When was the last time your dentist mentioned that artificial intelligence was scanning your X-rays before you even sat down in the chair? General dentist Sowjanya Gunukula explains how AI is quietly transforming routine dental checkups in ways most patients never hear about. Based on her KevinMD article, "How AI in dentistry is changing your next checkup [https://www.kevinmd.com/2025/04/how-ai-in-dentistry-is-changing-your-next-checkup.html]," this conversation breaks down the two major applications reshaping dental care today: radiographic analysis that color-codes cavities and bone loss in real time, and predictive analytics that sort patients into risk categories for more personalized treatment plans. Gunukula describes how AI acts as a second set of eyes that never gets tired, catching early problems on busy days that the human eye might miss. You'll learn why dentistry is shifting from reactive to preventive, how AI-driven risk profiling can mean less time in the chair and lower costs, and why patients should feel empowered to ask their dentist how these tools are being used. She also addresses concerns about over-reliance and explains why responsible adoption keeps the patient relationship at the center. If you want to understand what is already happening behind the scenes at your next dental visit, this episode is worth your time.

Tune into our episode "2026 Cholesterol Guidelines: LDL goals, lipoprotein(a), and coronary calcium scoring [https://kevinmd.com/2026/04/2026-cholesterol-guidelines-ldl-goals-lpa-and-coronary-calcium-scoring-podcast.html]," brought to you by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

For the first time in eight years, LDL cholesterol goals have changed, and preventive cardiologist Seth Baum says the new guidelines are a long-overdue course correction. He breaks down the new LDL targets for your highest-risk patients, why the LDL hypothesis should be retired in favor of the LDL fact, why lipoprotein(a) screening finally belongs in every patient's workup, what a coronary calcium score over 300 really means for how aggressively you treat, and how to talk to statin-skeptical patients without losing their trust. Listen now at KevinMD.com/cholesterol [https://kevinmd.com/cholesterol].

VISIT SPONSOR → https://kevinmd.com/cholesterol

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform [https://kevinmd.com/kevinmd-influencer-opportunities]. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

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AI is already reading your dental X-rays and you probably have no idea

In this sponsored episode from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a leading preventive cardiologist walks through the 2026 cholesterol guideline update and what it means in practice. Seth J. Baum, a Columbia-trained preventive cardiologist, founder of Flourish Research, chairman of the Family Heart Foundation, and past president of the American Society of Preventive Cardiology, breaks down the major changes in the March 2026 ACC and AHA guideline release. You will hear why LDL targets are explicit again after nearly a decade, why universal lipoprotein A screening is now recommended, why a coronary calcium score above 300 places a patient in the highest-risk treatment tier, and why apolipoprotein B measurement can refine risk assessment when LDL is at goal. Baum also covers the alternatives available when a patient cannot tolerate a statin, including ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors, inclisiran, and bempedoic acid, along with practical framing for the statin-hesitant patient. You will also hear his approach to discussing cholesterol with patients, from the science of lipoprotein physiology to the case for earlier and more aggressive lipid-lowering treatment.

Dr. Baum was not compensated for his participation in today's episode. The opinions expressed are his alone and do not represent the opinions of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

At Novartis, our mission is to ensure no heart is lost too soon. We envision a world where preventable CV deaths are no longer part of our lives. We're proud of the positive impact we've made over the past 40 years and remain dedicated to tackling the most challenging problems in CVD. Through cutting-edge science and technology, we are focusing on areas of high unmet need, including scaling our xRNA platform across multiple risk factors and pioneering breakthroughs for genetically driven CVD risk factors and common heart conditions, including atrial fibrillation.

We also work with patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations around the world to improve CV care beyond medicine alone. Together, we can help people with CVD enjoy longer, healthier lives and more time with their loved ones. Learn more here: https://Novartis.us/cardiovascular-disease [https://novartis.us/cardiovascular-disease]

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2026 cholesterol guidelines: LDL goals, Lp(a), and coronary calcium scoring

What happens when a woman is diagnosed with a rare, estrogen-sensitive lung disease at 28, in her first week of residency, with no roadmap for whether she can safely have children? Anesthesiologist Lyndsay Hoy shares her experience navigating family planning after being diagnosed with lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare disease that predominantly affects women of childbearing age. Her episode is based on her KevinMD article, "Reproductive care for rare diseases: the missing playbook [https://www.kevinmd.com/2025/05/reproductive-care-for-rare-diseases-the-missing-playbook.html]," Even with a medical degree, institutional access, and a physician partner, Hoy found the answers incomplete, and she knows most women facing similar diagnoses have far less support. You will hear why rare disease patients so often become their own case managers, bridging pulmonology, reproductive endocrinology, and genetics with no coordinated system guiding them. Hoy draws on the oncofertility model built around hormone-sensitive breast cancer as proof that structured reproductive counseling can be developed even under uncertainty. She outlines what a minimum viable playbook for rare disease reproductive care should include and the work already underway at the LAM Foundation. If you care about closing the gaps in women's health care, this conversation will change how you see the problem.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform [https://kevinmd.com/kevinmd-influencer-opportunities]. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

