July 23, 2025 • 32 mins
What’s your opinion on AI? It can transform your team, systems, and improve case acceptance — but ONLY if you know how to use it. That’s why we're talking to Dr. David Amador, who’s built real systems with AI that make his practice more profitable and efficient.
In this episode, he shares three AI tools he uses to diagnose patients, train team members, get more insurance claims approved, and streamline operations. Tune in to learn how to make AI work for your practice instead of slowing things down!
Topics discussed in this episode:
- Why you should (or shouldn’t) become a practice owner
- The benefits of Overjet and Pearl AI
- How to train your team with AI tools
- AI tools that improve communication
- Boosting case acceptance and “sales”
- The four phases of treatment planning
- The secret to making technology work in your practice
Connect with Dr. David Amador:
https://www.instagram.com/midtowndentalstudiofl/
Use the same marketing company as Dr. Etch!
Get your free demo with Relevance Marketing by Clicking Here
Take Control of Your Practice and Your Life
We help dentists take more time off while making more money through systematization, team empowerment, and creating leadership teams.
Ready to build a practice that works for you? Visit www.DentalPracticeHeroes.com to learn more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Paul Etchison (00:02):
AI is everywhere now, but have you started using
it in your practice?
Dr David Amador has fullyembraced it and today he's
sharing three ways.
He leverages AI to train teammembers, boost case acceptance
and build a more efficient,scalable practice.
You'll hear which AI tools workin our offices and how you can
start implementing them withoutoverwhelming your team.
(00:23):
Plus, the one thing owner docsoverlook that could make or
break your results.
You are listening to DentalPractice Heroes, where we help
you to create a team and systemdriven dental practice, one that
allowed you to practice lessand make more money.
I'm Dr Paul Etcheson, a dentalcoach, author of two books on
dental practice management andthe owner of a five doctor
practice in the South suburbs ofChicago.
(00:44):
I want to show you how beingintentional about ownership can
create a practice that supportsyour life instead of consuming
it.
So if you're ready to create atrue business that runs without
you, you're in the right place.
Let's get started.
Hey, welcome back to the DentalPractice Heroes podcast.
I'm your host, dr PaulAitchison, and excited for my
(01:05):
topic today because, like man,we know the world's changing.
We know like things arehappening in dentistry AI
technology, and I got somebodyon today that just loves
technology and utilizes it inhis practice very much.
We got Dr David Amador on.
He's got a practice in MidtownFlorida and he has got this
nine-hour practice.
Two dentists and they're justslaying it, trying to
(01:28):
incorporate technology in everyturn.
So, hey, welcome to the podcast, david, glad to have you on.
David Amador (01:33):
Hey Paul.
I want to say thanks man.
It's a big fan.
Been a long time listening,just first time on.
It's a pleasure to be here, manSweet man.
Paul Etchison (01:41):
So before we get into our topic talking about
technology, I you, man Sweet man.
So before we get into our topictalking about technology, I
love talking about practiceownership on this podcast.
If you could give the listenerwhat was your journey into
practice ownership like, fromgoing associate to practice
owner, how'd that go?
David Amador (01:54):
Oh man, I just had this conversation on another
pod the other day, so I wasmoonlighting for a while.
I think I graduated in 2015.
I bought the practice in 2022with my wife and during that
time I went from the classicassociate, where you're going
from different offices buildingup your repertoire, so finally,
(02:18):
where I was in two offices onedoing family dentistry three
days a week, doing a little bitof cosmetics there Because it
really was a blue collar office,just very extrovert, so
enjoying that building rapportwith the patients and the
families.
Then the other was just doingimplants and root canals and
that one office like that wasgood.
Man, I was very, uh, content.
Until 2020, it was I maximizingmy capabilities.
Was I a three million dollarproducer at that point?
(02:39):
No, but I was doing like 1.7 atthat time on five days a week
and it was four and a half daysreally what it was.
Paul Etchison (02:45):
Wow, and that's as an associate, that's like
with your own hands.
David Amador (02:48):
That's with my own hands.
That was with my own hands.
Wow, that's a lot.
There wasn't enough there, andwhat I mean by that is, like,
you know, wanting to have ourown thing.
And then, when 2020 happenedand everybody started running,
you know, start reading allthese books and everybody's like
bro, when everybody's runningfrom the fire, you run towards
it.
So I told my wife, I was likeI'm calling up every bank and
we're going to find what we canget and we're going to buy.
(03:08):
So we ended up offering on likeseveral offices, spoke to all
the doctors we work with and weactually ended up buying one of
the offices me and my wifeworked at.
So, long story short, we boughtit, went through the whole
buyer's remorse, like it waseasy when we were a dentist,
found a great group formentorship, which was
Bulletproof Group, joined themin 2022.
And, man, they've helped coachus.
(03:29):
Then I became a coach for themand then been helping Dennis
from there.
Man, so it's been a great ride.
In the beginning, finding ourwhy was everything.
Once we found our why, whichwas something that Craig Spodak
really helped out with theBulletproof Mastermind and then
it just started spiraling.
So we took our practice from1.2 and then, literally now last
(03:50):
year, we crushed it at three.
And the thing is our team.
We have no turnover, greatconsistency.
We're constantly growing in avery how can I say it?
A very competitive market.
So, man, it's just been anamazing ride.
Paul Etchison (04:02):
You know I'd love to ask you this question
because we see it on theinternet often.
An associate, say an associatelike yourself.
You go on there and you posthey, like I'm thinking about on
my own practice, I produce about1.7 million by myself and
obviously all us dentists knowwhat that equates to take home
pay with most you know, but I'mthinking about on my own
practice.
You would get a bunch of peoplesaying you make that much money
(04:25):
as an associate, why wouldn'tyou just keep doing that and not
own your practice?
And sometimes I see thosecomments.
I say shit, man, if you coulddo that at your own practice, do
you know what you'd be doing?
So what would you say tosomebody that is a good producer
that's looking at it and sayingyou know what?
