Ep. 34: Patient Interview - Orange County Evan

Part 10:00

This is Beyond the Arches, where full-arch dentistry meets real talk. Let's get into it. And welcome to Beyond the Arches. My name is Erica, and I'm joined today by Dr. Daniel Noorthoek and one of our patients, Evan Mayton. Hi, Evan. How you doing? Thanks for joining us today. Good to see you. I'm not over there. I'd be three hours older. Where are you coming from today? Southern California. Nice. Did you grow up in Southern California or relocate there?

After high school. After high school, you relocated there? Where did you originally grow up? In the Seattle area. Awesome. But back in the day when I got out of school, there was no work up there, so I came down here. Don't ask me what year that was. A long time ago. It's a very different world, right? We live on the East Coast. It's a totally different culture. And so it's always fun to have somebody from the West Coast.

Tell us, for the audience viewers, tell us what you had done, when you had it done, how it went, all of that stuff regarding your teeth. Well, I actually found out about you guys on YouTube. There's other people for patients that put a lot of videos out there. And I had originally gotten my dentist that I always go to here to get something done. ▶Because I always had these gum infections. Gum infections and wiggly teeth and all this stuff.

And something had to be done, right? And they had a procedure over there where they wanted to put you under IV sedation. I was not comfortable with that idea outside of a hospital setting. So I went onto YouTube and did a lot of research, what I could find in the area, right? And this guy that you guys know, right? The shabby guy? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I saw his videos. And then I went to your website. And I think Erica probably answered my phone call.

And we did a video thing with Dr. Laks. And it was just, checked all the boxes and sounded really good. Because I really didn't want to do that IV thing. And I didn't want the whole process to go months and months and months with no teeth. Absolutely. Yeah, it seemed like a good deal. ▶But everything else I found was either everything done in one day that didn't seem right either. Because of any mistakes that's, you know, too bad, get out of here.

Right? And the other one was, like I say, that thing where they... They do the surgery, and then you have, like, no teeth, nothing for an extended period until you're all healed up. And then you finally go back and they do the rest of the work, right? And that didn't sound good either. It just took way too long. I didn't want to deal with that. And you're a little bit of a unique scenario, right? Because you have the lower is done with a Dunham one.

And then the upper is a denture, correct? That is correct, yeah. So about 20 years ago, believe it or not, I had the surgery on top, they remove all the teeth, and I was working nights at the time. ▶So after, like, a 12-hour shift, I went to the dentist appointment in the morning, and they pull them all out, right? And then they say, here, hold this gauze for 20 minutes, and you'll be fine and go home. Well, go home, try to sleep, and you got a mouthful of blood, right, again and again and again.

So I called the dentist back and go into the end of giving me to an oral surgeon for emergency surgery to fix whatever the problem was. So that was, you know, something that kind of put me off about doing the lower, because that was such a bad experience. So that was a long time, like 20 years before I came to you guys. And it was time I had to do something on the bottom, because the same idea about the gum infection and pain and all that kind of stuff, I had to take care of it.

But in between, you know, so traumatic from the top that I waited probably too long before I did the bottom. ▶Yeah, we see that, too. You know, it's what's always. What's always fascinating about doing these cases is that the variety, the background, the story is always different. What captures people's attention is what turns some people off. And it's always fascinating for me. And part of the reason why we have all kinds of different people or the reason why we do a podcast is a little bit self-serving, because we get to better know you and understand that background.

So tell us. So you've got the bottom has the implant. It's secure. It's you don't have to worry about the lower denture coming out. But the upper is an upper denture. Give us an idea of what it's like living with with both of them. I mean, there's nobody better to compare and contrast denture versus no denture than somebody that's got both. ▶Right. Right. So the top one I've had since about 20 years. Right. And I'm just so used to wearing it that it's really no problem at all.

I can talk. I can chew. You know, everything's just fine with that. There's no pain. There's no sore spots. Nothing at all. Right. So. For me, I'm OK with that.

Part 25:13

I'm OK with the denture on top. But I heard that on the bottom, if you just got a regular denture, it's always moving around. Yes, it is. It's there. That's the reason almost I would say that. Well, you know, there's a reason why why the upper exists, because you don't get the roof of the mouth coverage. But that's not here nor there. You know, if it fits, then then where? We always encourage patients to make the decision that's best for them.

