Latest / UNFIT FOR RADIO with JAYKERS / “Tooth Be Told”

Transcript

“Tooth Be Told” · UNFIT FOR RADIO with JAYKERS

0:00
SPEAKER_02: Good old Ray.
0:02
SPEAKER_02: I haven't been it.
0:06
SPEAKER_04: Here, Baker, your data aren't due for a cleaning, they're due for a full investigation.
0:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: I walk in there, I gotta take one look and say, sir, how long has this place been a banner?
0:21
SPEAKER_04: At this point, your dentist is going to need a building permit and a houseback.
0:26
SPEAKER_04: Great.
0:26
SPEAKER_02: I came in for a cleaning and left with a dental archaeologist and another bill I can't afford.
0:33
SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
0:36
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Unfit for Radio with Jaker.
0:39
SPEAKER_02: That's me.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: And apparently, I haven't been to the dentist in so long, the dentist had to come find me physically.
0:46
SPEAKER_04: Well, I'm glad he's here to see what's going on.
0:49
SPEAKER_04: And I am Ray, Jaker Sidekick, the senior star of UFR, and I'm still older than Dird.
0:55
SPEAKER_04: Today we've got a great guest joining us here on Unfit for Radio, Dr.
0:59
SPEAKER_04: Brent Herring from Herring Family Dental here in Phoenix.
1:03
SPEAKER_04: Dr.
1:03
SPEAKER_04: Herring is a doctor of dental surgery who graduated from LSU School of Dentistry in 2016.
1:10
SPEAKER_04: He's originally from Arkansas, spent time working in the dental field there, and eventually made his way here to Arizona.
1:18
SPEAKER_04: Brent and his wife Kirsta built Herring Family Dental together as a family-owned private practice here in the Arcadia area.
1:27
SPEAKER_04: Their practice covers everything from general and family dentistry to implants, invisaligned cosmetic dentistry, root canals, and even sleep apnea treatment.
1:37
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
1:38
SPEAKER_04: But today we're going beyond just teeth.
1:40
SPEAKER_04: We're going to talk about what it's really like being a dentist, the things people are afraid to ask their dentists, some of the crazy stuff you see when people sit down in that chair, what it's like building a business with your wife, faith, family, and whatever else comes up once we get rolling.
1:57
SPEAKER_04: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dr.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: Brent Herring to Unfit for Radio.
2:02
SPEAKER_02: Dr.
2:02
SPEAKER_02: Brent, welcome.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: And we're really, really, really glad you're here.
2:06
SPEAKER_02: We're super excited.
2:07
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us today.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for uh having me on, guys.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: Pretty cool.
2:12
SPEAKER_02: Get up you have here.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you.
2:15
SPEAKER_02: Hey, we try.
2:18
SPEAKER_02: So uh can can you tell us a little bit uh about your story?
2:22
SPEAKER_02: Like what what actually got you into dentistry?
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, man.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: So um I went to undergrad and they throw you in a bunch of general edic education classes.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: I started out um computer science and then ended up kind of looking uh at the people I was in the the class with and just didn't fit in and was like, okay, I gotta find something else, you know what I mean?
2:47
SPEAKER_00: I need something a little more upbeat and entertaining for me.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't handle sitting at a cubicle typing code, you know.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: And uh not that there's anything wrong with that, it just wasn't for me, you know what I mean?
2:59
SPEAKER_00: But um in in the general ed courses, I was doing really well in science.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, people were failing out of biology and chemistry and stuff, and I was doing pretty well, and so I was like, okay, well, whatever I get into, I'll just like follow this biology major and see where it leads me.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: And so I was like pre-form, pre-med, like that kind of thing, and was looking at some different um options there.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: And then my best friend's dad, uh, at the time, um, he was a dentist.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: And so basically, you know, I was getting towards the end of you know my time in undergrad.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh, was looking at taking the MCAT.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I went and shadowed a few different um physicians, like general physicians, semi surgeons, things like that.
3:45
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: And um was talking to them about how much time they spent in school.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: And I was already getting burned out.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: I was like, man, I don't know if I have like that much exercise.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that wasn't for you, huh?
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Man, like I I just wasn't excited about it.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: Like the the doctors that I met, like, that's all they wanted to do.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: And I was already like, man, I don't think I want to like put in this much effort as bad as that sound.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: I just I wasn't excited about it.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: I need to.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have to have an interest, yeah.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: Right.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: And so I was still trying to figure out where I was gonna go with it.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: And I called, I was back in my hometown and I called my buddy's dad, and I was like, hey man, I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my life.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Can I swing by and like shadow you in your office?
4:23
SPEAKER_00: And um, I went in there and it was like felt so much purpose.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: It was like immediately like, yes, this is what I'm supposed to do.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Like on one end of the spectrum, he was like, Yeah, four years of school and you're done if you get in.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh, after that, you know, the hours that you work are, you know, eight to four, eight to five every day, and then you get to go home and you know have time with your family and all that.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: There's no like on call, there's no fellowships and residencies and all this kind of stuff.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: And so um, even though it's a challenge, it doesn't require as much of um just a full-on commitment.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a little bit more balance, and so I think that really attracted me to it.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: And so um Arkansas doesn't have a dental school.
5:11
SPEAKER_04: No, no, no, wow, I'm surprised.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so at the time, I think they might be ha getting one now, or they have one that just started, but at the time they didn't.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: So we had to contract out with neighboring states.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: So Tennessee had like 30 seats for our Kansans or 35, and Kansas City had a few, and then LSU had four seats for our Kansans.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: And um, I applied and was fortunate enough to get in there, which was awesome.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: That's where I wanted to go.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, love that school, SEC football, that whole thing, you know what I mean?
5:43
SPEAKER_00: And like woo-hoo.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: And so they they've got a super solid reputation, and it's like followed me even coming into Arizona, you know what I mean?
5:52
SPEAKER_00: So felt super blessed to to be able to get in there.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, I finished up in 2016 there, moved to Tennessee for my first job.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: I worked for a big like corporate dental office.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I think they own like 1800 offices or something.
6:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know if you guys know about the corporate takeover of dental, but that's that's a whole other conversation.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I didn't didn't get along with those guys.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: I um got fired from that job.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, I say I'm a horrible employee, you know.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: So um called my my friend's dad again and was like, hey man, I got fired from this job.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: I hate it out here.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: Can I come work for you?
6:35
SPEAKER_00: And he um he basically said yeah.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: So in this little four-op practice, um, I got to spend a year over his shoulder um kind of seeing how to be a dentist.
6:46
SPEAKER_04: So that's the best way to learn, isn't it?
6:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude, yeah.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: That's what I say.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: LSU, um, you know, they taught me how to read, and Dr.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: Fleming taught me how to be a dentist.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, pretty much.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
6:56
SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: And it was crazy, man, because it's like in in dentistry, you know, he he told me early on, he was like, it blew my mind all the stuff he was doing.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: I was like, man, how did you learn how to do all this stuff?
7:08
SPEAKER_00: How are you so good at this?
7:09
SPEAKER_00: You know, and he was like, dude, dentistry is easy, you'll catch on quick, there's nothing to it.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: It's not working on teeth, it's hard, it's what the teeth are attached to.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, that's deep.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: The person that's deep, that's real nice.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: And and I didn't realize how much truth was in that at the time because I was still getting going.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: But like watching him, dude, it's like he was the most alpha male you can imagine.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: Like you did not mess with Dr.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Max.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: He was like, he outside of the practice, he was freaking tough, man.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: He was like a cool dude, but at the same time, it was like you just didn't mess with Dr.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Max.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: Like he was the man.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then I would see him like how he dealt with patients and how he had conversations with them.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: And there could be somebody in there being so rude and disgusting and hateful.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: And just when I would expect him to go in and just like alpha this person, you know what I mean, just roll over the top of them, he would turn into the most gentle, like loving, understanding person that I'd ever seen.
8:14
SPEAKER_02: And know how to de-escalate.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it was like such like complete humility, like he would take complete ownership of every situation, uh, and and how he made patients feel comfortable in these really, really like awkward scenarios.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's anxious, everybody's hurting, everybody hates being there.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and he was able to set aside that personality outside of of dental and when he was in his office.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, that's nice.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: And and so when I saw that, I realized like the the trick to this whole thing is is so much further outside of just doing good work, you know what I mean?
8:52
SPEAKER_00: It's it's can you have those conversations with people?
8:55
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, the office was just too small for both of us, you know, and so ended up um, you know, parting ways there.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: I ended up at a really high volume practice in Arkansas.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: So everything I learned from Dr.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: Fleming, I just got to put in practice at, you know, 10x the amount of patients, you know.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: So I spent um a little over two years working at that practice and got tired of working for somebody else, decided I wanted to branch out on my own.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, why not?
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, didn't have the money for a brick and mortar location, so I set up my own freelance practice, um, put in my resignation, got licensed in as many states as I could.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Arizona had waived their licensing fee for Dennis because it was just coming out of COVID and they were trying to get Dennis back.
9:44
SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow, that's very interesting.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I snagged the license.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: I had a job lined out in Georgia that got delayed.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: And so I knew a company that owned, you know, I think they were up to like 800 offices.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: And so I had the CEO, his, you know, uh number in my phone, and I texted him.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: I was like, hey man, you guys got any work out in Arizona?
10:04
SPEAKER_00: And uh he was like, Yeah, we just closed on 50 offices in Phoenix.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, can you yeah, can you be out here next week?
10:11
SPEAKER_00: Wow, and I was like, Yeah, man, sure, why not?
10:14
SPEAKER_00: And so I spent my last uh it was a credit card, right?
10:18
SPEAKER_00: I had 3,500 bucks left on it.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: I spent three grand on my first Airbnb here for a month, and I was like, you know, I'll get out to Phoenix, I'll spend a month or two until my job in Georgia gets lined out and then reassess and then got out, got out here and just fell in love with the place.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: Met my wife, you know, a month after I was here.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: Great community, great group of friends, great outdoor community, and just like every everything that I love is in Phoenix other than the summers, you know.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: And so that's it brings me here.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna five.
10:55
SPEAKER_04: We think it's a great location, too.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: Now he has a southern heart.
10:58
SPEAKER_02: That's sweet.
11:00
SPEAKER_02: Southwest heart.
11:01
SPEAKER_04: What's the one thing that you wish every patient would start doing at home that would make the biggest difference to their dental health?
11:08
SPEAKER_00: I'd say uh probably like stop stop brushing, stop faulting.
11:14
SPEAKER_05: What?
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, go ahead and you know, stop, stop going to the dentist for a couple years and then come see me.
11:23
SPEAKER_00: I would say I'm in that boat.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: Where it's like, you know, student loans are crazy these days, and you know, Phoenix is in a cheap city, so I'd I'd say the more help I could get, the better, you know.
11:39
SPEAKER_03: I did not expect that answer.
11:43
SPEAKER_03: Uh is there actually a difference between toothpaste?
11:46
SPEAKER_02: Like, should people, you know, you hear those things about fluoride.
11:51
SPEAKER_02: Should people use fluoride?
11:53
SPEAKER_02: Should you not be using fluoride?
11:56
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've heard it causes things.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: I'm not asking you to speak from a legal perspective, but you know, what about fluoride?
12:02
SPEAKER_02: What do you think?
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude, that's uh that's a fun conversation for dentists.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, when patients come in, I kind of have a spill on this one, right?
12:11
SPEAKER_00: So I'll have a patient who's like, okay, so what are your thoughts on fluoride?
12:14
SPEAKER_00: And they're they're either in one of two camps, you know what I mean?
12:18
SPEAKER_00: And I I feel baited in each one of those, you know what I mean?
12:21
SPEAKER_00: So it's like I I have a uh political speech I give where I say, look, man, uh I think there's people on on both sides of the fence.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: I kind of equate this to the conversation of vaccines and medical, maybe not quite as extreme, but it's the same thing where you look at some research and it would indicate that there are a lot of benefits.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: I think establishment thought processes, um, people who've been in the game for a long time would say like fluoride generally is going to be in small doses um associated with lower cavities, risk, things like that.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: But on the other end of the spectrum, um, there's a there's a big movement right now where people are getting away from vaccines and having all these extra things in their system.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: And so I have a lot of respect for the people who want to make informed decisions about what they put into their body, like a holistic approach.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
13:21
SPEAKER_00: And so for the people who don't want to take the chance on um having these like foreign bodies in, you know what I mean?
13:28
SPEAKER_00: It's like you're being force-fed fluoride through your water and you don't have a choice, you know, that bothers some people, so I can respect that.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: Um so um being a neutral party, I can say like both sides have their their points, but I use a fluoride toothpaste, you know what I mean?
13:45
SPEAKER_00: Because um I've I've seen generally if you look at like first world developed countries who have fluoride in the water, they're like prone to cavities, you know, their their risk of cavities is significantly lower because of you know micro exposure to fluoride, it just gives the bacteria a hard time, uh, less of an uh environment that they can thrive in.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: So um I I like the idea of fluoride, but I also understand the people who tend to shy away from from that sort of thing.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: And I'll use um, yeah, I I should show you this picture.
14:20
SPEAKER_00: So there was one patient that I had who um grew up in an Ethiopian village who like over-fluoridated their water.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
14:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, their teeth turned brown, don't they?
14:30
SPEAKER_00: It was solid brown.
14:32
SPEAKER_02: No way, I didn't know about this.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you want to see the picture?
14:34
SPEAKER_02: Sure, yeah.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm always down, yeah, yeah.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: You you gotta see this, dude.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: This is one of my favorite cases.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: So he was trying to get into med school.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: So too much fluoride turned their teeth brown?
14:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Is that what you're wow?
14:46
SPEAKER_00: So this is uh this is like the extreme example of like why you wouldn't want to take a bunch of fluoride.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: So he was trying to get into med school, and um he kept getting denied because of his interviews.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: So that's what he looked like.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then that was him after we were done with him.
15:06
SPEAKER_02: That that was actually your patient?
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this was a case that I did.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: Hell, that looks like a skeleton mouth.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: That is crazy and so like dead.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's gonna listen to that guy about his health.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, we totally we changed his life, you know what I mean?
15:19
SPEAKER_00: Now you can't even tell.
15:20
SPEAKER_02: So but you see that was a miracle, man.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: That was incredible.
15:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you see stuff like that.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: And is that on your website?
15:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, people can actually go to your website and see that.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: If you go to my before and afters and scroll down a little bit, you'll see like skeleton mouth before and after.
15:36
SPEAKER_03: Go check that out, people.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Herringfamily dental.com.
15:41
SPEAKER_03: Great, I love it.
15:43
SPEAKER_03: Um, so so you were saying you do uh flaw you do brush with uh fluoride at home.
15:48
SPEAKER_02: You use fluoride?
15:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I use it.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, a fluoride mouth rinse and fluoride toothpaste, I don't think you know, hurt hurt anybody too bad.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: Just don't don't eat a huge block of it, you know.
16:00
SPEAKER_03: Don't swallow your toothpaste.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: You might end up with some crazy teeth, you know what I mean?
16:04
SPEAKER_00: But then you they can come see you.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, you got it.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Might not be a bad idea.
16:09
SPEAKER_03: It's a nice recycling program.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
16:11
SPEAKER_04: Okay, um, let's be perfectly honest here.
16:14
SPEAKER_04: How many people actually brush for the full two minutes?
16:18
SPEAKER_04: And does that two-minute rule really matter?
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh, dude, I would say like this one, actually, quite a few people, man.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: Um the advent of electric toothbrushes, I think, is is what would do it because they stay on for two minutes.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: Like, nobody with a manual toothbrush is gonna look at their watch and just.
16:39
SPEAKER_04: No, I know I don't.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, nobody where it's like, okay, that feels about right.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: Seeing happy birthday to yourself and you're good, kind of thing, about washing your hands.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: But um anybody with an electric toothbrush, it's pretty standard.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: They you hit the button, they stay on for two minutes, and then they shut off.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: And so I would say most folks with an electric toothbrush are doing two minutes a pop.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: How often should they be changing out those heads on the electric toothbrushes or even in general, changing out your toothbrush?
17:07
SPEAKER_00: Well, do you think about it this way?
17:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, how long, like say you had a washcloth in the bathroom that you uh that you were using every day.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: It's like people wash those after at least, you know, two or two or three uses.
17:23
SPEAKER_03: That's kind of nasty.
17:24
SPEAKER_03: Well, in that concept, I'd use a toothbrush and do one every time.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: Disposable toothbrushes.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: People leave their toothbrush sit there uh for you know a full year or two before they look at replacement.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, think about how much bacteria is on that rig, you know?
17:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
17:39
SPEAKER_04: And how worn down the bristles get so they don't do their job?
17:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, pretty much, yeah.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: So I man, to answer the question, I have three, four months at most.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
17:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that sounds good.
17:51
SPEAKER_04: That's about what I change.
17:52
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
17:53
SPEAKER_02: Does brushing uh harder make your teeth cleaner, or is people actually, you know, accidentally creating more damage to their enamel and their gums?
18:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, I would say probably more damage.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: Any kind of trauma like that, hard bristle toothbrush and a lot of pressure is gonna just keep things inflamed, you know what I mean?
18:13
SPEAKER_00: It's like there's if you if you were washing your car and you took something and just scraped super hard and chipped the paint, but if you just kind of take it easy on it, it's gonna clean it, you know.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: I'd kind of compare it to that, you know.