I don't know if I want to ownmy own practice or not.
Maybe I'll stay an associate.
What are your thoughts?
So I would ask them why?
David Amador (04:46):
Why the change?
Now let's find out what's yourwhy, what's your goal?
Because it can't be money.
At the end of the day, youdon't buy a practice for money
Because if you're doing 1.7,your take home is excellent, you
don't have to deal with the HRand everybody else.
I would simply break down.
What is the why?
(05:07):
What is your vision?
What is your long-term?
Because if your vision is tohelp people, then you're limited
as an associate.
You are locked into whoeverowns the practice.
We do hear almost $400,000 ingiving back to the community,
which we do not publicizewhatsoever, thousand dollars in
giving back to the community,which we do not publicize
whatsoever.
Every quarter we literally ourteam pulls from a hat who they
(05:28):
have felt we can help the most.
So that was one of our whys wewant to grow and help the
community.
I was not going to be able todo that as an associate.
And then I'd ask him have youever read a book?
Because the book I wouldrecommend you to read is the
email.
Yeah, simple man, do you wantto own a job or do you want to
own a business?
Business means it can runwithout you there.
So true, because if you justwant to own a job, then keep the
(05:50):
job that you got You're doinggood at it.
Paul Etchison (05:53):
That's such a great book reference.
Because the thing is they havethe entrepreneurial seizure
where the technician says, wellshit, I'm doing all the work
here, I can do this for my own.
And then they get in thatentrepreneurial seat and they go
oh, this is not what I thoughtit was.
Yeah.
David Amador (06:09):
Dude, I had this, like I literally had a coaching
call the other day and I washaving this conversation like I
bought this practice.
I don't understand.
Like everybody said, buying apractice is going to be the best
thing.
I'm working nonstop.
I'm them like because you'rewearing every hat now You're
wearing the dentist, you'rewearing the CFO, you're wearing
HR, you're wearing everything,and so you could, like, slowly
(06:29):
start displacing and putting theright people in place and you
start to breathe.
Paul Etchison (06:34):
Yeah, it's so true, and I always think, like
people.
I say work smarter, not harder,but I think you always got to
work harder.
First you got to Like right atthe beginning you got to work
harder and then the smartercomes later, like you got to
grind a bit.
There's going to be some levelof grind.
David Amador (06:47):
So you got to fail up.
Man, that is what it is, man.
You got to learn from everytime because every I don't know
how many times you've ever heardthis.
I didn't learn that at dentalschool.
They didn't teach me that atdental school.
This is you have to learndentistry MBA.
(07:07):
Yeah, like I was talking to oneof my friends and he was like
yo, my dad listens to thesecalls and these masterminds and
these coaching seminars all thetime that we do and listens to
this other pod and he's likethis is a dental MBA you guys
are talking about.
I thought you guys would betalking about drilling and crap
like that.
This is an MBA.
It's in reality.
That's what it is, man.
Like you're learning thebusiness aspects so you can help
benefit your patients, and itall starts with having the right
(07:29):
mindset.
Yeah, so true man.
Paul Etchison (07:31):
So let's switch to our topic here.
So technology, man, so much ischanging.
David Amador (07:36):
What are you finding that's working well at
your practice, that's worthsharing with the listeners, Dude
so first off, man, one of thebiggest things with technology
is how can you make itstreamlined so it's easy to
collaborate with your team.
And what do I mean by that?
Think of, like, the new patientthat comes in.
How can you build rapport?
Because how many times do ourpatients think of us as
(07:57):
charlatans?
Think about it.
Yeah, oh yeah.
This other guy told me down theroad I don't have that.
I don't know what you'retalking about.
Yeah, and the only way to breakthat is to have cross team
clarity.
So think about it.
When you're in the office, youlook at an x-ray.
We were taught endless of whata D1, d2, these fancy terms are
when is there a cavity and howmuch bone loss is there?
(08:20):
Well, what if the firstinteraction they have with the
assistant or the hygienist isalready talking about what
you're going to?
So you're empowering that teammember.
Then you follow up.
By the time you came in,they've already looked at the
photos, they've already lookedat the x-rays and they've
already pointed out all of thesuspicious areas that you used
to this.
Yes, you are correct.
So one of the most powerfulthings we're using right now is
(08:41):
definitely AI, and there's somany different platforms.
We're using.
One of them is AI, is Overjet.
Overjet has been a very crucialpoint because it allows us to
scale our team to see what I'mseeing and not in the sense of a
overall health wise.
So it's not going to help myhygienic airway obstructions
(09:02):
class one, class two, classthree or high palatal vaults or,
even worse, the big oral cansee, but it is going to make it
easier to discuss x-rays.
It's going to highlight tartar,it's going to highlight bone
loss.
It's going to highlightcavities.
So it also makes it easier tohave teacher team how to
communicate at the same time onthese things.
So it automatically translatesto patient treatment acceptance,
(09:25):
which patient treatmentacceptance is an easy metric to
see.
How are you communicating andconnecting as a team?
Paul Etchison (09:35):
with your patients.
We currently have overjet atour practice right now and it's
been a slow implementation, butwe're getting there.
We're seeing the value andwe're getting into it.
But tell us what they see.
If into it, but tell us what dothey see.
If no one's ever seen this,what do they expect?
What does it do?
David Amador (09:49):
So the two big dogs right now are Perl AI and
Overjet.
Both of them are amazing.
Clearly we're using Overjetwhen they see it.
The easiest conversation likeoh, if you're sitting in the
chair you're not a, you'retrying to look at it and you
probably see toes.
I don't know how many timespatients always say are those
toes?
Paul Etchison (10:08):
Yeah, Like I don't like what I don't see toes
, they do say that yeah.
David Amador (10:11):
They do say that and I always try not to make a
face like oh, I got a crazy onetoday.
But when you activate it andyou see all the highlighted, you
know it just makes it easier togo over what's going on there.
Someone.
All the time they'll be likethis is the enamel, this is the
nerve.
