentaltown at https://www.dentaltown.com

Episode 4: Trust & Leadership, with Angela Deputy, Vice President of Field Operations Human Resources, at Aspen Dental   The post Trust & Leadership appeared first on BPI group.

Episode 2: Trust & Leadership, with Angela Deputy, Vice President of Field Operations Human Resources, at Aspen Dental   The post Trust & Leadership appeared first on Bravanti.

John Murphy joins the podcast to discuss how one of the countries largest DSOs, with more than 830 dental offices in 42 states and supporting 5.5 million patient visits in 2019 alone, has been growing and thriving during the pandemic. He talks about what life looked life for Aspen Dental branded network offices throughout the pandemic. He also discusses how the pandemic has changed human resources, hiring, recruiting and onboarding. If you want to understand the dental industry from a recruiter's point of view, this podcast is for you! Our podcast series brings you dental support and emerging dental group practice analysis, conversation, trends, news and events. Listen to leaders in the DSO and emerging dental group space talk about their challenges, successes, and the future of group dentistry. The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry has listeners across the North & South America, Australia, Europe, and Asia. If you like our show, tell a friend or a colleague.  

This week on Discovering DSO's Podcast with Ashley McCauley, Ashley is joined by Dr. Joel Lowsky, Director of Academic & Industry Relations at ADMI and Dr. Airy Choi, Dentist Associate of the Aspen Dental, Grand Prairie, TX location   Episode Highlights Recruitment During the Pandemic  AMA - Ask Me Anything Dr. Choi's Background DSO Myths Debunked  PPE Advice for New Grads Benefits to Working at a DSO   Quotes   “We open up a Q/A session and allow them to bombard us with questions”    “My relationship with Aspen began my first year of dental school… those recruiting programs really work”   “I don't need to do a GPR, I just need a great mentor”    “I as the practitioner have autonomy over my treatment plan”    “At any given time we have about 200 dentist positions available”    “We are hiring now for practices that will be open by the time the 2021 grads are ready to work”    “In the next year we are looking at adding 500-700 dentist positions”    “That is how you learn and develop as a dentist, you need to be able to freely practice with your license”    “You think you know everything… but you don't, you need guidance”     Links   aspendentalce.com  aspendentaljobs.com Joel.Lowsky@aspendental.com Phone Number: 315–558–1412 airy.choi@aspendental.com   More Discovering DSO Episodes: https://ataleoftwohygienists.com/discoveringdsos/  The Dental Podcast Network Channel One homepage: http://dentalpodcastnetworkchannelone.otcpn.libsynpro.com/ The Dental Podcast Network Channel Two homepage: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dental-podcast-networks-channel-two/id1478530429

This week on Discovering DSO's Podcast with Ashley McCauley. This week Ashley is joined by Lori D'Anna who has been with Aspen Dental since its inception in 1998! She currently serves as Senior Vice President of Field Operations of more than 830 Aspen Dental branded Offices over 42 states!     Episode Highlights   Lori's Journey through Aspen Dental Lori's Advice Marketing COVID-19   Quotes   “Our company provides all the non dental aspects of running a dental office so the dentist can spend their time focusing on patient care”    “My gut told me that I was aligned with the leaders in the company and their mission”   “Do your homework, meet with different folks in the office”    “You need to know what is your end goal”    “I didn't really know, what I thought I knew then”   “As we open in new markets, we don't have a problem attracting new patients”   “More and more patients are debunking all of this stuff around DSO's and so are dentists”    “We were not sure if we kept all 830 locations open that we would have the PPE needed”   Links More Discovering DSO Episodes: https://ataleoftwohygienists.com/discoveringdsos/  The Dental Podcast Network Channel One homepage: http://dentalpodcastnetworkchannelone.otcpn.libsynpro.com/ The Dental Podcast Network Channel Two homepage: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dental-podcast-networks-channel-two/id1478530429

This episode features Bob Fontana, Founder and CEO of Aspen Dental. Here he discusses the origins of Aspen Dental, how the pandemic has affected DSOs, and more.

This episode features Bob Fontana, Founder and CEO of Aspen Dental. Here he discusses the origins of Aspen Dental, how the pandemic has affected DSOs, and more.