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She was learning to keep others breathing while losing her own air

What happens when a patient makes a reasonable, informed decision to skip a non-mandatory test and the system simply stops? Patient advocate Aaron S. Rosenberg shares how a routine dental visit became a case study in conditional care after he declined bite-wing X-rays and was told his cleaning could not proceed. His episode is based on his KevinMD article, "Informed refusal vs. denied care: a dental case study [https://www.kevinmd.com/2025/05/informed-refusal-vs-denied-care-a-dental-case-study.html]," You will hear how a recommendation quietly became a requirement, how licensure risk was invoked despite no such mandate existing in ADA guidelines, and how the visit ended with no care delivered at all. Rosenberg draws on his career spanning clinical practice, health systems, and insurance to examine how standardization, liability concerns, and billing structures can squeeze out shared decision making. He makes the case that informed refusal is a patient right that only has meaning if care remains available after a reasonable decline. He also explores where to draw the line, distinguishing non-mandatory diagnostics tied to preventive care from urgent clinical scenarios where compliance may be essential. If you have ever wondered whether health care systems are quietly replacing clinical judgment with rigid protocols, this episode will sharpen how you think about patient autonomy.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform [https://kevinmd.com/kevinmd-influencer-opportunities]. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

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He declined routine X-rays and was denied a dental cleaning

When did volunteering stop being a choice and start being a condition of professionalism? Pediatrician, certified coach, and mindfulness and yoga teacher Jessie Mahoney realized she had donated over 2,000 hours of uncompensated work as a volunteer clinical professor, all while holding leadership roles and raising three kids, and she had never once questioned it. Her episode is based on her KevinMD article, "The hidden cost of uncompensated work on physician burnout [https://www.kevinmd.com/2025/05/the-hidden-cost-of-uncompensated-work-on-physician-burnout.html]," Mahoney traces how residency culture normalized unpaid labor and how systems now depend on it, framing obligation as generosity and penalizing anyone who pushes back. You will hear why she believes uncompensated work is low-hanging fruit in the fight against physician burnout and how the expectation of free labor disproportionately affects women, who now make up roughly 60 percent of the physician workforce. She offers practical language for setting boundaries, including the phrase "I wish I could, but I don't have capacity right now," and explains why compensation does not have to mean money alone. Mahoney also explores how generational tension among physicians reinforces the cycle and why collective action, from retreats to unionization, may be what finally shifts the culture. If you have ever felt guilty for questioning what medicine asks of you for free, this conversation will reframe that instinct entirely.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform [https://kevinmd.com/kevinmd-influencer-opportunities]. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

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She donated 2,000 hours of unpaid labor before she even noticed

What happens when a doctor closes the chart but the patient leaves without understanding what was actually said? Retired surgeon, independent physician, health care consultant, and patient advocate Alan P. Feren describes what he calls "unfinishedness," the gap between administrative closure and true clinical closure that leaves patients disoriented and adrift. His episode is based on his KevinMD article, "Unfinishedness in medicine: When a good visit feels incomplete [https://www.kevinmd.com/2025/05/unfinishedness-in-medicine-when-a-good-visit-feels-incomplete.html]," Feren shares the story of his mother-in-law, who was diagnosed with very early chronic lymphocytic leukemia but only heard the word "cancer," never grasping that her condition called for watch and wait rather than alarm. She was dead within a year. He argues that physicians routinely achieve structural closure through documentation and prescriptions while failing to make their clinical reasoning visible and understandable to patients. You will hear why cognitive overload and system pressures cause well-meaning doctors to treat a finished chart as a psychological safety mechanism, what treatment burden means and why ignoring it undermines adherence, and how patients can ask orientation-based questions to close the gap themselves. Feren also explains how AI can serve as an add-on to clinical reasoning rather than a replacement. If you have ever left a doctor's visit unsure what just happened, this episode gives you the language to change that.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform [https://kevinmd.com/kevinmd-influencer-opportunities]. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

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His mother-in-law heard "cancer," went home, and was dead within a year

