Hey there, dental professionals and industry enthusiasts.
Picture this. It's October, and you're in the
middle of one of the most transformative
experiences of your career. You're at the Becker's
fall future of dentistry roundtable in the vibrant
city of Chicago, fresh off an incredible 3
days at the Hyatt Regency. Imagine yourself inspired
and invigorated after attending captivating keynote sessions by
none other than the legendary boxing world champion
and CEO, Lila Elite, and the extraordinary professional
player, Caitlin Clark. See yourself engaged in lively
discussions, exchanging ideas, and collecting a stack of
business cards from fellow dental experts and potential
partners. You've networked with over 350
attendees and learned from more than 80 speakers
who are at the forefront of dental innovation.
You sat in on educational
sessions exploring topics that elevate dental care as
a critical element of whole person health. You've
witnessed firsthand how digital technology is revolutionizing
patient outcomes
and how both large DSOs and independent practices
are flourishing.
Get ready to transform your career and don't
miss out on this incredible opportunity. The Becker's
fall future of dentistry roundtable is from October
30th to November 1, 2024.
Get registered by going to beckersdental.com
and clicking on the events page.
Hello. This is Cameron Cortejano with the Becker's
Dental and DSO review podcast.
I'm thrilled to be joined today by doctor
Katrice Austin, owner of VIP Smiles Cosmetic Dentistry
and Celebrity Branding PR Agency.
Doctor Austin, thank you so much for being
here today.
Oh, I'm so excited to join you.
Awesome. Just to start us off today, can
you introduce yourself and tell us a little
bit about your background?
Oh, sure.
I'm doctor Katrice Austin. As you mentioned, I'm
the owner of VIP Smiles, which I started
in 1998.
I currently practice in both New York City
and Flint, Michigan.
And aside from dentistry,
I also own and operate a content marketing
and PR agency firm firm called Celebrity Branding,
where I help dental brands
create strategic messages
and content.
And this content can be distributed in the
form of books and podcasts and social media
and TV places placement so that dental practices
can get new patients and boost their authority
and ultimately increase their practice value when they
are ready to sell.
Great. Thank you so much for that.
Our first question today
is, what are some of the biggest issues
that you are following in the dental industry
this year?
Yeah. There's a a few key issues that
I'm following closely in the dental world.
Number 1 is I don't know if you
guys are aware of this unlicensed dentistry,
that's happening all across the United States. There
was a big story just yesterday on the
Today Show,
about
these unlicensed
veneer techs.
They're posing
as dentists, and they're doing veneers,
which is a big risk to our patients
and their safety. And it's just really alarming
how many patients
fall victim to these untrained individuals,
which really lead to devastating results. I recently
saw one of these
patients that went to 4 veneer techs and
spent over $20,000
only for her to have a a major
gum infection.
I had to put her on antibiotics,
and, I had to undo,
the wrongs of her going to see someone
that she trusted
on social media. So that's one big issue.
I'm also looking at access to affordable dental
care, which is one of the reasons why
they go to these
unlicensed individuals.
And, with this year's election,
I'm really interested to see how many,
how this policy change will happen if we
get a new administration. Just kinda watching to
see what's gonna happen with our,
Just
kinda
watching to see what's gonna happen with our,
dental care. And then, finally, I'm always looking
at dental practice management challenges and how we
can, manage
our practices,
whether we're
in a up
economy or down
economy.
And,
yeah, it's just, always something that we have
to be aware of so we can make
adjustments in our practices.
Yeah. Definitely. I feel like,
at least personally, I've seen a lot more
cases
of unlicensed dentistry kinda popping up,
in, like, the recent weeks months
more so than I've seen in, like, years
past.
What do you think is kind
of behind
this increase? I know you kinda mentioned a
little bit that it could be because of
the the lack of access.
But do you think there's kinda anything else
going on with that?
Yeah. I I, it's it's the influence of
social media.
Social media is great when it's great, but
a lot of young people who are, going
to these veneer texts, you know, they just
because someone is on Instagram and they see
these before and after pictures, and it really
does boil down to cost because
we know that, in the dental world, we're
charging anywhere between $1,000
to
in New York City, it goes up to,
like, 3 to $4,000
per tooth. So when they see these people
on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok,
advertising that you could get your entire mouth
done for $2,000,
it sounds like a good deal. And who
doesn't wanna bargain if they can get similar
results?
And a lot of these this one guy
in Atlanta,
he actually had a certificate that was he
went over to Columbia, was trained by a
dentist in Columbia,
and his certificate actually said
doctor,
I forgot his name, but his certificate
had doctor on it. So if patients
aren't doing their due diligence,
they are getting tricked. They're getting tricked by
these people who are impersonating
dentists, and they're just out for the money.
