Ep. 59: Road Trip to Jax: Behind the Scenes

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. We have a unique episode today. We are on the road headed towards Jacksonville. Jacksonville is one of our latest additions in terms of locations for Done In One. We also have a general dentistry brand there as well called Every Smile. And today what we're going to do is we're just going to go through and have some casual conversation on why Jacksonville and have a few questions, I think. Right, Nick? Yeah. Yeah. We're going to have some questions coming in from the third row with Nick and Lilia back here. So first off, we'll get kind of kick-started with what are we doing? Why are we driving up to Jacksonville? We left at 615. What's the game plan here? Well, we're on our way to go do five arches for Done In One and we're going to do a little bit of a tour of Jacksonville. So we're going to do a little bit of a tour of Jacksonville and do some consultations as well. But we're on our way up there. We bring kind of a heavy crew, as you can see. We could easily hire it out, but I think that the biggest thing is that we like to build the culture in that office and, you know, get it going so that we can all make sure that every location kind of has that consistent touch and that feel, right? Yeah.

We make it, make the effort and go up at six o'clock. Well, it can be 530. It can be six. It can be 630. And we're usually there all day. We probably won't make it tonight till home till 11 or 1130. So it's quite the day. Yeah. And we all typically will have, you know, driving duties shared, but Daniel is looking nice and stoic in the video. If you're checking us out on YouTube. Shout out, Daniel. You got to give the wave, Daniel.

If you're not a travel package member, you probably might not have met Daniel, but if you are, you know, considering the travel package or I've used it in the past, you know, and love Daniel. So I had to give him a quick shout out. But next, we actually didn't go around and say who's in the car. So we have Carly there and we have Danimal and me, of course. Dean is feeling a little under the weather, so she's not going to contribute too much. But and then we've got our children.

We're in our car seats back here. Our booster seats. The boosters. The boosters. So, Dr. Dan, do you want to talk about how you used to make this trip a few years back and kind of how maybe how that's changed from then to now? And yeah, so probably I guess in 2013, I started working up in Jacksonville. It's where I got most of my full. March experience and reps as a young periodontist. And around COVID, we decided to move the whole operation south. And when we did that, I did not expect to ever really come back to Jacksonville.

And here we are doing the weekly trip. But back in the days of back then, it was a little bit

Part 23:26

different. I would go up on Monday mornings, generally would leave at like three thirty or four. Do surgery from about eight until I guess we were done at seven p.m. And then I would stay for two nights, usually in a hotel or in an apartment. Towards the end, I had my own apartment. And then on Wednesday evening, I would check my butt back down to Boca Raton. So it's a little bit different. ▶The trip itself has changed. We used to and Nick used to go on these trips a lot with me. We have lots of stories.

We have different things that have happened along the road and different places that we used to stop through the years. We've always had like certain exits that have kind of carried us through that we would we'll say look forward to stopping at. And now that there's Buc-ee's, we generally just stop at Buc-ee's on the way there. But I think and I've tested this, Nick, you probably as well. I've been off on every single exit, both north and south, I think.

Yeah, definitely. You have. Yeah, I joined you on most quite a few of those exits. But now that there's a Buc-ee's, that's three and a half hours from home and then only an hour to an hour and 15 from to the clinic after the Buc-ee's stop. I don't think we'll ever stop at another exit again. I think there's there's only two exits in all of the state of Florida, the Buc-ee's exit and the Jacksonville exit. Yeah, well, that and so on the way back, what we do is we stop if it's a lighter day. We'll say to treat ourselves. We go to a sit down Mexican restaurant and enjoy ourselves until we need to leave. But then if it's more rushed, like today might be a little bit long. So we may decide to just stop at McDonald's or something. But it's very patternistic and it goes in waves every single time.

So you, you know, touched a little bit on, you know, your success and your kind of, you know, starting out in Jacksonville. What was one of the reasons why building a third Done In One office in Jacksonville was so important to you? And, you know, why did it now seem like this was the right stage after building out the Boca Raton office, building out the Tampa office, you know, finally stretching the wings and going to the third location in Jacksonville? Well, there's the obvious for the licensure in Florida and covering.

Florida, you know, we've got the South, we've got the North and we've got the Western side with Tampa pretty well covered. Boca has always lended itself to our travel package. So we have a lot of people that come in from out of state and it functions really well there because you've got the West Palm airport and the Fort Lauderdale airport are like 27 minutes a piece away. But the Jacksonville location, it's just a really big metropolitan area with a lot of pull from more rural areas. So in terms of the demographics of people that need full arch, it's really quite the sweet spot. It's got a lot of really down to earth, like I said, blue collar people that are in need of full arch.

