Episode Transcript
[00:05 - 00:26] Rob: Welcome back to the Evolution of Dental Podcast, where we share the stories of the people and the technology shaping the world of dentistry. I'm your host, Rob Norton. Today's guest is one of the pioneers of exocad, one of the OGs, and probably one of the smartest people I know personally. Josh Jakson, welcome, president of Evolve! How are you doing today?
[00:26 - 01:09] Josh: Hey, thanks, Rob, and thank you, everyone for having me on the podcast. It's been a long time coming! You know, I've been really you know, I've been holding off, honestly. I've been watching from afar. And I just love everything that the team has been putting into this amazing series. You know, so many great lectures from people in so many different specialties and dentistry and Rob, seeing your stories throughout, you know, your history in being a dental technician and, you know, having you on as our education director and whatnot. It's been a real honor, and I'm so excited to talk about our topic here today.
[01:10 - 01:14] Rob: And what are we talking about today? What's that shirt you're wearing there?
[01:14 - 02:02] Josh: Well you know, there was this really cool event in Spain, almost like a dental vacation in a way, for us exocad nerds, you know. As probably everyone knows, Evolve does a little bit with exocad here and there! So we wanted to make sure that we participated in the global symposium this past early May 2026, a few days ago now. And, you know, I jumped right on the opportunity to talk about some of these amazing updates from the exocad global team with you. So, you know, I'm really excited to talk about some of these topics here today!
[02:02 - 02:05] Rob: Absolutely! So this was called exocad Insights, right?
[02:05 - 03:29] Josh: Yeah, exocad Insights hosted in Mallorca, Spain. I love the Spanish people. Their enthusiasm for art, their enthusiasm for food, and their enthusiasm for their pace of life is really cool. I think it's great to do a business event in a place like Mallorca, because it allows for people to take a step back, experience culture, and also just like take a step back from their daily routine, on an island off the coast of Spain and, you know, start like just having, you know, a nice glass of wine, a little bit of jamón, connect with your friends from around the world. And learn from these experts that they brought in. Doctor Christian Coachman on his Seven Habits for Highly Effective Digital Dentistry. The team from Italy that was talking about exocad ART, or if it was Seth Potter and his really great insights… Hehehe! A little pun-intended there! Some of his great insights about the best way to do setups in exocad. Well, it’s just a great event overall! And I can't wait to share with you guys about some of these things that we learned.
[03:29 - 03:36] Rob: So this was, so everyone knows, this was my first exocad Insights, but this was your second? Your third?
[03:36 - 04:35] Josh: Yeah, this was my third. I started out in Darmstadt, Germany. I did… Actually, it's my fourth, excuse me. I went to the first one in Darmstadt and then we went back for a second one in Darmstadt, which is the headquarters of exocad. It's kind of cool when I was there. A little bit different there, definitely, people didn't get to step away. The exocad team definitely did not get to step away. You know they live there. So definitely a different vibe. It was cool because we got to see their hometown, see where they went to have beers and stuff after work. But you know, they definitely outgrew the venue. So now they moved to the International Congress Hall there, the convention center. They had it at a beautiful venue, right on the beach in Mallorca. And you know Rob what would you say 4 or 500 people in attendance there?
[04:36 - 04:38] Rob: So there were- I was looking at the numbers actually earlier.
[04:38 - 04:39] Josh: Yeah.
[04:39 - 04:42] Rob: 850 people from over 50 countries!
[04:42 - 04:55] Josh: You see? That’s crazy, Rob! Because it didn't even feel that crowded because the venue was so beautiful, you know, and it was just so well designed. You know, Spanish architects, they really really know what they're doing, apparently, hehe!
[04:55 - 05:01] Rob: And then exocad with the level of production that they put into this event was, I mean, how would you describe it?
