Ep. 50: "Remember When…" 50 Episodes of Beyond the Arches

Part 10:00

This is Beyond the Arches, where full-arch dentistry meets real talk. Let's get into it. Hello and welcome to Beyond the Arches. I'm your host, Dr. Daniel Noorthoek, and with me today I have our co-host, Erica. Hello. Hi, Erica. Hi. So you might have noticed when you came in today that we have decorated, and you may see this on our YouTube, et cetera, but we are celebrating our 50th episode. I have not turned 50. I'm not even close. We are just celebrating the fact that we have gotten to 50 episodes. Yeah, very exciting. We've had conversations. We've had different guests on. We've had patients. We've had doctors. We've had team members. Really exciting.

Yeah, and as we kind of were working towards this and we knew we were going to hit it, we were thinking about different ideas and how we could have some fun with it, you know, kind of like a Mr. Rogers neighborhood feel of stopping on by. But what we settled on was kind of a throwback or an ode to like the way that friends used to do this stuff. And they used to have episodes where they would pull out funny moments and have sort of a reflection time. And so what we did is we had Carly go through our library, our record, and she pulled out all kinds of really fun and interesting and different moments through this last year. And so we're just going to kind of have a fun episode. We're going to look back and have some fun times and have some, you know, some serious or some important moments. And so we're just going to kind of have a fun episode. We're going to look at some important times, but we're just going to have some fun with it and kind of pattern it after that. Yeah, that sounds great. Absolutely. We're going to throw it back to the people these conversations are all about. So Erica, it's been really fun because we have patients from all different walks of life. Remember the Florida snake lady? I started a page called Florida snake lady. I started saving snakes and then I would post on all the Facebook groups and they with education on why we need them. The chef who said food brings people together.

I graduated from college with my bachelor's and associate's degree, culinary arts. So I am a chef. I feel like people to get to people's heart can be through their stomach. Right. And, and a lot of people sit down and I'm on a table and they get to know each other over food. And there's nothing like sitting down with really great food and to share that community, to share that bond and to be with people around good food is always a great time. You know,

it's a great time. The mom with an incredible story of resilience. [redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

[redacted]

The New Yorker who just wanted to eat again. That's another thing about not having great teeth living in New York because I couldn't bite into like the best bagels. You know, I would have to like take, like, I just want to bite into this thing, you know? So it was tough. It was tough because, you know, all this great food and I'm always constantly thinking of the menu, like, oh, what can I eat on this menu? What can I not eat on this menu? Like I could, even before my, my front tooth got loose.

Like I lost a lot of the mole, the molars because they broke off. So it was hard to like, you want a good steak. Even if I cut it up, I was to have to chew it. And it was just hard to chew it without the molars. So. Yeah. And the honest conversation we had with him about how implant failure and arch failures can happen. Two weeks ago, I just, I felt something weird on my, on my teeth. She said, oh, you know what?

That sounds like you may have like a break in, in the bottom arch. So the first thing she takes and boom, the piece. In two pieces, my, my lower arch. But then, um, then another problem arose that I had no clue about. One of my implants in my upper right in the middle, it just happened to fail. I had no pain, no bleeding. I, my, you know, my upper arch was rock solid, no movement. It just, Nadia found it during the, um, yeah. Now I had a failed implant and Dr. Dan comes in, I'm sitting in the chair.

I'm like, oh man, I'm gonna have to maybe, come back tomorrow. He goes, give me five minutes. I'll put a new one in, numb me up, put a new one in. I was like, okay, that's, uh, that's great. No problem. Like, you know, I didn't have to wait, you know, like a week or come back in a week when he's freed up or, you know, so I, I appreciate that. And, you know, and like I said, but the transparency of your warranty on your, on your webpage, it's, you know, it's legit.

The music lover, concerts and crafts. Just kind of a music lover. Um, Yeah. Yeah. South Florida in the nineties had a really good music scene. There was a lot of bands, so it was a lot of, you know, every weekend was concerts at bars and clubs that probably had no business being in at that age. That's the next thing. My, I am ADHD and I am a habitual crafter and I bounce from prior to fish keeping. It was, um, miniature making. So dollhouse, I made a doll house and for, I built all the furniture and, you know, did that whole thing and then dropped that, picked up, picked it up, picked it up, picked it up, picked it up, picked it up, picked it up, fish keepings.

Someone who three years later is still smiling. I still had like those moments where I wasn't used to seeing myself on camera and I'm like, wow, your teeth look great. You know what I mean? It was the opposite. So that was kind of fun. And still, even to this day, my husband and I will, you know, like after work or something, we'll go get like a glass of wine or we'll go to dinner or whatever. And people are always commenting and I'm not used to it. And I've gotten used to it a little bit. And then my husband's just, like, when someone compliments you, you just light up. Like, he's like, it's, from what I saw you go through all these years, it's like completely worth it.

And the soccer coach who had surgery 51 hours before filming. Still one of the best things I ever did in terms of my development, not only as a soccer player and then eventually a coach, but as a person. So we're 48, 51 hours away from, from surgical time. The off-road photographer chasing wildflowers. But the main thing was not to do the crazy trails. It was to go see the, the wildflowers and the blooming cactus and photograph them. And I say the only way to get there's in a four by four.

The domestic violence advocate. Yes. I work for Hope Harbor. We're stationed in Columbus, Georgia. We are one of the very few domestic violence shelters that services two states. I work in Russell County, Alabama, as a legal advocate, helping survivors file protection from abuse orders, helping them navigate the judicial system and absolutely love everything that I do. And someone who went from patient to part of the team. Alex is not only a patient, but she's also an employee because she loved it so much.

But almost all of them started in the same place. Yeah. They all have similar hesitations, hold backs, fears. They all have different unique life stories, but their dental background is very similar. Yeah, absolutely. And it kind of ends in the way of, I knew I had to do something. Absolutely. My teeth started breaking. I already had a bridge right here. It was a three teeth bridge. I had a two tooth bridge over here. This one had cracked.

I could not get polydent. I couldn't get super glue. Gorilla glue. No, I didn't really use gorilla glue. Nothing. Okay. So if I talked and I said, and I was a waitress at the time and I knew I wanted to get my real estate license and I was like, there is no way, there is no way. Because the caps, they were the temporary. This was $7,500 worth of work that I had done and didn't even have crowns yet because I couldn't afford them.

And so the temporary bridge cracked. And when I would say something with an S or an F, one would fly. Oh my gosh. And so I told my manager at work, I'm like, I need a break. I'm going to call my fiance and we are going to book a consultation. I was a kid. I just read, my boyfriend, and I was had tons of cavities and I would get abscesses and my teeth would easily break. So I came down here as years progressed, I just, my teeth were deteriorating and I wasn't caring for them properly because I was like, why not? You know, as years progress, you know, I'm 46 now, but we're talking like in my late 20s, early 30s, you know, my mental health was deteriorating. My career wasn't at a great spot, you know, and happiness is an inside job, right? And I can honestly sit here and tell you that I just wasn't happy. And sprinkle in the middle of that in 2007, I did get into a little bit of a car accident, which caused fractures in my teeth. I got seven or two stitches in my face. I can't put this any more delicately, but my teeth rotted out of my mouth.

You mentioned like, did someone set me straight or was there a wake-up call? Yeah, the dentist that did that three-tooth bridge. Said there's a lot going on in there that I can see. A lot of these fillings that you have along the gum line are loose. They have decay behind them. And in some cases, the tooth's going to go bad and need a root canal. I'm amazed it hasn't happened yet. It looks like the decay is into the nerve pulp. And if you can imagine a tree that's been half chopped down from one side, you just don't have any strength in there now. These teeth are going to start breaking on you.

And never has a person been so right because it was an amazingly fast process. That would have been, I think, that was right before COVID. I had that bridge done. And in the first couple of years of COVID, it seemed like every couple of months, I'd be eating something and a chunk of tooth would break, would break off in my mouth. I'd be eating something soft and suddenly I had something hard in my mouth. And so that can only happen so many times before you have to stop and denial. So I then started looking into it. I knew, and he, oh, so he worked up, he's like, well, here's what it would cost. I'll give you an estimate for me to fix everything.

And I think that was something around $23,000. And he even said, this is not necessarily the way to go because this is mostly patches and fixes. And you probably need replacement teeth. You probably need implants for most of these. At some point, it was like, there's no turnaround. I have to do something. At some point, you were sort of defeated, though. Well, actually, because of the infections, I was this close to getting dentures. I actually had the denture made. I paid $1,500 for it. And then the opportunity came for me and Alex to come down and do this together. And it's like, here's a 15. I'll pay you. I don't want, I don't think I could ever live with dentures.

But around like 30 years old, 35 years old, around, like, I started having my teeth just break. Like, I could be eating chicken wings. I could, just random food. And like, my molar started breaking off, like in half and then on the other side. So it was weird. Like, I turned, I just ended up having brittle teeth. So, and I guess from there, you know, like, I kind of just was like, who cares anymore? Like, my teeth are broken.

What does it matter? So I guess the rest of it, like the gums and the decay of, you know. Did you, do you think that, were you seeing a dentist at the time? Or was it, did it get to a point where you just, you know, you're like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I just said, you know, to heck with it. I'll figure it out later. Probably like that. Yeah. It got like overwhelming. And I was like, oh, wow, I got to fix this. I got to fix that. And it's probably going to cost a ton of money.

So I probably just let it go. And, you know, by the time, and it just went downhill from there. I kind of had it in the back of my head. And then the straw that broke the camel's back was one of my front teeth all of a sudden became loose. And I could tell like, you know, the gums were receding, you know. And that's when I kind of was like, okay, I need to do something because, you know, that's your front teeth. I could hide broken molars in the back. You know, I don't want to go around losing my front teeth. I really got an issue. And it was, 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. So when things started going really bad, I was probably about 16 because then my wisdom teeth were coming in and they were impacted. And so it started pushing on my teeth.

