Empowering Dentistry: Transforming Patient Care with Robotic Precision (E.274)

“Yomi is simply another tool in our toolbox to help provide the best outcome.” ~Dr. Jonathan Ehlers

In this episode of Everyday Practices Dental Podcast, hosts Regan Robertson, Dr. Maggie Augustyn, and special guests Dr. Jonathan Ehlers and Heidi DuBois dive into the critical and often overlooked area of practice operations: optimizing dental practice systems to increase efficiency, streamline patient care, and boost overall productivity. Dr. Ehlers, Regan and Dr. Augustyn explore real-world solutions that can help your practice overcome common challenges, from reducing stress for the team to ensuring a seamless experience for your patients.

They share key strategies on implementing effective workflows, using technology to enhance communication, and structuring your practice for growth. Whether you’re a practice owner, manager, or team member, this episode will provide valuable insights to refine your operations, improve your bottom line, and create an environment where both your staff and patients can thrive.

As you listen to this episode, we invite you to ask yourself the following questions:

• How can I streamline my practice’s operations to improve both efficiency and patient experience?
• What steps can I take to create a more organized, stress-free work environment for my team?
• How can I integrate these strategies into my practice without overwhelming myself or my staff?

Tune in for actionable advice that can make a difference in your practice’s success and efficiency!

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Regan Robertson: What does it mean, really, to elevate patient care? It’s a, that’s a big, that’s a big topic to unpack. There’s the patient experience, there’s the diagnostics, there’s the treatment, there’s, there’s a whole realm that comes with that and today we’re bringing you an episode that is going to specifically touch on a way that you can elevate patient care and improve your accuracy and make your life a lot easier. We have invited to Everyday Practices Dental Podcast, Dr. Maggie and I, uh, Dr. Jonathan Ehlers. He is a PDA client and, oh gosh, I think you’re a Hall of Famer also. You, uh, are a tremendous doctor at Sedalia and, uh, Heidi Dubois with Yomi. Is it Yomi Bionisis? Is that how I say it officially? Yes. Yes. Uh, so we are going to talk about robotics in dentistry and, and getting into really, you know, what is the next step. Wave of the future, the raising the standard of care snd this is a really hot topic right now. I would say robotics and AI are the top that come into mind always. And John, you were the first in your state to put it into practice and we would love to know how you even heard about Yomi. You can tell us briefly, you know, about yourself because I, you know, you’re an incredible doctor. Tell us a little bit about your practice and then why on earth you even thought about this, uh, with regards to implants. 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: So, uh, like you said, we’re in Sedalia, Missouri practice is Tiger Family Dental. Uh, it was a startup practice in 2016 and we moved into a larger facility where we have an associate dentist and five hygienists currently looking for another associate. Um, we are, you know, I, I tend to focus more on the surgical aspects of dentistry. Uh, placing a lot of implants with a full arch component. You know, we do a lot of, um, you know, and speaking to the technology side that we’ll get into more. Um, we like the digital workflow with things and I, I lecture on that. In terms of from start to finish, um, every aspect is touched with the digital dentistry and I think that’s really improved outcomes and like you mentioned as well, the state of care is going up and I think, uh, Yomi is a big, uh, big part of that.

Regan Robertson: Heidi, what are you seeing from, from your perspective? So, I, I know just pre, pre recording, you mentioned that when you started out in dentistry, there were five implant companies, and now there are 450 or more? 

Heidi DuBois: More, to be honest, I probably started in dentistry prior to there even being an implant company. I was a hygienist, um, for 22 years and really developed this passion for helping patients understand really what’s best for them in a dental practice and the, for me, at the stage of my career, I have done a lot of different things in the industry and the exciting part of this technology is that the dental profession is catching up to the medical profession finally. We see the value of efficiency. We see the value of better patient outcomes, less, you know, minimally invasive procedures and when people go to the dentist, that’s something that they really are looking for. You know, if we could have less after discomfort. post operative discomfort and we can control that and get the healing better and actually get people their smile quicker and faster. Um, that’s what it’s all about and we’re seeing people get it catching onto that

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: And is Yomi the only robotics that’s right now available in dentistry? Yes, 

Heidi DuBois: Yes it’s the only FDA approved surgical robot, robot assisted, uh, surgery in the United States. 