[05:01 - 05:54] Josh: Oh, man, it was just top-tier! From the sound and the encapsulating power from the sound that they had to the lights and production from the marketing team, from Christine and everyone. I mean, the execution on everyone in the way that they articulated from Tillmann talking about the new features with AI crowns and exocad Hub and exocad on demand there. To the global head of customer support, Friedemann Stang and his cohort he was doing the exoPlan presentation with. They were put on the spot with beta software and did a great job demoing some of the new exoPlan workflows. You know everything, it just seemed seamless. All of the vendors were top-tier. And you know, like I said, it's not like being in Mallorca! Haha!
[05:54 - 06:23] Rob: It was a beautiful place to have a meeting. And again, I was just blown away by the production level down to the interactive bracelets, interactive bracelets that blinked, you know, change colors for yes, no, this, that and the other. And they were talking to the crowd via these little lit up bracelets, which was neat, which was also your ticket to get into events so, pretty cool! But one of the things you mentioned that I'm sure everyone wants to know more about is the AI crown. Like there was a bunch of stuff related to that. What were some of your bigger takeaways?
[06:23 - 10:20] Josh: Well, so, you know, AI Crown is not new. It's something that's been out now for about a year… Excuse me, two and a half years. We had the privilege as a reseller to do some initial testing on the product and, what's it called? I'm just amazed at the progress now. From features that they're incorporating which is going to add to finalization happening a lot more quickly. By finalization I mean last clicks to get to your final crown. Basically what I'm envisioning is a workflow where the rendering is done already. When you open it, the designer checks a few different views that are pre-set. They go click, click, click, click. We get the views, make sure contacts and occlusion are good, and then they press Done and finalize. So instead of a 20-click crown process which would take approximately… Let's shoot on the high end, right. Let's say 5 to 6 minutes, 7 minutes. Right. We're talking about a crown design that's going to happen in less than a minute. And you know so this is something that I think is cool because exocad, they're not letting the user just have a final design. Right. And there was a moment where Novica, Tillmann, and Maik were on stage and they were talking about, you know, the use of AI and how AI has affected us as a culture, you know. Not just from exocad and in dentistry, but we're taking a look at what AI is doing and the harm that it may cause our society, because there's a fine line in the sand that people are going to cross. And this is healthcare that we're talking about here! This is not some sort of lightly taken topic, you know. Of course, you know, how dangerous can a crown be? Well, in some situations, few and far between of course, it could be quite dangerous to someone's jaw pain and situation. If that crown is designed in bad occlusion, that contact could cause problems with the adjacent teeth or the opposing teeth. But you know, Maik said something like, it really depends on how we use it. Mostly we’ve seen that an increase is the correctness of the work and that you do your work, but you get better at your job by doing your work. You see, AI might change the way you do your job, but overall I think mostly it will be good. He sees some CEOs seeing AI to be replacing everything. I don't believe that at all. I believe in the brains of humans and that you need to know what you're doing if you're in charge. And that's an extremely powerful statement and hearing that come from exocad’s management, it makes me proud to be a reseller because there's a line of ethics that they're standing to in society and in healthcare. And quite honestly, I think they're setting a great precedent and being a great role model for other companies. You know, there are other companies and competition out there, and they're just being irresponsible, to tell you the truth. Spitting out, quite honestly, pure garbage out of their software. And hopefully the doctor does their due diligence to check and make sure that the “design” or “wax-up” is to the correct specification so there is no damage to the patient at the end of the day.
[10:21 - 10:27] Rob: And so the batched AI crowns, that's all coordinated through the new exocad Hub. Is that right?
[10:27 - 12:01] Josh: So what's it called? It's actually not exclusively through the exocad Hub. AI crown technically works through the cloud feature, and the cloud feature inside of DentalCAD, which now there's going to be, I believe, I don't know the specifications of it, but there's going to be also a database version of that, where the program exists in the database. It sees that the data is valid for an AI crown design, and then it pulls it up to the cloud and then gives you a proposal and lets you know when that proposal is ready. Now, in reference to what you're talking about with exocad Hub, it's a functionality that actually, technically already exists through the Smile Video proposal. When you do a Smile Video, that goes to the cloud, and then your exocad account there. I believe that functionality is being transformed into exocad Hub. It kind of serves as the basis of it. Basically what it is is it's exocad on demand. It's your WebView and the scene files, as well as a chat and the ability to launch DentalCAD from the Hub. On top of that, it's going to also have the ability to see the Clincheck and your exocad ART, which is the Advanced Restorative Treatment option.
