Open Wide Podcast

Scott and Jinesh chat with Samantha Strain, Partner and CDO and HealthStream Ventures and Cofounder of DoubleMint about all things M&A in the dental space. They discuss Sam's journey from distributor regional rep to healthcare lending to facilitating the purchase of dental practices. Sam shares her thoughts on the market opportunity from the buy side perspective, and then dives deep on changes...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Matt Ingram about his career in dental marketing and media. Matt explains how the space has changed over the last 15 years and comments on some of the high-level marketing strategies he's seen play out. He recounts some of the best and worst he's seen over the years, and discusses the massive opportunity that currently exists in the world of marketing to dentists.    2:3...

Scott and Jinesh chat about Epic's recent announcement that they're releasing their own native AI transcription tool to be bundled into their software, and Henry Schein announces they'll be restricting connectivity that Vyne has used to transfer data for insurance claims submissions.    1. Epic's AI announcement 2:18 2. Vyne vs Henry Schein 12:52

Scott and Jinesh chat with Marv Nelson, CEO of A-dec. They discuss A-dec's history, culture, and philosophy. Marv discusses the impact of COVID, A-dec's supply chain, and the impact of tariffs (or lack thereof) on A-dec. Marv shares his thoughts around price positioning, equipment servicing, DSO strategy, and dealer relationships.   3:05 Introducing Marv Nelson 5:29 Marv's path to dental 9:01 Hist...

Scott and Jinesh chat about the recent increased risk to dental coverage via Medicaid nationwide, as well as the recent acquisition of the DSO Cherry Tree Dental by Delta Dental of Wisconsin. 1:59 Dental coverage at risk 8:50 Delta Dental of Wisconsin buys DSO Cherry Tree Dental 

Scott and Jinesh chat with Joe Cavaretta, Founder and CEO of Cavaretta Consulting Group. They discuss Joe's journey through dental, and how his career evolved from working at publicly traded dental distributors to venturing into startups, first at Whale Dental and then founding his own consulting firm. Joe shares his perspective on the maturing DSO space, and some of the ways he has helped guide D...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Santosh Patel, Founder of Complete Specialty Solutions and current Chief Revenue Officer of Subscribili. They discuss Santosh's journey building Complete Specialty Solutions, and his decision to sell the software piece of the business to Subscribili. Santosh shares why the relationship makes sense, and what the future at each respective company holds.    2:16 Introducing...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Stanley Bergman, CEO of Henry Schein. They discuss Stan's path to Henry Schein and touch on key elements of culture at the company. Stan shares stories from the transition to the digital era, reflects on crisis management and leadership, and discusses his perspective on industry relationships and competition. Stan also shares how he thinks about innovation, and what exci...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Dr. Kyle Stanely about his journey in the dental world, from clinical practice to lecturing to podcasting to communicating mental health. They take a deep dive into the importance of mental health in the dental world, and how it's so commonly neglected. They discuss the stigma around mental health, and touch on the biggest mistakes dentists make.    1:36 Introducing Kyle...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Landon Hilliard, COO of Dentisafe. They discuss all things waterline safety including what builds up in dental water lines, proper treatment and testing protocols, and legislation being passed to keep dental waterlines safe.    1:22 Introducing Landon Hilliard 5:38 Bacteria in dental water lines 10:43 Waterline maintenance overview 17:19 State laws around water line main...

Scott and Jinesh recap several recent news articles including: dental sedation oversight in North Carolina, states ranked on 25 dental health related factors, and commentary about the potential impact of tariffs on healthcare.   1:34 Best times to post on LinkedIn 3:38 Dental sedation oversight in NC 11:54 States ranked on dental health related factors 24:37 Impact of tariffs on healthcare

Scott and Jinesh chat with Jordan Reiss, Senior Director of Clinical Strategic Development at Dexis, about the evolution of imaging technology in dental. They also discuss some of the latest applications of AI in imaging and case-planning workflow.    1:28 Introducing Jordan Reiss 3:30 Jordan's journey to and through dental 15:14 AI enters the picture 27:10 Software ecosystem and integrations 30:0...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Dr Christian Coachman about a wide range of topics, starting out with his personal journey and the unconventional path he took. They dive into the Digital Smile Design business journey, product, and evolution. Christian shares his philosophies around quality vs scale, gold-standard dentistry, and the role of technology in dentistry. They wrap with a discussion about Chri...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Dr Lior Tamir about his journey through dental. Lior shares key insights on running a dental practice through a business lens. He explains why he has taken the time to build out The Dental App practice management software that better suits the needs of practice owners and practicing dentists. He shines light on why the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) element of hi...