I went and had five teeth pulled. And it was like all my molars. And things just like really went downhill from there. They were just like crumbling, falling apart. And I had all those teeth pulled. And I had the denture and I hated it. And it's just steadily, you know, the issues, they just kept coming, you know, like here and there. And I would try to go, you know, make an appointment. Because as a medically retired veteran, I do get free dental care, which was a nightmare.

I remember they scheduled me to go in to see a dentist. And I literally left out of there in tears because they made me feel so terrible. Like I, you know, like I was just this disgusting, dirty person because of my dental health, you know. And honestly, that kind of turned me off. And so again, the suffering and silence and whatnot. So I ran out of there crying. And I was like, yeah, I'm not going back. And I'm just, I don't know, I'll figure this out. I'll do it. I'll deal with it in some way, shape or form. Until the point where it was like, this is not viable anymore. I can't continue to live like this, you know, because when you're living, you know, with this secret, I told no one how bad it was. He did not even know how bad it was until the day before I came down here. I finally showed him.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That's how well I hid this from everyone, my children, co workers, everybody, nobody knew. Did you you had like a temporary that was? temporarily glued in? Or I can't remember? No. Bridge? There was a bridge? No, no, I had it was all my, my remaining teeth. But the way I modified my way to, to speak, you know, and laugh or do anything, because I had the four teeth missing, total missing on the bottom, and then one up here on the side. And then this one over here was cracked, too. So yeah, you can imagine like, basically, like literally talking like this out of your mouth. Yeah, but that's how it was.

You know, and then it was, you know, infection after infection. And they were quoting me prices to save them that were astronomical. And I got worried, you know, about infection. I had two little kids at the time. And but yeah, so I had kids and I was like, you know, how stupid to die from a tooth infection in the United States of America in 2024. Yeah, I had so many other issues and injuries that kind of affected.

And, you know, snowballed. And somehow they all found Dun & One. Yeah, through research, hesitation. We wanted to find out what made Dun & One feel different. Usually a trust decision. A dental office that they wanted to go to for the very first time. Well, I started doing research on full mouth restoration. So I learned about all on four seemed like it was the industry standard. There's others, as you know. Oh, yeah. Yeah, lots of others. Yeah. And, and, and then people go abroad, people go places where it's their initial cost is, is less. And I thought about that. Never really seriously considered that. Because I want to sort of have an wherever I get this done, I want there to be an ongoing relationship for follow ups and things like that.

Responsibility. Yeah. And then I also and then there's also, I guess what I would call big box outlets that do it. Yeah. You know, a couple of. People name brand ones that like advertise on TV and do big campaigns. And I knew I didn't want that because I know that decisions there are made at the highest level by people that are not in your profession. They're accountants and they're, they're, you know, they're, they're people who are in charge of whatever the stock prices and things like that. And I didn't just didn't want that experience. I didn't want an impersonal, just another number kind of thing.

But what, what really swayed me to done in one was word of mouth. The the when I when I reached out from I think the Instagram ads and was invited to join the Facebook group, I started talking to a lot of nice people there. But then there was one particular person on a Reddit thread. And it was in a thread about about getting all on for done. And she was insistent. She said, No one has researched. This more than me. I have dedicated almost a whole year of my life to it. I've looked into the backgrounds of all the people involved. I have looked with like microscopic forensic evidence for anything, anything negative, and I cannot find anything. And, and so that's what was where I went.

And I had a wonderful experience. And that was Paige mencing. She told me that I could use her name. That's awesome. She's been my mentor throughout this. The last couple of weeks have been chatting a lot on Reddit. And she's helped me. prepare and and give me a lot of, you know, good information about what to expect. And I think she's a good example of how word of mouth for something like this. It's so intensely personal and intimate.

You're in Absolutely, you know, you're you're in my mouth and extracting these these teeth and so I went on Reddit and found I don't know if I found a post from you first or a post from Mike. So it was one of the two and read it and then it clicked that you were here in Boca. And then my first thought was like, he's gonna the I can't afford him. Boca dentists and Boca Are you kidding? Okay.

looked into it saw your pricing that I probably could afford that and then I thought okay, well, he's got to be. There's something he's paying the high he's a negative ads. I searched and searched I did my due diligence I couldn't find anything bad about him. And I'm like, Like, that almost is worse than finding, right? It is. We actually talk about if we get a negative review. Leave it. It's not going to be the end of the world.

Right. And then I made an appointment, and I came in and met you. And, you know, I clicked. Everybody, again, is fantastic. I feel like I'm doing the commercial, but it really is true. Everybody's amazing from start to finish, and there's no judgment. Yeah. I was just dealing with that. And when you came over to our table after you walked away, I leaned over to my wife and I was like, I can tell that she doesn't really have any teeth, but I cannot believe that she just randomly out of the blue offered our dog food.

That's just crazy and was really impressed. And we tried to convince you to pet her, but, of course, you were working, so you couldn't. I couldn't. I wanted to hug her so bad. You can see it. But it was really through Sadie. That this happened, because that wouldn't we would have never met otherwise. And I kept telling my wife throughout the whole dinner, like, I don't know how to bring it up, but I've got to leave a card to, like, at least see if she even knows that this type of procedure exists, you know, or, you know, who knows what kind of state that she's in.

Like, I have to let her know that this is something that happens. But I also don't want to say, hey, I noticed you don't have any teeth. I went to the hostess. Yes, the hostess ended up coming to me in the kitchen, and she came to me and said, you know, that really sweet couple that had the dog, you know, those weirdos, she goes, they left you a card and he and he wants you to call. And then I'm glad that you kind of said that, because immediately my ego, you know, like, oh, my God, all he saw was that I had no teeth in my mouth, you know, but I brought it home.

And in my future, I was my my fiance at the time. And I told him and I called. They were just beautiful couple and the sweetest dog. And he was just like, you just went to this other. Dental and literally it was like two weeks before I had got the consultation, I was going to make the date and take off a work and kind of pull that trigger. And he was just like, get a second opinion, see what he says.

Now it's just like, you know, I already got the other thing in play, like, you know, let's just let's just rip it off like a bandaid. So he convinced me and I made the consultation and made the appointment. And this is where it gets funny because it was a beautiful sunny day and I was off that day. I do remember it was a gorgeous day. And I wanted I was going to cancel because I wanted to go paddleboard.

I called my husband. You know what? I'm going to cancel. It's beautiful. Let's take the boards out. The water is so flat. And he was just like, Are you nuts? He was like, You have to go. And I was like, No, look how flat the water is. We live right on the beach. So we were able to see and he was just like, I really think he's we can always take the boards out after just go right.

And I did I got dressed and I went in and I met your angel. At the at the at the place and and it was at that moment when I sat there with you and the rest of the girls and I was just like, you know what, like, this is where they called for my chain was going to happen. And I just felt internally that this was going to be a better experience than something I just had to do like, like I said before, like women go to plastic surgery, and they're really excited about the transformation.

I felt that when I went into the office. I felt like this journey is going to be amazing. When COVID first happened, so everybody was stuck at home and TikTok started becoming like a big thing. And I think it originally started in there was a Facebook group called dentures and implants before and after support, but it's like a big denture group. And I posted in there a lot as I was going through like that denture journey. And I would post about like, foods I had that day and just different things that were like positive.

And then I just started, I made a tech talk and then I don't know, I just started like, doing all the trendy things and posting on there and the following builds up really, really quick. Yeah. So then we found each other through essentially, we were doing some promotion for an office that we were working with at the time. That's how we met. My daughter and I did it together like a mommy daughter. Makeover. I remember because I had been on all of these dental implant decisions.

discussion pages. And I saw the horror stories that people were having when they go out of the United States. I really didn't want to go out of the United States. If you have a problem or an issue, you have to go back because the chances are of somebody here working on something that was done, you know, out of the States is slim to none. And Alicia, I can't say her last name, but Alicia actually posted a picture of herself on one of the dental implant discussion pages.

She posted the done in one link. And when I saw that it was in Florida, I got on y'all's page and I was just like, oh my gosh, they are so much cheaper than everywhere I've been quoted. And they have three financing options. And just his one hour consultation, he looked at me and was like, I don't even need to do x-rays. I can do it. I can tell you right now, you know, he, of course he did x-rays, but I'm just saying he was just made me feel so comfortable.

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 gone to my dentist that I always go to here to get something done. Cause I always had these 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. 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. Lax and it was just checked all the boxes and sounded really good. Cause I really didn't know what it was.

didn't want to do that, that Ivy thing. And I didn't want the whole process to go months and months and months with no teeth. I, I don't even remember how, like, I literally just happened to stumble upon, um, done in one, you know, and I'm, um, researching you guys, you know, of course I did a little research on you too, of course. Um, yes, exactly. Um, and you know, I was mulling it in my head, you know, then again, just thinking, oh my gosh, like, oh, my teeth gone. Oh my goodness.

Like, how is this? You know, like, and then the, the other effect was what if I'm that one person that this doesn't work for? What if, you know, I have like implant failures and I've spent this money and oh my goodness. And then finally it was just like, you know what, girl, just stop. I think it took you, if I remember correctly, I think it took you like three days to come to grips with the fact that it went fine. Yeah. Yeah. So I actually came across, uh, done in one through a tick tock during a little bit after COVID.

COVID 2021. And I was doing research and trying to figure out what I wanted to do, which, you know, I had so many issues. Well, I found Alex and I watched almost all her videos and she had just gone through the surgery about six months prior. So it was a perfect time for me to kind of watch, to see her healing and her steps of what she did. And she had filmed a lot of things. Um, and at that point, after I had my consultation, I remember when we, spoke on the phone the first time I almost like, was like, I don't know if I want to do this. Cause if I do it, I know he's going to talk me into it. And I was still a little apprehensive and I'm like, it's fine. Like whatever. And I don't know, I think after we spoke, I just fell at ease and I'm like, okay, I got to let, put my barriers down. I did the research. This is my time. This is, you know, timing was a big thing. Like it just kind of lined up.

