The Question Every Dentist Is Asking About w/ Dr. Alan Mead

Technology in dentistry is moving faster than ever, and it's easy to feel like you're falling behind. AI is writing chart notes, robots are helping place implants, and there's a new company pitching you every day.

In this episode, Dr. Alan Mead and Paul discuss where dentistry is really headed, what's worth your attention, and what matters most even as the tools evolve.

Topics discussed:

• Microscope dentistry
• How tech in dentistry has changed over the past 30 years
• Getting patients to trust your treatment plan
• The dental task AI is about to automate
• Could robots actually replace dentists?
• Why you should beware of new AI tools

This episode was produced by Podcast Boutique https://www.podcastboutique.com

Invest in your Team and the Leaders you Need at the DPH Leadership Intensive Here

Invest in your Team and the Leaders you Need at the DPH Leadership Intensive Here

Join our Newest and Best Coaching Program, Click Here for More Information

Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life

We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams.

Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.

Transcript

Technology Is Moving Too Fast

Paul Etchison 0:02

Have you ever noticed that the longer you're in dentistry, the less certain you become about where everything is even going? I mean, one minute we're talking about digital scanners, AI, the robots that place implants, automated chart notes. And the next minute we're back there arguing with the stupid Bluetooth and why the hell our phone won't connect to stuff. Because let's face it, technology, it just keeps moving faster. And right now it is moving faster than ever. In our profession, in dentistry, it is changing. And sometimes I can tell you, I feel like I'm just trying to keep up. But the funny thing is that literally every generation before us, before me, has felt that way. They watched the paper charts go away. They watched the films become all digital, they watched the impressions turn into scans. And now we're watching AI show up in like almost every conversation. So today I am joined by my good friend, Dr. Alan Mead. Man, every time Alan and I get together, we have a fantastic conversation. I don't know why. He is one of the easiest people to talk to in the world and one of the easiest people to interview because we just don't have to structure it. We just get on the mic and we rock. And we talked about AI and dentistry, where we think the profession is going. And it was just an all-round fun conversation that I know you are going to find so freaking entertaining because I know I was entertained when I was having the conversation and I had a great time talking to Alan. He is an exceptional human being, and man, is he funny. So you're going to like this interview. Now you're listening to the Dental Practice Heroes podcast, where we help dentists build better practices, make smarter decisions, and create more freedom in both their business and their life. I'm your host, Dr. Paul Etchison. I'm a practicing dentist. I'm an author, a coach, and the owner of a multi-doctor dental practice in the south suburbs of Chicago. And one of the things that I enjoy most is having real conversations with dentists who have been in the trenches long enough to offer some perspective that you just simply can't get from a textbook or maybe some kind of webinar or the whatever latest trend you're seeing on social media. So without further ado, let's get into this interview.

Meet Dr Alan Mead

Paul Etchison 2:08

So Meet Family Dental, you've been practicing in Michigan for a super long time. You're a microscope dentist. Yeah. What do you call a microscope dentist? Do you guys have like a term for yourselves? A dentist, basically.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

The microscope, every microscope dentist. Like scopies or something like that? Scopies. Yeah. Yeah, me and my scopies are hanging. I don't know. Yeah. What's fun, every microscope dentist gets into it thinking that their patients are going to be super impressed with their technology. And every dent, every microscope dentist realizes they don't care at all.

Paul Etchison 2:38

So you've been doing it 30 years. I mean, you've seen a lot of changes in dentistry. You've seen the change. I mean, I guess I'm trying to think like what are what would you say were the big changes that saw through your career? I think right now is the AI revolution. It's like the reverse of the great resignation. Everyone was resigning about five years ago, and now everyone's like, oh crap, computers are smarter than me now.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yeah.

Paul Etchison 2:58

What'd you see like over your career, man? Like import some wisdom on us.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Interesting.

