Functional Dentistry: Where Function Meets Aesthetic Smile Design | Dr. Mikenah Joy Vega | EODP #24

00:00:00:03 - 00:00:22:19 Speaker 1 We had 150 people trying to get into our doors. You can't mess with a woman that's doing dentistry in heels. She just pulled the mower out in heels like, no, no one messed with me after that. If you don't evolve like I'm. We're going to have to break up. 00:00:22:21 - 00:00:39:18 Speaker 2 Welcome back to the Evolution of Dental podcast, brought to you by Evolution Dental Science. I'm your host, Rob Norton. Today's guest is known for her holistic and wellness based approach to dentistry. A social media star doctor McKenna Vega. Or should I call you doctor Joy? Welcome. 00:00:39:20 - 00:00:41:20 Speaker 1 Thanks for having me. 00:00:41:22 - 00:00:46:19 Speaker 2 Thank you so much for being here. So I got to ask, why do people call you doctor Joy? 00:00:46:21 - 00:01:09:08 Speaker 1 So legally, Joy is my middle name. But when I became a dentist, I wanted, like, I wanted to be my own version of being Superman. Like, I wanted, like, a cloak to put on that. Like, yo matter how I felt internally, I was going to show up as doctor Joy, like, bubbly, cheerfully. You know, most people hate going to the dentist. 00:01:09:08 - 00:01:33:18 Speaker 1 And so for the first couple of years, it was like aspirational. Like, I just that's who I'm trying to become. But nowadays it's just molded in who I am as a person all around, like I've done the work through therapy and coaching and leadership and all these things. And so I'm genuinely joyful on a day to day basis. 00:01:33:20 - 00:01:53:02 Speaker 2 I love that. And so as I understand well, like, like we introduced, you have a more holistic and wellness based approach to the industry, kind of digging up people's dental trauma, so to speak. What's what defines that as different from like what is considered standard in care practice these days? 00:01:53:04 - 00:02:14:04 Speaker 1 Yeah, I would say my practice. I take a long time to understand why someone has ended up in my chair. A lot of times when you come in and you're just treating a single tooth, I never look at someone as just a single tooth or something that needs to repair, like a mechanic. I always want to understand the journey of why? 00:02:14:05 - 00:02:37:12 Speaker 1 Because if you go to the center or you read research like our teeth should not be breaking down. In my practice specifically, I have a lot of young people that come to me where they're experiencing tooth breakdown in early age, and so instead of just fixing it and setting them out on their way, I like to really understand why, like what care wasn't gotten as a child. 00:02:37:12 - 00:03:01:26 Speaker 1 What habits do we have? What is our diet? All these things put together allows me to treat not just that tooth, but, you know, finding out, okay, maybe we need to go back and get your function together and incorporate Invisalign or incorporate nutritional help and all these other different things so that by the time I treat that tooth, it's in a better human. 00:03:01:26 - 00:03:08:16 Speaker 1 And so it's not as acceptable to breaking again or having issues again. So yeah. 00:03:08:22 - 00:03:24:15 Speaker 2 So what makes you what indicates to you what path that you should take with that? Like what where where orthodontics and Invisalign come in versus, say, just general restorative. Like what makes you change directions with that and what indicates kind of what's led to some of this breakdown? 00:03:24:18 - 00:03:54:22 Speaker 1 Yeah. So most people, if they haven't had some sort of childhood orthodontics, which is at least in my population here in the South, quite a lot of people, that usually means their teeth have probably drifted into not so great of occlusion. And so some of these people just have job pain. Some of them, you know, you ask them, you know, when you're trying to chew and function like are you having to squeeze or they're just seeing their teeth. 00:03:54:22 - 00:04:21:12 Speaker 1 Where over time. A lot of sensitivity issues like that. So we just want to do a holistic, like what are all the teeth? I think one of the biggest tools that I, I love so much, and I use every day in my practice, is the wellness scan with the I tarot. At our office, we have three arrows, and I think we might get four because everyone's fighting over them. 00:04:21:14 - 00:04:46:06 Speaker 1 At this point you need one eye tarot per hygienist and per doctor. And so doing those wellness and comparing the how the teeth have changed year after year, that really gives great insight into how the mouth might not be involved in the best way, and that we need to roll it back and look at things more functionally. 00:04:46:08 - 00:04:53:18 Speaker 2 Gotcha. And speaking of being in the South, you moved from Boston to Houston. What was that journey like? 00:04:53:20 - 00:05:11:11 Speaker 1 Oh, I didn't see you there. Hey, y'all, it's Robert with the Evolution of Dental podcast. If you love these stories and you want to see more guests, more content and help the show, please remember to share it. Like it? Subscribe to our channel and hit that little notification bell if you're watching on YouTube so you can get notified of our new episodes. 00:05:11:12 - 00:05:20:04 Speaker 1 New episodes drop every Friday. Follow us on all the socials. You'll see all the latest content. Looking forward to seeing you there. 00:05:20:07 - 00:05:24:25 Speaker 1 Oh my God, that was a lot. So yeah. 00:05:24:26 - 00:05:27:09 Speaker 2 So that journey to begin with. 00:05:27:16 - 00:05:49:03 Speaker 1 Yeah. So I grew up in Boston, I did I actually went to hygiene school for undergrad. And then when I was in high school, I was asking too many questions and getting on my professors nerves. And so then I was like, okay, fine, I'm going to transfer into pre-med. And then I immediately went to Tufts, which was a fun but chaotic. 00:05:49:03 - 00:06:12:12 Speaker 1 For years, living in the heart of downtown Boston. And afterwards I was just I'm ready for a new adventure. I'm ready to be just go somewhere random and just try. And so I literally close my eyes and just like, okay, I just want a city that doesn't get snowstorms. And Houston was there and I was like, okay, why not? 00:06:12:14 - 00:06:34:02 Speaker 1 And so my one thing was that I did not want to work for DSO. And so I just put out like I was like the entire last quarter of my senior year, I was just putting out job applications on. Indeed. And I finally found someone that would hire me in Houston with a nice little sign on bonus. And I was like, got it? 00:06:34:03 - 00:06:44:04 Speaker 1 And I just left. That was the worst decision ever. Ended up being a terrible job. 00:06:44:07 - 00:06:59:07 Speaker 1 The cost of the sign on bonus was that I had to work in three different offices, two of them in the same day, so I would have to drive to one office in the morning and then have lunch and then drive to another one. And life. 00:06:59:07 - 00:07:01:07 Speaker 2 Was a woman thing a little too seriously. 