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Hello. This is Arianna Porto Latin with the

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Backers Dental and DSO Review podcast. I'm thrilled

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to be joined today by doctor Shilpi Priyadarshini,

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the regional managing director at Jefferson Dental and

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Orthodontics. Doctor Shilpi, thank you so much for

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being here today.

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Thank you, Arianna, for having me. Yes. Of

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course. To start us off, can you introduce

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yourself and tell us a little bit about

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your background?

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Of course.

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Arianna, my name is doctor Shopi Priyadarshini,

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and I have the longest

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last name in the planet. So I go

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by doctor Shofy. I did my master's in

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health administration and policy from San Diego State

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University,

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and then moved on to do my DDS

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program from University of California, San Francisco.

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I worked in the capacity of the regional

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managing director at Jefferson Dental and Orthodontics.

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Jefferson Ariana has been my first job. I

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started here as a dental associate, and in

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the last 10 years, I grew to understand

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the business aspect of the DSO. My responsibilities

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in the organization

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revolve around doctor mentorship,

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supporting operational teams closely,

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maintaining quality of care and everything, everything that

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I could do that can lead to a

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successful running of the dental practice.

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Great. Thank you so much for that. It's

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great to hear about, your extensive experience with

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Jefferson Dental.

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Our first question here, what are some of

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the biggest issues that you're following in the

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dental industry this year?

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That's, that's a great question. I get that

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asked a lot.

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Ariana, to be honest, the issues and challenges

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in our industry have always remained the same.

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The intensity might change depending on the economic

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climate,

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but if if I have to choose the

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2 most important

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challenges,

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the first one would be patient acceptance

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and winning the trust of the patient

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to accept the care beyond their chief complaint.

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Artificial

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intelligence,

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patient presentation tools like intraoral

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scanners,

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orthodontic simulators,

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Overjet,

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as well as the provider confidence

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in holding the conversation

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are real big keys to

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success. There are a lot of other factors

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like financial options and the overall patient experience

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and the patient journey. That I would say

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is the biggest

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challenge

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that our industry always faces.

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The second thing I would say is dentistry

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is recession proof, but are we inflation proof?

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Having a strong financing option

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that is able to cater to a range

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of patients

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and and the different credit history that might

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come with with our patient population is the

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need of the hour.

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So

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a patient might have the willingness to take

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care

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of the prescribed treatment,

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but if they're not able to afford it,

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that can be a biggest barrier.

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So having good financial options with flexibilities,

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with payment plans, with low insurance

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sorry. Low interest rates

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could be very beneficial for the success of

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the practice.

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Okay. Great. Great insight there. Thank you for

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sharing that. I'm also curious. What are you

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most excited about when it comes to dentistry

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right now, and what makes you nervous?

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Okay.

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Dentistry is exciting. Right? It's always exciting. It's

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it's it's my passion. But

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what am I most excited about is

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artificial intelligence in all the fields of dentistry.

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I feel in the current world of digital

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and social media awareness,

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any product that catches attention has been tried

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and tested.

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So, basically, they're gonna bring in value to

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the table. But the question here is,

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how is that integrated

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in the organization?

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So say we integrated

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our organization

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and which we did with Itero intraoral scanners

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and Overjet, which is artificial intelligence and X-ray

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analysis.

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If the clinical team on the feed, if

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they do not feel bought into the technology,

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it is not going to contribute to the

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organization in its full capacity.

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That's what makes me nervous. So

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what I'm excited about and what I'm nervous

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about is basically similar.

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The short walk from integration of these amazing

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technologies

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to the execution

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in the field among every team member is

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going to be the most important work.

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The second thing, Ariana, I'm very excited about

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is

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the renewed sense of eagerness the young graduates

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are showing towards mentorship.

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Knowledge is power, and learning can never stop

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for a clinician.

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What, however, makes me a little nervous is

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the expectation of some young doctors for mentorship

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to be an extension of dental school.

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School teaches us what I call the word

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of dentistry, but the actual spirit of dentistry

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is learned after school, and this is a

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journey every successful clinician completes.

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Alright. Awesome.

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Last question here. What will the most effective

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health care leaders need to be successful in

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the next 2 to 3 years?

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This is the easiest question, Ariana. Super simple.

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Keeping an open mind towards advancement in dentistry,

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including AI. Right? If I haven't said it

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before, AI is

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that is necessary. Let me explain myself a

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bit here.

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The field should be the last place for

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any budget cuts. When team members experience the

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brunt of budget cuts, it makes them nervous

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and they start questioning their long term sustainability

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in the organization.

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That can lead to turnover,

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which is devastating for any organization

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or company.

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Instead, we could go for small cuts, spread

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them across all departments. That can lead to

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a huge cumulative positive impact on the P

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and L while maintaining a very healthy environment

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at the field, which I call is the

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war zone.

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Very interesting. Thank you so much. Well, those

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are all our questions. So thank you so

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much for joining for joining us today, Doctor.

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Shilpi. It's been a pleasure speaking with you

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today, and I look forward to connecting with

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you again in the future.

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Thank you, Arianna. Thank you so much.