Very Dental: Why Dr. Matt Standridge Hates Dental Influencers (and Loves Ortho)

[00:00:01] This is a production of the Very Dental Podcast Network. This is the Very Dental Podcast.

[00:00:17] Welcome to the Very Dental Podcast, where you'll find entertaining and relevant conversations with visionaries, clinicians, and your friends in the dental space. Now here's your host, Dr. Alan Mead.

[00:00:29] Very Dental people, welcome to another episode of the Very Dental Podcast.

[00:00:34] Joining me today as co-host, a guy who's been on the show about a million times.

[00:00:41] I want to say he might have been on the very first episode of the Dental Hacks Podcast as a Brain Trust member.

[00:00:47] If it wasn't the first, it was the third.

[00:00:51] Yeah.

[00:00:52] Something like that. Bear cream. Bear cream. That was the joke.

[00:00:58] Rhymes with bear cream. I believe it.

[00:01:00] It's the gift that keeps on giving.

[00:01:01] Dr. Matt Standridge, welcome back to the Very Dental Podcast. How are you doing?

[00:01:05] Doing well. Thanks for having me again.

[00:01:08] Yeah. So, I don't know. I should go back and look. It's like, don't they give like special awards to the people who've hosted Saturday Night Live the most?

[00:01:18] I think Tom Hanks.

[00:01:18] There you go.

[00:01:19] Yeah, it's one of those things. You're like the Tom Hanks of the Very Dental Podcast.

[00:01:23] Yes. So, you know, something about Tom Hanks that I appreciate. The one thing, I think he's a fine actor. I've liked a lot of his movies. I've disliked a lot of his movies.

[00:01:32] Tom Hanks is at his best when he's yelling. He's at his funniest when he's got that kind of, ah, thing going. I will die on this hill.

[00:01:41] And I think no one says that because no one wants to be thought of as an actor that's really good when they're freaking out and screaming.

[00:01:48] But Tom Hanks is at his funniest when he's sort of hysterical sounding. So, I rather enjoy it. Like the entire movie, Turner and Hooch, was him yelling at the dog.

[00:01:58] And it's worth its way to go.

[00:02:00] It worked.

[00:02:01] Yeah. And now, Turner and Hooch, man, that's like a deep cut. I think a lot of our listeners probably weren't born when that movie came out.

[00:02:07] Are you going to bring up Splash next?

[00:02:09] No, let's go. Hey, let's go. What about Bachelor Party? Or...

[00:02:15] Oh, that's my favorite Tom Hanks movie.

[00:02:17] For the true olds out there, there's a television show called The Bosom Buddies.

[00:02:22] Have you heard of Bosom Buddies?

[00:02:23] Yes.

[00:02:24] Which really did not age particularly well.

[00:02:27] Because the premise was that there was a cheap rent in this, it was an apartment building that was all women.

[00:02:37] And so, they could only afford an apartment in this, I don't know why that cheap rent.

[00:02:42] So, like they had two, they were two guys and they dressed up as women so that they could have this apartment.

[00:02:48] And so, it was sort of, they sort of, and that was the whole shtick of the show.

[00:02:52] And of course, they had crushes on women that lived in the building and blah, blah, blah.

[00:02:55] I don't know exactly the whole thing, but The Bosom Buddies.

[00:02:57] And that was like, I think it came out in 1982.

[00:03:02] Which, for those keeping track, I was 11.

[00:03:06] So, Matt may not have been alive at that point. I'm not sure.

[00:03:09] And I'm sure that a lot of you were listening were not.

[00:03:11] I wasn't even alive. I saw the reruns later on.

[00:03:13] Yeah.

[00:03:13] I was like five years old.

[00:03:16] Syndicated.

[00:03:17] Syndicated.

[00:03:17] Syndicated.

[00:03:18] I'm just saying that, yeah.

[00:03:19] So, this is, yeah.

[00:03:20] So, for those who've never heard of it, probably worth a YouTube look just to see how poorly it aged, actually.

[00:03:26] So, Matt, I didn't realize we'd be talking about 80s sitcoms, but I mean, I feel like pretty appropriate anyhow.

[00:03:33] So, Matt is a dentist, which is, a lot of guests on this show are dentists, actually.

[00:03:40] So, not a shocker.

[00:03:41] Matt practices in Kansas, in Yates Center.

[00:03:46] You've had multiple practices out there.

[00:03:48] How many practices do you have out there now?

[00:03:50] Currently, currently two.

[00:03:52] Yeah.

[00:03:53] Okay.

[00:03:53] Exactly.

[00:03:54] Okay.

[00:03:55] How do you split your days?

[00:03:58] Like how many days are there?

[00:03:58] Well, now that, I'm actually in a transition right now where I'm, we're in the process of selling the satellite practice to my associate that works there.

[00:04:10] So, there for a while I was splitting, you know, two to two and we would just alternate everything.

[00:04:15] Okay.

[00:04:15] But we've, we've planted her down there more and we've been kind of molding things to where she can take that, take that office over.

[00:04:24] Got it.

[00:04:24] Got it.

[00:04:25] That's cool.

[00:04:25] That's awesome.

[00:04:25] So, you like many of the others on this show have done the multiple practices thing.

[00:04:31] And I'm, I'm curious if, if, would you recommend it?

[00:04:35] No.

[00:04:36] Oh God, no.

[00:04:39] I thought you were going to come out with a more measured, well, it depends on the situation.

[00:04:44] No.

[00:04:45] Well, when, when, when something is a solid, no for 98% of the population, it's a pretty good solid.

[00:04:56] No.

[00:04:56] Like, yeah, there's always the nuance of, Oh, well, if you're in this situation, okay.

[00:05:00] If it pertains to 2%, maybe, but for the vast majority, it's not, you know, it's not for everyone.

[00:05:07] Let's say that.

[00:05:09] A hundred percent.

[00:05:10] So, and we're, that's going to kind of, we're going to talk a little bit about sort of topics like that, but I got to say that Matt also teaches a lot.

[00:05:18] He's a, he is a, an orthodontic educator.

[00:05:21] He's not an orthodontist.

[00:05:23] So for the, if there's any orthodontist listening, go ahead and spew your hatred at the, at the, in your earphones or at your car or whatever like that.

[00:05:32] He teaches orthodontics and is not an orthodontist.

[00:05:34] I feel like the sacrilege continues, but so tell me where, where are you?

[00:05:40] Cause you teach all over the place.

[00:05:41] You were in Salt Lake city yesterday for crying out loud.

[00:05:43] You teach everywhere.

[00:05:45] Yeah.

[00:05:46] So I mainly speak for 3d dentists and we have the, our teaching centers.

[00:05:53] Our main one is out in Raleigh, North Carolina.

[00:05:56] And then we have a campus in Nashville, Tennessee.

[00:05:59] So depending on our schedule, I've been back in Raleigh a lot more recently.

[00:06:04] And I think both of my dates in 2025 are in Raleigh again, but, but yeah, so I speak with 3d dentists and I also lecture for the American orthodontic society.

[00:06:15] Okay. Okay.

[00:06:16] And, um, we just built a new teaching, uh, a teaching Institute down, uh, in Dallas.

[00:06:22] So when I teach for them, I go down to Dallas.

[00:06:25] Okay. Okay.

[00:06:26] I'm, I'm thinking of starting 2d dentists.

