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Elvis Dahl: Financial Mistake
36 Plays1 month ago
💸 Avoiding Financial Flops in Dentistry! 💡
In this week's episode of Dental Fuel, host Tanya Sue Maestas sits down with dental tech guru Elvis Dahl to tackle the tricky world of financial mistakes in dentistry. 🦷✨ From costly investments in shiny, new tech to optimizing digital dentures, Elvis shares his expert insights on balancing innovation with practicality.
Episode Summary:
In this insightful episode of Dental Fuel, host Tanya Sue Maestas converses with seasoned dental tech expert Elvis Dahl about financial pitfalls in dentistry and the rapid evolution of dental technology. This discussion shines a spotlight on costly mistakes associated with premature investments in new technology. Elvis shares his experience navigating the balance between technological innovation and its practical implementation. As dental technology progresses at breakneck speed, understanding the risks and benefits of investing in the latest equipment becomes paramount—a theme that is prominent throughout their dialogue.
Elvis Dahl takes listeners on a journey through the intricacies of dental equipment investments and the transformative nature of digital dentistry. Emphasizing the significance of adopting mature technology over new, untested inventions, he highlights common pitfalls that labs and clinicians face, such as redundant equipment expenses and the shift in technical skill requirements. Tanya and Elvis delve deep into the world of removable dental work, with Elvis providing expert advice on optimizing analog and digital processes. This episode serves as a valuable resource for dental professionals eager to enhance their practice while avoiding unnecessary financial strain.
Key Takeaways:
- Investing prematurely in new dental technology can lead to significant financial losses.
- Digital dentistry, especially digital dentures, has become an advanced and reliable option for clinicians.
- Proper technique in impression taking is crucial to avoid altering VDO and achieving accurate dental work.
- An efficient workflow, including the use of existing dentures for impressions, is crucial for optimizing digital processes.
- Continuous learning and adaptation are key to success in the ever-evolving dental technology landscape.
Connect with Elvis Dahl: @voices_from_the_bench
Connect with Ignitedds and Dr. David Rice: @ignitedds Free Intro Call
Connect with Tanya Sue Maestas: @tsmaestas.dds
Learn more about Ignite Coaching : https://ignitedds.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Dental Fuel Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Dental Fuel, the podcast that focuses on what no one else is talking about, mistakes. The dental world is full of before and afters, and no one is talking about the middle. Dental Fuel brings you the unspoken in-between.
Sponsorship and Bridging Dental Gaps
00:00:14
Speaker
Dental Fuel is brought to you by Ignite DDS Coaching, empowering dentists to build self-determined futures. Together, we're shaping the next generation of leaders in dentistry, dental technology. If anyone knows it best, it's our lab technicians.
Challenges with New Dental Technology Adoption
00:00:29
Speaker
Elvis Doll has been instrumental in bridging the gap between dental labs and clinical practice. We talk about the challenges of adopting new technology, and he highlights some common pitfalls from labs and clinicians. Let's tune in.
Financial Mistakes in Dental Investment
00:00:42
Speaker
Elvis here at Dental Fuel, we also like to talk about finances and financial mistakes that we get into, any financial mistakes that you have made that relate to the realm of dentistry. Wow. Well, I don't own a lab, but I know a lot of lab owners.
00:00:59
Speaker
And I'm sure this relates a lot with clinical, but it's jumping into technology before you're ready. o Yeah. Tell me more. Well, you, there are, every lab has a piece of equipment they bought 10 years ago that was over a hundred thousand dollars at sitting there because we all get overhyped with great technology.
Obsolete Technologies and Investment Impacts
00:01:20
Speaker
Some of it smoothed out recently mills and printers are all kind of at a level where they're all decent and they're all doing good work.
00:01:28
Speaker
But back in the day, you know when new mills came out, they were expensive and they were heavy and they were they were terrible, but we didn't know any better. So we needed labs to buy these things, to troubleshoot them and tell the rest of us they were bad, but we've all been through it.
