Maximizing Your Dental Technology ROI | Wayne Glassoff | EODP #43

00:00:00:08 - 00:00:26:51 Speaker 1 And there's still 90% of, you know, practices that you scanners and printers and mills that are just scratching the surface. You know, maybe 5% of that procedure, that workflow should be them, but 95% should be an assistant or high dentist or in-house lab tech that should be doing the work for them. If they're not letting their teams fully utilize the technology, there's no way they can, you know, add on to it. 00:00:26:56 - 00:00:28:10 Speaker 1 What gave you the confidence. 00:00:28:10 - 00:00:29:49 Speaker 2 This time that things would be different? 00:00:29:51 - 00:00:36:14 Speaker 1 Oh, nothing. 00:00:36:19 - 00:00:55:40 Speaker 3 Welcome back to the Evolution of Dental Podcast. Brought to you by Evolution Dental Science. Or we bring the stories of the people and the technology changing the world of dentistry. I'm your host, Rob Norton. Practices are dropping six figures on scanners and printers now for a few years, and a lot of that gear is running at half speed or even collecting dust. 00:00:55:48 - 00:01:03:40 Speaker 3 My guest today says the fix for that is standing right next to the chair. Wayne Glass off. Welcome to the Evolution of Dental podcast. How are you today? 00:01:03:55 - 00:01:06:52 Speaker 1 I'm good. Rob, how are you? It's great to be here. Appreciate it. 00:01:07:00 - 00:01:19:48 Speaker 3 Excellent. And a little side note it's kind of funny. So this is episode 43. Episode three actually featured your your colleague Chelsea Meyer. So this is a feels pretty appropriate. 00:01:19:52 - 00:01:43:21 Speaker 1 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. She, she got on board real quick with you guys. We, we have a great relationship with evolution. And, yeah, we wanted to share the word of DDA back then, and we still do today. We think it's, you know, it's an ever growing and ever changing company. And we'll certainly get into that. But yeah, Chelsea and you guys really help us kick off the company about ten minutes ago. 00:01:43:28 - 00:01:49:16 Speaker 3 Before we dive too deep into that. How how did you get into dentistry? Is that what you always envisioned for your future? 00:01:49:26 - 00:02:14:33 Speaker 1 No, not at all. It was the first the furthest thing I thought I'd be doing. You know, at a college, I worked on Wall Street for a few years, did some entrepreneurial stuff. I owned a bar out here on Long Island for about six months, which was a very interesting experience. I will never do that again. And then if you guys can remember back in the day, Monster.com. 00:02:14:38 - 00:02:42:21 Speaker 1 I remember monster, one of the original chat websites or, you know, job websites. Back then I answered a, you know, customer service job for a local dental manufacturer out here, Long Island, and the rest is history. Funny thing is, the first thing my boss said back then was, now that you're in dental, you'll never leave dental. And you know, I, I was what was I 30 years old at the time? 00:02:42:24 - 00:03:00:14 Speaker 1 And I was like, I already, you know, eight years out of college, it did three, 4 or 5 different things. Ready. I'm like, okay, sure, I'll be here for a couple of years and I'll figure something else out. And, well, 20, 20 years later, still in dental, still doing my thing, still enjoying it. It's it's an amazing industry. 00:03:00:16 - 00:03:02:19 Speaker 1 It's certainly interesting. As we all know. 00:03:02:33 - 00:03:03:00 Speaker 3 You. 00:03:03:02 - 00:03:03:28 Speaker 1 Kind of have. 00:03:03:31 - 00:03:11:28 Speaker 3 Like a bunch of different things that you went through in dentistry itself. You kind of jumped around to different, different spots. Is that right? Yeah, yeah. 00:03:11:28 - 00:03:36:19 Speaker 1 I started out with a company called Midas International, which they were there. I mean, the brand is around the defend branded products still around, but they were bought by Young Innovations a few years ago. I was there for seven years, and I've been basically been doing sales since then. I went to Keystone Industries after that for about six years, and that's where I find finally found my passion in dentistry. 00:03:36:21 - 00:03:56:52 Speaker 1 I mean, like I said, dentistry was not something I expected to be doing for any kind of long term period. But, you know, it might end. I was basically selling, you know, gloves and masks and cotton products at Keystone started out, you know, it's more of a lab supply company, but they had basically the same plus labs. 00:03:56:57 - 00:04:03:21 Speaker 1 But then the last couple of years I was there, they finally started developing their 3D printing resins, and they went. 00:04:03:36 - 00:04:04:43 Speaker 2 Into resins. 00:04:04:48 - 00:04:33:28 Speaker 1 Yeah. When they started doing their research and development, we started looking at 3D printers and how everything worked. And that's where my passion for 3D printing and dental technology started at that point. And so when I was finally looking to move on from Keystone, I started looking at 3D printing companies, and I went to sprint Ray for about three years and started out as a, you know, northeast sales manager. 00:04:33:33 - 00:04:57:43 Speaker 1 Amazing. I mean, I came on just as they were releasing the first pro version. So I, you know, still still had to deal with the, the, the old school printer, the moon ray for a little while, but, mostly dealing with the pro and then, you know, the versions after that, which was great. And the Pro two now is just still to me, it's my favorite printer in the market. 00:04:57:50 - 00:05:26:28 Speaker 1 And yeah, it's really where I found my passion for dental technology. I really find that, you know, it's the future. I mean, it's it's now as the future. So I'm still excited about that. And that basically, you know, after leaving sprint, Ray, I went to run a 3D printing division for small distribution company. After that, I started DDA with Chelsea and our other partner shell, and that's where I am now. 00:05:26:33 - 00:05:37:21 Speaker 1 For the most part. I still have a few other dental jobs out there. I do, but, my my large focus is at least trying to grow the DBA business. 