[00:06:28] It's going to feature paper charts and amalgam.

[00:06:32] Yes. Yeah.

[00:06:33] I feel like, I feel like now mind you, the, the, the, first off 2d dark rooms great again.

[00:06:39] Exactly. Exactly.

[00:06:41] Exactly. And the, the, the cool thing about 2d dentists is that the courses are going to be really cheap.

[00:06:46] Holy shit. They're going to be cheap.

[00:06:47] They're going to be cheap. They're going to be, they'll probably be in like my old practice, actually my old office building, which was the basement of a 1972 built tri-level.

[00:06:57] Uh, it was about 1600 square feet and we struggled with black mold a few times there.

[00:07:03] I feel like that's a good, that's my new teaching location for 2d dentists.

[00:07:08] The charts paper charts, they will have stains on them from the flooding that happened.

[00:07:14] That's the, when you're in the basement, it's going to happen probably.

[00:07:18] So your charts, that's it, it, it offers a level of authenticity that a lot of teaching can't.

[00:07:23] I really feel like that's, I'm going to have a lot of, a lot of, a lot of takers there.

[00:07:27] It's going to be like, you can get a group by for those double sided colored, uh, pencils with the red and the blue.

[00:07:33] Hell yeah.

[00:07:35] Yeah.

[00:07:36] And, and, and also we're going to, so, so it's going to be, um, it's going to be a lot of, uh, cold, cold sterilization.

[00:07:42] A lot of that, a lot of that, uh, a lot of, uh, a lot of ZOE, a lot of, uh, zinc phosphate cement, a lot of, uh, a lot of, uh, IRM.

[00:07:51] I feel like that's like, like in the, in the other thing is that we're going to, we're going to marketing techniques.

[00:07:55] Um, it'll be good.

[00:07:56] I feel like, and I mean, the nice thing is the, the, the cost, uh, cost is low 29 95 for the course.

[00:08:03] That's two days in my, in my two days, lunch included.

[00:08:07] And that is, uh, that's those little mini powdered donuts that I get from the gas station on the way in.

[00:08:14] So we got, we got two D dentists going.

[00:08:16] Perfect.

[00:08:16] I feel like, I feel like Matt, you're welcome to come teach there too, if you want to.

[00:08:19] It's a, I mean, sorry, Karun.

[00:08:25] I'm, I mean, I'm, I'm, I don't know.

[00:08:26] I, I'm not sure what's gotten into me this morning.

[00:08:28] I'm a little, uh, I'm a little slap happy.

[00:08:30] Not sure.

[00:08:31] We, I think it's a sleep deprivation, which is what Matt told me was his problem this morning.

[00:08:37] Well, was it sleep deprivation or was it the criticism that you got from your ring or watch or whatever?

[00:08:43] I gotta, I gotta, I need a ring.

[00:08:45] I think the ring, maybe the ring would be more positive and joyful about everything.

[00:08:49] I gotta watch.

[00:08:50] I gotta watch.

[00:08:51] It does nothing but neg me about my sleep.

[00:08:53] You know, first off, the great thing is when you had a bad night's sleep, you don't need to watch to tell you that you really don't.

[00:08:59] You, you, you wake up, you got, I feel terrible.

[00:09:02] I slept awful.

[00:09:03] And then your watch is like, yeah, you did.

[00:09:05] You slept horrible.

[00:09:07] You really suck at this.

[00:09:09] You're terrible at this.

[00:09:10] But then with the few nights where I wake up going, wow, I feel really refreshed.

[00:09:15] I think I got a solid eight hours.

[00:09:16] You look at your watch and you go, no, no, that was poor sleep interrupted.

[00:09:21] You got like four minutes of REM and you're terrible.

[00:09:24] I don't know.

[00:09:25] It's I do have the most negative watch.

[00:09:27] I feel like the, I wonder if you can pay extra to Garmin for it to be more, more friendly and joyful.

[00:09:32] Right.

[00:09:33] I could use that.

[00:09:34] I don't know.

[00:09:34] Yeah.

[00:09:35] That's why I don't like those sleep trackers.

[00:09:38] Yeah.

[00:09:38] Yeah.

[00:09:39] Lie to me.

[00:09:39] Tell me I had great sleep.

[00:09:41] I probably, I mean, half it's in your head anyhow.

[00:09:43] Yeah.

[00:09:44] If you've got nine hours, man, you're freaking great.

[00:09:48] Then you're going to have a better day.

[00:09:50] You're going to have a worse day.

[00:09:51] Yeah.

[00:09:51] For sure.

[00:09:52] Okay.

[00:09:53] I'm on a tear.

[00:09:54] But, uh, so Matt, you and I, we were talking about things that to talk about, and I thought

[00:10:01] we'd go right to the, right to the blood and guts.

[00:10:04] So you and I both own practices.

[00:10:06] You and I both, I mean, you, you were a practice owner pretty early in your career.

[00:10:11] You, I know you worked in, you worked in some of those, the, the clinics, like a public

[00:10:15] health kind of clinics.

[00:10:16] And then you were a practice owner pretty early.

[00:10:17] I was a practice owner really early.

[00:10:19] Uh, like God, I was a year out of dental school, owning a practice.

[00:10:23] And that, you know, that was kind of the model when, when I got out of school, like

[00:10:28] you got to school.

[00:10:29] I'm, I'm an old guy.

[00:10:30] I graduated in 1997.

[00:10:31] So most people were either, some of them worked at what I would consider is a DSO.

[00:10:37] I didn't know that as a DSO at the time, we thought it was a large group practice is

[00:10:41] what we called it.

[00:10:42] It was like Metro dental or park dental in Minneapolis, St. Paul area.

[00:10:45] Cause it'll, and a lot of people work there and some of them still work there, but a lot

[00:10:49] of them went back to either by a practice, someone in with parents or something like that.

[00:10:53] That was, it was very typical for people to go back into a private practice and eventually

[00:10:57] in an own relatively quickly.

[00:10:59] Cause that was what Dennis did.

[00:11:01] That was sort of the model.

[00:11:02] Is that what you remember when you kind of, I mean, was that when you were in school, was

[00:11:05] that kind of what everyone figured they'd be doing?

[00:11:07] Um, I would say the DSO thing had started up, but it wasn't as rampant.

[00:11:13] So I would say that's what most people still had plans to do.

[00:11:17] Um, but you know, even, even when I was in dental school, Aspen even did some, you know,

[00:11:24] lunch and learns and everything with us.

[00:11:26] So it was, it was just kind of starting on that uptick.

[00:11:30] Lunch and learn.

[00:11:32] I like that lunch and learn lunch and propaganda.

[00:11:34] More like it people.

[00:11:36] Yeah.

[00:11:36] Even the lunch and learned in my office are all propaganda.

[00:11:40] It's, it's a sales rep giving you propaganda.

[00:11:41] So let's, let's, let's call it what it is.

[00:11:45] People let's call it.

[00:11:47] Um, so I, I mean, people didn't really look at, okay.

[00:11:54] Group practices were an option for someone who didn't want to own.

[00:11:59] I think everyone said, wow, I'll, I'll work in a group practice for a while.

[00:12:01] Get my speed up.

[00:12:02] That was always a get my speed up.

[00:12:04] Um, cause apparently we were very slow out of dental school.

[00:12:07] I can speak for me.