With what was going on in my personal life where I could do it. I did some research about dentures and I didn't even know this procedure existed. I just figured I'm probably gonna end up with dentures or maybe like a bridge, you know, I know somebody that has a bridge. Um, so I go to a dentist, uh, near my house, uh, get like a consultation and the dentist was basically like, yeah, you're done. Like there's nothing we can really do. And, uh, but in a way it was kind of like, I was like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I was being chastised for like, yeah. You know? And I'm like, okay, yeah, I get it. Yeah. I wasn't.

Yeah. I messed up. Right. But okay. Well, what can we do about it? So then she brings up the all on four procedure that I read about. So I was like, oh, okay. And then I never knew how much it costs. I knew it was, you know, it wasn't cheap, but you know, I figure, all right, let me see what I can do. How much does it cost? And then that's when I was like, wow. You know, um, she gave me a quote of almost like, top and bottoms like for 65, $70,000. And I was like, uh, wow. I mean, I was like, that's a lot of money, you know? I was like, you know, so I was like, right, exactly. So I was like, thank you. And then as I'm leaving the, uh, dental office, you know, and it became like, uh, like I'm trying to run out of a timeshare meeting, like, like, come on, please. You know, like, you know, they sent me the $100 visa gift card. Right. You know, I'm like, okay, let me, they go like, it's not like I could just whip out 70 grand and yeah, maybe there's a guy down the block that's cheaper. All right. Like take it easy. So like that just turned me off. So then I come across the shabby guy, you know, I'm doing my research. So this is like, seemed like a real guy that actually got the procedure. And that's another thing too, was hard to find at that time, like hard to find like people that actually discussed it without like a agenda, like without saying, oh yeah, I got my teeth done X, Y, Z. And look at me. Like he seemed like when I started watching the video, he seemed like a legitimate guy and you know, he really didn't like advertise you. He was just saying, this is what I got done. This is where, so I started watching him and he had like a follow-up video about what happens after. So I was like, oh, I wonder where he got that done. And that's how I came across you guys. Like I came, I looked at the website and I was like, Hmm, this is interesting. The one thing that, the first thing that got me with you guys is that it was like, there was no hidden, everything.

The cost was upfront. Like these other websites I try to go to, you look them up, like, okay, what's the price on that? And it's always like, oh, well we got to examine you. We don't know. Everybody's different, blah, blah, blah. So like you had, you know, it was like clear. It was like, okay, this is what we, this is the price we offer. This is what you're going to get. And then, and then also when I saw the price and compared to what the dentists quoted me, they pretty much all said that their surgery experience wasn't what they thought it would be.

Same thing goes for recovery. They usually say it's easier, than what I expected. Yeah. And they all kind of came back and said, you know, it was a pretty smooth process. I had no pain. No pain at all, which again, you know, you sit there and you think, okay, I'm getting all of my teeth extracted, you know, and they're going to be sewing up my gums. And you automatically think that, oh my gosh, this is going to be absolutely terrible. And it wasn't at all. Like it was just, it's still mind blowing how none of that was even a factor.

I remember that you were coming in and you were very afraid, very nervous, which is normal. And the second day that you came in, you were like, is everything okay? Like, am I alive? Am I here? Are we good now? And I was like, yeah, you're good. Yeah. Yeah. Cause you know, it's, it's a huge, uh, it was a very huge decision to make. Um, and one that I wish I had made, oh gosh, I wish I had done this years ago. 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. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. The sedation pill, there was no pain, no anxiety. It was just like no problem whatsoever. Seriously. It just was like unbelievably smooth. Uh, cause I was expecting like way worse. The surgery was great. I was really hesitant. I was one of those people that was super hesitant about not being put to sleep. Um, I've had a lot of bad experiences with pain with dental stuff. And, um, you know, it took, took some reassuring. I don't know if maybe it was, but somebody that, you know, did the reassuring, but it took some reassuring that it was going to be fine. And it was, um, you know, the experience was fine. The medication worked. I do, I do remember a little bit more than I think the average patient, but I didn't care a single bit about what was going on. I'm pretty sure I bit you at some point. I don't remember. I remember, I remember something about you going like, open your mouth open with your finger in there. Um, but yeah, it was, it was great. Um, next day came in with the temporaries and, and I didn't really bruise all that bad or swell. So it's an emotional process. You know, it's a lot of money. It's a risk, a big risk, you know, there's no going back. Um, but it was best decision, hard decision to make, but best one ever.

I don't remember a lot. I don't like good. That's awesome. I mean, I remember you occasionally Don, can you open your mouth on do this? When you were like, so nervous, you were like, no, it's okay. I'm just going to sit at the, airport and wait for her. And I was like, I don't know if I'm like, I'm like, these people are, I don't know. I'm like, I already signed the paperwork. Like I was, but I was still kind of like, yeah, so sure. And your sister left a little early. She did. So she stayed all week with me and then before the zirconia, right? Yeah. Then she flew home on Saturday. And then of course that next Monday is when I got my finals put in the healing process. It is such an invasive surgery.

And you think, oh my gosh, it is going to take weeks and weeks. Like second week, I was back at work. We were on a nature trail the next day. What was your pain level? Zero to 10. It was, uh, I would say, you can be honest. You can say, no, it was, it was like a three, four that first day. Okay. Actually, like the most pain was leaving the office and getting into the car that initial. And I was like, what's going on right after surgery, right? Like right after surgery, it was like, oh my God, I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die.

It was like a little, you know, burning and, and, uh, you know, but at a couple of hours later, once I took some of the, uh, you know, the, uh, the pain, painkillers, the pain relievers, then it wasn't too bad. Then the next day wasn't that bad. I was like, oh my God, like, this is a lot better than the first hour. Basically the first hour was the worst. And then it was manageable, at least for me, you know, um, I'm nervous and, you know, and, and to, by the grace of God, not have absolutely any, I hit the ground running when talking my speech, you know, I felt in my heart that I was going to be in good hands.

I was excited to document it, you know, cause I knew that it was going to change my whole face. I was not in any pain in the procedure. I mean, you, you were there with me and I was, you don't feel a thing. Right. Um, and I think that the Halcyon does enough where you're not, you know, you're definitely relaxed and I wasn't worried about any of the things you hear, you know, cause you obviously have to, I'm just, I don't know how you get, teeth out of the human head. Just especially teeth like mine. Very careful. I know people are afraid of pain. I didn't really have any pain whatsoever in the process. You know, some of these patients are brand new and some of them have had this for a long time.

Yeah. We've had some that are 50 hours out in some that are four years out. Yeah. And the resounding message was that their life has completely changed in the best way possible. How long ago was it that you had surgery? Two days ago. Two days ago. Yeah. Monday morning. I'm enjoying being around everybody that's, that's making this miracle change in my life. Kelly is a patient who came in for travel several years ago, three years ago, three and a half almost, uh, from Tennessee. When I first started working, we did in-person interviews. We did all that. We do everything on teams. We're on video. And it was just night and day difference for me of just confidence and feeling more comfortable. I got my teeth done August of, of 2023. I'm never going to have tooth pain again. And if I do, he's got me like, it's okay.

And they're like, you just got the most beautiful teeth. And I'm like, thanks. They're not mine. Well, yeah, they are. I paid for them. I was 25 when I had this done. I love corn on the cob. So once I was able to like eat that, I was so happy. Salads. That was really good to have, to be able to have like croutons, um, crunchy tacos. You just had your 90 day check. I sure did. So I hear everything went fine.

It went fantastic. Yes. The biggest thing was, was honestly just letting my guard down and being like, girl, you can smile. You can smile as big as you want. You don't have to, you know, cause I had to modify the way that I spoke, that I smiled. I interacted with people and all that went away. I was like, I would go out. I was talking to everybody. I made friends everywhere. I went to the gas station, the, a Publix target. Like I was talking to everybody that would listen to me September of last year.

You're a little bit of a unique scenario, right? Because you have the, the lower is done, uh, with done in one. And then the upper is, uh, as a denture, correct? That is correct. Yeah. 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 okay with that. Tomorrow I go in for my two years. I'm in eight 30 in the morning as, as moving forward. I, I was able to just to build more confidence in myself.

Um, I was able to, uh, you know, just feel more beautiful internally. And, and that obviously shined outward. Um, you know, I'm not afraid to talk and, and then, you know, I, I kind of went, I kind of shot for things that seemed like a long shot and, and, and I just wasn't afraid to go for it. Just the ability to, to, to taste and try all of the foods that I really wasn't able to process has been, uh, very cool. One of our patients who had her procedure done about what would you say a year ago? It was, uh, November of 2024. Yeah. It was my 43rd birthday. I got my final.

Not too long ago. Yeah. I actually remember the day that you got your finals. We decorated for your birthday. That was probably one of my favorite finals. We put the birthday banner up. It was already emotional, like getting the finals in, but then I came in and they had the banners up and I was like, Oh my God. Has it brought you a new sense of confidence? And you know, yeah, totally. A hundred percent. Um, again, with the, like the mental gymnastics, a little bit of, of remembering that I can smile and I don't have to be self-conscious of what my teeth look like, or I smile the right way to make sure you don't see certain teeth or whatever. Um, how long have you had your teeth?

Four years. Four years. When they put the teeth in, I bawled my eyes out. I'm like, Oh my God, I have teeth again. And they're nice. I cried. I'm like, Oh my God, it was just so white and so nice. And it just all looked good. And I think it just two sets. I was, I was good. And I've had the same ones for four years. Just one adjustment. Being a year out. How, how normalized is that now?