00:07:01:08 - 00:07:22:28 Speaker 1 Yeah, it was absolutely horrible. And at that point I was like, what did I do? Why did I move here? Why did I become a dentist? And then I discovered something called cloud. Have you guys ever heard of cloud? It's like Uber for dentists. It's in a couple of states. And so you make your own little profile and you're like, this is the type of dentistry I like to do. 00:07:22:28 - 00:07:38:25 Speaker 1 And I became a full time temp dentist. And then so I just started going to different offices, like every day. Like every day. I was just somewhere new. And I did that for like two years. 00:07:38:27 - 00:07:44:02 Speaker 2 You got a real samples of how how the field was developing in that area, for sure. 00:07:44:07 - 00:08:17:08 Speaker 1 Yeah. And so after being in like probably hundreds of different offices, I really honed in on, okay, I'm the type of dentist, I love, boutique, I love like a lot of technology. I love taking my time. I love putting people back together. I love fixing issues. Okay, where can I go do that? And then I found a mentor who was doing something similar, and I harassed her until she finally let me work for her. 00:08:17:12 - 00:08:25:26 Speaker 1 Her name is Doctor Simon Ellis. She's a well-known cosmetic dentist, retired at 40. 00:08:25:28 - 00:08:35:15 Speaker 1 Because she sold her practice. And I was there when she sold her practice. We doubled her practice in about, like, two years, and then she was able to sell. Wow. 00:08:35:18 - 00:08:39:19 Speaker 2 And circle back. I get questions about. 00:08:39:21 - 00:08:42:21 Speaker 1 Yeah. 00:08:42:24 - 00:08:44:14 Speaker 2 Doubled her practice in two years. 00:08:44:15 - 00:08:45:00 Speaker 1 I had. 00:08:45:01 - 00:08:47:27 Speaker 2 What what was the magic source for that? 00:08:47:28 - 00:09:20:02 Speaker 1 So it's crazy. So she had her practice at that point for about 12 years. She moved into a new location. She moved from four chairs to six chairs. And then I added in as a secondary provider. One day I was going on a rant with one of my patients about functional dentistry. I was talking to them about how our jaws have evolved to be smaller because we eat softer food. 00:09:20:04 - 00:09:36:01 Speaker 1 And she was typing the whole thing on Twitter as I was ranting. And so we woke up the next morning and I had gone viral on Twitter, and now we had 150 people trying to get into our door. 00:09:36:03 - 00:09:36:21 Speaker 2 Wow. 00:09:36:26 - 00:09:50:12 Speaker 1 And it was insane. And this was like at the end of 2020, we weren't fully like, staffed and we weren't fully, like, ready to deal with that. Many people. 00:09:50:14 - 00:09:57:09 Speaker 2 Were just coming out of shutdown, barely even. And then here you are exploding with a hundred. You said 140 patients. 00:09:57:12 - 00:10:23:26 Speaker 1 Yeah. During those. Yeah. It was like 140, 150 new patients among people driving from all over. I heard how amazing you guys are. And it was a lot. It was a lot. And that's the thing. People think they want to go viral, but you have to be ready to go, like viral. And even if you already, I don't know if you want that. 00:10:23:28 - 00:10:45:18 Speaker 1 So ever since then, I've been so happy of growing my social media out of like, a slow, a steady pace because, like, everyone thinks they want that overnight success. It's a lot. So she ended up it became to the point that if we would have to move the practice again and do all these things again, and she just wasn't up for that. 00:10:45:18 - 00:10:55:00 Speaker 1 And so she sold it. And then I became homeless again. 00:10:55:02 - 00:11:22:01 Speaker 1 And then I found a new place, a new startup called Glow Dental Group. I've been there for about four years, and I've helped grow from one look. We had two locations and now they have 4 or 5, providing a predominantly a lot of cosmetic care, digital dentistry, care at a great price point. It's out of network, but really serving the community in the West. 00:11:22:01 - 00:11:51:19 Speaker 1 Houston. Yeah. And I love that. And I've loved building that. But right now I'm in the process of transitioning to my dream of a boutique private office here in the heart of Houston, where I have a partner, doc, who is retiring in the next decade or so. So I'm coming in and helping to, you know, take over the realms and get adjusted in before she decides to lay off the pedal. 00:11:51:19 - 00:11:57:24 Speaker 1 And so that's kind of been my journey in a nutshell. It's been a wild adventure. 00:11:58:01 - 00:12:19:13 Speaker 2 Wild, full of full of crazy blessings. That's incredible. Yeah. So how would you define the difference between, say, like a regular practice versus boutique dentistry? And what and what kind of tools are you using to educate the patients on, on the procedures you're working with and why? Why you go into Invisalign versus straight into treatment or how that informs your decision? 00:12:19:13 - 00:12:30:19 Speaker 2 Because it's one thing for you to make the decision, right? But of course, you've got to communicate that to the patient. They have to say yes, they have to understand and and bring this into the future so that they don't continue to have to come back. 00:12:30:24 - 00:12:31:10 Speaker 1 Yeah. 00:12:31:12 - 00:12:33:03 Speaker 2 In that way. Anyway. 00:12:33:06 - 00:12:44:14 Speaker 1 Definitely one of the biggest things. So, you know, right now I have an office I've been practicing is high volume. And then I have my boutique. And I would say the biggest difference is the data in tech. So my boutique office. 00:12:44:20 - 00:12:45:27 Speaker 2 Said the data intake. 00:12:45:28 - 00:13:16:27 Speaker 1 Yeah the data intake like new patient visit. It is really robust. But I would say I both offices. The non-negotiable is photos. I am a photo diva. They have to look good and most of the photos now on my Instagram are not even taken by me. They're taken by my staff. I don't take them, they take them. 00:13:16:27 - 00:13:25:08 Speaker 1 And so if you're going to work for me, you got to learn how to use a DSLR. That's just not negotiable. 