But the lower is one of the like high, high motivating factors for people to get implants. And the easiest way that most people do it is with a snap in or an over denture. Some people try to do it on four. Four is tough for like the snap portions to kind of line up on. Most people do just just the two implants to hold on to the denture. But you've got sort of the Cadillac and that's sort of the Chevy, if you will.

Perfect. Thank you. We'll always be grateful. Seriously, I'll always be grateful for what you and your team did for me. Well, thanks. I really didn't know what to expect the outcome was going to be or, you know, how the people were going to be. Sometimes you go in these places and the people are not pleasant. Please tell me that we were nothing but pleasant. I'm trying to upsell you something. We were nothing but pleasant, right? You got the A team there.

Yeah. Thank you. What? Tell. So did you. Did you take part in the travel package? I can't remember. So we always my girlfriend, I travel quite a bit. And I've always used a third party app to do our travel. And I knew we were going to do the trip and I wasn't sure how long we were going to stay. But you probably remember she was with me at the surgery. And she told me the real cute guy came out and told her I was OK.

I must have been all sad. But anyway, so she traveled with me. Right. And we didn't know what to expect. So we did the travel piece on our own. Great. Yeah. He's on our own. Yeah. We just have that for. I was just curious because we have that for, you know, if you don't feel comfortable with the travel, you don't travel all the time. And, you know, it's just something that's available to help support and kind of keep a peace of mind.

So was there anything when you had this done? Was there anything? Was there anything that was shocking to the positive or the negative? You know, we don't necessarily want you to just be singing our praises. So positive or negative. Was there anything that was a big shock or much different than you expected? Not really. Not really. Because I think we had a really good phone conversation with with Dr. Lacks about it before I made up my mind, you know, to come over there.

And honestly, I was expecting like a lot of pain and stuff after the surgery or even during, you know. But I don't remember the name of that pill you guys give and you take it an hour before. Right. The sedation pill. I forget what it was called. It's usually a Halcyon. And then when you're in in the room before you start the surgery, your assistant goes, oh, we'll just crush another one under your tongue. Well, that's at that point.

Seriously, you I mean, I knew what you were doing. I knew I could, you know, hear the drill and all that kind of stuff. But there was no pain. No anxiety. It was just like no problem whatsoever. Seriously, it just was like unbelievably smooth because I was expecting like way worse. Many people get really concerned about the IV sedation. You're unique. Not that they don't exist. There's very there's a lot of patients, actually a surprising amount of patients that are against or don't want any sort of IV sedation.

So you're not in the you're probably in the minority, but you're not alone. And then there's the other side that people can't wrap their heads around. Not getting IV sedation. And I've always felt that it's best to work with the patient, not against the patient. And of true IV sedation is can generally be a little bit more violent and rougher. And so I really like working with the patient and making sure that you're OK and making sure that everything's fine.

And that allows us to be quicker and reduce the trauma. So I'm I'm grateful. I enjoy it when a patient is looking. No IV sedation because I don't have to sell them on the fact that they don't need it. That's that's awesome. Moving forward. So you said you travel a bunch. So let's get in a little bit about about you. So what kind of things are you into? You travel. Where have you been? Anything fun recently or anything on the horizon that you're looking forward to?

Well, when we were in Florida, never having been to southern Florida before, I made a deal with my girlfriend. I said, if you're going to take care of me for a week, you know, during this recovery, which there really wasn't any, you know, we're going to go do the keys and we're going to go up to Jupiter and we're going to have a lot of fun. And instead of just being there for one week, we extended to two weeks and we did that.

We went down all all down to the to Key West and every point and park and everywhere that you go hiking because we like to be out in nature a lot. That's fantastic. Back when you went up to Jupiter's, did you go to what is it? Jonathan Dickens Park? The I don't remember the name of it, but we got out there. By the intercoastal and there was some jungle by the beach. I don't remember the name, but you guys know it, but I don't.

And we just went walking for miles through that jungle. And it was amazing because in California we don't have that, right? It's all like desert and stuff over here to have water and and all this stuff. And we were just tickled, you know, to have that to go wandering around, just park the car and get out. And there's like, you know, all this beautiful area over there. And you are searching for alligators while you're here, too. Did you?

Did you find any? Well, you know, we saw we saw the dinosaurs on the sidewalk, but we didn't see the alligators or the manatees, unfortunately. It's always fascinating to see somebody, you know, having lived. ▶I guess I've lived here for twenty two years, twenty three years. And it's always fascinating now to see somebody. Well, you grew up here. So but it's always fascinating to see somebody from out of state, the the infatuation with the iguanas. Yes, because to us, they're just kind of like road rats.