Could the spike in coronavirus cases derail the stock market’s recent upswing? Crain’s senior reporter Steve Daniels explains, and has more on potential job cuts at Allstate, the return of Interfirst Mortgage, and how the city’s top banking execs are coming together to fight systemic racism in the industry. Plus: Pritzker lays out plan for schools to reopen in fall, Aspen Dental is looking to sublease its Fulton Market office, Nobu Hotel Chicago set to open after years of delays and a union alleges that Metra is endangering workers with its lax COVID policy. Find #CrainsDailyGist on Twitter and let's continue the conversation.

On today's episode of Feelin' Fab I interviewed a good friend Teresa Davenport of Aspen Dental in Johnson City! I love learning from Teresa about taking care of your mouth and having a healthy smile. She has lots of good suggestions to take care of your smile and keep your mouth healthy! Here are some things we mentioned.... You can find all the show notes for this episode at www.marissajenell.com/podcast/4-healthy-smile-and-oral-tips-with-teresa-davenport

What is it really like to work inside a DSO if you're a dental assistant? That's one of the questions we asked Judy Pacheco, who works for an Aspen Dental location is Massachusetts. If you've ever wondered about working for a DSO, this is the episode for you.

Robert Fontana has served as ADMI’s Chief Executive Officer since the company’s inception in 1998. Under his leadership, ADMI has advanced from its Northeastern roots to become one of the largest and fastest-growing dental support organizations in the United States. With a unique grasp of the intersection between retail and healthcare, Bob has pioneered an operating model that breaks down barriers to care and puts patients at the center of everything Aspen Dental-branded practices say, do and promise. He has led Aspen Dental’s successful national expansion entirely through organic growth, with a new office opening every four days, giving patients more choice, greater value and better access to care.

Andy Graham has nearly 40 years of investment, advisory and financial services experience. He has worked with a wide variety of businesses sectors and stages. Mr. Graham has demonstrated the ability to identify companies with unique products or services, and he has actively supported their growth. Andy Graham’s first experience with dental support organizations was acquiring the assets of Upstate Dental, the predecessor to Aspen Dental. Upstate was a seven-office group practice with offices in northern New York and Connecticut. After the business was stabilized, Upstate completed the acquisition of a three-office group owned and operated by Bob Fontana. Soon thereafter, the company was re-formed as Aspen Dental Management and Bob Fontana was named its CEO. Mr. Graham served as Aspen’s Chairman. From 1997 to 2006, Aspen developed all aspects of its business model and grew exclusively through organic measures from 10 to 100 offices, generating annualized revenue and earnings growth of 30% and 31%, respectively. Ares Capital acquired Aspen Dental in 2006. Today, Bob Fontana remains CEO of Aspen. Bob’s leadership has built the company into one of the largest and most successful dental practice management companies in the industry.

Like the Stop Aspen Dental part 1? Now Dr. Brady takes it a step further! This time he is interviewing an anonymous former office manager from you guessed it: Aspen Dental. So hold on to your butts as we once again delve into the breech with the tantalizing subject of the ever-growing facebook group "Stop Aspen Dental".

Tonight on DRILLED with Dr. Brady the after mentioned Dr. Brady and his cohort supreme Lowell Granath delve deep into Brady's recent discovery of the facebook group "Stop Aspen Dental". Filled with more twists and turns than a pretzel, they read off comments, both factual and exaggerated. Don't forget to email us the secret word, though we know you won't! Also nominations for our Full Mouth Restoration can now be submitted. Remember you cannot nominate your self. Please submit nominations to drilledpodcast@gmail.com Cheers!

What's up everybody! On this special episode of DSP, the boys have the opportunity to pick the brain of Dr. Brandon Meckelberg - a recently graduated general dentist who's a multi-practice owner within Aspen Dental. In this conversation, we explore the past, present, and future of corporate dentistry, talk about career options for dental students on the cusp of graduation, and cover any and all questions you know you have about DSOs from an Aspen dentist himself! No BS just an unfiltered take on what's entailed when working for and with a Dental Support Organization such as Aspen Dental.