But now, when it's highlighted,you can deactivate it and then
(10:32):
go through it.
So something they don't really.
They all had their owntrainings.
I just created our ownimplementation.
So for our onboarding of all ofour team members, we have 30,
60, 90.
And part of that is how tocommunicate with patients and
how to go through the dailyroutine tasks.
That made our own videos ofexactly how to go over it.
(10:52):
Now, of course, there are dailysheets somewhere you can go
through this beauty of it.
They will highlight all themissed opportunities you had to
help patients out.
So if their x-rays are up todate, sometimes perio gets
undiagnosed, sometimes cavitiesget unseen because maybe the
doctor's rushing.
So this is what the power ofusing AI technology like this,
(11:13):
because if you're empoweringyour team, they're going to hold
you at your best.
Sometimes, paul, do you stilldo clinical Paul?
Paul Etchison (11:20):
I do a little bit .
Okay, I'm down to three days amonth and very soon it'll be
just two.
David Amador (11:25):
Dude wow, yeah, so when you were at your peak
clinical, how many hygienistsdid you have at that time that
you had to do hygiene checks?
Paul Etchison (11:33):
Three, three.
We always did three comms.
Yeah, I was always used todoing three comms.
It was four days a week and itwas a lot.
David Amador (11:38):
It was a lot, so you know what I'm talking about.
When you got and we have threehygienists, we're trying to
scale, our goal is ninehygienists, so we're trying to
scale that drastically.
But you remember when it wasthree hygienists, it was you
running with two chairs, likesometimes you walk in there and
you're doing your best you can,but if you have a team that's
empowered behind you hey doc,can you look at number 30?
I'm seeing X, y, z and Iverified in the mouth and the
(12:01):
x-ray.
Oh, yes, yeah, so it helpsdrastically drive the patient
care up to the next level, andthat's what it's all about.
Paul Etchison (12:10):
Yeah Well, the way I know that in my office
because we strongly believe inco-diagnosis and the way that I
know that it's working is thatwhen we have missed things, the
doctor says, well, the hygienistdidn't bring it up.
That's how you know it'sworking.
That's how dependent on ourhygienist we are.
That's how you know it'sworking.
That's how dependent on ourhygienists we have.
David Amador (12:28):
That's how it should be Because, man, I still
run into doctors that are likeno, they come here for me.
I'm like no, they may comebecause of the name, but they
stay because of everybody else.
Paul Etchison (12:37):
Yeah it's true, it's interesting, and you know
what the cool thing that I loveabout Overjet is.
I remember back in the day likethey have the colorize function
and every X-Ware software hasthis, and I used to love just to
hit it and just go.
I would hit it and I'd go, yeah, and then I wouldn't say
anything about it to the patientbut it was just like, oh look,
how cool high tech we are WithOverjet.
(12:59):
It's like it actually putscolors there that are useful.
The colorize function didn't doa damn thing.
Function didn't do a damn thing.
It was just like, oh yeah,let's.
I don't know what the hell itwas for.
I don't know if anyone reallyused it.
David Amador (13:09):
And whenever you do hit the color button and like
they see it, they're like oh,okay, I see the green, that's
good.
What's the red?
Oh, that's where, that's whereyou got to floss.
Yeah, that's where we got totalk about, that's where we got
to talk about.
And it helps with assistance,hygiene, even the front, but at
the same time because it'sbecome AI and radiographs has
(13:30):
become such a big thing alsohelps with claims being sent out
.
So on the back end say, you'regetting denial.
So for any large crown or crownthat we have to do, or any case
where perio, especially perioin its earliest stage, we'll
send that out.
Probing depths were you knowour fives, but they're just in
(13:51):
the early onset of bone loss,bleeding everywhere.
So we'll put all of our notesand then we'll send out the
overjet with the measurements,you know, with a 1.5 instead of
one millimeter of stable bonenow, 1.5 millimeters of bone
loss, and we'll get acceptanceon that.
Wow, so that way then we're notgoing back and around and
fighting with the insurance andthen having to talk to the
patient about the issues, and soit's just.
(14:12):
It helps to have a little acein your pocket.
Paul Etchison (14:16):
Well, I think it's interesting that you said,
like it's part of your 30, 60,90, that you're training
everybody on it and like obviousis like oh, assistants, of
course, hygienists, of course,hygienists of course, but how
deep do you go into it with theadmin, like the front desk team?
David Amador (14:30):
Oh, man, it was just a coaching call with
somebody else the other day.
You're 30, 60, 90.
The biggest issue withdentistry in most businesses is
that we rely on the jobtreatment.
It takes about three yearsaverage to get somebody to get
to 90% competency of where youwant them to be.
That seems about right.
(14:51):
Yeah, that doesn't work.
In business, though, we do that.
That's the issue with smallbusiness.
We don't have an HR departmentwhich scales everybody up.
So your 30, 60, 90 should beable to scale whatever position
to at least a 70% competencyrate of what is considered your
goal.
So our hygiene coordinator, ourhygiene coordinator, has to
(15:13):
understand what it is so thatway she can help hygiene hit
their production per day.
You know.
Also, highlight, because eventhough hygiene is doing their
own daily chart scheduling orchart review, but their hygiene
coordinator can help them aswell so they can hit their daily
goals but also make sure thatpatients are getting the care
(15:34):
they need.
Paul Etchison (15:35):
So what is the training that you do at the
front, like, how does it workinto them?
David Amador (15:38):
So with front it trains into.
It's a little bit different.
On the videos that we do, itwould be more on the scheduling
page, on the daily page, whereit will show all patients that
have pending missed, it'llactually say, hey, this is how
much has been missed in perio,or these are secondary
opportunities for perio, orthese are patients that are due
for probing.
So our hygiene coordinator willlook into it.
(16:01):
She'll already know which listto go into and then, as hygiene
is going through their daily andour morning huddle, she'll call
out any other patients thatthey have been missed and then
give them the information.
So it's just like a laddereffect.