[12:01 - 12:04] Rob: And for those who don't know what Clincheck is…
[12:04 - 12:05] Josh: What's that?
[12:05 - 12:07] Rob: I said, And for those who don't know what a Clincheck is, that's…?
[12:07 - 12:32] Josh: Yeah, yeah! Clincheck is an iTero rendering of the Invisalign proposal. So a Clincheck from iTero is basically when you submit your request for aligner therapy. And then from there, Invisalign will give you your teeth movements and then trade proposals, which is called a Clincheck.
[12:32 - 12:52] Rob: Cool. And so that's all integrated now into the Hub. So you have one place to put all the data for each patient, one secure location where you can have pictures and videos. And so no more WeChat. No more text messages and emails flying around. No more… WeShare or WeTransfer. That's what it is.
[12:52 - 12:53] Josh: Yeah, WeTransfer.
[12:53 - 12:59] Rob: Pile it all into the one exocad Hub and even compare versions of the case. At least that's what I remember, right?
[12:59 - 13:21] Josh: Yeah! Compare versions of the case. But not only that, this is the most exciting part is it's going to give the client on the doctor side, the ability to use Tooth Placement and Freeform options, inside of the exocad Hub, for no cost!
[13:21 - 13:23] Rob: Inside of the browser?
[13:23 - 14:57] Josh: Inside of the browser! So I can be on my iPhone. I'm probably going to need a bigger iPhone at this point. And then I can actually design my cases that I've uploaded to exocad Hub. On top of that, if you have a session on your computer with the QR code, you can actually take a picture of that, transfer the session to your tablet, iPhone, or whatever it may be, or your other computer, and then actually work then from that device. So everything is on the cloud interactively, very, very snappy and quick design. So it's going to be very exciting because for those doctors that, you know, have those really, really hard specifications on broad contacts and you know, they want to you know, they want the mesial contact of eight and nine brought in like one millimeter. You know, I'm going to just be like, if you would like that, please do it yourself, thank you! Haha! That's going to be something that I'm going to enjoy as a technician because it's going to give the power of design to my most specific customers without them making a capital investment. And as long as me and we as the laboratory have an exocad dongle and an active exocad license, then the user that we pass that co-design off to will be able to make the sudden changes.
[14:57 - 15:17] Rob: That's so awesome. That's going to be that's going to change so many, so many case outcomes, I think for the better. Speaking of, I feel like it's a good segue into exocad ART because this is all correlated together where you can have different case propositions. Can you speak a little bit more to your inside knowledge on exocad ART?
[15:17 - 16:51] Josh: Yeah. So exocad ART is something that I'm personally involved with. I actually got a Clencheck done and I sent off some files to get proposals of what my exocad ART might look like. So basically I’m very excited about that and hopefully moving forward with my treatment here as the beta program becomes available in the next few months, hopefully getting on board with that. And, you know, I heard a lot of awesome news about some great people inside of the industry actually joining up with Align and kind of heading that project. But basically, exocad ART is a way for me to take my ClinCheck and aligner therapy and then marry it with my wax up proposal of my cosmetic outcome. So it's a way to do minimally invasive dentistry better. It's a way to ensure that the end goal is in mind, and it's a way to connect specialists throughout the whole restorative, ortho-restorative workflow. I believe Doctor Steven Glassman talked about it in our second episode, if I'm not mistaken. So if you guys want to learn a little bit more about exocad ART, you can definitely check that episode out!