00:05:37:26 - 00:05:39:55 Speaker 3 How'd you how did you end up getting connected with Chelsea? 00:05:40:07 - 00:06:04:55 Speaker 1 She was one of the very few dental assistants who were posting about digital technology online, mostly about 3D printing and workflows. I just connected with it and reached out to her and started conversation. And one of the thoughts I had, even, you know, this was probably for at least 4 or 5 years ago was, you know, I was working still at sprint right before I left sprint. 00:06:04:55 - 00:06:27:02 Speaker 1 Right. And one of the objections we would get, as you know, salespeople were from a dentist was, well, I don't think my team can handle 3D printing. You know, we just bought a scanner or we've had a scanner for a while. My team still doesn't really use it that well. I don't think they can add on another kind of technology and make it work for the practice. 00:06:27:07 - 00:06:53:21 Speaker 1 And it was a lot of that. A lot of, you know, had to do with the team can't do it, you know, or I don't think they're skilled enough. Whatever it was was always something about the team or an assistant. And so I thought to myself, well, if we can educate teams on scanning and printing, designing it really lowers their, you know, ability to object to purchasing new products and technology. 00:06:53:26 - 00:07:15:57 Speaker 1 So when I met Chelsea, we started talking about that kind of idea, and she basically said she had the same idea. But coming at it from a slightly different angle, not from a sales angle, is more of teaching other assistants. You know, she learned basically on her own. She had, you know, a pretty good dentist that, you know, helped her learn a few things. 00:07:16:02 - 00:07:40:21 Speaker 1 But for the most part, she learned from YouTube videos or, you know, just on her own. And she didn't want other assistants to have to go through that. So she started developing her, you know, her social media presence, some YouTube videos. She even did some of her own courses. Interesting how we found Rochelle was Chelsea and I started the company for early 2025, a few months in. 00:07:40:36 - 00:08:04:31 Speaker 1 I had noticed Rochelle on social media. I think Chelsea did, as well as the social assistant. I'm not a social media person in terms of knowing how to do all that stuff. Chelsea certainly isn't as well, so we started talking to her shell about working with us, at least on the marketing, the social media side, and she came on board just as, you know, someone who was passionate about what we were doing and excited and wanted to help us out. 00:08:04:36 - 00:08:31:09 Speaker 1 And within a couple of months, she just blew us away and we decided to make her a full partner with us at that point. So from that point on, basically I'd say June or July of last year till now, Rochelle has been a full partner with Chelsea and I and best thing we ever did. So yeah, we've been doing it since March of this year now as basically a real live company and it's going really well. 00:08:31:09 - 00:08:37:55 Speaker 1 So that's, that's the, you know, the short version of how Chelsea and I kind of got together on this idea. 00:08:38:02 - 00:08:44:52 Speaker 3 So you mentioned earlier that you'd been an entrepreneur before. What gave you the confidence this time that things would be different? 00:08:44:57 - 00:08:46:16 Speaker 1 Oh, nothing. 00:08:46:21 - 00:08:48:36 Speaker 3 Nothing. 00:08:48:40 - 00:09:11:14 Speaker 1 Nothing nothing. I still don't still don't feel that way either. It's you know, it's I'm a very optimistic person, but I'm also a realist. And until something successful is not successful and I think we're successful, I think we're going to be, you know, even a lot more successful going forward. But we're still growing. We're still a tiny, tiny company. 00:09:11:16 - 00:09:35:00 Speaker 1 We're, you know, we're we're we're going to relaunch a new website in the next few months. We're going to kind of change our product mix a little bit, just come at it from a slightly different angle as well. I mean, I think, you know, education for teams is still essential. It's it's still not there. There's a lot of great education out there aimed at dentists and it's very expensive. 00:09:35:04 - 00:10:00:07 Speaker 1 And we just need to be able to offer teams similar level of education at their level for an affordable price. And that's our goal. That's always been our goal and we're not going to change that. But we need to you know, the biggest issue is getting dentists to invest in their teams. And that's the hardest thing that we're finding. 00:10:00:09 - 00:10:25:42 Speaker 1 You know, it's not the issue of getting the the assistant or hygienist or lab tech to want the education. It's getting the dentist to invest in it. And they have to make that decision that they want to elevate their teams, give them more skills, let them do more for their practice. And once we can get that message to click, I think then the sky's the limit for the company. 00:10:25:46 - 00:10:43:20 Speaker 3 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. 00:10:43:27 - 00:11:03:39 Speaker 3 New episodes drop every Friday. Follow us on all the socials. You'll see all the latest content. Looking forward to seeing you there. How do you usually approach communicating that message to the clinics where you where you try to open that up and show the value of what you bring versus what they have sitting there basically maybe doing nothing. 