Episode 241 – Products, Innovations & the Dental Media

“Just because someone says the latest material or latest handpiece is the best ever doesn’t mean it is.” ~Stan Goff

Get ready to geek out on materials, friends!

In this episode, Everyday Practices Dental Podcast co-hosts Regan Robertson and Dr. Chad Johnson are joined by Dental Products Report Managing Editor Stan Goff. As a seasoned editor with a keen eye on the dental profession’s latest innovations and trends, Stan brings a wealth of knowledge and insights that are indispensable for any dental professional. Stan shares his unique perspective on the current state and future of dentistry, discussing emerging technologies, groundbreaking research, and the evolving landscape of dental care.

Stan is one of five amazing panelists for the upcoming Dental Media Roundtable discussion at the PDA Conference on September 14. This history-making roundtable on the PDA Conference main stage promises to delve deep into the positive aspects and future opportunities within the dental profession, offering attendees a unique opportunity to gain a new perspective from the dental profession’s media leaders. Don’t miss this exciting preview with Stan Goff as we explore the innovations and trends shaping the future of dentistry.

As you listen to this episode, we want you to think about the following questions:

• What new innovations can you implement in your practice?
• How can you leverage the dental media to stay better informed and educated about the dental profession?
• What key issues and opportunities should you be aware of for the next five to 10 years?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Regan Robertson: 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. Well, if you’re like me at the presidential debate last night made my eyes roll. Did it feel to you like the candidates were just pointing out each other’s candidates flaws? A lot of news today can feel like nothing but gloom and doom and doom. It’s polarizing. It’s frustrating. Where can you go dentists for the dental industry news that is real and future facing because despite what it may seem right now in the world, in the media, dentistry itself has a bright future. Dr. Chad Johnson and I are honored to bring Stan Goff on the show today. He is the managing editor for a dental products report, dental practice management, dental lab products, modern hygienists and dentists money digest. You get my drift. He has covered the dental industry since 1999 and his journalism media goes back farther than that. Uh, Chad, are you excited about our guest today?

Dr. Chad Johnson: I am excited. I’ve not met you, uh, until today and I’m excited to get to know you better, Stan. Thanks for joining us today.

Stan Goff: Well, thanks for having me. I’m, I’m, uh, thrilled to be a part of this and, uh, I’m looking forward to this and, uh, some future PDA events that we have down the road as well.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah, I just learned this morning for the listener’s sake that you’re in the Chicagoland area and so even though you’re big city, I’m, you know, Midwest with you. And so we, we, we’re bound to hit it off. So we just have to,

Stan Goff: Sounds good. I’ve written it up already.

Dr. Chad Johnson:  That’s right.

Regan Robertson: Fun Chicago fact. I’ve only been there once and I cannot eat any grains of any kind and I need to plug. The restaurant. I don’t remember. I will text Dr. Maggie Augustine and ask her. A restaurant made me a pizza with an all meat crust.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Oh, very cool.

Regan Robertson: And it was delicious.

Stan Goff: I’ve heard of the cauliflower crust and some of the healthy variations, but an all-meat crust. Wow.

Dr. Chad Johnson: I’m picturing pepperoni a little overburned and I’m loving it.

Stan Goff: Um, yeah. Now you have the meat crust and they put meat on top of it then?

Dr. Chad Johnson: Of course they did. Yeah and for listeners sake, I mean, this is just, Silly, uh, foofa beginning talk for me. I apologize, but, uh, uh, adding to the restaurants, Chicago, uh, downtown Chicago, Banderas restaurants on the second floor on the Michigan Avenue, um, on the East side of the street. Um, super good food, live band and stuff like that. Banderas and I don’t know if Antonio Banderas, uh, is the one who started it, but that’s how you can remember it. Banderas, give it a try.

Regan Robertson: So, Stan, um, you and I share a great connection and that is cutting our teeth in journalism at a small, uh, weekly paper or multi weekly paper or daily paper. However, you want to say it. I went the design route. You went the journalism route. And I’m really curious. Um, I would love a little bit about your background and specifically what prompted you to shift from mainstream journalism into dental.