So I think social media,
because some a lot of people who are
doing these veneers are that are veneer techs,
they have a lot of followers. They look
at the follower
account, and they are
basing their credibility
based off of their social media following and
what they see on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
So it's all about education.
Yeah. That definitely makes a lot of sense.
Something that I'm curious to get your thoughts
on,
is what are you most excited about when
it comes to dentistry right now, And what
are some things that are potentially making you
a little bit nervous, maybe outside of all
this, unlicensed dentistry?
Yes.
Well, I'm most excited about the technology,
the advances in technology in dentistry,
like AI, and, like, a recent news story
showed how robotic procedures are now being done.
And,
I was really excited.
The one good thing that came out of
the pandemic was,
the dental,
industry embracing teledentistry,
which also gives
patients access to care in a different way.
So these innovations are really transforming patient care
and making it more accessible
and efficient.
Now on the other hand, I'm nervous about
the workforce issues that we're facing because I
noticed on
some of these Facebook groups, I'm on Facebook
in these groups, and a lot of dental
professionals
appear to be,
really getting burnt out.
So I'm worried about our profession,
and,
I'm deeply concerned about the lack of education,
for patients on dental care. Now it is
actually National Dental Hygiene Month, and I'm not
seeing a lot of public service announcements
or a lot of educational efforts on social
media.
And as a result, you know, once like
I just said, the these patients are making
bad decisions about their
health. So I love to see
our industry
doing more PSAs,
doing more
TV commercials,
and more
on,
just everywhere. We should really be getting our
messages out.
It's one of the reasons why I started
my podcast. It's called Let's Talk Smiles, and
it's for dental consumers. And I raise all
of the issues and talk about new products
and everything that they need to know. So,
I'm hoping that more of our dental industry
leaders
start their podcast and just disseminate information
any way our patients can consume it
so that we can start to make a
difference
for our patients in our practices as well.
Yeah. I think that you're right that there
hasn't been, like, a ton of kinda information,
like you're talking about public service announcements
and things of those nature regarding
patient education and patient,
I just guess, information and and knowing what's
going on,
with their their oral health. You also touched
on, like, AI and technology. Do you think
that those
can,
kinda help improve,
that patient education and and
make sure that patients are more informed about
kinda what's going on?
Yes. I think,
those gentle practices that have embraced AI
and, all that it can do,
and what we could show our patients
in the dental practice and help them understand
their true condition,
I think once they can visually see and
they really understand
and we present it to them in layman's
terms,
those practices that have embraced AI are going
to do very, very well.
It's a game changer,
having the latest technology. And I know it
can be expensive,
but, just like how we had to trans
just go from manual
x rays to digital x rays, how it
made a difference in how we
how fast, we're able to show them their
condition and how much readable x rays,
were compared to the manual development of x
rays.
When we brace technology,
we are
literally putting ourselves above the competition
and standing out, and that's what we want.
And we wanna deliver the best patient experience
we can, and AR is definitely one of
the ways that we can do it.
Awesome. Thank you. That makes a ton of
sense.
Just as we're kinda wrapping up here with
our last question
for today,
what do you think the most effective health
care leaders,
will need in order to be successful,
over the next 2 to 3 years?
Yeah.
I think that the most effective
health care leaders will need to focus on
a few critical areas. Number 1,
touched upon it earlier,
needing to be marketing savvy for practice growth.
Leaders will have to be really proficient in
marketing and leveraging
all the various platforms that they can so
that their practices can,
build their authority.
And,
by effective
if you use social media the right way,
podcasts and other media channels getting on TV,
this is the perfect month to really get
that message out. They can build a strong
brand presence, attract new patients.
And, number 2,
making data
driven
decisions.
In a certain economy, we don't know how
things are gonna go over the next couple
years. But being able to analyze the practice
data and make quick,
informed decisions is gonna be crucial for our
dental leaders.
We have to monitor those metrics,
like patient satisfaction,
practice financial performance,
and staff productivity
so that we can pivot
when needed and ensure that our practices are
stable. And then finally, we just talked about
it, adopting,
those new technology,
things that are coming out,
and that will really help with efficiency
and high quality patient experiences. So those are
the things that I believe that our leaders
need to do to be cutting edge
and deliver excellent patient care and practice.
Profitability is the outcome.
Awesome. Thank you so much. Those are some
great points.
Thank you.
I hope that this,
interview brings value to the Becker's audience, and,
thank you so much for having me.
Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you for joining
us today, doctor Austin, and sharing your valuable
expertise
and insights into the dental space.
It's been a pleasure speaking with you today,
and I look forward to connecting with you
again in the future.
Likewise. Have a great day. You too.