00:13:25:10 - 00:13:57:27 Speaker 1 So full face photos, internal photos, the scan, those three things are like, no matter what those need to be taking, no matter where I work. And then at the boutique office, we have all sorts of other things that we like to use the neary technology on the item, which is an additional cost to have on your item that allows you to see through the tooth and kind of see, Carrie, we we have the Carrie view. 00:13:58:00 - 00:13:59:00 Speaker 1 You know, we have. 00:13:59:02 - 00:14:04:15 Speaker 2 Just interruptions. And for those who don't know what the neary is, that's a near-field infrared imaging, something. 00:14:04:15 - 00:14:05:20 Speaker 1 Like that. Yeah, yeah. 00:14:05:24 - 00:14:09:14 Speaker 2 What is that? What does that do as opposed to just a regular oral scan? 00:14:09:16 - 00:14:32:13 Speaker 1 Well, if you have the internal scan and it's like a layer like a x ray layer, that kind of like is that you can see go slide over the teeth and show the patients where this demon realization of possible cavities showing communication. Yeah. And so I don't know if people know on their I, they can mark it up like they are a football coach. 00:14:32:14 - 00:14:49:06 Speaker 1 You know, like football coaches like circle and like all the different. Yeah. That on your eye tarot. And they could print it out. And so like a normal concept with me I'm just like look at this and look at this. Look at this. I don't know if this is going to need to to treat, but it's going to be. 00:14:49:07 - 00:15:04:24 Speaker 1 So then my patients leave their they we print it all out and they have like this portfolio of all the things that I'm bringing to their attention. Right. Doesn't mean we're going to treat it like immediately, but it just puts those things in their head. 00:15:04:25 - 00:15:05:26 Speaker 2 Like something to keep an. 00:15:05:26 - 00:15:09:09 Speaker 1 Eye on. Not perfect. Right? 00:15:09:12 - 00:15:24:15 Speaker 2 Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, so that that does that is a pretty different approach altogether. Just planning out ahead of time, you know, sort of getting it in the patient's head like, hey, we don't have to treat this today. But you know, sometime in the future, whether near or far, this is going to be a factor. 00:15:24:18 - 00:15:46:15 Speaker 1 Yeah. Because I think a lot of dentists really struggle. Like I think this is issue right now in modern day society where people don't trust doctors. Right? We just know that, like everybody, they want to go on GTP, they want to go on clod. They don't necessarily want to listen to us. And I think that's hurt the egos of a lot of professionals. 00:15:46:16 - 00:16:04:01 Speaker 1 I've taken my ego out of it and I'm just like, hey, I'm just here to show you if you want to do it, cool. If you don't want to do it, cool. But if I were me, I would do it. And I'm not working on Saturday. So if this breaks, like you're not going to have me to fix it. 00:16:04:01 - 00:16:07:19 Speaker 1 So do you want to do it now? Okay. 00:16:07:21 - 00:16:10:04 Speaker 2 You know, give them the information. They can make their own decision. 00:16:10:06 - 00:16:11:09 Speaker 1 Exactly. 00:16:11:10 - 00:16:15:25 Speaker 2 You give them the information that they can give that to Claude, GPT, AI or whatever. 00:16:15:27 - 00:16:35:27 Speaker 1 Yeah, but people trust you more when your information giver and not necessarily like you need to do this. Right. Or they just they want to see it for themselves. And I've accepted that. And I think our whole industry needs to be okay with that. We're just because you're a doctor doesn't necessarily mean people are going to listen to you. 00:16:35:29 - 00:16:38:18 Speaker 1 Like. 00:16:38:20 - 00:16:41:00 Speaker 1 That's just the world we live in. 00:16:41:02 - 00:16:57:15 Speaker 2 Absolutely. What do you what do you see is like the balance between the esthetic based approach versus like, function. How do you how do you see those both either coinciding or sometimes in conflict conflicting with each other? 00:16:57:18 - 00:17:23:07 Speaker 1 I would say they're definitely in unison for sure. I think luckily we were I mean, I say after the pandemic, we were in a very esthetic driven at all cost type of market, and that was insane. Like, I would try to get people to do Invisalign or, hey, let's fix your back teeth first before I fix your front teeth. 00:17:23:10 - 00:17:48:15 Speaker 1 And they were just like, absolutely not. And that was very hard. And luckily in the last couple of years have people are now more on things more natural and they want that longevity. And there's been enough like of the horror stories of like the turkey teeth and all the other stuff that people have kind of like dialed it down. 00:17:48:18 - 00:17:50:03 Speaker 2 The turkey. 00:17:50:06 - 00:17:54:19 Speaker 1 Yeah. Of just like people, you know, flying other places, getting their whole mouth. 00:17:54:22 - 00:17:55:18 Speaker 2 Right. Okay. 00:17:55:19 - 00:18:20:10 Speaker 1 Yeah. And then coming back and things are falling apart because, you know, no matter what, when you rush the process, you're not going to get a good result. And so what I love now is I do a lot of my cases with what's called smile Architect and Invisalign. And that basically allows me to set up the cases in shorter periods of time, be like, hey, patient. 00:18:20:12 - 00:18:48:03 Speaker 1 Like, okay, you don't want to be embraces for a year to cool, but can you at least give me three months? Can I have at least six months? Let me just fix some of this so that what I do do your veneers, it's easier. And digital dentistry has allowed for us to get back time through processes like that in the digital design whatnot, so that you don't have to be in the braces and finish completely before you go into a statics. 00:18:48:06 - 00:18:49:28 Speaker 1 So that's been really cool. 00:18:50:02 - 00:19:04:00 Speaker 2 That's that is really cool. A lot of doctors, I feel like they hear they hear orthodontics and they just run for the hills. I don't know about that. I know I like pet teeth. I don't know how to like, move them around. What what changed that for you? 00:19:04:02 - 00:19:25:18 Speaker 1 I, I don't know, I just, like, I was always here, I just, I don't know, I was just always curious. I've been doing a visit line now for, like, I don't know, like 7 or 8 years. It's just part of who I am at this point. Almost like, can I move a tooth? Perfect. It's just like practice and just realizing how easier. 