I can't remember how my real teeth felt like my brain has totally accepted them. Absolutely. And, um, like they fit so well, at least for me that they fit so well that I, like I said, I don't, I forget that I have, I don't have real teeth. Like I forget that there. Yeah. You know, And Erica, you've been here for almost all these conversations. And what I love about it is you've always been able to bring it back to the patient every single time.

Yeah, absolutely. Our motive is comfort over pressure, making dentistry feel more human and less intimidating. I used to wear a shirt and tie and I used to wear a white coat and you'd walk in and you'd immediately feel the pressure in the teeth. And now you're in instantly talking about car dealership prices and this is your Chevy and this is your Cadillac. Good, better, best. You feel that tension puts up walls right in between you. And immediately if something goes wrong or off of what you said, your patients, one, not even listening because the wall's up immediately. And two, you're already on the hook if, if anything goes wrong. So having that conversational sort of tone down, we've, I've lost the tie.

I've lost the button down shirt. I've lost the scrubs. I've lost the white coat for a very specific reason. I want patients to feel comfortable and I want to be comfortable going to work. Dr. Dan's personal story comes out more in this setting. Quotes like I was a Florida boy before I was a dentist boy. I knew from the time I was like three or four, I definitely wanted to live somewhere that had summer year round. And so I was a Florida boy before I was a dentist boy.

And also the Oreo analogy moment. I can remember the first tooth I took out. When I try to describe to people what it's like, the best way I can say is that the feeling of taking a tooth out for me is a little bit electric. And I know that that may sound gory, but here's what it's like for me. Imagine yourself taking an Oreo. We've all done this, taking an Oreo and turning it right. You know, that separation, that feel of it slipping and being done, right? That's that feel is what it feels like to take a tooth out.

And for me, it was like an Oreo on steroids as well, right? Like not everybody gets that same satisfaction as I do, but that's where it came from. Breaking down complex topics in a simple conversational way. The lifetime warranty explained in a way where patients can actually understand and responsibility on both sides. Our lifetime warranty covers anything from God forbid, if you had chips, if you had breaks, if you needed a lab adjustment, if you wanted a shade adjustment, a gingiva shade adjustment, and so on. And so on. And so on. And so on. And so on. And so on. And so on. And so on. And so on.

Correct me if I'm wrong, not to interrupt, but we, um, a person in the lifetime program will get, can get one aesthetic remake in a lifetime. No, wrong. Wrong. Okay. Um, so that is something that we decided to go against and it was a big conversation while we were discussing the warranty initially. Okay. The reason behind it is because, while our patients are going through this process with us, they have try-in after try-in. If they want more, they can have as many try-ins as they want until they approve of their design.

So essentially when we move forward to finals with a patient, it is not necessarily clinically advised. It is when that patient is ready. It's similar to getting in for surgery after your consultation. We're here for you the whole way through, but until you're ready, you're the one that's going to be making that call. Yep. Fully agree. So we do have our patients sign off on their temporary try-ins. We let them know all of the adjustments discussed with you today will be reflected in those. Once they are back, we're still happy to adjust them in the chair. We can still make tweaks and minor adjustments and changes. If there, God forbid, again, is something that's not totally right, we can adjust it. But while we were having that conversation, it was voted against.

Having an aesthetic remake for that reason specifically. If somebody decided that they had their teeth done 10 years ago with us, they have a lifetime warranty, their face has maybe changed. So I can totally see why that would come up in the future. And in that case, it might be clinically advised, which is something that we approve. Maintenance and aftercare conversations feel more approachable, such as daily routines, water pick, recare. It's not more work. It's just different work.

So if I was a patient, what I would expect to do on my end, basically, it would consist of just brushing and water picking. So thankfully, it's nothing too, too crazy, nothing too insane or out of this world. You're just brushing once in the morning, once at night, soft bristle toothbrush, kind of just some regular toothpaste, nothing fancy, nothing special or expensive. And then water picking just twice daily. So well, some actually I take that back. Some patients like to do it after every meal. So we, we at least advise twice daily morning and night, but some patients may like to do that a little bit more frequently to kind of get that minty taste, minty flavor, and just feel kind of fresh overall.

And then there's Vinny. He's my golf coach. We were able to have some good discussions on actually how golf lessons and dentistry are very similar. You're teaching both people the same thing, but you're using different language. If I were to go to a ranked beginning golfer and talk about vertical axis, and centrifugal force, and he would look at me going, yeah, thanks for the science lesson. But do I have to teach you to pay you for that lesson? Because I don't understand what you said.

Sure. But I can go to a two handicap. He would probably understand all of that after five, 10 swings. Yeah, it's very similar. I mean, we, when I'm doing a consult, it's how is this patient? How does this, where is this person's level of understanding? How much research have they done beforehand? They don't need to do any, by the way. I mean, this isn't to talk bad on anyone that's not, but it is very much as a teacher in that type of role, you do have to alter your communication techniques and you do have to change the verbiage.

And then we had a really good time with the first lady of Full Arch, my very wife, Beth Noorthoek, and my dog, Sadie. As I like to call myself, the first lady of Full Arch. We talked about love of horses. My family. Took my sister and I on a vacation and we went horseback riding. I apparently just fell in love. I do absolutely remember it. I was maybe three and a half, four. The horse's name was Red because he was a little chestnut pony. And it came time, the trail ride finished, and I apparently would not get off. I ride the discipline of dressage. It's the most formal of all the equestrian horses. I ride the discipline of dressage. I ride the discipline of dressage.

And the best way to describe dressage to the lay person is that it's like dancing with your horse. How my wife and I met. We met because of dentistry. So I had a career prior to horses as a pharmaceutical and then medical device rep. He sort of kept coming over to our booth trying to talk to me, but I was sort of like, you know, okay, go away. I'm working here. I was working too. Yes. But, um, later on we, um, we connected at this, um, hole in the wall hotel bar. I was with a bunch of other reps and a few other doctors and you were with, um, uh, the implant company that you were working with at the time. And you guys had been to, um, medieval times.

Yes. So yeah. Yeah. My knight in shining armor came in with the paper crown on his head. And, um, a beer Stein in his hand and came over and was talking to me, including a funny story about how my dog, when we first got her fell into the canal. I'm not really sure exactly how, how it happened. Too much wine was potentially involved, but she fell into the canal within two and a half minutes of being home and meeting her brothers.

And I had an, I had an absolute come apart. Like I'm like screaming for you. I'm like taking my heels off, unzipping my dress. I'm literally going to go in the canal after her and out of the corner of my eye, I see you in full, in your full outfit. I had taken my jacket off. Full speed running going, I got her. And you ran and jumped in the canal in the dark and fished her out. And that was how, that was how life was.

We had a special guest from a implant group, uh, named SIN, where we talked about the importance of implant design, the importance of digital influence in dentistry today and design manufacturing and different, uh, parameters that we're looking at when we're selecting an implant. And clinically, depending on the procedure too, and the outcome of the, that procedure, if you're trying to load those implants immediately or what the outcome is, that has a big, uh, impact. So we had a special guest from an implant group named SIN where we played in the implant design as well. And the threads on that.

Yeah. The, the initial stability is so dependent on the initial tightness with which the, the implant goes in. Yeah. It's, it's very important that that has a good design so that you have that initial stability. What's important is that we stay in what's relevant, where the technology is going. I always say technology never has a bad day, right? It's not in a fight with its wife. It's not a lack of sleep. Um, it's going to be a lot of work. It's going to be a lot of work.

It's going to be spot on every time where in the analog way, there's human air that's involved in all of those things that can change depending on the circumstances, who hands, whose hands it's in is, is, you know, it acts different where the technology is, um, you know, it's repeatable and, um, you can rely on it to, to do that every time you go to use it. You're only as good as the machines you use. And you're also only as good as the hands that are used in it as well. So that the two combined can be, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, a big problem or perfect result. Nick and I have had a lot of conversations about what patients are seeing out there and how confusing the process could be. We started this journey off with the simple question of why a podcast? The goal is to really kind of be unbiased or, or explain why things roll the way that they do in this niche of dentistry, right? And kind of be a resource. Maybe, maybe you're listening to this podcast and, and you are never going to be a Dun & One patient. You're just like listening to people talk or, or maybe you've already had this done and, you know, you have a friend or whatever. This really isn't, uh, uh, a marketing ploy. It's more just to kind of get some information out in, in mass and be able, sort of a reference. His journey to Dun & One and the roles that he's filled. I run the operations for Dun & One. How many hats have you worn? Where are they? Where are they hidden? How many hours?

I didn't bring any hats today. Uh, I guess I should have. I should have brought my podcast hat, but I started with, uh, Dr. Noorthoek in 20, 2018, that kind of as his salesperson going out and talking to different dentists, trying to get them educated on the benefits of having a protocol for full large and full large therapy and how they can help their patients through the years. This kind of has divulged into being Dr. Noorthoek's assistant during surgery, being his assistant during conversion dentures, making sure patients through the entire process. And then once we, you know, Dr. Noorthoek took full control of the brand, brought it down to Boca Raton in 2020. And how does someone choose a full arch clinic?

And ultimately I think it kind of just comes down to the, like to talk like the kids, the vibe, right? The way that they feel and the way that everything feels around there, how the doctor interacts with the staff. You know, first, before I even called someplace, do they have good Google reviews? You know, that's kind of a baseline. And if you see something that's concerning, well, maybe I'm not calling them. But from there, and I said like maybe two, three different consultations, you've really no way to judge their clinical success or their clinical skills. You're really just going to go with the clinician that really made you feel comfortable through the process.

And that sat with you, listened to you, that you actually spoke to a doctor through the process, instead of just feeling like you're another number that comes through their office. How personal marketing is different than corporate marketing. We want to convey that sort of personal relationship and that, you know, personal comfort because you see a lot of these advertisements. I saw one today and it was just a video of a, almost like a duet with a zoom guy. And he was like, I wish I made my choice sooner. And all of this stuff that you would give him as a, as a script, maybe it works. It just, it feels so disingenuous to me. I just, it feels icky and I don't like it. Absolutely. And a lot of times it seems like the marketing company is maybe going to be the one that's going to offer clinical care that a doctor is going to offer, offer. Cause they need to, as a marketing company, you're only paid if you can bring patients in.

