Latest / The Word of Mouth Podcast / Peptides, Lasers, and Artificial Intelligence OH MY! | WOM 008
Transcript
- Jeffrey Lunt: Welcome to the Word of Mouth Podcast, your weekly rundown of the business, news and trends affecting dentistry. I'm your host, Jeff, and this is my co host Sarah. Sarah Lunt: Hi Jeff, it's good to be here today. Jeffrey Lunt: Awesome. So last week we talked about legislation affecting dentistry at the state and federal level. So if you haven't checked out that episode, be sure to go find that one and check it out. ⁓ this week we're gonna talk a little bit about some technology that's changing the way dentists interact with their patients and how treatment is being delivered. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, more specifically, we wanted to talk about one of the biggest buzzwords in healthcare right now, which is peptides. I feel like every time I'm on social media, every time I'm on the internet, I'm seeing something new about peptides and how they're impacting healthcare. And dentistry is no different. They have definitely hopped on the peptide train. And so today we're gonna talk a little bit about how those have been introduced into dentistry. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I think the rise ⁓ GLP one inhibitors, Ozempic, being the brand name of those, has really opened people's eyes to the power of peptides and biologic treatment. I would say that they're sort of in the sphere of ⁓ biohacking. Now, doesn't necessarily mean that they are biohacking, but that's kind of the way I think people view them is that they're a more natural treatment than introducing artificial drugs. They're There are things that your body already makes naturally, these long chain amino acids. and it's kind of using those things to trigger pathways that already exist. so people I think now are super high on peptides. ⁓ And we just spoke a couple of dentists who are using curidont, which is a peptide that ⁓ kind of helps restore d enamel on teeth and so that's something that we wanted to just kind of touch on today is how peptides are shaping the industry moving forward, current trends with them and and what that looks like moving into the future. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and Jeff, correct me if I'm wrong, but these peptides in in dentistry are kind of being used as a pr preventative measure, right? So it kind of comes before the filling to try and get on top of those early stage cavities. Is that right? Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, so if they start seeing decay, they this would be kind of an initial response. ⁓ I know for me personally, I've gone to my dentist several times in a row and they say, Hey, you have a little bit of soft spot here, but it doesn't necessarily require a filling. That is a situation in which a peptide would be hugely valuable for me as a consumer because that's when the the peptides are able to take effect and Sort of prevent the downstream necessity for cavity filling. Sarah Lunt: Okay, gotcha. Yeah, that that makes sense. It's interesting seeing the different ways that peptides are being used across healthcare. And I think there's a lot of opportunity here. In fact, I was just reading an article earlier this week that talked about how ⁓ the keratin in hair can be used in a similar way as some of these peptides in some of these preventative measures, which is really interesting. ⁓ but leaning more into these peptides Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, the different applications for peptides ⁓ is ⁓ enormous. ⁓ it's super vast. There's things like I talked about remineralizing enamel, but there's also things like helping implants stay more secure in the jaw. Antimicrobial treatments where you kind of gear the body up for treating bacterial ⁓ treating bacterial treating the potential for bacterial infection. And then periodontal regeneration. So helping people's gums and bones heal in a way that allows them to ⁓ better indications for their dental health moving forward. Sarah Lunt: Man, super exciting how much we can start to implement peptides into kind of ⁓ various areas dentistry. ⁓ But I it's also important, Jeff, that we talk about how peptides are still emerging, right? It's a very new thing. People have been fast to jump on these peptides, but with ⁓ you know recent the whole peptide craze is, it's important to recognize that there's very limited research, especially long term. Clinical trials, we don't have many of those and they're not yet the standard of care. And so I think while it's awesome that dentists are jumping on this train, it's great for for marketing, for positioning. I think it's also important to recognize that it's not as researched as ⁓ as methods of dentistry. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, although I do think that we have to recognize that we in the US are not the only research institution in the entire world. So Curadont was developed in Switzerland twenty-five years ago. They have plenty of European clinical type trials that have demonstrated effectiveness of the treatment. Now, it's not necessarily ⁓ US backed research and so ⁓ It always is a ⁓ kind of pro and con. ⁓ but medicine moves slow and I think that that's a great thing. We don't wanna be just rolling out treatments willy-nilly. But I do think that leveraging some of those other things for at least for getting started, ⁓ this dentist obviously is using curidont in his practice now and he's happy about it and he's seen some great results and he trusts that those people who've used it over in Europe are are making those strides and having that clinical rigor in terms of ⁓ vetting whether or not these things are safe for human use and effective for human use. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, no, I think that's a great point. And this dentist that we just talked to also talked about the fact that implementing this technology has started to save him money because, like you said, it helps prevent bigger issues down the line. And so getting on top of that makes him happy, not having to, you know, spend the money on the fillings and stuff for these cavities, but also the patients, they see the quality in that care of, hey, let's get on top of this so we don't have to do the filling, we don't have to numb you up, we can just get this quick peptide treatment and solve your problems. I think it's been great for this dentist that we've talked to and and really exciting for for him and his practice. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, we spoke to one dentist who said, ⁓ he's talking about these peptide treatments and kind of their effectiveness and said, ⁓ honestly, my dream scenario is to never fill another cavity, just to have these preventative actions in place. And like you said, there's ⁓ cost associated with these peptides, but in a lot of scenarios, they're cheaper than doing the ⁓ cavity filling. And so these patients are happy they're not having to get a filling, which I think you talked about a couple episodes. You had one of those fall out. And so there's certainly downsides to that method of treatment. And so having it be a sort of natural regenerative treatment, it there's huge upsides. And so dentists need to be looking at these things as kind of The industry continues to evolve both from a business perspective, like we've talked about the last few weeks, but also from a treatment perspective, which ultimately we feel affects business. Like you said, a dentist who d provides good treatment is gonna retain patients much longer, and a retained patient is five times less expensive than a new patient. So ultimately it's it's one of those things that all all these things are interwoven. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, You talked about the business side. And I just think that some of these new technologies is such a huge opportunity for these dentistries to set themselves apart from their competitors. ⁓ they can kind of position this how you want. I mean, you think of ⁓ it can be presented to families as kind of this way to not have to deal with the fillings, right? Who likes taking their kid in, getting their kid numbed? It's kind of painful, it's uncomfortable. No kid likes that. So if parents can have the opportunity to avoid that, great. That's awesome for these family dentistries. And then you have these wellness dentistries as well were these people going to these, higher-end wellness type dentistries, they hear these buzzwords like peptides, and that can draw them in, right? This technology, this new technology that they're using. ⁓ there's so much opportunity. marketing wise for these dentistries to really take advantage of some of these technologies and position them how how they want and how best fits their practice. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I think healthcare as a whole is moving from that mechanical treatment to a biological treatment. You see a lot of people ⁓ my mother in law included, she had some lower back pain and she did everything she could to avoid surgery. And whether any of our physician listeners think that's right or wrong is up to them. But that is the trend right now is ⁓ do not do surgery, that as long as humanly possible, try and let the body kind of feel itself. And I think most of the population and most of healthcare tends to agree that that's better for patient outcomes. And so In dentistry, as we move away from ripping teeth out, drilling into teeth, ⁓ those kinds of things, the better off the outcomes for the patients are and the more trust that the dentist continues to produce. A lot of the dentists we talk to say that their biggest thing that they wish patients knew is that dentistry doesn't have to be painful anymore. ⁓ a lot of their patients come in and the thing they're most surprised about is that it doesn't hurt. And I think dentistry for a long time got a bad reputation of a super painful visit to the dentist, and maybe rightly so, but things have changed so much that now getting a dental treatment is nearly painless. Sarah Lunt: Yeah. No, I think that's a great point. I think switching the mentality for these patients from, pain, lots of time at the dentist, long healing periods to this innovation, faster healing, better outcomes. And like you mentioned, just better for your health, Just pasting these peptides over the top of the tooth it sounds way better than drilling in and filling it and using the light to cure it and everything like that. So I think I think it's so true that this just has such an appeal, especially now with how healthcare's being perceived by the by the general public. I think that's a great point, Jeff. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and I think there's the the positioning opportunities of this are endless. We offer advanced biological treatment plans. Well, that's certainly a lot more interesting than come visit your local dentist. ⁓ I th that can be from anywhere from positioning in the health and wellness space, kind of the cosmetic high end dentistry, to the family dentist who's looking for I mean, we just had our first kid and we're always looking for what's best for her. And If a dentist seems to be positioned as a more natural, more kind of progressive from the standpoint of ⁓ using the most advanced treatments, certainly we're gonna be more comfortable with that as parents because all parents want the best for their kids. So no matter where you are in the dental spectrum, this is a great positioning tool and it's a great reminder that positioning is really critical. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, it's so true, Jeff. Positioning is huge. In fact, it was kind of interesting. We just had someone comment on one of our TikToks saying that their job as a dentist isn't to inform the patient, but rather present them with the treatment ⁓ and up to the patient to decide. ⁓ but honestly think that the dentist's job is to inform to a degree. Obviously, you don't want to be annoying, you don't wanna be A know-it-all. We all hate when the doctor uses words that we can't understand and we kind of feel dumb and we don't understand what they're saying, right? But I do think the doctors do have this ability to help their patients understand what sets them apart as a dentist and why their treatments are better. and I think peptides is a great example, like we've been talking about, how they can present these in a way ⁓ that appeals the patient because it really is this new technology that. helps both patient and dentist. So I I agree, Jeff, completely that positioning is huge and I think it's important that dentists realize that they do kind of have a responsibility to inform their patients on some of these newer technologies to set them apart from competitors. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I mean ultimately no dentist, no one really in business wants to be a salesperson, but you do have to sell yourself and so whether it's informing patients about the fact that they'll spend ⁓ 5x less by coming to you instead of going to the emergency room, or it's informing your patients, hey, we do have the most advanced treatment plans and we use biologically active materials and all of these kind of buzzwords to help educate your patients that you really are the best choice for them. And so you do want to sell yourself again, you're not looking to become a college professor or a guest lecturer, but you do wanna acknowledge that you you it's your job to sell yourself. And that's part of owning a business. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and Jeff, we've been talking about peptides a lot, but I think that's just one small part of a huge wave of innovation that's reshaping dentistry, There are so many new things coming in, ⁓ which why in past episodes we've talked about how ⁓ the market's predicted to double by twenty thirty-three, Just because there's so much technology coming in, so much innovation. ⁓ There really is money in dentistry. So maybe we can just touch on a Of these other innovations that are coming out in dentistry, and maybe in the future we can talk more about them ⁓ in depth on a podcast. But the first one ⁓ to touch on is platelet-rich fibrin, which basically this just uses the patient's own blood to accelerate their healing. which I didn't know this, but it's widely adopted in a lot of other surgical procedures. So kind of interesting how we're using our knowledge from the medical field to kind of take that innovation and bring it into dentistry, which I think is great. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I think it always goes back and forth between dentistry and medical. like I've said a lot, we talked to a lot of dentists and one of them told me that ⁓ he doesn't love the fact that dentistry and healthcare are separate because he feels like a lot of doctors look down on dentists. But really they both get a lot of education. They're both looking to help their patients and the or the oral health is the gateway to the rest of the body and so Dentistry really is ⁓ a healthcare profession and so utilizing a lot of those innovations from ⁓ from o ⁓ osteopathy and allopathic ⁓ allows for dentists to continue to provide better services. So ⁓ using things like platelet-rich fibrin or the platelet-rich plasma, those things that are helping to improve patient outcomes and patient recovery times. ⁓ are are great ways for dentists to improve their practice. the next one we want to talk about is ⁓ a little more technologically focused and that's laser dentistry. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and laser dentistry, it we've talked about how people associate dentistry with pain in their mouth, long recoveries, And laser dentistry just aims to be minimally invasive with faster healing ⁓ reduced discomfort. So it really is just focusing on enhancing the patient experience, making it overall easier, better, more comfortable, which ⁓ think is I think peptides has the same goal and ⁓ so I think it's awesome that we're moving it in that direction and I think that's what we as the public want to see in dentistry. Jeffrey Lunt: Absolutely. And ⁓ another kind of technology that's being introduced is 3D printing and molding. And we see this ⁓ on the laser side and then the 3D printing side with implants, with some of these models that dentists are able to create for their patients. and all of that technology just makes it easier for patients to make informed decisions, it makes it more comfortable in the dental chair. again, it just improves the quality of life of the patient in relation to the dentist and by extension the quality of life of the dentist because it makes their job easier, it makes their patients happier with them, ⁓ ultimately just continues to help them ⁓ have opportunities to grow their practice. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, absolutely. I think another huge one in dentistry right now and in I think every field is AI, right? AI diagnostics there's so much to talk about with AI and dentistry that we want to dedicate ⁓ a whole podcast to talking about AI. So we'll talk about that in the next few because I just think Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, no question. Sarah Lunt: AI in this field is is huge and it's gonna play a big role moving forward as well. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, it certainly affected our business. ⁓ Opkey, we use AI every single day. I think that that's becoming more and more true of the vast majority of the population, and especially in these kind of white-collar established businesses like dentistry, healthcare, AI ⁓ going to be the way of the future. There's not really any way to avoid it. ⁓ it ultimately does provide great outcomes for patients. It provides great outcomes for dentists, makes their lives easier. And so it's a it's a good thing. It's something to adopt. It's something to be careful about. there's not a lot of regulation with AI and so there's certainly some things to be ⁓ wary of but it's something that we do want to talk about because it is it it's the way things are going. Sarah Lunt: Absolutely. I'm really excited to dive a little deeper into AI and dentistry. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and one thing to keep in mind with these things, things like peptides, ozone, PRP, even technology like lasers ⁓ ⁓ 3D printing and AI, a lot of these things aren't ⁓ hundred percent regulated. And that's because ⁓ are advancing so fast that lawmakers ⁓ ⁓ regulatory agencies can't keep up. And so ⁓ it is something to be careful about when you're using unregulated substances or treatments that you are doing your due diligence as a dentist. ⁓ we want to make sure that all of our listeners are not just taking our word for it, but that they're doing their own investigations. But I do think that it also provides, because they're on the cutting edge, it ⁓ allows you to be part of that conversation moving forward of what should the regulations look like and and how should this be deployed into dentistry. So I I think that These are all things that dentists should be considering. And it's one of the reasons that we love doing marketing for dentists, ⁓ to give ourselves a little pitch, is that it allows dentists to focus on dentistry. We take all of the marketing off their plate and allow them to focus on dentistries. ⁓ just got back from Texas and working with one of the clinics that we work with down there, and that was their number one thing is that Their office administrator and the dentist will said it's just nice that we can hand it off to you guys. You guys are like part of the team and it it allows us to make progress in growing our business from the clinical and operations side. Sarah Lunt: Absolutely. Like you said, Jeff, the dentists went to school to be dentists. They didn't go to school to be marketers. they don't want to spend all their time on ⁓ and ⁓ and all that. So, yeah, we we love taking that off of dentists So they can do what they love and adopt some of these new ⁓ Of course, not every buzzword in dentistry is going to become the new standard care. So we don't encourage dentists to chase every single trend that comes around, but it's always fun to know what's coming out and what's going on. Like Jeff said, it's important to stay educated, Make your own decisions, what's best for your practice, what's best for your positioning. but it's really exciting some of these new things that are coming out in dentistry. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and educate your patients before hear selling treatment, especially in some of these less regulated areas that they understand what they're getting into. That helps protect you, it helps protect them. So just obviously as things continue to evolve, ⁓ exercise caution, ⁓ but also super exciting and we're exciting to see how things grow. and honestly that about does it for today's episode. So thanks for hanging out with us. If you found value in this episode, please subscribe. We're on YouTube. We're on anywhere where you listen to podcasts, Apple, Spotify, et cetera. please subscribe, leave a comment. ⁓ we love responding and interacting with our dentist friends ⁓ on social media, and we'll forward to seeing you in the next one when we talk a little bit more about AI.