This Podcast is a continuation of the previous Podcast on the announcement of Aspen Dental opening locations in 2 Walgreens located in Florida. Please turn-in to that episode for those details. Briefly, in that episode, I reviewed data provided by the ADA which illustrated the changes occurring in dentistry, both in regard to 1) utilization, and 2) practice ownership. I also shared some distinct differences between dentistry and medicine, as it is proposed that as Medicine goes so goes Dentistry. Medicine is 5 times the size of dentistry, both in the number of providers as well as total expenditures. To equate them is an oversimplification of market forces. My takeaway points from that episode were the following: 1. The Utilization of dental care is changing. 2. The delivery setting of care is also changing as is the payment method. 3. Seniors are going to become an important driver of the dental care economy. 4. Cost, no teeth, fear, inconvenient location or time, trouble finding a dentist, as well as no perceived need are the greatest barriers. 5. Corporate dentistry as identified under-severed market segments and has created offerings to meet these needs. 6. 63% of adults do not see a dentist, that is a huge market of potential patients. 7. Your job is to make the “non-dental patient” into a patient in your practice. If we can do that there is plenty of care we call can deliver. 8. You can start by addressing the barriers in point #5; cost, fear, convenience, time, no teeth, no perceived value. 9. There is no canned, boiler-plate solution, each practice is different, with different markets and challenges. Finally, I disagreed with the following statement by the ADA: ... a lot more finance, data, marketing, and managerial expertise is going to be needed to run a successful dental practice. Will dental schools attempt to cram a mini–MBA into an already stretched dental school curriculum? Will dentists increasingly pursue training to improve managerial and organizational leadership skills? Or will we increasingly see the separation of clinical and management functions, with fewer dentists engaged in the business side, leaving that to people with MBA degrees? The ADA is convinced it will be primarily the latter. I will use this podcast episode to expand on this. A few years ago I was told by a friend and faculty member of a dental school, that his students didn't need to know anything about business because they are all going into corporate dentistry. This perspective was repeated again recently at a local dental society meeting I attended. Students should not feel they are ill-prepared to enter professional practice before they even start practice, or that their choices are limited. This, my friends, colleagues and listeners, we can not allow this to happen. Let's not make this into a self-fulling prophecy by ignoring the need for basic business skills in dental practice. Basic Business skills, well taught, will enable a greater standard of care to be delivered to each and every patient we serve. I am a dentist and oral surgeon who went back to school after nearly 25 years in practice to complete my MBA, so I can speak to this with some degree of expertise. Dentists are well capable of learning basic managerial and organizational skills needed to run their practices, an MBA is not required! It is dangerous for any organization to be overly influenced by a group think mentality. Effective organizations have a Devil's Advocate to guard against such. The Devil’s Advocate task is to bring forth alternative ideas even if they are unpopular, unliked, or in opposition to the powers that be. It is important that they are heard and considered. Dentists completely relinquishing all ownership and business functions to a Management Organization, ie, DSO is a rather extreme solution, especially when solutions exist that others practitioners have figured out. That’s why there are Business Coaches, Consultants, and Advisers as well as resources at the ADA to help educate practitioners about business practices. A Net Present Value Analysis reveals that over a 30-year dental career the difference in earnings between an owner dentist vs an employee dentist can be several million dollars. Do not freely and readily give up your greatest asset, your license! DSO's along with other Corporate Entities have done their financial analysis homework and know this, that is why they are capable of offering young dentists lucrative financial arrangements. They do this because they can! They know dentistry can be highly profitable so they can offer exceptional financial incentives. Remember, they haven't spent 8 years or longer in school to acquire the education and skills needed to gain a dental license, but you did!! Be aware of how financially valuable your license is, and never forget it! It is the greatest financial asset you have! It is also the greatest barrier to market entry! Without a license one is incapable of diagnosing, treating and then billing for services. An executive can not bill even one cent of revenue, yet can end up with even more financial incentives than the dentist working chair-side in the clinic. This just doesn’t seem right…just saying! A recent article in Healthcare Finance reports that the salaries of hospital executives nearly doubled, while physicians saw more modest increases. Between 2005 and 2015, average CEO compensation jumped from $1.6 million to $3.1 Million, an increase of 93 percent. Healthcare professionals saw 10 to 20% increases on average. Is this a good trend?? You be the judge and draw your own conclusion. I only hope this doesn’t for-tell similar disparities for dentists and dental practices as well. Comparing ourselves to medicine, the very best hospitals have Physicians as their CEO's, not Business Executives. Two of the nations best hospital systems, The Mayo Clinic, and The Cleveland Clinic have highly skilled Physician CEO's. And in fact, have been physician lead since their inception over a century ago! I believe there is a lesson there for