[16:51 - 17:23] Rob: It's really fascinating, giving labs access to the option of seeing what an ortho driven outcome can be. So you can simulate tooth movement. Before getting into any kind of advanced, you know, restorative work, I mean, it actually is called ART: Advanced Restorative Treatment. So that's the beautiful part. You can give the doctor or the patient a before-and-after, like, okay, here's what we can do if we move the teeth before we start doing veneers versus if we just start chopping stuff up and doing veneers right now.
[17:24 - 18:47] Josh: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You know, it's just really exciting because exocad is getting people involved more, you know, whether it be through student licensing programs that they're doing through universities or if it's, you know. Letting us as resellers be able to help sponsor education to different people throughout the industry. If there's people that are interested in doing exocad classes, and you guys think that you have content driven up that is worthy of teaching a group of people, and we can get a group of people together, we as resellers can actually, you know, request education dongles for that event, bring them to your event. Exocad also just came out with some new sales programs. They actually have a monthly program now where we can actually get users involved on a full exocad license. This is all modulus for as little as $380 a month. So that's going to be very exciting because we now have accessibility to all, which is going to be really cool.
[18:47 - 19:04] Rob: Absolutely. And they can kind of take a peek at it through the Hub. If they have somebody they're working with already, you have the exocad on demand. Now you have a monthly option, which lowers the barrier of entry quite a bit for a lot of folks who are sitting on the fence and still like, okay, I'm not really sure about whether or not this is something I want to dip my toe into. That really opens up the floodgates for that in a lot of ways. And again, it all comes into this Hub where you can compare and look at and contrast and even share with the patients. Right. Some of the results, the previews of the videos and stuff like that.
[19:19 - 20:54] Josh: Yeah, absolutely. You know, part of exocad ART is having something where we can take the photos, align them, and through AI, give them a smile proposal of what the real teeth would look like. We can actually take video and then do a TruSmile video proposal. Being able to show the patient what they're capable of in their smile, I think gets them excited and enthusiastic about, you know, signing up for this restorative or ortho-restorative treatment. There was a cool stat that said that something like 70% of people, if I'm not mistaken, would benefit from ortho treatment before doing some type of restorative and showing people the outcome and the difference in the minimally invasive versus the just strictly restorative protocol. One out of every two of those people signed up for the ortho on top of the restorative, which is going to save the doctor money on chair time. It's going to save the doctor money on prepping. It's going to save the doctor money on cement, hehe! You know, it's going to save them money on so many different aspects, and it's going to hurt the patient less.
[20:54 - 21:06] Rob: It sets the stage for a better long term restoration altogether. If that's the final path that needs to be involved with, like you said. And there's some other big announcements there too involving the software.
[21:06 - 21:08] Josh: Yeah, yeah.
[21:08 - 21:11] Rob: Yeah, like I was saying, do you want to speak to those?
[21:11 - 23:49] Josh: Well, oh man, I don't even know where to start, hehe! I mean, so, you know, obviously I took part in [exocad] 3.3. It’s something that we are really, really excited about. It’s something that our clientele is really looking for. They're looking for predictability in their implant planning process and their guided protocols for full arch. You know, exoPlan is a great product, definitely for quadrant dentistry or single dentistry, or even fully edentulous options, where you know, you're not doing a lot of flapping and bone reduction and stuff like that. But when there's a bone reduction involved and we need to stack different top components on top of that surgical guide. But now with exoPlan 3.3, we have the ability to connect these parts and pieces and then actually separate them out into a phase protocol where we have the fixation bone, fixation guide, which is going to be on the pre-operative situation placing the bone guide. Then from there you place the bone guide in place with pins. And then once you take off the bone fixation guide, that's only one piece left. And then you put the surgical guide in place, which has the sleeves for the surgical kit that the doctor is going to be using. And so many surgical kits are inside of exocad at the moment. You have Nobel, you have Straumenn, BioHorizons. SYN. You have all the major ones, Neodent. All the major systems are part of exocad and already play a role inside of their workflows. And you know it's going to be really exciting, especially with the capability for us to be doing metal 3D printing in surgical guides, you know, so really excited about that aspect. But as far as any other updates go, there's a lot that I saw from other educators that were on the stage, just as far as workflows go, that really intrigued me with, you know, two setup processes and making a minimal workflow for that. Seth Potter showed his Potter Placement technique. I wonder if he's going to coin that? Because I was letting him know that that definitely should be the name!
