Episode 244 – Navigating the Dental Media

“If I can help my audience and make sure they don’t fall into the same trap that somebody else in our industry did, then I’ve done my job as a journalist.” ~Kevin Henry

In this episode, Everyday Practices Dental Podcast co-hosts Regan Robertson and Dr. Chad Johnson are joined by DrBicuspid.com Editor-in-Chief Kevin Henry. With nearly 25 years in the dental profession, Kevin brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. Kevin shares his journey to becoming an important and celebrated editor in the dental profession. Learn about his experiences, the evolution of dental media, and because he’s an advocate for dental assistants, he discusses the pivotal role dental assistants play in patient care. 

Kevin also shares his favorite episode of his podcast, Dental Assistant Nation – the longest-running podcast for dental assistants. 

Kevin is one of five incredible panelists for the upcoming Dental Media Roundtable event, “Tomorrow’s Dental Care: A Discussion with the Dental Media,” at the PDA 20th Anniversary 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 chance to gain a new perspective from the dental profession’s media leaders. Don’t miss this exciting preview with Kevin Henry 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 are the implications of online media and investigative journalism in the dental field?
• How might emerging technologies like AI affect your role or the dental industry in general?
• How has your life been influenced by the dental media?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Regan Robertson: Do you ever want to take a peek behind the curtain and get a firsthand glimpse into the future of dentistry? Chad and I do. That is why we’ve invited Kevin Henry on today’s podcast. Regan Robertson here. Welcome to another edition of Everyday Practices Dental Podcast with my co-host, Dr. Chad Johnson. Chad, give him a quick.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Howoo, Kevin. How you doing?

Kevin Henry:  Hey, I’m doing great. Excited to be on with you all today. Thanks.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah and thanks to all of our audience members for joining us virtually.

Regan Robertson: Absolutely. Kevin is a seasoned dental media professional with nearly 25 years of experience in the industry. Currently, you are editor-in-chief of drbikehusband.com as of 2023. Congratulations on that.

Kevin Henry: Thank you. I appreciate that.

Regan Robertson: You are a leading online source for dental news and information. You previously served, though, as an editor for different publications in dentistry and have a lot of extensive experience in guiding editorial content. So I think we’re going to have a lot of fun today. Uh, you are a recognized speaker at major dental meetings and, uh, are also the host of Dental Assistant Nation. Which is the, I believe the longest-running podcast for dental assistants. Is that right?

Kevin Henry: You are right. I’m very, very honored to have that for sure. I love my dental assistant audience.

Regan Robertson: So if you are, if you are not seeing us on video, you hopefully can hear my smile because Kevin has agreed to join, uh, the PDA 20th anniversary conference is coming September 12th to 14th and you are one of our five incredible, oh my goodness dental, uh, industry expert panelists lining up for our dental media round type. It’s the first time we’ve ever done anything like this before it’s history-making, and we will be on the main stage so that we can go deeper into the positive aspects and the future opportunities within the dental profession. So Kevin, welcome to our show.

Kevin Henry: Thank you so much. Now I’m excited about being in Texas. It’s going to be a great meeting and I’m certainly anxious to hear what everybody else has to say as well.

Regan Robertson: Well, I know a lot of times editors, uh, even though you are like eyes and ears first on the scene, hearing the trends coming up, um, still, it can be a bit of a sleeper car. People might not necessarily know who you are. So can you tell us a little bit about your journey in dentistry et al, and what initially even drew you to this field?

Kevin Henry: Yeah, I’ll be honest. I fell into this through blind luck and I’m just incredibly blessed that I was able to. So back as my daughter loves to remind me last century, you know, in 1999 I actually was working in sports public relations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is my hometown and the company that I was working for my daughter at that time was six months old and my company decided to move from Tulsa to Kansas City and they said, “We’d love for you to come with us,” and I said, “I can’t move my daughter away from her grandparents, her family and everything else.” So stay behind, needed a job and luckily the managing editor position at Dental Economics was open and I knew nothing about dentistry, but there were some, there have been just amazing people along this journey that have said, “Let me teach you about this. Let me talk to you about this. Let me, you know, help you understand what this means,” and for 25 years, I I’ve had that, that, uh, fingerprint on some journalism, you know, whether it’s the economics, no product support, and now adopted by CUSP and I’m just, like I said, incredibly blessed to be able to do this.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Very cool. Very cool.