18:26
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
18:27
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
18:29
SPEAKER_02: Is uh is flossing actually non-negotiable, or you know, can those water flossers really replace traditional string flossing?
18:39
SPEAKER_00: Um I guess it depends on who you talk to.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: If you talk to my wife, the hygienist, um she's gonna tell you that it's absolutely uh a non-negotiable, that you absolutely have to floss that 30% of the tooth structure you can't reach except for with traditional floss, you know.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: And so you can you can try to rinse it off, but you're still not gonna touch 30% of the tooth.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: But is it natural to bleed every time you floss, or is that not good?
19:06
SPEAKER_00: That means there's chronic inflammation.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: So if it's if it's bleeding, if you're flossing and you see blood, it means your teeth and gums aren't healthy.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: So that's a sign.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: That's a a pretty good sign that you need to uh improve your hygiene.
19:21
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
19:22
SPEAKER_04: So um does mouthwash actually do anything important, or is it basically just making your breath smell better?
19:32
SPEAKER_00: I would I I would say both.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's definitely making making your breath smell better.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: I actually had a patient come in today who's like very good hygiene, but his breath was bad all the time.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: And he said it's been that way for a long time.
19:45
SPEAKER_02: And isn't there like a periodonald's disease or something like that that causes something like that?
19:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh it does, like any kind of chronic inflammation, gingivitis, peridontitis, infection in the bone, buildup on the teeth is all gonna contribute.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: But this guy had pretty clean teeth.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Turns out, like, he wasn't using mouth rinse and he wasn't brushing his tongue.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, as I got to talking to him, I was like, Well, do you brush your tongue?
20:08
SPEAKER_00: He was like, No, I've never done that.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: I was like, dude, you gotta brush your mouth.
20:12
SPEAKER_00: He has a layer on there, yeah, exactly.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: You know, so mouth rinse does a really good job against bad breath.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's gonna help keep things clean.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: And um, I like the fluoride mouth rinse because they can kind of coat the teeth, and that tends to work pretty good against cavities and stuff.
20:28
SPEAKER_04: Does uh mouthwash kill germs?
20:30
SPEAKER_00: For sure.
20:31
SPEAKER_04: Oh, it does for sure.
20:33
SPEAKER_04: Okay, yeah.
20:34
SPEAKER_02: If some of those people, because you know, they you know for whatever reason have to use those alcohol-free mouthwashes, do those work?
20:41
SPEAKER_02: Or I've never liked them because I feel like they create like too much of a weird foam in my mouth.
20:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I know that some people have to use them for whatever reason.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: Do the alcohol-free mouthwashes actually work, or do you need the the hard stuff?
20:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think both do the job.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
20:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: I've tried the like zero alcohol and I always end up with like a layer.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it feels like my cheeks, yeah.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: And so like it'll be like two hours later, and I'll like feel a layer on my tongue or something.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, man, I gotta leave this stuff alone.
21:09
SPEAKER_02: But it feels too fake to me, yeah.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I mean it it still works.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, both of them work.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: Some people can't tolerate it, their teeth are way too sensitive and it burns real bad.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: And then, dude, I've even I've even heard of um patients not being able to use it because it triggers their alcoholism.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: Like that's what I've heard.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's why that makes sense.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: And like crazy scenarios of people actually like drinking mouthwash because they want the alcohol in it.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: And if they have a breathalyzer in their vehicle, that's another thing that they tell them is they're supposed to use alcohol-free because you know, problems you can't blow in your device.
21:42
SPEAKER_02: You're right.
21:42
SPEAKER_02: So that's why I was saying some people actually have to have it, but yeah, not me.
21:47
SPEAKER_02: I like the good stuff, the hard stuff.
21:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, throw it back.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I like it to burn and sting and feel like pop rocks back there.
21:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
21:55
SPEAKER_04: What food or drink do people consume all the time that you wish they understood?
22:00
SPEAKER_04: Was much worse for their teeth than they realized.
22:03
SPEAKER_03: Like tea and yeah.
22:05
SPEAKER_04: No.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: Dude, I think uh like juice is at the top of this list for sure.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: Like the market and maybe sports drinks, like Gatorade.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: So the the marketing has been so good with like juice boxes for kids, like a healthy alternative to soda.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
22:20
SPEAKER_00: And I think what people don't realize um is it's it's not you know, the soda, the carbonation that's getting you, it's the the sugar that's in it.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: So sugar feeds the bacteria in your mouth that causes gum disease, that causes cavities and all that.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: And you know, people like some of the worst like decay like situations that I've seen are patients who'll sip on sweet tea or juice or um cokes throughout the day because you consistently keep this layer of sugar on top of your teeth that's never goes away, it never goes away, and so bacteria uh really thrive in that.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: And so um juice is the sneaky one because it's branded as like this healthy alternative, but really it's just as bad, if not worse, because the sugar content is so high.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: Wow, I didn't think about that.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: And I even I've even had parents say, like, oh, well, I I mix half and half, I'll do like half juice, half water, and it's like, well, you still you know, that's probably 20 grams of sugar a pot that you're dousing, you know, in there, and that's that's plenty to get the job done, you know.
23:28
SPEAKER_04: Well, my wife's uh diabetic and she's not supposed to have much sugar, and she takes a special powdered medication that has to be mixed in a juice.
23:38
SPEAKER_04: So she always uses we always buy the zero sugar juice and mix that in there, and then we feel we're okay with that because it's not adding any sugar to do anything to it.
23:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but don't they still use like the fake sugars and all that other stuff, the aspartans or whatnot, or yeah, but it's it's not gonna feed the bacteria in the same way.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
23:58
SPEAKER_00: Bacteria knows that's poison, you know, but bacteria likes the sugar.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: That's what it really feeds off of is the real sugar.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: The calories, you know what I mean?
24:07
SPEAKER_00: Zero sugar is like no calories, it can't do much with it, but bouse it with sugar and you'll see some cool results.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: Coffee drinkers want to know what's what's the best way to enjoy coffee without destroying or or overstaining your teeth.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't think you have to worry about it destroying them.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
24:30
SPEAKER_00: Like that's a powerful word.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: It's like you're not you know, I don't think anybody's just gonna drink coffee every morning, a cup or two, and run into just you know, really messed up teeth, but you're not gonna do much with the staining, you know.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: Coffee and red wine really stain teeth.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: And so um, me personally, I use like an arm and hammer, like really aggressive um type of uh what are like grainy toothpaste is what I use.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: Really?
24:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, and it's just like super foliator toothpaste.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: It's like really abrasive, and that that does the job for me.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people do like take-home whitening trays or like in-house whitening to kind of combat that a little bit.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: But if if you drink a lot of coffee, you'll see some staining.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: If you drink a lot of red wine, you're gonna see some staining, but it's not gonna destroy your teeth, and you can get that color out with you know, either a specific kind of whitening toothpaste or good home care, that sort of thing.
25:27
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
25:29
SPEAKER_02: So if somebody I don't think we actually asked this later, so I'm gonna ask it.
25:33
SPEAKER_02: If somebody um is using those whiteners and whatnot, instead of using the whiteners, if they're just trying to whiten their teeth without those whiteners, rather, um, like how long do you think it would take them to whiten their teeth compared to just using the bleach?
25:47
SPEAKER_02: Because the bleach I've seen, like I've had braces, and so when I had to get my braces off, they you know put me through some teeth whitening to get the stains away and stuff like that.
25:55
SPEAKER_02: But if if somebody was trying to, you know, overall whiten or or get their what get a whiter smile, how long would it roughly take them just you know brushing away at it?
26:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh I think it depends on like diet and consistency, you know what I mean?
26:11
SPEAKER_00: It's like somebody's not gonna do it overnight.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: But if if you use like an abrasive toothpaste that's not, you know, you're not using a super hard bristle toothbrush and just go into town, you know what I mean, but you're consistent two minutes, morning time, nighttime, you're using your mouth rinse and you're using the whitening toothpaste, and you're not drinking a you know cup of coffee every hour on the hour, you know, you're gonna see you're gonna see shades difference than somebody who brushes for 10 seconds in the morning time and drinks coffee all day, you know what I mean?
26:44
SPEAKER_00: So I think it just it it depends, you know, to cop out on the answer.
26:49
SPEAKER_02: No, I I I fully get it.
26:52
SPEAKER_02: But energy drinks we kind of already covered, but you are do they uh do they uh make your teeth worse?
26:59
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's kind of like the same thing as soda, right?
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, energy drinks with sugar will get you, you know.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I'm I'm assuming I'm no expert on energy drinks, but I'm assuming they're acidic even without, you know, sugar in them.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: Um and and generally bad for you in general.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: So I think patients who would normally drink multiple energy drinks throughout the day are gonna be less likely uh to be concerned about as much home care.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: And so it's kind of that vicious spiral.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Generally, if patients are more concerned about their health, they're gonna be drinking less energy drinks.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: And I think that goes to say that energy drinks with sugar and sodas with sugar and all that are really, really bad for you.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: Um a couple energy drinks here and there.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: I drink energy drinks every now and then, a Celsius here and there, you know what I mean?
27:50
SPEAKER_00: But um, is it gonna really impact things too much?
27:54
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't think so.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: It's all about like what what are you consistent with?
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Are are you more consistent with keeping your teeth clean or drinking energy drinks?
28:03
SPEAKER_00: You know?
28:03
SPEAKER_02: So we've talked about the sodas and the coffees and the energy drinks.
28:08
SPEAKER_02: Well what actually is worse?
28:10
SPEAKER_02: Well, would it be those or would it be, you know, some people have the the smoking issues as well?
28:15
SPEAKER_02: Or do smoking how does that compare?
28:17
SPEAKER_00: Smoking's the worst.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Smoking's the worst.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Like I think, man, uh probably, you know, you're better off drinking an energy drink every couple hours than you are with smoking cigarettes.
28:30
SPEAKER_02: As far as teeth health.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Oh, as far as teeth health, yeah.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, because the smoke, what it does is it pulls out all of the oxygen, so it starves the intravolar cavity for oxygen, and so you lose vascularity and like blood flow is the health of the tissue, right?
28:46
SPEAKER_00: And so you end up with this chronic inflammation um that's caused one, one by lack of oxygen, and then two uh by the heat.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: So the heat from the smoke coming in will actually damage tissues as well.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: The temperature.
29:00
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: And so you see a lot of gum disease, a lot of chronic inflammation, um, and just a lot of issues teeth-wise for patients who consistently smoke.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: It's really, really bad for your teeth.
29:13
SPEAKER_04: Well, and all this time I thought it was just the nicotine.
29:16
SPEAKER_04: I didn't know that was the actual smoke and the heat that did anything.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're like, Wow, you got a barbecue in your mouth.
29:22
SPEAKER_02: You're you're smoking the place out.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah.
29:24
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, it makes sense now, though, as I think about it.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: And I'm pretty sure they got like tar in them too, right?
29:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they got all kinds of and all the carcinogens.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Think about like additives that they're cheapening them down with.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all that damages the cells in the mouth.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: Yuck.
29:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: So I haven't smoked a cigarette in like 20 years.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: Yuck.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, be careful, you know, be careful.
29:45
SPEAKER_02: Teenagers.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: It's vaping now, man.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: That's what you're talking about.
29:49
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, you're vaping and you're good.
29:51
SPEAKER_02: Speaking of vapors, man, what I don't like is I mean, if you vape, that's your own thing.
29:56
SPEAKER_02: I mean, do you?
29:57
SPEAKER_02: That's I I'm not judging.
29:59
SPEAKER_02: But what I don't like is when somebody's either sneaking it in somewhere, like I'm in a movie theater or on a ride at Disneyland and somebody's blowing some smoke.
30:07
SPEAKER_02: That I don't like, or just simply walking into the grocery store and they have to suck that robot thing all the way from the car to the front door and then right in your face.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: It's like, what why do I have to pay for it?
30:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to smell your scent.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: I don't care if it's blueberry, I don't want to smell it.
30:25
SPEAKER_02: I don't ugh, I don't like it.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: And don't tell me that you quit smoking.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
30:30
SPEAKER_00: It's like I quit I quit smoking, I started vaping.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, I just I just vape.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: It's a worse.
30:35
SPEAKER_02: Like, no, you smoke, you know, if not worse, because a cigarette only provides you so much smoke at a time.
30:40
SPEAKER_02: But a vape, man, you see those people, they're stuck in it for like two minutes.
30:43
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how they breathe.
30:45
SPEAKER_02: I'm curious to see those long-term studies.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: Because that I mean, that came out relatively recent, you know what I mean?
30:50
SPEAKER_00: And it was like smoking, everybody was smoking in the 60s, right?
30:53
SPEAKER_02: And then But our grandparents didn't have that.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: No.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: But and by the 2000s, people started figuring out, oh, I don't think this is great for us.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: So I wonder in like 40 years, 30 years, what all the vapors are going to look like.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: That'd be an interesting study.
31:07
SPEAKER_03: There's gonna be a lot of lawsuits.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: That's for sure.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
31:11
SPEAKER_04: Well, I I'm not one that drinks plain water myself, I just don't like the taste of it.
31:16
SPEAKER_04: So I I sometimes buy the flavor.
31:18
SPEAKER_04: No, I sometimes I buy the flavored water.
31:20
SPEAKER_04: And uh uh is it actually harmless or am I doing some damage?
31:25
SPEAKER_00: You don't like the taste of water?
31:27
SPEAKER_04: Not usually, no, I don't.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: You gotta get your water intake.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: You gotta stay hydrated.
31:31
SPEAKER_04: No, he's weird.
31:32
SPEAKER_02: No, you know, you know I love water.
31:34
SPEAKER_02: I'm a water schnob, I like different types of water.
31:36
SPEAKER_04: Do you know what I drink all day?
31:38
SPEAKER_04: I uh it's iced tea morning, noon, and night.
31:40
SPEAKER_04: That's it.
31:41
SPEAKER_04: Is it sweet?
31:42
SPEAKER_04: No, no, it's unsweet.
31:43
SPEAKER_04: Okay, that's but but it I know the staining is bad for me, but I I I just I just can't drink water.
31:50
SPEAKER_04: I just can't do it.
31:51
SPEAKER_04: So I I tried some flavored ones, but which I can get down, but anyway.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, man, I respect that.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: I respect that.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh I would say flavored, you know, it's stay away from the sugar.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: I know that's a good one.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, there's no sugar, there's no sugar.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: So the zero flavors, like you're ingesting chemicals, you know what I mean?
32:12
SPEAKER_00: So it's like 80-20.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: For me, it's like I love Coke Zero.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Like, if I'm gonna like drink a Coke Zero, like I feel better about drinking Coke Zero than just like regular Coke.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: Right.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: I know the sugar, but at the same time, I know I'm ingesting chemicals when I do it.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
32:27
SPEAKER_00: So it's like if you really, really like non-flavored, you know, water substitutes, like, yeah, it's probably better to get some water in your system.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: And if it takes a little like Mio or whatever that is, yeah, I've seen that to get it down.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: Like it's gotta be better for you than you know, just not drinking water at all.
32:47
SPEAKER_04: Maybe I should go try that.
32:48
SPEAKER_04: I've I've seen it in the store, but I've never tried it.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: Or even those liquid IV things.
32:52
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they're flavored.
32:53
SPEAKER_02: You can just add one little thing to your water and then it's like drinking.
32:57
SPEAKER_02: I've really seen those.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those elements, L M N Ts.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Have you seen those?
33:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh-uh.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude, they're delicious.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Those are really salty, but they're good for hydrating.
33:08
SPEAKER_02: But it has the good salts, right?
33:09
SPEAKER_02: Because those are the salts that help you hold on to the water, or supposed to help you stay hydrated, yeah.
33:14
SPEAKER_02: So we talked about a lot of liquid dangers.
33:17
SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about a solid danger for your teeth.
33:20
SPEAKER_02: Is chocolate really that bad for your teeth?
33:23
SPEAKER_02: Or, you know, are they just you know hyping it up?
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Dude, I'm a broken record.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: I just feel like a broken record.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: It's the sugar, you know what I mean?
33:31
SPEAKER_00: It's like candy.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: You said that a lot already.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, like that.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: Sugar, sugar, sugar.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what does it, man.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
33:38
SPEAKER_02: So it's the sugar.
33:39
SPEAKER_02: So if I got sugar-free chocolate, but that's no fun.
33:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's a really, really dark stuff.
33:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you could do that.
33:47
SPEAKER_02: 3D printed chocolate.
33:48
SPEAKER_04: 3D printed, yeah.
33:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I know that kind.
33:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
33:53
SPEAKER_04: What's one viral TikTok or social media dental trend that makes you cringe every time you see it?
33:59
SPEAKER_04: I'm not aware of any, but maybe you are.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: I got a couple, dude.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is probably gonna be unpopular amongst some of your listeners.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: And I don't care.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: It's it's one like what what do I know?
34:10
SPEAKER_00: Kind of thing.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: Take it with my two cents, you know.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: But uh, I would say oil pulling.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh what's that?
34:16
SPEAKER_04: I don't know what that is.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I didn't, it's like they'll they'll put in essential oils through their teeth and then kind of do that really to like get it in between their teeth.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: Really?
34:29
SPEAKER_00: No way.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: They call it oil pulling, and I'm sure there's more like technicalities to it than that.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they've got it dialed into very specific oils.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm saying.