00:11:03:44 - 00:11:30:44 Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean, and you basically said it. I mean, that's a lot of the problem too, is that they do they have thousands and thousands of dollars of equipment sitting there, and it's probably being used to a point, but not to its fullest extent. And the biggest issue is that their team isn't trained well enough. You know, the biggest issue with training these days is whether it's from a manufacturer, distributor, it's very low level, it's very okay. 00:11:30:46 - 00:11:54:39 Speaker 1 This is how you turn it on. This is how you use the software to its minimum. That's really it. And then it's on the team or the dentist to make sure that they are digging deeper into it and figuring out how to use it to the best of its ability. And it's just not happening. Obviously, it's you know, there are dentists out there that educate their teams and want them to use the technology to its fullest. 00:11:54:51 - 00:12:16:32 Speaker 1 But I'd say, you know, that's 10% of the industry right now, and there's still 90% of, you know, practices that use scanners and printers and mills that are just scratching the surface. And, you know, dentists like ROI. They like money. They like to make sure they're making an investment in technology that they're getting the most out of it. 00:12:16:32 - 00:12:43:22 Speaker 1 But honestly, I don't think they're really doing that. You know, and that's part of our messaging is and going forward, our messaging is going to be more of, you know, train the team to use the technology that you already have. And, you know, let's not look at even buying new technology or more technology. Let's figure out how to use that scanner that's been, you know, sitting there, you know, for just a single crown prep. 00:12:43:32 - 00:13:01:03 Speaker 3 So if I'm a doctor right now talking to you, how do you communicate to me that I the ROI the Da is going to bring educating my staff? You know, maybe I have a printer. Maybe I have a scanner and we use them for, I don't know, knight guards, like you said, single crowns. What do we do from here? 00:13:01:06 - 00:13:05:01 Speaker 3 Like what is what? How do you approach that kind of situation? 00:13:05:06 - 00:13:38:06 Speaker 1 Part of the evolution of DD a is going to be kind of positioning ourselves as more of a consulting and coaching company for dental practices in terms of digital dental teams. And we want to, you know, sit down with them and really understand where they are in their digital journey and where they want to go. And the first thing is to do is to really create a blueprint for them on how to fully utilize what they have. 00:13:38:10 - 00:14:02:39 Speaker 1 And that's, you know, I think that's going to truly bring them, you know, the ROI that they want. We want to see, you know, how much they using the scanner. What are they using their scanner for? Have they started doing any kind of in-house design? You know, it's one thing to have the scanner, and you can get ROI from a scanner, but it's just a very long, drawn out process. 00:14:02:44 - 00:14:27:58 Speaker 1 Once you start adding in-house production, that's where the ROI truly takes off. So it's really just getting a full picture of the practice where they want to go, what their plan is for the team to either continue to, you know, elevate their skills or to even, you know, start utilizing the team. There's still a lot of dentists out there that are doing their own scanning. 00:14:28:01 - 00:14:47:58 Speaker 1 They're doing their own printing. And unfortunately, it's a big waste of time for the dentist. You know, they should be involved to a point, you know, maybe 5% of that procedure, that workflow should be them, but 95% should be an assistance, a hygienist or in-house lab tech that should be doing the work for them. 00:14:48:04 - 00:14:56:44 Speaker 3 Like, what are some things that they're using to extrapolate that ROI from the equipment that you're seeing is being more popular approaches? 00:14:56:49 - 00:15:31:20 Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, I think the the more evolved dentists are, you know, doing full in-house production or not full, but you know, what they can do. The ones who started out doing night guards and surgical guides and single unit crowns, temps to dentures and flexible partials. So they're really starting to see that there's more to digital workflows than just making a simple night guard or a surgical guide, or printing models for for ortho. 00:15:31:25 - 00:15:51:54 Speaker 1 That's, you know, and they're the ones that get it. They're the ones that want to get the most out of their technology, and usually the ones that want to get the most out of their teams. And, you know, I still believe that the more you get your team involved in this digital workflow, the better the practice is going to be long term. 00:15:51:58 - 00:15:55:01 Speaker 3 Yeah. The whole team brings up together, right? 00:15:55:06 - 00:15:56:18 Speaker 1 Absolutely. 00:15:56:22 - 00:16:09:49 Speaker 3 So what would you say to someone like one of my neighbors here? He just bought a brand new sprint rate printer, and he has an old trio's and they're really excited, but they don't know what to do with it just yet. How would you how what would you say to him? 00:16:09:54 - 00:16:26:56 Speaker 4 I'm here with the Sprint Pro, too. If you're considering bringing dental 3D printing into your practice or expanding what you already produce. Schedule a meeting with me or send us a direct message. I'll personally walk you through the complete workflow and help you understand how it could fit into your operation. Now back to the show. 00:16:27:01 - 00:16:50:06 Speaker 1 I would say Call Chelsea, but let's let's get a caller Chelsea and Rochelle. You know, I think before you even make that purchase, you really should be sitting down with your team and hopefully us as a consultant and saying, you know, what do we want to do with this long term? Where do we want to be? How much production do we want to bring in-house? 00:16:50:08 - 00:17:01:54 Speaker 1 I mean, and not every practice should do everything. And I still truly believe that there are certain things in these digital workflows that most practices should not be doing. 