Regan Robertson: So, what, before, before you found Yomi, let’s, let’s take a, let’s take a journey back, John. Let’s go back to your early days of implants and, and, you know, cause everybody has to start out with implant number one and I can already feel like even in my cheeks, the tension of that, the nervousness of it, because you have a person on the other end of that implant. So what, what was your journey with implants like and what kind of challenges were you may be facing or, or maybe not, but whatever it was, you know, what, what made you make that decision to, to, to look at this as an option for you?

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Yeah. So, um, I was fortunate enough that when I was an associate, when I first started placing implants, um, the owner doctor and I decided to jump into a comprehensive education before, you know, we weren’t going to be these dentists that did this week in course and all of a sudden now we’re placing implants because I think that is the anxiety you talk about that for me, my personality, I couldn’t do that. So I knew that that was not an option. Um, and so we, we dove into a, yeah. Uh, intensive 10 weekend course over the course of a year. Uh, and it touched every aspect of implant dentistry and what was nice about it is as we would come home and practice throughout the week, we were starting to see like this competence, you know, come about, um, but I, I go back to, wow, it was fortunate for me is because we had Cone Beam technology from day one, you know, then it’s replacing implants for years before combing was even, you know, even a thought and, and so, you know, we’re going to talk a lot about standard of care today and, um, that was a perfect example of how standard of care changed within my career. You know, the way I view it, standard of care now is if you’re placing an implant, you need 3D imaging of that site and, um, and so I had that from the get go nd, and so, you know, I could see my path kind of unfolding as I was going. We started with single implant sites, maybe a couple implants for overdentures and then as I moved back home to Sedalia and started my own practice, full arch dentistry kind of came into focus for me and, and, um, so I, I started doing static guides for my full arch cases for, it was, it was a couple of years I was doing that. Had great results and they worked most of the time but the issue that we faced was, you know, you, you get this static guide, the stat, the guide’s already made and so as with anything in medicine and surgery, uh, things change. So you need the ability to adapt on the fly and, and so there were those cases where I had my guide, I had my sites for the implants, they just, you know, and for whatever reason, the site would no longer work and so at that point you have to make a decision. Do you, do you, uh, abandon the guide? Do you place a freehand implant for that site? Um, and so, you know, I, I navigated and handled those cases, but in the back of my mind, I was like, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a technology to where, if a site is no longer viable, we can in real time, adapt, change that and still be guided?” And, and so, lo and behold, um, the guy that sold me my, uh, Cone Beam CT, um, ended up working for Yomi and so, he calls me up one day and he’s like, “Hey John, I got this technology. Uh, you don’t really need to do it, you know, and, and we talk about the price tag. We talk about what it means, you know, to, to adopt this technology and, um, I’m like, no, it’s probably not for me. Um, but then he, uh, he comes to the office with a, I get to demo it in a, in a, uh, in a bus in my parking lot and five, 10 minutes into the demo, I, I bought it. So now that’s like the rest of 

Regan Robertson: it’s in, I’ve seen technology in a bus. This paints a really interesting visual inexpensive. No, that’s my whole point is you’re buying like the highest and what Lamborghini or Ferrari. 

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Yeah, this is like the cost of a, of a small lake house. Yeah. 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Yeah. You know, and what, and what sold me though was we planned a site in plant number 30 and I started my osteotomy and I’m like, okay, pause. I want to, you know, I don’t like this site. Let’s change it. Let’s, let’s go back to the software. Let’s see what it looks like of changing my inclination, angulation is like, “Okay, no problem.” Click, click, click, “Go ahead and do it.” Like 10 seconds later, we go back into the osteotomy. I see the change in angulation and right there, it was like a light bulb. I think back to those surgeries that I was doing and I’m like, you know what? Those sites that are no longer viable and I could, but I can still be guided and so, um, that was, that was kind of the aha moment for me in terms of what Yeome can bring, um, to, to more complex cases. And I, and from there on, I was sold.