[00:12:09] I was slow out of dental school.

[00:12:10] Um, I'm not sure that speed is necessarily the goal, but whatever, they get speed up by

[00:12:15] practice, blah, blah, blah.

[00:12:16] That's I think now I, I, what do you think about that?

[00:12:20] That model of, you know, um, single dentist ownership of a, you know, you running your

[00:12:26] own ship in the, in the, you know, in the place where you wrote like, that's sort of

[00:12:29] like this classic, probably old white guy kind of model that just doesn't seem to be, I

[00:12:37] don't know.

[00:12:37] I'm not sure that it's holding up.

[00:12:38] Listen to me.

[00:12:39] I'm not sure that it's not holding up.

[00:12:40] Of course it's not holding up.

[00:12:41] But half of the practices in where I work are owned by DSOs that, but doesn't invisible

[00:12:46] DSO.

[00:12:47] It's like, like everyone's selling out to DSOs like crazy.

[00:12:50] It seems like, I don't know.

[00:12:52] So what do you think about the model?

[00:12:53] I mean, is, is that, you know, in 10 years, is it going to be, is, are people going to

[00:12:56] own practices like, like we do?

[00:12:59] Yeah.

[00:13:00] It's going to become a less and less frequent.

[00:13:02] I think, I mean, I'm not, I'm not a market guru with this stuff.

[00:13:06] I'm just kind of in the trenches, but like, well, this interview is over, dude.

[00:13:16] Honestly, I mean, the entire podcast is based on speculation and my feelings anyhow.

[00:13:22] So, I mean, why, why stop now?

[00:13:25] Go for it.

[00:13:27] But, but yeah.

[00:13:28] So no, I just, it's everything with the cost of inflation regulations team.

[00:13:35] It's just, and, and also patient expectations.

[00:13:41] Like, um, it's just an insurance is just everything.

[00:13:47] It's this whole big shit show that is coming together.

[00:13:51] And it's like that whole Monday through, uh, Monday through Thursday, you know, nine to

[00:13:57] five, one doctor, one owner practice is just, it's, it's not really becoming as viable.

[00:14:04] And with, now I still think there are going to still be plenty of private owners.

[00:14:10] Um, but you're just not going to have that one owner, one doctor model.

[00:14:15] It's going to, you're, these offices are going to have to incorporate more, um, associates.

[00:14:20] You're going to have to get more chair time and more days to leverage your, the volume of

[00:14:26] your clinic and your equipment, um, for it to, for it to be worth it.

[00:14:32] And so, and so I don't, I don't think private ownership is going to go anywhere, but at the

[00:14:37] same time, um, that means less and less solo owners.

[00:14:43] Um, and especially with people who own, if they have great associates and they want them

[00:14:48] to stick around and that associate has ownership, you know, aspirations, then at some point,

[00:14:55] uh, they're going to have to either allow them to start buying in a little bit or something

[00:15:00] like that.

[00:15:01] Um, but I will ask you because you talked to a lot of dentists too.

[00:15:06] Do you think, um, there's that drive for ownership like there once was with, uh, with a lot of dentists?

[00:15:13] Because a lot of, uh, a lot of the younger guys that I, guys and gals that I talked to, they look at the head, the headache

[00:15:20] and they're like, nah, no, I'm good.

[00:15:23] I'm of, I'm of three minds.

[00:15:24] I'm of three minds.

[00:15:25] First off, there are probably plenty of people in school that know ownership's not for them.

[00:15:32] God, I wish I was like that when I was in dental school.

[00:15:34] Honestly, I wish, I wish that I, I mean, there's enough benefits from ownership for me.

[00:15:39] And the other thing is I bought my practice cheap.

[00:15:41] I didn't, I didn't go into a bunch of debt and I didn't have a ton of debt when I got out of dental school.

[00:15:47] And that is so different from, from where you can't, you can hardly even go to school without, without that level of debt.

[00:15:53] So I don't, I mean, what I, what I did, it just doesn't exist anymore.

[00:15:58] Like there aren't practices for sale at the, at the, you know, at the cost that I bought mine.

[00:16:02] And, and you could make an argument that one of my failures as a dentist to, to grow and be, is because I bought, I bought low.

[00:16:10] I bought a, I bought a chintzy kind of cheesy practice and it didn't turn into some kind of monster thing.

[00:16:15] But so, so I think in some, on some level, there are people right now that, that never had an aspiration to be an owner.

[00:16:20] And I don't know that, I mean, I don't really know in dental school that I know of anyone that didn't figure they were going to own their own office at some point.

[00:16:26] So, so that's different.

[00:16:28] I think there are some people and we know, we know some of these people, they end up showing at voice, showing up at voice of dentistry as fricking sophomores in dental school and owning practices and stuff like that.

[00:16:39] I mean, these guys are, these, there's some people that are just driven as hell.

[00:16:42] And I don't, I don't know where these people come from.

[00:16:46] I don't know where they hatch out of.

[00:16:48] I don't know.

[00:16:48] Cause I was never like that, but I mean, like there's some people that are just driven.

[00:16:52] And, and, and dentistry is, they're going to be in, they're going to do some big things in some kind of business.

[00:17:02] It just so ended up that their dentistry was the business they were going to do big things in, you know?

[00:17:06] Yeah.

[00:17:07] Mark, Mark Costas is allowed to spin a handpiece, but, but that's not really where, that's not really where he shines.

[00:17:14] I mean, I'm sure he can cut a crown prep.

[00:17:16] I don't know.

[00:17:16] Actually, maybe he can't cause it's been a while since he's been clinical, I think.

[00:17:19] But bottom line is Mark Costas, even in dental school, I'm sure that like he was, I mean, yes, he went to dental school, but he, he's a business guy.

[00:17:28] And so, and, and it just so happened that that, at that time, the business he wanted to work in was dentistry.

[00:17:33] And so I do think there are some people, and I got to say that a lot of the resources that are available for free, AKA podcasts, I think probably some YouTube, some, but, but podcasts are at least a lot of it.

[00:17:44] These people are learning a lot about business.

[00:17:46] They're learning a lot about the business of dentistry.

[00:17:47] They're learning a lot about clinical stuff.

[00:17:49] They're just, they're driven to it.

[00:17:51] I was not like that in dental school.

[00:17:53] I mean, like, I, can you imagine going to school all day?

[00:17:56] I can't imagine going to school all day and then coming home and on my way home, listening to a podcast about how, how to own a practice.

[00:18:03] I'm like, God almighty, just get me a beer.

[00:18:05] I want to go to bed.

[00:18:06] That was it.

[00:18:07] Like I was terrible.

[00:18:09] So, and then, so there's two things.

[00:18:11] The third thing, I think there's a segment and not a small segment of young dentists that look at being an influencer as a gig.

[00:18:22] And they can be an influencer as a dentist.

[00:18:26] And, and I can point to the fact that they're out there.

[00:18:30] They're out there.

[00:18:31] They're out there and they're putting stuff out there and I don't hate them, but I do sort of like, God dang it.

[00:18:37] Learn to, I don't know.

[00:18:39] I feel like, I feel like no one should have an opinion on anything until they've done it for five years and seen some of their own shit fall apart.

[00:18:46] You know what I'm saying?

[00:18:48] Like, that's not probably fair.

[00:18:50] That's an old fogey kind of thing to say, but on the same thing.

