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This is Laura Dedo with the
Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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I'm thrilled today to be
joined by Vimo, but Nger,

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chief Operating Officer of
Empire Dental Arts. Vimo,

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it's a pleasure to have
you on the podcast today.

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Thank you, Laura. It's a
pleasure to be with you.

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Now. I'm excited for
our conversation today.

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I know the dental industry is so much
happening in a lot of buzz around where

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things are headed and in
technology as well as, you know,

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the different dental space and making
sure people have care that they need.

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But before we dive into my questions,

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could you tell us a little bit more
about yourself and your background?

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Yeah, absolutely. So, um, I, uh, I,

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I'm currently a Chief Operating
Officer at Empire Dental Arts. Um,

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and I got my start in dentistry in 2009.

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So I had really no intention of
going and been in dentistry, uh,

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in the beginning. But,
um, I, uh, started to, um,

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I actually started working with a friend
of mine out in Colorado, um, at, uh,

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peak Dental Services. And, um,

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initially kind of thinking it
was gonna be a combination. I,

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I have a legal background of
sort of legal and operational,

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but it actually shifted a lot more
to the operational side of dental,

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and I just loved it. Um, and, uh,

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helped that organization at its very
start, kind of, you know, progressed from,

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you know, a couple practices from a single
practice to a couple practices. And,

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um, and then from then on, um,

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I ended up moving back to the Cleveland
area where I currently am, and, uh,

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started to work for a few
of the, uh, DSOs here, uh,

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dental service
organizations. And then, um,

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eventually in 2018 made my shift
over to, uh, empire Dental.

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Oh, that's amazing. And, and definitely
I could imagine that background.

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You know,

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over the years you've seen a lot of
different changes in the industry and, um,

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exciting that, that you're able to
take them into your current role. And,

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you know, I know we're in a, a unique
place in healthcare right now. Um,

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just given that what we've been through
during the pandemic and now, you know,

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some of the after effects of that. Um,

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so what are some of the biggest issues
that you're following right now?

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What's really a top of mind for you?

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So, you know, being a leader in the
dental field is really no easy task. Uh,

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I think there's a lot of, uh,
aspects that I think we're,

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it's really important to keep eye
our eye on, especially post pandemic.

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You mentioned such,
such things as, um, the,

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the technology changes in our
industry. And I think for me,

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I think that's one of the
biggest things that I'm,

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I'm trying to keep track of and I,
and I think are really exciting. Um,

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things like 3D printing
for dental prosthetics,

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things like dentures and stuff
like that, AI is a big thing. Um,

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digital imaging. Um, and I think
what's what's really important is that,

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you know, is an issue for us right
now is to keep track of those. Um,

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I think they can, all of those
things are, are hugely important,

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are making major inroads
in our, in our industry,

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and I can certainly make a big difference
in patient outcomes. And, you know,

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and generally speaking about patients,
I think another issue I'm just really,

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you know, keeping track of is, um,
just, you know, how, how their,

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um, sophistication has changed
over time. Uh, you know, there's,

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there people are more informed,

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there's more opportunities to
get information about, you know,

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treatment options. And I think that's,
that's all a very good thing. Um, and as,

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and as people go along, they expect better
things like transparent pricing, um,

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convenience scheduling,
and more personalized care.

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And I think as leaders in the industry,

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we just have to make sure that we're
adapting to these changes and to continue

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to improve, um, on their experiences. Um,

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another big thing I think for,
for me, especially, I think,

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and I think it can't be,

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you can't have any conversation about
issues in the healthcare industry or in

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the dental industry without talking
about it, is, um, the tight labor market.

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Um, you know, we are
having a very tough time,

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and I think it's across the board and
with my colleagues and finding, you know,

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finding and, and keeping qualified
talent. Um, and, you know,

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I think what,

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what this is stimulating is much more
conversations about creating more

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supportive work environment, um,

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where there's plenty of
opport opportunities for
professional development. Um,

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and then I think, you know, uh, really,
you know, a couple other things,

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I think, you know, one of the
things that we always can't forget,

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and it's always part of business,

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but I think it's become particularly
important over the past couple years,

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is the value of financial management.
Um, costs are on the rise.

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I think they're, they're affecting
all of us in so many different ways.

