Episode Transcript
00:00:05:20 - 00:00:23:50
Speaker 1
Welcome back to the Evolution of Dental Podcasts, brought to you by Evolution Dental Science, where we share the stories of the people and the technology shaping the world of dentistry. Now this is our 30th episode. So we thought for today's guest, what we do is we do something super conventional. He's taking a regular path that every doctor's taken.
00:00:23:58 - 00:00:56:06
Speaker 1
Like most doctors, he started in the oil fields in New Mexico and got his masters in mechanical engineering and then, of course, logically pivoted to dentures. Doctor Russell, Russell Schaffer, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for being here. How are you today?
00:00:56:11 - 00:01:37:20
Speaker 1
Oh, hey.
00:01:37:24 - 00:01:54:56
Speaker 1
I mean, there is a lot of one of the things we talk about here a lot is that dentistry is frequently the the perfect intersection between art and engineering. So there's there's definitely that aspect of it. And that doesn't even begin to talk about the direct relationship you have with the patients. But so again, kind of take me back through this a little though.
00:01:54:58 - 00:02:27:54
Speaker 1
So you were in the oil field and you said Mexico covered in the early dirt from that whole thing. And then you decided organic chemistry.
00:02:27:59 - 00:02:31:57
Speaker 1
No, it's a broad spectrum field. I mean, that's everything from automated,
00:02:31:57 - 00:04:15:53
Speaker 1
you know, car assembly lines to, well, these days, Amazon warehouses.
00:04:15:58 - 00:04:56:16
Speaker 1
I mean, that's a that's a very, very rational business analytics way to look at it. So how did you end up. How did you end up linked up with evolve.
00:04:56:21 - 00:05:27:10
Speaker 1
If you're interested in learning more about digital dentures and how to master the workflows through CAD, take your course directly with Johnny Jackson himself right here at this link, or this QR code where you can find Johnny Jackson, as well as myself and all of our other talented CAD coaches here at Evolve.
00:05:27:14 - 00:05:43:14
Speaker 1
We had a really cool with him right at the very beginning when we first started this whole thing. He's a I mean, he's one of the premier if not the premier lecturer for I've ocean on there and they're like yeah, ocean dentures are really cool. Is that something you work with a lot?
00:05:43:19 - 00:06:50:05
Speaker 1
Mostly. Okay.
00:06:50:10 - 00:07:59:31
Speaker 1
No that's okay, that's okay. That's exactly what we're looking for. So so you're saying like, the lab tests are like the lab tests are leading the charge into the technology? Be fair to say.
00:07:59:35 - 00:08:12:21
Speaker 1
Thank you. Brought up a good point there, though. When you're talking about the the savings and share time, when things just go perfectly versus the savings and dollar figures, when maybe it didn't go perfectly. But hey, you saved a couple dollars.
00:08:12:26 - 00:09:26:27
Speaker 1
Like what?
00:09:26:31 - 00:12:37:19
Speaker 1
It's it's own world. I mean, it's it's so distinctly different than fixed restorations. And that's actually what. So one of the things we kind of rolled into just a little bit before we started recording was you were telling me how originally you were avoiding dentures and then now you're, you've kind of tripled down on it. Where, where along the way did you change paths and decide that this was something you wanted to bring into the fold as opposed to like a void?
00:12:37:24 - 00:13:41:36
Speaker 1
And were you did you start off 3D printing them, or did you walk into the analog door and then kind of sidestep into 3D printing later?
00:13:41:41 - 00:13:56:41
Speaker 1
So let me make sure I understand. You say now your current workflow is that you you deliver them in immediate, that you charge the final and then you come back. You said a couple six months later.
00:13:56:46 - 00:14:13:32
Speaker 1
Okay.
00:14:13:37 - 00:14:58:23
Speaker 1
What's your process there with making the second venture the one that you're doing for free, as you're saying?
00:14:58:27 - 00:15:17:49
Speaker 1
What do you think the secret sauce is there for that? Like the like the time versus versus trying to deliver the first one right out of the gate, like, exactly. And that's it. And then you're done versus, say, waiting. How what you say your period is like a few weeks, six weeks, six months.
00:15:17:54 - 00:15:22:06
Speaker 1
Right.
00:15:22:11 - 00:15:58:21
Speaker 1
Gotcha.
00:15:58:25 - 00:16:05:57
Speaker 1
I've heard you say online rather because I followed you on Facebook. I think for a while now that the greatest interests start with listening.