Yeah. Yeah. But to everybody else, it's a terrifying dinosaur on the sidewalk. It is a dinosaur. They're humongous. I played golf like a week ago with a couple from England and they were just enamored and scared and wanted to know more. It was so funny. And like, oh, you're talking about the iguana over there. But that's great. So what part of the Keys did you have a favorite key or a favorite park in the Keys at all or a favorite part of the Keys experience?

Because it's very unique, right? That's that's. That's even way unique to South Florida. So every I don't remember all the names of the Keys, but every time we got to one, if there was a place to pull over. Right. And a lot of them had like State Park down by the water and those old cannons from, I guess, the first war or whatever it was. They're all along the beach and you could go up under the bridge.

Part 312:27

And we went to all that stuff. When we got down to Key West, it was kind of rainy a little bit that day. But we went out to the obligatory buoy. Right. You have to get that picture there. Right. So we did all those goofy pictures. Otherwise, nobody would believe you were there. Absolutely. Or maybe they would think there was a background hikers and wildlife photographers. So when you see all that stuff that's out there, I like to identify all the plants and flowers or whatever's out there.

And I'd say it's nothing like here. So it was just just pleasure being out there and seeing all that stuff. Did you have to study that stuff before you came or did you do it along the way? No, I cheat. I haven't. I have it on my phone. And when I take a picture, it tells me what it is. That's OK. No problem there. That's pretty cool. It was it was really fun because we're not used to, you know, that kind of topography or all the stuff that's grown out.

There was just really a lot of fun. It's always fun to see. We have a lot of patients that will come in and travel and they'll go find something to do. And it's always fun to see a group or a couple or something that will go south through the Keys. Because the Keys really is its own. If you haven't experienced it, it's its own like ecosystem and own. Yeah, absolutely. Its own world. Some people are on their own planet for sure.

But that's what makes the Keys special. Yeah, we've my wife and I have spent tons and tons of time in the Keys. We used to do a race that would go Miami to Key West. It was a running race. It was called Ragnar. And you can do it with 12 people or do it with six. We've done it kind of both ways. But you. You run through the night, you do legs, right, you do five miles, 10 miles, whatever it is, and you kind of relay all the way down.

So that's the Keys are very close to us because of all the time that we've spent there. And it's it is it's hard to explain to people. It's a very unique place. Yeah. We also stopped at the Everglades National Park on the way back, hoping to see the alligators there, and we didn't see any. But we certainly saw the bugs that are bigger than birds. Did you see any panther crossing signs when you went over there? What kind of signs?

That's always shocks me. If any time I've ever been to Everglades National Park, when you when you cross in the as along the road, you'll see like panther crossing, like like warning signs, like like school children's zone. You know, it's it's for panthers like watch out for panthers crossing. I don't remember that. OK. I do remember that. Where did you go? Did you try to see the alligators? Did you stop in a city in the in the inside of the park or just outside the park at all?

Or did you just kind of go through it and come back? Just we just got into the park and walked around on some of the trails out there and some of those boardwalks that go out over the water. It's fascinating. Yeah. We didn't go into towns at all. No, they call that area. So just outside of there is Chukaluski and there's Everglades City. And what's really cool about that area? They call it I think they call it land of 10,000 islands or something like that.

But they're all mangroves. And what's cool about it is it protects from erosion because it's the mangroves. But what's also cool is those start by oyster beds essentially getting exposed and the wind and the hurricanes kind of come in and seed the mangroves on the oyster beds. And it kind of an island will sprout essentially over time out of kind of nowhere. It's kind of unique. It's unique and cool. It's a very interesting place. And you kind of I've been fishing there only one time, but I went with my brother and my dad.

And when you go back there, you get a sense of, holy cow, I'm really glad I'm with a guide because you wouldn't want to try and figure any of that out because they know where the oyster bays are and the oyster beds are and where to avoid. It's a that's another you you went you not that you did that, but you you really saw some real Florida. But when we come back in September, you're going to have to take us out there to see that.

Absolutely. No, fishing is especially fishing out there is a is a blast. It's when you get a good guide and good, good weather. It's it's a great time. Not huge fish, but they're fun. They're in plenty. Which is a huge contrast to living in Northwest America and Southwest America. That's it's must have been quite the scenery change. What other kind of do you have? Any? Any other kind of hobbies or anything that you're into? So we are part of an off-road truck club and we go out into the desert around here like a group of us.