34:37
SPEAKER_04: Like, I never looked into the specifics, it might be clove oil or eucalyptus or something like that.
34:42
SPEAKER_00: I think it might be clove oil, something like that.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, but they'll pull that through, and the idea is that it helps prevent cavities.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: But the thing is, like, I have these really crunchy patients come in who um crunchy?
34:57
SPEAKER_00: You haven't heard crunchy?
34:58
SPEAKER_00: No.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: I like what does that mean?
35:01
SPEAKER_00: That's hilarious.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: So, okay, so that's a okay, I'll define crunchy in just a second.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: But it's somebody who's really, really adamant about their health and they take really, really good care of care of themselves and all that, but they do it from a holistic, natural, uh, natural path standpoint, right?
35:17
SPEAKER_00: So they want to avoid these would be the people avoiding fluoride and things like that.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: And so they want to figure out natural alternatives um to things like cavities and all that.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: So if they see a cavity coming up or they see one on the x-ray, they'll start doing like oil pulling and things like that to try to circumvent it.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's like I've I've seen it enough now where, you know, that cavity just keeps getting worse, you know.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: And I'm telling the patient, like, hey, you know, we should go in there and, you know, do some work on this tooth, but they feel like the uh the anesthetic or the epinephrine or those unnatural type things are kind of are more dangerous than say like oil pulling, which you see what I mean?
35:59
SPEAKER_00: And so that makes sense, yeah.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: So that and then like the charcoal toothpaste, actually, the black stuff.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: That was going around.
36:06
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I've never seen that.
36:07
SPEAKER_02: And then they had the black toothbrushes too.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: So that's like crazy abrasive.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's really, really tough on the enamel.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, that gained a lot of popularity.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: So, like, you got a a lot of those types of things that get viral, you know what I mean?
36:23
SPEAKER_00: But probably those two.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry for the I apologize to the old pollers out there.
36:30
SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm sure it works.
36:31
SPEAKER_03: Oil polar.
36:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, I wonder if they use the oil oil of oregano too, because I heard that like goes around.
36:38
SPEAKER_02: People you put that on everything.
36:40
SPEAKER_02: The oil of oregano.
36:41
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I've heard, yeah.
36:42
SPEAKER_04: That might oh, crunchy.
36:44
SPEAKER_04: Crunchy.
36:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
36:45
SPEAKER_04: No, yeah, what's crunchy?
36:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay, have you guys heard the term like granola mom before or anything like that?
36:52
SPEAKER_00: So I think it all kind of is is the same conversation.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: So someone that's that's crunchy is is someone who's really gonna like smell like patchouli and like go in and like really be like extra, extra naturopathic kind of like lifestyle, you know what I mean?
37:15
SPEAKER_00: Like no deodorants, you know what I mean, no, no chemicals, no microplastics, like um no aluminums, no polyester on my baby, like cloth only, you know what I mean?
37:27
SPEAKER_00: Like that that kind of thing.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: So somebody on that wavelength.
37:31
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I didn't know there was such a person.
37:32
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, man.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: Especially in Phoenix, man.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I didn't know that.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I'm semi-crunchy.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm not that crunchy, but I'm a little, I'm a little crunchy.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: The only reason Kirsta, my wife, she's crunchy, super crunchy, which by default makes me kind of crunchy, which is why I don't eat sugar or drink Coke Zero unless she's not around.
37:53
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's funny.
37:54
SPEAKER_02: Good thing we don't have videos around here.
37:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:57
SPEAKER_02: What happens in here stays in here.
38:00
SPEAKER_02: Can you uh tell someone, can you tell someone hasn't been to the dentist in years just by looking in their mouth?
38:08
SPEAKER_02: Let's give it a shot.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm just playing.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's funny, yeah.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh man, so yes and no.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh there's teeth are funny and there's such a spectrum, man.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: So this is, you know, what I tell there's there's three kinds of patients in general that I see.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: It's like one kind of pay, and it has to do with the bacteria that's in your mouth.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: So one type of patient will be really prone to build up.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: They'll come in, they won't have a single cavity, but they have a ton of calculus, tartar, plaque, inflamed gums, and they really struggle keeping things clean.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: But once you get them cleaned up, they're fine, you know.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: And if it's been 10 years for them, it's like they're gonna have a ton of buildup and you got some work to do.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: The next group of people will be the people who are prone to cavities.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: They don't get a lot of buildup, but every tooth in their head will be, you know, they'll have a cavity in there, and you gotta, you know, crowns and root canals and that kind of stuff, and they really struggle maintaining existing restorations.
39:06
SPEAKER_00: And once again, it's just genetics and the bacteria that's in their mouth.
39:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then the third group of people are the aliens, where it could be 10 years since they've been to the dentist, they come in and they don't have any buildup, not a single cavity, and they're just like pristine.
39:21
SPEAKER_00: Um my goodness.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, and so that that's more rare, but it definitely happens.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: So I would say I can identify those three groups, and within each of those groups, I can identify how long it's been since they've been to the dentist.
39:36
SPEAKER_00: That's incredible.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and dude, check this out.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: So, corporate dental has gotten so good at putting numbers to everything, right?
39:44
SPEAKER_00: It's like we're no longer patients, we're numbers.
39:46
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
39:47
SPEAKER_00: Right?
39:47
SPEAKER_00: They got it down to the T like.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they got it down to the T.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: And so what they'll do is they've they figured out that on average, for every year that somebody doesn't go to the dentist, it costs them roughly$600 in dental services.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: So what they'll do is they'll market to people who haven't been to the dentist in say over six years, and then they assign a budget to their marketing fee based off of like acquiring those patients.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
40:14
SPEAKER_04: So you're a dollar sign, you're not a patient.
40:16
SPEAKER_04: Oh, for sure.
40:16
SPEAKER_04: It's like annual.
40:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: So they have a metric that's like annual per patient value.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: They want to drive that number up.
40:24
SPEAKER_00: And how do they do that?
40:25
SPEAKER_00: By targeting people who haven't been to the dentist, and then they find their like micro pockets of populations that are less likely to go to the dentist and all that stuff.
40:33
SPEAKER_00: And then they figure out like cost per acquisition and how much they should spend on that patient versus this patient.
40:38
SPEAKER_00: It's pretty wicked.
40:39
SPEAKER_02: That is crazy.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's not right.
40:41
SPEAKER_00: That's not right.
40:42
SPEAKER_04: Why are so many people afraid of going to the dentist?
40:46
SPEAKER_04: And how do you help them?
40:49
SPEAKER_00: That's a big question.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a big one, right?
40:52
SPEAKER_00: That's a big question.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: Dude, my grandpa, my grandpa had a quote and it like he nailed it when he said it.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: He was like, dude, people don't know much about dentistry other than it hurts and it's expensive.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: That's true.
41:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, that's I mean, that's true.
41:07
SPEAKER_00: That is true.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: And so when you when you think about the dentists, I mean, you've got the people who just show up, you know, for their cleanings and they've got a good relationship with the hygienist, and it's kind of a social outing, it's similar to getting your hair cut, you know what I mean?
41:18
SPEAKER_00: So that set all of that aside, and let's focus on, you know, just going to the dentist because you have a toothache.
41:25
SPEAKER_00: Now all of a sudden we've got a like different conversation, you know what I mean?
41:28
SPEAKER_00: And those patients, like, they're nervous, they've got somebody in their bubble, um, they don't really know what's going on.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: Tooth pain um and childbirth have been determined to be like two of the most intense pains that you can have.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: Oh, women come in consistently telling me they would rather have another baby than a child.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: No way.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I swear to you.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: And so when you're dealing with this level of pain, and then you've got to tell somebody that it's really expensive to fix it.
42:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then they've got to set in the procedure.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: They got to pay you a lot of money to set in this procedure that's gonna take X amount of time.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: They have to be awake for it.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's in their like bubble in their mouth, tight spaces.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's a tough overall experience, you know what I mean?
42:18
SPEAKER_00: So it's like I think everybody has every right to be like hesitant to go to the dentist and be like anxious about the whole process.
42:28
SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, it kind of sucks from start to finish.
42:31
SPEAKER_02: So, how do you not take that personal as a dentist?
42:33
SPEAKER_02: Because I know that that's you know, that's not your fault that the the prices are so high and everything else.
42:39
SPEAKER_02: But how do you how do you not take that personal?
42:41
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, you still gotta feed your family, you still gotta, you know, make money and your services obviously and your talents can't be provided for free.
42:49
SPEAKER_02: So how how do you not take that personal?
42:52
SPEAKER_00: Well, dude, I mean, I hear it every day where it's like it's you know, the patient will say it's you know, nothing personal.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: I just hate the dentist, you know.
43:01
SPEAKER_00: And I walk in the room and just terrify people.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
43:05
SPEAKER_00: Like all I have to do is walk in and people tense out.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: You don't need a Halloween costume.
43:09
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, I'm I'm in it.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
43:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm currently in it.
43:14
SPEAKER_00: I just I live that, you know, and so I think eventually it's so how about this story?
43:20
SPEAKER_00: So Dr.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: Fleming, the the mentor dentist that I that I told you about, um, brutally honest guy, like that's that was his personality.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: And this kid came in, kid, he was like 18.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: This is a kid, yeah.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: But he was getting ready to go to college, and um he was like, Dr.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: Max, I've been watching you, man.
43:39
SPEAKER_00: It's like uh I love what you're doing here.
43:42
SPEAKER_00: Gosh, man, you really make dentistry look cool.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: He was like, That's what I'm gonna do, man.
43:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be a dentist.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: And Dr.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: Fleming looked at him and he said, Son, you don't have enough evil in you to be a dentist.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh well.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: Just like right there.
43:57
SPEAKER_00: And so I say all that to say, like, I think it takes.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: A certain kind of personality for real.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, you know, it takes a certain kind of personality.
44:05
SPEAKER_00: God made some people for it, I think.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: Just like God made some people for war, you know what I mean?
44:11
SPEAKER_00: It's like Navy SEALs, like not everybody can get through Navy SEAL training, but the guys who do and like specialize in that kind of stuff are just built for it.
44:19
SPEAKER_00: There's something different about them.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: I think they're different humans for sure.
44:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think dentistry kind of draws a certain crowd and a certain personality, and you know, once you get in there, it's it's more of you know embracing the challenge.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: It's like, how can I be the person that this person trusts to go through a traumatic life experience with?
44:40
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
44:40
SPEAKER_00: And then being able to um kind of respect the fact that it's a that it's a tough area and that someone's just struggling because it's a tough, a tough go, you know what I mean?
44:54
SPEAKER_00: And so I don't I don't take it personal because I know how tough what they're going through is, you know what I mean?
44:59
SPEAKER_00: Wow um why why should I take it personal that this person is like hurting and in pain and is just trying to navigate, you know what I mean?
45:08
SPEAKER_00: It's like they don't have experience in the chair, you know, it's like they can't be good at it, you know.
45:14
SPEAKER_00: And so um I'm there to help them navigate that, make them as comfortable as I can, and do the best job that I can.
45:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, and hopefully we get through it together.
45:25
SPEAKER_00: Not all heroes wear capes.
45:30
SPEAKER_06: That's funny.
45:33
SPEAKER_04: No, that's sweet.
45:34
SPEAKER_04: That's really cool, Brent.
45:35
SPEAKER_04: So, what's the craziest or funniest thing you've ever seen a nervous patient do?
45:40
SPEAKER_04: Oh, geez, walk out.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: Man, maybe.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh, man, this I could tell multiple stories on this one.
45:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I so I I would want to like preface this by saying, like, I wouldn't use the word crazy, you know what I mean?
45:58
SPEAKER_00: It's like people have to process traumatic experiences in their own way.
46:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I don't I don't think any response is crazy to what you have to go through at the dentist, you know.
46:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I I wouldn't use the word crazy, but I I would use the word exaggerated response.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, like probably the most exaggerated response I've seen um was I don't know, I can't remember what her childhood trauma was, but it was really bad.
46:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, and she had a really bad toothache, and her husband forced her to come in because she wasn't gonna come in, she was just gonna deal with the toothache.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: It was she would rather have a toothache until it goes away than see the dentist.
46:41
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's not going away.
46:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, some people are like that though.
46:44
SPEAKER_02: I mean, then the tooth will fall out.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't a money thing.
46:47
SPEAKER_00: She was just like, screw the dentist.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: And so I I don't even get fully in the op.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: She's with her husband, she sees me full-on tears.
46:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm not talking like kind of crying, I mean like her immediate family member, her husband just died or had a stroke or something.
47:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
47:07
SPEAKER_00: And like full-on breakdown in the op.
47:10
SPEAKER_00: Everybody could hear it.
47:12
SPEAKER_00: Like everybody in that practice could hear.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: And I didn't I didn't say a word.
47:16
SPEAKER_00: Like, I just walked up.
47:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so that's what I said.
47:20
SPEAKER_00: Like, we had a lot of work to do before we even started doing dentistry.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
47:26
SPEAKER_00: It's like, how do you take that person and get them to where you can get them numbed up?
47:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:31
SPEAKER_00: It's like that's all now.
47:32
SPEAKER_02: You're a therapist now.
47:33
SPEAKER_00: You're you're not just a dentist, yeah.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: And so I had to sit there and like figure out, like, okay, where's the disconnect?
47:40
SPEAKER_00: Like, what did I do by walking up that like triggered this?
47:43
SPEAKER_00: And how do we just like get you to a point where you don't have a toothache?
47:47
SPEAKER_02: Does your faith and relationship with God help in those situations?
47:51
SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
47:52
SPEAKER_00: My faith in God helps in every situation, whether it's dealing with a particular patient or like on a macro level, how I approach life in general.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: So I would say like it bleeds into everything that I do.
48:07
SPEAKER_00: Um in that particular scenario, like before Christ, I would be looking at this person as someone who is keeping me from doing my job elsewhere.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
48:22
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
48:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh, versus like after being saved and pursuing Christ in my life and modeling his character.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: Now this is a broken human who I can help come alongside and, you know, pray for internally and and try to help shepherd them into a mindset that's gonna make them feel more at peace, you know what I mean?
48:47
SPEAKER_00: And so like I carry that into every room with me.
48:50
SPEAKER_00: I pray before every procedure.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, in our office, like we've got lo-fi Christian beats playing, and we've got, you know, you know, religious books, you know, Bibles and stuff kind of hanging out, and you know, you set the presence.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: And and you know, from the get-go, you know, we pray in our morning huddles and we invite God into our practice, you know.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
49:13
SPEAKER_00: And so I think, you know, looking at that in individual scenario, it's not like I'm going in there and saying, like, oh, well, you know, you just need Jesus, you know, it doesn't go like that.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: But I wasn't meaning it like that.
49:28
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: But I I think it uh it bleeds into everything that I do now, how I approach patients, and especially like, you know, when when patients are mean and ugly and rude and yelling and leaving bad reviews and all that kind of stuff.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's where I really like see it because it's like I take a step back from my own ego and I think, you know, how how does Christ want me to respond in these scenarios?
50:00
SPEAKER_00: How can I show his love and humility even though like internally I just want to like be really frustrated with these people?
50:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah you know what I mean?
50:10
SPEAKER_02: That's what I thought.
50:11
SPEAKER_02: You know, knowing you, that's what I thought.
50:13
SPEAKER_02: That's what I was trying to get you to answer to and share with the audience.
50:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:18
SPEAKER_02: How um how painful should people actually expect dental work to be?
50:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean, how how do you how do you manage the pain?
50:27
SPEAKER_00: Dude, that's um, yeah, that's another million dollar question.
50:31
SPEAKER_00: Um sorry, loaded.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, dude.
50:34
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, it's it's what I live in all day, every day, you know, and so some patients come in and it's nothing to them.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
50:42
SPEAKER_00: Like it's just numb them up, get it done.
50:46
SPEAKER_00: They're rocking and rolling.
50:47
SPEAKER_00: I've had patients who come in for full procedures and don't even need anesthetic.
50:51
SPEAKER_00: Had this old military guy, it's when I was working um at 7th in Glendale over here.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: He came in and he didn't want to use anesthetic just to see if he could do it.
51:00
SPEAKER_00: I did a full crown prep on him.
51:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, we did a gingive vectomy.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: I had a laser where I carterized the tissue around the crown prep.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh-uh.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm in pain already.
51:09
SPEAKER_02: I did I did something similar to that, but yeah.
51:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and dude just handled it and didn't fling because I told him going into it, I was like, dude, I've had multiple people like tell me they want to try this and they've all bailed.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: And I he was like, No, you're good, do it.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: And we made it through the whole thing.
51:24
SPEAKER_00: When I got the laser out, I could tell he felt it.
51:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh but but he was silent, man.
51:31
SPEAKER_00: Never took a shot.
51:32
SPEAKER_00: How old was he?
51:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh, probably 70.
51:35
SPEAKER_00: Wow, he probably been through some things.
51:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, he done seen some stuff.
51:38
SPEAKER_02: In my in my younger 20s, I uh it was a money thing, and uh I had to get my wisdom teeth removed.
51:44
SPEAKER_02: I was probably like not even 21 yet.
51:46
SPEAKER_02: I was probably like 19 or 20, and uh couldn't afford the anesthesia and all this and that.
51:51
SPEAKER_02: Went to one of my family doctors who I was seeing at the time.