So it's a race to the bottom of, you know, okay, let's lower the price point as low as possible. So we can advertise a really cheap price. Cause that's going to get people or let's, you know, market, you know, how fast we can do this process because, you know, maybe we can do it in 24 hours, 12 hours, something like that. Because then again, you can say fastest in, in Palm beach County to give you. Teeth. So you're really always trying as, you know, a dentist to probably differentiate yourself in some way. And you kind of forget that you're treating a human and you're a human and you need to treat somebody as you would want to be treated. I mean, it's the classic golden rule.

Dr. Dan's number one, take home a patient's mindset is everything anxiety manifests. Dr. Dan's number one thing that I see or have learned with experience of, of thousands of arches is generally speaking. A patient that goes in hyper nervous of some certain thing happening will generally speak that into existence where they are more likely to have that happen. If, if a patient is really nervous about, uh, an implant or let's say, uh, the tooth color being wrong, somehow, some way that will end up happening. It really does kind of speak into existence. Now, the way you use that, as you say to yourself, this person's really concerned about an implant failure. I'm going to make sure that I overbuild this or make it so that it's really locked tight. So that reduces what they've already spoken into existence. There's a lot more to managing operations than someone might realize. We're always going to do the best by patients. You know, another little kind of hidden thing behind Done In One is I think a lot of patients probably assume, oh man, like there's little elves.

Dr. Dan's number one, take home a patient's mindset is everything anxiety manifests. Dr. I mean, we have a lot of patients in the back room making teeth at the Mizner location when really we have a, you know, a third or a 3000 square foot facility 10 minutes away that is running 24 seven. We have a team that is, you know, their first thing in the morning, quality assuring things. We have ceramics that are there. We have a Miller, we have our, our, uh, lab manager, but then we also have a overnight team that comes in and ensures that everything is smooth. Everything is going quick. So that's why our turnaround of, you know, you can get this in five to seven days is legitimate because we have a team that is working 24 seven. One of the instrumental kind of factors of Done In One when this first really got kickstarted was we are going to provide the best possible restoration, the best possible service for the best possible price to the patients. AI in dentistry, it's additive, not replacing. The beautiful part though, is it goes back to where you led this entire conversation of it's only going to be in, you know, additive to the field of dentistry. It's going to be an additive to the field of dentistry. It's going to be an additive to the field of dentistry or healthcare, you know, in general, but, you know, focusing in on dentistry, whereas it's never going to replace the hand skills. It's never going to replace the education that that clinician went to. It's never going to replace the amount of arches that that clinician has done or the training that they've received. Like you could be the world's best chat GPT dentist, but when it comes time to place an implant, well, geez, I don't know if I want that.

Mm-hmm . Robert's been a huge part in explaining the why behind everything. Yeah. How full arch is the greatest dental procedure. So, yeah, I guess, in the beginning we said is full arch hybrids are the greatest dental procedure ever created. And I guess we kind of backed off of that because we don't want people mad at us, but it kind of is. I feel like as a, you know, non-dentist kind of an outsider looking in, it always blows my mind that something like this is even possible. And I think people really lose sight of that. And I have to remind some people, you know what, 40 years ago from, from 40 years, to the beginning of the human species, nothing like this was ever possible. Like, yeah, it's really easy to lose sight in the world we live in today because we take a lot of things for granted.

We learned quickly that informed patients are the best patients. Yeah. I think that's, that's important. I mean, like we always talk about, we want informed patients, informed patients are happy patients. And how complications arise. It is the human body. On one hand, you have kind of the con of, well, if I'm honest and transparent with this person and just preparing them for the what ifs, not, not the likely to happen or anything like that, but these are things that can happen.

Cause this is, as you say, the human body. Like the car analogy, when your car breaks down, it's very easy to repair. Can't I just get a car that doesn't break down? The marketing pitch for the nano ceramic was it's the same as PMMA essentially. Right. In terms of it's a plastic, but in, in betwixt all of the particles of plastic are pieces and chunks and little micro parts filled with a ceramic. Yeah. And the idea was that it could be more polished, stronger from the zirconia pieces being in there and less porous. Yeah. All of those things. It invented toasted bread.

Right. I always got a kick out of the, uh, the pitch of, you know, it's repairable chair side. Yes, that's well, that's great, but I'd rather have something that didn't need to be repaired in the first place. Yeah. You know, it's funny. I, I, that was a big pitch for us for a long time. And I never really thought about the other side of that, like that's great. I don't want one that can be fixed. I don't want to have fix a flat in my car.

When your car breaks down, it's very easy to repair. Yeah. I just get a car. Yeah. that doesn't break down? We discussed the evolution of PMMA to nanoceramics to fiber-reinforced frameworks and all the way to today's zirconia. So PMMA was a very short stint. PMMA, I think, was maybe a maximum of a year, probably in the 2014, 2015 category. When it was a popular material? When we did it, specifically. Right, right, right, right. And it still works pretty well as its own temporary material.

It's approved FDA, I think, for two years. So we were on the ride for nanoceramic. My business partner at the time went to something and was sold on how nanoceramic was the greatest, best thing. The new. The newest and greatest. And nanoceramic definitely needs a bar. They tried for a little while to pitch that it didn't. It needs a bar. Right. At the time, we were able, at that time, we had made enough advances in the computers and the designers and things that we had where we were able to design a fit between the bar and the prosthesis that was 20 microns or around 20 microns.

Much more accurate. Much more accurate. We started to see failures, and there were a lot. You are instantly grabbing to, well, it can't be the material. What is it this? What is it that? And it could throw the whole system into disarray. So we ended up starting to, we started to mill a Trilor bar and a nanoceramic on top. And the Trilor bar, you remember that when we would start, when we were milling, and we're going to lump them in together.

Peak and Trilor, you can kind of think of them very similar. There's a Peak bar and a Trilor bar. They're all sort of a plastic or a fiberglass. They're sort of this fiber-reinforced plastic material. So I guess the theory on that was it's strong and it's fiberglass-reinforced, it'll flex, maybe it'll flex as much or as nicely as the nanoceramic. Right. The problem with that one though, was the Trilor or the Peak or whatever you're going to make this fiber-reinforced bar with, takes up so much room because it has to, it's a, there's a minimal amount for it to, to be strong.

Right. That the nanoceramic is now this thin little shell on top. Right, right, right. Remember that? So going into now, put all those old. Things away. Now we've been in zirconia pretty much full, full time since I would say 2019 or so. So six years personally. Yeah. And it's been around a lot longer than that. Yeah. We broke down the process of bone grafting. The first thing a person should know is that bone grafting is essentially kind of holding a space or a bookmark for a place to be used in the future.

And you're trying to tell the bone and communicate it in a, in a, in a way that says, Hey, later on, we want to use this as bone, or we want to use it now, but like you could kind of hurry up and just become bone, please. Right. Gum tissue grows. It's somewhere in the order of 10 to 25 times faster than bone tissue. And so what you get, if you just take a tooth out and you leave a hole, you will get a portion of that, that becomes saved by the clot and becomes bone eventually.

But you'll also get what's called an. Vagination of the gum tissue and ingrowth of gum tissue. So when you're doing bone grafting, when you're, when you're trying to determine how you're going to communicate this message, generally, you're looking at the hole that is there. Okay. And the best way it was ever described to me is when, let's say you had a paper Dixie cup, right? And you need to fill that with water. Well, obviously a full intact cup can fill all the way with water.

Right. Perfect scenario for filling with water. But if you cut a side or a corner of that off, right. Like a strip out of it, it's only going to be able to hold water up until that point. Right. Likewise, if you cut two sides, it's even worse at holding water. Cause there's a lot more patching and repairing you have to do. Well, that's very similar to a bone socket. That's very similar to a tooth socket. Rather. When you take a tooth out, it's not necessarily just this perfect hole.

Sometimes. The bone is a little bit weak and it breaks out, et cetera. And so sometimes you don't get that perfect Dixie cup. Right. And so a lot of our processes to bone graft or, or seal that up are made with the intention of getting sort of that Dixie cup full of water. Okay. Is dental insurance a scam? You're going to need a crown a lot more often than you're going to break your arm. So is dental insurance a scam?

No, not really. Dentistry is just really expensive and very expensive. It's very easy to cause problems and need replacement. So, um, I don't really think of dentist dental insurance as a scam now where it comes with, does it, why isn't it treated the same as medical? It's probably the same sort of motif, right? It's probably the same sort of concept that dentistry you're going to need a crown much more likely than you're going to break your arm, you know, the story about the guy that brought $17,000 in a crown Royal bag.

If you know it's going to be expensive, why not be transparent with the price? When I first started working at the office that I was working at in Jacksonville, one thing that really shocked me is a heavy marketing, uh, agency or, or office. And we had one guy come in and he literally brought in $17,000 in a crown Royal bag. And he said, I've been watching your commercials for years, and it was just a random patient and, but it hit me so hard.