00:16:06:01 - 00:16:20:09
Speaker 1
What's the what's the biggest gap between what the patients ask for and what they're hoping for? Do you think?
00:16:20:13 - 00:19:54:53
Speaker 1
The best thing to do for the patients is to gaslight them?
00:19:54:58 - 00:20:30:38
Speaker 1
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So you invite them essentially, or gaslight them into taking ownership of of the situation like they're part of it. It's not they're not a car. You're not fixing a thing.
00:20:30:43 - 00:21:13:06
Speaker 1
Yeah. You're here to help. You're here to provide what you can. You're not God. You can't change what happened in their lives before they met you. And as you said, it's a prosthetic.
00:21:13:11 - 00:23:04:49
Speaker 1
Was there were there were there was a case or a patient or a series of cases or patients that shifted your attitude towards some of this kind of opened up the light for you.
00:23:04:54 - 00:23:31:16
Speaker 1
Yeah. It's coming back to that business rational mindset that we sort of open open the episode with right there at the beginning. And so you were you're heavily involved in all these key courses, and you've obviously talked a lot about how how you've shifted from leaning away from into leaning into dentures. What were there any C courses that you went to along the way that really shifted that, that perspective?
00:23:31:23 - 00:26:47:12
Speaker 1
Or are there any of them that you've been involved with recently that you feel like have really shifted your perspective?
00:26:47:17 - 00:26:56:48
Speaker 1
Yeah, comes back to the whole, where do you want to spend your money? Right. Do you want to spend it or do you want to lose it?
00:26:56:53 - 00:27:16:17
Speaker 1
Because you're spending in some way, whether you're spending it on the CE or learning it, or you're losing it due to repeated share time over the same topic, which always leads back to our favorite phrase in dentistry from doctor to lab, which is we'll just do the best you can, you know? Yeah. Which which. Yeah. Just just please make it work, which never really works.
00:27:16:17 - 00:27:46:57
Speaker 1
And then the patients upset. The doctors upset the labs over here, like. Well, I mean, you told me to do the best I could. You gave me this to work with. So what can we do?
00:27:47:02 - 00:27:53:24
Speaker 1
It's a bigger problem.
00:27:53:29 - 00:28:49:07
Speaker 1
Indeed.
00:28:49:12 - 00:29:07:19
Speaker 1
And it sounds like a lot of that comes back down to just communication between the doctor and the lab, too. I mean, the more, the stronger that pipeline is back and forth, the more frequently you're talking to each other, the less likely you are to bash your heads against the wall over the same issues, you know?
00:29:07:24 - 00:29:39:12
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00:29:39:17 - 00:29:53:21
Speaker 1
Yeah. These.
00:29:53:26 - 00:30:04:24
Speaker 1
Oh that's cool. So did you paint those? Do you have those commissions like where did this come from?
00:30:04:29 - 00:30:10:48
Speaker 1
Oh no kidding.
00:30:10:53 - 00:30:29:38
Speaker 1
So you printed those out. So you designed that on the computer and then just print them out. That's that's awesome. What other kind of cool hobbies do you have outside of dentistry? None. I mean, you're in New Orleans, which is one of my favorite cities in the world, which has some of, in my opinion, anyway, the best food in the world.
00:30:29:41 - 00:32:09:02
Speaker 1
Like, surely there's something about that. That city that drew you in, right? Oh, you're from New Orleans originally. Okay.
00:32:09:07 - 00:32:40:05
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah.
00:32:40:09 - 00:33:56:03
Speaker 1
Well, there's always going to have always going to be somebody who has something to say that's not so positive. No matter no matter what you post.
00:33:56:07 - 00:34:01:27
Speaker 1
Yeah. So we're we're at an interesting point with the material science. And it's there
00:34:01:36 - 00:34:02:10
Speaker 1
are
00:34:02:15 - 00:34:18:34
Speaker 1
people, pardon the pun. There are layers to this question. But the, the truth of the matter is, is that there's you have you have your, your resin dentures. Right. Which are what you're mostly referring to there, where the material science is going off in several different directions and competing for who has the better base and tooth material.
00:34:18:36 - 00:34:33:38
Speaker 1
Right. So there are two different disciplines of material research, which as an engineer, I'm sure you understand. And the other side being that there's a bunch of budding technologies coming out now too. So, for example, one of the ones that's pushing its way into the market more is the.
00:34:33:43 - 00:34:55:04
Speaker 1
jet printing. Right. So it's essentially, you know, for those who don't know, it's almost like your inkjet printer on your desktop, except instead of using a in cartridge and just, you know, printing out, you know, nice color documents, it's literally using the same kind of technology to spray little droplets of resin, one layer at a time, in full color, which means that the whole thing has color all the way through it.