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As you know, I'm sure you know, Laura,

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and I think it's important for us to
get a firm grasp on our budgeting,

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understand the ins and outs of insurance
reimbursements, and really, uh, do a,

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a better job than I think we've,

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we've done maybe historically in
managing our expenses effectively.

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And then finally, I think,
you know, uh, an issue that I,

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I I'm particularly interested in,

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I think it's going to have a lot of effect
on how we do dentistry in the future.

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Um, Beyonce, some of the technology things
that I discussed earlier is just, um,

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the,

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the increasing understanding
of the connection between
oral health and systemic

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health. Um, it's, it's becoming much
more clear. And I think that, um, we,

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if we say abreast of these findings,
I think we're gonna have a lot of,

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of better opportunities to incorporate
this knowledge into our practices and

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really educate our patients about it.

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Absolutely. I think that's a
great point. And you have such a,

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a great list of things to keep
an eye on, you know, and I,

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I definitely wanna dig deeper just into
a couple of the different themes you

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talked about. Um, especially, you
know, as you were just mentioning,

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the increasing awareness of the
connection between overall health and oral

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health.

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And then you talked as well about more
informed patients and wanting more

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personalized care. I can
imagine that integration, um,

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o of the dental healthcare into overall
healthcare is just something that,

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you know, obviously, uh, at
a a broader level, you know,

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it takes time to make changes and policy
changes and those kinds of things,

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but mm-hmm. <affirmative>, how are you
connecting with patients in really, uh,

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you know, bringing that to light
and, and what can, I guess, uh,

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dental groups do, even on
the individual level to, um,

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really just stress the importance of oral
health and, um, make connections, um,

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within their community to, to foster
better care for patients overall?

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Yeah, absolutely. No, that's a great
question. I, you know, I think,

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I think one of the things that,
from a business perspective, I,

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I can start with at least, is I think
it's important that we understand that,

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you know, relationships are key
to how we continue to, you know,

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grow our practices and, you know,
build, build you our patient bases.

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Um, because, you know, as, as, as you
mentioned, you know, pa patients are,

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are looking for, for more information.

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And I think the more that we can be
able to, to prioritize education, um,

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and,

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and I think not just educating our
patients to how dentistry operates or how

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their specific treatment plan might
be to affect them, it's also, uh,

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how we educate our providers,
um, and our team members,

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what are the things that we're putting
behind them to help them get more, more,

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um, you know, more abreast of the changes
in the, in the industry, um, but also,

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uh, and particularly some of those
clinical changes so that they can be more

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confident in communicating that
information to patients. Um,

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I also think too that, that
for patients, you know,

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they're looking for convenience.
You know, we, we, we talk about, um,

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a lot about, about, you know,
how to get patients scheduled.

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And I think for all these
dental practices out there,

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I think they have to start to look at
ways that they can improve the convenience

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of scheduling. Um, we, we are, you know,

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prioritizing things like online
scheduling, um, over and above,

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say the traditional call calling
and scheduling at our offices.

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And it's mainly because that's what most
people do for everything else, right?

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I mean, all of our lives is pretty much,
you know, oriented towards the, the,

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the, the quick and easy ability to
do things through online systems.

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And so I think dental practices that can
adapt to that more easily are ones that

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are going to just, you know, sort
of adhere more to patient needs. Um,

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and then I also think that,
you know, for dental practices,

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because we have a shifting
market, and you know,

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as I kind of talked a little bit about
some of the financial needs of, of the,

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of the industry, I think we have to also
be, be really conscientious about, um,

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about keeping patients in our practices.

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So developing loyalty programs,
uh, membership programs, you know,

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there's a lot of organizations out
there that can help support, uh,

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dental practices in doing that all are,

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are key and important just to help
patients feel that, you know, they've,

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when they've joined your practice,

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that they're continuing to make the
right choice for their care for now and,

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and in the future.

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Absolutely. That makes a lot
of sense. You know, and I,

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I really appreciate you talking through
that because it's just such an important

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part and shift,

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I know in the industry to
think differently about
connecting with patients. And,

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um, like you,

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you were talking about how to keep them
in their practices and keeping them

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engaged and, and really, um,

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overall prioritizing how you
can educate them and, and,

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uh, you know, have better
healthcare overall. So I,

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I think the next question I have is
what are you most excited about and what

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makes you nervous? I know we've talked
through a few different points here that,

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um, are, are kind of positives as well as,

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as aspects of the industry that are a
little bit more challenging right now.