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: And that would have been my question, like 10 seconds later, I thought maybe it would take like 10 minutes, half an hour and the patient’s sitting there waiting for you to, to play with the tools or. 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Yeah, it is. It literally, everything in your software, the plan is all saved and all you do is you go one step back on your, your planning module and you make the adjustments on the software and because you’re still, you know, we, we, when we link up to the, the patient, everything is still linked, you know, and we’re, we’re all calibrated. So any interop changes are all still within the parameters of the guidance and it’s, uh, it’s very, and you can even add implants. Say you, say you plan for five implants and you see a cycle, like. I think that’s going to work on the fly during when the patient’s in a chair, you can plan another implant site, put it into your, your plan and, and, uh, go ahead and place the other implant. Um, it was minimal time. So it’s, it’s a very, very efficient and the accuracy is amazing. It really is. 

Regan Robertson: Maggie, you, you place implants as well and, um, me in a completely non dental related, I was going to ask for some layman terms here and then Maggie, you went right into it with time saving, like what the difference was in time and then patient perception of what’s going on as you’re making the adjustments of it. What is the real, because I just aaught one little thing you said, John, and it was actually like doing another if you’re going to do another, right? How, how does that, can you be my eyes and ears from the patient’s perspective? Like what real time is this changing for you? Um, and then, and then how do you feel as a result of that? 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Yeah, I think the, uh, if, if you’re, if you’re in a, in a case where you’re, you’re planning a full arch of implants and you need to add an implant or two, I, I don’t even think the timing is, is even, I don’t think the patient would even realize that it’s that much quicker. Um, so I think all that is, um, you know, the, the ability that you can make the changes. The efficiency of those changes from a patient’s perspective, they don’t even realize it. Um, you know, and, and so like the timing alone is, is amazing, but what, you know, we can even talk about the, uh, invasiveness, you know, traditionally when you place an implant, we have to make an incision. We have to flap that tissue back. All of that increases postoperative pain and discomfort. Uh, with Yomi, any healed site, we image the bone. So we know exactly, you know, where we’ve planned everything. We can even plan the crown, uh, ahead of time. So we, we go from restoration back to the implant position and so with all that knowledge base, we don’t have to make incisions. We literally can do a tissue punch, place our implant through that tissue, place a healing cap and they’re done and it really like no bleeding. It’s, it’s, um, you know, it’s, it’s truly like, like we talked about it. It’s revolutionizing how implant dentistry can be.

Regan Robertson: Did you say no bleeding? 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Yeah, I, you know, when I say, when I, when I say no bleeding, what I mean by that is you create the, you create the osteotomy, which is the, the preparation into the bone, there is some bleeding with that, but once you place the healing cap down and it, it compresses that tissue. The patient will not experience any bleeding postoperatively. Um, it’s, there are rare cases where you have some. Um, yeah, it’s, it’s truly remarkable what it’s done. 

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: What I will tell you is that there have been times that I have had, um, I do all my surgery guided. Um, and there have been times, um, that my guide have, has failed and it is extraordinarily disappointing to me as a practitioner, and it reduces significantly the confidence of the patient in me, right? And so instead of the patient going home with an implant, what you end up doing is doing another bone graft and postponing the implant placement for another three months, and that breaks you as a practitioner. Um, and so the idea, and so, so the, so the guide fails, right but then there’s times that you’re using the guide and something is off and the implant just, you know, it’s just not placed exactly where you thought it was going to go and so it’s too close to one thing or another, right and you still can’t place it and so the idea that you can have robotic placement, because it’s not, it doesn’t just replace, um, the guide, it actually is taking scans, it’s my understanding, right, as, as you’re taking it, so, so it is extraordinarily accurate in terms of where you’re placing it, looking at where the teeth are, looking at where the anatomy is, looking at the nerve, um, so, so it is like levels above a surgical guide.