Regan Robertson: I like that story because it’s very similar to my own in that I, I just sort of fell into it. I happen to really like teeth and my mom was a dental assistant, so I have a little bit of very loose connection there and stuff, but it’s fun when opportunities open up and, uh, you know, and you just kind of follow your passion and your heart. So as the former editor of dental economics in particular, and now Dr. Bicuspid, which, um, you know, have two differing focuses. What are some wild stories that you’ve experienced over 25 years? Let’s jump right in.

Kevin Henry: Let’s do it. You know, I mean, my gosh, I think about how, whenever I came in, we didn’t really have websites even, you know, I mean, it was literally, you know, the print publications and how big those were and, and seeing the transition to dentistry, IQ, now for Dental Economics and The Modern Dental Network with Dental Products Report and now me being solely online with Dr. Bicuspid. It’s been amazing, but I, but you know, you think about this progression and you know, I know we don’t like to talk much about four years ago with COVID and everything else, but I think about how important it was to have that online presence and be able to communicate with people during that time and let them know what was going on in our industry and it’s just been such an amazing journey and, and yeah, there, there’s some wild stories along the way for sure. You know, uh, plenty of RDH under one roofs that, uh, you know, uh, definitely took different turns than I thought they were going to and everything else, but, but no, it’s, it’s been a lot of fun for sure.

Dr. Chad Johnson: So tell me, you host the podcast, Dental Assistant Aation. What are some of the challenges that dental assistants are facing these days?

Kevin Henry: You know,

Dr. Chad Johnson: What’s the, what’s the latest stuff?

Kevin Henry: Yeah, the latest stuff honestly from dental assistants is they’re trying to figure out because you all know this and it’s something I’m sure we’re going to talk about at the meeting. Uh, it’s, it’s how that things have shifted a little bit. It used to be that, you know, the dentist was really had a lot of the power whenever it came to the dental team relationship And now a lot of team members, for good or bad, uh, think that they are in control of it and they know they kind of walk in sometimes with that, “What are you going to do? Fire me” mentality and, and it really causes a little bit of a rift in the practice. So my job with Dental Assistant Nation and as the podcast host is to bring people in to say, “You know, let’s make sure A, we’re all working together and B let’s make sure that everybody leaves at the end of the day, happy and fulfilled and that they’re really on this journey together,” but they’re each getting, you know, their own fulfillment in their own ways.

Dr. Chad Johnson: So if it’s healthy, if it’s a healthy relationship though, um, is it possible that it’s, uh, there’s an upside to the fact that assistants have more ownership in the, the, the patient relationship and the management of the care. I mean, you know, if in a healthy environment.

Kevin Henry: Oh, absolutely. So many times the assistants are the bridge between that patient and the

Dr. Chad Johnson: Absolutely,

Kevin Henry: The practice and we have to, as an industry, I really believe this. We have to make sure that they’re empowered enough to really have that confidence of when Mrs Jones asks them for their opinion after the dentist has walked out of the room that they’re actually able to say, yes, you do need that crown. And here’s why, and be able to show them those radiographs or those images and really have that confidence in the doctor and the assistant note, they have each other’s back. That’s one of the biggest things that I always want to make sure of there.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Very cool.

Regan Robertson: Oh, there’s usually at every conference, Uh, if I’m kicking it off, I talk about the, uh, that you’re never a just, so you’re never just a dental assistant. You’re never just a dentist, even dentists feel that way sometimes and I’m very excited that dental assistants are going to have a voice at the media round table with you. When you think to all the episodes you’ve recorded, do you have a favorite or do you have one that kind of sticks out in your head that you would love the assistants that are going to come to the conference and listen to this podcast?