Stan Goff: Boy, well, yeah, uh, I did, uh, I did work for newspapers for about 15 years in the suburbs of Chicago. Um, you know, some, at times it was two, three times a week at times. It was part of a group that had daily papers. Um and I started out in news and then I did some sports because I’m a big sports nut. So that was part of why I liked that a lot. Um, and, um, along the way, um, to be honest, when I started and I think I’m a little older than some of the other journalists or some of my coworkers. I didn’t know a whole lot about, you know, you know, B2B magazines for, for any trade. You know, I didn’t realize they have them for everything. I mean, you know, and, and, and I, some friends of mine had, uh, left the newspaper business for a variety of reasons. Some of them wanted different hours. Some of them wanted to try something different. Um, and so I had, I had had some friends that were working for dental privacy board.I’m like, I’m like dentists get their own magazine, you know, it turns out they get

Regan Robertson: Multiple,

Stan Goff: More than they probably have time to read all that time, but, but so, uh, and part of it is that my children were a little bit younger at that time and my son was just starting to play little league and peewee football and in the newspaper, I was working, you know, like six days a week, really long hours, and I’m like, you know what? I, I wanted to give something different to try and so I started at DPR in 1999, not knowing a whole lot about, uh, B2B magazines in general and the dental industry, and boy, it was, it was, it was a, it was a wake up call, but it was a, it was a fun wake up call.I mean, Just, uh, you know, wrap the bed, go on to like dental conventions and sitting through some lectures. Just talking to some company, uh, product managers and, and, and trade shows. And you walk in the first time I walked into like Chicago midwinter or greater.

Dr. Chad Johnson:Oh my goodness.

Stan Goff: Wow. There’s a whole lot of people here with a whole lot of information.And, and it’s just, it’s kind of, it kind of took me by surprise and I’ve been enjoying it ever since

Dr. Chad Johnson: . And, have you noticed from 99, I, I finished dental school in Oh five. So same time period, at least at this point, um, how much, how much Conferences, trade shows, stuff like that have changed over the last 20 years that I’ve noticed like at the beginning of my career, when I would go to the, my first year out of school, it was August of 05, I went to the AGD, um, national convention, whatever they call that, the scientific something or another, um, but in DC, and it was huge and, you know, um, Now it’s no knock on them. I think it’s just that things have changed. The internet has changed it as well, but that it’s, it’s a, um, the, the trade show floors aren’t as big, um, and yeah, just the attendance, I went to Hawaii, like the Oh, Oh nine Hawaii ADA. It had 25, 000, uh, attendees. 25, 000 attendees. I mean, so like, what, what’s your thoughts on, like, do you notice that trend as well?

Stan Goff: Oh,  you’re, you’re not, you’re not, uh, surprising anybody with what you’re saying. I mean, it’s a lot in, I think the internet does have a lot to do with it because there are, you know, it’s so easy to access continuing education. You know, you can get, you can go to a webinar, do a CE course online and so, For the trade shows for a number of years, a big part of it was the education. It’s still there. I mean, you could go to, go to Chicago midwinter and you’re going to see some of the best lecturers and you’re going to have some of the best topics, but you can also get a lot of it, online or, you know, uh, on a weekend course with, you know, um, you know, some academy and, um, so that’s a bit, and then, and then, and then the purchasing of products, I mean, you used to have to kind of go to the trade shows to see, you know, and yet still, I mean, I’m not, you know, you can still, right. It’s still, you still want to go there and see some hands on demos and, and, you know, someone who wants to hand you a laser, you get the feel of it or a handpiece or try something out.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Well, the consumer now is less, um, skeptical of an online purchase than, for example, if I would have seen it online in oh five, then later on, I’d be like, “Well, but if I go to Chicago midwinter, then I’m going to be able to see it. So I’ll just wait out and they might give me 20 percent off.” Um, yeah, you’ve got, you’re not going to,

Stan Goff: you weren’t going to buy a loop, uh, 20 years ago online and not know how it looked or felt or, you know, yeah. So, yeah, so it’s changed a lot. So, and, and not, and I certainly, I’m not here to knock any, uh, but

Dr. Chad Johnson: No, no,

Stan Goff: But like, for instance, the ADA, the ADA said, you know, on, um, it’s a wonderful organization. They do a lot of wonderful things. Some of their recent shows, I mean, you know, we haven’t, we’d be lying if we didn’t say that it appears attendance is a little bit down. Um, I think some of the things have bumped up since COVID, which is a good thing, you know, but you know, like you said, it’s, it’s changed everything. The way you get your information has changed, you know, right. It’s.

Regan Robertson: Well, speaking of that and everything that’s, that’s online right now, what criteria do you think dentists should use to identify reliable and credible news sources right now?