00:17:01:58 - 00:17:16:22 Speaker 3 A lot of these doctors. God bless them. They're a little bit ready for aim, and I can't say too much. A big nerd, I love the tech techs. What brought me into this industry? So I don't blame anybody for going, that's a cool toy. I want that, and now it's here and it's like, okay, what do I do with it? 00:17:16:25 - 00:17:23:32 Speaker 3 What do you think the first couple of things they might want to consider bringing into their workflows should be with that printer. 00:17:23:37 - 00:17:54:15 Speaker 1 Yeah I mean night guard I mean that's obviously I think that's the standard these days as to, you know, the easy step into 3D printing models, obviously, but no one's really printing models anymore except for ortho. I mean, if you're doing ortho, you're doing in-house ortho cases. I think models are still great, but Knight guards IOC Knight guards, the first big step a good lab is going to charge you probably $100 for that night guard. 00:17:54:20 - 00:18:16:39 Speaker 1 So you're probably saving at least somewhere between 50 and $70. And like or so you know, it's it's a nice little profit center to start out with for sure. And depending on obviously how many you're going to start making your ROI can be a few months to roughly a year or so. But it's a good building block and it just teaches you the digital workflow. 00:18:16:44 - 00:18:48:25 Speaker 1 You know, everything from, learning how to do a full arch scan. Very important if you want to take the design into your own hands, teaches you some really nice, easy basic design, then print it. Now you get your printing workflow down and then post-processing. Now you've, you know, you've done a little bit of washing polishing. You get really basic good skills to build off of to then go into some more difficult workflows. 00:18:48:30 - 00:18:59:25 Speaker 1 Single unit crowds, all of that. Retainers, dentures, partials, flippers. You know, it really builds off of everything you've done before. 00:18:59:30 - 00:19:02:51 Speaker 3 Any pitfalls or things that you think that they should avoid? 00:19:03:03 - 00:19:33:03 Speaker 1 I used to say, you know, the biggest pitfall for me was buying one of those cheap printers, you know, being in dental for 20 years now and really supporting dentists and dental manufacturers and distributors. You know, we want to see dentists use dental equipment. Have I changed my mind? No. But if you really want to dip yourself into 3D printing and learning the workflow without having to pay thousands of dollars. 00:19:33:08 - 00:19:58:22 Speaker 1 Okay, let's let's look at, you know, some of those cheaper 3D printers that are 300, $500 and you can start printing models. Okay, I still have a hard time suggesting it for anything that's going into patients now. But if you do want to at least learn the workflow, dip your toe into it, get your team interested in the technology and what is possible going forward. 00:19:58:27 - 00:20:08:06 Speaker 1 Yeah. Start there. I have no issue with that at this point. I honestly, I just want practices to get into the technology. 00:20:08:10 - 00:20:29:58 Speaker 3 Yeah. Just break that barrier there. And I think I'd agree with that assessment there. It's I mean, 3D printing is messy. You know, 3D printing can be complicated. And there's, there's a there's a fall off between like, okay, you bought something cheap and then you can kind of get an idea as to how this works. But also if you went with something a little bit more like sprint Ray. 00:20:30:03 - 00:20:47:20 Speaker 3 Which full disclosure, we do sell sprint Ray and if you want to buy one, please send me a damn. But that aside, there's lots of other great printers out there with little great ecosystems. You see. Goes a really good one. Accurate is a really. And the nice thing about those is they've already figured out a lot of the questions for you and baked it into that. 00:20:47:20 - 00:21:08:49 Speaker 3 That's why they cost what they call us. If you want to go in 3 or $500 on a L goo or a frozen printer on Amazon, which I have personally done, so I can't fault anybody for that. It does give you at least an idea, but a lot of the pitfalls and the headaches you get from that are already ironed out when you get it from like a, an actual dental provider. 00:21:08:51 - 00:21:35:03 Speaker 3 And I will push back on one thing you said earlier, which is the models, I've seen a lot more of the doctors and the assistance on training lately using models to, well, they're printing models based on their virtual wax ups that they're building in exo, and so they're building those out and creating temp matrixes, whether they're putty or vacuum matrixes on those models, which is another really good way to get your ROI. 00:21:35:06 - 00:21:53:10 Speaker 3 I mean, if you're doing a case with 7 or 8, ten units and you're trying to temporaries them, then then you can have the temporary the patient can walk out with the same day. That looks exactly like the design you proposed to them when they first said, okay to the case. I think that's a big, big thing. Have you seen a lot of that on your end? 00:21:53:15 - 00:22:11:30 Speaker 1 I have not. I mean, you know, I think you coming from a lab and, you know, training, you know, working with those kind of dentists. I think you're probably seeing more of those cases. I still do some training for sprint rec. So, when I'm out in the field, it's been very, you know, it's still pretty basic. 00:22:11:34 - 00:22:31:32 Speaker 1 It's, you know, it's a lot of night guards. It's a lot of retainer. Certainly Chelsea and Rochelle are seeing more of that on from the diva side of the business, because a lot of the businesses that we do work with are they've had no printers and technology for a while, and they're looking to, you know, move into that next step. 00:22:31:37 - 00:22:39:03 Speaker 1 So a little bit more there. But personally, myself, just, you know, the training I've been doing this just needs still pretty basic. 00:22:39:08 - 00:22:49:06 Speaker 3 What else do you bring to the table that Chelsea and Rochelle don't necessarily because they're they're very hands on with the assistant side of things. But you come from a different background altogether. 