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Oh, it is, the, the, the guide is only as good as number one, your ability to reproduce how the guide fits on the teeth and also it’s, it’s also dependent on who made the guide, you know? So I, all those two factors alone were enough for me to say, um, there has to be a better option and, and like you said, Maggie, um, with, with Yomi, you, whenever we scan the day of, we have fiducial markers built into, um, the, we call it the bone, the Yomi bone link. This is kind of getting into the weeds, but basically what we use to attach the robot to the patient. Uh, there are fiducial markers within that and, and so from there, we, we can take the end of our implant handpiece and we, we select a spot, wherever it’s our landmark. Once we select that landmark, we are within tenths of a millimeter of accuracy and what’s nice about it is you can reproduce it, you know, just test it to say, you know, if you, if you don’t trust Yomi intraoperatively, take your, take your, your, the end of your implant, um, working drill and put it on the cusp tip and see where it looks, where it looks like on the software and every time it’s that, it’s that accurate. So, you know, I think there’s, there’s obviously, um, anxiety when you’re talking about technology like this, but you know, as you, the more you use it, the more you trust it, you know, I mean, there are, there are cases where you can’t even really see when you’re placing an implant. I have the confidence in Yomi knowing that once I’m in guided mode, it’s going to take me exactly where I planned it 100 percent of the time.

Heidi DuBois: I think one of the things too I want to mention that, um, we didn’t even touch on is same day surgery and it’s, you know, you can treat that patient, especially somebody with a, you know, an injury with an anterior, you know, tooth, you’re waiting for a guide, you’re, you’re, there’s all sorts of things that can prolong your treatment and with Yomi, you could do treatment on that same day. So I know a lot of our clinicians have really upped their, you know, immediate placement protocol and I know that that’s something that you did, Dr. Ehlers, as well. 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Absolutely. Yeah. Another thing I want to touch on, too, is there’s a, Maggie, I don’t know if you tried to use a guide on a second molar implant site before, um, let’s just say they’re challenging from a, from a spacing, uh, mindset.

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Well, you don’t even know where to put your hand. Here, Dwight. Yeah. You’re like, yeah, you’re

Regan Robertson:  Hey, wait, where is it? Say your mouth back at MOLA. So not the back molar, the one right next to it. Is that what you guys are talking about? 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: This  is like the truth and this is like right in front of your wisdom tooth. Okay. So we’re talking, we’re talking way back there. Um, sometimes the patient can’t even open the length of the drill, let alone get in a guided. Okay. So Yomi has a solution for that. It’s called lateral access and I use this all the time. I probably talk about it more than they want me to, but it’s just such a cool tool. Um, Whereas, you can, you can go into guidance with the, the tip of the, the, the drill at an angle and it allows you to angle, go into the bone, and as you’re deepening your osteotomy, it uprights you and gets you into the perfect trajectory and so a patient with limited opening. You can place implants in the second molar site now, you know, like that’s, that’s opened a whole, a whole realm of implant sites that I just wasn’t even going to tackle before because it was such a headache for me.

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Instead  of just sweating and begging, it’s a little bit lighter and way.  

Regan Robertson: Yeah, like a floss back there, let alone get in there with tools. I mean, really seriously, I think, yeah. And how many, how many missed opportunities have there been? So, you know, when I think about the dentists that, you know, that inspire me, uh, you know, that are, but they’re at the top of their game. They’ve invested probably a million in their own education. They’ve been at the game for many, many years. So they have placed so many implants. Not everybody gets access to that at all. Not everybody gets access to that. So this is closing that gap, if you will. I mean, it is, is now all of a sudden you have a whole realm of opportunity in a way to better treat people like, 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Oh yeah, that, that’s ultimately what it’s all about. It’s, you know, allowing yourself the tools in your toolbox to where you can provide excellent care, you know, and Yomi is, has been a, has been that for me for sure. 