We call it in the office Ourhuddle is our priming.
We have a big time breakdown ofhow we do our huddle in the
morning and the whole idea isthat, based on our core values
(16:22):
that we're collaborating.
If say, oh, you're in themorning and you're prepped and
you're doing one column but youmiss something, hey, your
backup's got your back.
Say, hey, paul, don't forgetabout David, david's so-and-so,
this is going on and hey, herewe go.
So that's how we're able tomaximize what we do every day.
Yeah, I love that man.
Paul Etchison (16:39):
So what are some other areas of the practice that
you're utilizing some newertechnologies that maybe some
docs have not heard of yet.
David Amador (16:46):
I think a lot of doctors are not utilizing Grok
and ChatGPT to their maximum, sowhy we use it in office?
I want to call out one of mygood friends, peter Bolden.
He helped me out drasticallywith this Three years ago.
I was sitting like dude.
Come on, I just need marketinghelp.
I don't really need to knowabout AI.
I just shared with a goodfriend of mine.
(17:07):
We use Plod.
Plod is a little device that'sa recorder and will record and
transcribe everything.
Then I have broken up in usingChatGPT, so let's go into why
we're doing it.
How can I help you, paul, getbetter at communicating with
patients?
And part of communication isbeing able to connect, build
(17:28):
rapport.
That's what a good salespersoncan do.
So I created a chat GPT threadbased on several different books
, and then we'll record theirconversation and then transcribe
it and download the audio andjust drop it in and give them a
daily report card.
Now, this isn't like a reportcard.
Hey, you did bad.
(17:48):
No, how to scale them, how tomultiply them, how to teach them
, how to train them?
It's not about justcommunication with patients, but
it's communication with fellowteam members.
So I'll use this as well formyself when I'm having hard
conversations with team membersso say, we got to do an
evaluation or we got to have tosit down hard because something
(18:09):
happened.
Paul Etchison (18:10):
I get a raise today.
I get raises now.
David Amador (18:12):
Are you going to get a raise today?
Okay, let me click, let me turnthis on and make sure when I go
over this and I listen tomyself again and I go through it
did I build you up?
Did I listen to you?
Did I build you up?
Did I listen to you or did Ishut you down?
What level of leader was I?
So we use literally when I saywe use ChatGPT drastically in
that aspect, so that's oneaspect.
Paul Etchison (18:34):
Well, let me ask you about this what are you
using to actually record it?
Is this like a Bluetoothlavalier mic clipped to your
shirt?
No, no.
David Amador (18:43):
The company's called Plod.
It's like, literally I pressthe button and it records right
away and it has its own AIfunction, so it'll connect to
ChatGPT as well?
Paul Etchison (18:52):
Oh, is it also recording the person you're
talking to or just you Recordeverything?
That's amazing, man.
I could tell you when some ofmy best associates were the ones
that I just hung out outsiderooms and we also recorded their
sales presentation.
We recorded my salespresentation, we went through it
, but, like if there was someway to at least use AI just to
(19:13):
cut out all the extraneous BS,that is unimportant, because it
takes a long time to like to sitthere and listen to an entire
new patient exam.
David Amador (19:23):
So that's exactly what I'm talking about.
So I can literally just heretake this, and the thing is, a
lot of patients, like you're,talking about the associates.
So I talked to a good friend ofmine, craig Spodek, about this
that he would do this all thetime and he still does with his
associates.
But hey, what about the handofffrom the assistant to the
doctor or the hygienist to thedoctor?
Did they pass over all thereport that they gave that they
(19:46):
originally established?
Or was it like hi, this is Paul, this is Dr Amador.
I got to go what?
No, no, how about the hygienistto the doctor?
And how about the doctor orhygiene to our patient care
coordinator?
And then it's all of the setup.
So if I could record all ofthat, I could figure out who
needs training without having tolisten to anything.
(20:08):
I love that.
So this is a new thing we'vebeen doing in the office and
it's slowly like I have ahygienist there.
She was my head assistant andthis has helped scale her with
connecting with patients.
English is not her firstlanguage, wow, and she gets so
excited and so driven andwanting to help people out that
she's that person that juststarts spitting so much stuff
and all of a sudden you're likewhoa, wait a second.
(20:29):
So this has helped her be ableto connect with patients.
So I'm seeing her acceptancerate now starting to climb
because people are saying, yes,yeah, people are connecting, and
people are like bathing her madreviews.
Paul Etchison (20:42):
Some people listening might say, oh, and
people were like bathing her madreviews.
Some people listening might say, oh God, well, that sounds like
too much work.
But I can tell you from when wehave recorded exams and we
didn't have to record every examI'm talking about with the
associates that really benefiteda lot.
I'm talking like maybe six,eight exams.
I mean, what could we have doneif we could do it easier and do
more of it?
You know what I mean.
David Amador (21:01):
But that's the thing.
Everybody wants everything tobe easy.
Well, ai has made it easier,because before you'd have to sit
there, it would take out ofyour chair time, right?
So your time and you're playingthe long game.
If I build up this person,they're going to be able to help
scale us.
So the question is if you havea 50% treatment acceptance, but
(21:22):
now you have an associate thatcomes in, he only has a 25%
treatment acceptance, but youhave this great machine.
You're able to just to keep ongetting more bodies in the chair
, more body.
It means you need twoassociates with double the
patient's volume.
It means you need to have amassive office.
Okay, what if I could justtrain this one?
Train them up past me, becauseI didn't?
At the same time, I do it formyself as well.
(21:44):
How can I better communicate aswell when?
Paul Etchison (21:46):
we think about this and say sales, some people
are like, oh, we don't need tosell.
But the fact of the matter isif we want our patients to get
healthy, we do.
Because if we take liketraditional sales and we say,
how do we hit the pain points ofour patients or pain points of
our prospective customers sothat they buy from us?
The fact of the matter is a lotof our patients aren't in pain
(22:07):
and they're just coming becauseit's what they're supposed to do
.