00:01:48
Speaker
And buying equipment does not replace technicians. A lot of people would think, Hey, I'll buy this back in the day, get rid of all my waxers when I buy this mill, but now you just need different technicians with different skill sets. So not only the money wasted on the technology, but it's also the money wasted on the the the personnel to run it.
00:02:10
Speaker
And we've all been there. And I'm sure every clinician's been there. I go to a lot and I see some old scanners sitting in the corner. That's not doing anything. Or some archaic looking laser device that was pretty good 10 years ago that's got
Equipment Investment Reflections
00:02:25
Speaker
dust on it. I mean, we all do it.
00:02:27
Speaker
I've shared with others that you know in this profession we're we're attracted to the shiny, the shiny brand new thing. It's just, oh, I gotta have it. And you're right. you know sometimes if you know Sometimes you make use of it and it's great and it's worth your investment, every single penny. But sometimes ah it ends up sitting in that corner, like you said, and and that's wild. It's just that huge investment that you made. And let's look how technology's moving.
Enthusiasm for Surgical Guides and Implant Bars
00:02:52
Speaker
every of these, let's use scanners, for example, they're all coming out with the new ones now, the Trios, the, the Medit, the, the ITERO, they all have new ones coming out and they're telling you it's the best thing, but what about the last one you sold me? Is it no good anymore? It was the greatest thing last time you sold it to me, you know? So keeping up on that, that's a, that's a ton of money going around. Was there a piece of equipment that you really enjoyed using when you were truly hands-on?
00:03:21
Speaker
Um, I'm a handpiece guy, you know, can't go wrong with the good quality handpiece. Um, I was really big early on with surgical guides and implant bars. Cause those kind of, kind of like my passion back in the day and early on Nobel had a scanner and a design program that was like really the only one you could use.
00:03:43
Speaker
uh, Nobel pro Sarah, which I think they're still around, but, um, yeah, I used to use the crap out of that thing. I, I made a lot of bars. in my day
00:03:53
Speaker
Um, so tell me a little bit more about your, your
Business Growth in Indiana
00:03:57
Speaker
role now. Can you, can you, uh, tell us a little bit more about what it entails? Just yeah kind of ah away from ah guess a guess, a physical lab. Yeah, it's, it's kind of weird for me and it took a while to get used to it because I was always home based in a lab. I had the lab to go to every day. Heck I i hardly ever left the lab, but now with the lab being in about two hours south of me,
00:04:22
Speaker
My main goal is to grow business in Indiana. I am not a salesperson. and And if my lab's listening right now, I'm sorry. But I'm not a salesperson. What I am is I have a ah ton of knowledge from the lab side that I can bring clinically. So even today alone, I was in three different cities helping three different types of patients.
00:04:43
Speaker
on various things. A lot of it's removable work, because that's where clinicians lack a lot of knowledge and a lot of help. um I'm not really chairside to seat single
Improving Lab to Clinic Processes
00:04:54
Speaker
crayons, you know? I mean, zirconia crayons are kind of chromotomized. What's the word?
00:04:59
Speaker
ooh i don't know ah That may be a new one for me. Edit this. yeah Zirconia crowns, everybody can make them. They're all good, right? Fair. Very well said. Yeah, but it's removable that I get a lot of help with and a lot of implant removable work. I pick up a lot of locators all on four conversions, you know, all those kinds of same day, surgery, procedures, anytime I can help. Sometimes it's just to go in and take a shade, and I'm not a ceramist, but I'm happy to help. yeah um What else do I do? i just Whatever I can to help. and A lot of it is, hey, I've done this trying twice, it's just not going right. When is the patient coming in next? Let me come in and see. Another benefit is, let's say you are having crown issues. so
00:05:51
Speaker
You've gotten in the last four or five crowns, they're all high occlusion. For the last four or five, you've had open margins. You don't know why. Usually you'd call your lab and be like, hey, I got open margins. Someone on the other side says, okay. And then you hope they magically fix whatever's the problem. right But what I can do and what I love to do is I'll go in and watch your process of prepping.
00:06:12
Speaker
watch your process of taking an impression or even scanning, and then I'll follow that through the lab and then see if we can dial in the problems that we're having because all labs have problems.