Regan Robertson: One of the, one of the questions that, that, you know, that Maggie and I have that we want to talk about is obviously the cost of it because the, there’s a cost to indecision and then there is an investment to, to put in, um, uh, what I would say is, is a healthy dose of an investment financially, you know, to put something like this into the practice and one of the myths, I’m, I’m hoping that you can shatter this myth for me because one of the myths that I carried for a long time was patients aren’t going to, um, um, on board robotic assisted dentistry, like they will be scared of it. They will think it’s not precise. They will have questions kind of like, you know, when the camera was invented, you see everybody kind of like looking at the camera in a, you know, apprehensive sort of way. What has your experience been marketing this? And then I think we can bridge over into, you know, the cost of this and what this has meant for you financially, um, in, in making that return back.

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: I mean, there’s certainly those patients that are apprehensive, um, but I think it’s important to note that, you know, the way that we talk to our patients is number one, the person that’s most in control is the patient. You know, like if you ever have a pain, um, if you’re ever uncomfortable, you send a stop signal. We’re all done. So number one, they’re in control. Number two, we’re also in control. You know, I’m still in control of that hand piece. Um, it’s not going to go forward and back without force from me. Um, all, all the robot does is creates parameters and a path for me to place the implants. So it’s, and again, who designed, who designed the Yomi plan? I did. So, you know, it’s like patients come to our office because they have faith in our team and me and so we just have to tell them that this whole process is put in, in line from us. This is simply another tool in our toolbox to help provide the best outcome. So that’s how we explain it but you’re right. I mean, it’s as with any technology, it’s there, there are patients that are apprehensive about it. We just have to educate them. 

Heidi DuBois: And I, I’d like to add onto that if I can, because we are starting to see a reverse trend now and, uh, my role at Yomi, I am the business optimization manager. So a lot of what I do is work with teams and how they’re going to talk about the robot to the patient, and we are now starting to see patients calling practices that have had hip replacement, knee replacement, other robotic medical procedures that want the same technology used in their mouth. 

Regan Robertson: That is fascinating to me. You know, we talk about dentistry moving a little bit slower to adopt new, new technologies and new methodologies and get caught up compared to medical, uh, so that, I think it’s. It’s fascinating to me to see public perception, uh, you know, shifting, uh, as, as fast as this is, is coming about. So, so let’s look at data. I don’t, I don’t need actual numbers, John, but I know that you have definitely seen an ROI from this. There’s an ROI of physical, like, you know, financial costs, and then there’s an ROI of your time. There’s an ROI to the health of the patient. I mean, which is incredible. The healing time, the downtime, all of those pieces.

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Insanity.

Regan Robertson: Right. Your own sanity. I can, 

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: Well, like we’re not having those guides fail. 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: That’s right. That’s a huge part. Like Maggie, that’s like probably the biggest ROI in all of it is confidence in your sites. You know, confidence, like the restoration is a piece of cake. You know, like your, our score access channel is right down the middle every time and it’s all because of, of the ability to plan. Um, but yeah, the ROI, it’s, let’s be honest, it’s, it is expensive, it’s an expensive piece of equipment, but you know, so are Cone Beams, so are Intraoral scanners. Um, there is a cost, there is an investment in cost with anything if you want to provide the best care. And, and Yomi is, is, you know, it’s, it’s no exception there. Um, but if you want to dive into our numbers, we almost doubled our implants in one year for the office, our floor cases have, have gone up significantly. Um, it’s provided avenues for me to be able to talk to, you know, talk to you, Regan, talk to you, Maggie, and, and meet Heidi. You know, those are, those are the, those are the. Non monetary benefits that I’ve seen, you know, like with my career. Um, it gives you the ability to be. Um, when we talk about authority marketing, um, when we talk about authority marketing, Yomi is that for my area, you know, there’s no one else around me that has this and so, um, when we talk to our patients, when we market our practice, um, Yomi’s there all the time because, and another way I look at it too, is if a patient’s coming to our practice for a crown and they see that we’ve invested in this, you know, robot for our implant placements. We’ve made this massive investment. What, what do you think, how do you think we take care of our patients for crowns? You know, it gets, it’s not just implants. It is across the board how we take care of our patients for cleanings. Like if, if we’ve made that type of investment that blends throughout the entire practice and so, um, those are parts of the ROI that I speak about.