51:54
SPEAKER_02: I I no longer see them, but went to one of my family dentists and uh they they proved they did the the precision, the the procedure cheap, but I couldn't afford the extra, you know, money for the anesthesia.
52:05
SPEAKER_02: So I went in there and I got four wisdom teeth removed without anesthesia, no pain, no nothing.
52:11
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
52:13
SPEAKER_02: I thought that would be a great idea.
52:15
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
52:16
SPEAKER_02: The the the doctor was on top of me and he was making jokes like, good thing I ate my weaties today.
52:22
SPEAKER_02: He's like, he's yanking inside my mouth.
52:25
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, and he's a big burly guy, like he could probably wrestle a bear.
52:29
SPEAKER_02: So for him to be struggling, I was just like, I felt my jaw like, ugh.
52:34
SPEAKER_00: So that's what he's got enough evil to be a dentist.
52:36
SPEAKER_00: If you're doing that and you're cracking jokes, like that guy was built for dentistry.
52:40
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, and I'm awake.
52:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm actually afforded that's yeah, yeah, yeah.
52:46
SPEAKER_00: Dude, on the oh dude, I forgot about this story.
52:49
SPEAKER_00: So on uh the pain conversation.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: So I was in dental school.
52:52
SPEAKER_00: This was crazy.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: So we um we would go on oral surgery rotations, uh, and that's how we learn how to extract our like first teeth, right?
53:02
SPEAKER_00: And so we'd go to the hospital downtown New Orleans, um, because that's where the dental school was.
53:07
SPEAKER_00: And um, we'd go into the hospital um and follow these, you know, oral surgeons around.
53:13
SPEAKER_00: And so they had uh prisoners come in and then homeless people, that's who we would work on.
53:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, right.
53:19
SPEAKER_00: And so if you mess them up, like nobody cares, I guess, is the you didn't we could take that out.
53:27
SPEAKER_00: It's sad, you know.
53:28
SPEAKER_00: It's sad.
53:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
53:30
SPEAKER_00: But uh that's that's kind of how it feels.
53:33
SPEAKER_00: That was a before Christ Brit, right?
53:35
SPEAKER_00: It's like let's let's practice on these people because they can't afford lawyers to sue us, you know.
53:40
SPEAKER_00: But no, I I think everybody wins.
53:42
SPEAKER_00: We get allegedly we we get experience, you know, and and they get some service and no charge.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they get free treatment, you know what I mean?
53:50
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's a win for everybody, um, jokes aside.
53:53
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, yeah, yeah.
53:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I went in, it was a prisoner that came in deathly afraid of needles, like just refused anesthetic.
54:03
SPEAKER_00: But he had been beat up in prison and fractured his jaw, like full on broke it.
54:08
SPEAKER_00: And so they had to wire his jaw shut while he was under general anesthesia.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: But he came to, and when you unwire somebody's jaw shut, um, it's normally done under local anesthesia.
54:20
SPEAKER_00: So you give people shots and they're numb and everything, but he refused.
54:24
SPEAKER_00: No way.
54:25
SPEAKER_00: So to wire somebody's jaws shut, imagine, you know, flossing with electrical wire.
54:33
SPEAKER_00: Right?
54:33
SPEAKER_00: So you you put that in between the teeth, you know, you floss this wire in between the top and the bottom, and you twist it.
54:41
SPEAKER_00: And then when you twist it, everything tightens down.
54:46
SPEAKER_00: That's how you that's how you wire somebody's jaw shut.
54:48
SPEAKER_02: I've had braces, so that's similar, but that's not my jaw.
54:51
SPEAKER_02: No, man.
54:52
SPEAKER_00: So now, so now imagine pulling that out.
54:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh okay.
54:57
SPEAKER_00: So this dude refused anesthetic.
55:00
SPEAKER_00: And this OS guy, this surgeon was like, all right, dude.
55:03
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, they're cold blood.
55:04
SPEAKER_00: It's a different kind of evil for OS guys, oral surgery.
55:08
SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, they're they're freaking like they're a different breed, man.
55:12
SPEAKER_00: I love, I love some oral surgeons.
55:14
SPEAKER_00: They're they're awesome out there.
55:15
SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, like cold blooded, he was like, All right, then I'm gonna take them out, dude.
55:19
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
55:20
SPEAKER_00: And he was like, Yeah, and so he untwists them and around his whole mouth, just channel locked, pretty much, just pulling this wire.
55:28
SPEAKER_00: You can't imagine, and like every everything turned into like hamburger meat, just like freaking hamburger meat across his whole mouth, blood everywhere, and this dude just freaking took it like a chant.
55:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, just like a chant, just because he refused anesthetic.
55:45
SPEAKER_00: Oh god.
55:47
SPEAKER_00: That's that's one end of the pain spectrum, and then like the other end, I would say, you know, you've got chronic pain patients who come in who are on like high doses of oxycontin and you know, really, really struggle with joint pain, and they've got just all kinds of chronic inflammation, and they're just in this hypersympathetic state where everything is an exaggerated response, you know what I mean?
56:11
SPEAKER_00: Where it's like a toothache to a normal person who doesn't deal with chronic pain is like this level.
56:16
SPEAKER_00: But for somebody who has all of this like hypersensitivity to pain, like it really elevates, you know, the whole experience for them.
56:25
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, those patients, I go in to give them an injection and just the anesthetic going in that is tough for some people, like on the lower end of the spectrum, like your chronic pain patients are just gonna like light up.
56:41
SPEAKER_00: Like they really, really, really struggle.
56:43
SPEAKER_00: So, even like the simplest stuff for them has them like gritting and grinding and like really struggling in the chair, you know.
56:51
SPEAKER_00: And so you've got to approach that situation very different than like the other guy who's just like, nah, don't even give me any anesthetic and let's just get it in.
57:00
SPEAKER_00: You see what I mean?
57:00
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's it's just a huge spectrum when it comes to pain.
57:03
SPEAKER_00: And so you figure it out as you're talking to people.
57:06
SPEAKER_00: And then I think, dude, the funniest is uh the difference between male and female, that's the most consistent.
57:13
SPEAKER_00: So, like across the board, um, guys come in and they'll they'll tell me how big their pain tolerance is.
57:21
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh yeah, my doctors tell me I have a great pain tolerance, all that.
57:24
SPEAKER_00: And then I go to give them an injection and they are just like sweating, moving, screaming, all the things, you know, and just really, really struggling with it.
57:36
SPEAKER_00: And then females come in, like women in general, are so much better with pain.
57:42
SPEAKER_00: No way, really.
57:43
SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude, it's not even close.
57:45
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
57:46
SPEAKER_00: That's why they do childbirth.
57:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it's it's not even close.
57:49
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm talking, dude, like last week, seven-year-old girl came in.
57:53
SPEAKER_00: I had to give her two shots on the lower left, both of them, she didn't even flinch.
57:56
SPEAKER_02: No way.
57:57
SPEAKER_00: I'll have like 250-pound, like 30-year-old, you know, men come in.
58:03
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, man, I got this.
58:04
SPEAKER_00: Like, huge pain tolerance, don't sweat.
58:06
SPEAKER_00: And then he's just shaking in the chair.
58:08
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
58:09
SPEAKER_00: It's just it's you could tell.
58:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
58:12
SPEAKER_00: So you do kids too?
58:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, I work on kids.
58:15
SPEAKER_02: To what to what age?
58:17
SPEAKER_00: Like all pediatrics or just a it depends on the parents, it depends on the kids, it depends on how many cavities you have, stuff like that.
58:25
SPEAKER_00: I recommend bringing them in when they're like one, two years old.
58:28
SPEAKER_00: Get them used to the smells and the sounds, and like oh, we're late with my three-year-old.
58:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, bring them in now because they come in, the dentist smiles at them, they polish the teeth a little bit, they see the light, you know.
58:41
SPEAKER_00: They yeah, and so it's it's it's a lot for them there.
58:44
SPEAKER_00: But then in five years, when they've seen the dentist every year and they get their first cavity, it's not just this overwhelming thing.
58:51
SPEAKER_00: It's a positive experience up until now, and then you're able to do it.
58:56
SPEAKER_00: But uh if a if a kid comes in with just like cavities everywhere, I'm gonna refer that out and say, like, look, you know, get them to a specialist who's really good at making kids comfortable because we don't want to be that traumatic experience that keeps them from going to the dentist in 10 years, you know.
59:12
SPEAKER_05: Wow, wow, that's really good.
59:14
SPEAKER_05: I like that.
59:15
SPEAKER_04: Okay, I in a way I almost hesitate to ask this because this is uh controversial and maybe uh a little scary.
59:24
SPEAKER_04: Why is dental care so expensive?
59:26
SPEAKER_04: And what do you wish patients understood about the cost?
59:29
SPEAKER_04: It's a real question, though.
59:31
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, all right, yeah, there we go.
59:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, so if pain is one component of dentistry, the cost is gonna be the other, you know.
59:40
SPEAKER_00: Like it's that's that's the the the tough part, right?
59:45
SPEAKER_00: And so um, I guess my first response would be like, do you know how much average dental school debt is now for a student coming out?
59:56
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea, but I'm sure it's very high.
59:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
59:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, between four and five hundred thousand dollars.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_00: So um some dental school students, if they go to an expensive undergrad without a college, spend an extra year, then they get into a dental school that's out of state, it's not uncommon to see seven, eight hundred grand worth of student loan debt.
1:00:16
SPEAKER_00: Ouch.
1:00:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:00:17
SPEAKER_00: And so you're buried under that as a as a new dentist.
1:00:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then you factor in, you know, what if you have a house and a car, you know, and a family, and you know, you're nursing that kind of debt, and that's not even owning a dental practice.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_00: And so now I think, you know, you know, factor in like what if you do start your own practice and you take out a practice loan for that, or you're a startup, you don't really have to take out much of a loan, but like you've got a float payroll and stuff like that.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like, you know, what what do you think the average operating expense is for uh a dental practice just to break even?
1:00:54
SPEAKER_00: Like when you look at, you know, lease payment in an average neighborhood, you know, you figure two hygienists, one office manager, a front desk, and an assistant, you know, like what what do you think that payroll and overhead with dental supplies?
1:01:08
SPEAKER_00: Think about like the stuff it takes to do crowns, lab fees.
1:01:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it just keeps going.
1:01:14
SPEAKER_00: The the equipment that's involved, so you gotta have x-rays.
1:01:18
SPEAKER_00: Do you know one X-ray like sensor?
1:01:20
SPEAKER_00: You know the sensor that you bite down on?
1:01:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_00: Those are$9,000.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_00: Oh my.
1:01:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just when you bite down on a sensor and that that little thing, you know?
1:01:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:01:30
SPEAKER_00: The arm or like, you know, the gun at um like the little x-ray gun, uh, that's another six grand.
1:01:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh my just to take an X-ray on you, you're in like 15 grand easy.
1:01:43
SPEAKER_00: Oh my.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, average, average operating like overhead for uh one like solo private practice is like minimum 35 to 40 grand a month.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_00: No, wow.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_00: And that's like if he's running lean and doesn't have you know equipment loans and stuff like that.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_00: But you figure your average dental practice is probably spending 60 grand a month just to stay in business, and that's not paying yourself to pay off no, that's not paying you.
1:02:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, to pay off your student loans and all that stuff.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_00: You know.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_00: So it's like you either charge, you know, a thousand dollars for a crown uh and hope that you do a good enough job to where you can keep doing them.
1:02:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, or you just have to like go work for somebody else forever who is charging a thousand and you just never have the conversations with people, let somebody else manage the business and try to nurse half a million dollars in student loan debt.
1:02:40
SPEAKER_04: Either way, it's difficult.
1:02:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, it's just it's so expensive to be a dentist, I guess, is what I'm I'm the way I'm answering.
1:02:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the way I'm answering that question.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_02: It's just reality.
1:02:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, everything costs money.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's real.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_00: But but people know like dentists generate a lot of revenue, and so they immediately increase the cost of everything for us.
1:03:04
SPEAKER_00: So, for example, uh, when I place implants, I have to use Teflon tape whenever I tighten the implant down to help cover up one of the screws so I can keep from damaging it if I ever have to go back in and tighten it down the road.
1:03:17
SPEAKER_00: If you get plumber's tape off Amazon, it's like$2.
1:03:21
SPEAKER_00: But if I go to a Is that what you used?
1:03:23
SPEAKER_00: Like Teflon like plumber's tape, man.
1:03:26
SPEAKER_00: You really do?
1:03:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_00: So I can get on Amazon and buy it for$2, or I can get on Henry Shine and get like dental tape and they're gonna charge me$35 for it.
1:03:37
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
1:03:37
SPEAKER_00: You see, you see.
1:03:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's not right.
1:03:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's not right.
1:03:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so across the board, everything's marked out, like every everything's marked out for dentist because we're dentists.
1:03:47
SPEAKER_00: We're in the medical field, you know what I mean?
1:03:50
SPEAKER_02: So the medical fees and everything, all the all the up charges that come with it.
1:03:55
SPEAKER_02: So uh, what would you tell somebody if they uh if they go to Mexico to get their stuff done because they're trying to save money?
1:04:03
SPEAKER_02: Good luck.
1:04:05
SPEAKER_02: Good luck.
1:04:06
SPEAKER_02: Cyan.
1:04:08
SPEAKER_00: Nah, dude.
1:04:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, here's here's the way I explain this one to patients.
1:04:12
SPEAKER_00: Um I've never been, I'm just asking.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, fortunately, like my lead assistant, um, you know, she's Hispanic and you know, she spends a lot of time in Mexico.
1:04:20
SPEAKER_00: And so if um I have a patient ask me, you know, that question, I'm like, Vicki, would you go?
1:04:26
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, no.
1:04:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_00: And and the the difference is like here you have federal regulations guiding what we can and can't do.
1:04:37
SPEAKER_00: Organizations like OSHA, the state comes in and sends people like radiology, like um government agencies to make sure like all your x-ray equipment's in good shape, that your office is clean, that you pass all of these like things.
1:04:51
SPEAKER_05: Wow.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, that you have the right sterilization equipment, that they're all functioning.
1:04:57
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm constantly having to like pass all these bars, right?
1:05:01
SPEAKER_00: Wow, really?
1:05:02
SPEAKER_00: In Mexico, you've got zero oversight.
1:05:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:05:05
SPEAKER_00: So they could be washing their instruments with soap and water in the back.
1:05:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:05:09
SPEAKER_00: And it's not illegal for them because nobody's gonna come in and tell them otherwise.
1:05:13
SPEAKER_00: And different, yeah.
1:05:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they don't have to use specific labs that are credentialed.
1:05:18
SPEAKER_00: Like, in order for me to deliver a sleep appliance to you, um, I have to go through a lab that's been approved by the FDA.
1:05:27
SPEAKER_00: So wow.
1:05:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:05:28
SPEAKER_00: So you have to get like specific approvals for the materials that you're using before you can deliver it on American in an American office.
1:05:37
SPEAKER_00: And I have to use labs that have been through those approvals.
1:05:41
SPEAKER_00: And so you got all these checks and balances, uh, not to mention licensing and all that.
1:05:46
SPEAKER_00: And you've got a lot of oversight in the United States, but in Mexico, there's none of that.
1:05:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, you might be getting a great dentist who really cares enough to monitor all this stuff, but you could also be getting a dentist who's more concerned about the And he's trying to cut as much cost in the back as he can.
1:06:03
SPEAKER_00: You get what you pay for, yeah.
1:06:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:06:05
SPEAKER_00: So that's good luck.
1:06:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:06:07
SPEAKER_00: It's a dice roll at best.
1:06:09
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
1:06:10
SPEAKER_02: So this might be a touchy question and maybe a little dated, but we'll we'll still dive into it.
1:06:15
SPEAKER_02: How did COVID change the dentistry?
1:06:17
SPEAKER_02: And are there any, you know, changes that are still in effect and that you guys stick with today?
1:06:24
SPEAKER_00: Well, dude, um, everything shut down.
1:06:27
SPEAKER_00: It was a really interesting time for dentistry because normally dentistry is recession proof.
1:06:34
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:06:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, I think liquor stores and dental offices are gonna stay in business regardless.
1:06:39
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:06:40
SPEAKER_00: It's just funny.
1:06:41
SPEAKER_00: That's like the two, you know, because uh people aren't gonna come in and get invisalign and veneers, but if somebody has a toothache, they're gonna come in.
1:06:48
SPEAKER_00: So you maintain, you know, workflow.
1:06:50
SPEAKER_00: People still want to come in and get their teeth cleaned and make sure everything's cool.
1:06:54
SPEAKER_00: So um dental, that was the first time that it just full on shut down.
1:07:00
SPEAKER_00: Like you couldn't keep your dental office open for hygiene and things like that.
1:07:04
SPEAKER_00: And so it went to emergency only and you had to furlough most of your office.
1:07:08
SPEAKER_00: You most offices kept like two people on and would just see like patients who had toothaches.
1:07:14
SPEAKER_00: That was pretty much it.
1:07:15
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
1:07:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, so as everybody came back on, I don't know, man.
1:07:19
SPEAKER_00: It was like, you know, personal protective equipment, PPE became way more uh noticed.
1:07:26
SPEAKER_00: Before that, patients weren't paying attention to is there a covering on the chair?
1:07:30
SPEAKER_00: Whereas like that got people looking.
1:07:32
SPEAKER_02: So oh, I'm a germophobe, I look either way before COVID, after COVID, I'm still looking.