From Paper Charts To Scanners

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Okay. So when I was waiting for my license to physically be mailed to the office, right? Like I was working with my dad. And uh what I did the first couple days that I was working at his office was no dentistry because I didn't have a license. I actually was running cable for his first computer network in 1998. Ooh, okay. He had dentrics, and so we were networking. I was helping whoever is IT guy run cable in the in the crawl space of his office. Oh. Yeah, he had literally just kind of he had a computer, but like a lot of dentists in probably the mid-90s, what they had was a computer in the front desk and they would use it to if they were doing insurance, they would probably use it to do insurance stuff, and they they would probably do like the books, the ledger stuff. I know for a fact that he had a an appointment book that was like the full-on appointment book with pencils and stuff like that. So literally, as I came in, he was transferring to Dentrix where it was he had some clinical computers in the back along with the computer. So that was that was like the first big thing, like I said, I guess it was 1998. So it was it was a while ago. So we had computers there. So getting away from paper charts, right? Like you make everything digital, is what you guys said? He may have eventually gotten there, but I don't think he was completely cut. Like there's a certain comfort level with paper charts that that people, old people have a hard time getting, even if you're not really using them for anything. They just sort of like having a place. So what if the and I I think there's still people like that that are mostly digital, but they have a paper chart anyway. We still have technically we still have paper charts for people. We don't really use them for much, but we have them. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe what about the x-rays? When did you transition that? Like 2008. 2008 is when I went digital x-rays. And the digital transition, interestingly, has it's still happening on some level, but it was it was slower than like looking back, it seems like it should have been faster than it was. Like I got my first scanner in 2016. So that was 10 years ago. Okay. And I was pretty late to the game on that, honestly.

Paul Etchison 4:56

So scanners have been pretty typical for which is surprising since you were a microscope dentist. It seems like you're kind of ahead of the game. Or you're you you value technology, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

I do. I do. Microscopes are funny because they're an analog technology. They're basically lights and lenses mostly. Oh, true.

Paul Etchison 5:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

And an arm, you know, to get them over there. So what's interesting is the cool thing, once you bought a microscope, there's no upgrades you have to now. I buy newer microscopes with better features, but the reality is there's no software upgrades. There's no nothing, you know, there's nothing like that. It's it is what it is once you get it there. So that's kind of interesting. But I I started out with uh the 3M scanner where you had to have powder on it and stuff. That was a nightmare.

Paul Etchison 5:32

Yeah. We've come a long way.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

We have. We have. So yeah, I saw the digital thing. I think in when I first started, it was sort of like the golden age of cosmetic dentistry. They were in there were just materials coming out left and right that were not well tested, and we have a lot of regrets about art glass and cap tech and crap like that.

Paul Etchison 5:51

Oh, yeah, captech. I was I did that a little bit. Yeah. That's sheared off all the time. At least it was gold underneath.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

It was a gold foil with porcelain stacked on it. What could possibly go wrong? I mean, yeah. I replaced all of them. I'm pretty sure that I did. They looked really nice when they went on. They did. But the porcelain was bound to fracture pretty soon. So yeah.

Paul Etchison 6:10

I'm curious

Microscope Versus Loupes In Real Life

Paul Etchison 6:11

with your microscope, say, like, what are you magnifying? Like, what is your magnification level? You know, it's funny.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

I have the one that I use most often. I don't know. It's I want to say I'm typically between about six and eight. Okay. It's hard because I have a zoom on on a lot of them, and the zoom means that I'm not exactly sure what it is. And then there'd be a multiplication problem for to figure it out. But it generally speaking, I'm probably at the lowest level, it's probably like having four and a half power loops, and I go up from there. I probably keep it in around six to eight times typically. But what's funny about it is the kind of visual information you get in a microscope is real different than loops. In some cases, loops are better. Why? Like I I'll do a lot of stuff in the scope. I don't even know how to describe it other than like, okay, so with a microscope, you have to look. Your oculars are always going to come straight. The light and the lens is always lined up in a very certain way. Okay. So you're going to see exactly what you're seeing. And I think, I think with loops, or you unconsciously kind of work the angle a little bit with loops to kind of get, and I think a microscope is pretty hard to do that. And I don't think it's it's not super important, but there's there's different data you're getting with different things. I still use loops in a light quite often, but because it's a little different. I and I will say, in a microscope, when you're in deep with magnification, it's like scuba diving. It's like your whole, you're kind of right in the zone. It's pretty fun, actually. It's pretty great. But there are times when it's nice to maybe not be quite in so far with the zone. Classic thing. I was doing my emergency patient today who guilted me into coming in and helping her out with two little tiny chips. Shame on her.