Heidi DuBois: Yeah, and we call that the halo effect and, and it’s something we track all the time, because you do see that even, you know, as a practice differentiator, to your point, it really does show that you are doing what’s best. You have patient you’re thinking patient first. I want to do what’s best for my patient and you know, you, your practice located where it is, is not in some of the more competitive areas where we have practice after practice after practice down one road and to highlight the fact that they’re a robotic practice, we never call a practice someone that owns a robot. They, they become robotic practices. So we really elevate that all every chance we can. 

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: I have a challenging question for you. Um, I, I have a colleague whom I respect very, very much and he, in his last practice, he used a Yomi and now he’s about to open his new practice and I said, are you going to buy a Yomi? And he said, “Absolutely not,” and I said, “Wait, what, why? I know so many dentists that are thrilled with it. “And he said, “It just takes too much time to set up,” and I, and I wanted to hear your opinion about that because I was, I mean, everyone that I’ve known, and it’s mostly PDA docs, right, the best docs there are, um, that, that own Yomis and I’ve heard so many incredible things from you, John, and from Chad Johnson, could you speak to that? Is that a thing? 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Yeah, I, I think it’s a valid, it’s a valid, um, concern. Um, you know, but think about it too, I know a lot of guys, CEREC, probably the most preeminent scanner and, um, same day crown machine in the country, in the world. Um, there are a lot of guys that buy a CEREC and it sits in the corner of their office. Yeah and so, and I’m not, you know, I don’t want to Disparage this practitioner, but I think a lot of it is you’re really going to buy into it, you know, and maybe it’s so, it’s so easy because again, I’ve been placing implants for a decade or more is easier for me to, oh, it’s like number, you know, lower right molar healed site. It’s, it’d be, it’s so easy to just say, it’s so quick, let’s just get the patient numb, get the, get the implant in and patients out in 15 minutes. I think it’s a, probably a pretty good, um, placement, you know, it’s, it’s probably going to be just fine. Um, but I think at the end of the day, you have to be able to say, “I want it to be perfect,” and, you know, we, we can’t always achieve perfection, but if we had a tool that allows us to get as darn close as we can, like, I think it’s, it’s worth putting a little bit more time in the planning side of things. Um, now there are benefit, there are, there are ways to make it more efficient and you’ll learn that as you use it more and maybe that’s a part of it too. You know, I’d encourage them to talk to me, you know, let’s have a conversation and see, see what, see what’s holding him back in terms of the speed of how he’s doing it. Um, he or she, I don’t know if you used he, I’m sorry. Um, I did, but, um, 

Heidi DuBois: You know, Dr. Ehlers, I want to add on to that too, um, and toot your horn a little bit because there is a lot of delegation that goes, so when people say to us it takes time, your team is able to Set Yomi up, they’re, they’re getting, they’re linking the patient to the robot. So doctor chair time, and we’ve, we have an efficiency study that will be coming out time wise. Doctor chair time is actually less. If you are taking on, as, as Dr. Ehlers said, you’re really embracing the technology, you’re empowering your team to do the things that they can do and Dr. Ehlers is really, really great about that. I mean, it makes a big difference. 

Dr. Maggie Augustyn: And I can speak more to that, right? Like it’s wearing loops. Um, I wear glasses. I have to take off my glasses, put on my loops. They’re heavy. They make my ears hurt, but I use them for the excellence, right? I did just get an IO. It is hard to use. I’ve always wanted one. I continue to do that. It’s difficult. It’s difficult. Um, it’s difficult to do that. I myself, I mark my own margins on crowns. I always have, since I have gotten a scanner, do I have to do that? I don’t have to do that. I choose to do that because I get better results for that. So I suppose a lot of that also comes down to what is the level of excellence that you want to provide for your patients and do you think it’s worth taking the time to bring that?