There's a big volume and it pulls a lot from like North Florida, North Central Florida, Southern Georgia. We actually probably, Lily, you can weigh in on this. We have a lot of people that really kind of almost end up staying in a hotel every time there as well, right? Yeah, I think that it seems like most patients do come from like the Georgia, Carolina area. And because, you know, there's really close hotel options, I think they just end up staying for the first few days. But yeah, I would say Georgia has definitely been like number one from what I've seen on my end.

▶Yeah, it's almost like there aren't that many local people from Jacksonville yet with our marketing. But it's always been a really good demographic. It's pretty convenient to get to.

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It's a straight shot on 95. When we were doing the same thing to Tampa, that was a lot more inconvenient, a lot more back roads. We got stuck a lot on route. What is it? Is it 60, the animal? We got stuck a lot on 60 in traffic. But in Jacksonville, it just seems to kind of flow very well. So didn't really expect it. But here we are back on our way to Jacksonville. What's something compared like Bogan, Tampa, like a lesson you learned from from, you know, opening those two offices that helped with this one? What to do and not to do?

I think that every time you do something, you get a little bit better and faster at it. Um, every situation is way different, though. Yeah. In in Tampa or in. Really, I'll start in Boca in Boca. We kind of built our own thing, really, with this crew that's in here. We kind of built it to be how we wanted and what we wanted. And then going to Jackson or going to Tampa was a little bit different because that was a established practice that already had leadership and, you know, a main focus that was already there and already kind of had a lot of structured things in place. So that was a good, good second location. And then Jacksonville didn't really it was kind of headless. So we had to find the head of the restorative. We had to find the head of the assisting. So we really kind of had to build from scratch apart from having just a building. So they've all been very unique. But I think that the the main thing for us as we build out an office is, is it going to be a good opportunity for location? Is it going to be a good opportunity for location?

Is it going to present the brand the way that we want? And can we build a staff around it that does the same that can be not only good leaders in their field, but can be caring and compassionate and treat our patients the same way that we would in Boca? Yeah, and it's it's been a very fun challenge to go for a third location, you know, kind of, like you said, find the right spot, you know, ensure that we build it. So let's talk a little bit about that location. So it's in downtown Jacksonville and Riverside. So it's right next to the well, it's in the Morgan and Morgan building, which is, you know, pretty famous building in Jacksonville. So, you know, what was one of the things that drew you to that once it was kind of presented by the leadership team of possibility, you know, is was it the 12 operatories? Was it the healthy patient base that we could be going into? It's just a location like, you know, what, what really kind of settled it as like, all right, this is, this is the time let's put the, you know, as showtime per se. It was probably how aggressive it felt, you know, having 12 operatories, like we knew that we had to step our foot on the gas to begin with. So that was exciting. And it is in, in Boca, we had to think about where we are relative to the airports because of transporting people from to and from the airport. But in Jacksonville, we had to think more of where the roads align and where they where they cross and where we are is exactly where essentially 95 and 10 cross those. That's where the sort of main center of the city is. So I don't think we can have a better location city wise in terms of catching patients or giving patients a convenient route

Part 411:21

from I-10 and then from 95. So for that, it was a, it was a roadway crossing. And, um, the location is just stunning in itself. And that location kind of had been underserved from a, um, build out and patient base from, from the get go. So we kind of wanted to give the space the best opportunity that it could have towards, you know, treating and serving Jacksonville in the best way it could. Yeah. So, you know, in my opinion, over the last kind of nine years of going back to Jacksonville and seeing different things, you know, downtown area is definitely, definitely flourishing. And it's only going to continue that with, uh, the new kind of gentrification of downtown with the Jacksonville Jaguars doing their multi-million dollar build out the four seasons coming downtown. Like they're really kind of making downtown Jacksonville a, you know, a place to be. So it's really exciting that Dun & Warn is going to be right in the midst of that with, with a, uh, 10 year, you know, lease at least. So we're, we're, we're, you know, putting the, you know, the neck on the line a little bit for that one.

Uh, talk to us a little bit about the, you know, the build out that did occur there. You know, obviously when you go into somebody else's, you know, previous dental office has got a little bit of a different vision or a different kind of style than really maybe what you love or what the Dun & Warn branding is. So what was some of the overhaul that, that did occur when, when you took over this clinic? I'm going to kick that right back to you. Cause you're the one that took care of it the most. I was just hoping he said I did a good job.