Right. You go out into the desert this time of year. It's not hot at all. And there's like desert and mountains. And if you're not used to it, there's like real narrow, dirt, bumpy, rutted trails that go up around. You try your best not to run into the hillside, not to crash into a boulder or roll over. Wow. Not to fall into. Not to fall into a ditch. And then everybody's out there together. Just having a good time rolling around in the desert in these four buys.

Wow. How many people will come to an event like that? So we went out Sunday to a place, if you know, Palm Springs. Yes, I was just there two weeks ago. There right next door. And it's all just BLM land. So you can just go out in there as much as you want. And some of these trails are really old and not maintained. So you just get out there with a leader that knows what they're doing and we all go together like single file and take care of each other and try to get, like I say, all these obstacles and come home without having to do multi thousand dollar repairs on your truck or emergency room.

But it's a lot of fun if you've never been out or if you don't like to be out in nature, it's just really good to breathe some some real air and be away from the buildings and all the insanity and the freeways. I was just in Palm Springs. Two weeks ago. And I'll tell you exactly when it was. It was when you had some rain. So you can probably pinpoint that exact day. You know, in the last few months, we've had a little bit on and off, which is great because it's just enough to bring the wildflowers out in the desert.

Yeah, for sure. I would imagine it's a breath of life for the for the desert in the area. It's next time you're out. Let us know in advance. It will take you out. Absolutely. I wish I had. That sounds like fun. Yeah, it was November like 14th, 15th in there. But so when I was there, we stayed on the coast and we ended up going to Palm Springs for my wife, the rider that were that rides one of our horses.

She was competing in the U.S. Open for dressage and it was in Palm Springs. So we drove from the coast into there and it was kind of fascinating because they're getting rain and they don't normally get rain. Well, because of their topography, they have to worry about mudslides. And the reason why they have to worry about mudslides is with the correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. But with the mudslides, if you've got a burnout from like a big fire, then you've got to worry about the vegetation not holding the mud up.

And so if you get enough rain, it'll cause a mudslide and block the road. So as an example of what's funny is we see people come in and they're concerned about a hurricane that's maybe coming in. And we don't even bat our eye. And I felt like that guy because I called my friend who lives in Newport Beach and I said, hey, Doug, do I need to be worried about mudslides? And he just laughed it off. And I thought, oh, wow, I'm that guy that just went and worried about some natural disaster that actually isn't something in practice.

Yeah, yeah. I'm the I'm the worry about the hurricane. I'm not near that. Yeah. But up in the hills north of L.A. where they had all those fires you were talking about. When it does rain, like you say, there's nothing to hold the hillside together and they get flash floods through neighborhoods. But when we go out in the desert, a lot of these places are they're called washes that are like dry riverbeds. But when the rain comes, if you're out there at the wrong time, there's a flash flood and there's nothing you can do about it.

Yeah. Wow. Right. Yeah. And I'm sure that that's probably a constant concern. Yeah. All water or no water. And when it comes, it can be, you know, devastating or flooding. How did you pick the area that you live in? So when I first moved to Southern California, there are certain counties that have a lot of work. Right. And so I moved to Orange County, Newport Beach in Orange County. Right. And worked there till just the end of 2023.

Long, long time. Right. And in that time, my girlfriend lived near me. But the last few years, her family moved out closer to the desert. Right. So when the grandkids came and all that, she wanted to be out here. ▶And I spent the last eight years, eight working years driving the 100 mile plus round trip to see her every weekend. So I told her when I retire, I'm going to sell the house in Orange County and move out here so we can spend more time together.

Just hurry up, hurry up on the weekend. And going back to this area now. That's awesome. Going back to the side by sides of the four wheelers. Right. How did you get into that? What gets a person into that? Well, we had heard from friends that go out to the desert that you've heard about the super bloom. Everyone's probably had that a lot of rain and the desert just bust out with wildflowers. And then a month later, the blooming cacti.

So if you want to see all of that, you cannot see it from the side of the highway. You have to get out on the dirt roads that you can't do in a regular car.

Part 422:36

And loose sand and rocks and all that stuff. So we wanted to go do that more now that I'm retired. So I got the truck and now you can go just about anywhere. That's amazing. Just about anywhere. And did you have to help? Did you have to build this truck? What went into your vehicle? You know what? Here's the key word, Toyota. Gotcha. Toyota. Yeah, we got this four by Tacoma. Right from the dealership with all the bells and whistles that I wanted.