00:19:25:20 - 00:19:48:24 Speaker 1 Okay, one thing about me, I like to have a good time, right? I want to go to work and I want to have a good time. I want my data flow. Once you see how fun your day can be when the teeth are in the right place to do veneers, do crowns and whatnot, you just become addicted. You're like, this is the only way that I want to do this. 00:19:48:26 - 00:20:07:10 Speaker 1 I would say a lot of that stress that comes with doing full mouth rehabilitations and whatnot can just be dissipated. If we relied more on like digitally designing or the line, etc., it's become so much more predictable. 00:20:07:13 - 00:20:17:19 Speaker 2 Yeah, that sounds right. What? What are some mistakes you think other doctors make approaching that? Like by ignoring orthodontic or tooth movement stuff? 00:20:17:21 - 00:20:37:24 Speaker 1 I think number one, we end up having to rely a lot on labs, right, to make decisions for us when we don't understand where the teeth need to be. So and then we get really upset when the teeth come out. Ideal. But like, we didn't give them a good foundation, right? 00:20:37:25 - 00:20:56:01 Speaker 2 As a lab tech, I can completely relate to that because I can't tell you how many cases over the years that I've looked at and seeing like, if only you could just move this tooth three degrees, we wouldn't have to do all this reconstructive work like it would. We could make such a pretty smile out of this if you could just move it. 00:20:56:02 - 00:21:11:02 Speaker 2 Nope nope, nope. Patient's not interested in that. And are they not interested, or did you not present it to them? Or are you afraid of it? It's a it's a conversation. I feel like I mean, a lot of labs, to be fair, are afraid to talk to their doctors about things and push back a little bit, too. 00:21:11:05 - 00:21:36:27 Speaker 1 I, I think, you know, I like I'm besties right now with my service. Like we are besties. I love that in, you know, in the funny thing about him. His name's Antonio. He owns his innovation lab in Nashville. He's my designer. So if you see my design to one, that's us working. We've been working together now for about 3 or 4 years. 00:21:36:27 - 00:22:06:28 Speaker 1 He's a completely digital lab, 100%. And so we've gone through the trial of tribulations of of like, you know, I was used to working with hand layered porcelains and we went through that clunky stage of the settings on the Millers not necessarily being good in the the scanners, the point microns not being good. We work through all those. 00:22:07:00 - 00:22:36:20 Speaker 1 And right now we're in a really nice like ebb and flow of the designs and the fit in everything being good together. And, you know, that took us like hashing, actually having those conversations and being on the phone for hours. And I think a lot of dentists don't understand that in order to have like that beautiful, like, like flow of just being able to send something, you have to spend hours with this person so they really understand your brain. 00:22:36:25 - 00:22:56:01 Speaker 1 Right. And I think, you know, he tells me, no, doc, you need to go do more prep or you need he's not afraid to be like, you need to tell the patient that this is too big of a undertaking, like you need to get worth or involved. Like I'll involve him sometimes before I even prep, instead of, like, prepping and then sending him like. 00:22:56:03 - 00:23:23:00 Speaker 2 I mean, that sounds right to me. That's good teamwork. I mean, there's one of the one of the things that one of the cool lectures that I saw at insights, the exact insights thing week or so ago, was Doctor Coachman was talking about how we should have a planning based approach and not a treatment based approach, and that all comes from the conversations like you're talking about with the lab having a having a plan before you go into battle, so to speak, and speaking. 00:23:23:01 - 00:23:43:02 Speaker 2 Speaking of plans, you mentioned earlier you've done some work with or you use the coin approach. We had a really cool episode with Doctor Elvis a few weeks back, and I want to know, like, how did that change how you look at things and how do you use the course, the lessons from your course, in your practice on a daily? 00:23:43:04 - 00:23:49:10 Speaker 1 Yeah. So number one. 00:23:49:13 - 00:24:11:10 Speaker 1 The number one thing you learn at quiz is that, like we put too much on ourselves, like, like number one, it kind of just helped me take a deep breath back and start to analyze and diagnose the type of patients that are walking in, like, is this like a normal person that just doesn't have nice teeth? Or is this somebody that actually has a functional issue? 00:24:11:10 - 00:24:33:21 Speaker 1 And should I have my red flags up right? Because that's where we usually get in trouble, is when we don't understand that this person is having an active issue. And, you know, I'm getting better at using the D programmer. And, you know, that's like a device allowing people to stop biting in the weird ways that have been doing their whole lives. 00:24:33:22 - 00:24:37:28 Speaker 1 Right. And learning. 00:24:38:01 - 00:25:04:26 Speaker 1 More about how to use my Invisalign better to put the teeth in the right place. I think because I was a Invisalign practitioner for so long, I was naturally doing what coil wants us to do, which is put like put the teeth in the face in the right place, which is based on photography. And so it was cool to go and kind of feel validated in the methods that I had been doing. 00:25:04:28 - 00:25:32:09 Speaker 1 And not being afraid to prep teeth. I think we're right now in this like no prep at all land in dentistry, which I don't necessarily agree with, because if you go to the center, you understand that if you prep the tooth, it's okay. It's still going to last. If you want properly, it's still going to last. We don't need to open up everybody's videos for five like millimeters, right? 00:25:32:10 - 00:26:00:20 Speaker 1 We don't need to do all these things, these catch alls. If you're good at mounting the case and the patient's face and understanding what the changes you're doing to their face are going to do, and then working from there. And so one of the biggest things I'm trying to implement right now through coils is trying to figure out how to get his the way that he mounts spaces with the cave. 00:26:00:21 - 00:26:02:25 Speaker 1 He has his own little like. 00:26:02:27 - 00:26:03:18 Speaker 2 Glasses. 00:26:03:21 - 00:26:15:28 Speaker 1 The glasses and the doctors and whatnot. It's been hard for me to get that integrated into my practice. Honestly, I'm probably just going to end up with the face scanner. 