Voices from The Bench

Be sure to come see us in the Ivoclar Ballroom during LMT Lab Day Chicago 2024 . Register today! We will also be recording Thursday night during the Cal-Lab Association Meeting that same weekend! Check out this amazing event and register today ! What were you doing at the age of 20? Probably not what Tyler McCabe is doing. Tyler at the age of 20 is already a traveling dental technician going betwe...

Be sure to come see us in the Ivoclar Ballroom during LMT Lab Day Chicago 2024 . Register today! Come enjoy and sun with us on May 9 -10, 2024 in Mallorca, Spain at exocad Insights! An amazing line up of speakers all talking about an amazing design program! Register here! This week we prepare for what is sure to be the best LMT Lab Day Chicago ever! Once again Elvis and Barb will be in the Ivoclar...

Be sure to come see us in the Ivoclar Ballroom during LMT Lab Day Chicago 2024 . Register today! It's always good, as technicians, to get a clinical perspective of all the work we do. Let's be honest, without the clinical side.... We wouldn't have work. But getting to talk to a clinician that LOVES and APPRECIATES lab work is even better. Dr. Wendy Clark is an Associate Professor of Prosthodontics...

Be sure to come see us in the Ivoclar Ballroom during LMT Lab Day Chicago 2024 . Register today! When you see a tooth, what do you think? Some notice its shape. Some notice its Vita shade equivalent. This week’s guest notices the amount of moss, raspberry, and midnight is in it. Amanda Carson was always an artist. She even got two degrees in it. But after finding out about dental labs and visiting...

Be sure to come see us in the Ivoclar Ballroom during LMT Lab Day Chicago 2024 . Register today! When two technicians that work well together can, only great things can come out of it. Bobby Kenney started in a model room soon after the Army. Eventually he found his way to Barksdale Dental Laboratory to help them open their removable department. Seeking warmer weather and more experience, Bobby we...

Be sure to come see us in the Ivoclar Ballroom during LMT Lab Day Chicago 2024 . Register today! Resin 3D printing is going strong in our industry. Almost to the point of not remembering how we functioned without one. Well it's time for the next "phase" of 3D printing. Metal. This week we talk to Josh Williams from GPS Digital RPD in Orlando, Florida. Josh runs a 100% digital metal printing facili...

Be sure to get a SUPER LIMITED edition ZIPPERED HOODIE (or shirt) before JANURARY 6th. Get your "Dental Technicians: Making Dentist Look Good Since the 1700s" HERE! HAPPY 2024! We are super excited to start another year of the podcast with a wonderful guest that is a ceramist in London. Alina Ceclan's mother recommended a dental technology school while she was in Romania. Not loving it at first, s...

Happy Holidays and HAPPY 300th episode of Voices From the Bench. Elvis and Barb can't thank everyone enough for listening every week that has brough us to 300 weeks since we recorded the first episode. Also, a big thanks to our sponsors (show them some love) and to all the guests we have had on. (You should also go show them some love too by telling them how much you loved their episode) Be sure t...

We love talking to dentist on the podcast. We also love talking to people from different countries. This week we double down on both as we chat with Dr. Ahmad Al-Hassiny who comes to us all the way from New Zealand. Dr. Ahmad grew up with dentist parents that both owned their own practices. After graduating, he ended up at his father’s practice where he was introduced to digital dentistry. He atte...

We talk to many vendors and milling centers on the podcast. But never have we talked to a company in Australia that does both. Sam Talassinos grew up in his father’s lab and never wanted to be in the industry. After a brief time in retail, Sam found himself in the lab (of course) and introducing digital to their workflow. It took a bad experience while getting some new equipment that drove him to...

This week we finally get another implant company on the podcast. At the DTG Symposium we met Joel Gonzales from MegaGen America . Joel likes to keep it real when talking about dental surgeries because he’s been there. Starting as an assistant in the Air Force and then working with a strict Prosthodontist, He started his implant career with Lifecore and it wasn’t long before MegaGen wanted him to b...

When someone in the industry seems to spend more time teaching others than working on their own work, we want to learn more. Elvis had the opportunity to take a 2 day hands-on course about pink layering on full arch zirconia and PMMA. The teacher was the wonderful Marina Caponigro . Of course, we had to have her on the podcast to learn about the technician behind the "fire in the belly". Marina ta...