And he said, I've been watching your commercials for years. I know my teeth are going to be expensive. So I saved everything I could to be approximately what I thought it would be. And so here I am, I'm ready. And that always caught me. The price was the most important for him, more than getting an idea of the situation, et cetera. And he knew it was going to be expensive. So if you know it's going to be expensive, why not be transparent with the price? Yeah, the hidden costs of marketing, especially in full-arch dentistry. It's a big, big portion of our revenue. It's 10 to 15%. Can be more, can be less, but our goal is 15%, 12%, 13%, somewhere in there. Yeah. And again, in a saturated market, those numbers only go up. So we have a good bit of brand equity. We've been around since 2016. We have a ton of patients singing our praises. So for the little guy starting out, it's tough, tough to compete. And it's tough for us to compete with multi-billion dollar corporations. So we can't outspend them. All we can do is provide a better, what we think is a better service, experience, outcome, and let that speak for us. We answered questions from our followers. If a patient can only afford one arch, as opposed to like doing a double arch, which means upper and lower for anybody who doesn't know. So if they could only afford to do one or the other, what would you do? I would do a double arch. I would do a double arch. I would do a single arch. So if they can only afford one or the other, what would your normal suggestion be for like, um, how they should go about that? It's very possible to do a single arch. You could make an argument, uh, my favorite argument would be for the upper, uh, first it's what allows us to sort of set the, the look and establish sort of the mode of where things are going to head and also going to get sort of your biggest pop for your, for your buck to begin with. Um, the lower is a lot easier to kind of manipulate. So if you're going to do a double arch, you could make an and use what's there is it true that a dental or a tooth infection will never go away like even if you took like a do you have to take it out for it to go away or more or less yes I'd like to know if there's any way to get the annual cleaning covered by my insurance I just turned 65 and I have medicare and baycare plus supplement so this person is just kind of questioning do they have um do they need you know do they need dental insurance is kind of what I'm getting out of it if they also have the lifetime warranty program yeah I hate to say like cancel your insurance I feel like that is definitely a personal uh especially that's a personal I don't want to ever go on the record saying like I said to do it I do know that we're a specialty office I do know we're out of network so it all depends on the plan you have how strict they are you know what what they cover in office we always say we're more than happy to submit a claim for you and we'll show you know document the codes that we use for that cleaning so uh I think it's really case by case I would probably think that they're not going to cover as much honestly with especially the cleanings it's one thing for the procedure extractions maybe dental implants but um cleaning I would probably say I'm leaning towards they're not going to cover but again I'm very uh optimistic and we can try and we can hope for the best and you can reach out to your dental insurance and see if there's anything that you can do to help you with that or if you're in a situation where you don't have a lot of insurance you can tell us what kind of coverage they have uh I think if you have our lifetime warranty that's essentially like the best thing you have as far as like quote insurance it's not insurance but it's insurance it covers your cleaning anything that happens with your implants your prosthesis is all covered so the patient said how do you handle patients who have high blood pressure as far as surgery goes good question the first hundred percent step is medical consult medical even a doc in the box MD now kind of clinic will see a patient and put them on blood pressure meds if the if the blood pressure is high if we can't get if we know it's an issue and they generally if we have an issue with blood pressure and it happened last week generally that blood pressure is above what the ad a recommendations for elective surgery are sometimes that's still there so will generally give them more nitrous and calm and like let them kind of settle down some because in the heat of the moment it can be kind of exciting and scary of sorts so generally those people will let fall into their sedation a little bit better and and nitrous will have sort of an effect on that it's probably the most medical it's probably the most common medical condition that we see And have to make a decision on every single, not every single surgery, but on the highest proportion relative to any other medical condition, etc.

Do you see people who initially have TMJ come in, do you feel like that can ever, like having full arch, can that resolve a TMJ issue? And then vice versa, have you ever seen it where a patient has come in with no TMJ, had full arch completed, and then kind of is having some effects of that afterwards? I tend to really align with, there are people with genuine disorders and placing the teeth in the exact right place where the joint can be happy can be difficult on them.

But generally they're going to have had, worn a splint and had those issues their whole life, etc. And these are people that we're talking about, like maybe have a full regular set of teeth. The other side of people are more... They're more confused, and maybe a dentist has told them they've had TMJ and they need a night guard, etc. Those scenarios, most of the time, come from the teeth being in the wrong position, in my experience. That's what I subscribe to.

Essentially, there's a happy place that you and I go, there is a position forward and back, and then there's also the positioning of the individual teeth and how those come together. All three of those things. All three of those things is what makes up your joint being happy or not. With a full arch, by putting you in this functional, comfortable position, we generally are going to be seating the jaw joint where it's supposed to go. And then also by getting back teeth back, and by getting a bite that we're in control of.

Dr. Dan shares his most memorable patient transformation, which was Reggie. We had a guy that we saw, and his teeth were just... Really, really bad looking from every angle. And he didn't know what to do. Reggie is who I'm talking about. You guys have all seen his commercials. And the change that it made in his life was awesome. At the time, he was taking care of his father.

[redacted]

▶And two years, three years after that, following up with him and watching his life... His life changed back to what it was. He was a chef. He got a food truck. Then he got another food truck. And the last time I spoke to him, he made his own barbecue sauce. And he always made a point to bring that particular barbecue sauce as much as we wanted to us, which was as a gift. Which was really cool. How we balance business and patient care.

I mean, we built this model to be very advantageous for both the company and the patient. Something that's definitely a lower price point. Than your average clinic that you're going to walk into with a much better process that we feel. But there's also a lot that goes into that. And it's, again, it's a lot larger than just the four walls of the dental clinic that you walk into. Behind the scenes operations? You know, that's a cost in regards to the implants.

And one of the things is, you know, I credit you, Dr. Noorthoek, is you partner with different implant companies that are, you know, the best of the best. Like, is there a cheaper alternative out there? Absolutely. You could get... You could get a source from, you know, whatever country you want, third world. And it's not going to have the same results. The same goes into the printed try-ins and, you know, the next steps. Like, we don't cut any corners with our 3D printers.

We have the best 3D printers on the market that are used by, you know, different military groups. Even just due to the fact that they have such an incredible micron fit that we're not going to, you know, cut any corners for our patients. And, you know, the same then goes into the... The final zirconia. Like, that zirconia puck, you could probably source it from, you know, China or something of that nature. Timu. Timu. Absolutely. TikTok shop. Swipe left.

Go back a little bit smaller. And you could probably bring in your own puck and say, hey, this is what I want you to use. I got it for 50 bucks online. But guess what? That thing's not FDA approved. It doesn't have any coverage on it. So, you know, we definitely are very mindful of sourcing things that are top of the line from the United States, from reputable companies that have, you know, outstanding clinical trials. And it's not just about customer support, FDA approval.

You know, we don't cut corners on that side. Dr. Laks is focused on getting things just right and explaining the restorative side of things. We talked about Goldilocks moments.

Part 274:04

It's interesting because it really is just like a moment during that try-in where we place the teeth in. And it's kind of like an a-ha moment in a way. It's like, oh, wow, I just, this feels right. Can't really describe it like in words really. And the patient's just, you know, oh, yeah. It just feels like this one is right. And that's how we really know that we're good to go. So it's like an intangible thing. It's just like, oh, they feel like themselves again.

And across the board, we see that with every patient. It just feels right. And that's when we know we got it. Goldilocks. Yeah. It's the Goldilocks zone. Dr. Laks used the analogy of it's like an orchestra, coordinating and communicating with the team to keep everything on track. Kind of all comes to communication and working together. Working things out between being a middleman to organize this orchestra. Yeah, it is like an orchestra. It's a lot of moving parts.

So, you know, even with like perfectly placed implants, we can have like an undesirable outcome if the prosthetics aren't right. And so a lot goes into making sure that all the parts are moving correctly to get that final product that we want. Dr. Laks talked about customizing the patient experience. It is a very unique position that we're in. Just coming from like a restorative standpoint. Because like you said, we're with these patients for one week. They're going through such a crazy huge transformation in such a short like amount of time.

And so we deal with, you know, a lot of emotions, a lot of feelings. Every patient is different. And matching patient energy. And I think you guys are really good at doing that. Like just picking up on people's like energy, reading them. Oh, yeah. And putting them where, you know, they're at. And timeline reliability. I would say as a day-to-day like reliability, I feel. I'm so grateful for that. Yeah, I don't want that unreliability, which a lot of dentistry, you know, it can be.

Neither do patients. No one does. And a lot of things these days, you know, it can be unreliable or a lot of gray area. So it's nice to have that, you know, solid ground, that foundation. Knowing all these things that can come up, we know how to deal with it. And these are just normal day-to-day things that we'll always have to deal with. Peace of mind. It's not figuring out how it's going to work, you know. Dr. Lack spoke about refresh cases.

What a refresh case is essentially is when we're having a patient start to finish from consultation to, you know, end result in a zirconia case. They have had their surgery done somewhere else. Could be here. Could be overseas. Could be, you know, another local place that for several different reasons. Either they're just not happy with their case or there's something going on that just doesn't feel quite right. Where we're actually taking them in as our own and kind of helping them find a solution to what's going on.

Just thinking about it from a patient perspective, these people are coming in, you know, thinking that they already solved their problems. And now they're dealing with, you know, issues again. So it's, you know, diving into that investigative work and trying to get to a solution for these people. Yeah, absolutely. You know, when Nadia and I sat down, we got more into the surgical side of things. But also how much mindset and approach really matters in these moments.

Yeah, like surgery should be boring. Surgery should be boring. Getting the surgery to be boring required a lot of cases and working with a lot of the tooth type side of it. Getting surgical results that were boring and getting a surgery that was boring was dependent solely almost upon. Yeah. Understanding where those teeth go and what are the things that get in the way, etc. Nadia and Dr. Northick talked about free-handed versus guided surgeries. For example, one of the surgeons I worked with, he would do his full-arch surgeries with, what is it, in sequence?

And so it was like a stackable surgery. And it guided the surgeon on where to place the implants, how much bone to cut down, where the teeth are going to be. Like, so you would think you would have your, you know, this perfect outcome. So in sequence is driven by, I think, labs. I think they come up with the whole game plan from the ground up on how much bone you're going to reduce. And we don't even know who's planning it.

Like, if they know about anatomy or if they even care. Like, the sinus is right here. So a couple times we ran into the situation. I think it only took two times for it to happen before they just pulled the plug on it. Or the implants were still sitting halfway, like, outside of the bone. Oh, after placement. After placement, after reduction. So it's like you've already, like, what's your saying? You measure twice and cut once. Sure, yeah.

