Open Wide Podcast

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
 

Episode 30 - Narcotics, Surveys, and AI

Scott and Jinesh chat about the Yankee Dental Conference and recap the recent Dental Post survey. They also discuss the latest journal article assessing efficacy of various pain relievers, and wrap up with a discussion about the Dental Economics article about AI use in the dental world.  
 
1:27 Jinesh preps for Yankee Dental Conference
5:24 Dental Post survey results
18:37 Pain relievers study
28:19 AI report in Dental Economics

Episode 29 - Conversation with Eric Shirley | Dental Manufacturing and Distribution Landscape

Scott and Jinesh chat with Eric Shirley, current President of Keystone Industries and former President of Patterson. Eric shares his personal experience running both manufacturers and distributors in the dental space, and the dynamics between those two parties.  Eric also weighs in on the Patterson acquisition, and opines on the impact it may have on the dental industry as a whole. 
 
2:44 Introducing Eric Shirley
6:16 How Eric ended up in dental
11:36 Buy/Get deals in dental
14:42 The dynamic between manufacturers and distributors
27:40 Eric's thoughts on the Patterson deal
39:49 Equipment manufacturing and service
50:34 Printing the future at Keystone Industries 
59:40 Tariffs and Made in the USA

Episode 28 - Selling to Dentists and Startup Expansion Considerations

Recorded during holiday season 2024, Scott and Jinesh chat about the seasonality of selling to dentists, and about how to manage team coverage over the holidays. They also discuss the right timing for company expansion internationally and into other healthcare verticals, and reflect on fundraise timing and luck.
 
2:46 Seasonality of selling to dentists
14:07 Coordinating team schedules
16:10 Timing for a startup's market and/or geographic expansion 
25:08 TAM, SAM, and SOM
28:07 Fundraising timing and cadence