Paul Etchison 7:50

So you had to come in. Yeah, you're not normally you're not supposed to be at the office and you came in for this patient. I was actually there podcasting, but yeah. Well, let's hear this emergency.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Let's decide if this was an emergency. Let's hear about it. Well, that it is funny. What is an emergency, right? That's so the way I read her text, you thought she was, you know, she had like the Jim Carrey sheared off tooth. When I saw it, it was like the smallest chip of composite ever. But my assistant and I were already there. We're like, okay, we'll take care of it. I didn't have to give her anesthesia. So it wasn't, it was not bad enough that I had to number up for crying out loud. But there was some composite broken. And so I did all of it under the scope. And then honestly, for texture, I wanted it like to see texture and just to get overall contour. I switched to my loops. I can't exactly tell you, but it's almost like maybe because you're back a little ways, it gives you a little bit more of a. I will say this too, that sometimes what's nice is with the scope, it's real easy to look straight on. When you're in loops, a lot of times you're in your in the interior. You're kind of looking over one shoulder or another a lot of times. So it's so it's, I don't know. It's helpful to have it all. Do you feel like was there a part of you that when you bust out the loops that you feel guilty towards the scope?

Paul Etchison 8:57

Like you're Oh, I do all the time. Like put the blanket over the scope, put the towel over her. Don't let her see. Don't let her see me. Does she have a name? I don't say scopey.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

I scope. I don't, I have not named the scopes yet, but now that you say that, I feel like I feel obliged to come up with one. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of a sultry, maybe sort of sassy, sultry name. I don't know. Yeah. But I do feel like when I talk about being a microscope dentist, and then I say, Well, I was wearing loops, I I feel like I'm I'm being a traitor to my cause a little bit.

Paul Etchison 9:24

I feel like this is like was that in vogue and it's kind of going out to use the the scope for general dentistry?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Let me just say this. I think it was never in vogue. I think it may never be in vogue. I think what happens is people are interested in it. And I was interested in it from the first time I saw it on Dentaltown, and I'd see them at trade shows, and typically they're trying to sell them to anodonists at that point. And I was just fascinated with them. I just was like, ah, and I'm like, that that would really I do think at the time I thought this would really make me stand out amongst my peers. I'm like, no, it doesn't. I mean, it's cool. If you like it and it's helpful to you, I think it's a worse worth doing. I have yet to see someone who has marketed a microscope effectively.

Marketing Skill Without The Ego

Paul Etchison 10:04

Yeah, I was gonna say, is that a marketing failure? Is that just like kind of like the patients just don't care?

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Well, part of it, okay. So you know what drives me crazy when people market that they're just that much better than everyone else?

Paul Etchison 10:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Because they I see that a lot. I see that a lot. You know, well, it's my training and my experience, you know, but this is the cosmetic dentist you need is the one that does. And I'm like, they're probably right, but and since no one else is gonna toot their horn for them, they decide they need to toot it. But to me, that's it's just it borders on uh just it's hubris a little bit, right? It's hard. Yeah, yeah. It's it's hard to walk that line. It is. Well, tell me about that. Have you have you struggled with because you know, you don't want to put out superiority, but on the other hand, if you're gonna market, they need to choose you for some reason, right?

Paul Etchison 10:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

I'm beyond the point where they're gonna they're gonna choose me because I'm just incredibly handsome. I'm I'm too old for that. I'm just I don't have it anymore. So that's no longer works for me.