Scott and Jinesh recap their Chicago Midwinter conference experiences, Scott gives Jinesh his flowers for the UptimeHealth recognition by Fast Company, and the duo recaps the ADA letter to the governor of Utah warning against removing fluoride from drinking water.  1:28 Chicago Midwinter conference recap 9:35 UptimeHealth nominated Most Innovative by Fast Company 14:11 ADA unhappy with Utah moving...

Scott and Jinesh chat in person with Trey Tepichin, founder of Cloud Dentistry. They discuss Trey's path to dentistry and powering through the early days of the company via 'manual automation'.  Trey reflects on the ins and outs of his platform, his go to market strategy, and how marketplaces bring out the best (and worst!) of the population.   1:01 Introducing Trey Tepichin 6:46 Finding dentistry...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Dr Khamir Patel and Dr Dmitry Burshteyn about SmartChair. AI, a company dedicated to measuring dental chair usage time. They discuss the origin and progress of the company, and reflect on chair usage time as possibly the most important driver of optimizing success of a dental practice.    1:46 Introducing Khamir and Dmitry 13:12 SmartChair. AI product overview 17:18 Prog...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Dr. Marko Vujicic, Chief Economist at the American Dental Association. They discuss Marko's role within the ADA and the work of the Health Policy Institute. The trio dive into oral health and public policy, and the challenges (and potential solutions!) to meaningfully increasing access to care in the US.    0:56 Introducing Dr. Marko Vujicic 3:47 Marko's pre-dental journ...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Ophir Tanz, founder of Pearl, about all things dental AI. They discuss Ophir's background, why the AI opportunity in dental specifically makes sense, and get in the weeds on Pearl's philosophy and approach to tackling the challenge. Ophir shares his perspective on partnerships, integrations, the regulatory environment, go-to-market, and the future of Pearl.  1:28 Introdu...

Scott and Jinesh chat with pediatric dentist Dr. Ashley Lerman about her journey founding and growing Firstgrin. Ashley shares insights on her go-to-market strategy and partnerships, as well as lots of advice for parents with young children. She breaks down the importance of early dental visits, and the cost of delaying a child's first trip to the dentist. 0:44 Introducing Ahsley Lerman 6:20 Launc...

Scott and Jinesh discuss some of the highlights of the letter the ADA sent to President Donald Trump just before he took office for his second term.   3:50 Introducing ADA letter to Trump 6:57 Opioid monitoring, Fluoride, and Government Subsidized Dental Coverage 11:59 Medical-dental integration, practice technologies 16:17 Education and Defense 20:04 Environment Protection 22:37 Flex-spending 26:...

Scott and Jinesh chat about the Yankee Dental Conference and recap the recent Dental Post survey. They also discuss the latest journal article assessing efficacy of various pain relievers, and wrap up with a discussion about the Dental Economics article about AI use in the dental world.     1:27 Jinesh preps for Yankee Dental Conference 5:24 Dental Post survey results 18:37 Pain relievers study 28...

Scott and Jinesh chat with Eric Shirley, current President of Keystone Industries and former President of Patterson. Eric shares his personal experience running both manufacturers and distributors in the dental space, and the dynamics between those two parties.  Eric also weighs in on the Patterson acquisition, and opines on the impact it may have on the dental industry as a whole.    2:44 Introdu...

Recorded during holiday season 2024, Scott and Jinesh chat about the seasonality of selling to dentists, and about how to manage team coverage over the holidays. They also discuss the right timing for company expansion internationally and into other healthcare verticals, and reflect on fundraise timing and luck.   2:46 Seasonality of selling to dentists 14:07 Coordinating team schedules 16:10 Timi...

Scott and Jinesh discuss the recent ADA announcement that they have made an investment into the company Pearl via their Innovation Advisory committee. They chat about the optics of the ADA making select investments, and they dissect key details included in the publicly available press releases.