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: Totally agree. Totally agree. Yeah and, you know, kind of back to the team, cause I think we do need to touch on that a little bit today. My team loves yummy. They, they have, they have ownership. Um, like we have, um, to break it down, you have your chair side assistant and you have the driver and the driver makes all the changes to the software intraoperatively. So there’s two, there’s two assistants that need to be with you on these surgeries. Our driver is fresh out of dental assisting school. You know, she’ll admit she didn’t know a lot about, she didn’t even know a lot about implants in general when she started her journey with Yomi and you can see the confidence in her. Even, even us treatment, planning a case and getting a patient to say yes. Um, her ability to close that case with patients has improved because she’s seen it now, you know, and she has ownership of, you know, “Hey, we have a robot that. Like, you know, when, when Dr. John says he’s going to place it exactly where it is, like it happens cause I get to, I get to help him with that. You know, like I have my role and I get to be owner of that role,” and, um, it’s so fun for me to see, like, it really empowers your team and man, that, that has led to so many other benefits for our practice too. 

Regan Robertson: Is there, John, this isn’t Yomi related necessarily, but I, I’m really, really curious. You seem to have an X factor. So when I’m just around you, when I’m at an event with you, um, or, you know, when I, when I see the marketing that you put out, anytime I kind of interact with you, you have this, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Optimism and charisma and hope that pulls me forward. You make me very excited. Like it, you have the same challenges that other practice owners have. Uh, and, and the way that you approach them always makes me feel, I guess, like a true leader, like I would want to be on your team. I feel like you’re leading in a great direction. Is there something that you have thought about over the years or been able to pinpoint that you do that allows the team to onboard things easier because I can feel the sense of pride from your team when they say sense of ownership. If, is there any where that you invested or, or is it just, does it just come naturally to you? Was there anything that you learned along the way that helped you bring your team into the conversation collaboratively so they feel like they’re part of the solution? 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: You know, I, I, I don’t know if I could pinpoint a certain thing, um, but one thing that I just, I try to value, I try to value every person in whatever role they’re in in your life, you know, like, I feel like and that may be cliche or, or, but it’s just the truth, you know? And I look back at our assistants or like associate dentists or, you know, like talking to other dentists in the PDA environment and like. Whenever they talk to me about their challenges, I just think back, I’m like, you know, I’ve been there before and, and, um, so whatever I can do to help them, that’s what I try to do. Um, and you know, like if, if you’re, I was a, I was a college athlete and I think athletics kind of, you know, it puts you on the spot, like they’re there with athletics. There’s always a point in that game where you’re like, you know what? I don’t think we’re going to win or this, these guys are way better than, um, but you keep fighting and you keep, you keep trying to find ways to, to get it to rise above it and, um, I’ve applied that to every aspect of my life. That’s why I’m always, I try to try to get my kids in athletics. Um, my nephews, you know, my nieces because it does teach you there’s so many important aspects that you learn from that teamwork, um, leadership, you know, um, to be able to fight when things are tough and so I’ve always adopted that personality to, uh, and apply it to my career. I think it’s, it’s got, it has gone a long ways to, to help me kind of get over some challenges that we all face.

Regan Robertson: Well, thank you, Jonathan. This is, it’s a very touching piece because like both you and Heidi just mentioned, bringing the team into it really is one of the big secrets of success when you bring anything into the practice and I’ve heard time and again with the CERECs that sit in the corner. I remember there used to be like cartoons about it even, uh, as, you know, jokes that were made and so there’s, there is an, there’s an underlying current and that is, is leadership and, and knowing the direction and where you want to take the practice and where you want to grow. So I have a, I guess my final question is a question for Jonathan, you first, and then, and then Heidi, um, what. What is your, your mission for 2025? Where, where are you going? Where is your practice going? And then, and then Heidi, my question for you is, you know, with the, the Yomi doctors that you work with, that you adore, um, you know, what, what have they articulated to you about their missions as well? Jonathan, I ask you first, what’s on the horizon for you at 2025? 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: So we are actually getting ready to do an expansion for our practice. Um, we’re, we’re currently sitting at 10 operatories and we’re going to add four more operatories in a dedicated surgical suite, uh, which will come with another associate and a few more hygienists and, you know, the practice is growing and it’s exciting to see. Um, I would, I, you know, my, a goal of mine is to move more into placing implants and doing the surgeries in our practice and providing that and along the leadership role. I want to be able to manage our practice, manage and see us achieve new goals. You know, every, every year we set a goal and it can be, it can be financially, it can be other things, but I think for 2025, our goal is to expand and to, uh, touch more lives, you know, help more people. Um, and a personal goal of mine is to, uh, focus more on, on educating other doctors, you know, talking to them about Yomi, talking to them about industry in general. And, um, if they’re facing, you know, issues or, or doubts about their career trajectory, I want to be there to, uh, to push them over the finish line and really like, you know, achieve the goals because I’m not unique. I really believe that. I think, um, you know, the things that I’ve achieved in my career, they can be replicated by anyone. They just have to have the right mindset and, um, and move forward with those, uh, those goals. 