all of us. Those that know best for the patient should be in charge. I love the quote by Dr. Toby Cosgrove, the past Cleveland Clinic CEO, who wisely and accurately states: "... it's easier to teach a doctor about business than it is to teach an MBA about medicine…” He couldn’t be more right!! An effective CEO or Practice owner does not need to know all the answers, nor should he!! The critical skill for an effective CEO is to be observant, ask the difficult questions and surround himself with a highly knowledgeable C-Suite of executives or consultants who can find those answers. Dentist leaders are uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between business and clinical practice. Because only they can see both sides, they can help their practices and organizations take outstanding care of their patients, while deploying resources and assets wisely. Remember our Tag Line to this podcast...... "It's not what you don't know that will hurt you, it's what you know for sure that just ain't so that will!” attributed to Will Rogers I am also reminded of the old saying, “he who pays the piper picks the tune!” He who controls the assets has the final say, always! You should be aware that there are other organization structures in addition to DSO's that enable one to maintain ownership and control while providing an experienced business team. The solo practitioner can create strategic alliances with a highly trusted team of coaches, consultants and advisers to provide the critical business knowledge necessary to guide your practice. Beyond the solo practice is a group practice. As the number of providers and locations increase a dedicated and professional administrative team can be better supported as well as afforded. Growing one's practice through a merger or acquisition of smaller, solo practices is a great tactic. These practices typically are owned by senior practitioners who have, over time, allowed their practices to contract by working fewer and fewer days. Acquiring these practices is a great win-win for both sides as the acquiring practice achieves growth at a very reasonable cost, and the selling practice has achieved a transition plan. Another alternative to DSO's is IPA's, no not the beer! IPA is an Independent Practice Association. In this structure, each practice in the Association remains independent. Practitioners join together within a legal structure that creates a management layer above all the practices. This management team, who represents a sizable number of practices, can better negotiate vendor contracts, insurance contracts, HR management, IT support as well as numerous other business functions. This entity may become more common in the future. Finally, one can seek out numerous educational opportunities to become more business savvy. Online classes, seminars, and books are just a few. The ADA has lots of practice management resources as well as webinars to provide excellent business and practice management education. The ADA Kellogg Executive Management Program in addition to the ADA Executive Program in Dental Practice Management is two more comprehensive programs offered to members. Please be sure to check them out. Consider the American Association for Physician Leadership too! It is how I began my formal business and leadership training. Dentists are welcome! The online courses are exceptional and highly relevant to practice. So to summarize our Take Home Points to Ponder are: 1. The delivery of dental care is changing. 2. Corporate along with Retail settings will continue to evolve. 3. The news of the demise of private practice, I believe is premature. 4. A dental license is your most valuable financial asset, it is extremely hard to obtain, only about 195,000 exist in the US. 5. Dentists know what is best for their patient, as such should be the ones in charge. 6. Dentists are well capable of managing their practices. 7. Consultants, Group practices as well as IPA's can help offload complex management functions. 8. Business knowledge, at a basic level, is readily attainable by everyone. Finally, If you are unsure how to accomplish any of these tasks, or don't know where to find such a team please reach out to us here at OmniStar Financial for guidance, we are experts in this! So that wraps things up for this Podcast. We hope that this information has created an “Ah Ha” moment, or stimulated some additional questions you can direct to your advisers. We welcome your inquiry here too at OmniStar Financial. Our contact information can be found on our website OmniStarfinancial.com . You will also find a link to sign up for our newsletter. Please share this podcast if you found it helpful, and leave a review on iTunes too. We welcome your feedback and suggestions for future podcast sessions. Thank you so very much for tuning in and listening. We are very grateful for your time and attention. references: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adaj.2017.06.017 Practice Ownership is Declining, Sept 2017 JADA. https://success.ada.org/en/practice-management/dental-practice-success/spring-2014/shifts-in-utilization https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/nationalhealthexpenddata/downloads/highlights.pdf https://www.aegisdentalnetwork.com/news/2018/12/17/new-aspe-dental-office-opens-in-collaboration-with-walgreens https://www.ada.org/en/science-research/health-policy-institute/publications/infographics https://www.physicianleaders.org/ https://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2015-archive/may/2015-ada-kellogg-executive-management-program-registration-opens https://pmcertificate.success.ada.org/ https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/salaries-hospital-executives-nearly-doubled-while-physicians-see-more-modest-increases?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTlRrNE1HTmxZbUkyWlRBMiIsInQiOiI2V3RPcE1FK1hDc2hSVkdBNkgyVVp1MkJHUHMwVkU0ZDlzRlcybGFyQWNWbEtSblhHZEttQUxvaXFaRXgyazZwTXRkTkd6YndscXlqUGhnU1R2TXorWnlkQnFlSVM2dnBDd1lvemdRVzVxcFprbWc1TFwvV25TamZXaE84S0o4UkQifQ==