Stan Goff: I’ll give my little two cents and then we’ll let the doctors, you know, give it. But, but yeah, the keyword there is credible because, um, you know, if you’re, if you’re looking to say, you know, we’re product focused with dental product report, if you’re looking specifically for new product information, um, you know, these companies will put a press release out when they launch a product and a lot of times it’ll have a lot of fluffy flowery stuff. You know, this is the fastest ever. This is the best ever. Um, certainly when it comes to things like dental materials, I mean, you have to, you know, if you’re putting it in a patient’s mouth, you have to trust the material. You have to, you know, know how to use it properly, you have to trust the information you’re receiving. So, um, you know, and like I said, they’ll put, you know, it’s regular common to put it on a press release saying, “Hey, we have this wonderful new product,” and they’ll, they’ll list all these wonderful things about it. But what we try to do at dental past report is, um, You know, we’ll have someone on our board, you know, an actual clinician, you know, we’ll give us a lot more in depth information on our product and we also will, we, we rewrite, we rewrite these press releases. So it doesn’t just say, “There’s a product launch today. It’s the best ever,” you know, we’re not going to, you know, but we’ll, uh, you know, at the same time, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve put stuff on our website every day and a lot of it’s short and quick and sweet, so we don’t, you know, we don’t. We don’t have the chance to try things out and certainly not me, since I’m not a dentist, but we try to provide the best possible information and then follow up with more detailed pieces where, you know, somebody on our, one of our editorial advisory board or the catapult group we work with a lot, or, you know, some dentists that are regular contributors will try out a product and, you know, either do a video with us or, or, or just give us their take on it. So, you know, I, I don’t think any dentist needs to be informed that, uh, you know, just because someone says the latest material or the latest handpiece is the best ever that it is, but there, there are, there have been some really nice advancements, you know, and so there are products you’re using today that are much better than the ones you might’ve been using 10 years ago. So it’s good to do stay informed and, and, and if you can get that trustworthy information, you know, try out a new product, check with a colleague, try it, you know, that’s where the, some of those hands on, uh, you know, uh, in person courses can really benefit you.

Dr. Chad Johnson:  Well, you know, directly from the company that there are times when the press release is a fancy marketing, where it, at the end, as a dentist, I go,”What is it?” You know, so they’ll be like introducing Dento. Oh, so it’s the virtuoso of all dental and it’s like. Yeah, okay, so what, so one of your first jobs would be to dig in and be like, okay, that’s really fancy. Like, you know, like we’re going to pull up the, the, the curtain and show you next month. And it’s like, yeah. Okay. What is it? Right.

Stan Goff:  What, what are you trying to,what really are you saying? And what are the benefits? I mean, are there really, are there really, you know, in a lot of cases, there are benefits. If there’s a, there’s a new material that, you know, but there’ve been technologies in the past, you know, 20 years ago, that, made some, uh, you know,

Dr. Chad Johnson: For example, for example, let’s go back 20 years. Um, yeah, about 20 years, uh, perio chip and, uh, and stuff that you would put in the pockets. Yeah and then, you know, I actually pulled out, you’ll be shocked. I pulled out the, the, um,

Stan Goff:  Little information,

Dr. Chad Johnson: The little info,

Regan Robertson: Info insert?

Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah, and, you know, and I was reading that and it’s like, you know, this will improve point five millimeters and I was like, “Okay, so you can say that it improved it, but like, that’s, that’s it, that’s it,” and I was like, at first I was shocked and thinking, “What’s that matter?” And then after a while, people were like, “I don’t know if it really matters,” and I was like, “That was what I wondered the whole time.” You know, I just wondered if other people were thinking the same thing as me. I went off on a tangent there. Regan, you had an idea.

Regan Robertson: You just said what I was thinking. Yes, you absolutely said it because when I hear best of, so as a marketer, as a lifelong marketer, I understand exactly what you’re saying and not trying to bring the presidential debate up. I know I kicked off with it, but when you hear things like best ever, it is a broad term and how do you define that term and it tells what is so amazing to me, Stan, is that you have a clinical Advisory board or staff, people that are there that can quantify what that means and, um, and Chad, to your point, how much is it really? I think what, what the dental industry deserves is actual proof, actual details so that they can make an informed decision and, you know, when I looked, um, when I read through, uh, dental products report, you, you in particular marry, some pretty fun things like, you know, how to bring the fun, I think, into it in addition to information. So, um, what was the headline? Fruit roll ups may be hard on teeth, but can help with dental X-ray quality. Right, would you not click on that chat and think about that?

Stan Goff: Oh, right. Who would have thought because my thought is, boy, that’s one of the worst things a dentist wants to see someone chewing on all the time and wait a minute, now it’s helping with X-rays, you know.

