The Technology Evangelist Podcast

Digital dental lab workflow is at the center of one of dentistry’s most exciting transformations — and two of its most experienced practitioners break it all down in this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast. Host Dr. John Flucke welcomes Jorge Alegre, CDT, Founder of Digital Dental Hub and Co-Founder of Dental Kronicles, and Paolo Lubrano, MDT, a master dental technician specializing in implant prosthetics, for a wide-ranging conversation covering how digital dental lab workflow has transformed everything from single-unit crown prep quality to full-arch implant delivery timelines — and where 3D printing is taking the profession next.

What Jorge Alegre and Paolo Lubrano make unmistakably clear is that digital dental lab workflow is never a solo achievement. It is a shared responsibility built on clean data, honest communication, and a clinical team willing to understand what the lab actually needs to deliver excellent work. The dentists who invest in that partnership — who call their lab before sending a complicated case, who learn to read their own scans critically, and who treat their lab technician as a collaborator rather than a vendor — are the ones who will get the most out of the digital tools now available. To learn more about Jorge Alegre’s work and continuing education programs, visit Dental Kronicles.

What happens when the dental career you worked so hard to build turns out not to be the one that makes you happiest? For Dr. Lauren Yasuda Rainey, the answer was discovering that there are many ways to make a meaningful impact in dentistry beyond owning a private practice. On this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast, host Dr. John Flucke welcomes Dr. Rainey for an honest conversation about dental practice ownership, career transitions, mentorship, dental education, and finding fulfillment in a profession that demands so much from its practitioners.

After more than a decade in clinical dentistry, including owning and operating her own fee-for-service private practice in the Bay Area, Dr. Rainey made the decision to sell her practice and pursue a different balance between patient care and dental education. She shares the challenges of practice ownership, from navigating the COVID-19 pandemic to managing the countless responsibilities that come with running a dental business, and explains how recognizing what wasn't bringing her joy helped her discover new opportunities within the profession.

Dr. Rainey and Dr. Flucke also explore the importance of mentorship, executive coaching, and building a supportive professional community. They discuss why dentists shouldn't feel limited to private practice ownership, how dental educators can multiply their impact beyond the patients they personally treat, and why maintaining clinical standards and following established protocols are essential to delivering consistent results. The conversation also touches on the pressures dentists face, the relationship between professional identity and personal fulfillment, and the value of learning from mistakes rather than facing them alone.

Whether you're a dental student exploring your future, a clinician navigating the challenges of practice ownership, or an experienced dentist considering a new direction, this episode offers a valuable reminder: there is more than one way to build a rewarding career in dentistry.

To connect with Dr. Lauren Yasuda Rainey, find her on Instagram at @rainydds or visit her website at laurenrainey.com.

Dental video education does not require a studio, a camera crew, or a Hollywood budget — and nobody makes that case more convincingly than Adam Barragato. On this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast, host Dr. John Flucke welcomes the Director of Marketing and Customer Experience at Bien-Air for a conversation about authentic learning, the flipped classroom, how a $100 camera can outperform a $75,000 production setup, and why every dentist is already an educator, whether they know it or not.

Adam Barragato has spent a career making the case that the best dental video education is not expensive, complicated, or polished — it is authentic, short, and made by someone who genuinely cares whether the learner understands. Whether you are a dental student trying to get more hands-on time, a faculty member wondering whether video could help your students engage, or a practicing clinician who has thought about communicating more with patients but does not know where to start, his perspective is worth an hour of your time. To connect with Adam or learn more about Bien-Air’s educational programs, visit bienair.com or reach out to him directly on LinkedIn.

Dental business strategy looks very different when it comes from someone who has been inside both the treatment room and the boardroom — and Dr. Jen Derse has spent more than twenty years in both. On this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast, host Dr. John Flucke sits down with the co-founder of Espire Dental, former Chief Clinical Director, and founder of Derse Dental Strategy for a wide-ranging conversation about practice culture, team leadership, technology adoption, the psychology of patient care, and what it actually takes to help good dentists become great practice owners. This episode is brought to you by Medidenta Digital Solutions, the proud sponsor making this podcast possible.

Dr. Jen Derse has spent two decades building practices, leading teams, and watching what separates the offices that thrive from the ones that stall — and her conclusion is that the answer is almost never clinical. It is cultural, communicative, and strategic. Whether you are a practice owner trying to scale, a clinician who wants to lead better, or a team member who wants to understand why some offices feel fundamentally different from others, her work is worth following. To learn more about Derse Dental Strategy or explore coaching options, visit dersedentalstrategy.com or find her on Instagram at @jenderse_dds.