Paul Etchison 10:53

I mean, I I think you're selling yourself a little short on that, Alan. I think you can, but you know what? It's it's all good. Like we we've gotta we've got to play to our strengths, right? I haven't had no problem telling patients how awesome I am as long as I preface it with, well, I don't want to sound arrogant and shoot my own heart. But I'm a pretty big deal. But yeah, that's that's worked for me. But yeah, it's it's hard to it's hard to brag about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

One of the best ways to show a person that you're like super superior, let's say the serious cosmetic dentist, what do they say? You have to have all of your work in you know on the walls, or you have to be able to show people your cases that have turned out well, all this stuff. And that's a way of bragging without bragging. So photography is a big deal. But like the treatment plan where you've got the $20,000 treatment plan, you go in and someone else says you need like four fillings or whatever, and the that's oh God, what a killer. That's where photography and video and being able to show the patient instead of explain to the patient why they have these problems, but show them whatever however you do that, whether it's a microscope with a monitor or a or an intra-oral camera or whatever, I feel like that's where you become a human and you're not just a dentist trying to sell treatment, you know. True. But that's been a big deal. It's been a big deal. And I sometimes forget to do that. And then when you're like, you show them and you're like, oh yeah, why am I not just doing this all the time? It's so easy to just show them and they don't they don't have to trust.

Trust, Case Selection, And Longevity

Paul Etchison 12:10

Well, it's you've got a long-term practice and like you've got some long-term trust built up with a lot of patients. I mean, I love that. Like when patients I've been seeing for over a decade, and like, you know, it's just like, yeah, time to crown it. Okay, doc. You know, it's it's like no problem. I had this horrible veneer case, and it's still going on. It's it's almost two years into it. It's great. It sucks. I lose sleep over it. But she asked me, How many of these have you done? And I said, Oh, you want to know how many like cases, like how many of these, like she's like, Yeah. And I said, Well, you know what? I will pull up the report, I'll tell you exactly how many I did. And then I told her how many units of crown and bridge I've done over the past 14 years. I've actually done over 2,000.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Yeah. But yeah, yeah. I think they if you spend the money and time, you're gonna start looking a little harder at your teeth. And I don't fault them for that. Most of the time, it's small adjustments we can make them happy. I'm hoping that I have been able to figure out people that I want to treat and don't want to treat. That's the big part. A little bit better by now. I don't do a ton of veneers, but yeah, I mean, like, there's been cases where I've said, I don't think I'm your guy.

Paul Etchison 13:11

So, like, look at your practice now. Like, I mean, you're I would it be safe to say you're you're on the tail end of your career? I mean, I don't want the listeners to think I'm talking to Alan, he's like 80 years old here. I mean, Alan, you're I just got a new walker, so that's good.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Yeah. Tennis balls on the front of it. Okay, let's think. Yeah, tennis ball. I mean, of course. What else? Don't they come with a tennis ball? I think they actually do. I think you get to choose your brand, whether you know Slazenger or Penn, you know, you can get the colors. Don't make me choose. I love them both too much. I know, I know. So, okay, so 28 years. If I'm not in the bottom half of my career, that means I'm I've got another 30 years and I'm 50. So that'd be like 84 years old. I'm still spinning the handpiece. So I hope not. I mean, I could. I know people that have. I could. My dad, around the time I bought the new building, so around 13 years ago, he sold his practice. He practiced a little bit, so he's out of it now. He didn't renew his license, and he has regrets. He wished that he'd kept it. But he was the guy, his patients loved him. I have done well by his patients. And he was in a different town than I was. So, like they it was, they have to drive a little bit to come to me. Oh, so you didn't you didn't take over his practice, like you did your own thing. I didn't. Okay. I bought a practice in the town next door in Saginaw, but I have a lot of his patients come to me. And actually, they're reliable patients. The handoff was kind of cool because the a lot of these folks were like with him. He'd say, You need a crown. They'd say, Of course, doc. I mean, I've been with you forever. You know, so I have that little superpower with a lot of these patients because the goodwill from him to me, pretty cool. Pretty cool. And I never planned it that way because I never figured people would want to drive that far. But I think a lot of them don't really mind. How much further is it? It's about 25 minutes. It's not that's not that bad. Well, you're worth the drive. Where you are, shoot. Yeah, 25 minutes is probably the normal drive for you guys.

