Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Dr. Scott Law, Co-Founder of Smile Doctors

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Dr. Scott Law, Co-Founder of Smile Doctors · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - Hello. This is Arianna Porto Latin with the
• 1:01
  - Becker's Dental and DSO review podcast.
• 1:03
  - I'm thrilled to be joined today by doctor
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  - Scott Law, the cofounder of Smile Doctors. Doctor
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  - Law, thank you so much for being here
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  - today. It's a pleasure to have you on
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  - our podcast. Hey. Thanks for having me. Happy
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  - to join.
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  - Great. To start us off, can you introduce
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  - yourself for our listeners and tell us a
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  - little bit about your background and give a
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  - brief intro to small doctors as well?
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  - Absolutely. Yeah. So I'm an orthodontist
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  - by trade.
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  - Graduated dental school in 2006
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  - and practiced as a GP for a short
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  - time before going back to ortho school. And
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  - then,
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  - it was in 2015
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  - that I helped cofound
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  - Smile Doctors, which is an orthodontic
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  - only,
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  - support organization or an OSO in the DSO
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  - world. So,
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  - we've we started with about with a handful
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  - of practice. I think we had about nine
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  - locations to start, and we're currently at 600
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  - All across the all across The US. Yeah.
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  - I think we're in about thirty thirty seven
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  - states.
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  - Awesome. Alright. First question for you here.
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  - How have Smile Doctors,
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  - growth strategies evolved over the years into what
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  - it is today? Yeah. So I think initially,
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  - it was it was kinda
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  - we've always attracted doctors who have wanted to
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  - be a part of something bigger than themselves,
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  - and orthodontics is such a special part of
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  - dentistry. I think we get to,
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  - be the be a lot of the happy
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  - place where people see their their teeth transform
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  - and their lives transform in that way just
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  - by opportunities
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  - and and, be just just a smile changes
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  - everything. I think it's a part of every
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  - bit of our life
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  - from every bite of food, every kiss, every
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  - job interview, and,
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  - things have changed over the last few years
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  - just in
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  - that we're we're a large part acquisition,
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  - but we've also had
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  - great success with De Novos. So where we
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  - have,
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  - strategies to do
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  - startup practices
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  - in markets adjacent to our current footprint. And
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  - so,
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  - we are we've also changed too to becoming
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  - a 100%
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  - asset
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  - purchase, strategy to one where we are very
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  - much a joint venture. And so doctors retain
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  - that that ownership in their local practice as
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  - well as having
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  - ownership at the at the hold code level.
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  - And so that that's been a big benefit.
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  - Doctors love it. It keeps that entrepreneurial,
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  - bit about them really strong, and we have
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  - seen the positive effects of that.
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  - Great.
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  - And I'd love to know what have been
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  - the biggest lessons or takeaways from the last
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  - few years, for the company as far as,
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  - m and a, network expansion, growth, etcetera, anything
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  - that you can share there? Yeah. Absolutely. I
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  - think we've always sought doctors who care a
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  - great deal about the future. So we're not
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  - an organization that that,
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  - finds it really attractive when a doctor is
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  - looking to just retire, sell their practice, and
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  - then, you know, set sail in the sunset.
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  - So we're we're one that
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  - we want doctors who wanna wanna dive in,
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  - make us better, see how our systems processes,
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  - our workflows, everything can can lean in,
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  - to make them better. And then that that
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  - they share a little bit of the burden.
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  - I think practice ownership is stressful,
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  - and a lot of doctors reach a point
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  - where they're redlining
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  - in all areas of life at life at
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  - practice, life at home. And
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  - so having taking that approach to where they're
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  - this is a true partnership, and,
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  - they're able
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  - to grow things there and do what they
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  - want with their life. It's it's an awesome
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  - piece. But
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  - part partly is has been, I think, the
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  - focus on the joint venture or the JV
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  - model. That way, it's it's really we've seen
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  - tremendous growth there. And then when doctors
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  - join us and they they've had ideas to
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  - do a second or a third location,
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  - we can help them do that through de
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  - novos. So it's been been a great benefit
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  - and a really, really positive success for us.
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  - Okay.
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  - And something I've spoken with quite a few,
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  - executives and, orthodontists about has been the growth
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  - in adult orthodontics over the last few years.
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  - I'd love to know, what do you attribute
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  - the growth in this market to?
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  - Right. So a couple of things. I think
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  - all of us being on Zoom and camera
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  - all day, we're looking at ourselves and looking
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  - at our at our teeth, right, right, shining
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  - right back at us. And so we see
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  - that a lot. And as we're as we're
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  - aging,
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  - we're we're trying to see ways that we
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  - can stay younger, look more youthful. And so
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  - orthodontics
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  - is is one way there where everybody wants
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  - a nice straight white bright smile.
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  - And so that's one. I think the attention
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  - to it. I think there's also been some
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  - very positive moves in the industry.
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  - The
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  - the plastics technology is that's come along. It's
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  - just made it easier to move teeth, easier
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  - to get your teeth straight, so you don't
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  - have to do the bracket and wire. And
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  - then there's been some some others where
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  - the I truly think that the do it
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  - yourself aligner movement brought a ton of attention
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  - to what's possible.