Regan Robertson: Yeah but then, you know, since I’m not a dentist, you can go, there was another one, um, uh, that I pulled here, uh, Shofu Dental unveils Beauty Bond, extreme universal bonding agent featuring quad adhesive technology. I would read that one too, because it doesn’t say best ever bonding agent. It says quad adhesive technology. What is that? And so Chad is very famous. Um, he podcast eons ago, is it, you know, “If I, if I’m turning on a light or something,” it was like, “I don’t think it was maybe the hard and resin or something, do I go up to three? Is it right at three? Is it three and hold?” And I thought, “Oh my gosh, this is the engineering brain of the dental community.”

Dr. Chad Johnson: So Stan, I’ll, I’ll re-explain that, Regan. It, it, for, for the curing light, it’ll say cure for 15 seconds and then they’ll, I’ve heard people dog on dentists, dentists don’t read the instructions. They just want to simplify. And that’s true. We want predictable and which is why we’re reluctant to buy new products. Um, you know, because we’ve got A recipe. It’d be like Coca-Cola being like, you know, we’re thinking about changing the recipe. It’s like, you saw the eighties, right? Don’t do that and so we also don’t want to change our recipe, but if it says cure for 15 seconds, the implication though, is 15 seconds or more or up to 15 seconds and so now I’m stuck. So I actually, I wanted them to get more specific when they say, take the bonding agent and apply it for 20 seconds, apply vigorously for 20 seconds or more, or up to 20 seconds, like will, will the tooth need root canal treatment if I do 21 seconds or will it very important? Yes, they oversimplify the directions and then the funny thing is then they blame it back on the dentist. So the engineers don’t hear like my point. In that it’s actually, I want more detailed, even you’ve  dialed it down to this little card saying, apply it to, to, to the tooth, to the enamel, to the Denton, to the Denton, as long as the enamel to the, you know, like what’s going on with this, I actually want some follow up, um, qualifying questions. Do you get what I’m saying, Stan? It’s like,

Stan Goff: Exactly. That’s why someof our more popular articles for. 25 years now, and dpr r have been these case studies because it’s kinda like a how to, where a clinician will use a product or multiple products and they just, they explain it. It’s like, “Hey, I, you know, 15 seconds here, boom. Do this next. Yes, do this next.” Why this? Don’t skip this, you know, and, and lay it plain. They’re laying a plane. They’re using it and it’s working for them and they’re letting you know how to use it.

Dr. Chad Johnson:  That’s right. That’s right. Yeah, academia would, would poo poo that at times, you know, because it’s like, well, this isn’t 20, 000 people and it’s just like, listen, I think there’s a time and place for that but there’s also a time and place when it just needs to be dialed back into simplicity, you know?

Stan Goff: Yeah, and sometimes someone puts out a good product, material, whatever, and it’s not being used the right way and it’s not,

Dr. Chad Johnson: I’ll, I’ll give you an example. Lava Ultimate for CEREC users got destroyed. I still use Lava Ultimate and you know, what’s funny is, um, so many people were like, “This stuff breaks all the time,” and I’m like, “I don’t have those issues,” and then people like, “Well, but you know, like it’s, it’s no good.” I have, I hear plenty of people getting D bonds and I’m like, I’m trying to If I’ve ever had a lot, we’re having to meet, but yes, exactly and so you’re not wrong. Like if it’s not working for you, find something that does, but then to, to say that it’s the product, I’m like, actually, I’m like, I’m like, my son has four, um, uh, on lays of lava ultimate cause he was six going on to seven, uh, and he had some, you know, demineralized, uh, molars. So I, I covered them over with that, just hoping that it would, and they hadn’t fully erupted. I was trying to pretend to be this general dentist, pediatric dentist, that’s, you know, doing this fix to help solve the problem. And, um, of which was when he’d bite into food, it was temperature sensitive and stuff. So I’m just thinking, “Okay, wouldn’t it be my child that has this?” So I solved the problem and, um, he is eight years ago, eight or nine years later now and, uh, debonded on, on first molars. So it’s just an example. It’s a, it’s a silly example where it’s just like, no, there’s some products where it’s not the product it’s, it could be, but also we hate to say it could be the user,

Stan Goff: We some are very technique sensitive and if you’re not doing it, using it the right way or doing the right things, whether you miss it, you skip a step and, you know, you got a patient who’s, you know, got all kinds of sensitive, you know, problems here.

Dr. Chad Johnson Yes.

Regan Robertson: So this is an area where I am completely 100 percent out of my element that I mean, I got, I got the gist of it, Chad, but when you said the product name, I was like, I have no idea where we’re going with this conversation. So Stan and Chad, Stan and Chad thinking about materials and technology and all the advancements that are happening. It seems like in real time right now, and it tends to be geared around enhancing that patient comfort and success, what breakthroughs do you kind of see Stan like on the horizon, um, uh, or trends that you’re noticing?