And you can take it just about anywhere. We did a few upgrades. We'd lift it and put on better shocks and skid plates and light bar and all that stuff. You know, just to make sure that you're out there at night, you can see what you're doing. But the main thing was not to do the crazy trails. It was to go see the wildflowers and the blooming cactus and photograph them. And I say the only way to get there is in a four by four.

Okay. So let's go one further back on your hobby. So clearly, photography and hunting flowers, if you will, is a passion of yours. How did that develop? When did that start? What got you into that? When I was working, I had a friend. He and his wife used to build these crazy side-by-sides and go out in the desert. And we were just talking one day, and he had these pictures up by his desk. And I wondered what that was.

And he told me about it. So the first time we went out there to see these wildflower bloom, we were just in a regular sedan and pretty much got high-centered, high-centered trying to go off-road in the wrong kind of vehicle. Oh, boy. So, you know, you have to do something better than that. But how did you get into the photography and the wildflower? Well, the photography thing goes back to childhood. My grandfather came here from Germany. He and his brother had a photography store in New York.

And so we always grew up with cameras and 8mm and all that stuff. So it was just kind of in our blood from the time we were kids. We were always doing something photographic. And then we got older. We'd like to go hiking. So you kind of put the two together. And that's what you pretty much do every time you have time. That's awesome. That's a pretty cool little hobby. ▶I always say constantly that when we do these patient interviews, it's so fun to learn.

And then just you can't even. You can't even come up with how varied their hobbies and their things are. I had no idea. And I want photos. Yeah. Yeah. We need to put some artwork up and some pictures up in an office somewhere. We want photos of these flowers. Well, even better yet, come out and get your own. We go out on runs at least once or twice a month. And the best time to come, put it on your calendar.

If you want to see the flowers. It's usually February and March after we've had rain. When is the rainy season? Is it kind of now, I would assume, from that statement? So right now being November, December, January, the weather's getting cooler. And if we do have that storm, like when you came out, it's kind of rare. But usually beginning of the year and into February and March is the best time to come out. And then a month later in April is when the cacti bloom.

Okay. So Erica, talk to your boss. Make sure you get some time off. She's very judicious with her time off. We'll teach you how to drive the truck. That sounds like a lot of fun to me. She's pretty judicious with her time off. So it's more up to her. Some people you got to keep on the reins, but Erica's not one that you have to keep on reins. She's pretty conscientious. So she makes her own choices. I have to ask, you live in Irvine.

Did you know?

Part 526:37

Which is the, apart from Hawaii, like the surf center of the United States. Did you ever get into surfing? Did you ever surf? Did you ever do photography of surfers? Anything to do with that culture? Are you guys sitting down? That smile already tells the story. Do you remember that movie Jaws? It came out in the seventies. Oh yeah. Ever since I saw that movie, I never go. No, that's fair. That's fair. Believe it or not. No, I brought it up.

In the Seattle area, we did not grow up with beaches or any of that kind of stuff. ▶So I really never got into that much. If I have, you know, time instead of going to the beach, I want to go to the desert or the mountains. How many, how, how old were you when you moved away from Seattle from, from the Northwest? Right after high school. Okay. A good amount of time. He's just like me. He went north to south right around high school.

Yeah. So they say when I get out of school. Um, in the mid seventies there, both Boeing, who was the big, uh, manufacturer at that time and the big, um, employer at the time was at a really bad downturn. And a lot of the people were laid off and I was just out of high school and I was married and I needed work. And at that time, all the work was down in Southern California. Yeah. It's a big population and big time.

Yeah. That's awesome. Going back to teeth real quick. What, uh, I always, I asked. This every single patient, uh, what was your favorite go-to meal as you were healing and what was your favorite comeback meal sense in terms of what you'd like to eat? ▶So I know you guys said that thing about the side of a plastic fork, right? Don't do anything more than that. So my girlfriend was with, and we stayed at the Marriott and we had like an apartment there with full kitchen and she cooked, you know, all that, all that first week or so.

And it was just like, Oh, that's great. That's what I kind of survived on. And then if we went out somewhere, we, we do like a meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Sure. We actually just did another, uh, podcast with a patient and his answer was meatloaf and mashed potatoes and mashed potatoes. It's a good way to get what you need. What about the comeback meal? The return tour? Got to be. Yeah. It's a good one. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a cute one. Uh, the one that. Yeah. Okay. Here we go. Okay. There we go. There you go.