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So just love to hear your thoughts
on what's exciting and what makes you

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nervous.

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Oh, absolutely. So, you know, honestly,
the most exciting thing for me is ai.

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Um, I think that, you know,

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I think AI holds a tremendous amount
of potential for our industry. I mean,

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you know, we've got things such
as improved diagnostics. I mean,

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if you think about it, you know, for
a long time, you know, you get x-rays,

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you're coming into the office, and,
and now we have the, the capacity,

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and I know there's a lot of organizations
out there with a lot of really

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powerful technology to be able to
not only, you know, di diagnose,

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but also to help to create personalized
treatment plans. Um, and I think that's,

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that is extremely important.
And I think, you know,

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also AI brings things like predictive
analytics. Um, you know, are we able to,

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you know, look at the progression of,

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of somebody's oral health issues over
time, that helps us to really help, uh,

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to prioritize preventative care and
better interventions to help slow the

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progression of disease, um, efficiency
and automation's another big part of it.

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I mean, if you think about, um, how,
you know, as I mentioned earlier,

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online scheduling, things like that,

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when we were able to help
to automate routine tasks,

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such appointment as appointments,

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scheduling and patient reminders
and things like of that nature,

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it really does free up more
time for our office, our, our,

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our dental professionals to
focus on patient care. Um,

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and so I think that's all, all
gonna be a really big piece of it,

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and it's certainly, you
know, very exciting. I mean,

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and I think I touched on
a little bit, you know,

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education and training is all
gonna be another aspect of it. Um,

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and then of course, you know, how
we, how we utilize that for, uh,

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things like teledentistry, um, you
know, how do we, how do we, how do we,

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you know, utilize the services,

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services that AI could potentially
provide that would allow for that to be a

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much more meaningful experience
for patients. Um, but you know,

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all that being said,

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whats the most exciting thing
for dentistry is probably
the thing that makes me

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the most nervous <laugh>. Um,
you know, and I think, you know,

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I think AI holds a
great amount of promise,

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but it's also important to
consider some of the ethic,

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ethical and privacy considerations
that I, I think are,

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are gonna be continuing to become more
prevalent in our industry. And, um,

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you know, and I think that
those things are, you know,

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one thing about AI that
we can appreciate and,

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and love is all the things I mentioned.
Um, but I also think that there's,

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there's questions about certainly, you
know, security pri patient privacy,

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um, you know, whether there's
accuracy and bias in some of the,

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some of the information that comes out
in AI models. And then I think it's, uh,

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you know, dependence and technology,
um, you know, the over-reliance on this,

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uh, could be, you know, uh, could,

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could I think sometimes take away
the intu intuitive aspects of, of,

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of dental professional, the, the work
of dental professionals. And certainly,

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you know, that does bring up the,
the question of job displacement,

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which I know, um, I think that
could is, is, is a real thing. Um,

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but I do think that, uh, in, in our field
it's probably not as, as considerable,

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considerable for the clinical team,
but I think for, you know, other,

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other team members that could certainly
be a consideration. Um, I think that,

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you know, those, those certainly
make us all nervous. I mean,

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because I think that one thing that
people associate with when they come to a

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dental practice is not just the dentist
they see, but the team around them. Uh,

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so I think that, you know, uh,

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while I don't think any of these concerns
are insurmountable, I do think that,

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you know, as, uh, as, as, uh, as
exciting as they all are, we have to be,

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you know, conscientious of
how we can use them, you know,

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ethically and fairly and, and, and in,
in a way that's beneficial to, you know,

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patients and your, uh, dental team alike.

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Absolutely. I think that's a really
great point, and definitely, um,

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something to, to think through on the
artificial intelligence side. Always,

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you know, a lot of positives in
terms of being able to pinpoint, um,

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areas that, you know,

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could be of an issue down the line and
really do more preventative care as well

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as more, um, precise care. But
then too, you know, <laugh>, the,

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the issues or the challenges,
um, certainly are,

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are apparent across the industry.

