Totally Oral Podcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Clint and Russ talk Alan Mead in this very non dental podcast about his horse boarding business and farm life.  We have fun talking for an hour talking about various topics and let the conversation flow like it normally does.   Alan's podcast is Very Dental and if well worth the follow if you like our podcast.

Russ interviews Dr. DeAngelo Webster this week on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  DeAngelo graduated from University of Michigan in 2016 and did his start up immediately after dental school against conventional wisdom for a fraction of what the normal cost of a startup.  His practice's name is White Pine Dental Health is located half way between Ann Arbor and Detroit.  His focus at his office is on "dental school" dentistry which he explains in the podcast. DeAngelo goes through how he learned to run a dental business and how he went on to create Practice Biopsy which is his dental continuing education company that focuses on helping employee dentists become owner dentists.  He also runs an active Facebook group of around 5k dentists with the same name. Last but not least we talk about DeAngelo's marketing strategy around branding and how his goal was to be the most famous person in a five mile radius around his office.

This week Russell interviews Dr. Nolan Andrews.  Nolan owns Main Street Implant and Family Dentistry in El Dorado, KS right outside of Wichita.  He talks about his initial dreams of moving down from Nebraska and starting up a DSO, but that quickly fell apart as he realized that he just wanted to own one office.  He worked with Mr. Dan Giroux for negotating his contract to buy his current office.   Russ met Nolan last year at Pathways and both share a love of technology.  Nolan shares how he's implemented August D'Oliveria's course from Pathway into his office for his All on X cases.  While August doesn't teach that specific course anymore, you can find out more about his course at the MOD institute which are fantastic as well.  Finally we talk about the fun of owning a dental office and how Nolan trying to shoo away a meth head lead to him discovering embezzlement in his office.

Russell and Clint discuss marketing, future CE courses and hopes the future.  

Sunny Pahouja, who runs the Dental Investment Group on Facebook, joins Clint and Russell to talk about current market trends, inflation, where and how to invest your money, how to appreach spendign money in your practice and why Ohio State likes to emphasize the "THE" in their name so much. 

This week Russ and Clint talk with Dr. John Pasicznyk who is a dentist in Naples, FL who runs an implant focused office.  We talk about JP's journey from owning five dental offices and the awfulness of that to being a partner at a DSO focused on AoX and how much more he enjoys Florida over the midwest.  We also talk about the craziness about how he learned how to do zygomatic implants.  They involve an Italian company, a bank wire, and trip to Brazil.  If you want to learn zygomas though, the information for the oral surgeon we talk about in the show is  Joao Baptista Ilha Filho and his Whatsapp number is +55 44 99857-8788 He will hopefully be on in an upcoming episode. Finally Russ and Clint pepper JP with other implant questions to round out the episode. After the end song, JP and Clint talk about one of the cases JP did when he was in Brazil.  It is pretty crazy.

Anthoney Gonzalez returns to the show to talk about LANAP laser therapy and how it has enhanced the perio health of his patients.  He also goes into detail about DNA testing to determine the type of bacteria that is invading a given oral flora and how treatments through debridement, laser therapy and antibiotics and target specific pathogens afflicating a patient. 

The Godfather, Lance Timmerman, returns to discusses appropriate times to crown a tooth vs a direct resin restoration.  He argues that what sometimes may be viewed as aggressive may actually be conservative in the grand scheme of things. 

This week Clint and Russ talk with Dr. Gina Dorfman the Founder of Yapi.  Full disclosure that while Russ has been a long time user of Yapi and Clint is a new user of Yapi neither are paid to do this interview.  We just both like Yapi a lot.  We discuss with Gina the importance of doing online scheduling, online payments, and how Yapi helps integrate patient communcation and automation into your office. All of these things help give patients a better experience and help you both attract and retain them.  Great and informative podcast. If you are interested in learning more about Yapi go to www.yapiapp.com.  

This week Russ and Clint catch Steven Vorholt as he drives across the Phoenix desert going in and out of coverage and discussing his pathway from Ohio to Arizona to soon to be California.  We have discuss what it is like being a traveling surgeon, how to suceed at doing that, as well as why he decided to leave that role.  Finally we discuss clinical implant stuffs because of course we do.  Last but not least, go buy the book that Steven wrote a chapter in.  It is fantastic.

Dr Matt Bickel goes Totally Oral and talks about being a dentist in "the good part of New Jersey". Most importantly, Matt shares his experience of being embezzled and what steps dentists can take to help decrease the chance of that happening to them. 

Clinton and Russell interview Dr Amy Nygren of Reno, Nevada, who is a Wolfpack fan as well as a lover of musicals.  Dr Nygren is known as the "Dr Amy Who Sings" in the office to distinguish herself from the other Dr Amy in the office, who is known as the "Dr Amy Who Boondoggles".   Listen to her journey as a dentist since her time at UNLV as well as her passion for drama and performing in community plays.