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I didn't recognize the beef. I don't remember how much I ate. I know it was really good. I don't remember. No, there's no beef. And you should've made that in a long time. Most of the beef was beef. Yeah. Most of the beef was beef. Yeah, you should have made that earlier. that we don't we don't mind inconveniencing a little bit for that yeah but yeah so i would be more concerned uh now just about uh causing more or less causing uh teeth uh issues to the top teeth than than anything because that's more of a plastic so it's going to wear a little bit more um speaking of which did you have the top teeth i don't have the the upper and the lower zirconium clicking or you know together yeah because i heard people were telling me that they were like like glass on glass clicking together and it took them a long time to get used to it they can be for sure um we used to go through like big hoops we used to mix materials meaning like we would do one arch with a certain material and another arch with zirconia to really like avoid that being a fallout or a problem and um for whatever reason it's still a little bit of a of a thing but it's not as much we always kind of learned that miss mixing materials um more or less created other problems that weren't worth it and it was better to just kind of face head on that clicking that can't happen um so that's great so um i would imagine and the answer is this is not putting any pressure on you i would imagine you're going to stay the way that you are single arch and and right yeah and you know how i came to that decision like i said i was watching a lot of videos and stuff before i came to you guys and i had heard that people had the you know their upper arch done and that some people accidentally somehow got drilled into their sinus well that's you just i don't know those people are the wrong person and i go that doesn't sound good yeah no that's that wouldn't be necessarily a concern of yours uh because you would probably pick up the right person and i hope it would be me but um we wouldn't we wouldn't run you into that scenario but uh you know one thing that's kind of cool to draw out is when you're happy with it there's no need to go further and down the road so you're a perfect example of you know there is no pressure i saw a patient today uh consulted with a patient and he said his his problem was listen i just need somebody to help me because i've been to i think was three or four dentists and I've been told I need just the bottom done, uh, both done. And I've been told that I can save them all, you know, and my resounding, uh, advice to him was, listen, ultimately you're going to have to make the choice. Mike was his name. Uh, you're going to have to make the choice, but the good news is you get to make the choice. What I've already learned about you going to these other dentists is whatever you choose, whatever is your gut is going to be the right one. Meaning if, if in your gut here is to do just the one and leave it well enough alone, which is actually what I would advise, then that's great. You know, it's fantastic.

It's part of, it's the intention is to improve and add to your life, not to encumber you with finances and worry about, you know, the sinuses or whatnot. You know, it's, it's each patient can sort of custom tailor what, what they want done. Um, and that's fun. You know, it's fun to, be able to offer a service at a reasonable fee, but also not have to offer it in a very pushy way. You know, we're not owned by a big group where the only thing that matters is the profit margin to us. The only thing that matters is that we enjoy showing up to work, that things are working well, that our patients are happy. And that at the end of the day, we have a little bit more money than we started with. And that's, that's a totally different, uh, way to practice it. Meaning like I can say, good job. Like, no, no worries. That's awesome. And if you ever need it, then we're here for you about that is all, all the other places that I contacted that did the procedures in a way that I didn't feel comfortable were the same price as you or more. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so that, yeah, you're actually a very, uh, interesting. We get a lot of, I can understand there, there, you see quality vary across the States. And so there's certain States that I won't mention where, the quality just sucks and the prices are really high. So I don't blame them for coming to us.

There's places that don't have the access to a place that does it. So they get to us, you know, you talk about, uh, you know, we've had a patient from Idaho and South Dakota, like that makes sense, right? They're going to have to travel no matter what for you, you had, you have, we have a ton of competition or you, you have a ton of options available to you. It's actually borderline, uh, shocking to me that we ended up seeing you because of how close you are.

Tell us a little bit about that. How you decided to go with us and not, cause you have a lot of good options. I'm not going to say anything other than, you know, there's good quality and, and a lot of high volume, uh, full arch centers there. There was nobody else that I found that use the zirconia, right. And I thought that was probably the best way to go after looking at, at how that material might perform over time. And like I said, everybody else was about the same price or higher. Uh, I didn't like the idea of they do the surgery and you got the finals all the same day. To me, that's a huge mistake because if anything goes wrong or you don't like them, it was basically too bad. You know, you paid us for this, we did this, you're done, you know, and that was it where you guys don't do that. You wait till the patient, uh, likes whatever set of temporaries, and then you make the final and everybody's happy when they go home. I didn't find anywhere else that did that.