[00:18:53] Okay.

[00:18:53] Here's, here's something completely separate from dentistry.

[00:18:55] I probably, I've laughed about this with you.

[00:18:57] There is such a thing called a sobriety influencer.

[00:19:01] And, and, uh, as all influencers, they're all insufferable in the same way because they make constant content about how sobriety is giving them every, giving them everything.

[00:19:11] And let's be honest.

[00:19:12] I mean, I'm, I'm approaching 23 years clean and sober.

[00:19:14] It has given me everything.

[00:19:15] It's been wonderful.

[00:19:17] However, uh, it's not important for like, like if I, if I went out on Instagram and posted that every day, I would expect everyone to hate me and never want to talk to me because all like you walk into the world.

[00:19:31] And you know that I'm going to talk about how, how fantastic sobriety is also like the better.

[00:19:36] So, so there's such a thing as an influence, a sobriety influencer.

[00:19:39] And of course I have surfed enough of inspirational sobriety things.

[00:19:44] So that stuff gets fed into my algorithm.

[00:19:45] And I'm thinking to myself, you got these influencers and they have, the best thing is, is, you know, they have a team of people that do their video and all that stuff.

[00:19:52] Cause, cause these influencers, very few of them are, are holding their own phone and, you know, talking.

[00:19:58] And most of it is, is highly, highly, uh, put together, which is fine.

[00:20:02] It's great.

[00:20:02] But they're monetizing the hell out of it.

[00:20:04] I'm like, and these sobriety influences have like two and a half years clean.

[00:20:07] I'm like, you don't even know anything.

[00:20:10] You've done it.

[00:20:11] You don't know anything.

[00:20:12] You don't, you haven't had to go through any challenges and you're sitting out here.

[00:20:15] And so it just drives me a little crazy a little bit.

[00:20:19] And, and, you know, again, maybe I'm just drinking the hate rate.

[00:20:22] I don't know, but it's, but I feel, I feel like, you know, just live your life a little, take it easy.

[00:20:29] You don't have to.

[00:20:30] And, and so I think that there's social media has made expectations of, of what the career should look like.

[00:20:37] Well, that, and all of a sudden, instead of in six months out, you have new grads wanting to take all on X implant classes.

[00:20:46] Yeah.

[00:20:49] It's like, dude, get good at a quadrant of a class twos and a single crown.

[00:20:55] Get, start there and then let's talk.

[00:20:57] But, or, or we could just say this.

[00:21:00] Let's just say this.

[00:21:00] Dentistry.

[00:21:02] Uh, people, I feel like what you need to do is get really good at slicking people in jamming implants.

[00:21:10] And cause here's the thing, as long as people have teeth, they'll have tooth decay.

[00:21:15] So you can cure their tooth decay.

[00:21:18] You can cure their dental hypersensitivity.

[00:21:20] You just take all the dent.

[00:21:22] No dentin, no nerves, no nothing.

[00:21:25] They'll have no tooth pain, nothing.

[00:21:28] Cause you know what?

[00:21:29] I'm seeing some of that on social media.

[00:21:32] I really am.

[00:21:33] You ever see the, the before and after these gorgeous all on four cases.

[00:21:36] And you look at the before and go, God, that looks like about half the patients in my practice.

[00:21:41] Right.

[00:21:41] Guess what?

[00:21:41] I'm restoring those teeth.

[00:21:44] Well, who's the chump here?

[00:21:45] Well, I'm trying to, I'm trying to convince you to like, let me do a couple of cores in there.

[00:21:50] See what we can hang on to.

[00:21:51] And these guys, I mean, it's awesome, I guess, but it's, ah, it's crazy to me.

[00:21:56] Tell you have way more background in this shit.

[00:21:58] You know how to do this.

[00:21:59] I would, I wouldn't even know where to start on this, but you've been trained in it.

[00:22:02] Tell me, tell me what you've seen about this stuff.

[00:22:04] I mean, 3d teaches it.

[00:22:06] So it's not like you're not, like you're not familiar with what's going on.

[00:22:09] I want to hear, I want to hear everything.

[00:22:10] Yeah.

[00:22:11] Yeah.

[00:22:12] I mean, I still prefer to save teeth because I mean, when you look at the longevity studies,

[00:22:18] even with these all our next stuff, things are still going to need to be revised in 20

[00:22:24] plus years.

[00:22:25] And so if you have a 40 year old that comes in and they just like, I just want to get

[00:22:31] my teeth out.

[00:22:32] That's where it really comes down.

[00:22:33] Cause I'm, I'm not above that.

[00:22:35] I just did.

[00:22:36] Um, I just did an upper arch on someone that I went to high school with.

[00:22:41] And so, you know, I'm not, I'm not above that.

[00:22:45] 35 year reunion.

[00:22:47] Let's just say that.

[00:22:49] But, uh, you said some pretty crazy shit about some of my classmates.

[00:22:55] You know what I'm saying?

[00:22:56] Yeah.

[00:22:57] Yeah.

[00:22:57] But yeah, it's just, um, so it, so I'm not against it if that's what it's called for,

[00:23:03] but I, I do agree that I'm starting to, I'm seeing it be what I would consider overused.

[00:23:08] Now, maybe that's kind of not fair on our part because we're not there.

[00:23:12] We're not the ones doing the exams.

[00:23:14] You weren't there.

[00:23:15] No, I was not there.

[00:23:16] Yes.

[00:23:16] You know, and so, and so there's, there's maybe some haterade there to that, but at the

[00:23:22] same time, I think it's being a little bit oversold as this like cure all fix all magic

[00:23:28] bullet.

[00:23:29] And it's just, yeah, I mean, I've had complications with my hybrid, you know, my full arch cases.

[00:23:34] And if you have any complications with it, kiss your, any profitability to that case.

[00:23:40] Goodbye.

[00:23:41] And so, you know, I, I had, I had a complication on a class too.

[00:23:46] Uh, filling last week.

[00:23:47] And you know what?

[00:23:48] They had an open contact.

[00:23:50] You know, I had to do.

[00:23:52] Turning your license.

[00:23:53] Yeah.

[00:23:54] I turned in my license.

[00:23:55] I'm just going to say complications.

[00:23:58] Complications.

[00:23:59] I, I mean, I had a complication on a crown.

[00:24:01] You know what it was?

[00:24:02] Patient was sore on biting for a couple of days, man.

[00:24:04] That's an awful complication.

[00:24:07] All on for like life and death, they're not life and death, but you know what I'm saying?

[00:24:12] Like clearly when you're doing that kind of dentistry, surgical complications are a whole

[00:24:16] different level than, you know?

[00:24:17] And I mean, so you kind of have to have the stomach lining to do that stuff.

[00:24:20] You know, you kind of, you kind of have to have a lot of comfort with surgery.

[00:24:26] You really need to have excellent training.

[00:24:28] Frankly, reps are good.

[00:24:30] Having a whole bunch of reps.

[00:24:32] Like if, if I'm doing, if I'm having an all on four done, I'm going down to Louisiana to

[00:24:37] see Danny domain.

[00:24:38] Yes.

[00:24:39] I, I, you know, I might, I might go out to Idaho to see Wade Pilling if he'll take me

[00:24:43] skiing and something like that, mountain biking.