Regan Robertson: Thank you, Jonathan. Heidi, how about you? When you talk to doctors, what are you seeing? Is there any like recurring theme or something that, you know, a trait that pops to the surface for you?

Heidi DuBois: I, you know, I, I always have a saying to, and I tell this to the doctors I work with all the time, as you go, they will flow. The doctor is in that space of this is going to be a success and we are going to embrace this and we are going to grow the practices that have really embraced, um, not only the technology, but the leadership and, and working with other leaders in the field, people like John and, and helping them really make a difference in this dental, in the whole dental space. That’s what I see. Pete, there are, you know, we had the early adapters and now we’re into the people that are, they really get it and they understand that they can be better, do better and expand on what they’ve been doing for a lot of years. You know, it’s the people that say I’ve been doing it great for a long, long time. Well, That saying goes, there’s no such thing as stagnation. You’re either in growth or decay. So my goal is to work with practices that embrace growth, want to grow, and people that want to grow. 

Regan Robertson: Thank you so much, Heidi and Dr. Jonathan Ehlers. This has been a really exciting episode. Uh, I’m so, I’m just thrilled. I’m thrilled for you to share knowledge that might not even be on, on everybody’s landscape right now in the moment. I think you’ve done a tremendous job of sharing your heart and where you’re going and Maggie, you know, um, just to, to kind of like round this out, cause you asked such great questions. You know, the doctor that isn’t putting it in to, to play in the practice, there are additional features, you know, maybe they don’t want to do implants. Maybe that’s not a focus for them. Maybe that’s not the direction that they’re going, but it sounds like, you know, Heidi, you do a great job of, uhm, walking doctors through what this can do and, um, you know, to give people the space and the tools to elevate the standard of care to crazy new heights, you know, the answer is it, it’s worth it. It’s absolutely worth it. If you deem in your heart and it fits, you know, your authenticity and your goals, then this is an absolute wonderful solution. Jonathan is a PDA client. Uh, you can Google him. He’s been on the cover of Dentaltown magazine. He’s a great voice. You can, you can email us at brent@productivedentist.com and we can make a connection. Heidi, how can doctors find out more about Yomi?

Heidi DuBois: So I would encourage them to get on our Yomi YouTube channel, check out our Yomi website. You can reach out to marketing@neosis.com and we’re happy to share information with you and get you in touch with somebody that maybe could bring that demo bus to your office. It brings a whole new definition to move that bus. 

Dr. Jonathan Ehlers: It really does and if, if there, if there, if we have a doctor that’s, that’s doing full arched dentistry that wants more information on the digital workflow, uh, with Yomi. They can go on. Um, Heidi, is that, is that webinar still on? Yep. Uh, YouTube for, for for Yomi. So I have a webinar on there as well you can reference, um, it kind of dives into some my workflow and, um, and based on that and they can, they feel free to reach out and we can answer any questions they have about how that looks.

Regan Robertson: Excellent. Thank you both so very much. This has been a delightful time. Um, great podcast.  We have our, our PDA conference in Frisco, Texas, uh, March 3rd. 13th through the 15th. If you’re interested and you want to hear more from John, uh, specifically about, uh, you know, implants and, and Yomi and how that’s all been working and you want to hear from Maggie in person. I know I have a little bit as well. Go to productivedentist.com  and we look forward to seeing you guys in Texas.

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