What Dentistry Might Look Like In 2050

Paul Etchison 14:50

Well, I don't know. It would it would be a little bit on the higher end.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

I did a podcast uh a few weeks back with some friends. We were trying to sort of jokingly predicting what dentistry would look like in 2050. The first joke was would I still be practicing? And I said, I hope not. I really hope not. But yeah. Knowing with the speed of with which things are changing, what do you think 2050 looks like?

Paul Etchison 15:10

Aaron Powell Well, I feel like for us, it's gonna be tough because we're gonna be like old looking. Yeah. And I feel like we're the last people that are gonna like not get benefit of the anti-aging. Yeah. When they figure out anti-aging, we're gonna be already old. And everybody else is never gonna look past 25. So they're you're gonna look at that and like, well, it's his body doesn't work. It's all old.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Remember in the the third Back to the Future movie when when Doc Brown had like the whole he looked young again? Maybe they'll have that for us. Maybe maybe we can look at it. I want the young Doc Brown look. They give us all new blood and new skin and stuff like that. Yeah. I th I'd like to go back to like maybe 33. I don't think I'd go back to my twenties, but yeah. I mean, if if I have to be as dumb as I was, then it would be bad. But but I mean, I wouldn't mind Yeah. I wouldn't mind my knees feeling 20 saying this.

Paul Etchison 15:55

No kidding. Okay, oh my damn knees. These hips. But like, you know what, you're right. It's like trying to think like what it's gonna be like. I think there's it's we see this push for like the implant robots, and like, is that ever gonna be feasible? Is that every gonna make sense? Like, what is the benefit of doing that? Like, I don't know. I wonder like at what point will you not need a human to make decisions? And we see the AI with the x-rays and stuff, and it's just god awful.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

It's well, meanwhile, they okay. So just recently there was a you know, robots have started to prep teeth. It's not, it's not like it's not like you can buy one, but they're showing that it's possible. My funny thing about that is like, so are people gonna be okay with that?

AI Chart Notes And Robot Preps

Paul Etchison 16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

I don't know, but like I feel like the AI thing is very interesting because for one thing, I think that documentation is going to be close to automatic by that time with AI, in other words, yeah. There'll be a way that your entire appointment will be recorded in some way and the documentation will be automatic. So you won't have to do chart notes or anything like that because the chart notes will be infallibly correct. That goes to say that it'll also mention if you did a shit job with carriers removering. After the pulp started bleeding, Dr. Mead said to assistant, oh shit. I kind of wonder. Documentation, I feel like, will be closer to automatic. And and as a microscope dentist, I feel like there could be something because right now I can just press a button on the scope and record video of everything I'm doing if I want to. So maybe AI will make it so I don't I'm not the one pressing the button. Yeah. Maybe it's them. And they they're gonna say, you know. It knows the highlights coming up right here. Trevor Burrus, Jr. The taper on this prep was not good. And Mead wasn't gonna say anything about it. But being the AI, I can tell no lies, this preparation was heavily over tapered. This was the TP prep.

Paul Etchison 17:33

Trevor Burrus, Jr. I would like it if the AI was like, you're done? It's like very Yeah, I'm done. Yeah, you sure about that? It's like it's like it's like the dental school instructor. This is your final product.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Yeah, right. The AI is the one who berates you. You go, yeah. It flashback to 1997. Like, oh, I can't do this anymore. Maybe. Maybe that's what it's gonna be.