Yeah. So they've already, like, you know, measured and cut. And I guess the measurements were over by a couple millimeters to where the implant was sticking out. Yeah. Yeah. So then it just kind of, like, it throws off the whole surgery. So he kind of sat there, like, thinking. And I looked at him and I was like, why don't you just freehand it? Sure. ▶So basically every surgeon that I've seen freehand it, you and the one that I worked with before you, it was freehanded.

And it was, it always came out more ideal. Dr. Northick and Nadia talked about communication gaps in dentistry. Maybe it's just my feed that shows dentists talking to other dentists. No, I think it's, like, they get a little good at what they do. And then they want to, like, kind of brag about it. And then it turns into this kind of, like, showboaty, hey, look what I can do type of thing. At the expense of the patient.

Like, I've seen that a lot. Not to name drop offices, but, like, when we used to, like, go live with the surgeries. That was more towards fellow dentists, not patients. Sure. Because that would probably drive a lot of them away, watching the surgery. But in speaking to other dentists, it's like, okay, here's my process, this and that. And then it just, from there, I remember seeing other dentists jumping on that bandwagon and live streaming. Their surgeries, whether it be a single unit implant or full large or what have you.

And sometimes it just looked chaotic. Like, it got to a point where it was chaotic. Like, the patient is having surgery. The doctor is, like, talking, one hand in the patient's mouth, the other one holding a sandwich. Like, it would just look like a circus. Yeah, and how she transitioned from surgery into restorative. Let's see. It started back in 2013. Yep. We started with teeth in a day cases. I think they were converting them same day. That was chaotic.

Yep. Absolute chaos. And how long was it? It was about seven years you worked with me? Seven years, yeah. Six, seven, something like that. And then you went to another office and started to do the teeth there? Correct. So worked with you. Surgery, strictly surgery, no restorative for seven years. Yep. And then got a little interested in restorative dentistry. I was still interested in surgery. And I did surgery. I started out in surgery. But restorative dentistry with Full Arch had just changed so much.

It was so interesting. I got to finish the print. So I got to finish the first set of teeth that the patient saw. So I got to be part of, like, that wow factor for the patient. So that was huge. Yeah. That kind of pulled me in. Nadia talked candidly about creating comfort and safety. I just like for them to be comfortable. Most of them come in and they're, like, very nervous. They're like, I am so swollen.

You're not going to be able to get teeth in. My, like, there's gauze. There's bleeding still. Blood goobers and all that good stuff. But it's, I walk them all through it and let them know, like, no, I know it's scary. It's crazy looking and feeling. But we'll get the teeth in. And most do fine. Yeah. You know, and when Dr. Howard came on, we got a lot more into, like, what the surgical side of things look like, you know, from a clinical and also we got a little bit in his personal life and what that looks like around him.

And we talked about for him, why Full Arch? So I was lucky to have a household that showed me what dentistry was early on. So my father, he's a periodontist working in Hollywood, Florida, towards the tail end of his career. And what I saw was that as someone that's, you know, kind of, you know, kind of, you know, a periodontist, quarterback in the discipline, you're so fundamental in setting strategic treatment plans for patients and kind of, you know, being along the whole entire, you know, road for these patients.

You're not just a prescription provider. ▶You're here to maintain people's health, get them out of periodontal disease and really help either replace teeth or keep teeth in people's mouths for a long time. So I got to see the relationships that, you know, my dad had with his patients and, you know, being a kid going to the office and just kind of feeling that good vibe. You know, being in the dental chair and I went to college, I was interested in the sciences.

A little funny fact about me, I was a organic chemistry TA for a while and that was like

Part 383:23

my favorite class. So just kind of fell in love with that angle of science and I wanted to be in a profession where I can always be with people, work with my hands and just be able to, you know, talk and just understand people and always have that platform. What he likes for lifestyle, music, travel, his dog Peaches. I love to travel. I love to see different cultures. Try different food, you know, just see it all. Yeah.

So, you know, I've been to some spots in Europe, the Caribbean, you know, Mexico, Asia. So traveling is fun. Music is great. Love going to concerts, traveling to see good bands. That's always fun. I live in East Fort Lauderdale, which I love. I'm really passionate about Fort Lauderdale. You know, just being able to walk to places, going to the beach, like I said before, you know, just walking to the tennis courts, basketball courts, all that good stuff.

At home, I have a two-year-old Labradoodle. She's like 50 pounds. Shout out, Peaches. Maintenance and recare. And the reality is that when we take an X-ray once a year, which is part of our protocol, as well as maintenance, we can't see everything. So we firmly believe that taking the prosthetic off every three months or six months is way too much for many reasons. But once a year is a good time point to not only remove the prosthetic and clean the prosthetic and clean the gums.

But also properly evaluate your implants and gum tissue. And we talked about how the number one definer is how we reduce surgical chair time. Number one is reducing that time to increase personal reactions, personal interactions and their overall thoughts towards the process is positive while still giving them the keys to the castle as it were, keys to the car for being able to fully customize it. I would say that that's the number one definer. Don't you think?

Yeah. I think that really stands out to me. What periodontal disease is? So at the simplest periodontal disease is a dysbiosis of your oral ecosystem, which leads to breakdown of bone, leads to inflammation and eventually tooth loss. It's a very slow process. And the reason it's so relevant to full arch is because when there's teeth that are missing over time, sometimes patients get in a situation where they're full arch. So Lilia, I've always enjoyed when you come in because you bring the patient's perspective back in.

Yeah. Like how we moved away from 24 hour final. So you started 24 hour finals. And then when did you realize that like the one week process, let's say like our Dunderman process timeline is preferred. So good question. So, um, so yeah, so we were on the 24 hour thing and I remember that it wasn't a push from my business. I was a business partner, but I started to really get sick of getting good results for a patient, but not custom tailored for like maybe what they thought that their smile was.

Yeah. And there's a, there's an aspect of them having a chance to pick out what they want to pick out and sort of feel the value of this big expense, but not everybody's going to want the same teeth. Like the shape of your teeth that you want are probably going to be different than mine. Yeah. ▶So while you could still do your best and get them a good smile, um, with all the planning and things that we would do, it never, it didn't necessarily equate to the patient thinking that they were well cared for, that they were heard and that they got the results that they wanted.

You had the wedding dress analogy. Yeah. My, I like to tell patients that want to have like some sort of like preview. And I always say, listen, it's like a shirt that you see in the store. It's like a wedding dress. Like you think you have a great example. It's really like a wedding dress because you go in. I don't know the thing about the wedding dress. I'll tell you, you have this perfect idea. You want, I wanted the lace and the long sleeve and all this.

Oh my gosh, this is going to be the best dress I've ever, as soon as I put on, it's going to be magical. It's going to be the one despised it. Done. Done.

Part 487:28

Get it out my face. Get that off me now. Get it out of me. Um, so I like to think it's a similar concept of like, you won't know until you try it in your face. Everybody is so different. So patients will bring like a celebrity photo in which we love, you know, love, bring it in. But just go in knowing that like when you try and your faces, everything's going to be different, but that is why we try it in.

Like, that's why you get that. Okay. That didn't work out. Let's do another one. Do it again. Uh, I also like when we talk about how this is not your natural teeth, but it's definitely the best next thing. Definitely the next best thing. Yeah. I think patients doing their own research is super important of maybe hearing what other patients have to say. ▶Cause we can't tell them exactly. What it feels like, but we've heard of the little things that, you know, again, they're not their natural teeth, but it's a hundred percent next best thing to it.

And for sure, you know, if they need this treatment. Yeah. So we also discussed this, uh, exposure therapy type concept kind of feel like we're like exposure therapy for them. And it's really good. Each appointment where, you know, I mean, it's going to be tough cause it's pain and surgery, but we're really nice and they're comforting and they're having, they're seeing it's not as bad as it is. And I, I swear by the end of it. I think they don't have the fear of the dentist as much.

I mean, Hey, we all have, have it, but I fully agree. I think it makes them feel better. If you were to, if I'm afraid of flying, you put me on a 10 hour flight, eight hour flight. That's not going to be, it's not going to be pretty. I'll tell you that right now. But if you put me on these little one hour flights every few months, I'm going to, you know, get, hopefully get over that fear.

So I'm hoping that's what patients are experiencing. You also came on for like a really like fun episode where we talked about. Kind of our biggest Christmas party ever. You know, this year's was inside the ballroom and it has culminated to 80, 80 people. Now it's like time for the holidays, which culminates in actual family time, but that's where it's kind of starting. That's, that's my kickoff now. Oh, we, I, every step I look forward to every year getting dressed up, you know, it's always a fun thing.

I think patients will be surprised if Carly, she should add the photo of the whole, like everyone who was there. Yeah. People come and be like, oh, is this, you know, you guys have a staff of six. Let's say they're, I'm like, well, you know, how do you want me to explain this? And sometimes I go down the rabbit hole. Sometimes I say, yeah, you know, I try to keep it simple, but it's truly, it's so much bigger than I think our patients at our Mizner location or whatever location they don't realize it's a whole huge family team.

It's way bigger than anyone probably thinks. Ilya's gift was amazing. Yeah. Talk about that. His hand skills and, and ability to like. Craft that art is just bananas. Yeah. Ilya is one of our lab guys. And in this episode, we'll show you what he made, uh, with some video and some pictures when Carly edits it. So after that, he decided to start making these things, but then instead of making them for a gift exchange, he made them for me, which has culminated into the most incredible.

If you don't want this man making your teeth, then you are absolutely bonkers. He is a true artist. He is truly in the best field. He he's, everybody should be grateful that he's behind the scenes at the lab working on teeth. After this year, I don't know what he's, I think the Eiffel tower might be coming next or something. They get bigger and bigger every year. Yeah. I just want to preface that. Yeah. And they get like, and it's usually a surprise.