[23:49 - 23:56] Rob: He should! If you haven't seen the episode with us with Seth Potter a few episodes back, it's definitely worth checking out. He's a very smart guy!
[23:56 - 24:51] Josh: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's only three episodes back now, too. The Potter Placing technique is just really cool! I've been using it a little bit on some of my full-arch setups, and I got to tell you, it definitely cuts out about at least 4 to 5 minutes an arch on setup, which is cool. But the partners had so much going on from Ivoclar to imes-icore to BiteFinder. You know, our friends at Nexdent and Stratasys had some really cool things to show. It was just really, really awesome to be able to connect with those people on, you know, what they're doing. And especially, you know, our friends over at Ivoclar, it was good to see them come out with some new products there.
[24:51 - 24:53] Rob: Yeah, they made some big announcements!
[24:53 - 26:18] Josh: Yeah, yeah. They came out with a new zirconia, which is basically their high-training zirconia combined with their stable zirconia. So now it's just all one system. They also have a stain-and-glaze kit, which is really close to the ones that are out on the market already, like the ones from Nexdent and Jensen Dental. But honestly, with what they're doing, it seems like the education behind it in the thoughtful process of the way that they organize the colors is something that, you know, even me, as a digital tech, I'm taking a look at these staining and glazing protocols that are involved there. I'm like, yeah, I think I could even do that now, which I've never thought of before! You know, I've always been extremely intimidated as a digital tack, going into a porcelain oven, but the way that they make it seem so approachable with their education that they have put together is just awesome. So I'm really excited for our technicians at Evolution Dental Science, because I know that they've been using it, and the results that were coming out with it are just astounding, with some of their products that they've just released.
[26:18 - 26:32] Rob: More colors, more variations, and you don't have to buy a whole kit to begin with! Looking at you, Jensen… anyway. And also like there's zirconia. Am I remembering correctly that they said it would sinter in three hours?!
[26:32 - 26:49] Josh: Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that! That's like the coolest thing for me because, you know, if I, you know, here I am being a skeptic. Do I trust it? No, not off the bat, hehe! I'm going to be dead-honest-
[26:49 - 26:49] Rob: Well, you gotta verify it right?
[26:49 - 27:01] Josh: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I got to verify this stuff, but they're telling us that it does. It's probably obviously with their chemistry with their, you know, their process and everything. By the way, that is a full arch in three hours!
[27:01 - 27:04] Rob: Yeah like a 35 millimeter disc!
[27:04 - 29:01] Josh: Yeah! So I'm pretty pumped about that because, you know, there's times that the doctor calls and he's like, we work with a few full-arch dentists that have patients fly in. Right. We have a customer that all they get is fly-in patients. And you know, they're in a cool city. So they have vacation packages and everything. So these patients come in all the time and they get put up to cool hotels. So, you know, it's a part of what they do. But these patients are coming in and taking time, TIME, out of their life, literally, to get this done! If something breaks and they need it replaced, they're not waiting five days for us to remake this. They're telling us, get this to us tomorrow, if not the next day. So for us as a laboratory, having a material that we can sinter in three hours, I don't feel so bad as a lab owner going to my finishing team and saying, hey, we got to try and make this work. We're getting this out, you know, today or tomorrow, because together with the full system, their new stain-and-glaze kit, you know, it's doable. Right. You know, if there's a theme from exocad Insights, technology is making things more accessible for us as technicians, you know. Even, kind of going into the next one, which I know you want to talk about. Accessible to me as a digital tech, not a ceramist, I saw a machine which I also did see at IDS too, but it was cooler this time around because they actually had a material that was involved with it. So imes-icore came out with this new system that you actually mill out a substructure. And with hybrid manufacturing protocols you can actually do layering.