00:26:16:01 - 00:26:45:21 Speaker 1 I'm trying to actually pick right now. On between, I have a plan Mecca CBT, so I'm like, okay, do I just maybe I'll just have the plan Mecca CBT attachment added on to it. Or like I've tried the ray face really like it. But the issue is, I don't want to be ages here, but a lot of the older ceramist don't want to play with those things, so that's where things get a little tricky. 00:26:45:21 - 00:27:07:16 Speaker 1 So just because you as a practitioner want to you go to course you learn all these things and then there is some like tension there of trying to get your lab and whatnot to want to use those things as well because, I do use multiple labs. My Emax, my main lab that does on my design, he works in Emacs emails. 00:27:07:16 - 00:27:29:16 Speaker 1 He doesn't mind. But then my feldspar thick layered those guys that do things, old school mounting things, old school stick bites, things like that. They don't necessarily want to change how they've been doing things for decades. And we still have issues with those cases, right? They're not mounted properly in the face. Things don't look exactly like the temps. 00:27:29:16 - 00:27:47:08 Speaker 1 And then so it's kind of like, okay, if you don't evolve like I'm we're going to have to break up because we know that there's a better way to do this. And I know you've been doing this for 20, 30 years, but you need to evolve a double entendre. But like. 00:27:47:10 - 00:28:06:26 Speaker 1 So that's some of the battles I'm facing now of like in the cosmetic space of wanting like, yes, I want your beautiful layered, stacked porcelain, but I need you to mount it properly, functionally in the face, so that we can make sure my temps, my design in the finals are all exactly the same. 00:28:06:28 - 00:28:27:13 Speaker 2 That's that's a good observation to it's, there's especially with again, not to pick on the older crowd but like that has been one of the things that was that kind of held back and then finally exploded forward in the last I'd say ten, especially the last five years with digital dentistry is a lot of the a lot of the older texts were very resistant to the new technology. 00:28:27:13 - 00:28:47:22 Speaker 2 They didn't understand it. I've been doing this for 30, 20, 40 years or whatever. Why would I ever need to change? And that's just it. Life is change. Life is evolution. Life is developing new technologies. And like you said, the face scanner is a really cool development. I think that there's still a lot up and coming with the face scanners. 00:28:47:22 - 00:29:13:01 Speaker 2 Personally, having interacted with them, I find that photos are superior because you get better definition from the images, like when you're using the like Zcash, when you're matching up the photos to to the oral scan, you get better results from a two dimensional photo than the face scanner. But the face scanners are definitely on their way in. I think that they have a place in this industry. 00:29:13:03 - 00:29:33:16 Speaker 2 It's just kind of figuring out how to work them in, and there's there's a powerful tool there. Speaking of new stuff like that. What are some other up and coming texts technologies that you're excited about or new techniques? Are you are you dabbling with AI? And we kind of talked about it, touched on it earlier. What are some things that you see coming up that you're excited about? 00:29:33:18 - 00:29:36:06 Speaker 1 Yeah, I play with everything I so. 00:29:36:08 - 00:29:37:26 Speaker 2 Everything I like it. 00:29:37:28 - 00:30:01:09 Speaker 1 One thing about me like I like to tinker. And so the last couple of years, my offices I've played with almost every single scanner, like, I've gotten all of them. And you know what I've learned in dentistry? Everything does its own thing. Great. And I love each one of y'all, the each one of the technologies for different things. 00:30:01:12 - 00:30:11:14 Speaker 1 I don't think there's ever one that does everything perfectly. So right now I can go through my favorite stuff. 00:30:11:14 - 00:30:15:13 Speaker 2 So what are your favorite tools you use on a daily? 00:30:15:20 - 00:30:46:15 Speaker 1 Yeah. So right now I've been playing with the I have been playing with AI. I mean, right now we've we've been playing with Pearl and over jet. I'm probably going to be switching over to Over Jet only because they bought this little company called dental B, and dental B was a company that was doing AI notes, where you put a little like speaker in the OP, and then they bought that so that now you can have your AI notes, which is amazing. 00:30:46:15 - 00:31:11:09 Speaker 1 So I don't have to write notes anymore. The AI radiograph scanning is pretty cool. I mean, if you're a seasoned doc, you don't necessarily feel like you can see cavities really fast. So for me that's not. But it's cool to have that there to for my team and whatnot. If I'm moving really fast paced to bring to my attention, I use for smile. 00:31:11:12 - 00:31:33:13 Speaker 1 I use the I mostly for the smile AI like AI, I know there's a lot of like I've used Smile Cloud, which I liked. The only issue I have with Smile Cloud is because it was made by. No offense to Europeans, you don't really have American tooth shapes. And so like the the bubble like my patients were not having that. 00:31:33:15 - 00:31:47:01 Speaker 1 I know there's a new one on the rise that's made by some dental creators, smile biz or Viz. But for now, I'm using the Smile Architect to show patients like this is what your teeth could look like. I use that almost every single. 00:31:47:01 - 00:31:50:15 Speaker 2 Day, particularly good tool. And it's only. 00:31:50:18 - 00:32:17:08 Speaker 1 Yeah. Let me see. What else do I use? We have I do have a sprint ray 3D printer setup. I mostly use that for same day. Like if a patient is flying in, I'll do the same day design like my designer can probably do a smile mock up in about like 30 minutes. So then we can print that and make. 00:32:17:09 - 00:32:44:07 Speaker 1 So we can prep and make temps the same day. I'm, I'm, I'm thinking about a midas. You know, I went to the Midas launch when it launched about two years ago. I've thought about it, I do I'm thinking about getting into the 3D printed veneers as a low cost. I've been waiting for the resins to look better, and it seems like the resins and whatnot are finally, 00:32:44:09 - 00:33:14:10 Speaker 1 They're looking real nice. They their residents have evolved. So. Because right now I'm able to make a milled Emax pretty cost effectively. And that's something that for me, I've been really happy that I'm able to give, because, you know, right now in cosmetic dentistry, you have, you know, these this dentist charging three grand to six grand per tooth. 