Welcome and Happy New Year! The big news in dentistry is the announcement of Aspen Dental-branded Offices opening in 2 Walgreens located in Florida. This collaboration, brings together Walgreens, a leader in understanding the intersection of retail and health care, and Aspen Dental, a brand that has made dental care affordable and accessible to millions of patients for more than 20 years.” The announcement of the Aspen/Walgreens partnership will serve as an example for the experts to repeat the rhetoric that the solo dental practitioner is a lone wolf and dying breed and that the dentistry of the future will be delivered through a DSO corporate structure with an employee dentist, rather than an owner dentist. It has already been predicted that since physician practices have followed this trend, dentistry will too. I wish to use this podcast episode as an opportunity to dig little deeper and maybe go down some rabbit holes to say, like Mark Twain said, “The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated!” I believe there is an exciting future for dentists and dentistry. Yes, the future will look different from the present, but a dentist with an entrepreneurial mindset directed at continuously creating value for the patient will always be welcome in the market. The data presented here is gleaned from the ADA Health Policy Institute analysis of Distribution of Dentists, along with CMS, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service. There are 2 distinct areas which are important here; Utilization by the consumer, and Practice Ownership. The ADA research shows that dental care utilization patterns are changing dramatically in the United States. Over the past decade, important trends were identified. One, the pattern of dental care utilization was very different for adults compared to children. The percent of adults with a dental visit in the last 12 months decreased from a peak of 41 percent in 2003 to 37 percent in 2010. For children, this increased from 42 percent in 2000 to 46 percent in 2003 and roughly held steady through 2010. Stated alternatively, in 2010 63% of adults did not go to the dentist, compared to 54% of children who did not seek routine dental care. Two, trends were different based on income. Utilization declined for middle-income adults from 38 percent in 2003 to 34 percent in 2010, and for higher income adults from 54 percent in 2003 to 51 percent in 2010. Again, that means for middle-income adults, 66% did not seek care, while 49% of higher income adults did not seek care. The main driver of the decline in utilization among adults and the increase in utilization among children is shifting dental benefits. Basically, more and more children are covered by some form of dental benefits (mainly Medicaid), while more and more adults are finding themselves uninsured for dental care. The Landmark Healthcare Legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will expand dental benefits for children. Pediatric dental benefits are one of 10 essential health benefits mandated by the law. The ADA's analysis estimates that up to 8.7 million children will gain extensive dental benefits because of health reform. About one-third of these children will gain Medicaid coverage, and two-thirds will receive private dental coverage. For adults, however, nothing in the Act will reverse the current decline in dental benefits coverage and utilization. The third trend is the aging of the population. Dental care use among those 65 and older is holding steady. On a per-patient basis, this age group also spends the most on dental care—$796 in 2010, a large portion of it out of pocket. Per-patient spending levels for seniors also are on the rise. Given that there will be a lot more people in this age group as the U.S. population ages, seniors are going to become an important driver of the dental care economy. That’s very important so let’s say it again….. SENIORS ARE GOING TO BECOME AN IMPORTANT DRIVER OF THE DENTAL CARE ECONOMY! Digging a little deeper, for seniors the biggest barriers to care are: Cost, no teeth, fear, inconvenient location or time, trouble finding a dentist, as well as no perceived need are the greatest barriers. Let's change gears and look at Practice ownership, which has shown similar changes. Overall, 80% of dentists in private practice are owners, according to the data. This is considerably higher than the rate among physicians which is now less than half. But the more interesting aspect is the trends over time. Practice ownership rates in dentistry are declining slowly and steadily. They are declining for almost every age group. Male dentists are seeing declining ownership rates, although for female dentists there has been no change. These data indicate that the decline in practice ownership rates in dentistry is not being driven solely by the “de-aging” and “feminization” of the dentist workforce. Older male dentists are also less likely to own a practice. Among physicians, the decline in practice ownership is much more pronounced from 61% to 47%. The greatest changes for dentistry are in the younger age group ( https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/nationalhealthexpenddata/downloads/highlights.pdf> https://www.aegisdentalnetwork.com/news/2018/12/17/new-aspe-dental-office-opens-in-collaboration-with-walgreens> https://www.ada.org/en/science-research/health-policy-institute/publications/infographics> https://www.physicianleaders.org/>