At least September, August, September of last year, when I was thinking about doing this and I really, really, really did not want that IV sedation, which is what everybody wanted to do. Even the guy that I was originally going to do it with the IV sedation. And I called him back and I said, no, I don't think he says, well, then you just want to do it awake. And I thought, no, this, this isn't the right place. Well, I'll tell you exactly what happened. You may not know this. Uh, when I started doing.

Yeah. Committing my career to this procedure and this type of, of patient base, et cetera, I'm building out the lab and such. I was one of the first, I would say five in the country, uh, if not the world going to a finished product within 24 hours. And then you don't knowing now, knowing that you can also understand that, guess what? I learned a lot of lessons, which is how we ended up on our protocol. It's not like, you know, our machinery didn't get somehow worse. And now we have to do a seven day. I always tell patients like, I can give you a final on the same day or within the same business day, actually with the, with the way that the equipment is now, but it works so much better to work hand in hand with a patient and verify that that's what you want while still not encumbering your life with a six month or three month process. So that's kind of how we ended up on that. Just so you know.

Right. And I think one week is, you know, a reasonable amount of time to, to expect to be done with the whole. How many, how many prototypes did you go through? A month. How many prototypes did you go through? How many versions of teeth? I think we stopped on the fourth one. Okay. So that's, that's actually a little bit more than I would have guessed for a simple, a straightforward lower, but that, and that can kind of problem was what's that?

I had the upper denture and your crew was trying to match up, you know, the, the lower so that it fit and matched and, you know, the, the bite was right and it was just not to be done. So actually after I got home, I get rid of that old denture and got a brand new one, uh, that they matched to what you did. And it was a lot easier that way. It's a lot of matching here, believe it or not.

But that's like, so you, I would expect just, you know, in discussing and talking, if somebody had me guess how many prototypes you had, I would guess one. And sometimes I would see a complex case maybe and guess five, but those can be flip-flopped and that's. Then one of the biggest learning curves is, or one of the coolest things is it doesn't matter how many prototypes you use or how many you go through. You can be as picky as you want, or we can run into difficulty matching it up, uh, so that it's absolutely perfect, even on a straightforward case. But likewise, and similarly, we can have a complex case go lickety split, be easy.

Just something like that, where the denture caused us to kind of have to work around something else in there. Still manageable. It just took a few extra tries. Yeah. It's kind of a catch. All we'd like it to be sort of a catch-all. So we know we're going to get you done in a week and we can stand behind it because you know that too, whether it be one set or five, how many really no problem because Daniel picked us up in the morning at the hotel and, and brought us back in the evening. So you just got to sit in that nice van, you know, while he was driving and telling us places to go look at.

That's Danimal. He's a good tour guide. He's a good tour guide. He is a good tour guide. Yeah. He's been a, he's been a good tour guide. He's been really good at the travel package. At some point we'll, we'll get a patient on here that's really been through it, but it's a really nice peace of mind. And it's really fun to know, you know, that you, even though you're capable, excuse me, capable of making your own travel arrangements, you had some exposure to him and then, you know, you're in good hands and know that you're with a local that kind of knows places to eat and where to go and where to get gauze even.

Part 739:48

Yeah. Yeah. Um, so great. So, um, tell us about anything that you, uh, didn't expect with the teeth now, long-term any, any last minute thoughts on sort of, uh, you know, advice for anybody out there, any, any kind of like last minutes, uh, words of wisdom for us. Well, you know, when, when it first started to heal, you notice that there's like a space underneath. Right. And I was concerned at first that space was too big and everybody was going to see it and food was going to get stuck.

And then you're, you're talking and it shoots out at people. I didn't know what to expect about that. Right. And when I came in for the one year, I was almost thinking to have the whole thing redone so that that space was, was less, but over time and you get used to it, none of those were a problem. And I realized that that space was less, I would have even more trouble with the, the water floss or trying to get food out. So I just left it alone. And, uh, it's really been no problem, but that was a concern.

I go, Oh my gosh, there's a lot of room under there. It can be the only thing. Yeah. It can be a little bit of a dance if you will, to, because I always tell patients, I always explain to patients that there's a decision, there's, there's a personal relationship and decision that needs to happen there. And we're really good at predicting and guiding where we want that gum tissue to go. But there's also sort of, uh, at we're at odds with what we may want. You may think you want that very tight and, uh, you know, we're at odds with what we may want.