[00:24:45] But the reality is, is I, I mean, there's obviously a ton of people that have a lot of

[00:24:49] good experience and reps on this stuff, but there's a lot of people doing the, doing

[00:24:54] the procedure that don't have maybe the same training and reps.

[00:24:57] And, and I mean, how do you get reps?

[00:24:59] You got to do it.

[00:25:00] But I mean, there's probably ways, like how did, how did you do your first all on four

[00:25:05] after you got training in your office?

[00:25:07] Like, how did that, like, was there any handholding?

[00:25:10] Was there anyone to, to, I mean, I can't even imagine.

[00:25:14] I'm not, maybe not the best person to ask.

[00:25:16] I'm a bit, I, I, I was a bit cowboy sometimes being out here in the middle of nowhere because

[00:25:22] it's not like I could bring over a specialist buddy of mine that would hold my hand on it.

[00:25:28] I mean, I'm out here isolated.

[00:25:31] So, so yeah, it was just really, it was really just kind of trial by fire.

[00:25:36] Now I did spend a lot of time in the prep work though.

[00:25:40] Yeah.

[00:25:40] Um, the designing my own cases and like also getting eyes on my, on my plan and all that stuff.

[00:25:49] And so I would argue that you're, you're training with ortho and imaging and, and a lot of that

[00:25:56] stuff, uh, it's gotta be pretty helpful.

[00:25:59] Like, like it's, you know, okay.

[00:26:01] So that I, I took, I, in 2015, I took implant training and I was taught, I can't even believe

[00:26:07] I'm saying this.

[00:26:08] I was taught to treat and plan on a, on a panel actually in the Dominican Republic.

[00:26:13] It was a shitty panel taking that day, taking the same day that we placed implants.

[00:26:17] We took a shitty plant panel on patients that, uh, I didn't speak the same language and I'm

[00:26:22] not, I don't mean that in a way like, boy, the patient didn't really have a good dental

[00:26:26] IQ.

[00:26:26] No, no, no.

[00:26:27] I know it's not disparaging for them at all.

[00:26:29] It's just, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:26:30] I literally didn't speak the same language.

[00:26:32] Informed consent.

[00:26:33] When you literally don't speak the same language, a little sketchy, just a little sketchy.

[00:26:37] Like, and, and I, and, and, uh, yeah, like a Pano, not your best treatment plan.

[00:26:43] I mean, it's fine.

[00:26:44] It's what they used to do.

[00:26:46] And occasionally we would take a PA as well.

[00:26:48] So we had a Pano and a PA and I'm thinking to myself, I look back and I'm like, that was,

[00:26:53] that was 2015.

[00:26:53] That was less than 10 years ago.

[00:26:55] And that's what they were, that's what they were teaching and training on.

[00:26:57] And I'm thinking to myself, that's just not good enough.

[00:26:59] That's, I mean, like 3D imaging allows you to really, and even, even when that there are

[00:27:04] still surprises, but 3D imaging really lets you, you know, a lot better.

[00:27:08] And you had a lot of background in that.

[00:27:09] So I, I don't harsh on you for that.

[00:27:11] The other thing is, is getting your, your clientele to go for an all on four is a, that's a pretty

[00:27:15] big deal too.

[00:27:16] Cause it's, you have a relatively rural, you know, I, I suspect that, you know, I don't

[00:27:21] know, I, there's, there's so much to it that I have not really looked into.

[00:27:24] So I feel like you, I will defer to your knowledge on that, but.

[00:27:27] Yeah.

[00:27:28] That's the thing with, with all on X.

[00:27:30] It's, it is, it's one of those things that you just kind of have to do it if you, if

[00:27:35] you are going to do it.

[00:27:37] And you have to, and I was, I was very, very honest with people, you know, it's just like,

[00:27:44] Hey, I'm, I, yes, I've been trained on this, but I am new to this.

[00:27:49] So it's going to take me a while.

[00:27:50] It's going to take me more appointments and everything like that.

[00:27:53] And, you know, I gave them, I gave them some savings.

[00:27:57] I didn't like have bargain basement fees or anything, but it's like, well, if you're willing

[00:28:02] to go through this with me, you know, this is what we can do.

[00:28:05] Otherwise, um, you know, we can work with, uh, work with the care of a specialist.

[00:28:10] And it's one of those interesting things.

[00:28:13] Um, and I was just talking about this, uh, to the group in Salt Lake City yesterday is,

[00:28:20] you know, it's really interesting how people do not want to be referred out.

[00:28:25] Um, you know, it's just like, it's almost like, and I don't know if, uh, G, if, uh, GPs

[00:28:33] get this or not, like, you know, Oh, you need open heart surgery.

[00:28:36] Oh, well, can't you just do it?

[00:28:38] Like, do they get that?

[00:28:39] Like we do, because it's, it's pretty amazing.

[00:28:41] Uh, yeah.

[00:28:43] Yeah.

[00:28:43] That people, they, they know why can't you treat my cancer?

[00:28:48] What's, what's happening?

[00:28:49] No, I, but I, you're not wrong.

[00:28:51] I get it.

[00:28:52] I, I'm, it's, it's a weird, it is a weird thing.

[00:28:54] And, and, uh, a root canal that I don't want to do like a root canal that I'm like, Oh,

[00:28:59] I don't want to do that.

[00:29:00] Um, I always, this is, this is my brain.

[00:29:04] I'm so broken.

[00:29:05] Um, I always think, well, I, I could do that.

[00:29:08] I could do that.

[00:29:09] I'm like, yeah, I could, there's a lot of things I could do, but I shouldn't like, like when

[00:29:14] I have an endodontist that, that I would trust with my own teeth on a tooth that I'm kind

[00:29:19] of like, why in the world?

[00:29:21] Why do I, and I still try and talk myself into it.

[00:29:24] Sometimes when patients say that now, I don't, I will say a lot of patients don't try and

[00:29:27] talk me out of once we're talking about a root canal that I go, Ooh, that looks, that's

[00:29:30] going to be a little, that'd be a tough one for me.

[00:29:32] And in their hands, you'd be done quick.

[00:29:33] That's a pretty easy argument to make, but yeah, they do want to stay in your office.

[00:29:37] I'm not sure that's a horrible thing either, but I also don't know that.

[00:29:41] I don't know.

[00:29:42] You should become the decathlon dentist just because your patients say that if there's

[00:29:45] exactly, you have to, you have to find a balance.

[00:29:48] And that's why I, that's why when I talk to, uh, students and whatnot, or people ask, cause

[00:29:54] I get messages regularly like, Hey, what should I start implementing in my practice?

[00:29:59] Should I go ortho?

[00:30:00] Should I go implants?

[00:30:01] All this stuff.

[00:30:02] And I'm just like, well, figure out what you want to do, but also.

[00:30:05] No, I know what your actual answer is.

[00:30:07] You say, look, you got to become an influencer.

[00:30:10] That's what you, that's where the money is.

[00:30:12] That's where the money is.

[00:30:13] Start getting your marketing team behind the scenes.

[00:30:17] First start with a couple of TikTok dances.

[00:30:19] Start with that.

[00:30:20] That's always a good start.

[00:30:21] Exactly.

[00:30:21] I mean, there's a lot, there's a lot.

[00:30:23] God almighty.

[00:30:24] You know what?

[00:30:25] That's, that's probably been said without tongue in cheek in places.

[00:30:29] That's the scary thing.