This week’s episode is part 2 of the interview with Bridget Boudreau, CDT and Dr. Anita Imadomwanyi from Aspen. They continue talking about giving back to the community, explain why Aspen values their technicians by promoting CDTs, and explain Aspen’s recruitment and why a technician would want to work there. Link to Dr. Anita Imadomwanyi’s news interview about Day Of Service (https://www.wkyc.com/mobile/video/home/dr-jere-gillan-dr-anita-imadomwanyi-a-way-to-help-us-vets-save-and-smile-522018/95-8114674) Bridget killing it at the triathlon!! Special Guests: Bridget Boudreau, CDT and Dr. Anita Imadomwanyi .

On today's episode we have part 1 of an interview with Bridget Boudreau CDT and Dr. Anita Imadomwanyi from Aspen Dental. They tell us the story on how they got into the industry, the valuable training that Aspen is able to provide, and how much they give back to the industry and public. Bridget's Jamacia Photos: Harley-Davidson® Raffle Ticket (http://dentallabfoundation.org/news-events/ticket/) Special Guests: Bridget Boudreau, CDT and Dr. Anita Imadomwanyi .

Jason and Alan interview the most interesting guest you may have never heard of. We met R.J. Adolfi at the Chicago Midwinter and we think his story is fascinating! Did you ever wonder how DSOs started? Our guest on episode 181 is R.J. Aldofi. His family started "Upstate Dental" which eventually became a brand almost everyone knows...Aspen Dental. In fact, R.J. was the CEO of Aspen for almost 10 years. He left the company in 1999 and stayed away from dentistry until recently. R.J.'s story is awesome...he grew up in the waiting room and has opened more dental offices than anyone we can think of. He blew us away with his knowledge and we think you'll love his story. His latest project, "My Community Dental Centers" (www.mydental.org) is a nonprofit chain of dental offices focused on serving Medicaid populations in Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. If you'd like to consult with R.J., email us at info@dentalhacks.com and we'll get you in touch with R.J. Just about every time he opens his mouth something useful and awesome comes out! Links from the show: The Dental Hacks Nation closed Facebook group has over 22,000 members! Head over there to interact with other Dental Hacks listeners, guests and Brain Trust members every day, all day! Remember...if you don't have anything "dental" on your FB page, we might decline your membership request. So IM the group or email us at info@dentalhacks.com. Go check out the Dental Success Network! Jason and Alan are part of this amazing 3 pronged network: social network, CE network and buying network! Sign up and let them know the Dental Hacks sent you! The Zirc Crystal HD mouth mirror is the best mirror in dentistry. And now, if you use coupon code dhm18 on 12 pack of Zirc Crystal HD mirror you'll receive a free Mirror Magic trial kit with your order! Check them out at www.dentalhacks.com/mirrors. The Bioclear Method needs heated composite and the best way to heat composite is using the HeatSync heater from Bioclear! Check it out at www.dentahacks.com/heatsync. Dr. Jason Smithson will be teaching his "Day to Day Composite Resins" class at the Cosmedent CEE in Chicago on March 22-24th. You need to take this course! Check it out at: www.dentalhacks.com/Smithson. Premier Dental "Hack of the Week": Comfortview Lip and Cheek Retractor Jason: Shining Autoscan-DS-EX desktop scanner Alan: Compositight 3D Fusion forceps If you have any questions or comments for us please drop us an email at info@dentalhacks.com or find us (and like us!) at www.facebook.com/dentalhacks. Or, if you prefer...give us a call at (866) 223-5257 and leave us a message. You might be played in the show! If you like us, why not leave us a review on iTunes? It helps us get found by like minded people and might even help us get into "What's Hot" in the iTunes store! Go to this link and let the world know about the DentalHacks! Finally, if you aren't an Apple person, consider reviewing us on Stitcher at: stitcher.com/podcast/the-dentalhacks-podcast! If you would like to support the podcast you can check out our Patreon page! Although the show will always remain free to download, our Patreon supporters get access to special bonus content including (at least) one extra podcast episode every months! Also be sure to check out the Dental Hacks swag store where you can find t-shirts, stickers coffee mugs and all sorts of other things that let the world know you're a part of the Hacks Nation!