We don't know. It's just breathtaking. Yeah.

Part 591:05

We also played bingo. We talked about playing bingo. We, uh, had Anna win the cruise. Yeah. I was gonna say not just regular bingo. The prize was a whole cruise. So that was amazing for her. And we had like done in one style bingo and it was just really creative. It was a, it was a great idea. There was a little, um, scavenger hunt involved and, uh, Anna. Well, I'll just shout out, shout out Anna, uh, from our repair office.

She won a cruise. A cruise. That's crazy. We don't know where it's going. We hope it comes back. She gets to select where she's going. Yeah. She's going to sit, sit with one of our team members and select which one she wants to go on. I hope she doesn't choose the poop cruise. Listen, I never watched that. I didn't watch it for a reason. I was scared. Uh, no, I mean, that's amazing. And she is so, so well-deserved.

She was so excited. It was more exciting watching somebody else win it. Like I was enjoying that a thousand times more. It was again, well-deserved. Anybody. Who won it would have, you know, would have been well-deserved, but that was amazing to watch. She was jumping up and down. Oh my gosh. We had amazing food. Dr. Dan prepared some tomahawks and my husband ate plates of it. I heard it was edible. It was more than edible. ▶So this year I took the scary task on of making the beef side of the meat.

Were you scared? A little bit. You know, I've never prepared for 85 people or 80 people or whatnot. So, um, I knew it would be fine. I knew it would turn out. But definitely starting the process was like, oh goodness, what have I done? Cause maybe I can finish them all and they're all safe, healthy, fine. And they taste good. We'll say, but getting them all to be like hot and warm. Um, that was really pretty daunting.

Um, I did hear something last that night that was kind of funny. Somebody came up to me and said, um, that they were like, that steak was so good. Yeah. We did, um, prime rib. Yeah. And we did 17 tomahawks and like 24, 22 pounds of 25 pounds of prime rib. I feel like that's just like the nicest pieces of meat ever. Not your typical office work party. And definitely it was a big one for us. Yeah.

Yeah. So I've always really appreciated when you come in and where we've been, where we're able to discuss and tell people how we've really been like a patient first kind of sales pitch. We've always really tried to make sure that that patient knows where they sit. Where they stand. And like you bring that perspective in and you kind of hold that glue together in our offices. So it was fun to have that conversation in the podcast where patients and people that are listening can hear that that's what our focus is, is, you know, the patient first communication.

Yeah. And I think that brings us to a good episode when we talked about that car salesman pushy tactic. Like we do not want that. We don't want patients to feel that. We don't want any of that. Absolutely not. Patients are real people and not, not numbers. I can remember when we bought our first, when, when my wife and I bought our first car really together, we went in and, you know, it was just from the minute, minute one, it was all these, you know, pointing out these little like features and don't you want that?

And they, they think they're being sly, but they're, you can feel that push the whole time. And that, that push, the, you know.

Part 694:30

The, the, the pushy car salesman. Yeah. It really more or less, you know, pushes you away. The take home is to focus on the patient and that's, you know, to focus on a patient, treat them like family. So Jessica, when you were on, I know that you guys discussed and had like a girl power episode where you kind of brought your own perspective to things. Yeah. Yeah. We got to talk about emotional patient connections. It's awesome. Yeah.

And also I think you guys discussed like transformations in the patients over time. Yep. ▶And sometimes I know we have patients that, that come in and they wish that they could show their parents or they wish that they could show their grandparents this moment. It's almost like a graduation. Yeah. Yeah. It really is. I've had a patient whose mother was no longer here and she says, you know, when I was younger, everybody said my teeth were just like my mother's and you guys really brought that back.

I remember that. I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was, that was pretty cool. Yeah. You know, um, one of the fun episodes was having you on to discuss what traveling to Boca look like, you know, most of our patients that are treated here in Boca don't really even live here and that happens in part because of you. And so when you were on, it was a really fun time to discuss how you make it sort of a Florida experience.

Right. And part of my job is to make that whole logistical process as easy and seamless as possible. And then we take those pieces and turn it into that total done in one experience. Daniel is our travel concierge extraordinaire. He is the person in charge of planning and booking the travel and making sure that patients have a great experience. I do all of our travel coordination for our out of state patients. So on my end as a treatment coordinator, usually we will start off kind of in the community.

And then we have the consultation itself. Actually, even Alex talks about it a little bit as well on the first initial call. But from the consultation, we'll let the patient know kind of towards the end. Hey, we have this service that we offer. You let us know if you're interested in it or not. Totally optional. But it's a really good thing to offer to the patients. They don't have to worry about kind of the hassle of booking their own stuff in addition to having the surgery itself.

So it's just to take that additional thing off of their plate and kind of hand them over to Daniel. I let them know travel package consists of flights for you and one other person. The hotel stay for you and one other person. Comes with our driver. So Daniel will be your concierge. He picks you up from the airport. He'll take you to the hotel. Any office to hotel visits as well. I think every once in a while you do offer a grocery trip.

Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. Comes with our travel package bag, which usually I'll hand off to Daniel. He'll drop it off at the hotel. Prior to the patient checking in. So that'll be there waiting for them, ready when they arrive. And then from there, once that patient decides if that's the way that they're going to do it, I'll hand them off. I'll say, hey, Daniel, can you reach out to this person?

Part 797:34

And then you let us know. What do you go from there? Yeah. And that's when I step in and, you know, sometimes we have patients that are booking surgery for a week out and then sometimes they're booking months out. And that's where my job, it's kind of fun. It's kind of like an adventure. You know, you get to touch base with these patients and see, you know, where they're traveling from. What are their concerns? Do they have questions about traveling?

And then, you know, you go on to the next step of where are you flying from? We go through all the flight options. Do you want a long layover? Do you not want that? Do you want something that's direct? And then we go over their hotel and do you want two queen beds? Do you want one king? Get all the fun stuff out of the way. And then I go over the process with them. So the day of your flight, you're going to fly in the day prior.

Once you arrive, you know, you're going to fly into Fort Lauderdale Airport and you're going to let me know as soon as you land. So that way I can meet you right at the door, pick you up, take you over to the hotel, and then go over all your travel package bag stuff and then your appointments throughout the week. So, Carly, we had a lot of fun when you were on because we talked about how you get to tell the stories or have to tell the stories from behind the scenes at Dun & Wan.

But then you also get to interact with and tell the patient stories. Absolutely. We talked about how authentic patient stories really build trust. Someone on social media can definitely tell when something's fake and then when something's genuine. I get to know the patient, so I try and post like what they would want and what they kind of relate to me. Do you find when you're interviewing them, when you're doing this testimonial, do you feel like they're wanting you to lead them in a certain direction?

Sometimes. Or there's some kind of like hesitance to say the wrong thing? Sometimes, yeah. Like some patients, when they talk about money or just even before. Sometimes they're a little bit hesitant and they don't know if they should share that. And I tell them, share everything, share anything. And even some patients that want to do the testimonial but might be like a little bit nervous, I'm like, hey, this can be five minutes, this can be 30 minutes.

It's completely up to you and how you answer the questions. And I always tell them, no pressure. You know, if you want to stop at any point, we can. But all of them, a lot of them are like very, very happy to do it and they want to do it. They seem very happy. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. You can see sometimes from like, you can tell what the beginning of the testimony was. And then by the end of it, they've like gotten comfortable and they're opening up more.

Yeah. Because it can be kind of like when I give them the mic and I turn the light on, I think a lot of them are like, whoa, like this is kind of like TV. And I try to talk to them and kind of calm them down for the people that are a little bit nervous. Yeah. I think once they see it, it's just a conversation. Exactly. Yeah. That's what I tell them. We're just talking. You're just sharing your experience.

And a lot of them want to because they want to help other people. ▶Like that is what they go into it saying like, this is what I thought and this is why you shouldn't be afraid. And the question I always ask is like, um, what, like, do you have any suggestions for like future patients? And they always just say, do it. That's I get that every single time. Yeah. Yeah.

Part 8100:35

And we got into sort of like your, your hobbies. We both like Legos. We enjoy doing that. Um, and whatever creativity you have, you're going to find sort of little things in your hobbies and other interests. That's just how creativity works. It kind of goes between hobbies. I love to paint. I love to draw. I love to do Legos. We share that hobby. Yes, we do. That's where I was kind of getting to talk about Legos. I love Legos.

Um, when did you get into it? I know your style is a little bit different than mine. I'm more of like a set guy, like I have the Titanic and the rocket ships and stuff. You're more, um, like you did the easy, the flowers, you did the Van Gogh just recently. Yeah. Through this, we've had a lot of conversations with what happens behind the scenes. We had you on Dinaldo to share your love for everything. Like I said, the lab is key to, you know, everything we do.

You kind of get to oversee sort of all these different pieces coming together and get to sort of be the orchestrator and the conductor of sorts to, to get all of these things running and keeping running smoothly. Correct. Correct. Correct. I think that, like you said that to the, the flow is very important. So I'm kind of like the glue guy between, uh, the office and the lab. This is true. We communicate with Dinaldo pretty much 24 seven from the office end.

Like myself and Lilia, Dr. Laks, Nadia, Jessica, I know everybody's in constant communication with Dinaldo. Correct. Correct. Constant. It's key. I mean, it has to be a key. Otherwise, you know, the left hand has to know what the right is doing basically. You're also there for that moment when we moved into the studio and branched out on our own. And you were the first one here. I was the first one. So I think I was the right guy to start this new, uh, I think you were right at your home.

And now what's what we call home. We are in our new home and actually that's probably the reason, main reason why we have Dinaldo here today is, um, we are located in the lab. At the end of the day, it's always been about the patients. Yeah. ▶Treat people like family and always do the right thing. A whole entire 50 episodes later. Yeah. Specifically, we want to say thank you for joining us for this journey.