Dr. Chad Johnson: Hmm.

Stan Goff: If, if you’re just talking materials and, and that’s, I shouldn’t say just because there are so many. Um, and, and, and, and Chad kind of insinuated too. If you’re, if you’re a clinician and you have a material that’s working for you and it’s worked for you for a long time, it’s hard to get, you don’t want to change, you know? And, and a lot of times you probably don’t need to. So but, um, I think, uh, some of these, uh, uh, advancements recently, uh, with Tokoyama and OmniChroma and some other, some of these shade, uh, some of these great aesthetic improvements and some of these. I mean, universal composite is a term that was thrown around for a long time. I believe there’s been some really nice strides with companies making products that are a chromatic, chromatic

Dr. Chad Johnson: Colorism, chromatic colorism. I love it

Stan Goff: Yes. So it, it, it makes their, uh, I guess their inventory easier, their decisions easier to the patients end up with better, you know, end results. So, uh, And then

Dr. Chad Johnson: Along that I’ve told Reagan before Newton fall, um, you know, the Brazilian guy that comes up to Minneapolis and stuff sometimes and whatnot, he was working with Tokyama to develop, um, um, not the Omni Chroma. It was a predecessor to that and I saw it at the ACD. Um, it’s, um. Estalite omega for aesthetics, it has a Denton and enamel, and then, you know, basically just a one, a two, a three, a, uh, on the Denton and the enamel and there’s a few others, but I’m amazed how well that works and because it’s the opacity factor and, but it’s really cool that, um, that, uh, Newton fall is. You know that he worked hand in hand with the company and at first, I, I was skeptic, but I went to the class and I was like, this material is so smooth to use. It’s just an example where, you know, that, that, um, the newer materials, yeah, a chromatic, for example. It is just beautiful. It’s just beautiful.

Stan Goff: Yeah and I don’t want to like just single out TOMA because vocals got

Dr. Chad Johnson: No, no, no, for sure.

Stan Goff: No, I mean, there’s a lot. Vocals got some amazing products. I have a car. I mean, there are, there are trusted company. I think it’s probably difficult for some of the. I shouldn’t say small, uh, smaller or newer, but I mean, there’s some really big, powerful companies that put out great products, but there are a lot of smaller companies doing the same and I have, I’ve always wondered like for, from a dentist standpoint is just how do you stay on top of all these new materials cause that’s one of the things we get asked a lot or I asked doctors a lot. It’s like, man, You know, you’ve got this and this and this that you’ve always used and they’re working pretty darn well. Why would you try a new one or should you try a new one or should you believe some of these newer promises? And in a lot of cases, there have been some pretty nice advancements.

Dr. Chad Johnson:  So the three likely reasons that I can come up with real quick is, is that a trifecta of time, cost and quality. It’s, it’s kind of like the, the three of the, you can accept two of these, but not all three kind of thingbut it’s, if we are going to improve quality or cost and, or, uh, the time factor, you know, if it, if it cuts the procedure by five minutes, then any of those kinds of ideas would be worth. Addressing and so that’s kind of probably what your, um, bottom line would come to as far as for a product is, you know, quality time. Um, you know, yeah, quality time and, and costs. I have two, every, every day.

Stan Goff: Well, I was going to say every dentist is going to say they want to provide the best care for their patients, which I believe they do with a product that’s saving them a little bit of time, saving them a little bit of costs and it’s giving great results. I mean, that’s right.

Dr. Chad Johnson: That’s right. I affect it. That’s right. Regan, your thoughts.

Regan Robertson: Yeah, I was going to add, well, it’s not too, I would add the word proven, proven quality. I think that is what I’m hearing, you know, Stan speak to also having, having the clinicians try things out before, um, you know, it’s released into the news and get those details down and then ability. So you’ve just taught me to the ability to be able to apply that new material or work with that new material is. is also paramount to that. I think you both just explained to me. So I’m going to summarize here in the achromatic, um, and opacity elements of some of these materials are you, so let me give you an example, sometimes I’ll see people with a mouthful of beautiful veneers and they are, um, there’s not a lot of, like, I don’t know how to say it, depth to them, it feels like a solid wall of, of white. Yeah.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Um, Yeah, the Ross on Friends and there’s not a lot of shadows when he got his veneers done.

Stan Goff:  Okay.

Regan Robertson: Right. The Ross on Friends. So Dr. Wade Kiefer, who is our PDA faculty member, he’ll be with us in PDA in September, he’s been on our podcast, Kois Learning Center, this course facilitator, all the great, when he posts on Facebook. The smiles that he does. I swear to you like a piece of art. I lean into that image and I stare at it. It looks so real. It is real teeth as far as I’m concerned. Do these materials that you’re talking about help with that when you’re talking opacity and achromatic? Is that the shading and the coloring? Am I understanding you well?