00:22:49:10 - 00:23:21:12 Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean, besides not being dental for the first 30 years of my life, yeah, I come from more of a sales and business development side of the business. I only got into, you know, technology training when I basically got to sprint, right? My my technology, you know, Arsenal is basically sprint, right? Besides the fact that, you know, we as a as a company, we are, you know, we say we're biased distance for assistance. 00:23:21:13 - 00:23:49:56 Speaker 1 So we truly live up to that. You know, I, I do not do any training for companies. We work with Rochelle and Chelsea and we have some other assistants across the country. We work with who who help us do courses and trainings and we truly believe in we want to teach teams from team members, from peers. We want to make sure that they are getting that level of experience so they can, you know, they understand each other, they speak the same language. 00:23:50:01 - 00:24:11:18 Speaker 1 And I know we're getting a little off topic and I'll get back, but one of the reasons why we do it the way we do it is because there's a lot of other education out there from dentists, from manufacturers that speak at a different level. They're not speaking to a dental assistant, they're speaking to a dentist, and it's not the same communication. 00:24:11:22 - 00:24:39:30 Speaker 1 Dental assistants and other team members, you know, not that they are shy or that they are afraid, but they like to speak within themselves. And I certainly see it in social media, that, you know, there are certain dental groups out there, 3D printing technology groups on Facebook or wherever they might be. They're afraid to ask questions. 00:24:39:34 - 00:25:05:56 Speaker 1 You know, there are a lot of dentists out there who speak down to team members or anyone. Be honest with you. There are people who have post questions, and the answers to me are extremely disrespectful. And so that tends to have, you know, assistance, shy away from asking questions in a public forum because they're afraid of the answer they're going to get. 00:25:06:01 - 00:25:29:51 Speaker 1 So we're building a community that understands each other, and they're not afraid to communicate with each other, and they're going to get an answer that is respectful and accurate. So, you know, Chelsea and Rochelle, they still practice, though they're still assistance. They're still printing and designing and scanning and milling every day almost. And so they're still building their skills more than what they've had already. 00:25:29:56 - 00:25:39:37 Speaker 1 So they can teach other teams what they're doing. And it's a great, really collaborative environment that we're building, which is really nice. 00:25:39:42 - 00:25:55:22 Speaker 3 So Chelsea and Rochelle are a lot more hands on with with the assistance. It sounds like you're more strategy level, bringing a mindset of really how to take what they're training the assistance to do and convert that into dollars to the dentist. Does that sound right? 00:25:55:27 - 00:26:23:51 Speaker 1 Yes. So yeah, so I'm extremely in the background when it comes to DDA. So my title CEO. But honestly titles don't matter. We don't live by that. I'm really business development and sales really trying to build the infrastructure of the business and partnerships and you know, putting us in a position to be able to grow the company as we go forward. 00:26:23:56 - 00:26:43:22 Speaker 1 Chelsea and Rochelle are really rising the more day to day. And, content of the business, which is, you know, to me, much more important. And I think they're doing an amazing job. 00:26:43:27 - 00:27:08:20 Speaker 1 I still can't believe we came together as a team, you know, just over a year ago. And you know, and see where we are now, you know, we have up to getting close to 30 courses. Available. Going to be releasing, you know, when we relaunch the website, a whole bunch of new courses, coming up. So, yeah, I mean, it's it's been an interesting ride the last year or so and. 00:27:08:20 - 00:27:50:03 Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, I really love, you know, being kind of in the background. I still have another full time job that I do. I do a little something for, for training what I can, and then, you know, doing the back end work for, for da making sure that we are, you know, moving things forward and putting things into place that makes sense for us, you know, in terms of like partnerships with, with editors and other, you know, similar companies and manufacturers and distributors and really just trying to, you know, position us to be able to take advantage of the work we've been doing already on the inside of the company. 00:27:50:08 - 00:27:55:03 Speaker 3 How did you get connected with Evolution Dental, by the way? 00:27:55:08 - 00:28:34:32 Speaker 1 Good question. No, obviously, I, I've known you guys for years, obviously through the industry. When I was at sprint, Ray after sprint, Ray, Chelsea and Josh had struck up a good relationship even beforehand between Alex and Josh and Andy. They really saw the benefit of what we were putting together. I feel like they had a similar idea on, you know, you know, being a dental lab and seeing, you know, the kind of scans and work they're getting from certain dental practices that, you know, really needed help. 00:28:34:37 - 00:28:39:34 Speaker 1 And I think it's not just, you know, an EBS issue. It's it's all lab. No, no, no. 00:28:39:49 - 00:28:58:30 Speaker 3 It's definitely not. And in fact, any dental technician or lab owner listening to this, you if you're if you're getting bad scans from doctors, definitely put them in touch with Wayne or Chelsea or Rochelle. I mean this. So, for example, what do your courses look like right these days? Like you said, you have 30 courses. Is that all online? 00:28:58:30 - 00:29:02:08 Speaker 3 Is it prerecorded? Is it in person. Is it. How does that look. 00:29:02:20 - 00:29:27:51 Speaker 1 So so right now it's mostly a course library, scanning, design, printing, milling, post-processing. And you know, we have introductory courses for each vertical. And then we have individual manufacture courses for each. So we have, you know, just for example we have a trios course, we have a sprint record. So the Seagull course, we have an Excel CAD tarot design. 