Paul Etchison 17:54

You don't have the hands for this. That's what they said. Yeah, they never said that to how you got in there. I don't know what's wrong. It's interesting to think about like what is it gonna be like and huh. I mean, so much is gonna be different. Yeah. I don't know. Like, what was your thought? What came up in your guys' conversation?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Well, I think the AI is I don't know that it's gonna be I think we all think that AI is just gonna be start replacing people. It probably won't, but I I think the tools will be. Can you imagine coming out of dental school, never having taken a physical impression, never having taken, you know, like there's a lot of stuff, and that's gonna phase out because it's like the implant people that only have done guided, they've never done freehand.

Paul Etchison 18:30

And it's yeah, they think there was somebody posted on the internet recently, like there's a knock on the people they're doing freehand. Yeah. Like, why would anyone consider freehand? I'm like, man, I I've done guided and it screwed me over once really bad, and I kind of never went back to it instead of special occasions.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

I know I know people who started freehand who have no confidence in guided too. Yeah, that's how I kind of feel about it. Yeah. But so that's interesting. That you sound like the old guy in my day. Yeah, I didn't have these guides. We didn't fucking need them. We were real dentists. We just knew what we were doing. That's all. We don't need these pesky computers telling us what to do. Maybe. I don't know, maybe. But you got a good voice, that's a good voice for that's my voice. What are you talking about? I don't know. I so I think that AI has, I think it's gonna have legs. I think it's gonna look different than we think it's gonna look. If you like, okay, I want to start having my chart notes done by AI, there's about a thousand companies that are trying to throw their and they're not necessarily good. They're just trying to get out there fast at this point. I don't know that now is the time to pull the trigger on that because you never know if it's a company that's got legs for the long term or no. And then the question is, what you know, what can AI do with actual clinical application? I I'm gonna say this if I were in medical school, I'd be real hard pressed to decide I want to be a radiologist at this point. You know, like I feel like radiology, I think it'll be a thing, but I think what's gonna happen is a radiologist is gonna be someone who runs an AI all day, who basically I think it's gonna, you're gonna be able to do a lot more work with one person, but it's also like because AI is perfect for that. That's it's exactly right now, AI is perfect for that. And

Why Bluetooth Keeps Us Humble

SPEAKER_00 20:10

then when whenever I worry about AI replacing humans, I realize that somehow if I'm using Bluetooth on my phone in the car and I happen to get out of the car and I'm trying to switch it to headphones, that is way beyond the capacity for any technology to figure it out. So I'm like, I'm I'm not that worried about AI murdering me because I get the Bluetooth headphones can't even figure it out. So I'm just not that worried about it. And I know that that's probably a fallacy to say it that way, but I will say it does kind of feel that way.

Paul Etchison 20:42

What pisses me off about my phone, and this happens on nearly a daily basis. I love voice detects. I love it, I love it. I don't care what you say, it doesn't care, it doesn't make me seem old, it just works. And I'm as far as I'm concerned, all you Apple people, you're not using the Google voice detects. If you download the Google, it will change your life. Yeah, all my Apple friends have said saying it's better. It's better. But what hate, what I can't stand, is when I'm doing it while I'm pulling out of my driveway and my phone is still connected to the goddamn Wi-Fi until I get like two blocks away. I'm like, just let go of the Wi-Fi. We're moving. Yes, yes. Like I shouldn't have to manually switch that. Yeah. It's frustrating. It's like the things are so simple but so complicated at the same time. And I'm not that worried about AI yet. We'll see. We'll see. No, yeah. I mean, it's we'll we'll all navigate this together. We're gonna figure it out. We will. It's gonna be tough. We'll get through it, guys. But I I think it's interesting.

Will AI Delete Service Jobs

Paul Etchison 21:29

And the last thing I want to say about this AI thing is like it's this whole idea that we we switch from a manufacturing economy into a service economy. Like, what is the AI? Like, I have a buddy who works at LinkedIn and he's like, dude, like they're laying off so many people. Like, everyone's like scared about like what what am I next? And then we switched from the service economy. What is the new thing that is going to emerge that are going to employ all these people that are now essentially, I mean, you gotta think like 35, 40 percent of the workforce is just gonna be deleted in the next five years with technology. The answer is artisan cheese. That's what it is. That's what it is. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Well, we talked about bratwurst and sausages in the Michigan gas stations. AI can't make that.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

AI can't make a sausage like that. That's right. Yeah. It's got to be something. If the AI doesn't need us, then why will we continue to be there? I don't know. It's a good question. I feel like right now spinning a handpiece is not a bad, is not a bad place to be, because I think AI is away from that. So I think that's a great question.