1:07:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I mean that's more, way more common now.
1:07:40
SPEAKER_00: That that mindset I think is way more common.
1:07:42
SPEAKER_00: And then what I've noticed is, you know, it might not be COVID.
1:07:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh, maybe I think it's, you know, part of the corporate takeover, but there's a lot of distrust in the system now.
1:07:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think people trust their doctors and dentists less.
1:08:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, they see it as a a money grab or as a broken system.
1:08:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I don't I don't remember that being that way back in Arkansas before COVID.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_00: And then as I've like gotten older and been in this over a decade now, like I'm I'm seeing like people are super skeptical now.
1:08:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think we've um as a society in general, I think that we've just become more questionable over certain things.
1:08:26
SPEAKER_02: And there's certain people that's not like there's certain people that'll go and oh yeah, I need 10 vaccines, give it to me.
1:08:31
SPEAKER_02: Like they don't question it.
1:08:32
SPEAKER_02: And then there's other people that's like, well, wait a minute, I never needed 10 vaccines before.
1:08:37
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, so I think that there's just a lot more questions behind it.
1:08:40
SPEAKER_02: But yes, there's extremes on both sides for sure.
1:08:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:08:44
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's healthy, you know what I mean?
1:08:46
SPEAKER_00: It's like you should be asking questions, you know.
1:08:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm a huge fan.
1:08:49
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I tell every patient, like, if you don't understand something or you got questions, let me know.
1:08:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, we'll go over it, and you know, it's not always a good fit, but at the same time, you'll at least know what I'm charging you for and what we're doing.
1:08:59
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's good.
1:09:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, how often are dentists targeted by companies selling expensive equipment, services, and marketing.
1:09:07
SPEAKER_04: We kind of mentioned that.
1:09:08
SPEAKER_04: And how do you know what's actually worth worth it?
1:09:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you guys get solicited a lot of it.
1:09:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude.
1:09:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh, for sure.
1:09:15
SPEAKER_00: Like, not so much when I was an associate.
1:09:18
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't ever remember.
1:09:20
SPEAKER_00: Maybe a lab here or there would come in and you know, walk in and ask to speak to the doctor.
1:09:25
SPEAKER_00: But generally they know which offices are private and who's the owner.
1:09:30
SPEAKER_00: And if it's more of a corporate office, like they want to speak to decision makers, writing checks, that kind of thing.
1:09:36
SPEAKER_00: But whenever I became the practice owner, it was like all of a sudden I was getting lit up.
1:09:41
SPEAKER_00: It's like every day people come in trying to sell me stuff.
1:09:44
SPEAKER_02: You need this.
1:09:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
1:09:46
SPEAKER_00: Here's another$10,000 sensor.
1:09:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you buy it today, we'll give it to you for seven.
1:09:51
SPEAKER_00: You know, that kind of stuff.
1:09:52
SPEAKER_02: But once I leave, I you know, it's back to ten.
1:09:54
SPEAKER_02: So you gotta hurry up and make a decision.
1:09:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and to pressure you.
1:09:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, constant spam calls now, um, constant solicitation.
1:10:02
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's I mean, something to think about is like you've got people who their livelihood, they feed their family based off of how much stuff they sell dentists.
1:10:12
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:10:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:10:13
SPEAKER_00: Sales reps for these big like Henry Shaw.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_00: That's their job too, yeah.
1:10:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
1:10:18
SPEAKER_00: And they've gotten good at it.
1:10:19
SPEAKER_00: And so they they know what dental offices need, and they know they come through and they recognize what you don't have, and then they try to get your money, you know.
1:10:27
SPEAKER_00: And at first I thought, as bad as it sounds, like, man, I'm making a lot of friends, you know, these people really like me.
1:10:33
SPEAKER_00: And then eventually, like, I get to the point where I'm just jaded, and it's like I tell my office manager somebody comes in, tell them I'm not interested, you know.
1:10:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, ruins it for everybody, unfortunately.
1:10:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:10:45
SPEAKER_04: Here's a question I hadn't really thought about before.
1:10:49
SPEAKER_04: Um, do they actually teach you how to run a business in dental school, or do they just kind of leave you in a squap and yeah, oh yeah, they teach you all that, right?
1:10:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, right.
1:11:00
SPEAKER_00: Dude, it's crazy, man.
1:11:02
SPEAKER_00: It's like, yeah, zero classes.
1:11:05
SPEAKER_00: I can remember maybe, you know, like a guest speaker or two coming through, bringing stuff up about like keeping your head down when you graduate, not spending a bunch of money, or you know, but as far as like there were no classes talking about what a PL is or how to like look at a balance sheet or any of this kind of stuff.
1:11:24
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:11:25
SPEAKER_00: It's like that should be a standard class, at least one.
1:11:28
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
1:11:28
SPEAKER_00: How to bill an insurance claim, never like anything like that.
1:11:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, how to track an insurance claim, how to submit an appeal, a denial, how to process that.
1:11:38
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's there's none of that.
1:11:40
SPEAKER_00: No employee management like seminars or anything about like team leadership, like all this stuff.
1:11:47
SPEAKER_00: You just kind of have to figure out on the fly.
1:11:49
SPEAKER_00: Um there should be some sort of component.
1:11:53
SPEAKER_00: I would recommend if anybody's thinking about going to dental school, get an MBA, like a minor in business.
1:11:59
SPEAKER_00: Um in some way, shape, or form, it will like save you a lot of trouble and wasted energy down the road.
1:12:07
SPEAKER_02: All right.
1:12:07
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
1:12:08
SPEAKER_02: That's very interesting because it'll help you with the business side of it and learning to manage and and figure out what you actually need to, you know.
1:12:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, I think that's one of the reasons dentistry is such a like unique and difficult like profession, right?
1:12:24
SPEAKER_00: So you've got on one hand the physician side of things, the dentist side of things, where you know it's a game of millimeters.
1:12:31
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm if I if I'm off by three millimeters, I'm through somebody's tooth and we're doing an extraction.
1:12:36
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
1:12:38
SPEAKER_00: It's like I'm in this this three millimeters is attached to something that's moving, it's dark, it's wet, they're shaking and crying and all this stuff.
1:12:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh and I'm all the way in the very, very back of the mouth, and I'm trying to like manage this really, really difficult margin on an area that I can't even see, and trying to like do this really, really technical, like technique sensitive um procedure here.
1:13:06
SPEAKER_00: And so you've got like the clinical side of things, um, and you have to be almost perfectionist to enjoy that.
1:13:13
SPEAKER_00: But then you have to take off that hat and put on like CEO hat.
1:13:17
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:13:17
SPEAKER_00: Usually you have like a manager in a business or you have a CEO, and then like in a hospital, they hire their doctors, and you know, you don't have as much um things to worry about as a physician.
1:13:30
SPEAKER_00: You can focus on just doing a good job here.
1:13:32
SPEAKER_00: But as soon as I walk out of that operator, you've got to go over here and start balancing the checkbook and seeing where money's going and planning on like growth here and why this employees mad and how to process payroll here, um, and keeping the business afloat so that the people that you're paying continue to have jobs and paying their rent and all that.
1:13:53
SPEAKER_00: And so wow.
1:13:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, as as you're stepping out of one hat and into the other, like it's it's really hard to be both, you know, and dentistry requires that from the practice owners.
1:14:06
SPEAKER_00: But the problem is they don't set you up for any of this over here, they don't tell you what payroll looks like or what systems to use or how to set it up or any of that stuff.
1:14:16
SPEAKER_00: And so you just you know, you've got a a lot of trial and error, I guess, you know, or you know, you you just gotta struggle along.
1:14:25
SPEAKER_04: Um, before you answer you, you ask the next question.
1:14:29
SPEAKER_04: I would like to say uh to our audience, they don't know this, but but Brent is my personal dentist.
1:14:35
SPEAKER_04: Oh and that's one reason he's here.
1:14:38
SPEAKER_04: And what he was talking about, those difficult situations, we've been through a couple.
1:14:42
SPEAKER_04: He was he was in the back of my mouth where he couldn't see and he couldn't reach, and he did some real miracles back there hanging on to teeth that uh otherwise would have had to have been taken out.
1:14:53
SPEAKER_04: So I I want to give him some credit for that.
1:14:55
SPEAKER_04: He worked, he did a great job.
1:14:57
SPEAKER_02: He works on fangs too.
1:14:59
SPEAKER_02: No, I don't know about that.
1:15:01
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
1:15:03
SPEAKER_02: You're a real animal.
1:15:04
SPEAKER_02: So um, I know we haven't asked you this question, really.
1:15:07
SPEAKER_02: I know we haven't asked you this question really, but is to our current times.
1:15:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, how do you think that AI could possibly take over dentistry?
1:15:16
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's great.
1:15:18
SPEAKER_02: Dude, that's all the funniest.
1:15:19
SPEAKER_00: That's all the funniest meme.
1:15:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I guess like TikTok, my assistant showed it to me.
1:15:25
SPEAKER_00: It was um, it showed uh this, I guess it was a dude in an AI or a robot costume, but he walked in and it was like the future of AI in dentistry.
1:15:37
SPEAKER_00: And it shows this robot walk in with PPE on.
1:15:40
SPEAKER_00: He goes in, he starts to work on this patient, and the patient like jumps, yells at him really loud, and all of a sudden you do it cuts to this AI guy in the PPE, PPE or whatever running across, like doing parkour moves across benches to get out of the and just like I'm over it, I'm done, I'm gone.
1:16:00
SPEAKER_03: Even the robot couldn't handle it.
1:16:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
1:16:03
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I picture in my head when people say AI takeover.
1:16:06
SPEAKER_00: Well, man, um, I think right now you've got a lot of second opinion AI stuff.
1:16:12
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, you know, it's incorporated into x-rays.
1:16:16
SPEAKER_00: So you take an x-ray and then an AI will highlight something it thinks is a cavity and it'll say like cavity here.
1:16:22
SPEAKER_00: So you've got, you know, diagnostics that are gaining some momentum.
1:16:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, you've got like auto charting tools and stuff.
1:16:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
1:16:30
SPEAKER_00: Like if uh a hygienist is trying to chart your probe depths or like how deep your pockets are around your gums used to, they'd have to like type it in and then measure and then type it in, or if they had an assistant, they could call it out to the assistant and they would type it in.
1:16:44
SPEAKER_00: Whereas now they can just say it and AI will input the data.
1:16:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
1:16:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh like a digital screen.
1:16:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:16:52
SPEAKER_00: And then like you've got a lot of AI integration and like charting uh or like practice management software.
1:16:59
SPEAKER_00: And so I know some of them out there now, like you can type into its AI, you know, whatever prompt uh within the practice management software.
1:17:09
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, generate a report that shows me how many crowns I've done over the past three and a half weeks, and then it generates a report for you.
1:17:18
SPEAKER_00: So you don't have to get in there and like code it and do some like crazy your user query.
1:17:23
SPEAKER_00: It's just like boom, up for you.
1:17:25
SPEAKER_00: So you got a lot of, I think, admin stuff that the AI is doing.
1:17:29
SPEAKER_00: And then even beyond that, they're starting to tap into like insurance benefits automatically ran by AI so they can reach out to the insurance company, figure out what your coinsurance is and how much your bill is going to be, and they put it together without having like manual entry.
1:17:47
SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
1:17:48
SPEAKER_00: It's a little sluggish right now, but I think they're trying to get there.
1:17:51
SPEAKER_02: So that's they're trying to integrate it in.
1:17:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:17:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I think if you're like really forward thinking, like they've got robots placing uh implants right now.
1:18:02
SPEAKER_00: And so if you can know if you can keep somebody still, uh, create a surgical guide based off of a radiograph, I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that um uh an AI or some kind of robot can like go in there and just know how deep to drill a pilot hole and put an implant in.
1:18:23
SPEAKER_00: I think I think that's all like gonna eventually happen.
1:18:28
SPEAKER_00: It's just how much of that is programmed by a person and how much of that is gonna be managed by the person.
1:18:34
SPEAKER_00: But the thing that I don't think an AI or a machine can replace is managing that like pain component and the empathy, because there's there's a subtlety.
1:18:48
SPEAKER_00: If I have one patient come in that's chronic pain, um, I'm going to deposit my anesthetic extremely slowly.
1:18:57
SPEAKER_00: I might let it set for five minutes before I come in and give the second injection.
1:19:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be talking to them, walking through them with that, and then I might have somebody else who their biggest issue is they don't want to sit there for a long time.
1:19:08
SPEAKER_00: So I'll go in and give them a super quick shot and just be done because they're ready to rock, you know.
1:19:12
SPEAKER_02: So the human empathy behind it, yeah.
1:19:14
SPEAKER_02: The robot might not calculate that.
1:19:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I I don't think an AI is ever gonna be able to like get on the same level as a patient like that.
1:19:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:19:26
SPEAKER_00: To them, it's just like A plus B equals C.
1:19:29
SPEAKER_00: We need to place this implant, it needs to go this deep, the person needs to deal with it, you know.
1:19:33
SPEAKER_00: It's all cut corners and it has to be perfect.
1:19:35
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it's it's got its its measurements, and how you feel about the procedure doesn't matter.
1:19:41
SPEAKER_00: Whereas I think with dentistry, it's so much more about what the teeth are attached to than the actual work that you're doing.
1:19:47
SPEAKER_02: That's such a sweet thing.
1:19:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:19:49
SPEAKER_02: So I know you kind of tackled it already, but uh, what's the hardest part about owning and operating a dental practice?
1:19:56
SPEAKER_02: I mean, even especially, I don't I don't mean it in a bad way, but I mean, even especially owning it like with a family member like your wife, you know, you know, there's different things that you, you know, have to encounter.
1:20:06
SPEAKER_02: And and at the end of the day, if you guys have a bad work day, you still have to come home to each other.
1:20:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:20:12
SPEAKER_00: Well, dude, we bought so we got married in November of 2022, and then we bought the practice in March of 2023.
1:20:19
SPEAKER_00: So it was our first year of marriage and trying to learn how to live together after being single for 30 years.
1:20:25
SPEAKER_00: Both of us were in our 30s when we got married.
1:20:27
SPEAKER_00: So it was like figuring out how to live together and then figuring out how I was gonna be her boss, you know?
1:20:34
SPEAKER_00: Like you know what I mean?
1:20:37
SPEAKER_00: It's like um, no, like joke jokes aside, like figuring out how we were gonna work together, um, how to have respect for each other in the workplace.
1:20:46
SPEAKER_00: And then definitely I I was having to learn how to be a business owner.
1:20:50
SPEAKER_00: So all this stuff over here that I told you that I didn't know how to do, I was having to learn how.
1:20:54
SPEAKER_00: So I was having to learn how to be like a husband um and graceful at home, a good leader within the the house, you know, like trying to become like a godly husband.
1:21:05
SPEAKER_00: And then on the side over here, it's like, dude, we were almost bankrupt, man.
1:21:10
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
1:21:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:21:11
SPEAKER_00: So we bought a distressed asset, we put all of our savings into it, and we almost completely ran out of money.
1:21:16
SPEAKER_00: Well, we did.
1:21:17
SPEAKER_00: I had to borrow money to make payroll kind of thing.
1:21:19
SPEAKER_00: Like it was it was really, really bad.
1:21:22
SPEAKER_00: And so um the struggle is real, yeah, even for dentists.
1:21:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude, yeah.
1:21:27
SPEAKER_00: Cause I mean, it's when I knew I'd married the right person.
1:21:30
SPEAKER_00: Um she she came in with the Nest egg, she had she had worked really, really hard for multiple years to save up a decent sum of money.
1:21:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, not a lot of money, but like a decent sum.
1:21:44
SPEAKER_00: And that decent sum went completely into our operating account to start the business.
1:21:49
SPEAKER_00: Within five months, it was completely gone.
1:21:52
SPEAKER_04: We were borrowing money to Oh my goodness, what a nice lady to do that.
1:21:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
1:21:57
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing it's like as as we're running out of operating funds, and I'm trying to figure out like how I'm making, I'm praying like God, like, why are you doing this?
1:22:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, what what did I do so wrong to deserve this?
1:22:09
SPEAKER_00: You know, what was me kind of thing, feeling sorry for myself.
1:22:12
SPEAKER_00: But I I went and I talked to her and said, Kirsta, it looks like you know this might not work out.
1:22:17
SPEAKER_00: Looks like we might be um having a like roll up the tent, so to speak.
1:22:22
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think bankruptcy is a real conversation we need to have.
1:22:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, are you gonna resent me forever if I lose everything you've worked so hard to get?
1:22:35
SPEAKER_00: And she said, absolutely not.
1:22:37
SPEAKER_00: She said, God had this for us for whatever reason, and you know, I did this because I wanted to.
1:22:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm here for it.
1:22:45
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, it's just a season.
1:22:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's just a season.
1:22:49
SPEAKER_00: But we made it, man.
1:22:50
SPEAKER_00: Like, grace to God.
1:22:51
SPEAKER_00: We um I ended up finding some freelance work.
1:22:54
SPEAKER_00: That's what's cool about dentistry, man.
1:22:56
SPEAKER_00: Like, you can always find work.
1:22:58
SPEAKER_00: So I found um a practice, uh, a group who owned multiple practices, but one of their offices in Tucson was failing, and I had went in and managed up multiple locations, so I knew how to take like a dumpster fire and make it good.