Kevin Henry: You know, actually there is, uh, and it’s really funny you say that and it’s way back in the episodes, but the timing of this is really good because, uh, I was lucky enough to go to South Africa and speak to the dental assistants during their first ever symposium. That’s part of the South African Dental Association meeting back in 2018 and we actually did some podcasts from South Africa and the biggest thing that I loved about that back in the day, and we’re going to do that again, cause I’m going back in August, uh, to, to do this again, right before I see you all.

Regan Robertson: That’s amazing

Kevin Henry: I’ll be in South Africa, which I’m super excited about that and we’re going to continue a lot of the journey that got stopped by COVID, but we’re going to restart it now and I’m thrilled about that.

Dr. Chad Johnson: That’s good

Kevin Henry: The thing that jumps out to me the most about this podcast is not only the joy that there, there was in, in these dental assistants, finally, having somebody listen to them and talk to them and understand kind of their plight, but also a lot of the problems that they dealt with in Johannesburg or Cape Town, Pretoria, wherever, it’s the same things we deal with in Seattle or Denver or Dallas or wherever we are here in the U. S and, and it was such a revelation, I think, for our audience here in the U.S to hear that they, you know, you, you, you said the magic words. They don’t want to just be a dental assistant, they want to be respected. They want to be paid correctly. They want to make sure that they’re part of the team. It’s the same issues that they’re dealing with on the other side of the world as well and I think that that was something that was so eyeopening for everybody involved.

Regan Robertson: So that episode is back around 2018. So we’ll put that in the show notes and find out.

Kevin Henry: I’ll make sure to send that to you so that we’ve got it. Absolutely.

Regan Robertson: Oh, that’ll be amazing. So looking at your transition, why did you make the choice to transition from, uh, Dental Economics and over into Dr. Bicuspid? This is a fairly new arrangement, right? Have you been a year with Dr. Bicuspid yet?

Kevin Henry: Yeah. So, and I had dental products report in the meantime, and I believe our friend Stan Goff is going to be at the meeting as well. Uh, I love Stan. I worked with Stan at DPR, so it’s gonna be great to be back with him again. Uh, I’ll be honest. I didn’t want to leave dental economics. Can we talk, can we kind of just be secretive here for just a second? I didn’t want to leave.

Dr. Chad Johnson: I won’t tell anyone. Tell us everything.

Kevin Henry: But you know, I fell in love with this amazing woman And, uh, it, and we, uh, at the time she was living in Seattle, I was living in Tulsa and they would not, now this was way back in the day. They wouldn’t allow me to work remotely and so I made the choice to move over to dental products report at that time because I could work from our new home in Colorado and that’s the only reason I ever left had had my wife never come into my life, I’d probably still be in Tulsa and still be a dental economics and still plugging away but we never know what what journey this life takes us on from time to time.

Regan Robertson: Wow. What is this past year been like now that you’re at Dr. Bicuspid? What are some of the things that you’ve discovered that are interesting and new and different for you?

Kevin Henry: You know, to me, I try to do some things that Dr. B that are, aren’t, I couldn’t do a dental economics or DPR and if you know, Dr. Bicuspid, you know, that we kind of tackle, shall we say the shady side of dentistry every once in a while, embezzlers, the court cases and things like that, but I will tell you, those are also the stories that get the most clicks for us as well. So, we, we like to bring those to light and not so much to say, “Look at these bad people, aren’t they horrible,” but to use them as teaching moments, because we all know dentistry is so 99 percent good and there’s just those few bad apples that are out there and I don’t want there to be any more bad apples. So, so since I came back on board in September, this is actually my second stint at Dr. B. Uh, I was there during the pandemic and then came back. Uh, but we reinstituted some of these crime stories that we are doing and again, I just want to make sure that everybody in our industry understands that there are going to be embezzlers out there. How do we avoid those? There are going to be those dental assistants that, you know, unfortunately, you can’t leave them alone in the room with a patient.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Wow.