00:33:14:12 - 00:33:37:10 Speaker 1 Right. And for me, I want the everyday person to have a great smile. So milled Emax has been great. And they can mill it now with these five access millers to be about like, like point three millimeters, like it's pretty thin. So I'm barely prepping people's teeth for these. I don't know if this is way to a nerdy no. 00:33:37:10 - 00:33:44:08 Speaker 2 I mean, we like to get that's what got me into this industry. So, like, it's not nerdy for me. 00:33:44:10 - 00:34:22:06 Speaker 1 I'm like, over here, like, nerd it out about porcelain, but I just I caught myself, I'm like, wow, you're really excited about porcelain. But it looks really nice. It looks beautiful in the mouth, is resistant. You use a nice like my favorite cements are like the panel, cement you use like the soft white or the. It looks stunning when they smile, for like, a, like half the cost of or a quarter of the cost of some of the labs in the US right now. 00:34:22:08 - 00:34:43:26 Speaker 1 So I play a lot with that. We do have a fast mill, so if someone breaks a tooth or something like that, I have that I like to play with. Yeah. I'm trying to think what else is a little bit everything. My is my best friend. I use it a lot. Implant planning. Airway. Yeah. 00:34:44:01 - 00:34:45:19 Speaker 2 I mean, we get that camera, though. 00:34:45:26 - 00:34:59:10 Speaker 1 In my camera. Yeah. Nikon. I mean, that thing is old. That's like a DSLR 7500. Like, just as long as you have that 105 millimeter lens, like you're straight. 00:34:59:13 - 00:35:14:02 Speaker 2 Yeah. The camera is such a powerful communication tool between the doctors and the labs and everybody kind of coming together, and especially with the smile proposition designs for it or XO cad, which. Yeah, on my line these days. So yeah, as long as. 00:35:14:04 - 00:35:29:20 Speaker 1 I mean, I, I mean, I don't know if you saw that research where it's like and I think that's the one thing that like if there's any dentists can do, if they can start taking all their photos with the 105 millimeter lens, because that's the only one that's accurate and that's okay, like all the other ones will distort. 00:35:29:20 - 00:35:43:20 Speaker 1 And so a lot of times when I visit my colleagues, they're taking photos with the 85 or whatnot and then wondering why their cases aren't coming back. That's usually the biggest thing that will absolutely revolutionize their their workflow, truly. 00:35:43:21 - 00:36:08:26 Speaker 2 And it's I mean, it really comes back down the same thing as a good scan, good pictures, good impressions. You know, it's it's the manufacturing term garbage in, garbage out. Now that I'm accusing of anybody of providing garbage however. Yeah. You fall to the quality of or rise to the quality of your initial data acquisition, whether it be the scanner or the photographs or anything else in between. 00:36:08:28 - 00:36:38:22 Speaker 2 Yeah, I think that that's an I think you're right there. That's an accurate observation for sure. And so we were talking a little bit about the dentistry and wellness coaching earlier. How does how does one influence the other there. Like how are you talking to your patients about this wellness based holistic based treatment? And how does that play into how you choose what treatments and what you teach them? 00:36:38:25 - 00:37:04:04 Speaker 1 So for me, I have like transformed my own body over the last like five years. And so I've become a way health. I know a lot of a lot of us dentists, we get out of dental school like for four years. We ignored our bodies, neglected our bodies and whatnot. And so I, I've myself has been on a radical transformation on how do I practice dentistry. 00:37:04:07 - 00:37:32:01 Speaker 1 Because the statistics aren't good. Like a lot of us end up. We die here early or hurting ourselves. And so I just want to inspire my own patients to, you know, live their best life. And when we look at people like, I look at my patients that have that are in their 80s and 90s and are, well, they have all their teeth, right? 00:37:32:02 - 00:37:54:02 Speaker 1 They they have, you know, they might have an implant or a couple there and then whatnot. And so I really try to connect, like, you know, that like, yes, this might be you might want to pull this to today or yes, you might want the shortcut route. But like, you're like, we're in the long game here. And so what can we do. 00:37:54:04 - 00:38:20:28 Speaker 1 Like to functionally set up not just you your whole body up for success. Right. I have some patients that, you know, we start treating them. They go through the Invisalign, they get their teeth, they start going to the gym. They start like telling their kids like, I need more mom time. They start feeling good about themselves. And then like you look up a year or two later, they're a whole different person. 00:38:20:28 - 00:38:42:04 Speaker 1 I'm like, oh, are you there walking around the office, like saying, right, you know? And that's my goal for all my clients is to and a lot of these people come to me and they're like, you know, I'm here. But, you know, my husband says, I don't need this. Or everyone says, I don't need this. And, you know, they're making them so small and I'm the person. 00:38:42:04 - 00:39:01:21 Speaker 1 And I'm like, no, let's do it. Like, what do you want to do? How do you want to change yourself? Like, like who is this new identity? And sometimes it just starts with a smile and the team and it's like the, the thing that triggers like all these other changes and like, and they get to be a whole new person. 00:39:01:21 - 00:39:16:07 Speaker 1 And part of that new person is that they take better care of their bodies, they eat better and they take care of their teeth. And so that's that's what I love. That's like my favorite part of doing all this is. 00:39:16:09 - 00:39:20:02 Speaker 2 It's all connected. And it's like a catalyst for the whole for the rest of the journey. 00:39:20:03 - 00:39:21:26 Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. 00:39:22:00 - 00:39:26:20 Speaker 2 You said you went on your own health journey there. I mean, if you care to share. 00:39:26:22 - 00:39:48:27 Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean, you know, like, I, when I graduated, I was just like, I was not a good version of myself. I was very lethargic. I was sleeping in the middle of the day and between clients, like, was it eating? Well, I was depressed. I didn't have a lot of friends here in Houston, like, and I was really isolated. 