1:23:13
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
1:23:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, and this was a dumpster fire, and patients were mad and all that.
1:23:17
SPEAKER_00: And so it worked out a deal where I would go and stay in Tucson Monday and Tuesday, um, basically working at their practice.
1:23:25
SPEAKER_00: Wednesday through Friday, I was at my practice, and then Saturday I was working at another office in Phoenix.
1:23:32
SPEAKER_00: So uh was working at three different practices, three different jobs.
1:23:35
SPEAKER_02: Dang, Brent.
1:23:36
SPEAKER_00: All the money that I was getting at the other jobs in Tucson in the Saturday position I was shuffling into um our practice in order to make payroll, you know.
1:23:47
SPEAKER_00: And that's tough when you're working like that many extra hours just to write a check to your office manager.
1:23:52
SPEAKER_00: Like wow, yeah, right.
1:23:55
SPEAKER_00: But it like it had to be done kind of thing.
1:23:57
SPEAKER_00: And so we stayed afloat.
1:23:58
SPEAKER_00: That kept us.
1:23:59
SPEAKER_00: I did that for like uh almost two years.
1:24:02
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:24:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, until we started seeing enough like workflow to start booking out more days.
1:24:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:24:09
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:24:09
SPEAKER_02: So they don't teach you that in college, work hard, yeah.
1:24:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wow, that's brand, that's amazing.
1:24:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, um, here's another I don't know why I get all these questions.
1:24:19
SPEAKER_04: Uh here's another question that I almost hesitate to ask you.
1:24:22
SPEAKER_04: It's about um, how common are lawsuits and dental board complaints?
1:24:26
SPEAKER_04: And does that affect uh how dentists practice?
1:24:28
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I think that's real common, dude.
1:24:30
SPEAKER_01: We're in America, people seize everybody for the flavor of bubblegum.
1:24:34
SPEAKER_00: Dude, Jacers over here gave you all the good stuff.
1:24:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he just said I'm just not gonna ask any like real difficult questions and just give Ray all the hard foods, you know?
1:24:45
SPEAKER_00: Uh I love you guys, man.
1:24:48
SPEAKER_00: Um dude, they say at this point, every dentist pretty much statistically will get a board complaint filed against him.
1:24:56
SPEAKER_00: I think that's pretty standard now.
1:24:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I mean I know people on the board.
1:25:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's good that they have it.
1:25:03
SPEAKER_00: Their job, and I don't think this is what like general population, their job is to ensure that the citizens of Arizona are protected.
1:25:13
SPEAKER_00: That's the whole point of the board.
1:25:14
SPEAKER_00: If you go talk to the board, they're gonna tell you like our purpose is to protect the citizens.
1:25:20
SPEAKER_00: It's it's not to get involved in billing disputes or disgruntled situations.
1:25:25
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:25:26
SPEAKER_00: So I think a lot of people try to file board complaints because they're mad at their dentist, but the board is really good at picking up on that.
1:25:33
SPEAKER_00: So they have an intake procedure, they have to hear every complaint.
1:25:37
SPEAKER_00: But the first filter is to figure out like, is this patient mad that he can't do any more than just like write a bad review and he's trying to like get at the dentist?
1:25:46
SPEAKER_00: Or did this dentist actually do something that was that was bad?
1:25:50
SPEAKER_00: And then you have like your board meeting where the dentist goes and um they'll do things like issue letters of concern, or you know, they'll have disciplinary action, but to actually get convicted of malpractice, like the dentist has to knowingly do something that he knows is really, really wrong.
1:26:07
SPEAKER_00: So it's like he's extracting teeth on patients that don't need to be extracted.
1:26:12
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
1:26:13
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:26:13
SPEAKER_00: So that's when the board steps in to protect it, yeah.
1:26:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:26:16
SPEAKER_00: So the board's gonna protect the citizens by saying, like, hey, this guy's clearly not doing what's best for his patients, but what punishment is is necessary.
1:26:28
SPEAKER_00: So I would say a lot of dentists are gonna like hear board complaints, but to really get prosecuted, like they've gotta like do some really like malintent kind of things, or they don't listen.
1:26:40
SPEAKER_00: So say they're like billing incorrectly to make more money for a procedure, the patient reports them, but they get you know, they get called and the board says, Hey, this isn't how you're supposed to be doing this stuff, we're gonna give you the benefit of the doubt.
1:26:55
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna let you know that this isn't how you're gonna this isn't how you're supposed to do stuff, and we're gonna send you to a CE course that you have to take.
1:27:02
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:27:03
SPEAKER_00: That way we know for sure that you know that you're not supposed to be doing this.
1:27:09
SPEAKER_00: And then if it happens again, you're in real trouble.
1:27:12
SPEAKER_00: So that that kind of thing happens quite a bit.
1:27:15
SPEAKER_00: But all all that's just to protect you guys.
1:27:18
SPEAKER_00: Um the lawsuit side of things tough, man.
1:27:21
SPEAKER_00: I think dentists have targets on them because people know they charge a lot for crowns, you know.
1:27:26
SPEAKER_00: So there's idea that, you know, dentists have a ton of cash and you know, let's try to get after you.
1:27:31
SPEAKER_00: They got big insurance policies and um, you know, they're they're targets, you know, associates, um, practice owners, all of the above.
1:27:41
SPEAKER_00: I think anytime you have somebody that is is within a space that's generating some sort of um significant sum of revenue, they're they're at risk.
1:27:52
SPEAKER_00: They're they're exposed.
1:27:53
SPEAKER_00: They've got exposure to to lawsuits, you know, which is which is tough.
1:27:57
SPEAKER_00: Add to the stress of the position, yeah.
1:27:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:28:00
SPEAKER_02: That's crazy.
1:28:02
SPEAKER_02: That's just that's real toxic.
1:28:04
SPEAKER_02: That's just crazy.
1:28:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, so see, I saved uh you know, the the executive producer gave me a tough question, too.
1:28:12
SPEAKER_02: I mean, check check this one out.
1:28:14
SPEAKER_02: This one okay.
1:28:15
SPEAKER_02: Let's see what this one is.
1:28:16
SPEAKER_02: This question's deep.
1:28:18
SPEAKER_02: Dentistry has a higher suicide rate than the most general.
1:28:23
SPEAKER_02: I didn't know that.
1:28:25
SPEAKER_02: All right.
1:28:26
SPEAKER_02: Dentistry has the higher has the highest suicide rate than the most general population.
1:28:31
SPEAKER_02: Why do you think that the profession has such you know high levels of stress and burnout?
1:28:36
SPEAKER_02: And man, people that I mean don't even want to quit their profession.
1:28:39
SPEAKER_02: They just want to quit life in general.
1:28:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude.
1:28:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dental suicide rates like 2.5x.
1:28:46
SPEAKER_00: Oh my, I never knew that.
1:28:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh, dude, it's like way higher than your general population.
1:28:51
SPEAKER_00: Like suicide rates among dentists are it's it's sad.
1:28:55
SPEAKER_00: Like it happens.
1:28:57
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
1:28:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I mean, just imagine everything I just told you.
1:29:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, you have a day where, you know, all of all of the bad things happen with all the patients I just talked about, and like your business is is failing, you're barely making rent, but you've got on top of half a mil in student loan debt and a practice loan and payroll you're trying to make, working two jobs six days a week.
1:29:23
SPEAKER_00: Now all of a sudden your wife's not willing to downsize, so she's wanting a bigger house, and the house that you do have isn't paid off, so you got a mortgage that you can't afford to pay, and then you lose a car, so your wife's mad about that.
1:29:37
SPEAKER_00: You can't afford to send your kids to private school, but every every one of your friends expects your dentist kids to go to private school, so you're trying to keep up with the Joneses there.
1:29:49
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:29:50
SPEAKER_00: Then you have, you know, say your lead assistant and office manager quit for higher paying jobs in the same week.
1:29:57
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:29:58
SPEAKER_00: So now, like you've had a couple bad months, you're borrowing money just to make payroll.
1:30:03
SPEAKER_00: You don't have um any of the things that you thought being a dentist was supposed to be about.
1:30:09
SPEAKER_00: And then every day you show up to work, people are mad at you that you're charging them X amount of dollars for crowns and nothing personal.
1:30:17
SPEAKER_00: I just hate you.
1:30:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:30:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they say that all the time.
1:30:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:30:21
SPEAKER_00: Nothing personal, you know, and so you don't know what's going on in like that dude's life, but chances are like, I mean, it could be a lot of stuff, you know.
1:30:28
SPEAKER_00: And so you just said that to me.
1:30:30
SPEAKER_00: I know you're joking, but I mean, that's D.
1:30:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude.
1:30:33
SPEAKER_00: I mean, wow, yeah.
1:30:35
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, you hear that all day, every day, and then you go home and like your your home life is is a struggle.
1:30:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think eventually, you know, a dentist is gonna spend his whole like youth building and spending like dental school is hard, you know.
1:30:52
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't easy to get into, it was expensive.
1:30:55
SPEAKER_00: You get out and you have dreams of like making it.
1:30:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:30:58
SPEAKER_00: And then when you finally make it, you realize all you've got is a ton of dad and upset family and a failing practice and patients who really just hate to even come in and see you.
1:31:09
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:31:09
SPEAKER_00: It's like you you've worked your whole life to be miserable and there's no way out.
1:31:14
SPEAKER_00: Oh my.
1:31:14
SPEAKER_00: But that's not how you feel, right?
1:31:16
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm saying something different, but that's just the majority of how it goes when it's when it's going bad.
1:31:22
SPEAKER_00: I yeah, I'm just saying that like, you know, it's still a very low percentage.
1:31:26
SPEAKER_00: It's not like every other dentist is killing himself.
1:31:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying it's like a really high stress profession, and it only takes one or two, like not even bad turn, one or two like questionable yields, and you're in over your head, you know.
1:31:42
SPEAKER_00: And I I think for the wrong person, you know, without the right faith, it can it can get overwhelming, you know?
1:31:48
SPEAKER_02: So that's where your faith kind of ties back in.
1:31:50
SPEAKER_02: You it really helps you come out of those bad days without, you know, doing something uh pre-Christ and before Christ decision.
1:32:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do you if it hadn't have been for my faith, I don't think I could have made it through the past three years of business ownership.
1:32:07
SPEAKER_00: Like there's no way.
1:32:08
SPEAKER_00: Why I mean there's just there's no way.
1:32:10
SPEAKER_00: And it was like there were so many times where Kirsten and I were just sitting down, it's like, what is God trying to teach us in all this?
1:32:16
SPEAKER_00: Like what what is he like how far down are we gonna go?
1:32:20
SPEAKER_00: Kind of thing, and just being ready for it, like knowing that it's all a part of his plan versus I've made all these decisions to achieve these things and they're not happening, so I'm sad.
1:32:32
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:32:33
SPEAKER_00: It's like, why is God allowing whatever this and what am I supposed to learn for?
1:32:39
SPEAKER_00: And then having faith that even like the worst case scenario, he's still got us, you know.
1:32:44
SPEAKER_00: Um I found a lot of purpose in that and that kept me going.
1:32:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:32:50
SPEAKER_02: And even even if you and your wife make it to the bottom, there's nowhere else to go but up from there.
1:32:56
SPEAKER_02: So I mean, yeah.
1:32:58
SPEAKER_02: I mean, God's got you on that.
1:33:00
SPEAKER_02: So He's there to stick his hand down and lift you back up.
1:33:04
SPEAKER_02: On a lighter note, what is some of your favorite stories or times from your career as a dentist?
1:33:11
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's something that you know really is monumental, sticks out to you, and and you know, keeps you smiling, realize, you know, this this is why you why you do what you do, you know?
1:33:22
SPEAKER_00: Dude, um Yeah, trend in the other direction for a second.
1:33:27
SPEAKER_00: We were we went pain, pain, and money and upset and suicide and all that kind of stuff, you know.
1:33:34
SPEAKER_02: But you're a happy guy.
1:33:36
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I know we covered your faith, but what else?
1:33:38
SPEAKER_02: What else is behind it?
1:33:39
SPEAKER_02: What what keeps you dude?
1:33:41
SPEAKER_00: Um uh I don't know.
1:33:44
SPEAKER_00: I we didn't get a chance to like tell this story earlier.
1:33:47
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
1:33:47
SPEAKER_00: But but I feel like I've gotta like share this story.
1:33:49
SPEAKER_00: It's completely unrelated to why I do dentistry, but it might be like a piece of why I do dentistry.
1:33:54
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
1:33:55
SPEAKER_00: I'd I'd love to hear it.
1:33:55
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like, oh, it's a little dark humor, but at the same time, like it gives you an idea.
1:34:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think one of my favorite stories.
1:34:03
SPEAKER_00: So I try to be a yes man the best I can.
1:34:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:34:06
SPEAKER_00: People pleaser.
1:34:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I wouldn't even say that, you know.
1:34:09
SPEAKER_00: I don't get it's it's not because I want to be like a people pleaser, you know.
1:34:14
SPEAKER_00: I don't get like enjoyment out of that, but it's just like this idea of I want to be a good partner.
1:34:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know what I mean?
1:34:20
SPEAKER_00: It's like if somebody needs something, we can call Brent, you know?
1:34:24
SPEAKER_00: That's that's kind of how it is.
1:34:26
SPEAKER_00: And it's like I'm not doing it because by pleasing somebody, I feel like I'm getting joy.
1:34:31
SPEAKER_00: It's more of like that's the reputation I want to build.
1:34:33
SPEAKER_00: You want to be reliable, yeah, exactly.
1:34:35
SPEAKER_00: And so, anyways, try to be a yes man the best I can.
1:34:39
SPEAKER_00: And so I had I was working at 27th and Thomas over here in Phoenix, and it was the end of the day, and all of a sudden uh a woman came in with her son, and um, she walked up to the front desk, and I was standing there, and she was like, Hey, I kind of have a a question, it's a really random ask, but I've been to multiple dentists and all of them have said no.
1:35:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm just seeing if this is something that you might be able to do.
1:35:04
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, what you got?
1:35:06
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Well, my husband just passed away.
1:35:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and there was an ongoing joke uh between us that when he died that his gold tooth would be my retirement plan.
1:35:21
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I was like, What do you what do you mean?
1:35:24
SPEAKER_00: And she was like, Yeah, he used to joke that like if he ever died before me, that I could, you know, get his gold tooth, and that would be the the retirement plan.
1:35:32
SPEAKER_00: I was like, What do you what are you asking right now?
1:35:36
SPEAKER_02: How much retirement she needs?
1:35:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and she was like, Yeah, so I I want I want that tooth.
1:35:42
SPEAKER_00: Can you get it for me?
1:35:43
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Oh, wait a minute.
1:35:45
SPEAKER_00: So you have to go to the mortuary and pull it out?
1:35:47
SPEAKER_00: I know where to the what?
1:35:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
1:35:50
SPEAKER_00: She was like, I just I kind of I kind of want that tooth.
1:35:53
SPEAKER_00: I and so I told her, I said, well, you know, you gotta understand those those gold teeth, they're not actually gold, you know.
1:36:02
SPEAKER_00: There's a small portion of it that's gold, but it's a collection of metals.
1:36:06
SPEAKER_00: It's an amalgam.
1:36:07
SPEAKER_00: There's multiple different kinds of metals in that, only a small portion's gold.
1:36:11
SPEAKER_00: You know, really those gold crowns aren't worth much.
1:36:14
SPEAKER_00: Breaking her heart.
1:36:15
SPEAKER_00: Maybe 20 bucks or so, you know.
1:36:17
SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking she'd be like, Oh, never mind.
1:36:20
SPEAKER_00: And and she flat out goes, Yeah, I I know.
1:36:22
SPEAKER_00: I just it's sentimental value, and I just want it.
1:36:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh, and I was I was like, So you you really like you understand, like I'm gonna charge you significantly more than that tooth is worth to go extract it, right?
1:36:36
SPEAKER_05: Oh my god.
1:36:37
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Yeah, I don't care.
1:36:38
SPEAKER_00: She goes, I just want the tooth.
1:36:40
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Oh my god, you gotta be kidding me.
1:36:43
SPEAKER_00: And um, I was like, Yeah, I'll do it.
1:36:48
SPEAKER_00: No way, yeah, yeah.
1:36:50
SPEAKER_00: So I told her, I was like, Yeah, yeah, I said, Yeah, I'll do it.
1:36:54
SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Oh, really?
1:36:56
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yeah, I don't mind.
1:36:57
SPEAKER_00: I'll figure out some tools over there, we'll get it done.
1:36:59
SPEAKER_00: Because in dental school, like we worked on cadavers, right?
1:37:03
SPEAKER_00: Like that was we did gross anatomy, and so like every day or every other day, we had our gross anatomy lab where we'd go up to the eighth floor.
1:37:11
SPEAKER_00: They had, you know, big tanks where they kept dead people in them and formaldehyde.
1:37:15
SPEAKER_00: And so we'd open up the tank, crank it up, the guy would come up, and then you'd cut on him and see where his muscles and stuff were.
1:37:22
SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
1:37:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, we did like cranial dissections where we saw all the nerves in the face, and that's where we learn our head and neck anatomy and stuff.
1:37:30
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, it's not like, oh my god, like working on a dead person.
1:37:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, I spent, you know, a year working on dead people, you know what I mean?
1:37:38
SPEAKER_00: So, like, I was within reason to be like, okay, like I can I can handle this if nothing else, you know.