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  - And that opened up for, at least for
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  - Smile Doctors, our Smile Express,
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  - offering,
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  - where where it's only two visits,
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  - to the to the practice, and they get
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  - their aligners. They're monitored remotely,
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  - and and people can get their their, you
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  - know, their concrete or their aesthetic treatment
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  - completed,
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  - in in a very short time. And then
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  - always have the option to upgrade to complete
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  - comprehensive treatment if they if they want if
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  - their goals are bigger. But this has been
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  - a very, very positive thing for us, and
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  - Smile Express is is,
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  - has been a really good
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  - thing. Yeah.
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  - And are there any other shifts that you
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  - can predict will take place in the adult
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  - ortho market over the next two to three
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  - years?
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  - It's that's interesting. I think as people get
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  - busier and busier, their their time demands
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  - are, you know, everyone has constraints. We have
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  - obligations. We have we have places we need
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  - to be. So the more convenient that we
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  - make it, I think that's how pay when
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  - patients win, I think we win as an
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  - industry.
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  - And so it's it's that. It's kind of
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  - a shift away from the paternalistic
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  - treatment model where the patients were there to
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  - serve the doctor. I think that was that
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  - was true of of yesteryear.
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  - And more and more as we make it
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  - convenient,
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  - accessible, affordable
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  - to, especially adult patients, we see that they're
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  - happy. They get the results they want. Doctors
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  - are happy because we're able to treat at
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  - a very high level,
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  - deliver on
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  - on our treatment goals.
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  - And when that's the case and there and
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  - there's business profitability, it is a it's all
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  - green lights all the way around. And so
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  - that's that, I think, is only gonna continue
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  - to grow in the adult segment.
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  - I think, of course, I'm biased, but I
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  - think Smile Express is taking off.
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  - And as more and more eyes get there,
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  - they patients
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  - want to be overseen by an orthodontist. They
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  - wanna know that if something is not going
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  - right,
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  - they can go into a brick and mortar
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  - and and be taken care of. So while
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  - they want the convenience,
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  - they they also wanna know, hey. There's a
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  - fallback that I have a doctor
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  - who sees me. I know where they are.
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  - I know I can be seen if I
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  - need to. And so I think that's probably
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  - on the horizon,
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  - a whole lot more industry wide, and Smile
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  - Doctors is the first the first to lead
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  - out with it.
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  - Great. And I'd love to dive in a
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  - little bit deeper,
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  - into the patient expectations
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  - portion,
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  - also technology. So how would you say,
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  - these two items are changing the orthodontic experience
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  - currently,
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  - And how is Smile Doctors approaching these changes?
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  - Right. I think we're leaning into it. One
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  - of our competitive advantages
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  - at Smile Doctors has always been, even from
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  - before we began, I think we'll it's true
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  - for a lot of our doctors, our our
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  - founding doctors for sure, and why so many
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  - join us is we love people first. We
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  - straighten teeth second. And that's always been the
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  - case, and those people can be patients. They
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  - can be team members. They can be doctors.
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  - They can be anybody involved in in the
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  - straightening of teeth.
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  - And so that's always been our approach.
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  - But
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  - as
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  - as we look and go, well,
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  - how are things shifting? With AI, I think
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  - more and more is becoming impersonal.
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  - There are great efficiencies.
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  - And so people wanna book appointments online. They
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  - they they wanna save time.
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  - But we always have to ask ourselves, what
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  - are we then doing with the extra time?
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  - How how can we make and build
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  - better and deeper connections?
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  - And so that's been our approach, is to
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  - lean into relationships. How can we help
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  - our dental referral partners? How can we help
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  - them grow their
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  - I think for too long, orthodontics has been
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  - kind of a one way street where orthodontics
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  - orthodontists come to,
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  - the general dentist and say, hey. Please send
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  - us patients.
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  - And
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  - I I don't think that orthodontists get the
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  - credit for the patients that they send back
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  - who need a dental home.
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  - Because many times, I know in Smile Doctors,
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  - we get patients who they see our marketing.
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  - They they come in, and they haven't seen
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  - a dentist for a long time. They don't
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  - have a dental home. And so we're able
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  - to form deeper relationships with our referring dentists
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  - as we send them patients to that they
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  - can take care of and
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  - they can love on, and then we can
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  - we can straighten their teeth. I think it's
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  - a win win all the way around for,
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  - all aspects from the patient, their outcomes,
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  - their their their level of dental care and
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  - health, and then just big, beautiful smiles that
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  - they get to go share all throughout their
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  - life. So that's that's really how we're we're
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  - leveraging technology.
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  - We're the largest
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  - AI
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  - user in in dentistry in the world to
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  - my knowledge. We're the number one user in
• 10:47
  - of dental monitoring,
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  - and we're also the number one user of
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  - Align Technologies
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  - and and aligners. And so we use that
• 10:55
  - as well as all of our business processes
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  - on the back end to really streamline things
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  - and be the the very best business
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  - and
• 11:03
  - and dental
• 11:05
  - and orthopractus
• 11:06
  - that we can be.
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  - Super interesting.
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  - Well, that's all I have for you today,
• 11:12
  - doctor Ludd. Thank you so much for joining
• 11:13
  - us. It's been a pleasure speaking with you,
• 11:15
  - learning more about Smile Doctors, and I look
• 11:17
  - forward to connecting with you again in the
• 11:18
  - future. I appreciate it. Thank you for having
• 11:21
  - me on. Thank you so much. Have a
• 11:22
  - good day. Bye bye. You too.