Um, yeah, so when we took it over, we, uh, completely painted everything, which was a, you know, a project in itself, uh, redid all the ceiling tiles, redid all the, uh, lighting fixtures. Oh shoot. We put a new compressors in. So, I mean, it, we, it was actually very impressive on the fact that we picked up the keys on a Friday morning, Daniel and I did. And then by Monday, we had that place. You know, ready to, to move that bus per se, to kick it to some, some old school, uh, TV. And we were ready to roll on Monday. So massive credit to stoic Daniel up there in the front seat. And, uh, you know, we, we, we made it happen. He takes his driving job very seriously today.

Yes. If, uh, you're what, like normally, normally he's dying to talk. Yes. This is the quietest he's ever been on the first for him. But, uh, if we, we are also in some, uh, stop and go. So you're experiencing the entire piece plus. Dr. Northick said that about five minutes ago in this conversation that we would get stuck on highway 60, and then he just jinxed us getting stuck on 95. So it's about how it goes. We did add, um, we did add the tech, you know, we added scanners and, uh, a new CT. We added, uh, some implant machines, et cetera. So it's been really cool. We also took, um, the restorative dentist that we, um, were able to get there.

Part 514:29

She didn't have a ton of full arch experience. So that was really, it's been really fun to see her kind of really thrive in the, I guess neither did, uh, Dr. McDuffie, but, um, or Dr. Laks, but, um, it's been fun to, to work with her and see her grow as we go, go through everything. I know a lot of patients, um, you know, just want to make sure they come to Boca. They love the experience they have there. And then they, you know, they're looking for that same experience. It's like going to like Jacksonville or Tampa.

What do you have to say as far as patients thinking, you know, more offices, maybe less like care? Like, I know, obviously we don't think that way, but what do you have to say on that? In terms of the care that's executed in both locations? Yeah. Like just personal care, having that same feel. Yeah. I think that probably in Boca, you might get a little bit more of an intimate feel because the location's a little bit smaller, uh, and has a lot, you know, we'll say it actually is the same size staff, but it feels like it's a smaller, more intimate location. Um, they all, they both have their own positives and negatives. Um, Jacksonville is very grandiose and very, uh, impressive in terms of the level of care that you'll receive both locations, both have a restorative doc, both have, um, surgery done by myself or another periodontist.

▶So in terms of the level of care, it's just, it's very similar or the same. You could really get down into the weeds and say, if a person needs, um, additional material on their gum tissue might be a little bit more convenient for Boca versus Jacksonville. Cause they have to send the, um, lab work down to the, the lab in Boca. But, uh, in general, I would say that it's the exact same thing. Um, and I think that's a little bit more convenient for Boca.

It's the exact same care run by the exact same people with, and we, and I've kind of alluded to it, but we really spend a lot of time building out culture and some people don't really think that that's valuable. They just, you know, want to run a company and here's the rules and here's the structure. But, um, for us, we really spend a lot of time building culture and kind of friendships within the staff that we have. And that's what, you know, it's a lot of fun.

But really what we believe in. And I would say that one, it's important for us to be there just to kind of show the leadership and the experience and parlay that onto the staff that's there to how we like to see a patient being taken care of. But secondarily, it's a big part of the quality of life for me, or like the fun of this is, is this ride is hanging out with four or five of my buddies for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for five, six hours per way does get a little bit long and annoying, but, um, it's always a good time. It's great to, to hang out with everybody. Yeah, I agree. I think, like you said, they all, all the offices have their, I mean, more pros, very little cons, but there is a little bit of a difference between each, of course there's going to be, but I think the main thing is that like, no matter what, you're going to go to an office that obviously cares about you and is going to take care of you and figure whatever it is that needs to be figured out. So, do you agree? Yeah, absolutely agree. And, you know, the cool part about it is when we moved into that Boca Raton location, obviously it's headed off by Dr. Noorthoek. And then we brought Dr. Laks on and she spent, you know, countless hours being trained by Dr. Noorthoek on what to look for, how to handle cases. Same once we brought on Dr. Blake Howard, the new surgeon there in the Boca office. Then we opened up the Tampa location and same bit, Dr. Noorthoek, ▶Lilia and Dina, mostly Dr. Noorthoek and Dina were going over on, you know, at least every other week, maybe once a month and just doing cases and still in the culture, really ensuring that everybody was kind of up to speed and knew exactly what makes Done In One so special.