I have to go to the dentistevery six months.
Exactly so there's not a wholelot of pain points to touch on
there, so it's like a lot ofgetting them motivated to get
their teeth healthy with thingsthat they can't see.
That don't hurt comes fromthese verbal and communication
skills, and if you don't careabout them, I would go as far as
(22:28):
to say that you don't reallycare about your patients getting
healthy.
I think they go hand in hand.
David Amador (22:32):
So it is a breakdown in like what's your
core values?
You know what I'm saying, andthe verbal aspect is a part of
the whole tool and it's not thewhole pie.
So they always talk about oh,you got to have your photos for
new patients or for exams.
You got to have photos, you gotto have a reference point to
point out the crack, got to havea scan, or you should have, or
(22:54):
at some point, either photos orscans, something you can't just
be looking at x-rays.
But if you have that, a photois just not enough because you
don't have pain.
So then you need to be able tohave the communication For us.
We talk about the four phases ofhealth.
Phase one is gum health.
Gotta have foundational health.
If the gums aren't healthy, wecan't support anything else.
Now that the gums are healthy,let's go to phase two.
(23:14):
Let's take care of eachindividual tooth so they don't
keep breaking down.
No more termites, because if weget rid of that, we'll also
protect our gums.
So phase three we've got toprotect the bike.
Stop the teeth from breaking.
Let's get them in the rightposition.
Look here, this is why itbreaks.
And then phase four let'sreplace what's missing, because
if it's missing, it's going tocause shifting and breakdown of
(23:35):
all the other phases.
By having this conversationbreak it up into phases, taking
pauses, communicating, havingthe videos or having pictures to
go over, patients now can startto correlate and connect.
It becomes a play.
But the end of the day, theconversation of sales is so.
I've had new team members thatcome in and be like, oh, I can't
(23:57):
do sales.
I was like you sold me on yourapplication Are you married?
You sold your husband to getyou to say yes, do you have kids
?
You sold them to go get dressed.
We do sales every single day.
It's just a dirty word thateverybody puts a dollar sign on
it, yeah, but at the end of theday the email sold me to.
When I saw Dental Hero podcast,I was like, yes, landed that
(24:20):
plane, I got sold by the pitch.
Paul Etchison (24:23):
You sent me an email and said hey, man, we got
to talk about technology.
I said, oh, this sounds like areally cool topic I want to
explore.
And he talks a lot Dude.
Well, you know what?
I think you weren't trying.
I don't know if you were tryingto do it, but he literally just
gave a ton of dentists.
I mean, that spiel with thefour foundational things.
I mean that is something thatis a struggle for any dentist to
(24:44):
explain and I love how you putthat there.
I think it's a nice way forpatients to understand it.
So those four phases.
David Amador (24:49):
Guess what?
Guess what helped me get thefour phases.
Chat GPT brother Really.
Paul Etchison (24:54):
That's great man.
Yes, I remember somebody.
I did ortho on and I went outof order.
That's why I'm sharing thestory.
Yeah, is we put the light?
014 night tie.
That's like a very light wire,doesn't put a lot of stress on
the teeth.
We put that on.
We saw her back a month laterand, holy shit, the whole mouth
was straight and the reason wasis because her periole was out
(25:14):
of control, so something didn'tlook right after that.
How did these get straight sofast?
And then we looked at the perioand oh man, those teeth were
loose, but they got tight againand I still see her as a patient
and you've got the smile youwant, and I should charge you
extra for getting there so fast.
David Amador (25:31):
Speed braces.
Here is my card.
You could pass it out to allyour friends and get the fastest
it was.
Paul Etchison (25:39):
No, but we've all been there, man, we've all been
there, so we got two thingsdown'd.
Love if we could do a thirdtechnology thing that you think
that would be useful tolisteners, man you know what we
are now using, a different onethat was now.
David Amador (25:51):
Of course it's slipping my mind the name of it,
but what it does is it helpswith new patient leads.
That call in Doesn't interact,doesn't do anything, but it
helps evaluate based on thecriteria that we give in it,
because we gave a lot morecriteria than I had to break it
down on.
Like, hey, did you pick up thephone?
Did you ask the person's nameright away?
Did you follow the blueprint tosuccess on the phone call?
(26:15):
Or were you real quick, hi,midtown.
No, no, sorry, bye click.
So how can we train on that?
Because, at the end of the day,phone verbiage and
(26:36):
communication isn't reallytaught, especially nowadays.
Everybody's on this all thetime, heads down on Twitter.
They're fast to do their thumbsbut not good to talk to people
on when a call was made, andthen it'll send right away to
Paul, you just hanged up thephone with this new patient.
It will send an email rightaway saying hey, look, you
missed this opportunity to talkabout this, do this and this
emotional connection.
I would recommend doing X givethem a call back.
(26:57):
The program's called PatientPrism.
Paul Etchison (26:59):
There we go, yeah , and I would say that this is
also.
We didn't talk about this and Iam not promoting people by any
means, because I get nothingfrom Patient Prism.
I get nothing.
Oh, by the way, I get nothingfrom them either.
You know what I feel like theyshould.
You know what, if you guys arelistening over Jet and Patient
Prism, you gotta pay me somemoney.
No, but I'm using it anyway.
So, like, one thing I lovedabout Patient Prism is that,
back in the day and earlyadopter of recording our phone
(27:21):
calls, that was something that Ithink I was doing, but you had
to have somebody listening tothem all the time.
That was the thing, and whenyou had that was the problem.
Every single phone call, you'rehearing people just
rescheduling their appointments.
You want to hear new patientcalls.
What I love about Patient Prismis it's that missed
opportunities, it shows it, itputs them there and the phone
calls right there and it's likebam, bam, bam.
I can listen to probably somany more phone calls in such
(27:44):
little time, sorted by whoanswered the phone.
Man, it's cool stuff.
It's still the same thing.
We're still listening to phonecalls and giving coaching, but,
man, I love it yeah.
David Amador (27:55):
Yeah, you're able to save more bandwidth.
