Voices from The Bench

Back By Popular DEMAND, Elvis & Barbara are excited to re-release two shirts (along with long sleeves and hoodies) to hopefully fulfill your holiday shopping.

“Just say no to brushing”- idea and the denture is from Brittany Mitchell:

You should be able to both shirts in your cart if you want both…. And this time the podcast logo is on the back!

With Barb off doing what ever ceramist do, Elvis has a nerdy implant conversation with Alan Banks from GuidedSMILE. Alan talks all about his history with Roe Dental Lab and how there have do THOUSANDS of guides using pretty much all the different planning software. Opening GuidedSMILE across the street allowed them to expand the guide services to other labs. Realizing the power of the RealGuide software, Alan worked closely with them to enable doing full stackable surgical guides and smiles all in one software with less clicks. Come get nerdy with us.

Special Guest: Alan Banks.

Many labs outsource something. Designs, milling, or printing to ease the workflow and be able to do more work efficiently. But what about case entry and billing? Sometimes people put their best employees in those departments to make sure everything comes in correctly and more importantly gets invoices correctly. But it's never anything that a lab could outsource... until now. This week we meet Randy Berry and Jessica Wallen who says they can handle all of our incoming and outgoing work for a fraction of the cost of what you pay someone to do it. Randy and Jessica worked in a lab and struggled with case entry. Even in their smallish lab. Randy has run many large labs and saw that no matter what size, this was a bottleneck in any lab. It was Jessica that said there should be a better way. They started Certaineed Consulting (https://www.certainteed-consulting.com/), where they have a team of remote people that will do everything you are currently doing with your incoming and outgoing work. They talk about where the idea came from, how they set it up for each individual labs, how they overcame all the questions you have about it, and how it can help you find more technicians that are already in your lab.

Special Guests: Jessica Wallen and Randall Berry.

Photogrammetry is not new to dental. Years ago Kamil Zborowski brought the first units to the United States and even that first case worked perfectly. Growing up in labs, Kamil got into technology very early and was fascinated by the workflow. Not knowing removables, photogrammetry was his entrance to full arch implant workflows. Kamil comes on to talk about the history of the cameras starting with PIC and iCAM, how and why the system works, integrating it with your 3shape or exocad, and how to go about getting into getting your own camera. Kamil now owns WTI Dental Concepts and can help any lab or practice make the move to a more digital workflow.

Tupel 3D Implant Marker: https://tupel3dinfo.com/

Special Guest: Kamil Zborowski.

Vision 21 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas - January 16-18

If there is one dental lab in the United States that probably every single dentist in the US has heard of (and probably used at least once), it's Glidewell Dental Labs in Newport Beach, California. For over 50 years, it has been run by the guy with his name on the building, but about 3 years ago, a new CEO was announced and everyone said Stephenie who? This week we get to know Stephenie Goddard and her history with Glidewell. Starting 18 years ago to run their HR department, she has seen Glidewell go from 1,100 employees to 5,000. She has seen the technology explode and the industry changing Bruxzir enter the field. Just wait until she talks about how she found out that she was going to be the CEO. Stephenie talks about the importance of culture, leadership training, and making sure she doesn't spend too much time "sweating the small stuff".

Special Guest: Stephenie Goddard.

Have you ever looked at crappy impressions or work and said to yourself, I could do better than this. That is exactly what this week's guest did. After working in a lab for an ex-father-in-law, Dr. Timothy Royer started doing all-on-xs in an in-office lab. Seeing all the bad he was getting, he was determined to become a dentist and do it better. After getting his Masters and then doctorate, Dr. Royer now owns Elite Dentures in Nederland, Texas where he is helping patients on their own journey through completely restoring their mouth and providing excellent care along the way.

Special Guest: Dr. Timothy Royer.

To run a successful company you need a good range of quality products and stellar people to help promote and train. Well that is who we found out is behind the company Aidite North America. Tom Heusing is the General Manager, Bob Hadley is the National Sales Manager, and Erica DiManna is the Marketing Manager. Together they talk about their previous employment together, finding their way back working together again, all about Aidite and Aidite North America, and why having the right people and the right partners is their key to their growth and success.

Be sure to follow them everywhere at:

Special Guests: Bob Hadley, Erica DiManna, and Tom Heusing.

Due to power outages and flooding from the hurricane, many of our lab friends are in need of help. The amazing Shawn Nowak of Nowak Dental Supplies has started a GO FUND ME to help those in need. Please consider giving what you can to help!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/rebuilding-dental-labs-after-hurricane-helene?lang=en_US&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp8_c&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=facebook

When a dental technician reached out to the podcast and recommended a dentist as a guest, we figured they worked together. But when we found that they don't and this dentist just does amazing restorations for patient's that can't usually afford them, we knew it would be a great episode. Dr. Ben Kellum went to dental school not really knowing what he was getting into. It was there that he learned to really like implants and took an opportunity to run a residency program doing implants and full arch for drug rehab patients. It was there that he learned that doing the lab work himself allowed him to keep the cost down and pass that along to the patients. Now, him and a partner own Transcend Dental Clinic in Huntsville, Alabama doing pretty much the same thing. Thanks to the help of donations and vendors believing in what they are doing, they are able to offer complex and quality treatments to patients that usually can't afford complex and quality treatments.

Special Guest: Dr. Ben Kellum.

When you think of companies that have changed dentistry for the better, Ivoclar is always on that list. From the world’s first pressed ceramic to emax, from heat injected acrylics to milled dentures, Ivoclar has been innovating and making teeth better. This week Elvis and Barb talk to their VP of Product Marketing for North America Don Bell. Don was on the podcast almost 4 years ago and comes on to update us on what's been happing with the company. He talks about coming out of covid, learning from customer feedback, the evolution of dentures and the upcoming Ivotion print, living in the age of digital treatment planning through communication and collaboration, Ivoclar Academy, and end of the year promotions.

Special Guest: Don Bell.

We love Denturist and all they do to help patients and the ever-growing edentulous population. So imagine how excited Elvis and Barb were when they got to talk to Jade Connors from Alberta Canada. Jade owns Pearl Denture & Implant Centre and talks all about the journey leading up to it. You see, Jade is a millennial and openly talks about the mental struggles she had to overcome to find her love of dental. Starting with Art, she was afraid of going "corporate" so she looked at dental. Not liking authority, she went into dental lab technology and earned her RDT from Nait Polytechnic. It was then she decided to go back to school and become a denturist and the rest is history.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

See Jade at the National Denturist Association Oct 2-4 in Las Vegas: https://nationaldenturist.com/2024annualconference/

Special Guest: Jade Connors, DD, RDT.

Thank you to everyone that donated to our Race for the Future 10 triathlon. This was the biggest one yet in terms of money brought in. All of this money goes right back in to our industry and remember you can give all year long!

Sometimes the business part of the lab is not the most exciting. But honestly, it's super important for everyone to understand in order for a lab (or any business) to be successful. The thinking that more units equal more profit is just not true. The one to help your lab is David Lesh from 8&9 Consulting. David is back on for a third time and now he is sharing the secrets of the financials that labs need to be profitable. David emphasizes that if you're not growing profitable sales, you're merely exhausting your resources without reaping the rewards. He also shares practical tips on how to reduce COGS and set key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and improve financial performance and a unique approach to setting prices based on turnaround times, which can significantly increase the average selling price and overall profitability.

A lot of financial terms are used, so luckily David takes the time to explain to Elvis like a 3rd grader.

Get the Dental Lab Growth Calculator TODAY: https://www.8and9consulting.com/contact-us

Special Guest: David Lesh.