And that's something that, you know, it's been cool. We opened this office on September 1st of 2025 and, you know, we're now in June 15th and still making this track up, you know, a couple of times a, you know, a month just to... Really ensure that this Done In One office is going to be a Done In One office. Could we have slapped a surgeon in that location and said, have fun? Sure. But that doesn't really take the patient experience to the next level. And I think, you know, it's a massive point. It's a massive win for both the patients and the staff to really understand why we're doing this and, you know, what makes it so special. And you have to be, you know, kind of hell bent to really want to install that culture to wake up at 6 a.m. and get on the road.

But Dr. Northa gets the credit to you on that front. Kind of running out a little bit of questions here because we did wake up at 6 a.m. So my brain's a little bit of a fog. So it's not going to run as typically long as some of the consults. But let's kick this around to, you know, kind of an off the script question here is, what do you enjoy most about these drives? Is it being able to crack on Daniel for his driving abilities?

Absolutely.

Part 619:57

You know, stopping at the Mexican restaurant on the way home or getting your brisket burrito on the way up? You know, what do you kind of look forward to the most and have the most fun with when you're done with the trip? I would say definitely number one is making fun of Daniel. He's an easy target. He's an easy target. He takes it really well. ▶The best part, though, is he tries to give it back to you.

It's the best part. That's the best part. It always just comes right back. But no, I would say it's that. It's the camaraderie and the friendship. It is funny watching how it becomes routine. Like, there's a building that has on one wall, it's all hamburgers. And we've all been trying to figure out what the wall is. And it's like in a medical plaza. It's the craziest little thing. Just like those little things developing over time where you're like, oh, there's a wall. And then you're like, oh, there's a wall.

There's that. And it gets pointed out every time. But then every trip is a little bit different. Sometimes we have Carly. Sometimes we rent a car. Sometimes we take the Model Y. Sometimes we take the van. So the variety, I guess, is a big part of it as well. I would probably say my number one favorite thing is stopping at Starbucks in Jacksonville when we're there. So I'm not in a car anymore. And the day hasn't started. I'm not in a car anymore. I'm not in a car anymore. I'm not in a car anymore. I'm not in a car anymore. I'm not in a car anymore. I'm not in a car anymore. I'm not in a car anymore.

And it's just kind of like a little calm before the storm. But yeah, I think we should take that question, though, and go around the vehicle, if you will. Yeah, let's do it. I will, since I have the mic in my hand, I'll just kind of go ahead and answer that one first. Definitely going to be the Bucky stop on the way up because it's three and a half hours and we're usually getting there about like nine, nine thirty. That's a perfect time to get there. So I'm not in a car anymore. I'm not in a car anymore.

It's a perfect time for me to throw some caffeine in my body, buy a fun drink, maybe, because, you know, if you've ever been to a Bucky's, they have about, you know, 50 to 60 different energy drinks. So you can pick something new and fun. And that's a very selfish answer when Dr. Noorthoek just made his answer about having fun with everybody else. But for me, it might be my caffeine intake at nine thirty at Bucky's. So, Lilia, I'll hand it over to you next. Mine might not be any better because I was going to say the Bucky's.

Bucky's wins. No, no. Although I do love that because obviously this is, you know, I don't go to Bucky's all the time. There's not convenient ones yet. But so I would say definitely Bucky's breakfast, taco, burrito, whatever you want to call it. And the conversations we have, obviously, it's not really just work talk. We're just Daniel's asking us, would we, you know, would you rathers and all these crazy scenario questions. So which we definitely need to get into.

Yeah, we play the alphabet game. Daniel and I, majority of the time, play that together. And yeah, just the, you know, funny memories we have. Obviously, I will say I like to fall asleep sometimes. So that's that's nice, too. But I think those are my my main points. Dina doesn't know what this ride is until about nine thirty. Right? That's my makeup. Yeah. Do you want to answer that question? Sure.

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I would have to say my favorite part. My favorite part is also stopping at Bucky's. But also when we take the van, we usually have like our little movie nights on the way back. So that's always been super, super fun. But also just like hanging out with everybody. I think that's the best part is, you know, just getting to know everybody outside of work to a little bit more. More than you want. Yeah. It's always a good time, though.

Yeah, on the movie note, like, typically in the van, we'll, you know, we'll have a lot of fun. We'll turn a movie on and we'll try to find something that's like older or different that nobody's really seen. And usually we'll stop at like a Wawa. We'll get some snacks and really kind of basically really treat it like a movie night, which is an absolute blast. We haven't done that in a long time. So it's slipped my memory.