If you're collecting a lot of food, then we do want it tight. Um, but also I, as the, the guy that's responsible for your long-term implant health, I kind of want it as big as possible so you can keep it cleaner. And so in a way we're a little bit at odds. Um, but what's cool about it is if you had decided the other way where that was too much space, we can just add pink porcelain to that zirconia and it's really no harm, no foul. And it's that balance and that decision of, of that personal relationship.

I think that people get so tied up into the, uh, decision and the research that they kind of forget that there's a lot of stuff that comes down to a human interacting with a human and making the best choice together for your health. Uh, and that's a good example of it is you kind of found out on your own for that, you know, first six months year that you don't need that, that everything is fine. Um, and some people may say that I can't stand it. And then my first cleaning, I want it fixed.

No, it was real good. And, and, uh, when I was there, you know, Nadia kind of got me through that decision-making point, you know, what to do about it. Cause she was very willing to, uh, reline it to make it less, you know, less rumored there. But in the end, I think I made the right decision because it's very easy to keep clean and it doesn't whistle or, you know, it's not any problem at all. It looks, you can see it in talking to you. It looks fantastic.

I'm kind of impressed with myself, you know, how good it looks even via zoom and it looks great. Amazing. Oh, you got a good team there. Everybody's amazing. Seriously. Very blessed for sure. Oh yeah, exactly. Exactly. So don't let any of them go. Okay. What's that? Don't let any of them go. I only let the bad apples go. Yeah.

Part 843:10

When I come back every year, I want to see the same, the same smiling faces that, that got me through it. We do too. Well, we appreciate your, uh, dedication and your, uh, fandom, if you will. No, we appreciate your time and, uh, you sharing a little bit about your life and how you got into this position and all of those things. It's it, you never know who it's going to help. There may be another person out there that has a denture and they're struggling with the idea of what to do. And you know, you never know what kind of little tidbits come out of this. And so it's a very valuable thing for, uh, the next generation, if you will, of patients and, uh, it's always fun for us to kind of look back and see you smiling and, and all healed up. But, um, furthermore, what I enjoy the most is getting to talk to you about your hobbies and, and understanding what makes you tick. Cause that's always, for me, that's always the funnest part.

Yeah, absolutely. So I've got a question for you. Yes, sir. What are you opening up your Southern California office? Oh boy. Just hit me right to it. The last guy asked me just, he went out of state and I said, yes, that's coming. Uh, South Southern California, I would say it's in four, four ish moves and the next four centers, it'll be a Southern California would be my guest. First, it'll be something a little bit more local and accessible, like I'm Atlanta or something that's accessible by plane easily. Um, but once we have all of the organization chart and everything built out, I would say that, uh, you could plan us going to the West West coast because as we kind of already alluded to, there's a good amount of competition there, but competition is good because there isn't necessarily that much public awareness. And so if you can go into a space that has public awareness already that someone else has already paid for, uh, it can be a good opportunity. So sometimes that's for us how, uh, expensive it is to educate people for us. Moving into competition is actually pretty good sometimes. Yeah. So I wouldn't, I wouldn't say it's going to be forever.

Keep holding on. The reason I asked you, cause I shared my experience with people here that have asked me, Oh, you used to have the worst teeth. What did you do? We noticed you did something. And so I tell them exactly what I did and I give them your website and all that stuff. But I know a lot of people are not inclined to, to travel across the country. So, you know, they, they'd listen to me and go, okay, yeah, right. It's all the way over there in Florida.

But you add, that's, that's the value is you add to the, to the credence that, listen, we've got all these patients on this podcast. It's safe. It's fine. It works well. And it's not these swindlers that are just looking to take your money and kick you out. So that's, you know, you're, you're helping, like I said, the next generation to help make that decision. Cause I can say it till I'm blue in the face, but I'm the one that's motivated to say it. So to have you on is awesome.

Thank you for inviting me. It's been a lot of fun. Absolutely. We'll do it again sometimes to do a follow-up. Maybe next time when you come in for the, for the cleaning, we'll have you in person and we'll do kind of a follow-up on what, you know, the year in review and how the, the, the follow-up went and how everything is going health-wise. We'll all go do that Everglades fishing. Okay. Yeah. That too. We'll get some, we'll get some footage. I will fish. Don't you worry.

I love fishing. So, well, let's get you out there. I appreciate your time. And we look forward to seeing you again soon. And you have a wonderful holiday. It's around the holidays now. So have a great new years and Christmas and everything else. So we appreciate you and your time and your willingness to talk to us. Thank you so much. You bet. We'll see you around brother. Love you. See you later. Yes, sir.