It's all about bandwidth, right?
So how can I just take amassive funnel and funnel it
down to where I need to focus on?
But, paul, I do want to say onething.
We're talking about all thistechnology and I want to say
this because I had a reallygreat doctor that I worked with
for a long time and she'd buyall the technology.
If somebody is not takingownership and it can't be you
(28:18):
somebody is not taking ownershipof these technologies within
your office, that this is hey,this is your new baby, you're
going to implement it, you'regoing to write up a workflow for
it, so that way then we couldpass it on to somebody else and
then you're going to teach it.
If it's not happening, it'sjust money out the door and it's
not being used properly.
Because, then if you have to askhey, what's going on with it?
(28:39):
Oh, let me go check, it's notbeing utilized.
Paul Etchison (28:41):
Yeah, I'll share a story.
We're talking about Overjet andwe're talking about patient
prism.
Overjet, I said, is a slowimplementation in my office.
Guess who's in charge of thatimplementation?
Me?
That's why Because I'mresponsible for it I need to put
in the patient prism thing.
We could use a lot more of it,but guess who's listening to
phone calls Me?
(29:02):
I'm glad we interviewed this.
This was for me, hey that'sexcellent.
David Amador (29:06):
Listen, I will say one thing Before you do any of
that if you haven't read a bookcalled Traction, it's a great
book, yeah, so it talks aboutyou know you have a visionary,
you know whoever's the owner.
Sometimes you have to beeverything at one time, but once
you start separating hats, thenext thing is you got to have
somebody to implement,Somebody's going to help you
implement everything.
You can't wear all the hats,man, and if you are, you can't
(29:28):
just keep on adding.
You got to master them so thatway you could pass it on to your
assistant or pass it on tosomebody to take it over.
Paul Etchison (29:34):
All right, David man dude.
Great episode and so much greatinformation.
If the listeners want to learnmore about you or reach out to
you or just find out more aboutall this stuff that we talked
about, where should they go?
David Amador (29:46):
So you can DM us on our Instagram handle Midtown
Dental Studio, FL.
Or email us at midtowngmailcomor dude.
You know what?
I'm a coach with the MastermindBulletproof Podcast, so reach
out to the Bulletproof.
I'd love to have you guys onMastermind, because this is all
we do and talk aboutconsistently.
Paul Etchison (30:05):
Yeah, love it, man.
Well, dude, thanks so much forcoming on the podcast.
I know a lot of listeners got alot of little pearls out of
this.
I know I did, man, so this wasgreat.
So thank you for taking timeout of your day to be with the
listeners and myself and reallyappreciate it.
Definitely, man.
AI is everywhere now, but have you started using
it in your practice?
Dr David Amador has fullyembraced it and today he's
sharing three ways.
He leverages AI to train teammembers, boost case acceptance
and build a more efficient,scalable practice.
You'll hear which AI tools workin our offices and how you can
start implementing them withoutoverwhelming your team.
(00:23):
Plus, the one thing owner docsoverlook that could make or
break your results.
You are listening to DentalPractice Heroes, where we help
you to create a team and systemdriven dental practice, one that
allowed you to practice lessand make more money.
I'm Dr Paul Etcheson, a dentalcoach, author of two books on
dental practice management andthe owner of a five doctor
practice in the South suburbs ofChicago.
(00:44):
I want to show you how beingintentional about ownership can
create a practice that supportsyour life instead of consuming
it.
So if you're ready to create atrue business that runs without
you, you're in the right place.
Let's get started.
Hey, welcome back to the DentalPractice Heroes podcast.
I'm your host, dr PaulAitchison, and excited for my
(01:05):
topic today because, like man,we know the world's changing.
We know like things arehappening in dentistry AI
technology, and I got somebodyon today that just loves
technology and utilizes it inhis practice very much.
We got Dr David Amador on.
He's got a practice in MidtownFlorida and he has got this
nine-hour practice.
Two dentists and they're justslaying it, trying to
(01:28):
incorporate technology in everyturn.
So, hey, welcome to the podcast, david, glad to have you on.
David Amador (01:33):
Hey Paul.
I want to say thanks man.
It's a big fan.
Been a long time listening,just first time on.
It's a pleasure to be here, manSweet man.
Paul Etchison (01:41):
So before we get into our topic talking about
technology, I you, man Sweet man.
So before we get into our topictalking about technology, I
love talking about practiceownership on this podcast.
If you could give the listenerwhat was your journey into
practice ownership like, fromgoing associate to practice
owner, how'd that go?
David Amador (01:54):
Oh man, I just had this conversation on another
pod the other day, so I wasmoonlighting for a while.
I think I graduated in 2015.
I bought the practice in 2022with my wife and during that
time I went from the classicassociate, where you're going
from different offices buildingup your repertoire, so finally,
(02:18):
where I was in two offices onedoing family dentistry three
days a week, doing a little bitof cosmetics there Because it
really was a blue collar office,just very extrovert, so
enjoying that building rapportwith the patients and the
families.
Then the other was just doingimplants and root canals and
that one office like that wasgood.
Man, I was very, uh, content.
Until 2020, it was I maximizingmy capabilities.
Was I a three million dollarproducer at that point?
(02:39):
No, but I was doing like 1.7 atthat time on five days a week
and it was four and a half daysreally what it was.
Paul Etchison (02:45):
Wow, and that's as an associate, that's like
with your own hands.
David Amador (02:48):
That's with my own hands.
That was with my own hands.
Wow, that's a lot.
There wasn't enough there, andwhat I mean by that is, like,
you know, wanting to have ourown thing.
And then, when 2020 happenedand everybody started running,
you know, start reading allthese books and everybody's like
bro, when everybody's runningfrom the fire, you run towards
it.
So I told my wife, I was likeI'm calling up every bank and
we're going to find what we canget and we're going to buy.
(03:08):
So we ended up offering on likeseveral offices, spoke to all
the doctors we work with and weactually ended up buying one of
the offices me and my wifeworked at.