[00:30:30] I'm sorry.

[00:30:30] I can't, I seem to be drifting back.

[00:30:35] I mean, honestly, dollar for dollar, my suspicion is probably learning ortho and doing, doing simple

[00:30:42] Invisalign type and, and simple cases that are, that are slam dunks that you can, you know,

[00:30:48] learning, learning case selection and ortho probably is a really good place for people

[00:30:51] to start.

[00:30:52] And also there's less blood and guts.

[00:30:54] The complications are much more manageable over a longer period of time without, you know.

[00:30:59] Yeah.

[00:30:59] Yeah.

[00:31:00] The way that I say it with aligner therapy is, you know, because even off the AAO zone numbers,

[00:31:09] 75% of the population could benefit from orthodontics at any given point.

[00:31:13] And so, you know, three quarters of your, of the patients walking into your door could

[00:31:18] benefit from orthodontics.

[00:31:21] And then, yeah.

[00:31:23] And aligners is a, is a great way to start.

[00:31:25] Now, obviously I do aligners and braces.

[00:31:28] I'm actually creating a braces course as well, um, for this next year.

[00:31:33] But I think aligners is an amazing gateway for that because, and especially like take aligners

[00:31:42] versus implants.

[00:31:43] And, you know, for me, it's like, okay, well with aligners, with good trainings for, you

[00:31:50] know, a few thousand dollars, there are some good courses, 3D Dennis, but, um, there, uh,

[00:31:59] you know, for a few thousand dollars, you can get some really good training and get started

[00:32:02] going really well.

[00:32:04] And with minimal overhead other than the, the company that you're using is lab.

[00:32:10] And, but for implants, for example, you're going to be ideally spending 10 to $20,000

[00:32:17] on training plus, um, all of the inventory and the equipment and everything.

[00:32:24] And so by the end of this, you're 30, you're $30,000, 25 to $30,000 in to start placing

[00:32:31] implants.

[00:32:32] And then do you know if you're going to like it?

[00:32:35] Now I'm a big believer in GPs doing good basic implant work, onesie twosies, being able

[00:32:41] to extract teeth and graft.

[00:32:43] I think that's a, a, a skillset that is, uh, valuable for the vast majority of GPs who

[00:32:48] want to do that.

[00:32:49] So I'm not disparaging that, but I'm just saying, um, when you have from kind of a quick,

[00:32:56] uh, I don't know if you want to just call it ROI or whatever, but, uh, the biggest impact

[00:33:01] early on in your career, being able to provide orthodontics and to me, and I was just telling

[00:33:08] that same group last night, um, orthodontics to me is what made everything else in dentistry

[00:33:18] click, like all come together.

[00:33:21] And it, it made me better across the board for everything.

[00:33:25] Yeah.

[00:33:25] Being trained in ortho.

[00:33:26] Sure.

[00:33:27] Exactly.

[00:33:27] Exactly.

[00:33:28] I took, I took Litt's continuum in 2005, Rick Litt, who, who actually recently just,

[00:33:33] it's a little sad.

[00:33:34] He was, he was a good teacher.

[00:33:35] He's a good guy.

[00:33:36] Uh, honestly, aligners just weren't really a, he didn't talk about aligners at all.

[00:33:42] He, he, he talked about his, his teaching was very much like an orthodontic residency

[00:33:48] teaching.

[00:33:49] Like he was, he was very much into extraction orthodontics.

[00:33:52] You know, he was still, it was kind of old school on that level.

[00:33:55] Um, I've told this story before.

[00:33:58] It's embarrassing.

[00:33:59] I, well, there seems to be a, um, a pattern in my continuing education, uh, journey.

[00:34:04] I take the continuum, spend the money, spend the time, look at, look at how much it's going

[00:34:09] to cost to get into it and realize how it's not going to fit in my office.

[00:34:13] And it's not going to like, I didn't have, I didn't have the x-ray equipment.

[00:34:16] I didn't have, I didn't have, I didn't have a, I didn't have a staff.

[00:34:19] I didn't have any place to put a staff.

[00:34:21] I didn't have, and then, and then I'm like, and it's, and they were offering packages

[00:34:26] that, but I'm just like, man, by the time I get going.

[00:34:29] So, so I, I took that continuum to realize that I didn't want to do orthodontics.

[00:34:32] Now, obviously a lot of things have changed since then, 2005.

[00:34:36] God, it doesn't seem that long ago.

[00:34:37] It was almost 20 years ago.

[00:34:38] So, and then I, I've taken, I took implant, uh, in the same way I took the implant training

[00:34:44] and I actually placed a couple implants, which is, it is lovely to see the implants that I

[00:34:49] placed still in place and looking okay.

[00:34:51] Um, but I also, I, what I like to do is I like to buy a lot of equipment, not use it,

[00:34:58] and then sell it at a huge loss years later.

[00:35:01] That's, that's tend to be my move.

[00:35:03] And, uh, Lance Timmerman bought my, my implant, uh, motor, which was pristine.

[00:35:09] I mean, pristine, I think used like five times or something.

[00:35:12] So I, he got a good deal on, let's just say that.

[00:35:15] I mean, it was several years later, got a good deal on it.

[00:35:17] Uh, that's, that's been my move.

[00:35:19] And there's honestly, yeah, there's nothing wrong with, there's nothing wrong with, with

[00:35:25] learning that you don't want to do it.

[00:35:27] That's probably actually a good thing, but I do feel like, I feel like in, in both cases,

[00:35:33] I, I took the course just a little too early because a lot of stuff changed that would have

[00:35:37] made it different.

[00:35:38] You know, like for one thing, aligners, hello.

[00:35:41] I mean, like that's, that's a big deal.

[00:35:42] I'm, I'm, I'm learning how to manually read a CEPH in this course and thinking to myself,

[00:35:47] you know, I just don't see myself doing this.

[00:35:48] It's so much of the, I, and I don't know, it's long, long story.

[00:35:52] There's a lot, there's a lot that's changed.

[00:35:54] And I do think that like, it's totally realistic for, for general practitioners to add these

[00:35:58] kinds of specialty things.

[00:36:00] I mean, but I also think that there's practices that can be just, I think that, I think there

[00:36:06] is a certain, um, how can I say it?

[00:36:10] People are kind of shitting on bread and butter dentistry a little bit.

[00:36:14] People still get cavities amazingly enough, at least in my neck of the woods.

[00:36:17] And people still, you know, people still need some of the regular stuff that a general dentist

[00:36:22] is pretty comfortable and confident in, in.

[00:36:25] And I know that I talk with my best friend from dental school about this a lot.

[00:36:30] I think a lot of people are getting away with it because, because you're locked into an insurance

[00:36:34] mindset with bread and butter dentistry in a lot of cases, you know, and they want to do

[00:36:37] stuff where they want to do stuff where they can charge outside of what insurance.

[00:36:41] And the reality is, uh, a lot of the incentives point that way.

[00:36:45] I mean, I also think that dentistry is, I think people look at dentistry as a place where

[00:36:50] you can make a lot of money instead of a good living.

[00:36:53] Like, and I think that when you come out of dental school with half a million dollars in

[00:36:58] debt and look at the idea of buying a practice is going to be a million plus dollar deal.

[00:37:02] Yeah.

[00:37:02] I mean, you're, you kind of want to get yours a little bit on some level.