Kevin Henry: Yeah. Background checks are important. You know, all these different things that we can talk about teaching moments. That’s my job as an editor. I really believe is to make sure that not just, you know, a few people see that, but as many as possible so that we can make sure our industry doesn’t have any kind of black eyes whenever it comes to the general public.

Regan Robertson: I love that you talked about it, using it as an educational opportunity. We’ve had. Roy Shelburne on a few times. He talks about his, his stint in prison and, uh, and really it’s, to me, it is an exciting moment to teach because of the gross negligence that can happen. You don’t even, you’re completely ignorant, you don’t even realize that what you’re doing could be terribly wrong and I’ve said this before, we’ve done cybersecurity episodes, which has been really exciting. The mind of an embezzler or someone who’s going to engage in that is just a, it’s a unique brain and I think I’m always blown away by the creativity that can happen, uh, that I would never have thought of before. So it’s, it’s fun to see you take a positive spin on it instead of exploiting it for exploitation state and to drag someone’s name through the mud instead, use it as a, you know, an educational opportunity.

Kevin Henry: We, we have to, you know, and I love that you brought up Roy as an example, because bad things are going to happen and it’s, it’s how we recover from those, how we learn from those, how we move forward and Roy’s a perfect example of that. So if I can help my audience do that and make sure that they don’t fall into the same trap that somebody else did in our industry, then, you know, I, I’ve done my job as a journalist, in my opinion.

Dr. Chad Johnson: So how do you go about doing journalism within dentistry? Like what, what does that look like?

Regan Robertson: That’s a good question.

Kevin Henry: Well, yeah, and honestly, you know, again, that’s my background. You know, dentistry came long after journalism. I have my master’s in journalism and my bachelor’s degree in public relations. Oh, okay. So, to me, it’s much more about telling that story and it’s about working with authors. I’m certainly not the subject expert, but I want to find people out there. You know, the old saying, surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. That’s what’s going to happen at the media round table. I’m just going to tell you, I’m glad for those other people that are going to be there.

Regan Robertson: So for example, if you had someone say, “Hey, have you heard what the California dental board is doing lately? I can’t believe it.” Does that then send up a red flag in your mind? Like. “I don’t know, but that sounds like you’re really concerned and if you’re concerned, there must be a thousand other people who are concerned.” Is that, I mean, one avenue of how it goes about.

Kevin Henry: It is and honestly, we get tips all the time and I will tell you, I have three amazing, uh, editors who work underneath me at Dr. BiCuspid and every one of those editors is great about, for example, calling the California Dental Board and finding out if there’s something there. We’re not going to run something unless we’ve vetted it already unless we know that it’s either come from reliable source or that we’ve actually talked to that source themselves because the last thing we want to do is be gossip. We, we want to be news not and, and so what you just said is exactly right. We have to call up, we have to verify, we have to do all those things that journalists are supposed to do, uh, you know, to really make sure that, that we’re giving our readers the right information and knowing that we’re a daily publication, you know, and we come out every afternoon, it’s something that my team is constantly following up on those tips so that we not only stay current, but again, we stay correct as well.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Yeah

Regan Robertson: Are there any trends that you’ve noticed over the last year? I would say, uh, Chad and I did a cybersecurity special because, uh, dental practices and dental groups were getting hit. That was something that we saw happen the past year that from your angle, cause I do not spend any of my time looking at the shady side, I would say, I, unless it just happens to cross my desk, I really don’t see it. So what’s been going on?

Kevin Henry: You know, I think that embezzlement is always going to be a front and center thing, you know, I think even in, in areas of the country where the economy may be doing very well, there are areas where it’s not, and that’s where you’ve always got the potential for somebody to just need to take a few thousand dollars to cover a bill or whatever it might be but, you know, outside of the whole crime scene, I mean, one thing that we’re, we’re constantly talking about right now, I feel like is, is AI and what it’s doing in dentistry and where we’re going with this and, you know, one of the biggest buzzes that I’m hearing right now is actually from the dental team members going, you know, “Wait, is this going to take my job? Is this going to be something?”

