Episode 231 – Shiny New Toys

“I was doing the (Yomi) guided surgery left-handed. I’m right-handed.” ~Dr. Chad Johnson

Just like CEREC and CAD/CAM influenced same-day dentistry, bringing the dental lab inside the dental office, the latest technology on the tongues of excited dentists placing implants is the Yomi Robotic Dental Implant system. Following the lead of a few trailblazing PDA dentists, Everyday Practices Dental Podcast co-host Dr. Chad Johnson recently implemented Yomi in his practice. As a follow-up to last week’s episode, Dr. Chad discusses how he’s using this exciting new technology, and what it’s taken to get him and his team up to speed with it so they could start placing implants in their patients. 

Join Dr. Chad on this quick but amazing episode, and when you listen, think about the following:

• What might be holding you back from purchasing Yomi or some other exciting technologies that could change the way you do dentistry?
• What do you think are the potential financial implications of integrating Yomi into a dental practice (considering initial costs and long-term benefits)?
• How might a new technology impact patient flow, treatment outcomes, and practice revenue in your practice?
• What risks are there in implementing new technologies? 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Regan 0:01
Hi, Doctor. Regan Robertson, CCO of Productive Dentist Academy here and I have a question for you. Are you finding it hard to get your team aligned to your vision, but you know, you deserve growth just like everybody else? That’s why we’ve created the PDA productivity workshop. For nearly 20 years, PDA workshops have helped dentists just like you align their teams, get control of scheduling, and create productive practices that they love walking into every day. Just imagine how you will feel when you know your schedule is productive, your systems are humming, and your team is aligned to your vision. It’s simple, but it’s not necessarily easy. We can help, visit productivedentist.com/workshop that’s productivedentist.com/workshop to secure your seats now.

Dr. Chad Johnson 0:47
With 50 implants, let’s say 4000 a piece. I mean, that was a $200,000  six-day kind of thing. So we really had a great outcome.

Regan 1:02
Welcome to the Everyday Practices Podcast. I’m Regan Robertson, and my co-host, Dr. Chad Johnson, and I are on a mission to share the stories of everyday dentists who generate extraordinary results using practical proven methods you can take right into your own dental practice. If you’re ready to elevate patient care and produce results that are anything but ordinary, buckle up and listen in.

Dr. Chad Johnson 1:35
Hey, everyone, this should be the shortest episode ever of Everyday Practices Dental Podcast, this is Dr. Chad Johnson and right now we are in April of 2024. I wanted to catch up with a couple other Productive Dentist Academy doctors and do the Yomi dental implant robot. So John Ehlers, down in Missouri, Clint Euse out in Carson City, Nevada and I had seen on Facebook, you know other guys that were killing it with it and I also had demoed it in August of 2021, figured let’s give it a shot, I talked to you guys about how I had scheduled a bunch of patients by sending them text and stuff like that, you can see a previous episode on that because we ended up lining up about 60 implants and so I just thought I’d give you an update on our Yomi training. We did two weeks of intensive training with it. Basically, it comes with the package of buying it that they have trainers come in and show you how to hook everything up, make sure the assistants know how to sterilize and disinfect and you know, connect everything, disconnect everything, patient flow with getting the CT scan with the right trackers in place and everything like that. So we had two days of modules where we were, you know, not working on live patients and we would do some implant placement and in some Styrofoam, you know, stone model kind of stuff or whatever and then we even worked on edentulous arches being able to hook the yummy bone link onto bone. It’s kind of like bone mesh with screws, except this is for attaching the radiographic marker, that fiduciary, fiduciary marker that stays on when the patient moves, it holds that in place so that way the robot knows where the patient is, and therefore where the implant placement is going to be at all times. So then we had two days last week and four days this week, six days total of clinical work, where we could schedule as many patients because we had done some legwork. We had, I think 25 ish patients. One patient kicked it out until May. So we’ll get him scheduled for his 10 implants the next month. We also recorded a radio ad and we then had that posted saying, you know, we had a great response and so our next Yomi days are may 21 and 22nd. You could also do this for Invisalign, right? I mean, Invisalign has been around for 25 years or something like that. So it’s not as wow factor as the Yomi robot or whatever the next big thing is, you know, or the last big thing, you know, but you could do something like that.

Dr. Chad Johnson 4:36
Wow, we’ve had a great response. We’ve had 25 patients last month, you know, sign up for Invisalign, or for us, you know, for our Yomi implants, and we placed 50 implants in six days and it’s a Friday right now, I’m kind of beat. We had a great turnout, we offered a discount and that helps cut down or, you know, cut down the cost so that way patients would have almost half to say yes and then we, you know, we’re 50 implants, let’s say 4000 apiece, I mean, that was a $200,000 six-day kind of thing. So we really had a great outcome, that’s $200,000 start to finish, you know, for getting started on people for their crowns, bridges, full arches, you know, stuff like that, with all the, you know, little stuff, abutments stuff, you know, all that. So I just wanted to kind of give an update. So we did our two weeks of training, the assistants have done great, it was great having the trainers in there, they really were helpful and then it was also nice for us, you know, to be able to procedurally understand when you lay the flap, and you’ve got the robot in the way on the maxillary. You know, sometimes it’s easy, more on dentate patients, it’s a lot harder on evangelist patients, you know, for holding the flap and visualizing it in a mirror on the maxillary and placing the implant, you know, it’s really cool though, once you get the robot in the position, you can I was doing the guidance surgeries left-handed, I’m right-handed, I was doing it left-handed, because all you really need to do is pump the, the handpiece in and out to depth you can’t over pump it, it can’t go deeper, I pushed as hard as I could just to try it out on the stone model when we were doing the modules, I couldn’t get it to go point three millimeters beyond where the implant was designed, you can design the implant ahead of time, you can design it on the fly.

Dr. Chad Johnson 6:42
At one point I put it in and I realized, you know, I feel like this is moved to the museum in reality by, I don’t know 1.5 millimeters. So we moved it back three clicks, point five point 5.5 millimeters to move it distally 1.5 millimeters where the implant was and sure enough, then it put it right where I wanted it. That was just one time that I felt like it was better positioned to the back but you can make those changes on the fly. Another cool thing you can angle the drill bit or the the implants, I suppose but the drill bit where you want the implant to go, and then tell it to drop an implant here and it’ll put it into the CT scan, right there. So if you kind of want to eyeball it, you can do that and then drop it down into bone more or move it one way or another to make sure you’re not in the sinus or hitting an IA nerve. You can also shorten it up, stuff like that but I’ll tell you what, a great six days, you know, to get started and you guys should check into it. It’s not for everyone but if you’re into placing implants and you’ve got you know, a ton of cash or the willingness to sign your life away for a big loan. It’s you know, it’s like a CEREC and then some, but it would be you know, worth checking out for some of you guys. So I wanted to give you an update. We indeed had 25 ish patients about 50 implants when all of a sudden done I’ve got more lined up for May we made new radio ads that’s getting, you know, some momentum on our side, and I’m really excited about it. Hopefully this ended up being the shortest podcast ever give it a like, you guys have a great day doing your everyday practices next week. Take care.

Regan 8:33
Thank you for listening to another episode of Everyday Practices Podcast. Chad and I are here every week. Thanks to our community of listeners just like you and we’d love your help. It would mean the world if you can help spread the word by sharing this episode with a fellow dentist and leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify. Do you have an extraordinary story you’d like to share or feedback on how we can make this podcast even more awesome? Drop us an email at podcast@productivedentist.com and don’t forget to check out our other podcasts from Productive Dentist Academy at productivedentist.com/podcasts See you next week.