[00:37:05] There's a little bit of that.

[00:37:06] That's a, not a, not a great way to put it, but it's kind of true.

[00:37:09] So I don't know.

[00:37:10] I, yeah.

[00:37:11] And that's, that's, what's actually pretty scary to me about, and I think we've talked

[00:37:15] about this before offline just a bit, but like the incentives in our profession with the

[00:37:22] amount of debt that's going on plus decreasing insurance reimbursements.

[00:37:27] Now, who knows what will happen now that a certain something happened in the world lately

[00:37:33] and maybe insurance reimbursements will start going up, but we, it's just, it's, it is tough.

[00:37:41] And that's, and that's why I am a bit bullish on stuff like aligners.

[00:37:46] But at the same time, you have the incentives to start doing these advanced procedures, um,

[00:37:54] that you weren't trained on in dental school.

[00:37:55] And I'm all for that.

[00:37:57] But, uh, then they just, I don't go through the quality training.

[00:38:05] They try to rush things a bit.

[00:38:07] And, um, they, it's like, it's one of the, it's like that old saying, if you want to,

[00:38:13] um, you can, if you can sell the sizzle, but you still need to deliver the steak.

[00:38:17] Yeah.

[00:38:18] And it's just like, and right now there's a lot of, uh, stuff out there that seems to be

[00:38:24] style over substance.

[00:38:25] Yeah.

[00:38:26] If that makes sense.

[00:38:27] Yeah.

[00:38:27] And that, and that's what's concerning to me.

[00:38:29] What you're saying is skip all that shit and just become an influencer.

[00:38:33] That's what I'm hearing when you say it.

[00:38:36] That's the message that Matt wants everyone to know.

[00:38:38] It's time for everyone to, uh, to, or just find a way to stop doing dentistry, but coach

[00:38:44] other people on how to do dentistry.

[00:38:46] Coaching.

[00:38:47] I like coaching, coaching and dentistry too.

[00:38:49] Like, I think that's, I mean, like you and I talked about this.

[00:38:53] I think there's, there's legitimate reasons for coaching, but I love the term coaching

[00:38:58] because I feel like they should have a whistle and probably a hat and those gym, those

[00:39:05] stretch shorts that gym teachers had in the, in the eighties and nineties.

[00:39:09] I feel like I'm not even listening to a word you say, unless you show up in that seriously.

[00:39:13] And if you like threaten to give me pushups, I feel like, I feel like I can, I can take

[00:39:18] you seriously that way.

[00:39:19] So yeah.

[00:39:20] Put me in coach.

[00:39:22] That's what I want to hear.

[00:39:23] That's what I want to hear.

[00:39:24] That's a terrible coaching is a tear to call it.

[00:39:26] Coaching is awful.

[00:39:27] You, you suggested mentorship, which is actually really good, but, but I don't know.

[00:39:31] I need, we need a better word than coaching.

[00:39:35] I don't know.

[00:39:35] But that's the thing is mentorship is usually just done out of the goodness of their own

[00:39:40] heart.

[00:39:40] It's usually not compensated.

[00:39:42] No, that's well, allegedly that's what they say.

[00:39:45] I don't know.

[00:39:45] I don't know.

[00:39:46] I don't know.

[00:39:46] Like these, the definitions have really changed.

[00:39:48] Cause the other thing is a lot of times mentorship used to be someone would, when you were new

[00:39:54] and stupid, someone, some, someone at the local, the local, uh, you know, the local, uh, Michigan

[00:40:00] dental association or Saginaw Valley dental would grab you and, and kind of force their

[00:40:05] knowledge down your throat a little bit.

[00:40:06] There's a little mentorship.

[00:40:07] I don't even know.

[00:40:08] I don't, I'm not sure what it is.

[00:40:09] I, at this point you're on your own people, just get a good camera and become an influencer.

[00:40:14] That's all.

[00:40:15] That's all I have to say.

[00:40:16] I don't have any other, I don't have any other.

[00:40:19] But no, I, I, like I said, and that's not to poo-poo coaching or anything, but it does

[00:40:25] play in because there's, there's some great ones and I've benefited greatly from, I I'm

[00:40:30] so thankful to a lot of the people who have helped me on my path.

[00:40:34] And so that is not to, that's not to poo-poo the whole thing, but like what you had said

[00:40:40] on the onset at the beginning is just, there does seem to be this push.

[00:40:45] It's like, okay, you've been out of school for a year.

[00:40:47] And here you are on Instagram, trying to deploys yourself as an authority in the, in

[00:40:54] the field.

[00:40:55] And it's like, um, I've been blocked by a few of those influencers go figure.

[00:41:01] It's amazing.

[00:41:02] I, I, maybe I said something, I don't know.

[00:41:04] I guess I must, I must've said something.

[00:41:06] I don't know.

[00:41:07] Um, I, I, it's a mess, man.

[00:41:11] It's a mess.

[00:41:12] Like, like, I just, I want you to take the, I want you to take the time machine and I want

[00:41:16] you to go back to your, your newly graduated self and explain to them what, what the landscape

[00:41:22] looks like.

[00:41:23] I don't, I don't know.

[00:41:25] I don't, that'd be a weird conversation.

[00:41:27] That'd be a weird conversation.

[00:41:29] I, I mean, honestly, could I even explain a smartphone to myself back in 1997?

[00:41:33] I don't know that I could, I mean, and that was only 11 years, 11 years difference, but

[00:41:39] I don't know that I could explain the smartphone, much less the concept of influencing.

[00:41:43] And, and, I mean, I don't know.

[00:41:45] Dancing on TikTok?

[00:41:46] Yeah.

[00:41:47] Yeah.

[00:41:48] I'm terrible at dancing.

[00:41:49] So I'm, I mean, I'm, I'm starting out behind on some level that way.

[00:41:53] And, and I'm, and I don't know, I don't, I don't have the hairline nor the physique to

[00:41:58] influence either.

[00:42:00] I feel like, I feel like there's a lot of things I don't have that I gotta, I gotta work, gotta

[00:42:03] work on stuff.

[00:42:04] I don't know.

[00:42:05] Yeah.

[00:42:05] But you have that, you have that buttery voice.

[00:42:07] That's just great for podcasts.

[00:42:09] So there you go.

[00:42:10] It's all, it's all, it's, if I, it's all my, it's all my, uh, my equipment.

[00:42:13] If I turn the switch off, I sound like, I sound like Gilbert Gottfried.

[00:42:17] It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, anyhow, I, this is, this is,

[00:42:23] good stuff.

[00:42:24] I want people to know, I mean, you, are you done teaching for the year?

[00:42:27] It is, I mean, this is going to go out probably right at the end of the year anyhow.

[00:42:31] So it doesn't really matter, but, but I'm just a year.

[00:42:33] 2024.

[00:42:34] Isn't that kind of about the same timeline that we, we, we last spoke on here.

[00:42:38] Wasn't, what didn't we bring in 2024 or something like that?

[00:42:42] So that'd be kind of cool to kind of begin and, and, and 2024.

[00:42:46] Yeah.

[00:42:46] I feel like we should have one, one of those little, little party that things was in the

[00:42:50] party.

[00:42:51] I don't know what to, but I'm,

[00:42:53] Yeah, no, uh, that yesterday or Salt Lake City was my last, um, travel for teaching

[00:42:59] or anything.