Regan Robertson: Of course

Kevin Henry: Yeah, especially at the front office. Whenever you talk about the insurance verification, whenever you talk about a lot of the scheduling and things like that, there are a lot of front office members that are wondering, is this going to come for me one day and so I think that that’s one thing we have to do as journalists is not just look at what’s going on right now, but what’s it going to look like in dentistry in 2030, you know, and, and because a lot of these people are in this for the long haul and so, so that’s been one of the most fascinating things to me is to talk to experts and say, you know, “We’re certainly not going down the Terminator road or anything else, uh, but we are going down the area where we are going to be giving more and more to machines to take more and more off our plate,” and then eventually at the end of the day, will there be anything left on our plate?

Regan Robertson: Ooh, that is such a, I did not think about it from the team perspective like that. I think it’s because I come from the mindset of these are supplemental aids to help me work quicker and more efficiently. So, um, so I think I was a fairly early adopter of, uh, chat GPT. I looked at AI immediately and thought, how can it make, and that’s, you know, Kudos to Bruce and Victoria, you know, Productive Dentist Academy is founded by two very innovative early adopting people. So I, it wasn’t on my radar until Bruce texted me. He was like, “Look into this, see what this can do,” and so I had a chance to play around with it. So I see it from a very different perspective. What, um, so you’re hearing the concern, what are you hearing from dentists? Did they see it as, as AI as a tool to help their team be more productive or as a tool to replace team members or have less team members?

Kevin Henry: Well, I think that there’s two different camps when it comes to dentists. First of all, whenever it comes to the business side of things, which I’m such a big proponent of, that’s dental economics banged into my brain there for years, is that absolutely, if it impacts your bottom line and gives you more freedom and takes away some of those tasks rrom your team members, they don’t want to be doing anyway. That’s awesome.

Regan Robertson: Yeah.

Kevin Henry: But then, you know, you’ve got the other side right now where we’re talking about having AI look at those radiographs and what are they missing? And, you know, almost in a way second-guessing the things that the dentists are saying. So there’s a little bit of pride and ego on the line right now as well and I think we’re at that point right now where we have to decide, are the dentist going to say, “Maybe this machine does know a little bit more than I did, or maybe I did miss that,” and I think whenever we actually get to that point where we have a consensus on that, that’s where I think kind of the next hurdle falls and AI really moves forward on the clinical side of things at least.

Regan Robertson: Chad, I’m curious from your perspective too, as an active dentist, and I have focused a lot on AI with regards to the clinical side and I, uh, I guess I just glossed over, uh, you know, the AI on the administrative and business side, because of my mindset, it would just be a supplemental tool to help you. What’s your take on that?

Dr. Chad Johnson: So what I wonder is, um, the patient element. In the decision making and would a patient come in and on an iPad put in their preference of how aggressive or reactive versus proactive they want to be on treatment because if AI is going to have a heuristic of being able to say, “Here are 10 outright dental cavities, and then here are some that are board worthy, you know, cavities to fix, but you know, these would be the gray area.” Some patients want to fix those, some patients do not and they almost then get to be the decider of, I want to set my tolerance to a seven out of 10 and then therefore now your treatment plan is going to be 1, 500 and it’s like, wait a second, “What if I said my tolerance was five out of 10?” Okay. “Well, it’d be 2, 200.” “What if I said my tolerance was 10 out of 10?” “Okay, then 300,” you know, where it might actually let the patient choose, you know, do you treat the worst ones first because if, if you’re going to take and make all clinicians equal, if you get what I’m saying there, we’re not and so some dentists are more aggressive, but if they’re going to say, all right, you all are going to have that removed because AI is going to decide and it can spit the, um, it can, uh, determine the tolerance factor, then the patient gets, then gets to choose what tolerance they want to accept. Was that too confusing or did that kind of make sense that it would turn the patient into the, the, the, the, the customer actually.