So, long story short, we boughtit, went through the whole
buyer's remorse, like it waseasy when we were a dentist,
found a great group formentorship, which was
Bulletproof Group, joined themin 2022.
And, man, they've helped coachus.
(03:29):
Then I became a coach for themand then been helping Dennis
from there.
Man, so it's been a great ride.
In the beginning, finding ourwhy was everything.
Once we found our why, whichwas something that Craig Spodak
really helped out with theBulletproof Mastermind and then
it just started spiraling.
So we took our practice from1.2 and then, literally now last
(03:50):
year, we crushed it at three.
And the thing is our team.
We have no turnover, greatconsistency.
We're constantly growing in avery how can I say it?
A very competitive market.
So, man, it's just been anamazing ride.
Paul Etchison (04:02):
You know I'd love to ask you this question
because we see it on theinternet often.
An associate, say an associatelike yourself.
You go on there and you posthey, like I'm thinking about on
my own practice, I produce about1.7 million by myself and
obviously all us dentists knowwhat that equates to take home
pay with most you know, but I'mthinking about on my own
practice.
You would get a bunch of peoplesaying you make that much money
(04:25):
as an associate, why wouldn'tyou just keep doing that and not
own your practice?
And sometimes I see thosecomments.
I say shit, man, if you coulddo that at your own practice, do
you know what you'd be doing?
So what would you say tosomebody that is a good producer
that's looking at it and sayingyou know what?
I don't know if I want to ownmy own practice or not.
Maybe I'll stay an associate.
What are your thoughts?
So I would ask them why?
David Amador (04:46):
Why the change?
Now let's find out what's yourwhy, what's your goal?
Because it can't be money.
At the end of the day, youdon't buy a practice for money
Because if you're doing 1.7,your take home is excellent, you
don't have to deal with the HRand everybody else.
I would simply break down.
What is the why?
(05:07):
What is your vision?
What is your long-term?
Because if your vision is tohelp people, then you're limited
as an associate.
You are locked into whoeverowns the practice.
We do hear almost $400,000 ingiving back to the community,
which we do not publicizewhatsoever, thousand dollars in
giving back to the community,which we do not publicize
whatsoever.
Every quarter we literally ourteam pulls from a hat who they
(05:28):
have felt we can help the most.
So that was one of our whys wewant to grow and help the
community.
I was not going to be able todo that as an associate.
And then I'd ask him have youever read a book?
Because the book I wouldrecommend you to read is the
email.
Yeah, simple man, do you wantto own a job or do you want to
own a business?
Business means it can runwithout you there.
So true, because if you justwant to own a job, then keep the
(05:50):
job that you got You're doinggood at it.
Paul Etchison (05:53):
That's such a great book reference.
Because the thing is they havethe entrepreneurial seizure
where the technician says, wellshit, I'm doing all the work
here, I can do this for my own.
And then they get in thatentrepreneurial seat and they go
oh, this is not what I thoughtit was.
Yeah.
David Amador (06:09):
Dude, I had this, like I literally had a coaching
call the other day and I washaving this conversation like I
bought this practice.
I don't understand.
Like everybody said, buying apractice is going to be the best
thing.
I'm working nonstop.
I'm them like because you'rewearing every hat now You're
wearing the dentist, you'rewearing the CFO, you're wearing
HR, you're wearing everything,and so you could, like, slowly
(06:29):
start displacing and putting theright people in place and you
start to breathe.
Paul Etchison (06:34):
Yeah, it's so true, and I always think, like
people.
I say work smarter, not harder,but I think you always got to
work harder.
First you got to Like right atthe beginning you got to work
harder and then the smartercomes later, like you got to
grind a bit.
There's going to be some levelof grind.
David Amador (06:47):
So you got to fail up.
Man, that is what it is, man.
You got to learn from everytime because every I don't know
how many times you've ever heardthis.
I didn't learn that at dentalschool.
They didn't teach me that atdental school.
This is you have to learndentistry MBA.
(07:07):
Yeah, like I was talking to oneof my friends and he was like
yo, my dad listens to thesecalls and these masterminds and
these coaching seminars all thetime that we do and listens to
this other pod and he's likethis is a dental MBA you guys
are talking about.
I thought you guys would betalking about drilling and crap
like that.
This is an MBA.
It's in reality.
That's what it is, man.
Like you're learning thebusiness aspects so you can help
benefit your patients, and itall starts with having the right
(07:29):
mindset.
Yeah, so true man.
Paul Etchison (07:31):
So let's switch to our topic here.
So technology, man, so much ischanging.
David Amador (07:36):
What are you finding that's working well at
your practice, that's worthsharing with the listeners, Dude
so first off, man, one of thebiggest things with technology
is how can you make itstreamlined so it's easy to
collaborate with your team.
And what do I mean by that?
Think of, like, the new patientthat comes in.
How can you build rapport?
Because how many times do ourpatients think of us as
(07:57):
charlatans?
Think about it.
Yeah, oh yeah.
This other guy told me down theroad I don't have that.
I don't know what you'retalking about.
Yeah, and the only way to breakthat is to have cross team
clarity.
So think about it.
When you're in the office, youlook at an x-ray.
We were taught endless of whata D1, d2, these fancy terms are
when is there a cavity and howmuch bone loss is there?
(08:20):
Well, what if the firstinteraction they have with the
assistant or the hygienist isalready talking about what
you're going to?
So you're empowering that teammember.
Then you follow up.
By the time you came in,they've already looked at the
photos, they've already lookedat the x-rays and they've
already pointed out all of thesuspicious areas that you used
to this.
Yes, you are correct.
So one of the most powerfulthings we're using right now is
(08:41):
definitely AI, and there's somany different platforms.
We're using.
One of them is AI, is Overjet.
Overjet has been a very crucialpoint because it allows us to
scale our team to see what I'mseeing and not in the sense of a
overall health wise.