[29:02 - 29:16] Rob: We both went to imes-icore lectures and we both came out like, okay, well, that was pretty impressive. And we started talking about what we'd see and realized we went to totally different lectures! I was seeing one with hybrid denture layered manufactured materials, which was really cool to be honest.
[29:16 - 29:16] Josh: Yeah, right?!
[29:16 - 29:28] Rob: However, then you're telling me about this Mythos system, which is a whole other, different approach to, you know, single units that are layered like a ceramist would in the machine!
[29:28 - 30:18] Josh: Yeah and which by the way is exciting for me as the digital tech because like I said, I'm intimidated with finishing and whatnot. But maybe there's a day where I can have a robot do layering for me, and… Uh-oh, I just got a bunch of arrows in my back right now. I just felt it. Because the ceramists, they got their quiver and they're loading right now. But you know, guys don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that robotics is going to replace this stuff. There's absolutely a need for finishing. There's absolutely a need for artistry. And once again, what is that line in the sand that we're going to cost in healthcare? Right. Is this too far? Well, it's yet to be seen, but I'm definitely interested.
[30:19 - 30:32] Rob: I think it's one thing that we it's something we talk about on this podcast pretty often, is that, yes, it seems like more of it's being taken away from the technician, but that's if you're looking at it like you're missing the forest for the trees. Right-
[30:32 - 30:33] Josh: Yeah. Exactly, Robert.
[30:33 - 30:48] Rob: Because the other side of this is, there's a growing demand for more dentistry, of more varieties and a shrinking number of technicians. So if you're going to have a smaller number of people doing work for a greater number of people, you're going to need a little bit of help.
[30:48 - 31:04] Josh: Yeah. It's honestly a public health problem. You know, I wish we had more people in government sticking up for us. You know, the way that this country looks at dental technicians is quite honestly sad.
[31:05 - 31:07] Rob: Or even dentistry, period, for that matter.
[31:07 - 31:52] Josh: Yeah, yeah, dentistry period. But I think the studies are coming out and the science behind the stuff is really starting to prove what bacteria in the mouth does to cardiovascular health, as well as long term memory and reproductive health. You know, it's quite honestly baffling. It's where a lot of this starts, you know. So the more that we have heroes in our corner, the more that we are going to do better as a society and civilization moving towards better health care.
[31:52 - 31:58] Rob: It's almost like everything that goes in your body kind of comes in through one source.
Hahaha, hopefully!
[31:58 - 32:06] Rob: Well, okay. Let’s not… I'm sure you're referring to hospitals and IVs and all that good stuff.
[32:06 - 32:07] Josh: Yes, of course! Haha!
[32:08 - 32:36] Rob: ANYWAY! Hahaha! Yeah. No, it was Insights, man. It was so much to unpack there because there's so many cool things to come away with and all the cool people that we got to see and connect with. Like, I got to meet Seth for the first time in person after having talked to him here and a bunch of other online interactions, which is cool. A bunch of other people get to catch up. Chelsea Homer at the Digital Dental Assistant Academy. You got to see and talk to her, right? Or it's something related. She's got her thing going on?