Getting dental offices to send you work is not the easiest thing to do. If it was, we would all be a lot happier. You could offer your "first crown free" or "$10 off your first order", but what are you doing? Are you creating a lasting partnership or are you getting a doctor that will move to the next lab that offers the same deal. Enter David Lesh. David grew up in his father's lab. After sitting...

It’s amazing that so much time has passed since the 2023 DTG Symposium that happened last September. It’s also amazing all the wonderful people we were able to connect with and record. This week wraps up those conversations with two outstanding technicians in different points of their careers. First up is Salvador Carrillo who talks about learning about dental technology in Mexico, coming to the s...

Be sure to check out Part 3 of Ivoclar's "THE DENTAL SHOWDOWN" where Elvis Dahl and Dr. David Rice will discuss the complicated relationship of dental lab and dental office..... LIVE! November 9th at 7:00 pm Eastern. Register and bring your questions! It's amazing how many people traveled from all over the world to go to the GC America facility in Alsip, Ill to attend the DTG Symposium back in Sep...

Back in September, a group called the DTG gathered for the first time in a while at the GC America facility in Alsip, Illinois. Luckily, we were honored to be a part of this amazing show. There was so many talented technicians in one room, our biggest regret is not getting to talk to all of them. BUT we did get two reluctant people to sit down and share their stories. First up is Shelia Raquel, pr...

Back in September, Elvis and Barb attended the DTG Symposium that was held in the GC America facility in Alsip, Illinois. Such an amazing meeting filled with fantastic people. This week we start the collection of wonderful conversations. First up we talk to two talented technicians that are killing it in a in-office lab and they only graduated from New York City Tech in 2019! Erika Ramirez and Mar...

Kristina Vaitelyte was born in Lithuania the day it gained its independence to a family were every member ended up in dental. Even after trying not to have a career in teeth, Kristina couldn't fight her destiny when she saw digital dental design at IDS one year. While getting her Bachelor degree at Utena College , Kristina traveled the world to learn dental technology in different countries. She e...

Looking to learn exocad? Check out the Institute of Digital Dentistry for a great online training program. Elvis approved! Join Elvis and Barb in Mallorca, Spain in May 2024 for exocad Insights . Make plans today and more details to follow! We love stories of success in the dental lab industry. One such story is the career of Todd Reid. Todd learned about dental technology from a high school frien...

Nightshift Online Symposium! November 21: Removables with Jenelle Tabakovic and Emily Pittard November 22: Crown and Bridge with Dora Rodriges and Lisa Johnson Check out Part 1 of the Dental Showdown by Ivoclar featuring Elvis Dahl and Dr. David Rice! Join us for a FREE and LIVE Ivoclar webinar on October 12 at 7:00 pm eastern time. In 2024, an iconic company in the dental space will turn 100 year...

We love dental legacies. When we got contacted by a dental technician that works in a dental office with 3 family members as dentists and another getting ready to graduate dental school, we knew a great story of a busy technician would be there. Dr. Jill Morris and Dr. Burr Bakke own World Class Dentistry in Sarasota, Florida dealing in high-end cosmetic work and ceramic implants. They are joined...

We constantly talk about the lack of technicians in our industry. So why are the few programs left struggling to fill the seats? Brooke Harris is out to change that. Brooke is the Director of Dental Technology Program at the Indiana University Fort Wayne school. Brooke talks about getting into dental technology, the labs she worked at, going back to teach, becoming the director, creating a better...

Join Elvis and Barb THIS WEEKEND at the DTG Symposium on September 15-16 at the GC America Facility in Alsip, IL Join Elvis Dahl from Derby Dental Laboratory and the Voices From The Bench Podcast and Dr. Dr. David Rice from igniteDDS as they break down the challenges that happen between the clinics and labs. We are calling it “THE DENTAL SHOWDOWN”. This 3 part Ivoclar webinar on LinkedIn kicks off...

For the last three years, we have gone to the Ladies of the Mill Summit and recorded a ton of amazing females in our industry. This year is no different and we talked to some fantastic people. First up, we had our first opportunity to record ON-STAGE in front of a LIVE audience with Jessica Scott and Mandy Arena. Then we had a conversation with the force behind the NADL , NBC , and the FDLT , Rach...

Join Elvis and Barb at the DTG Symposium on September 15-16 at the GC America Facility in Alsip, IL Let's be honest, digital outsourcing is a great way to keep up on the growing amount of work coming into labs and the lack of finding good technicians to handle it. That is where Evident comes in. Evident has been providing lab management software for 15 years and understands what a lab needs. This...