Open Wide Podcast

Episode 38 - Conversation with Lior Tamir | The Dental App

Scott and Jinesh chat with Dr Lior Tamir about his journey through dental. Lior shares key insights on running a dental practice through a business lens. He explains why he has taken the time to build out The Dental App practice management software that better suits the needs of practice owners and practicing dentists. He shines light on why the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) element of his software is game-changing when it comes to patient communication and patient follow-through on treatment. 
 
1:26 Introducing Lior Tamir
13:43 Dental practice startup growth strategy
30:09 Dentistry viewed as hospitality 
32:28 Dental practice software challenges
36:39 Birth of The Dental App
38:26 Importance of CRMs in dental
51:27 Launching with The Dental App

Episode 37 - Midwinter Recap, UptimeHealth Recognition, ADA warns Utah

Scott and Jinesh recap their Chicago Midwinter conference experiences, Scott gives Jinesh his flowers for the UptimeHealth recognition by Fast Company, and the duo recaps the ADA letter to the governor of Utah warning against removing fluoride from drinking water. 
1:28 Chicago Midwinter conference recap
9:35 UptimeHealth nominated Most Innovative by Fast Company
14:11 ADA unhappy with Utah moving to ban fluoride from drinking water
 

Episode 36 - Conversation with Trey Tepichin | Cloud Dentistry

Scott and Jinesh chat in person with Trey Tepichin, founder of Cloud Dentistry. They discuss Trey's path to dentistry and powering through the early days of the company via 'manual automation'.  Trey reflects on the ins and outs of his platform, his go to market strategy, and how marketplaces bring out the best (and worst!) of the population.
 
1:01 Introducing Trey Tepichin
6:46 Finding dentistry
9:28 Starting Cloud Dentistry
13:17 Go to market strategy
15:59 Impact of Covid on the business
19:19 Mechanics and use cases of the platform
28:37 Wild stories from marketplace interactions
30:50 Next steps for Cloud Dentistry

Episode 35 - Conversation with Khamir Patel and Dmitry Burshteyn | SmartChair.AI

Scott and Jinesh chat with Dr Khamir Patel and Dr Dmitry Burshteyn about SmartChair.AI, a company dedicated to measuring dental chair usage time. They discuss the origin and progress of the company, and reflect on chair usage time as possibly the most important driver of optimizing success of a dental practice. 
 
1:46 Introducing Khamir and Dmitry
13:12 SmartChair.AI product overview
17:18 Progress to date
19:46 Product use cases
24:51 The co-founder relationship
29:07 Khamir's balancing act
31:54 Lessons learned
33:51 Go to market strategy
41:03 Surprising findings (the data doesn't lie)
49:33 Optimizing efficiency - seeing is believing

Episode 34 - Conversation with Marko Vujicic | ADA Health Policy Institute

Scott and Jinesh chat with Dr. Marko Vujicic, Chief Economist at the American Dental Association. They discuss Marko's role within the ADA and the work of the Health Policy Institute. The trio dive into oral health and public policy, and the challenges (and potential solutions!) to meaningfully increasing access to care in the US. 
 
0:56 Introducing Dr. Marko Vujicic
3:47 Marko's pre-dental journey
8:12 The ADA's Health Policy Institute
12:55 Putting oral health on the map
16:55 Oral health and the new administration
21:39 Public policy and access to care
29:49 The dental insurance paradigm
38:20 Medical-dental integration
50:23 Marko solves the access to care problem

Episode 33 - Conversation with Ophir Tanz | Pearl

Scott and Jinesh chat with Ophir Tanz, founder of Pearl, about all things dental AI. They discuss Ophir's background, why the AI opportunity in dental specifically makes sense, and get in the weeds on Pearl's philosophy and approach to tackling the challenge. Ophir shares his perspective on partnerships, integrations, the regulatory environment, go-to-market, and the future of Pearl. 
1:28 Introducing Ophir Tanz
8:35 Why AI in dental made sense
12:24 Training data
16:34 Types of AI and benefits of AI (in dental)
22:58 Integrations and partnerships
30:39 Regulatory approvals
35:15 Going global
46:40 Pearl's future

Episode 32 - Conversation with Ashley Lerman | Firstgrin

Scott and Jinesh chat with pediatric dentist Dr. Ashley Lerman about her journey founding and growing Firstgrin. Ashley shares insights on her go-to-market strategy and partnerships, as well as lots of advice for parents with young children. She breaks down the importance of early dental visits, and the cost of delaying a child's first trip to the dentist.
0:44 Introducing Ahsley Lerman
6:20 Launching Firstgrin
17:10 Go-to-market strategy
24:23 Growth and partnerships
28:54 Fluoride recommendations
33:16 Advice from a pediatric dentist
39:05 Cost of delaying a child's dental care
41:07 Dental referrals and founder support

Episode 31 - ADA Letter to President Trump

Scott and Jinesh discuss some of the highlights of the letter the ADA sent to President Donald Trump just before he took office for his second term.
 
3:50 Introducing ADA letter to Trump
6:57 Opioid monitoring, Fluoride, and Government Subsidized Dental Coverage
11:59 Medical-dental integration, practice technologies
16:17 Education and Defense
20:04 Environment Protection
22:37 Flex-spending
26:29 Rescinding expansion of nondiscrimination protections