Dr. Chad Johnson: With proper training and use. Yes, exactly.

Regan Robertson: It’s insane

Dr. Chad Johnson: Just as much as saying, can a race car get you there faster? It’s like with the proper driver. Yes.

Regan Robertson: That makes a lot of sense to me. Yeah. So what, so what topics right now, Stan, do you see are like hot button items coming up and you think people are going to focus on it,

Dr. Chad Johnson: We were talking about materials, but you know, are there, are there bigger.

Stan Goff: Well, uh, three, you can’t get enough 3D printing, right? And, uh, and, and how it either relates to clear aligners or just clear aligners as a whole. I mean, clear aligners, everybody, you know, now everyone’s offering them and, um, um, and. You know, a lot of dental practices can use a 3d printer to do a lot of things quickly in their office that they used to send to a lab. So, um, I think, you know, the whole lab industry has had to shift a lot, you know, to digital workflows and design, design, design and, uh, 3d printing and so um, 3d printing is a huge thing. Um, not to sound like the, the biggest phrase of the day is AI, but there’s AI capabilities that can help. Um, I mean, I don’t, you know, it’s AI is not doing the dentistry just yet, but, but just helping with front, you know, with, uh, uh, organizing and patient scheduling in front office stuff, AI can help

Dr. Chad Johnson: Diagnostics.

Stan Goff:  Yep. Then I was going to, that was the next step that it is there with the diagnostics and, you know, there’s some companies getting really close to having the, you know, 3d diagnostics as well but right now it can, it can really help give you and one of the brains, I think, or one of the, you know, one of the brand names is second opinion, I think Pearl, but it gives you that second opinion. We’re not, we’re not telling the doctors that, “Hey, you don’t have to look at the x ray this, you know.” AI is doing all of it, but it’s a it’s a doctor’s looking at a bunch of x rays and uses the software with the AI Points things out a little clearer sometimes also offers a second opinion where you’re not sure on something or you maybe didn’t catch something and so AI is huge 3d is huge. Um material advancements, uh, remineralization with materials to help, you know, um, I mean, there’s just again, when I started this, I didn’t realize, you know, I thought, you know, I didn’t even know what a dental lab was. I thought you went to the dentist. She, you know, he cleaned your teeth, he pulled a tooth, he filled a filling and that was it, you know? And then I, there’s a whole lot of artistry and a whole lot of materials and a whole lot of, um, you know, a whole lot, a whole lot of, uh, equipment and, uh, instruments needed by a dentist in order to perform, you know, it’s just, it’s kind of an exciting area that you just don’t, unless you’re into it, you don’t really think about it.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah. I agree. Yeah. I agree.

Regan Robertson: Okay, you know, Chad, you mentioned, uh, you mentioned the time component of it and I know for me personally, like how I consume news has also changed and, um, I am, oh gosh, embarrassingly yet, like unabashedly proud to say, I am a Tik ToK consumer. It has improved my life. I have gotten really good tips on it and I end up getting my, some news. So that is a platform I have switched to. What are you seeing, Stan? Uh, and what are you talking about kind of behind closed doors about how consumer behavior is shifting and what are you anticipating for with how dentists receive their news?

Stan Goff: Gotcha. Yeah. You know what? Uh, everyone’s, everyone’s busy. Everybody wants to learn all the time or when they have time and it has changed. Um, we’ve changed, uh, with dental practice report just in the way we deliver the Information, you know, when I started many, many years ago, it was, um, you know, the website was like a new thing, you know, we were like, what, what does email how to be, uh, how to be sure these, uh, you know, and, uh, we used to get, companies would mail us photos of their case studies and we would. Have a designer and put these together, and then obviously everything’s changed with technology and, and the way people get their information and, and a lot of it is now, um, you know, you want, you almost need it to be quick and hard-hitting and fast and so we, what we do a lot of times is take, uh, some lengthy pieces of like research or white papers that companies provide, and we shorten them into a little quick hitting thing with information that. You know, we know the doctor’s not going to read it at maybe necessarily a 12-page white paper on how this certain type of, uh, you know, uh, x-ray machine works, but, but they’ll want to know, uh, they’ll want to know a little bit about that if it indeed will help them with their diagnosis and their efficiency and their speed and their time and so, um, and then also a lot of the types of articles that we used to, you know, put in the magazine 10 years ago, and then, you know, down the road, stick it somewhere on the website. There’s certain types of pieces that we want to get out right away. So we’ll stick them on the website and, um, and there’ll be interviews and the content provided from the KOLs is, is provided in a way where we want it to be timelier and, uh, and so we get it right up on the website and, um, and then certainly, I know, I, I agree with you. I used to, you know, I met someone, you know, a year or two ago that told me Learned a lot about their dog training tips through tick tock. And I’m like, “I thought tick tock was only people dancing and goofing,” you know, and, but it is those types of, you know, so, so, you know, DPR has an Instagram page and, and, uh, LinkedIn 10 years ago was It seemed to really kind of hold and just, you know, really, really professional and now it’s a way where people share information and articles and so, uh, social media, obviously no one needs, you don’t need me, me to say how, how big it’s gotten, but, um, podcast, we, uh, we, you know, We, uh, don’t do as many of them at DPR as we would like to, we’re trying to expand that a little bit, but one of the things we do is every week we have a little short, uh, uh, podcast on the products from the previous week.