00:29:27:56 - 00:29:52:27 Speaker 1 We, we have three shape design. So we kind of, you know, the way we put it together is, you know, we want introductory courses for every level so we can just get the basics out for the team. And then after that, you know, not everyone has the same technology. So we wanted to build, manufacture courses for the most popular equipment that's out there right now at least. 00:29:52:32 - 00:30:13:51 Speaker 1 So whether you have a three shape or an eye tarot or a meeting, a shining, we have education for you to learn how to use that equipment. And then we have individual workflows. So we have night guard and Crowl indenture and all of that. And so we're just trying to build out as much content as possible. So it's out there. 00:30:13:51 - 00:30:40:25 Speaker 1 So right now a lot of the content is there. We also offer virtual training in office training. We're starting to get into doing some more, hands on live courses around the country. We have the Seagull course coming up in December out in Michigan that we're excited about. We're planning an event with editors, I think in February, I think in Tennessee possibly. 00:30:40:25 - 00:31:06:20 Speaker 1 So we're working on that right now. So, yeah, the plan for the future is to be more of a hands on training academy. We're always going to have our online courses. I think that is just, you know, it's a great place to start training your team, on their own time when they have time to do it. Obviously, we would love to have the opportunity to train as many as possible in-house. 00:31:06:20 - 00:31:25:08 Speaker 1 I think still, hands on training is the quickest and honestly the most cost effective way to do it long term. And we're going to be doing everything. I mean, and that's the exciting part of it is there are no limitations, and we want to give each practice what they need. 00:31:25:22 - 00:31:43:42 Speaker 3 That's fantastic. And I want to ask you, well before I ask this, because I want to touch on one thing that you mentioned earlier, if you hadn't heard of the IT design suite, if you own a scanner, you already have basically diet XO cat is what I like to call it. It's like you already, you're already paying for it. 00:31:43:42 - 00:32:01:18 Speaker 3 You might as well educate your staff on how it works. You have essentially a cursory minimal version of XO CAD, which is, in my opinion, the most powerful dental design software out there. And you can go ahead and at least tiptoe your way into it without having to go purchase a license for something because you already pay for it. 00:32:01:20 - 00:32:03:44 Speaker 3 So you might as well leverage the staff that you have. 00:32:03:51 - 00:32:23:34 Speaker 4 I'm here at one of our XO CAD design stations. If you're looking for greater control and flexibility within your digital design workflow, schedule a meeting with me or send us a direct message. I'll personally walk you through xo CAD help you understand the available options. Determine the right configuration for your lab or your practice. Now back to the show. 00:32:23:39 - 00:32:37:22 Speaker 3 What's the market response been like? How how how staff been responding to this? How doctors been receiving the courses and stuff like that? Has it been a rapid adoption? Has it been kind of a struggle? What have you been seeing. 00:32:37:27 - 00:33:04:58 Speaker 1 From the dentist? I get it, it's been really great. You know, we have a really good handful of practices that we've been working with that truly appreciate what we're doing and get the, the point of it. I mean, we, you know, in terms of our online courses, you know, we have a few hundred participants, let's say, you know, I wish they were all paying, but there's a good amount of free, you know, memberships out there, which is fine. 00:33:05:01 - 00:33:13:51 Speaker 1 I mean, we have people, you know, on the website and in the courses and they're, you know, they're taking the courses and people who take it, they love. 00:33:13:56 - 00:33:17:54 Speaker 3 Sorry to interrupt you, but you have a part of it that's free. Intro. 00:33:17:58 - 00:33:25:39 Speaker 1 Yeah. So we have, you know, a handful of free courses all live. Basically the introductory courses. There's a million different introductory courses. 00:33:25:46 - 00:33:28:01 Speaker 3 Like a very low risk way to get started. 00:33:28:06 - 00:33:51:37 Speaker 1 Exactly, exactly. We want, you know, and that's, you know, part of the appeal for us, I think, is trying to to make education as affordable as possible, especially for a dental team, you know, for an assistant who wants to learn more. Listen, unfortunately, they're usually the lowest paid member of the practice. And if they have to pay for it themselves, we have to make it extremely affordable for them. 00:33:51:37 - 00:33:58:46 Speaker 1 And we have, basically, you know, they can get started for $27 a month. 00:33:58:51 - 00:34:01:58 Speaker 3 And people pay more like Netflix. Almost. 00:34:02:03 - 00:34:20:54 Speaker 1 Exactly. So I mean, shouldn't be so hard, going forward, you know, when we do relaunch, end of the year early next year, we are going to be kind of changing things a little bit in terms of right now, you can't buy individual courses. It's all membership based. So we're going to change that a bit where you can buy individual courses. 00:34:20:54 - 00:34:54:37 Speaker 1 So if you only really want to learn about 3D printing, you can buy 3D printing courses or scanning courses however you want to do it. We still will have the ability to buy all the courses at once, or we're still toying with keeping some memberships. But you know, there's a million different ways to get started. And we just want practices to really to just, you know, take the bull by the horns and really get their teams involved in this digital workflow. 