00:34:55:04 - 00:35:17:04
Speaker 1
And not just, you know, on the surface or not, just two color components. So that's cool. To the translucency there, though, is kind of one of those things that's up in development. I mean, you have very lifelike color, but also sometimes ends up looking a little dead depending on how it's post processed. Then you have other things on top of that coming out like you have.
00:35:17:09 - 00:35:42:33
Speaker 1
I've a class come out with their own staining stuff. GC, of course has their own standing stuff. And there's the annex, a litany of other people with different glazes and stains that you can use to really doctor these things up and make them look beautiful. We actually had a guest on the other day who she 3D prints the dentures, and then she spends a long time sitting there characterizing and using all sorts of hand techniques to build them up and really make them look lifelike.
00:35:42:36 - 00:36:12:09
Speaker 1
So there's a layers literally of different complications there on on what makes where this is going. And the spread ranges came out with excuse me not spread right. Shining 3D just came out with their competitor to Midas, which is nothing to do with dentures right now. But anytime somebody shakes up the market with a new technology, it's bound to be adopted by people who will use it for things that it was never intended for.
00:36:12:14 - 00:36:38:31
Speaker 1
Which is what I love about dentistry. Lab tests are always good at taking stuff out of the box, going, I don't need no directions. I'm going to figure out what to do with this myself. And I mean, that's how someone like me ends up using CAD not only to make, you know, all onyx large full mouth reconstructions, but also like last weekend, I was using CAD to help sister and and figure out and finalize a scan for a exhaust manifold adapter plate for turbo S 2000.
00:36:38:33 - 00:37:16:40
Speaker 1
So, you know, like again, totally. What was meant for was making car parts, right? So like you can use these tools for all sorts of different things. And what I'm really excited to see is where where this is going to thinking of what I mean. As someone who processes a ton of dentures in-house yourself and who's seen it go from analog to where we are now with digital, what's something that you see on the horizon you're really excited about?
00:37:16:45 - 00:38:51:19
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:38:51:24 - 00:39:15:12
Speaker 1
Yeah, it's an exciting proposition for sure. We had John on in one of our early episodes too, and he was talking about it before this whole process launched, and it's super exciting to see where that goes. And that kind of ties back to the ocean thing again, where their approach to the module, as opposed to having you set the teeth yourself, that you essentially start off with a set of teeth that are already in perfect occlusion.
00:39:15:16 - 00:39:31:28
Speaker 1
Right? And then you work outward from there and adjusting it to fit that patient. And there's probably a big part of that. They can just be plugged into AI. And I'm sure John Madden's got that worked out with his side of things a lot. And you know, I love that. So that's what I eat. Leave and live and breathe, you know.
00:39:31:31 - 00:40:44:14
Speaker 1
So I'm not trying to like throw that out with a, you know, bathwater so to speak. But man, you know, like if it opens it up to more doctors, more clinicians having access to being able to process these sort of cases, it sounds like a win.
00:40:44:19 - 00:42:09:45
Speaker 1
Absolutely. What what's something that you've seen over the years that's changed how you approach like dentistry in general, as far as technologies like what's one of the bigger tech pieces that you've adopted that really fundamentally shifted how you look at things?
00:42:09:50 - 00:42:26:25
Speaker 1
They have gotten so, so, so affordable. Yeah. Now anytime I hear I don't believe scanning is there yet it's like okay, sure. How so what are you feeding your horse these days. You know.
00:42:26:30 - 00:43:20:56
Speaker 1
It is. It is. And not to mention it goes back to what you're saying earlier with having the clinic and lab take equal parts ownership in the case. It's like there's no question how the how the impression turned out. You're looking at it in high resolution HD color 15 17in right there in front of you, maybe on a TV, you know.
00:43:21:01 - 00:44:12:13
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. Is there looking back a little bit, is there anything that you would have done or you would do differently now?
00:44:12:18 - 00:44:23:52
Speaker 1
It's got to hit one of the three, right. And so they got to be youthful, profitable or fun.
00:44:23:56 - 00:44:58:33
Speaker 1
That's awesome. Advice Russell. Thank you so much for being a part of this man.
00:44:58:37 - 00:45:03:47
Speaker 1
Thank you again.
00:45:03:52 - 00:45:20:26
Speaker 1
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. We release new episodes every Friday. Please remember to like, subscribe, share the show with your friends and remember, never stop evolving.