Dr. Chad Johnson: So I hate to sound silly, but what’s the title of this for listeners?

Stan Goff: Product Bites.

Regan Robertson: Oh, cool. Product Bites. I love it.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes.

Stan Goff: So

Dr. Chad Johnson: B I T E.

Stan Goff: Yeah. So if you go out and so, and what happened was, um, we, so typically, and I, and this is, I’ll kind of bounce around a little bit here, but typically when a company launches a new product, but pretty innovative, exciting one, the way we’ve done it forever is. You know, it goes in DPR. If it was an extraordinary product, it might be on the cover. You know, when I started DPRs cover, I don’t want to offend anybody from 20 years ago, it was kind of ugly, but it was just, the product was just eight new products and with the industry, this is 25 years ago with the industry. It was like, everyone knew, like, if you’re on the cover of DPR, that was really, really cool, you know and then we decided to pretty up the cover a little bit. And so now there’s three cover products and some, some art that looks a little sharper, you know but, but so typically there’d be a new product, we would put it in the magazine and then we would follow up with, um, you know, a period, an interview with the clinician using the product, um, or also a full page just with more details because, you know, the blurbs would be 125 words back then, you know, so, and then typically if it was a, you know, say it’s material from Ivaclar, we would work with the company and a month or two later, they would give us a clinician sharing a case study. Um, so it just, it would be like launch a product, let everybody know a little bit about it and now digging deeper with more information, you know, three or four or five different types of pieces throughout the year. Um, I forget where we’re all. So just, yeah. So now we do a lot of that with social media and just, um, If, if there’s a product in the magazine, the next week, there’s a slideshow with all the new products and then also that week, there’s the podcast. So it kind of like, you know, so the company’s got all  excited. They’re like, “Oh, and so that in all three of these things will technically take place before the next magazine comes out.” So instead of getting the issue of the magazine with them, you know, with their product launch. Prior to that, they’re on our website once, also included in a newsletter a second time, then in the podcast, and then in the slideshow every week. So it really, uh, so if you launch a product and we went to our audience to know about it, we’ve got multiple methods of getting that out there quickly.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Do you remember in 08 ish, um, Isolite came out and at first I thought that is the dumbest, that is the dumbest thing in the world. Who would be so lazy or dumb to use that product? And I just, I just, in my mind railed on that. I was just like, just put on a rubber dam that like, how much easier can it get? And um, I think I’m trying to think of, uh, a doctor that I was working with at another office short term, um, he got one and I thought, “What’s wrong with you? What are you doing?” And I like, cause I thought, you know, this is just, it’s too easy to not like, it’s just making much of,

Regan Robertson: But it’s so cool Chad. I just Googled it. How many times we had to Google this episode,

Dr. Chad Johnson: Right? So then I try it. So then I try it and I go, Oh no. I love it. I was like, “Oh no, I was like, this is amazing.” I, I, and then I wasn’t such an advocate for it. So I imagine that there’s this difficulty with, uh, dental journalism of here’s the product, but then you have these know it alls like me who want to.

Stan Goff: Well, we, we, you know, you, you get that, you get that resistance sometimes. Yes, of course and, and part of it now, number one, well part of it is, it goes back to the whole, uh, “Hey, I’ve been using something for a lot of years and it’s working really well, you know?” Right. I’m using rubber dam. I’m used to doing things this way. I’m used to doing it that way and yes and then why, you know? But, you know, I think around 2008 I was at a trade show and we, uh, had a big camera crew and we did a video at the Isolate booth, uh and they had a big crowd and it was like, wow, this is kind of a, this is, this is a little bit different, you know?