00:34:54:42 - 00:35:09:31 Speaker 1 Not that we see a lot of pushback on this, you know, face to face, but I think in the background, dentists are afraid to invest in their teams because a they think that they're going to leave. Okay, I'm going to train my team member and then, you know, they're going to get all this training with the best of them. 00:35:09:32 - 00:35:28:01 Speaker 1 Then they're going to leave and go to another practice or they're going to leave and, you know, go work for three shape, whatever it might be. So we we run into that a little bit. I think it's more of a, you know, secret, don't ask, don't tell kind of thing for dentist. But we know it's there. 00:35:28:03 - 00:35:35:32 Speaker 1 I mean, you know, which Chelsea and Rochelle working in practices and seeing what goes on in practices. You know, you have to combat that. 00:35:35:37 - 00:35:38:10 Speaker 3 May I ask what some of the strategies might be like? 00:35:38:13 - 00:35:39:20 Speaker 1 No you cannot. 00:35:39:25 - 00:35:43:27 Speaker 3 Okay. 00:35:43:32 - 00:36:03:22 Speaker 1 No. It's just you know, more about messaging to the dentist and, you know, you know, making it just more affordable. We, you know, we thought we were very affordable to start with. And I still think we are, but I think there are some strategies we can put out there that really make it almost impossible to say no. 00:36:03:27 - 00:36:25:46 Speaker 1 And, you know, and definitely working with, with you guys that evolution, you guys provide tremendous value for us. And we're excited to, you know, you know, dig deeper as we go forward. I think there's still a lot more we can do together. And that's what I'm excited about. You know, Alex and Josh and Andy and yourself have been a really good partner stars. 00:36:26:01 - 00:36:33:58 Speaker 1 And you know, we want to, you know, continue that as we go forward. And like I said, I think we're just scratching the surface of what we can do together. 00:36:34:03 - 00:36:54:42 Speaker 3 I think you're right. We really strongly believe in the message of what you're doing here. It's, I mean, certainly from our perspective, from what we see every day and frankly, from what most laps probably see every day. It's a very underserved market. And there's a lot that can be learned there. What do you think the practices that are kind of turning a blind eye to this? 00:36:54:42 - 00:36:56:05 Speaker 3 What do you think they're missing out on? 00:36:56:18 - 00:37:16:18 Speaker 1 They're missing out on being able to really fully use what they have. And, you know, whether it's a scanner and a printer, they're just scratching the surface. They're not getting the full benefit out of it, certainly not getting the full hour out of it, which I know is what they really want. 00:37:16:22 - 00:37:18:37 Speaker 3 Do you think their risk of falling behind. 00:37:18:42 - 00:37:48:15 Speaker 1 Oh, absolutely. 100%. Yeah. I mean, if if they're not letting their teams fully utilize the technology, there's no way they can, you know, add on to it. I mean, if they're really just doing, you know, Knight guards models and single unit crowns right now, but they're not allowing their teams to learn more and do more. How can you move into things like dentures, partials, you know, all an X? 00:37:48:18 - 00:38:11:34 Speaker 1 I mean, you'll never going to get to all on X if you if you're not going to let them do more than what they're doing now. Not that every practice needs to be doing that, but a lot of them want to, you know, at least the temporary part of those products. I mean, there's no reason why if you have a scanner and a good printer these days or even, you know, a good meal, why you shouldn't be bringing that in-house. 00:38:11:39 - 00:38:35:20 Speaker 1 You know, I know some labs don't want to hear it. But a lot of that work is going to be going in-house. You know, obviously that shift has been going there already, but I think in the next five years it's going to start moving faster that way. I still believe labs, small mom and pop labs are going to be fine. 00:38:35:25 - 00:38:56:42 Speaker 1 You know, we we we do get a lot of, you know, especially on social media. We'll post something and then the lab tech will say, well, systems shouldn't be doing that. Team members shouldn't be doing that. Why not? Well, they're not trained. They are trained and they're not doing craziest static cases. They're not you know, it's not taking away from your skill. 00:38:56:46 - 00:39:25:10 Speaker 1 You know, your job is still going to be there. You know that. That's not the point. The point is that practices who are buying this technology, they're buying it for a reason. They're buying it to bring more production in-house in order to lower their lab costs, increase their profitability. And it's just good business. You know, labs have their own ways of becoming more profitable. 00:39:25:15 - 00:39:53:08 Speaker 1 And we're in a capitalist society. I mean, this is this is USA. I mean, this is what we do. So, you know, it's just, you know, yeah, it just it just it makes me laugh a little bit that, you know, there's still some, you know, whether it's a lab or a lab tech that are scared to help dental practices move forward with this technology. 00:39:53:13 - 00:40:25:15 Speaker 1 I think obviously evolution understands it. They get it. You know, listen, you have you have your lab business, you have your distribution business, you're selling technology to dental practices. Because you have to be you have to be broader these days. We see where the market's going. We see the consolidation in dental labs. You have to be willing to, you know, open up new streams of revenue for yourself to move to the future. 00:40:25:20 - 00:40:28:27 Speaker 1 And that's how I see it. You know, when I. 00:40:28:37 - 00:40:30:18 Speaker 3 Say evolve. 00:40:30:22 - 00:40:52:39 Speaker 1 Yes, we must evolve. Absolutely. But, you know, especially when I first started with spirit. Ray, you know, a lot of dental lives. Didn't even want to discuss it. You know, they were mad at the company, you know, at all 3D printing companies. They can't believe, you know, that you're trying to get dentists to, you know, do lab work, you know, in practice. 