[32:36 - 35:15] Josh: Yeah! So, what's it called? Just recently I actually just had a podcast with her yesterday, actually. So I've been podcasting away here! Basically we had a podcast yesterday about the two appointment denture workflow, where we actually talked about it being in one appointment with the Evolve same day design services that are available. We talked about the benefit of the record with the photo, with the scan, the VDO and the bite relation, and really honed in on that and talked about how your scan is your design, you know. So if you don't know about the DDAA and Chelsea basically Wayne Glassoff, Rachel [Foote] and Chelsea basically started this group, Digital Dental Assistant Academy. It’s an educational academy focused on assistance where the assistants themselves can learn about topics and they can have a dialog about the digital workflows that they're involved in on a daily basis. You know, like I think it's something that should be said, you know, they like, you know, I've heard about 3 or 4 situations where, what's it called? Dental technicians, you know, they move around in their jobs. You know, we've had 1 or 2 at our lab and it happens. But I've heard about, you know, so many different clients all over the board where these dental technicians, you know, they leave for a buck here or there, they leave for reasons that are kind of just, you know, unknown. And these assistants are left with the buck in hand, and they're just kind of like, what do we do? And they don't have any resources for really learning this stuff. So the DDAA is a great resource for that. I'm so happy to help them with their education process with exocad. You know, I was helping them with the iTero Design Suite. If you have an iTero scanner, you have exocad for free right now, and you're going to be able to use it. And the DDAA has videos on their website to walk you through the process as an assistant or doctor on how to do that. So yeah, it was really great talking with her. That was really great.
[35:15 - 35:42] Rob: She’s great! A smart lady, smart group that they've got put together. Really great package for assistants. I mean, we're learning that every doctor's leaning more and more on their assistance these days. I mean not every doctor has the time or the patience or the inclination to teach every assistant, every single operation when they bring somebody new on. It's like you said, they move around a lot. One of my good friends, Doctor Bryant Haynie, owns a few practices. He actually shares assistants between the practices sometimes.
[35:42 - 35:43] Josh: Yeah, yeah.
[35:43 - 35:52] Rob: They have different protocols and different techs. So it's good to have a resource for people to just go and learn about this stuff, like little bite sized bits.
[35:52 - 37:05] Josh: Yeah, yeah, yeah. One thing I want people to definitely know is that Evolve is here for you guys in that process too. We have you know, well obviously, I don't know why I'm doing a promotion here, but I just feel like it's necessary to really talk about it, you know, because there needs to be these resources for assistants and it needs to be at the flexibility of their schedule. That's why we set up the scheduler the way we did. You know, we have an online scheduler. It's run through a program called Acuity. It's a very common scheduling program that you get a text message, you get an email at the time of scheduling, it goes in your calendar automatically. It goes through your phone. Everyone gets notified. Everyone's responsible for the time period. You know, if I have a complication in my schedule, I work with Robert to coordinate with our educators to back me up, you know, and we're never missing appointments and stuff like that. It's really honestly allowed us to reach thousands and thousands of exocad users and spread our knowledge throughout the industry here.
[37:05 - 37:24] Rob: It's exciting. And whatever level of exocad that you're trying to learn, whether you're just getting into it or whether you're looking to get into the most advanced workflows. We have people here and a whole team of experts to help you with, which is incredible. Josh among them, you can book time with Josh as well right there at exocad.as.me, right.
[37:24 - 37:27] Josh: Yep, that's us.
[37:27 - 37:37] Rob: And speaking of podcasts and guests, we had the honor of joining the Voices From the Bench for an episode. Is that right?
[37:37 - 37:42] Josh: Woah! The legendary voices?! Hehe! That was so cool.
[37:43 - 37:46] Rob: To be fair, you were the honored guest. I rode your coattails in the back.
[37:46 - 38:12] Josh: No! There's a reason I brought you, the royalty of podcasting in on it, you know, the Evolution of Dental podcasts and Voices together! That was pretty fun. Honestly, I had such a blast. You know, I knew Elvis for a little bit and we kind of always messaged here and there. And I love, you know, the memes that he makes up and everything.
[38:12 - 38:13] Rob: Oh the memes are unbelievable!
[38:13 - 38:40] Josh: It was such a pleasure speaking to Barb and her wealth of knowledge in the industry and everything. I was really impressed by, you know, just how quick she was to understand the really involved topics that we were talking about. And it's no wonder why their podcast is such a hit. So, you know, it was really a great time talking with them, and I can’t wait to see what they have cooked up there with me and you.