Paul Etchison 22:28

And the thing you think is the malfunctions would be catastrophic. My malfunctions are bad enough, but the AI are malfunctions.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Whoa. Whoa. Yeah.

Paul Etchison 22:37

See, you know, you know, like I'm thinking like if anyone's like listening and they're like, these guys know nothing about technology. I mean, Alan, you could always just be like, I do dentistry with a microscope. With a microscope, yeah. What do you what are you even talking about? What are you even talking about? Yeah, a microscope. Yeah. Me and my scopies, you know? Yeah, you and your scopeies. So like go take your little four two to four X magnification. Two to four X and go, yeah. Is it a toy? What is this? To get this from Toys Ross. Yeah, you can't even see. It's like stupid. Yeah. Well, dude, like, you know, I think a way to end this episode would be let's summarize the three things we taught the listener today. You go first. You give one, I'll give one. Okay, what did we take?

SPEAKER_00 23:15

What are the tactical take homes? Bluetooth technology still has a way to go. That's one. Robots are starting to do crown preps. That's two. Yeah, yeah. What's the third one, Paul?

Paul Etchison 23:26

What else did we teach him? The answer is no one could ever replace you.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Perfect. I feel like if you walk away with only that, there's been a lot of value in this episode.

Paul Etchison 23:36

Well, dude, Alan Mead, uh very dental podcast, uh a real microscope dentist, a real dentist for a long time, all around good dude. And every time we talk, guys, we didn't plan this episode. No.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

We just we just they're saying no way, I don't believe it.

Paul Etchison 23:51

Yeah, right. We just talked like this for about 30 minutes before we hit record, and then we just kept going. And then we decided to record something for you. Yeah, so there's gems in here. There are in and so share this with your friends. Check out Alan's podcast, the Very Dental Podcast. It's just a very gifted, you're a gifted orator. You're an orator. Yeah, that's what they're calling nowadays. Okay. Yeah, gifted orator, just a good talker, and it's always fun to be around Alan. Thanks so much for coming on the podcast. We're truly appreciated. Thanks a ton, Paul. This is good.

Takeaways And Next Steps

unknown 24:19

All right.

Paul Etchison 24:19

So one of the things I enjoy most about conversations like this is it just reminds me of just, man, how much dentistry changes, but it's still, it really does stay the same. The tools get better, the technology, it gets faster, the workflows change. But you know, at the end of the day, we're still solving the same patient problems. We're helping patients, we're making good decisions with the information we have, and we're trying to lead our teams. So here's what I want you to remember from this one. We'll take some tactical tips out of this is that the technology in dentistry is going to continue to evolve whether we like it or not. Not every tool is worth chasing, but the fundamentals, they still matter and they always will. And sometimes the best way to understand where dentistry is going is just to talk to people who've watched it change for a long time. I mean, the future is probably gonna look a lot different than any of us expect. And that's always been true. So somehow we dentists, we keep figuring it out. So I'm not all that worried about it. Now, if this conversation's got you thinking about where your practice is heading, what needs to evolve, and what still needs to stay grounded in solid systems, that's exactly the kind of thing that we help dentists through. Head over to dentalpracticeherous.com slash strategy and schedule a free strategy call with me. There's no pressure, it's just a conversation about what's working in your practice, what might be a little outdated, and what your next move could or should look like. And if this episode made you laugh, think, or feel just a little less alone in our crazy profession, do me a favor and leave a five star review. It helps more dentists find the show. And man, I really appreciate it more than you know. So thanks again for listening. I hope you have a great week at the office, and we'll catch you on the next one.