00:40:52:44 - 00:41:17:42 Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, it's called evolution. It's called, you know, we're moving forward with with technology and with the way practices are going to work. And you have to be okay with that. And you have to as a lab, you know, evolve with that as well. You have to change. You have to, you know, start selling design services. You know, to me, design is the most important part of the whole process. 00:41:17:46 - 00:41:30:34 Speaker 3 I think you had a really good point there, right, with the design services, because as the market starts to evolve, I mean, can you think of a reason that current practices should not have 3D printers? 00:41:30:39 - 00:41:31:46 Speaker 1 No. 00:41:31:51 - 00:41:51:20 Speaker 3 Exactly. And as more of this starts to come in-house with the practices, there's only so much that the systems are going to be able to handle, even if they are properly trained up. And everybody knows how the tech works, you're not going to usually have a dental assistant sitting there doing all the cabinets or for every single case, temporary or permanent otherwise. 00:41:51:34 - 00:42:17:32 Speaker 3 So there's there's definitely ways for everyone to continue to work together. When I first got into this with the technology, CAD cam was going to ruin the industry and take all of our jobs. And how many more technicians are now involved in the process because we have this new technology? I think you're right. I think the shifting and evolving landscape just involves finding where that niche shifts because nothing stays the same, right? 00:42:17:37 - 00:42:47:01 Speaker 1 That's right. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a complete shift and you're either changing or you're getting left behind. I mean, it's really what it comes down to, and, you know, just, you know, going back to DV a little bit, the way we think about, you know, training dental teams is, you know, start basic. You know, we want dental teams to be able to do the basics, learn how to use the scanner the right way, okay. 00:42:47:06 - 00:43:06:00 Speaker 1 Learn how to design the simple things. You know, a night guard, a single unit crowd. Start there. You know, we don't expect an assistant to learn how to do in all our next case, you know? And honestly, I don't even know if I want to create that course. You know, I don't know if it's necessary. 00:43:06:01 - 00:43:10:49 Speaker 3 I trained about two a week. 00:43:10:54 - 00:43:21:49 Speaker 3 But usually they talk to you first and get kind of get their feet wet. Where do you see the future of the DDA like in the next, say, five years? If you could look at your crystal ball. 00:43:21:54 - 00:43:27:13 Speaker 1 Yeah, I'm gonna look at my crystal ball right here. 00:43:27:18 - 00:43:55:20 Speaker 1 Yeah. I mean, I, I, I have a very, big picture idea for DBA going forward. I see us more of a yes. As I discussed more of a consulting and coaching company for dental practices to, you know, get their teams to the next level. But more than that, hopefully it's not in the near, in the far distant future, but the more the near distant future is creating a certification pathway. 00:43:55:25 - 00:44:30:01 Speaker 1 So obviously we have CDA, we have RDA, we have the there's like 6 or 7 different, you know, credentials across the US right now. There's no digital assistant or digital team member credential. So that's something that's on my radar at the moment, putting our foot forward into starting the creation of that certification pathway for I want to see team members I know are the name of our company is Digital Dental Assistant Academy, but honestly it's for dental teams. 00:44:30:06 - 00:44:53:22 Speaker 1 Yes. The assistant is probably 95% of who is working with the technology and doing the workflows. But more and more we're going to see, I think going forward, hygienists get involved. They're scanning right now, but I think eventually they'll start doing more, a lot of practices are going to have more, whether it's an assistant or someone they hire that's more of a dental lab tech in-house. 00:44:53:37 - 00:44:58:18 Speaker 1 And then we're going to see a lot of that coming forward. So I'm kind of lumping them all into the dental team. 00:44:58:22 - 00:45:13:34 Speaker 3 That's exciting man. That's so exciting. It's so neat into the more I mean, I think it's needed anyway. And I'm really, really looking forward to seeing where this goes. Where do people find you and where do they find the courses? Where do they find Chelsea and Rochelle? How do they sign up? 00:45:13:37 - 00:45:48:03 Speaker 1 So I mean, the DBA itself, you can find the website at the dda.com. You can certainly find us on Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn. Chelsea is the digital dental assistants. Rochelle is a social assistance. We're all available on social media and through the website, so I definitely invite every assistant team member, dentist, practice owner, group owner, anyone who wants to get their team to the next level or get their team started in the digital journey. 00:45:48:08 - 00:45:49:34 Speaker 1 Give us a call. 00:45:49:39 - 00:45:52:16 Speaker 3 A great team building great teams. I love. 00:45:52:18 - 00:45:53:34 Speaker 1 That, Wayne. 00:45:53:34 - 00:45:55:01 Speaker 3 Thank you for having a part of this, man. 00:45:55:15 - 00:45:57:58 Speaker 1 You got it Rob, I appreciate it. 00:45:58:03 - 00:46:16:15 Speaker 3 It was a lot of fun. And thank you all for joining us for this episode of the Evolution of Dental Podcast. Please look for us on all the social medias and all the podcast platforms as the evolution of dental podcast from it to like, subscribe, share the show with your friends. If you enjoyed it, drop a comment if something here resonated with you. 00:46:16:15 - 00:46:22:30 Speaker 3 If you'd like to learn more about any of the topics that we discussed here today. And remember, never stop evolving.