Kevin Henry: I got to tell you, that’s pretty fascinating. I mean, we, whenever we order an Uber, we can decide if we want to talk to the driver or not ahead of time, you know what I mean? Right. So things like that, I’d love that idea. That’s actually very fascinating to me. Yeah.

Regan Robertson: Yeah. I thought the summary that I took away from it was, yeah, you kind of went a little over my head, but, but the summary I was thinking was the human, there is a human element to it. There is nuance to it and you know, my mind went to. How we make decisions as a leader. So Chad and myself and Dr. Maggie, uh, Augustin are going to do a podcast coming up about how to make a great decision and the human element is something that is still where I feel AI is very rudimentary and, and has a very difficult time interpreting at this point. In time, but, you know, thinking of this, Kevin, and thinking of your passion with dental assistants, you, I want to go back to that for a second, because I caught something you talked about, um, dental assistants wanting to be seen and heard regardless of the country that they’re in, that we share this common language about being seen and heard and AI is on the forefront, what other challenges do you see assistance, especially because we’re getting the younger generations and so I have a gen Z and a gen alpha, and they even speak different languages, you know, oh my gosh. What kind of challenges are you hearing right now that you think dentists should be prepared for coming up in the next year?

Kevin Henry: I think that they need to be prepared to really be able to explain to all their team members each of their individual impacts on the bottom line of the practice. I think team members have to understand why they make a difference. They admit they’re not just coming in to clock in and clock out. They actually want to make a difference. They want to be a part of something bigger and so I think that they’ve got to understand that, you know, if you’re seeing yourself right now as just an assistant, I’m just like you, I hate that. Let’s turn that mindset around and say, “No, no, you’re an integral part of the bottom line, here’s what you do every day to, to make a difference and here’s how, whatever you decide to do with patients can boost us up,” and again, every state’s different dental assistants can do different things at every state law but absolutely, I think that no matter the generation, especially these younger ones, you know, my daughter’s just starting her physical therapy career and I can tell you that her generation, her friends, they don’t want to be seen as just somebody who’s a PT. They want to be somebody who makes a difference and I think we’ve got to be ready to explain that to our team members and how they make that difference.

Regan Robertson: I think this Kevin, that’s a leadership challenge. I think that’s a leadership challenge. When you can empower yourself as an assistant to understand and educate yourself on how you bring value to, uh, to an organization. So there’s that, but, but also I think it’s, it’s the leader’s job in the organization to discuss. I, I think of Chad when, uh, when we did the Dominican Republic together and you slowly and methodically explain, it was so great, Kevin, I don’t have any dental assisting background, but I was his assistant. Most fun ever and I was so nervous because I didn’t know what I was doing, but I wanted to do a good job and Chad was calm, easygoing. He’s like, this is why and it was down to the basic of things. This is why it matters. Why we wipe the chair down every time. This is why it matters because we put our box of gloves here, whatever it was. He just explained it like Mr. Roger style and then, but as you did it, Chad. I started to understand my value and how my job and how I showed up really benefited, not just you, but the patient and the patient’s health, safety, all of that and, uh, so I think it is a bit of a leadership challenge and I don’t, I don’t, I get, I don’t know if it’s a question here or a statement. I wonder, I wonder how many dentists are well adapted, effectively communicating that value and that’s another area where I think AI can be supportive, but, but it can’t replace building a strong relationship with your team.

Kevin Henry: So, and Chad, I don’t want to jump in front of you here, but, but I want to tell you that one of the biggest messages that I have for dental assistants, whenever I’m speaking in a meeting or the podcast or whatever it is, is the fact that, you know, not everybody’s going to be like Chad, not everybody’s going to be able to explain why the gloves matter or why you should wipe down the chair every time. A lot of them are going to just say, “That’s your job, go do it, ” and so the dental assistants have to take it upon themselves and say, “What are my goals for the rest of this year? Where do I want to be a year from now? How am I going to get there?” And then they’ve got to be often the instigator of that communication to say, “This is what matters to me. How can we work together to get to this point?” And, and they can’t sit back and wait for the dentist to have that conversation. A lot of times they’ve got to be willing to step up and say, “This is where I see myself, how about you?” And then we start that conversation.