Dr. Chad Johnson:  And then there were guys like me in the back standing against the wall, you know, and I, I just thought this, there’s no way this is going to have staying power and now for every bonding patient, uh, save some of the maxillary anterior. I might not do it there, um, you know, case dependent, if it’s just something simple, but overall, I use it for everyone, all my cases get the isolate and, and I’m just thinking, I explained, I explained to the patient, I’m just like, “Have you ever breathed on a mirror and you can see the fog? Would you want to put a piece of tape on that when it’s foggy or when it’s dry and so even the atmospheric moisture from your breath is contaminating the bonding surface? So that’s why I’m going to use this is it holds your cheek and tongue out of the way, and then also keeps the bacteria from your spit from getting on this tooth,” and I’m such an advocate for now. I love it and I just think it’s crazy.

Stan Goff: And it makes your job easier.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Right. So what are some of the biggest challenges that you face in dental journalism today, like that? I mean, that being just an example, but surely, you know, you have on your side, some, some challenges.

Stan Goff: Yeah. Along, I mean, if there, if there’s a product that, you know, we, we believe is, is really worth doctors trying, then we do our best to make sure, you know, that’s when we might do like, we, we have a program called like a test drive, where one of our clinicians, maybe Dr. Fluke or somebody, one of our KOLs tries on a product, shoots a video with it and then we, we, you know, I mean, if it’s, if it’s a dud and then we’re not going to push it, you know, but, but I mean, if they, if they have, if we have a video of a, of a respected clinician using something different and new that met, maybe not a whole lot of clinicians are ready to give it a try, that’s just a way of creating the awareness to them. You know, we’re not saying you have to do this, but look, it might very well, this might very well help you and save you some time and give you a better result.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes. Very cool.

Stan Goff:  Um, Yeah. And then like we do, we work a lot with the catapult group and so they’ll test products as well and so, you know, as opposed to me. Even if I’ve been doing this a long time, I’m not a dentist. You know, even if I shit at the holiday last night, I’m not going to, I’m not going to pretend to be one. So, but, um, so they’ll, when we work with like these people at the catapult group, they they’ll, they’ll pick a product and give it to, you know, 20 of their members and they all work on it and try it out and they give us, you know, their respected opinions.

Regan Robertson: Well, thank you, Stan and Chad. This really does highlight how much information is coming into the dental community, how much technology is being flooded, materials are being flooded. Um, our capacity for sorting and sifting and finding out what’s best for our practice can feel, I think, I think, even though I’m not a dentist, overwhelming and, um, and it’s really, really exciting for, for us to announce that, that, um, you know, productive dentist academy, uh, is a learning company first and foremost. So we were founded on a workshop that we started 20 years ago and we have our 20th anniversary conference coming up this September and we are holding the first ever 2024 dental media round table at this event and Stan, you are one of our esteemed guests. We also will have dental town. Their doctor by Cuspid will be there, Dental Entrepreneur will be there, Dental Economics will be there and, and behind the scenes, this to me is, is super exciting because, you know, you don’t ever really have competing, I would say editors and they’re not that they are, you know, there can be a little friendly rivalry coming together, um, you know, to, to, with, uh, you know, with dentists and team members, you’ll be on main stage to talk about, uh, you know, what you’re seeing in the industry and giving really deep insights that, that go beyond clickbait,  beyond a press release and I’m just really curious, thank you again Stan for being on the panel this coming September. It’s going to be amazing, but two, I also know that you were staying for the entire conference. So just genuinely, why did you agree to come and what is exciting? I mean, I am what is exciting to you about this? Why did you say yes?

Stan Goff: Well, Jimmy, I mean, I do love dental conferences where I am because you can go to so many. I’m always learning something. So um, and it just, uh, and I have not been to a PDA event. So this, that doubly makes it good and, um, so yeah, I’m, I’m, you know, I didn’t want to just sneak in, hop on the round table and sneak out. I might as well be there and learn and meet some more people and, uh, hang out with you guys a little while and, uh, make the most of it.

Dr. Chad Johnson:  Very cool.

Regan Robertson: All right. Well, any parting thoughts, Stan, for our listeners out there?

Stan Goff: Um, no, other than I’m just excited about it. Um, I actually have a son and grandkids in  Texas, whether or not I can sneak out and hook up with them for a day or so. We’ll see. But, but just, I’m, I’m really excited about being a part of the round table. I had a lot of fun with this Sierra podcast and I’m really looking forward to it. Good.

Regan Robertson: Well, thank you Stan so much for being our guest today and we look forward to seeing you in September.

Dr. Chad Johnson:  Wow.

Regan Robertson: 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.