00:39:48:27 - 00:40:19:01 Speaker 1 And so, you know, I went on my own journey of like putting myself out there, you know, building my social media, like going out. Like when I first came here, I was out all the time, like, trying to like, hi, I'm doctor Joy. You wouldn't be my patient, like, you know, and then once I realized that, you know, you know, especially being a younger doc when you're younger people, who are you like, like, you know, like, is there someone more like like like you look a child in my mouth because I graduated at 25. 00:40:19:02 - 00:40:29:08 Speaker 1 So I was literally a child, so, you know, and this I was like, you know what? I'm going to look better. So what did I do? I started wearing heels. 00:40:29:10 - 00:40:32:06 Speaker 2 Okay. 00:40:32:08 - 00:40:36:16 Speaker 3 So I saw that we're heels to work, you know, and. 00:40:36:18 - 00:40:38:13 Speaker 2 That's like the person you want to be, right? 00:40:38:14 - 00:40:39:14 Speaker 3 Yeah. And so. 00:40:39:14 - 00:40:42:26 Speaker 1 You can't mess with the woman that's doing dentistry in heels. You just. 00:40:42:26 - 00:40:43:03 Speaker 3 Pull. 00:40:43:03 - 00:41:12:07 Speaker 1 The molar out in heels. You can't be like, no, no one messed with me after that. You know, I started looking nice. You know, I went and got facial balancing done to my face. Like, I got filler. I got some Botox. You know, I started doing my hair better. I got my eyebrows. And then, you know, I did get some plastic surgery, and, like, I started just transforming myself into the person that I am today in this final product. 00:41:12:07 - 00:41:46:21 Speaker 1 And so when people look at me, you don't understand. I'm like, no, I do, I do understand and I understand and I'm here to tell you and hold your hand that, you know, this might be hard, but I'm on the other end and this feels waking up and feeling good about myself is amazing. And the way that people treat me in the way that I'm able to just grow every day because of those sacrifices I made to go through that transformation is changing my whole trajectory of my whole life, and I want that for you. 00:41:46:21 - 00:41:49:26 Speaker 1 So you want to go on this ride together like, let's go. 00:41:49:28 - 00:41:51:03 Speaker 3 And usually they come a lot. 00:41:51:03 - 00:41:59:14 Speaker 2 So I've been there, I really have been there. And it is a powerful thing that you can do. I did it and let me tell you how and bring you along I love that. 00:41:59:15 - 00:42:00:20 Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah. 00:42:00:21 - 00:42:27:03 Speaker 1 And that's kind of like what my page is like really about. Like it's a little bit about my Instagram. Doctor Joy is a little bit about, you know, dentistry, but also just transformation. I've gotten into bodybuilding now. That's something that, that I'm passionate about as well. And it's just like that science based approach, evidence based approach to pushing yourself and becoming the best part, like version of you. 00:42:27:03 - 00:42:30:20 Speaker 1 And so, yeah, 00:42:30:22 - 00:42:45:10 Speaker 2 In addition to that journey, what other you did, you started going out more. Hi, I'm doctor Joy. Let me take care of you. What? Or let me let me let me help you with the smile. What are some other things you like to do outside of dentistry? What do you have? Hobbies? Other interests? You like travel? 00:42:45:13 - 00:43:09:20 Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean, I'm chilled out. I used to be a full like. I mean, I'm in my 30s now, but I used to be a festival girl. I used to be like, I was going to like coach. No, nothing. Like I love house music. If you come to my house, I have a club system in my living room with. 00:43:09:22 - 00:43:10:27 Speaker 2 Who are you listening to lately? 00:43:10:28 - 00:43:31:04 Speaker 1 Who's I just love? House music. Isn't that same? Yeah. I met my fiance at a Carl Cox concert on the dance floor, like DMC. Yeah. So, yeah, our favorite time is is going to I and dancing or something. 00:43:31:07 - 00:43:33:12 Speaker 2 That's cool. I haven't made it to a busy yet. 00:43:33:13 - 00:44:00:08 Speaker 1 Yeah, you gotta go. So. Yeah, I love house music. I love right now I'm bodybuilding. And then, I spent a lot of time actually. Like, right now, most of my time and effort is trying to finish being at the center, because that takes up a lot. I just came back like two weeks ago and I'm still overstimulated. 00:44:00:10 - 00:44:21:09 Speaker 1 So, right now I'm in that season of my career where it's just a lot of growth, where I feel like in the beginning of my because I had, like, went straight through to dental school, I had a season of, like, getting out of survival mode and just, like, relaxing and just like, okay, we made it. 00:44:21:10 - 00:44:46:06 Speaker 1 Let's have some fun because you didn't have any fun. And then now I'm in this season where I'm, like revving up of just like I've done a lot of volume, I've done hundreds of cosmetic like makeovers. And now I can like, like treat almost any type of person. But now I'm trying to dial in and the Koi center is really helping me really like, dial in how I treat people. 00:44:46:06 - 00:44:59:10 Speaker 1 And then I think the next phase for me is like taking over this practice and being more in that leadership role and guiding others and yeah, blossoming that way. 00:44:59:12 - 00:45:02:21 Speaker 2 So how do you how do you feel about taking on that leadership role? 00:45:02:24 - 00:45:27:00 Speaker 1 It's a lot. So this practice has been in the community for over 30 years. It's it's a and the dentist that she's been here she's an amazing doctor. It it is run. She's done an amazing job creating great systems. And so I'm really happy I get to come somewhere where I get to, like, take it to the next level. 00:45:27:00 - 00:45:50:09 Speaker 1 I kind of feel like she's, like, kind of like a religion doll. And I'm like, Appa coming in, like to take it to the next level. Use those analogies. But I feel I magically just ended up here by accident. And this is a funny story. All last year, I was trying to find a practice to buy, and it was not going well, like it was not going well at all. 00:45:50:12 - 00:46:13:08 Speaker 1 People keep selling their practices to DSO. People are trying to oversell me space and I'm like, I want to be a boutique. They're like, no, you need ten ops. I'm like, no, I just need more. Like, I don't need that money. And I had put on an offer on a practice and I go to I was like, hey, I'm gonna I put in an offer for your office. 