Regan Robertson: Thoughts, Chad?

Dr. Chad Johnson: Um, well, my curiosity was like, I kind of wanted to take it back to, you know, Dr. Bicuspid. com altogether, um, with that platform and dental professionals, particularly dentists but the nice thing is that it crosses, you know, the different aspects of dentistry and would that include admin?

Kevin Henry: Okay. Absolutely.

Dr. Chad Johnson: So how is Dr. Bicuspid helping with continued ed and different, um, um, different tracks that you can study and learn and, you know, stuff like that. How, how has that presented on, on you guys platform?

Kevin Henry: Yeah, honestly, we’re just  starting down the CE road. Uh, we, we literally dropped, I’ll be honest in between my two stints, we dropped the continuing education side of things, so that’s being built back up right now, but my goal, you know, one of the big misconceptions about Dr.Bicuspid is think of the name it’s Dr. Bicuspid. So team members often go, “Well, there’s nothing on there for me.” So that’s where the drum I’ve been banging since I came back. Is it okay?

Dr. Chad Johnson: So wait, is it possible that there would be a rebranding? I hate to put you on the spot, but I mean, like, here’s why I think, I think you almost, you almost broached the subject, so not that you need to announce it now, but I just wonder, like, did that ever cross your mind where it’s just shoot, “How do we. How do we get more than doctors when it’s when the first word is doctor?” Did you get like, have you guys?

Regan Robertson: Would you launch like RDH Bridge? What would you do? What would you call it? I’m trying to think of what

Kevin Henry: I don’t know but, it hasn’t crossed my mind yet every day. Uh, I will tell you that, and it is a conversation I’ve had with my boss and I will tell you, again, between us, yeah, there’s, there’s conversations happening. Is there something we could do to make Dr. Bicuspid more team-friendly in the name? So yeah.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Well, I’ll tell you, I’m really proud because I put you on the spot there, but like way to be transparent. That’s really cool of you.

Kevin Henry: I, I lay my cards on the table. That’s, I mean, that’s, that’s who I am.

Dr. Chad Johnson: I mean, cause it’s not right or wrong, right? You know,

Kevin Henry: No, absolutely

Dr. Chad Johnson: You either you either own up to it. We’re Dr. Bicuspid or you change it. So that way more people, uh, you know, know what your perception is, is supposed to be about versus reality.

Kevin Henry: Yeah. No, I, I’ve had one dental assistant, I kid you not, Uh, I was just at the Florida meeting not long ago and a dental assistant came up to me and she said, “You know, you say you’re all for dental assistants, but yeah, you run doctor by cuspid,” and I’m like, uh, but you know,

Dr. Chad Johnson: Fair enough. I mean,

Kevin Henry: BA by cuspid or anything, but you know, there’s things on there for assistance hygienists, but that’s, that’s the hurdle that I’m, as one point I’m going to climb over, uh, and, and here’s hoping that it’s, uh, for sure.

Dr. Chad Johnson: I thought I’d point out, this is inconsequential, but I will take everyone’s time to tell this much. My first Dental t-shirt was Dr. Bicuspid.com

Regan Robertson: It was?

Dr. Chad Johnson: Yes, it was and what year would this have been? I want to say it was probably around 2003.

Regan Robertson: Chad loves specialty t-shirts. I’ll tell you.

Kevin Henry: And I will tell you,

Dr. Chad Johnson: With the guy with the mask and the real mirror.

Kevin Henry: I was working at Dental Economics at the time and I signed up to get one of those t-shirts too. Honestly, goodness. So yeah, I get exactly what you’re talking about.

Regan Robertson: I think what we’ve, what we’ve revealed that’s really exciting, Kevin, is you’re particularly, you’re passionate about dentistry overall, but you are particularly passionate about the team, uh, being empowered and working together. So you have gathered in your 25 plus years, the understanding that it holistically has to work together to be successful. Is that?

