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- This is the Becker's
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who power us healthcare.

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Four new 15 minute episodes
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and thought leadership.

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Thanks for listening.
Now here's the episode.

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- This is Gracely Keller

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with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast,

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and we are live from the
business and operations of ASCs

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and the Future of Dentistry Roundtable.

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I'm joined right now by
Toby Basse, who is the CEO

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of Dental Find.

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So Toby, thanks so much
for joining me today,

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and I would love to have you start off

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by introducing yourself

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and explaining a little bit
more about your background.

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- Sure. Uh, so as you said, I'm the CEO

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of a startup called Dental Find.

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We are an AI payment platform

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that helps people shop
online for dental care.

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So think Zocdoc,

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except you can actually
purchase your cleaning

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and check out, um,
through our website such

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that you can just walk in,
walk outta your dentist

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appointment, not have to
take out your credit card

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and avoid surprise bills.

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Um, my background is in AI
and software engineering.

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Um, I started out building
data products at, um,

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EHR electronic health record
companies like Cerner,

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and then, um, moved
into telecommunications

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and finance, um, going to
places like, uh, sprint

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and Capital One, JP Morgan, um,

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and creating software, uh, there as well.

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Um, so yeah, like most recently,

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capital One I was building AI chatbots

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that help people avoid
surprise credit card bills.

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- Wonderful. Well, thanks for
taking the time to join me.

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Um, and I'd love to start
our conversation with

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what is the biggest issue you're

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currently watching in the dental space?

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- Oh, um, it's definitely around like

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just reimbursements and insurance

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and how that affects both, uh, patients

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and dentists, um, or dental
providers I should say.

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So essentially, like I talked
about surprise bills a little

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bit in my introduction and

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how Dental Fine helps people avoid that.

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Um, and it was something I
faced as a consumer, like I

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wasn't able to like budget
or manage my finances

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because I wasn't getting
that upfront pricing.

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And so now what I'm seeing as
I'm talking to the dentists,

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they're always complaining
about how the reimbursements are

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so low, um, how they feel like
they can't spend as much time

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with the patient as they want

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and they're just not able

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to like even break even in
many times inflation issues

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with hiring are really
eating at their bottom line,

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um, staffing issues.

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So, um, I don't,

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I I don't wanna put
insurance under the bus.

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I'm just saying that like insurance

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and dentistry is not offering
the value it should be

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offering for both patients and,

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and dentists or dental providers.

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And so to me, kind of
reinventing insurance that's, uh,

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you know, people just directly
paying for their care, um,

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and dentists not having
to do all that paperwork,

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just creating a better patient experience

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for the dental world.

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But yeah, the short answer is, uh,

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the biggest issue I see
is would probably be like

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insurance today.

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- Absolutely. And

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so then my next question's
kind of twofold.

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So first, what are you
most excited about in

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the dental space right now?

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And then second, what
makes you the most nervous?

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- Ooh, I'll answer the nervous one first

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because I feel like that's
related to the issues I'm seeing.

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And so, um, the nervous part is just

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when I think about dentists
who kind of are so used

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to insurance that even if the
negotiated rates are still

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poor, they're just
like, well, this is just

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how I get my patient volume,

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so I'm just like in bed with them forever.

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And they don't kind of take
the steps to empower themselves

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by doing things like marketing

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or directly engaging
with patients with like

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building an online brand.

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And it could even be as simple
as having a mailing list

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or making sure you're sending
pictures during the holidays

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of yourself, like having that
personal connection doesn't

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have to be, oh, I'm the
next TikTok influencer,

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or anything that takes
up a ton of your time.

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And just like adopting
things like online scheduling

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or text message, like updates.

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Um, and it can really save
dentists like money as well.

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Um, if they do, if they adopt some

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of these technologies
in terms of like, okay,

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well I can reduce no-shows
and increase production

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and, um, case acceptance if
I make myself more accessible

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and remove the barriers
or create things like,

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or adopt things like even financing plans.

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Anyhow. And then on
the patient side, it's,

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it worries me a little, uh,
this issue around insurance

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and the misconception around
the value that insurance is,

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is adding

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because patients expect
their dental insurance

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to work like their medical
insurance and it doesn't.

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And so I am worried for them to like

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continue buying into the narrative that

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paying these monthly premiums is actually

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creating substantial cost savings for them

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when if they need things
beyond two cleanings,

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they're paying the majority
of that out of pocket.

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But anyways, what excites
me like to pivot from that

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below is that I'm excited
for those technologies

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that are adding value

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and creating seamless
experiences for both patients

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and dentists.

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Whether it's things
like AI based platforms

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that enable dentists to do more diagnosis,

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better diagnosis like
Overjet or, uh, Pearl, um,

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or it's solutions like Next Health

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and we that are helping the dentists

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send out those text message reminders

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or even to some degree a certain PMSs

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that en enable online scheduling.

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And then, you know, of course
as it relates to my company,

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that ability to get patients in the door

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that are fee for service

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and that really understand
that if they're paying upfront,

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they're actually gonna
get higher quality care.

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- Um, well my final question
for you then today is

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what will the most effective
healthcare leaders need

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to be successful in the
next two to three years?

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- I think just openness.

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An open mind is like the first thing,

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and then that leads into
just being a learner,

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like being open to learn about new things

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because like dentists are business owners

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or like DSO leaders

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or anyone who's interfacing,

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like even if you're not
necessarily like a doctor

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or like an actual health
provider, someone like myself,

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you own a business or you
own a technology company.

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Like I'm always focused
on learning about things

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that I don't know, keeping
abreast of new technologies.

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Of course that's my domain.

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So you should definitely keep
on top of like, you know, uh,

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news and industry happenings
in, in your own domain,

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whether it's healthcare or technology

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and just even like greater
politics, like things that have

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socioeconomic ramifications.

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And it could, you know, for example,

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like today we're dealing a
lot with like the war and,

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or I don't know, the tension I
should say in the Middle East

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and the issues with Israel and Palestine.

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And I could say, well,

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that's all the way over
there, that doesn't affect me.

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Or I could think, oh, well
that affects people's mindsets

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and then that affects how people
invest in the stock market.

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And then that affects, you
know, how people spend in terms

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of whether it's, uh,
patients getting dental care.

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So kind of pivoting that
back to like MySpace,

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which is dental, we're in this sort

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of cl climate economically

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where people don't really wanna spend

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and there's been a lot of layoffs.

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And so historically ability

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to afford care has been a
hindrance to getting dental care.

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That in addition to like the
psychological, mental aspect

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of, oh well the dentist is scary.

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So, um, yeah,

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I would say like the most effective thing

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that healthcare leaders need
is that open mind to do things

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that maybe even are contrarian
to their natural gut reaction

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and just explore, just have an open mind

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and you know, you might find
that actually that thing

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that you were a little bit
apprehensive about, maybe

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that technology or whatever
it might actually be in your

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best interest long term.

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- Wonderful. Well, Toby, thank you so much

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for joining me today on the
Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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Again, we're live at the
business and operations of ASCs

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and the Future of Dentistry Roundtable.

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Thank you so much. Thank you, grace.

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- It's so important for leaders
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