On this episode of Render Time I connected with VML Senior Art Director, Ryan Dowling. Ryan and I met back in 2013 when we were both attending the VCU Brandcenter. After graduating from the Brandcenter Ryan was an Art Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky where he created work for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Hotels.com, Aspen Dental and others.It was also great to hear Ryan's perspective on the work that he has been involved with and how technology will continue to influence things. I also really enjoyed hearing his opinions on where commercial production is headed and how it is impacting agencies like VML. Learn more about Ryan here:http://ryandowling.com/Learn more about VML here:https://www.vml.com/

Guest: Greg Stumpff - We preview The Clash and Daytona 500 Qualifying, news of the week includes Truex hangs with hockey, Courtney Force, Aspen Dental, wrecked race cars, The Keselowski's, Stewart owns that, and more. Plus a special tribute to Dale Earnhardt featuring the music of: Otan Vargas  Official Website - www.otanvargas.com Patreon - www.patreon.com/otanvargasmusic GoFundMe New Album "Melancholia"- www.x.co/otanvargas Facebook - www.facebook.com/otanvargas Hosted by Kerry Murphey and Toby Christie. Play Daily Fantasy NASCAR for FREE, use PROMO CODE: RACING www.draftkings.com Support the show: http://patreon.com/thefinallap See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DSOs: What are they? According to Kevin Cain, PhD, Corporate Dentistry is “…almost always used as a synonym for dental support organizations (DSOs). These organizations (such as Heartland Dental, Aspen Dental, Great Expressions Dental Centers, and Pacific Dental Services) represent the early stages of dental industry consolidation.” Translation: DSOs are commoditizing dentistry. For more on that particular topic and how to De-Commoditize Dentistry, I'll direct you to the first two episodes of THE Jerry Jones Radio Show. In today's episode, we'll dive into the 2(+) models of DSO operations and share the upsides and downsides of DSOs. Jerry is unique in that he operates a DSO-model dental office AND has started franchising his concept to others in dentistry.   Support the show (https://jerryjonesdirect.com)

DSOs: What are they? According to Kevin Cain, PhD, Corporate Dentistry is “…almost always used as a synonym for dental support organizations (DSOs). These organizations (such as Heartland Dental, Aspen Dental, Great Expressions Dental Centers, and Pacific Dental Services) represent the early stages of dental industry consolidation.” Translation: DSOs are commoditizing dentistry. For more on that particular topic and how to De-Commoditize Dentistry, I'll direct you to the first two episodes of THE Jerry Jones Radio Show. In today's episode, we'll dive into the 2(+) models of DSO operations and share the upsides and downsides of DSOs. Jerry is unique in that he operates a DSO-model dental office AND has started franchising his concept to others in dentistry.  

The news of the week includes Obamacare, Oral B Test Drive, Sirona Dental Systems, Aspen Dental and Orascoptic. 

Aspen Dental & Danica Patrick unveil a salute to more than 2,200 veterans at Chicagoland Speedway to honor their service and raise awareness about the need for oral health care.