[38:40 - 39:29] Rob: They've definitely been a huge contributor to the culture of this industry as it's grown in the last few years. It was really an honor to kind of finally meet them. I've been a long time listener, first time caller, as they say, right? And it was an honor to meet Elvis and Barb in person and have a chat about what's going on and see them present in Mallorca and talking to everyone under the sun there and bringing them in on it and sharing the discussions of what's happening in real time. They had a booth right there on the vendor floor. So that was really neat to just be kind of locked in with the headphones. But then there's still all these people buzzing around and yeah, it's a very cool experience there. Were there any other big takeaways you had from the experience besides some of the announcements? I mean, I know one of the things I will certainly be missing is the food. I mean, even the vendor floor was like, oh my God!
[39:29 - 39:51] Josh: Yeah, I, what's called this was like I said my or my second [time in] Mallorca. So I kind of knew, you know, our time was kind of limited there. We're moving into our new facility in Buffalo, New York. And you know, we honestly didn't get to stay too much before or after. So I knew our time was limited and I knew I needed to go into the city.
[39:51 - 40:15] Josh: So during lunch, I would shoot out in a cab and just go to some pompous place to get some gelato or something. Man, the jamón there is not prosciutto, let's just say that and I’m sorry to my Italian friends, but the Spanish have ham figured out. Let's just say that. It's delicious. Literally. Robert, that first night that you met us up?
[40:15 - 40:16] Rob: Yeah.
[40:16 - 40:18] Josh: How good was that ham, dude?
[40:18 - 40:26] Rob: Oh, it was incredible. Everything, all the food I had there was amazing. Yeah. Like I said, even on the vendor floor, much less. Much less some restaurants-
[40:27 - 04:28] Josh: Literally! Yeah, man.
[40:28 - 40:31] Rob: Man, I can't wait till the next one. That was awesome.
[40:31 - 41:56] Josh: One of my other big takeaways is that I need to see you more in person! Hahaha! Honestly. Like, it's just such a great thing out of you, buddy. And, you know, whether if it's online and something like this or, you know, if it's in person, you know, the event or whatever it may be, you know, our team is super excited to get you back up to Buffalo sometime this summer and talk about some of these awesome developments with exocad 3.3 and the developments from Mallorca. Getting you ingrained into some of our new workflow protocols that we're going to be establishing at the new facility in Buffalo, and probably teeing that up with our open house. We're probably looking at an open house right around early July just because that's when, you know, my mom will have the chance to decorate and everything. Hehe! So, you know, basically, you know, that'd be really exciting. Anyone that wants to come up to Buffalo, stay tuned for posts from us about our open house. We’d love to have you in Buffalo and hopefully, maybe even get some sort of light education going on! Kind of like how we do at Evolve Now or something, you know, in Chicago.
[41:56 - 42:22] Rob: I think it's in the plans. I think we're, I think we're set to go for that. I'm really excited for that. And also, you know, we welcome visitors from all around up to our facilities in Buffalo, and especially as we're getting ready to open up this new facility. And oh man, it's beautiful. We're going to have great events there! So Josh, where can people find you online? Where can they find your socials? How can they reach out to you? How can they book time to learn directly from the master?
[42:22 - 42:59] Josh: Well, yeah. So, what's it called? My socials are. I'm on Facebook. So honestly, if you Google “Joshua Jakson", I’ll pop up because I'm the only one out there in the world. Or you could find me on Instagram @jakson_joshua. And you know, I like to communicate via socials. That's really the easiest way. I like to be very reachable. If you message me, I’ll message back. Promise!
[42:59 - 43:05] Rob: Awesome. Thank you so much for being a part of this, man. It was awesome to see you in Mallorca. I look forward to seeing you again in Buffalo soon.
[43:05 - 43:08] Josh: Absolutely. Thanks guys. You're a great one.
[43:08 - 43:27] Rob: And thank you everyone for tuning in to this episode of Evolution of Dental Podcast. Please look for us on all the major platforms. Our content releases new episodes every Friday. Remember to like, subscribe, share the show with your friends and remember, never stop evolving.