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So it'll be interesting to see
how the technology develops and,

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and really incorporates into,
um, the dental setting now. Uh,

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we've talked through some of the
big changes in, in dentistry,

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whether it's looking at the consumerism
aspect, tight labor market, um,

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as well as the financial
insurance reimbursement

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space as well. So when you think
through where the industry is headed,

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what will most effective leaders need
in order to be successful over the next

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two to three years? Um,

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would love to hear your perspective on
any additional skills or, um, you know,

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what really they'll have to be thinking
through as they're leading large, uh,

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teams within their practice
as well as organization-wide.

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Yeah, no, I think it's a great
question, and I think, um,

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I think the first thing that effective
healthcare leaders is gonna need that

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what they're, what we're gonna
need is adaptability. Um,

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as we kind of talked about
earlier where, you know,

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this industry has made so many shifts
and changes over the last few years. Um,

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I talked at length about
ai. I mean, that's,

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that's a sort of a revolutionizing
thing for every aspect of our life,

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let alone our industry. I think that
as, as, um, as healthcare leaders,

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we have to be extremely adaptable
and can, and, and, you know, see,

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kind of go with the flow in some ways.
You know, look at how policy changes,

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technologies, and patient
needs all are going to help,

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help to affect and to strengthen
our businesses. Um, and, uh,

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you know, I also think that, you know,
healthcare leaders to be effective,

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we have to, you know, you know,
embrace the technology. Like I said,

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we have to also look about, look at, uh,

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at big data and analytics because I
think it's, it's, it's, it's available.

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Um, and in my space particular,

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it's been particularly available
to larger organizations,

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but now that we've had sort of, you
know, just a change in, in the, uh,

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and technology development over
time and, and access to it, um,

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we definitely have more opportunities
for smaller organizations,

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smaller practices to get the benefit of
using things like data and analytics.

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So I think that the, that's one thing
that's gonna be extremely important.

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I also think that, you know, we,

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we have to recognize at the heart of
what we do is patient care. Um, you know,

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we, as business people, sometimes
we get focused a lot on the, the,

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the clear and, and, and, you know,

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most important issues on the
business side about, uh, you know,

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leveraging technologies,
managing financial, pe, the
financial piece. But, uh,

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we all have to recognize that, you
know, it's the patients that, um, that,

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that make our businesses
and break them. Um,

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so we have to be very conscientious
of their needs and certainly, um,

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in how we can provide care that's
individually tailored to those, um, to,

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to this, to those patients and what
they're looking for. In addition,

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I think that, you know,
healthcare professionals now, uh,

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and the leaders need to, and I
think in our, in our space too,

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need to have a stronger
focus on prevention. Uh,

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I think preventative treatments
are making, uh, a much,

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much larger headway in, in all, in
all facets of facets of healthcare,

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including my own and including the
dental, dental space. And so I think that,

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you know,

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bringing preventative and wellness
initiatives is gonna be really key and

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important if we want to kind
of, you know, see, again,

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adapt through this next couple years.

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And I think also just keeping abreast
of all the different regulations and

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policy changes that are gonna happen,
um, you know, I think that, you know,

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we sometimes think that things
don't ever change in our industries,

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and I think dental can
again, be one of those,

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those fields that sometimes has that,
that, um, that can, can, can have that,

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that, that, that feeling. But, um, when I,

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when we look at how things are
going to, you know, adapt over time,

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we have to be just really
conscientious of those kind of things,

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like policy changes. And of course,
you know, you know, as always, as a,

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as a business leader, you always
have to think about, you know, um,

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about making important and
ethical decision making. Um,

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healthcare always involves complex
issues, and I think we have to be able to,

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to, you know, pursue those,
explore them and, and be care,

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be prepared to make some tough decision,
tough decisions. But I, but you know,

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in the end, I think, you know,
the future's always gonna be,

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be full of surprises. Um, but I do think
that those are some key aspects of how,

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uh, a business leader, um,

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and any leader in this industry can start
to look towards the future and I think

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be the most effective they
can be in the next few years.

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Absolutely. I think that makes
a lot of sense. You know,

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and I really appreciate you talking
through the, that space because, um, it,

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it is challenging to be a leader today,

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but certainly being prepared as much
as possible and understanding, um,

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really what it takes to bring folks
in and understanding the impact

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they're making on the community
is so important. So vial,

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thank you so much for joining
us on the podcast today.

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This has been a fun and
interesting discussion,

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and I look forward to
connecting with you again soon.

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Oh, my pleasure, Laura. Thanks
so much. Have a great day. Bye.