Kevin Henry: you need each other. I mean, it’s that simple. We, we, we have to have each other working together in, you know, as good a harmony as we possibly can, or else it’s not going to work. So, yeah and sorry, I didn’t mean to catch you off.

Regan Robertson: No, it’s a good, o, it’s perfect. Why does that I’m, I’m very curious. Why does that drive you in particular? Cause there’s a lot of areas you could focus on.

Kevin Henry: Um, you know, it goes back to Dental Economics. It feels like everything in this conversation has, but, um, you know, when, when I was there, we had Dell economics magazine, we had RDH magazine and I love both of them. I worked on both of them, I helped build them, but we didn’t have anything for assistance. So I started dental assistant digest back in the day, just as a resource. And that was in 2005. And, and, you know, it, it, you know, It’s something that just has always spoken to me. I’ve always cheered for the underdog. I’ve always, I’ve always been that Kumbaya can’t we all just get along kind of guy. Uh, so I, I guess it’s always just spoken to me that, you know, how can we build this together and how can we see that everybody’s working toward the same goal? Everybody wants to go home happy. Nobody wants to go home upset. So how can we work on that together to make sure that that happens?

Regan Robertson: You, you mentioned being able to queue up, uh, online learning again, or educational learning again, which is a big, big deal. Is that, uh, pulling you forward in, in the next year? Uh, is that what you’re really excited about? Are there other areas that you’re looking forward to?

Kevin Henry: You know, we just restarted the Dr. Bicuspid podcast. I love podcasts. I think I do like four or five of them. So I think this is a great medium.

Regan Robertson: And I, so we’re going to be your guests. Is that what you’re saying?

Kevin Henry:  Absolutely. Well, I will be happy to return the favor, trust me, but you know, it’s something that I think we’ve got to reach. Our audience, wherever they are, you know, I know we’re doing video on this as well. There’s the audio, there’s the written word, you know, there’s all these different ways that we [00:37:00] have to reach an audience and for me, it’s about finding which one resonates with who and making sure that we’re still feeding them that and that every day somehow, some way we’re touching them in the way that they need to learn.

Regan Robertson: That’s phenomenal. So I guess my follow up question as we kind of wrap up here is what are you looking forward to? You mentioned Stan Goff, so it’s gonna be a bit of a reunion for you there. What are you looking forward to with this media roundtable and why did you say yes to come to the 20th anniversary conference in Texas?

Kevin Henry: Why would I say no? I mean, like that, come on. No, I, uh, to be honest, and I’m being dead serious, it’s an honor to be asked because I know that you all don’t take lightly who you all put up on stage. So to be asked is a true honor. Um, you know, I, I love to just pick out of people’s brain. I love to hear different perspectives because there’s a lot of things that Stan or anybody else could be looking at that I’m not seeing, and I want to be able to bring, you know, those things together and really make sure that we’re all just sharing ideas cause I think that’s how we grow is that we learn from each other and as sappy as it sounds, I absolutely believe in the whole rising tide lifts all boats philosophy. You know, so I, I really

Dr. Chad Johnson: You are going to love meeting our culture there. It’s awesome.

Kevin Henry: That’s, that’s what I’m looking for is that, you know, we learn from each other. So that’s what I’m most excited about.

Regan Robertson: Well, thank you, Kevin, for taking your time to be with us today. Thank you for being part of the media round table and just sharing all of your great expertise and especially your empowerment for team. That, that is an absolute delight,

Dr. Chad Johnson: Right? Very cool

Kevin Henry: I’m honored. Thank you.

Dr. Chad Johnson: Thanks, Kevin.

Regan Robertson: And if you would love to see Kevin live in person, September 12th to the 14th, we invite you. We still have a few seats left to the Productive Dentist Academy’s 20th anniversary conference in Frisco, Texas. Go to productivedentist.com and you can register today. We look forward to seeing you soon.