1:37:45
SPEAKER_02: So, how far did you have to go?
1:37:47
SPEAKER_02: Did you have to go to the morgue or was he like in the trunk?
1:37:50
SPEAKER_00: It was in the morgue.
1:37:51
SPEAKER_00: So, right.
1:37:52
SPEAKER_00: So, when I think like, okay, I'm gonna go, I I think like forensic TV show, you know, what a CSI or something where you go down into the basement and you know, you got like maybe a casket or a table down there, the guy is like getting embalmed, and you get to go down there and like extract the tooth and then you know, bring it back to the girl, and and then everything would be cool.
1:38:14
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's what I had in my head.
1:38:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, this dude's down in the morgue.
1:38:17
SPEAKER_00: I can go like get him fixed up, you know, and all that.
1:38:20
SPEAKER_00: And so they give me the name of the crematorium, or no, it's the actual like what funeral home?
1:38:27
SPEAKER_00: Is that what it's called?
1:38:27
SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah, the funeral home.
1:38:29
SPEAKER_02: So like morgue is like the mortuary where they like freeze the body and doing the autopsies.
1:38:35
SPEAKER_00: So I was thinking morgue, but really I went to a funeral home.
1:38:39
SPEAKER_00: Home.
1:38:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
1:38:40
SPEAKER_00: So I show up to this funeral home, awkward, and I walk in, and like the people who own funeral homes and direct them, they're always weird.
1:38:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
1:38:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh, definitely.
1:38:50
SPEAKER_00: But they are yeah, they are strange people, yeah.
1:38:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they are, and it's a job that everybody has to do.
1:38:55
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I respect the position, but it is, I'm sorry, but it's odd.
1:38:59
SPEAKER_00: They're almost as bad as Dennis, you know what I mean?
1:39:01
SPEAKER_02: And they have a dark humor, too.
1:39:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you got to, you know, but he was like pale and skinny, pretty typical, you know what I mean?
1:39:09
SPEAKER_00: That was just him, and he just creep me out a little bit, but it's like comes with a profession, man.
1:39:13
SPEAKER_00: You look the part, if nothing else.
1:39:15
SPEAKER_00: Nice to meet you.
1:39:16
SPEAKER_03: So you look like a mortician, yeah, absolutely.
1:39:18
SPEAKER_00: You'd got you're in the right profession, man.
1:39:20
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
1:39:21
SPEAKER_00: Um so I'm thinking he's about to take me to the morgue, but really, this guy's ready for visitation.
1:39:28
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
1:39:28
SPEAKER_00: I go into like full-on church pews, right?
1:39:32
SPEAKER_00: Like he takes me into like the main room.
1:39:34
SPEAKER_00: No way.
1:39:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm walking through church pews, there's a big cross, a place to give a message, and like this dude um that passed away, he's in the casket, he's all painted up.
1:39:44
SPEAKER_00: But the family's not there, right?
1:39:46
SPEAKER_00: No, but like they've got him set up for like visitation.
1:39:49
SPEAKER_00: It's showtime.
1:39:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's showtime.
1:39:51
SPEAKER_00: And so it's no longer like desensitized.
1:39:55
SPEAKER_00: Like he like in my head, like when I was on the eighth floor in dental school, there was a certain level, like a veil there, you know what I mean?
1:40:02
SPEAKER_00: Where it wasn't that real.
1:40:04
SPEAKER_00: It was like this person donated their body, and like this is all for science, and yada yada yada.
1:40:09
SPEAKER_00: This was but this was real world, you know what I mean.
1:40:12
SPEAKER_00: This guy has a family, this guy paid for this like funeral.
1:40:16
SPEAKER_00: This guy's gonna get put in the grave.
1:40:18
SPEAKER_00: He's got people who love him.
1:40:19
SPEAKER_00: But that tooth is coming out.
1:40:21
SPEAKER_04: It's it can't make a mess either.
1:40:24
SPEAKER_04: Uh no.
1:40:25
SPEAKER_00: Because they they don't bleed, right?
1:40:26
SPEAKER_00: Because they already been involved.
1:40:27
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so it wasn't gonna bleed, you know what I mean?
1:40:30
SPEAKER_00: So, like, either way, like I I walk down the aisle, you know, I've got my assistant and my tools and all that.
1:40:37
SPEAKER_00: And um, I walk up to him and I start to like touch him, and he's just like dead cold.
1:40:42
SPEAKER_00: I think he's gonna do something.
1:40:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's like, he's like dead cold, you know, and so that was weird, man.
1:40:48
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why, but I wasn't ready for him to be so cold.
1:40:51
SPEAKER_00: It's like he just pulled him out of like the freezer or something, you know.
1:40:55
SPEAKER_00: I think I'd keep him cold, but yeah, I don't understand.
1:40:57
SPEAKER_00: So I think that's what happened.
1:40:58
SPEAKER_00: He was like like frozen cold, and so I touched him.
1:41:00
SPEAKER_00: That was kind of weird.
1:41:01
SPEAKER_02: So is his lips all like solid, and you have a hard time getting in there?
1:41:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's the thing is like, you know, I kind of I was like, okay, open, and then I realized like that wasn't gonna work.
1:41:10
SPEAKER_00: And you can't smooth the skin because it's just showtime.
1:41:12
SPEAKER_00: They're getting ready to look at his face.
1:41:14
SPEAKER_00: I really did talk to him for a split second, though.
1:41:16
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:41:17
SPEAKER_00: Where it's like I've I've I'm on autopilot when I do dentistry now.
1:41:20
SPEAKER_00: It's just just like this isn't gonna hurt.
1:41:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, where I was like, I walk up and I'm like, okay, open, you know, and then I realize like, oh, it's like I can't talk to this guy, you know.
1:41:28
SPEAKER_00: And so I get him opened up, I see the tooth, see the gold tooth back there, and I went to like touch the like put my thumb inside where his cheek is, you know, and so I touched his cheek, and this is when like it all went south because his whole cheek, like all the mucosa inside of the mouth started to rub off on my thumb.
1:41:50
SPEAKER_00: Like it was it was almost like play-doh, like oh my god, Brent.
1:41:55
SPEAKER_00: Like cold, like cold, just cold enough to still be mushy, like play-doh that rubbed off on my glove.
1:42:02
SPEAKER_00: And I just I wasn't ready for that.
1:42:04
SPEAKER_00: And so it was, yeah, that was that was weird.
1:42:06
SPEAKER_00: And so I kind of was like my stomach turned a bit.
1:42:09
SPEAKER_00: And then like at first, I was gonna try to extract the full tooth and get the roots and everything, and then it was like, nope, not doing that.
1:42:16
SPEAKER_00: Just the tooth, that's all we need.
1:42:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I grabbed, I grabbed my like pliers and just snapped off the clinical crown, which was just the you know, I left the root system in there and just pulled out the actual like crown, you know what I mean?
1:42:28
SPEAKER_00: But it like landed at the back of his throat.
1:42:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh so like I'm in that without a light and like all my stuff.
1:42:34
SPEAKER_00: I forgot my dang light.
1:42:36
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm in there trying to like dig out of the back of this guy's throat.
1:42:40
SPEAKER_00: Either way, uh ended up getting the tooth.
1:42:42
SPEAKER_00: I said, Thank you, sir.
1:42:44
SPEAKER_00: Um how was his gag reflex?
1:42:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh it was actually uh not that bad.
1:42:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
1:42:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was pretty cool.
1:42:50
SPEAKER_00: Good patient, you know.
1:42:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he handled it like a champ.
1:42:53
SPEAKER_00: You gave him a lollipop afterwards, didn't even flinch.
1:42:55
SPEAKER_00: No, I was ready to get out of there, man.
1:42:57
SPEAKER_00: You know, I told the I told the funeral home director, I said, Yeah, man, you can take it from here.
1:43:02
SPEAKER_00: And uh put it in a little baggie and and went back to the office and and handed it to the lady.
1:43:08
SPEAKER_00: And like next time I'm gonna charge like six X on whatever it is that I do, just to make sure that like my time's covered on that one.
1:43:18
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I would think so.
1:43:19
SPEAKER_02: So after that crazy story, I have to ask a little bit more uh details to it.
1:43:23
SPEAKER_02: Do they like check your credentials or anything when you walked into the when the funeral home, did they check your credentials or did they just say, Oh, you're here for a tooth?
1:43:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, go go go do no, he didn't check on.
1:43:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh no, he didn't ask for license or anything.
1:43:36
SPEAKER_02: You could have been like a mafia hitman, like I'm getting that tooth back.
1:43:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess it I'm I'm assuming she might have phoned ahead or something.
1:43:43
SPEAKER_00: I might think uh like Dr.
1:43:45
SPEAKER_00: Herring's coming through here, you know what I mean?
1:43:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god he watched, he watched really close.
1:43:49
SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll say that like he he really did.
1:43:52
SPEAKER_00: He watched me super close.
1:43:53
SPEAKER_00: Like I wasn't about to get out of hand by any means because I mean he was he was on me.
1:43:57
SPEAKER_02: He didn't freak out when you were fishing in the back of his throat for the tooth.
1:44:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh no, he just watched me super close.
1:44:02
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:44:03
SPEAKER_00: It was that was another weird thing, you know, knowing that somebody like that's like watching me that close.
1:44:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, that's that's a crazy story.
1:44:11
SPEAKER_00: It was wild, man.
1:44:12
SPEAKER_02: Halloween is next week, so I think this story is really, really fitting for that.
1:44:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, man.
1:44:18
SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget that.
1:44:19
SPEAKER_02: If people get into that creepy stuff, yeah.
1:44:21
SPEAKER_02: So before we go, we got some uh lighter, lighter topics.
1:44:24
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna uh we're gonna hit you with some uh dentist to approve jokes, hopefully.
1:44:28
SPEAKER_02: Let's let's see if we can get approval on these jokes from a dentist, and then Ray has a little creative surprise for you.
1:44:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, but Brent, Dr.
1:44:37
SPEAKER_02: Brent, do you know what the dentist of the year gets?
1:44:42
SPEAKER_02: A crown?
1:44:44
SPEAKER_02: A little plaque.
1:44:45
SPEAKER_02: Oh okay.
1:44:47
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's good.
1:44:48
SPEAKER_02: That's good.
1:44:49
SPEAKER_02: I like that.
1:44:50
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
1:44:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
1:44:52
SPEAKER_02: What kind of what kind of photos do teeth take?
1:44:59
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
1:45:01
SPEAKER_02: I I was thinking toothpicks.
1:45:03
SPEAKER_02: Oh, toothpicks.
1:45:04
SPEAKER_02: Oh, toothpicks.
1:45:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:45:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's good.
1:45:07
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty solid.
1:45:08
SPEAKER_00: I actually haven't heard that one.
1:45:10
SPEAKER_00: I've heard the A Little Plaque one.
1:45:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I just forgot it until you said that, but I hadn't heard the toothpick.
1:45:15
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
1:45:16
SPEAKER_00: So that's your favorite one.
1:45:17
SPEAKER_04: I got some good ones over there.
1:45:18
SPEAKER_02: I got one last one.
1:45:20
SPEAKER_02: So there was a big, huge news story that came out, and apparently you're not supposed to brush your teeth with your right hand anymore.
1:45:26
SPEAKER_02: Did you hear about this?
1:45:27
SPEAKER_02: I did not.
1:45:28
SPEAKER_02: This is news.
1:45:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're supposed to use your toothbrush.
1:45:32
SPEAKER_02: Oh, gee.
1:45:34
SPEAKER_05: I agree.
1:45:35
SPEAKER_00: Dennis to prove that's a great message, you know.
1:45:38
SPEAKER_00: So one two or three for two minutes.
1:45:40
SPEAKER_00: Two minutes, two minutes, yeah.
1:45:41
SPEAKER_03: Listen to your favorite song.
1:45:43
SPEAKER_03: So you like a two or three, the toothpicks or the the I like the toothbrush.
1:45:47
SPEAKER_02: I like the toothpick.
1:45:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, toothpick.
1:45:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:45:50
SPEAKER_02: All right.
1:45:51
SPEAKER_04: Ray, hit us with your creativity.
1:45:53
SPEAKER_04: Oh, let me tell you, Jakers.
1:45:56
SPEAKER_04: I'm always amazing Jakers with uh information about me that he doesn't know.
1:46:01
SPEAKER_04: And here's another fine piece of information that goes right along with what you just talked about.
1:46:07
SPEAKER_04: Oh boy.
1:46:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so here we go.
1:46:08
SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna start with that, then we'll go on to other stuff.
1:46:11
SPEAKER_04: Jakers didn't know I was going to do this.
1:46:14
SPEAKER_04: When I graduated high school, and before I went to college, uh, I went to uh a school, a community college, and to sign up, and I didn't know what I wanted to do.
1:46:25
SPEAKER_04: So they gave me an aptitude test.
1:46:29
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:46:29
SPEAKER_04: So I sat in this little room and took the test and got the results back.
1:46:34
SPEAKER_04: This will kill both of you.
1:46:37
SPEAKER_04: Number one on the list for my aptitude, mortician.
1:46:44
SPEAKER_04: And it says honest truth.
1:46:46
SPEAKER_04: So when you said that, I said, I gotta tell that story.
1:46:49
SPEAKER_01: So now that now that you mentioned it, you kind of look like one.
1:46:52
SPEAKER_01: I kind of look like one, yeah.
1:46:53
SPEAKER_04: Skinny and pale and all that.
1:46:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:46:55
SPEAKER_04: So anyway, so that was that that that story just fit right in.
1:47:00
SPEAKER_04: Okay, number two item here.
1:47:02
SPEAKER_04: You didn't mention this, but I'm gonna tell your audience that you have an office dog.
1:47:06
SPEAKER_04: And her name is Tika.
1:47:08
SPEAKER_04: And she comes in and she visits the the patient sometimes.
1:47:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I gotta come just to see Tika.
1:47:15
SPEAKER_02: She's great.
1:47:15
SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is sweet.
1:47:17
SPEAKER_02: What kind of dog?
1:47:17
SPEAKER_00: She's a German short-haired pointer.
1:47:19
SPEAKER_00: How old?
1:47:20
SPEAKER_00: Two years.
1:47:21
SPEAKER_00: She's good with all the patients.
1:47:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh, she's just crazy, man.
1:47:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm still trying to get her to calm down.
1:47:26
SPEAKER_00: That breed has so much energy.
1:47:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, she's she's good until the patient's excited to see her, and then she just matches that energy times like 10x.
1:47:34
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:47:35
SPEAKER_00: So it's like she's just chilling, she's walking up, she sits down, and the patient's like, oh, and she just goes, No, my god, I didn't know that.
1:47:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
1:47:44
SPEAKER_02: She's really good with the kids though.
1:47:46
SPEAKER_02: When the kids come in there, the kids like her.
1:47:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
1:47:48
SPEAKER_02: When she doesn't tackle them, that kind of thing, you know.
1:47:51
SPEAKER_04: That's cool.
1:47:52
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:47:53
SPEAKER_04: I have a piece of strange information here about a dentist, and uh this is historical, and I will share this little piece with you.
1:48:01
SPEAKER_04: The electric chair was invented by a dentist in 1881.
1:48:05
SPEAKER_04: Oh, no way.
1:48:06
SPEAKER_04: He thought it was a more humane way than hanging, and it was modeled after a dentist's chair.
1:48:13
SPEAKER_04: He was a member of the New York State State's Electrical Death Commission.
1:48:19
SPEAKER_02: Why did the dentist kill people?
1:48:21
SPEAKER_04: And the first person electrocuted was in 1890, and it it didn't work the first time, so they had to have multiple jolts.
1:48:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh so let me yeah, the the person that invented the electricity.
1:48:31
SPEAKER_04: Electric chair was a dentist, and he bottled the chair after a dental chair.
1:48:35
SPEAKER_04: Of course he was.
1:48:36
SPEAKER_04: Of course he was.
1:48:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:48:38
SPEAKER_02: He knew how to torture people.
1:48:40
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, not some of the things.
1:48:42
SPEAKER_04: There it is.
1:48:43
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:48:44
SPEAKER_04: Okay, now this might be the oh, I've I've been waiting a week to do this.
1:48:49
SPEAKER_02: This is the creative part I was talking about.
1:48:51
SPEAKER_04: This is I've been waiting a week to do this.
1:48:53
SPEAKER_02: Um Ray writes limericks for everybody that has been on the program lately.
1:48:59
SPEAKER_02: And he's wrote one for me and a lot of other guests, and he'll explain what limerick is.
1:49:04
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, he just he really, really, really was like, Oh, Brent's coming.
1:49:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm gonna work hard on this.
1:49:09
SPEAKER_02: And you know, so I I'm interested to to hear this myself.
1:49:13
SPEAKER_04: I wrote not one, not two, but I wrote three.
1:49:15
SPEAKER_00: I know I wrote three different ones.
1:49:17
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know you had a creative.
1:49:19
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I I have create well, you know I did lighting, so I have to have be creative.
1:49:23
SPEAKER_02: So some people still don't know what a limerick is.
1:49:25
SPEAKER_02: Explain it real quick.
1:49:26
SPEAKER_04: A limerick is a five-line poem, lines one and two rhyme, lines three and four have a different rhyme, and then line five rhymes with the first two, line with the first two lines.