▶I'm going to add my favorite memory. It's probably when we played card games that one time. I am very good at the game BS. But that and going to Buc-ee's probably some of my favorite memories. The first time I ever went to Buc-ee's was on a Jacksonville trip. So good memories. Do you have a favorite memory there? I say just the discussions in the car. Buc-ee's is good. It's like a puzzle navigating the parking lot. But it's a fun stop in the mornings.

We've always... We've always had like fun little traditions that come out and such. And one, but then there's also like the key moments. There was one time that it was Nick and myself and Robert and our phone guy at the time, Mike. And we were heading back from Jacksonville and my truck, which I had done. How many miles did I have on it? It had something like 260,000 miles on it. I had bought it brand new. That's how much I went back and forth to Jacksonville. And it got this thing called the death shakes. And it's happened without any sort of clue that it was going to happen in the middle of 95. And the four of us who were at the time we were in building mode. So all discussions really were pretty business.

In fact, we used to make the joke that if we wanted anything to get done at Dun & One positive or like of any substance, we would have to go for a car ride because that's where we operated out of better than anywhere, any sort of office space. But we were on our way back. And this thing started the death shakes. And I'm pretty sure we all bound bonded instantly. If you've never experienced it, which I hope no one has.

It's when your car is essentially rattling from side to side, what feels like about a foot different on either side at 70 miles an hour. And it feels I've never felt like a car was going to actually come apart at the seams, which it did. Do you remember? Did we finish the ride with that car? What did we do? I was just trying to think. I feel like we had. I don't remember getting a rental car. Yeah, I think we finished it.

▶We did. We did experience it one other time. But by that time, we were seasoned death shakers. But that was probably that was probably the most jarring story that I could tell. We've never had an accident. We've never we've seen lots. But yeah, pretty wild times. Danimal, how about we go through and you go through some of your would you rathers and. Oh, I feed off of you for those. Normally, you find them on like a good Reddit thread. And it seems like I always have the wrong answer. I'm always the least popular opinion. But I think my opinions are right. And what were we talking about? We had one last week. It was really good. It was like you had to get rid of one. It was like waffles, pancakes, something like that. That's true.

I'm only getting rid of pancakes. That's the worst I've ever heard in my life. 100%. Obviously waffles. ▶I would eat pancakes every time. Nobody would get rid of waffles. It was waffles, pancakes, toast or French toast or something like that. Yeah. Definitely get rid of pancakes. French toast. Yeah. You can't get rid of waffles. Oh. Yeah, Lily will go at it. Which the alphabet game for anyone that hasn't played. I hate the alphabet game. Is what, Daniel?

So. You got to go. You got to go through the alphabet, A through Z, kind of find a sign on the road, a billboard, a license plate, a car correlates with that letter. And the goal is for you to get the most amount of letters before your opponent. I always lose. Do you always go in alphabetical order? You have to go in alphabetical order. Dumbest game on the planet. So much fun though. Makes the ride go by so much quicker.

On the road gives you time to think. But it's fun. You know, we all get to kick each other's brains about. Thoughts. And it's a really good time. Would you rather us not be here for these rides or would you rather us be present? Be present. 100%. I forgot to. I forgot to mention. So the best part about movie night is that in the van, Dan thought it would be a genius idea when we were redoing it to install speakers going forward in his cabin, like in his cab area.

That are attached to the rest of the sound system. And so when we watch a movie, we turn it up. ▶And so for two hours or whatever it is, he has it just blasting in his ears with no ability to turn it down or change anything, which is just the greatest thing. I thought it was such a smart decision when I did. I was like, oh, my goodness, like it was the music up here. Horrible. It's what you get when you spend my money frivolously.

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No, but Jacksonville is a really fun, fun ride. And I think we'll probably get some some other shots and some other content of the different things that we do through the day, stopping at Starbucks and such. And just to give anyone the sort of sense of what we do and what it is that Jacksonville is like on our week to week, we don't have a very. And then and then terribly consistent schedule, we go generally on Mondays, so we do get Sunday scaries a little bit.

Generally, it's on Mondays and it can be back to back to back and it can also be several weeks in between. ▶So we're coming well rested this week because we didn't have to go last week. Felt like it was a month long vacation. But we're on. On our way back and yeah, hope you enjoy sort of a little peek into what our life and general back and forth to Jacksonville looks like.