00:46:13:08 - 00:46:35:06 Speaker 1 And he's like, you're so sweet, but I'm selling to the Dia. So. But this is this is my colleague. You should go visit her. Go visit her right now. And I'm like, right now. She's like, right now. So I get in my car in something, I say, God, but like, in my head, like, go, go to the office right now. 00:46:35:10 - 00:46:44:10 Speaker 1 And so I literally just drive over there and I'm like, hey, I'm not your joy. And she's like. 00:46:44:13 - 00:46:47:00 Speaker 2 Hi. 00:46:47:02 - 00:47:17:27 Speaker 1 She's in the middle of her day. She's crying because the hygienist didn't show up. And it's just like, I know. And I oh, sorry. And I'm just like, I just show up like, hi. Like she's like, okay, maybe. And and lo and behold, and I say this because I built a brand, because I had my portfolio of work online, I had all this data. 00:47:18:00 - 00:47:56:09 Speaker 1 You could look me up and whatnot. She felt comfortable allowing me in to become her and hopefully and then take over the practice. So. So I've been here for the last eight and nine months, like getting cozy. She's actually gone this whole month. So I've been here by myself and it's been a really good transition, but it's really cool, empowered to me, the power testament of even if you're not braiding a brand for patients, like just building a brand so that like no matter where you go, so you decide to move or you want another job, you have evidence of patients making you of your work of. 00:47:56:09 - 00:48:21:18 Speaker 1 I think that's really important as Dennis for us, so that people can pay you what you're worth and you can, like, move about without having to rebuild every single time. Because I've now been at three different practices, my Instagram has been the same. And no matter what, people can always find me. And so I'm free, right? I don't have to be tied to any one location. 00:48:21:20 - 00:48:44:09 Speaker 2 That's that's a I think that's a probably a very overlooked thing that you're just mentioning there about building your own brand. I mean, just interject a little bit. It sounds like a good thing to me. I mean, there's an old saying, man plans and God laughs. And then ultimately, the plan that the Lord had in mind is so much more powerful than so much better than anything we could have envisioned for ourselves. 00:48:44:16 - 00:48:58:21 Speaker 2 Right. Yeah. One of one of the better books that I was given years ago. Bring your own brand, David McNally. Great book. And especially for kind of wrap your head around like defining who you are and being consistent and who that is both professionally and personally. 00:48:58:26 - 00:49:01:22 Speaker 1 Yes. Yes, exactly. 00:49:01:25 - 00:49:14:07 Speaker 2 No matter what that means to you, and literally, what does that mean to you? And how do you want to be thought of and remembered? And, you know, when people do look you up online, well, what do they see and why do they see that as opposed to something else? 00:49:14:09 - 00:49:51:24 Speaker 1 Yeah, I think like for so long a lot of dentists thought they or you, you know, in dental school were like competing with one another and like you're looking at the top of the class and I think we're in this really cool era where we don't like I tell them, stop looking at what the people are doing in our industry, like be be aware, but we spend way too much time focused on what, like the Titans are doing, that we're not building our own individual brands, you know, and it becomes a little what's the word like cookie cutter? 00:49:51:24 - 00:50:10:27 Speaker 1 And what's happened is that those of us that are breaking the rules and kind of not being like, you know, like, like in the box are winning right now because we stand out in a sea of sameness. And so that's one of my biggest thing. I tell my, my mentees that are in school, the one I might start building your personal brand. 00:50:10:27 - 00:50:19:18 Speaker 1 What do you want your dentistry to feel like? You know, I when you come to my offices, we're usually blasting house music. It took. 00:50:19:18 - 00:50:23:24 Speaker 2 Me that I want to go to the doctor and hear John Summit. 00:50:23:26 - 00:50:34:28 Speaker 1 Well, the funny thing, my older my younger team will be blasting John Summit and Clune at 9:00 am and I'm like, no, no, no, you have to, you got to crescendo. 00:50:35:01 - 00:50:38:27 Speaker 2 That down. Let's do some old castle. 00:50:39:00 - 00:50:51:19 Speaker 1 And my this office here. It took me about eight nine months. But you know, this station has now evolved from yacht rock to chill House. So, you know. 00:50:51:21 - 00:50:52:03 Speaker 2 I like. 00:50:52:03 - 00:50:56:13 Speaker 1 It in. 00:50:56:15 - 00:51:17:26 Speaker 1 But yeah. So when you come to, I want my vibe to be, like, fun, airy, like, like kind of like a high end New York nail salon. No, not nail salon. Hair salon. Yeah. Are you getting cuts for, like, a grand? Not like that's what I want my dental office to be like. And I know that's not for everybody, which is fine. 00:51:17:26 - 00:51:24:06 Speaker 1 But the people that love me really love me. And we have to be okay with not being loved by everyone. 00:51:24:08 - 00:51:42:24 Speaker 2 I think that's a good point to not everyone's brand is for everyone, and they say your thing earlier, like the competition, like there's there's enough. There are patients out there like there's more than enough. There's more demand for dentistry now than ever before. There's more people in this country. And, you know, it's not like there's not enough to go around. 00:51:42:27 - 00:51:50:27 Speaker 2 It's making of being your own brand. Where do people find you online? Where where can they look you up? Where can they see your social media stuff and all the cool work you're doing? 00:51:50:28 - 00:52:00:20 Speaker 1 Yeah. So my portfolio, everything I'm up to is all on Instagram with doctor Joy, with two wise. It's all there for you. 00:52:00:22 - 00:52:04:15 Speaker 2 That's so cool. Thank you so much for being a part of this. This has been a lot of fun. 00:52:04:16 - 00:52:08:02 Speaker 1 Awesome. Thank you. My pleasure. 00:52:08:04 - 00:52:24:25 Speaker 2 And thank you everyone for listening to the episode of Evolution of Dental Podcast. For more shows just like this, you can find us on all the major podcast platforms. Release new episodes every Friday. Please remember to like, subscribe, share the show with your friends and remember, never stop evolving.