1:49:38
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:49:39
SPEAKER_04: So here we go.
1:49:40
SPEAKER_04: And I I I oh, these are great.
1:49:42
SPEAKER_04: Uh I I think you'll get a big kick out of them.
1:49:45
SPEAKER_04: I'm I I'm pushing my own you know, own horn here, tooting my own horn, but I think these are great.
1:49:50
SPEAKER_04: I know a fine dentist named Brent who was known wherever he went.
1:49:55
SPEAKER_04: He was always prepared for teeth to repair and never charged a red cent.
1:50:00
SPEAKER_05: That's really good.
1:50:02
SPEAKER_03: That's really good, man.
1:50:04
SPEAKER_04: That surprised me.
1:50:04
SPEAKER_03: But you got options, so we got to find out what's your favorite.
1:50:07
SPEAKER_04: Not a red scent.
1:50:08
SPEAKER_04: I know a great dentist named Brent who needed money for rent.
1:50:12
SPEAKER_04: So he set up a store where he drilled teeth galore until he was physically spent.
1:50:18
SPEAKER_04: Okay, there we go.
1:50:20
SPEAKER_04: That sounded like what you did.
1:50:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you pretty much nailed it.
1:50:23
SPEAKER_04: My life's okay.
1:50:25
SPEAKER_04: I know a fine dentist named Brent who tried cavities to prevent, but his patients didn't brush because they were in a rush, so all he could do was relent.
1:50:35
SPEAKER_04: That was pretty that was the best one for sure.
1:50:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:50:39
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
1:50:39
SPEAKER_04: That was cavities prevent.
1:50:41
SPEAKER_04: And you know, I these are I sit down and I write these things.
1:50:44
SPEAKER_04: I I bet I wrote those in five minutes.
1:50:46
SPEAKER_04: There was just nothing to it.
1:50:48
SPEAKER_04: It helps when the name can has a lot of rhymes with it.
1:50:51
SPEAKER_04: I really like that last one.
1:50:52
SPEAKER_04: The black to cavities prevent.
1:50:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:50:56
SPEAKER_03: I was unprepared with some of those words you're delivering.
1:50:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so there you go.
1:51:00
SPEAKER_04: Okay, you're well done.
1:51:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:51:02
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that.
1:51:04
SPEAKER_04: I have fun doing that.
1:51:05
SPEAKER_04: I really do.
1:51:05
SPEAKER_04: And I try and make it uh uh fit the person.
1:51:10
SPEAKER_04: You really can teach an old dog new tricks.
1:51:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I know.
1:51:14
SPEAKER_04: I'm 200 years old, older than dirt.
1:51:15
SPEAKER_04: I know, but uh I know.
1:51:18
SPEAKER_02: All right, now for the for the deepest question of them all.
1:51:21
SPEAKER_02: Uh-oh.
1:51:22
SPEAKER_02: Not really, but it's a signature question.
1:51:24
SPEAKER_02: So, signature question for UFR.
1:51:26
SPEAKER_02: We'd love to ask anybody who's ever came on the program this same exact question.
1:51:39
SPEAKER_02: So, Brent, if you could ask God one question, what would you ask him?
1:51:46
SPEAKER_02: It can be deep, it can be funny, anything, we will take it.
1:51:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, that's um I think if I if I got the chance, um if I if I got to ask a question, I would probably ask something along the lines of of like why me?
1:52:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, like out of out of all the people that like he could save, um why he felt because like my my whole story, like he's he saved me for sure.
1:52:29
SPEAKER_00: Like I was I was in in a lot of trouble, and then it was just like God showed up out of out of nowhere and pulled me out of so much darkness, and so I can just see that so clearly in my life when I didn't deserve it, and he did.
1:52:43
SPEAKER_00: So, like, why why me when I don't see that happen like as often, you know what I mean?
1:52:50
SPEAKER_00: It's like I see a lot of people end up on the streets and struggling and they never get out of it, you know what I mean?
1:52:55
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, you know, wondering like what what the purpose is, you know?
1:53:01
SPEAKER_00: It's like what what do you want me to do to make up for that kind of thing?
1:53:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, am I on the right track?
1:53:08
SPEAKER_00: And then probably in the same vein, it's just like why such an omnipresent, omnipowerful God would spend so much time with such a broken species.
1:53:22
SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
1:53:22
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:53:23
SPEAKER_00: It's like what what about us?
1:53:25
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like all we ever do is like spit in his face and not listen to him and Yeah, we're just disappointments, aren't we?
1:53:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, chase selfish desires, and even when we're trying our best, we still like consistently come up short and we treat each other bad and we start wars, and like as a species in general, we're like two steps away at any point in time from complete obstruction and like hell or complete destruction rather.
1:53:49
SPEAKER_00: Um and like what he sees in us that makes him want to spend so much time like with us, you know?
1:53:57
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:53:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's probably where I'd go with it.
1:54:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wow, that's really deep.
1:54:02
SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, because I mean I know what you're saying there, because like at the end of the day, we're like all to to to to an extent, we're all like immature and and uh high maintenance because we are all like, you know, we know what we're supposed to do, but we don't do it.
1:54:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and we want more and more and more from God, but yet he's just asked us to do a simple thing, so we can't do it.
1:54:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:54:26
SPEAKER_02: And why he still has grace for that?
1:54:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, oh he forgives us more than we could ever forgive.
1:54:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:54:32
SPEAKER_00: And even after, like, and then we still judge him.
1:54:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and even after sending his son to give us the perfect role model, like we still just can't do it.
1:54:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, and yet he still has like all this grace.
1:54:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and like to see like still blessings come out of my life when it's like why?
1:54:52
SPEAKER_00: You know?
1:54:54
SPEAKER_00: Why?
1:54:55
SPEAKER_02: Why?
1:54:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:54:56
SPEAKER_02: I was born deaf.
1:54:57
SPEAKER_02: I got my hearing through a miracle.
1:54:59
SPEAKER_02: Why?
1:55:01
SPEAKER_02: Why?
1:55:02
SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't I don't understand it.
1:55:04
SPEAKER_02: And now I work in sound.
1:55:06
SPEAKER_02: Why?
1:55:07
SPEAKER_02: I like that though, Brent.
1:55:08
SPEAKER_02: That was really good.
1:55:09
SPEAKER_02: You uh you broke it down, I think, a lot more than a lot of people do.
1:55:13
SPEAKER_02: No offense to any of my other guests.
1:55:15
SPEAKER_02: I just you know, some people take a funny take on it.
1:55:18
SPEAKER_02: But you went you went like not only deep, but you like you gave us a whole like uh what's that called like a travel guide or adventure through through the woods with that.
1:55:27
SPEAKER_02: Like you took us some places.
1:55:28
SPEAKER_02: That was nice.
1:55:29
SPEAKER_00: Well good.
1:55:30
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to my world for a thing, you know what I mean?
1:55:33
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
1:55:34
SPEAKER_02: All right, man.
1:55:36
SPEAKER_02: Brent, this is your spotlight.
1:55:38
SPEAKER_02: You can take 30 seconds-ish, give or take, more or less, who cares?
1:55:41
SPEAKER_02: Uh, plug whatever you want.
1:55:43
SPEAKER_02: Plug your business, your links, your family, your wife, your doggy, any shout-outs, any words of wisdom that we're we're not ready for yet.
1:55:50
SPEAKER_02: Just go for it, man.
1:55:51
SPEAKER_02: It's yours.
1:55:53
SPEAKER_00: Can I um can I tell one joke too?
1:55:56
SPEAKER_00: You can tell anything.
1:55:57
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:55:57
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
1:55:58
SPEAKER_00: Because when you were reading through yours, it reminded me of my favorite.
1:56:01
SPEAKER_00: You want to know my favorite dental joke.
1:56:02
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
1:56:03
SPEAKER_00: Look, all your time.
1:56:04
SPEAKER_02: And again, like I said, it's not just 30 seconds.
1:56:06
SPEAKER_02: If you need two minutes, five minutes, just take your time.
1:56:08
SPEAKER_00: Toothpick is a close second, you know what I mean?
1:56:10
SPEAKER_00: But this one, uh, an older lady goes to the dentist, and um, she's she's in for for a cleaning, and and he walks in, the dentist walks in, and he goes, ma'am, I hate to break it to you, but uh, I think you've got acute gingivitis.
1:56:27
SPEAKER_00: And and she goes, Well, thank you.
1:56:33
SPEAKER_03: The way you said it, I heard it.
1:56:36
SPEAKER_03: I was like, acute one, huh?
1:56:39
SPEAKER_03: Oh dear.
1:56:40
SPEAKER_03: That one's my favorite.
1:56:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
1:56:44
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna have to use that for a foreign.
1:56:46
SPEAKER_00: Acute gingivitis, you know.
1:56:48
SPEAKER_00: For anybody who doesn't know, that just means like really like short onset gum disease is is what that means.
1:56:55
SPEAKER_00: But um, I don't know.
1:56:57
SPEAKER_00: I think um would like to uh plug my wife, Kirsta, because she's been such a trooper in all of this.
1:57:05
SPEAKER_00: And obviously, like God's number one, and he's got like all of my my faith and love and you know, has has been there, but like Kirsta was such a blessing in my life, and uh what's the old saying about like behind every man's a strong woman or something like that?
1:57:23
SPEAKER_00: I got one of those and like I'll live longer because I've got Kirsten and I know that for sure.
1:57:29
SPEAKER_00: And so like she's she's been she's been awesome.
1:57:32
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, and we've we founded um started and went through the grind and built up Herring Family Dental.
1:57:41
SPEAKER_00: Um www.herringfamily dental.com.
1:57:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh that's H E R R I N G.
1:57:48
SPEAKER_00: I've got a southern accent, and so it comes off as like Heron, like H E R O N, but it's Har H E R R I N G.
1:57:55
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:57:56
SPEAKER_03: So your wife, your wife makes fun of your accents in those videos on your website.
1:58:00
SPEAKER_03: Those are fun.
1:58:01
SPEAKER_03: I I checked out a lot of those videos on your website.
1:58:03
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, those are really good informational videos.
1:58:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh whoever did those did a good job.
1:58:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:58:08
SPEAKER_00: He's he's a film, he was a patient, actually.
1:58:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
1:58:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's probably one of the coolest things about being a dentist is like all the people that I get to meet.
1:58:18
SPEAKER_00: The community.
1:58:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
1:58:19
SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, it's like that's that's our ministry, and that's what I've come to learn.
1:58:24
SPEAKER_00: It's like, you know, our our office is our ministry, but any office I've been in, it's like the patients that come through, you sit down, you start talking to them, uh, asking questions.
1:58:32
SPEAKER_00: And because so many people are coming through, you hear so many cool stories.
1:58:36
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's not all the time like pain and anxiety and doom and gloom and all that.
1:58:41
SPEAKER_00: It's a piece of dentistry, but this is a lot of what I do is sit around just like talking to people, especially like with the sleep apnea stuff, because a lot of that has to do with like a patient's full like history and their story and all that.
1:58:53
SPEAKER_00: And so you really got to figure out like health-wise what's contributing to like sleep issues, you know.
1:58:58
SPEAKER_00: So it's a lot more diagnostic and talking and everything.
1:59:01
SPEAKER_00: So um, I don't know where I was going with that, but love dentistry because of the fact I get to meet people like you guys.
1:59:07
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for inviting me onto the show.
1:59:10
SPEAKER_00: And thank you for accepting.
1:59:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the reason I'm on this podcast is because a patient came in and was telling me about the podcast.
1:59:17
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, well, sweet, let's do it.
1:59:19
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:59:20
SPEAKER_00: So um, love the profession, love you guys.
1:59:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, if anybody wants to schedule, they can schedule online.
1:59:26
SPEAKER_00: There's a live scheduler, so you can set it up on your schedule and um you can schedule online, yeah, man.
1:59:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, you're a team.
1:59:34
SPEAKER_00: I shouldn't know that.
1:59:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you click click a button as a new patient, you put in your information.
1:59:39
SPEAKER_00: You never have to talk to an angry front front desk person or worry about getting put on hold or you know, the awkward conversation of do you have this day available?
1:59:48
SPEAKER_00: No.
1:59:48
SPEAKER_00: Do you have this day available?
1:59:49
SPEAKER_00: No.
1:59:50
SPEAKER_00: You can see live access to our exact schedule and put your appointment on there whenever you want to get on.
1:59:55
SPEAKER_02: So offline question.
1:59:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, did you want to cover anything else in your guest thing?
2:00:01
SPEAKER_02: I know you're talking about your wife a little bit more and some other things.
2:00:03
SPEAKER_02: Did you want to do that?
2:00:04
SPEAKER_02: Or if not.
2:00:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we covered it on um, like when I was telling the story about how she was the one for me to marry.
2:00:12
SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
2:00:13
SPEAKER_02: Like that ended up, I just didn't want you to miss anything.
2:00:15
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh man, I didn't, you know, yeah, that ended up bleeding in there for sure.
2:00:19
SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize I was gonna talk about it so much beforehand, but that was like my cue.
2:00:23
SPEAKER_00: Like, if I haven't talked about Kirsta, you better talk about Kirsta.
2:00:26
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
2:00:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, oh, and um, yeah, the last thing would be my grandpa.
2:00:32
SPEAKER_00: I forgot.
2:00:32
SPEAKER_00: Like my grand, my grandpa is the guy, uh, my dad was out of the picture, parents were drug addicts, that whole thing.
2:00:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, but my grandpa pretty much raised me.
2:00:41
SPEAKER_00: Um did not know this.
2:00:42
SPEAKER_00: Helped me get into like dental school and was like there with me through the hard times and is the closest thing to like a father figure, uh, and is probably responsible for like modeling the faith in my life because he was always like unwavering in his faith, even when I was like full-on atheist, like he was always like no way, yeah, yeah.
2:01:02
SPEAKER_00: So um, he's made a huge impact.
2:01:05
SPEAKER_02: He did a good job.
2:01:07
SPEAKER_00: He did a good job, he worked hard at it, you know what I mean.
2:01:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, he yeah, he he was awesome.
2:01:14
SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
2:01:15
SPEAKER_00: You have a name you want to shout him out?
2:01:17
SPEAKER_00: Dallas Johnson.
2:01:18
SPEAKER_00: Awesome! Yeah, Dallas Johnson, that's who it is.
2:01:22
SPEAKER_02: And then before we uh officially wrap wrap up, uh Brent has uh another episode that we're gonna get into in season four.
2:01:29
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna tackle sleep apnea, and we're gonna go deep into that episode.
2:01:34
SPEAKER_02: So uh if if you love this episode, stay tuned.
2:01:38
SPEAKER_02: Um season four is gonna come out in January 20, what is this, 26th?
2:01:42
SPEAKER_02: So January 27, we're gonna start season four, and Brent's gonna be talking about some sleep apnea stuff.
2:01:48
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be great.
2:01:49
SPEAKER_02: It affects, you know, lots of people.
2:01:51
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it affects Ray, it affects myself, you know.
2:01:54
SPEAKER_02: That's that's you know, two people right here.
2:01:56
SPEAKER_02: You know, we we're gonna dive deep into that, and I can't wait.
2:02:00
SPEAKER_04: Hit it, Ray.
2:02:02
SPEAKER_04: Well, folks, that completes our dental visit for episode 49, Tooth Be Told.
2:02:08
SPEAKER_04: We hope this episode freshened your breath and brightened your smile for days to come.
2:02:12
SPEAKER_04: A big thank you to Dr.
2:02:14
SPEAKER_04: Herring for joining us.
2:02:15
SPEAKER_04: We really appreciate your time, knowledge, and expertise.
2:02:18
SPEAKER_02: Unfit for Radio Podcast is independently produced and listener supported.
2:02:23
SPEAKER_02: If you want to help support the show, head on over to unfitfor radio.buzzcrab.com and click that donation link.
2:02:33
SPEAKER_04: If you missed out, don't worry.
2:02:35
SPEAKER_04: You can always catch this episode along with all the others by searching for Unfit for Radio with Jaker on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
2:02:48
SPEAKER_02: And while you're there, got us a quick review.
2:02:50
SPEAKER_02: It helps other people find the show.
2:02:52
SPEAKER_02: We really appreciate the support.
2:02:54
SPEAKER_02: Got a suggestion, guest recommendation, email us over here at unfitforadio show at gmail.com or text the studio at 602-767-3390.
2:03:05
SPEAKER_02: And we may even feature your message on a future episode.
2:03:10
SPEAKER_04: Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at UFR Podcast.
2:03:15
SPEAKER_04: Credits for this episode.
2:03:17
SPEAKER_04: Episode guest, Dr.
2:03:18
SPEAKER_04: Brent Herring from Herring Family Dental, UFR creator, executive producer, and recorded by the star of UFR, Jacob.
2:03:29
SPEAKER_04: Producer, co-host of UFR OG.
2:03:32
SPEAKER_04: That's me, Ray.
2:03:34
SPEAKER_04: UFR Music, episode mastery and artwork by Ronald L.
2:03:38
SPEAKER_04: Jones.
2:03:40
SPEAKER_04: At Instagram at RonnieCashLive.
2:03:43
SPEAKER_02: Remember, if you can't find the good, then just be the good.
2:03:47
SPEAKER_02: Until next time.
2:03:49
SPEAKER_02: Peace.
2:03:50
SPEAKER_02: Bye later.
2:03:52
SPEAKER_02: See you.