AI dental phone automation is no longer a futuristic concept — it is a working product being built by a team of college students who grew up inside dental practices and decided to solve the problem from the inside out. On this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast, host Dr. John Flucke welcomes the founding team of Kairos Health: co-founders Adhira Tippur and Tanush Chintala, Head of Growth Sanjana Kavula, and Head of Production Aditya Jain, for a conversation about what it actually looks like to build a healthcare AI startup from scratch, why the dental front desk is the most overlooked relationship asset in the practice, and how Kairos is quietly handling calls, scheduling appointments, and verifying insurance — invisibly, around the clock — for dental offices that have better things to do. This episode is brought to you by Medidenta Digital Solutions, the proud sponsor making this podcast possible.

AI dental crown design has finally reached the point where a busy clinician — or a trained staff member — can go from intraoral scan to printable STL file in a matter of minutes, with no engineering background required. On this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast, host Dr. John Flucke sits down with Hakwan Kim, EVP of Imagoworks and head of its U.S. corporation, to talk about DentBird — the cloud-based, AI-powered CAD platform that is bringing same-appointment crown design within reach of dental offices and labs worldwide. This episode is brought to you by Medidenta Digital Solutions, the proud sponsor making this podcast possible.

AI dental crown design has crossed the threshold from promising concept to practical clinical tool — and DentBird is one of the clearest examples of what that looks like in practice. Whether you are a clinician looking to bring same-appointment crown delivery into your office, a team member tasked with learning a new design workflow, or a lab seeking a faster path through high-volume single-unit cases, DentBird is worth exploring. To create a free account and start designing, visit dentbird.com.

Dental materials research is the engine behind every clinical decision a dentist makes — and no one translates that science into practical, clinician-friendly knowledge more effectively than Dr. Nate Lawson. On this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast, host Dr. John Flucke sits down with the Director of the Division of Biomaterials at the UAB School of Dentistry for a wide-ranging conversation about how research actually gets done, why marketing claims and lab data don’t always align, where 3D printed zirconia is headed, and what the future of dental prevention might look like. This episode is brought to you by Medidenta Digital Solutions, the proud sponsor making this podcast possible.

Dr. Nate Lawson has built one of the most productive and practically oriented dental materials research programs in the country, and he does it while still seeing patients and teaching dental students who will carry those material science principles into their own careers. For clinicians who want to understand the science behind the materials they use every day — or for dental students looking for a more rigorous foundation than what they got in school — his work is essential reading and listening. Visit www.drnatelawson.com for his speaking schedule and resources, or follow him on Instagram at @dental_tubules.

Oral cancer screening saves lives — and no one makes that case with more passion, clinical depth, or hard-won personal experience than Deborah Zafiropoulos, RDH. On this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast, host Dr. John Flucke welcomes the founder of the OralED Institute and the National Cancer Network nonprofit for a conversation that ranges from the origin of her dental hygiene career to stage four diagnoses that changed her forever, the truth about HPV, and why the dental hygiene chair may be the most underutilized seat in all of healthcare. This episode is brought to you by Medidenta Digital Solutions, the proud sponsor making this podcast possible.

Dental practice AI automation may be the single most powerful tool available to independent dentists who want to stay independent — and the man who built it arrived in the United States with $85 in his pocket. On this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast, host Dr. John Flucke sits down with Dr. Vajahat Yar Khan, board-certified pediatric dentist, owner of twelve Houston-area practices, and founder of DentTrack — an autonomous, AI-driven business management platform built on top of existing practice management software that handles the operational and financial work most dentists never had time for. This conversation is brought to you by Medidenta Digital Solutions, the proud sponsor making this podcast possible.

Noninvasive cavity treatment has finally arrived — and the two Swiss dentist sisters who built a global movement around it are here to explain why it changes everything. On this episode of The Technology Evangelist Podcast, host Dr. John Flucke welcomes Dr. Haley Abivardi and Dr. Goly Abivardi, co-founders of vVardis and the innovators behind Curodont, the world’s first biomimetic restorative treatment for early-stage cavities. Joining from Switzerland, the sisters share the full story of how 28 years of pediatric dental practice, a frustrating treatment gap, and a bold decision to bet everything on a single technology led to a product now used in 20% of U.S. dental offices and on over three million teeth. This conversation is brought to you by Medidenta Digital Solutions, the proud sponsor making this podcast possible.