Enhancing Removable Dentistry with Digital Dentures
00:06:23
Speaker
and i mean I've run into everything. I've seen people where they they haven't turned off their scanner in like six months. No wonder this thing don't work and well, or they're using expired impression material. no you know I don't know if it really goes bad, but are you willing to risk it? you know Let's just look at the processes. and Sometimes they just want somebody to come in and just kind of check things out because they get stuck in their ways. And I pick up so much information in all the other offices I'm in. I'm happy to share it. you know It's not like something I've learned. I've just picked it up.
00:06:55
Speaker
That's great. ah back Backtracking to removable, which is always a hot topic for dentists. what are things What are common things that you have seen, and what advice would you give to dentists to be better at removable? Yeah. So I'm really in on this digital dentures. I know that's a... That's a topic that a lot of people are like, it's not there yet. if they They don't look as good. But I think the process clinically is proven to be amazing. So if you have a scanner that's halfway decent, look into digital dentistry. Sorry, look into digital dentures because that's going to make the process so much easier. But the two biggest things I see removably is
00:07:45
Speaker
ah air the records being taken are just off right off the get go. Usually a wash impression is taken in something either it be a custom tray or their old denture and too much wash impression is being used. You're changing the video by like two to three millimeters just because you're filling that thing up with a depression material.
00:08:09
Speaker
You're just capturing the anatomy. You don't need so much. And I see this all the time. and That's a big issue that I see. Bite registrations, not doing both, not doing a full arch bite registration. I see them just like a little bit in the front and that girl that's good. No, it's not enough. We need substance you know in order to articulate. But when you're into digital, it's it looking at your scans.
00:08:38
Speaker
enlarging your scans before you hit the send button.
Efficiency Tips for Digital Dentures
00:08:43
Speaker
For the digital workflow, ah are you still recommending taking an impression and scanning off of that impression? Oh, you're getting into a fun topic here. Yeah. If they're totally a denture list and they have no denture. Yes. I have, I see no reason why we shouldn't use analog going into digital. If they have a denture.
00:09:03
Speaker
And might say about 80% of the patients that are edentulous have something. I don't care if they haven't worn this thing in 10 years. I don't care if it's broken in half, it's moldy, it's chipped tooth, whatever. That with a wash impression inside of it can get us like three steps quicker to the final product. And the record taking on that is just amazing.
00:09:28
Speaker
Taking that wash in that existing denture ah medium light, PBS. I'm a big fan of medium, okay but using a very little. Put that denture in, look at the flanges up in the vegetable areas. If you need to extend those, get some heavy body on those borders. okay If you don't need them.
00:09:50
Speaker
Yep. With heavy body and material on it don't have to go too crazy. Um, if the, if the thing fits relatively good, I'm good with a light wash. If it's got a little bit more movement, I'd step it up to a medium kind of depending on how much you need to recapture, but don't fill the tray. I see this all the time.
00:10:09
Speaker
I mean, they fill the whole denture up and then they shove it in there and then they hold it in place. That thing, what used to be here is now down here and the whole thing is off. You're just recapturing the anatomy. I feel like that would be a good, good video to see how much, uh, PBS you recommend. Well, yeah.
00:10:30
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. It's, it's different for every patient, honestly, by, by the fit of that denture. Okay. That's fit it's a fair fit yeah pretty decent. You don't need much. You really don't. But if it's loose, you know, what do they say? Socks on a rooster or whatever that saying is. Yeah. Feel free to feel free to use more, but don't fill it up. I love it. I love it when they shove it in there, then they take so the whole three minutes. They're scooping it out.
00:10:55
Speaker
but Right, because it's so much like it's just an overflow the entire time. What are you doing? That just seems ridiculous. to Yeah, that's that. Well, that's where you waste the material is not my place to that. Well, doctor. That's fair. That's fair. But you're providing an excellent suggestion and guidance here. We hope you're enjoying our conversation with Ellis stall. We're back next week where we talk about a team mistake. We're ready to take the next step in your journey. Book an intro call with ignite DDS coaching today and level up your future in dentistry.