[00:43:00] Um, I'll, I'll, I'll hit the road for a few, uh, kind of smaller things that Candid Pro

[00:43:06] is wanting to send me on.

[00:43:08] Um, let's see, uh, uh, it's an aligner company that I joined with, um, a while back and have

[00:43:14] been having great success with.

[00:43:16] So they're starting to, um, kind of put me on some like study clubs and stuff, but my next

[00:43:22] teachings are both in March, the first weekend and second weekend of March.

[00:43:26] Um, first weekend I'm out at 3d Dennis out in Raleigh.

[00:43:29] Um, and so that course, yeah, might, might, might've heard it.

[00:43:35] And, um, that, that teaching it's, I'm actually doing, uh, we split it up.

[00:43:40] We've changed it up, uh, recently where I'm going to be doing day one, which I'm going

[00:43:44] to be focusing more on the clinical, the didactic, the biomechanics and case selection.

[00:43:49] And then day two T-bone is going to take over and, um, talk about business strategy.

[00:43:55] Okay.

[00:43:56] So it's going to be, uh, it, and this is our first time doing it that way.

[00:43:59] So I'm kind of, I'm really excited to see, um, what that's like.

[00:44:02] Um, because, so it's basically going to be 50% clinical, 50% business.

[00:44:07] Um, and so I'm, I'm really excited to, to see how that goes.

[00:44:11] Cause I think it's going to be really cool.

[00:44:13] And then, um, the next weekend though, um, I'll be in Dallas, um, at the AOS and

[00:44:19] that's just me for, uh, both days, but, uh, it's, it's 80% clinical.

[00:44:25] We spend a lot more time in that one doing, um, oh, like I give a lot of the same day.

[00:44:32] One is almost exactly the same, but day two, uh, we do more case reviews and, and students

[00:44:38] share their cases and their diagnostics and we work up plans and stuff as a group.

[00:44:44] And so I really, really enjoy that.

[00:44:46] Um, and so, and I do still cover the business stuff, but it's only, you know, um, a few

[00:44:52] hours versus a full day.

[00:44:53] So, but that's, that's what we have coming up.

[00:44:56] All right.

[00:44:56] All right.

[00:44:56] That's cool.

[00:44:57] So we'll put all that in the show notes.

[00:44:59] I have something that I, that, uh, I'm going to tell you about, I haven't told anyone about

[00:45:02] this at all.

[00:45:02] Um, it's not, not a big deal.

[00:45:05] And actually it, it, people who listen to the episodes on the regular probably will have

[00:45:09] already heard it.

[00:45:10] But, uh, I was, I was interviewing, uh, Dr. Brian Balawas at the office yesterday.

[00:45:15] It was a really good interview.

[00:45:17] And, um, somehow or another, I, I, uh, I was trying to tell him about something I saw

[00:45:23] online about dentistry where someone was talking about dentistry and just like, they just don't

[00:45:27] know anything.

[00:45:28] And they're talking, they're not dentists.

[00:45:29] It's, it was, it was, and I realized I'm like, there's so much of that out there where

[00:45:33] people have these, they're, I, a lot of times it's social media, but, but they have

[00:45:37] these takes on, on, on dentistry that are just like, when, when you know something about

[00:45:44] something and then you hear someone talk about it so wrongly, so wrong.

[00:45:49] It there's, there's, there's so confidently.

[00:45:52] Exactly.

[00:45:53] There's actually like a psychological concept about this.

[00:45:56] You know, like, why would I take them seriously talking about anything else after hearing how

[00:46:00] they got this so wrong?

[00:46:00] In any case, I'm going to start a new episode type.

[00:46:03] I'm just calling it a very dental hot takes where I'm literally grabbing these things

[00:46:06] off the internet.

[00:46:07] I'm going to actually kind of dissect them a little bit because, and it's purely, I'm,

[00:46:12] as you can tell, I'm feeling a little salty lately.

[00:46:15] So this is just me being salty at people who just don't, I'm, I, I think it's going to

[00:46:19] be really-

[00:46:19] I think you might need to supplement some vitamin D, my friend.

[00:46:22] Like you've just been, you've just been, yeah, real salty lately.

[00:46:27] I do, I think maybe this will help.

[00:46:29] I think this will help.

[00:46:29] So that episode, those episodes, I'm going to actually try and roll it out on

[00:46:33] Monday, the first episode.

[00:46:34] That's awesome.

[00:46:35] So, so it'll, so hopefully very dental hot takes will become a thing.

[00:46:39] It'll be a, it'll be all the rage and then I'll probably start doing TikTok dances with

[00:46:44] it.

[00:46:44] So I figured that's, I'm pretty sure.

[00:46:47] I'm pretty sure.

[00:46:48] Soon enough, I just won't be a dentist anymore.

[00:46:50] I'll just be doing just, I'll just be yelling at people on, on the internet.

[00:46:54] I feel like, I mean, it's good enough for those folks.

[00:46:58] It's good enough for me.

[00:46:58] Right.

[00:46:59] That's right.

[00:47:00] I'll start, I'll start cashing the checks.

[00:47:02] Dr. Matt Standridge, this was a blast.

[00:47:03] Thank you for coming on as always.

[00:47:05] It's nice to see you and, and we'll be in touch for sure.

[00:47:08] Good luck with all the teaching next year.

[00:47:10] It sounds like you're going to be busy and collecting all those, those frequent flyer

[00:47:14] miles.

[00:47:15] Do you drive to Dallas or do you fly to Dallas?

[00:47:18] I drive.

[00:47:19] Do you really?

[00:47:20] It's, it's, it's about, it's about six and a half hour drive.

[00:47:23] Okay.

[00:47:23] So here's the thing.

[00:47:25] The only place I know I'm going for anything dentistry wise.

[00:47:28] And I, I haven't flown in a couple of years at this point.

[00:47:31] I'll drive to Chicago cause I, I, I'm going to do the midwinter.

[00:47:35] There's a podcasting booth there.

[00:47:36] I'm going to be there for three solid days, podcasting my ass off.

[00:47:39] And, uh, it's, Oh, so you need to take the full week and you need to, you need to be with me and

[00:47:45] Luckfield at the AES a few days beforehand.

[00:47:47] Oh, that's right.

[00:47:48] The AES happens.

[00:47:49] Why did, why do they do it in the middle of the week though?

[00:47:52] Like I got kids with spring break, man.

[00:47:54] I can't take that time off.

[00:47:55] You do too.

[00:47:56] It's a, so AES is, is going to be there already.

[00:47:59] So maybe, and you guys, you AES guys are way too cool to come over to the midwinter to

[00:48:03] come sit in my podcast booth with me.

[00:48:05] So I know I'll remote you in and you'll be at the AES and I'll be over.

[00:48:10] Yeah.

[00:48:10] We'll literally be like three blocks away from each other.

[00:48:14] Can't be bothered.

[00:48:15] Can't be bothered.

[00:48:16] This is awesome.

[00:48:17] All right.

[00:48:18] So if you're going to be in Chicago, go see Matt and, and Luckfield or me or whatever.

[00:48:22] So, all right.

[00:48:23] We'll talk to you later, Matt.

[00:48:24] This was great.

[00:48:25] We'll talk to you soon.

[00:48:26] All right.

[00:48:26] See you.

[00:48:27] Bye.