When is the most powerful thing a medical student can do in a patient's room simply to stop talking? Medical students Jay Pendyala and Jonathan Berg draw on years of competitive chess to explain how the game quietly trains skills that medical school rarely teaches directly. Their episode is based on their KevinMD article, "What chess taught me about clinical reasoning and humanism [https://www.kevinmd.com/2025/05/what-chess-taught-me-about-clinical-reasoning-and-humanism.html]," Pendyala and Berg break down how chess mirrors clinical encounters across three phases, from the structured opening of patient intake through the ambiguity of the middle game hospital course to the high-stakes endgame of discharge or difficult family meetings. You will hear why prophylaxis, the chess concept of anticipating your opponent's threats, maps directly onto anticipating disease progression and surgical complications. They explore how playing thousands of games under time pressure prepared them for real-world urgency like door-to-balloon times and trauma bays, and why resilience built at the chessboard transfers to moments when a clinical plan falls apart. Perhaps most striking is their reflection on silence, the comfort with saying nothing that chess cultivates and that proves essential in psychiatry rotations and conversations with seriously ill patients. If you are looking for a fresh lens on clinical reasoning, pattern recognition, and preventing medical student burnout, this conversation delivers all three.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform [https://kevinmd.com/kevinmd-influencer-opportunities]. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

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Silence at the chessboard changed how I talk to patients

What if the biggest problem with electronic health records was not the technology itself, but that we expected it to transform medicine when it could only lay the foundation? Robert Wachter, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, joins the show to discuss his book, A Giant Leap: How AI Is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future [https://amzn.to/4dwVMw2]. He explains why AI is the first technology that replicates what doctors thought only they could do, from diagnosing complex cases to demonstrating empathy. You will hear how Open Evidence dethroned UpToDate as the go-to clinical knowledge tool, why AI scribes went from experiment to expectation in just two years, and what the Waymo model of incremental trust teaches us about avoiding a catastrophic setback in medical AI. Wachter also explores the deskilling debate in medical education, why the doctor-patient relationship may not be as irreplaceable as physicians believe, and how primary care could look radically different within a decade. If you are trying to understand where AI in health care is headed and what it means for your career and your patients, this is the conversation to hear.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform [https://kevinmd.com/kevinmd-influencer-opportunities]. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

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Gradually, then suddenly: Dr. Robert Wachter on health care's giant AI leap

What if the moment women stop seeing their gynecologist is exactly when their cervical cancer risk matters most? Nenrot S. Gopep, a physician and public health researcher, joins the show to discuss her KevinMD article, "Menopause and the drop in cervical cancer screening [https://www.kevinmd.com/2025/04/menopause-and-the-drop-in-cervical-cancer-screening.html]." Her research found that postmenopausal women are 24 percent less likely to receive a Pap smear compared to premenopausal women, even after controlling for insurance, age, and socioeconomic status. You will hear why the persistent myth that cervical cancer is only a concern for sexually active women is keeping older patients from getting screened, and why HPV can lie dormant for years before developing into cancer. Gopep explains how the shift away from gynecologists after menopause places greater responsibility on primary care physicians to continue screening through age 65. She also discusses the expanded availability of the HPV vaccine, what Australia's elimination of cervical cancer teaches us about what is possible, and the specific questions patients should be asking their doctors about screening and vaccination. If you or someone you care about has put off cervical cancer screening after menopause, this episode could change that decision.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform [https://kevinmd.com/kevinmd-influencer-opportunities]. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

PARTNER WITH KEVINMD → https://kevinmd.com/influencer

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Why cervical cancer screening drops after menopause, and why that's dangerous

What happens to patients with disabilities when the government signals their lives don't matter, and what does that mean for the doctors fighting alongside them? Ashna Shome, a pediatrics resident with cerebral palsy, joins the show to discuss her KevinMD article, "The impact of policy cuts on ableism in health care [https://www.kevinmd.com/2025/04/the-impact-of-policy-cuts-on-ableism-in-health-care.html]." She explains how proposed Medicaid cuts, the rollback of physical access requirements for federal buildings, and harmful rhetoric around autism and vaccines are compounding to create a more hostile environment for the one in four U.S. adults living with disabilities. You will hear how anti-vax discourse tacitly suggests that developmental disabilities are worse than death, why she now relies almost exclusively on the American Academy of Pediatrics as a trusted source of health information, and how her own experience navigating medicine with cerebral palsy has shaped her advocacy. Shome also makes a compelling case for physician unionization as a tool for disability justice, arguing that the artificial barrier between doctor and patient must be dismantled. If you care about disability rights, health equity, or the future of physician advocacy, this conversation demands your attention.

Partner with me on the KevinMD platform [https://kevinmd.com/kevinmd-influencer-opportunities]. With over three million monthly readers and half a million social media followers, I give you direct access to the doctors and patients who matter most. Whether you need a sponsored article, email campaign, video interview, or a spot right here on the podcast, I offer the trusted space your brand deserves to be heard. Let's work together to tell your story.

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I have cerebral palsy and I'm a doctor. Here's what policy cuts mean for patients like me.

Social media's leading physician voice, Kevin Pho, MD, shares the stories of the
many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from. 15
minutes a day. 7 days a week. Welcome to The Podcast by KevinMD.