So it's not going to help myhygienic airway obstructions
(09:02):
class one, class two, classthree or high palatal vaults or,
even worse, the big oral cansee, but it is going to make it
easier to discuss x-rays.
It's going to highlight tartar,it's going to highlight bone
loss.
It's going to highlightcavities.
So it also makes it easier tohave teacher team how to
communicate at the same time onthese things.
So it automatically translatesto patient treatment acceptance,
(09:25):
which patient treatmentacceptance is an easy metric to
see.
How are you communicating andconnecting as a team?
Paul Etchison (09:35):
with your patients.
We currently have overjet atour practice right now and it's
been a slow implementation, butwe're getting there.
We're seeing the value andwe're getting into it.
But tell us what they see.
If into it, but tell us what dothey see.
If no one's ever seen this,what do they expect?
What does it do?
David Amador (09:49):
So the two big dogs right now are Perl AI and
Overjet.
Both of them are amazing.
Clearly we're using Overjetwhen they see it.
The easiest conversation likeoh, if you're sitting in the
chair you're not a, you'retrying to look at it and you
probably see toes.
I don't know how many timespatients always say are those
toes?
Paul Etchison (10:08):
Yeah, Like I don't like what I don't see toes
, they do say that yeah.
David Amador (10:11):
They do say that and I always try not to make a
face like oh, I got a crazy onetoday.
But when you activate it andyou see all the highlighted, you
know it just makes it easier togo over what's going on there.
Someone.
All the time they'll be likethis is the enamel, this is the
nerve.
But now, when it's highlighted,you can deactivate it and then
(10:32):
go through it.
So something they don't really.
They all had their owntrainings.
I just created our ownimplementation.
So for our onboarding of all ofour team members, we have 30,
60, 90.
And part of that is how tocommunicate with patients and
how to go through the dailyroutine tasks.
That made our own videos ofexactly how to go over it.
(10:52):
Now, of course, there are dailysheets somewhere you can go
through this beauty of it.
They will highlight all themissed opportunities you had to
help patients out.
So if their x-rays are up todate, sometimes perio gets
undiagnosed, sometimes cavitiesget unseen because maybe the
doctor's rushing.
So this is what the power ofusing AI technology like this,
(11:13):
because if you're empoweringyour team, they're going to hold
you at your best.
Sometimes, paul, do you stilldo clinical Paul?
Paul Etchison (11:20):
I do a little bit .
Okay, I'm down to three days amonth and very soon it'll be
just two.
David Amador (11:25):
Dude wow, yeah, so when you were at your peak
clinical, how many hygienistsdid you have at that time that
you had to do hygiene checks?
Paul Etchison (11:33):
Three, three.
We always did three comms.
Yeah, I was always used todoing three comms.
It was four days a week and itwas a lot.
David Amador (11:38):
It was a lot, so you know what I'm talking about.
When you got and we have threehygienists, we're trying to
scale, our goal is ninehygienists, so we're trying to
scale that drastically.
But you remember when it wasthree hygienists, it was you
running with two chairs, likesometimes you walk in there and
you're doing your best you can,but if you have a team that's
empowered behind you hey doc,can you look at number 30?
I'm seeing X, y, z and Iverified in the mouth and the
(12:01):
x-ray.
Oh, yes, yeah, so it helpsdrastically drive the patient
care up to the next level, andthat's what it's all about.
Paul Etchison (12:10):
Yeah Well, the way I know that in my office
because we strongly believe inco-diagnosis and the way that I
know that it's working is thatwhen we have missed things, the
doctor says, well, the hygienistdidn't bring it up.
That's how you know it'sworking.
That's how dependent on ourhygienist we are.
That's how you know it'sworking.
That's how dependent on ourhygienists we have.
David Amador (12:28):
That's how it should be Because, man, I still
run into doctors that are likeno, they come here for me.
I'm like no, they may comebecause of the name, but they
stay because of everybody else.
Paul Etchison (12:37):
Yeah it's true, it's interesting, and you know
what the cool thing that I loveabout Overjet is.
I remember back in the day likethey have the colorize function
and every X-Ware software hasthis, and I used to love just to
hit it and just go.
I would hit it and I'd go, yeah, and then I wouldn't say
anything about it to the patientbut it was just like, oh look,
how cool high tech we are WithOverjet.
(12:59):
It's like it actually putscolors there that are useful.
The colorize function didn't doa damn thing.
Function didn't do a damn thing.
It was just like, oh yeah,let's.
I don't know what the hell itwas for.
I don't know if anyone reallyused it.
David Amador (13:09):
And whenever you do hit the color button and like
they see it, they're like oh,okay, I see the green, that's
good.
What's the red?
Oh, that's where, that's whereyou got to floss.
Yeah, that's where we got totalk about, that's where we got
to talk about.
And it helps with assistance,hygiene, even the front, but at
the same time because it'sbecome AI and radiographs has
(13:30):
become such a big thing alsohelps with claims being sent out
.
So on the back end say, you'regetting denial.
So for any large crown or crownthat we have to do, or any case
where perio, especially perioin its earliest stage, we'll
send that out.
Probing depths were you knowour fives, but they're just in
(13:51):
the early onset of bone loss,bleeding everywhere.
So we'll put all of our notesand then we'll send out the
overjet with the measurements,you know, with a 1.5 instead of
one millimeter of stable bonenow, 1.5 millimeters of bone
loss, and we'll get acceptanceon that.
Wow, so that way then we're notgoing back and around and
fighting with the insurance andthen having to talk to the
patient about the issues, and soit's just.
(14:12):
It helps to have a little acein your pocket.
Paul Etchison (14:16):
Well, I think it's interesting that you said,
like it's part of your 30, 60,90, that you're training
everybody on it and like obviousis like oh, assistants, of
course, hygienists, of course,hygienists of course, but how
deep do you go into it with theadmin, like the front desk team?
David Amador (14:30):
Oh, man, it was just a coaching call with
somebody else the other day.
You're 30, 60, 90.
The biggest issue withdentistry in most businesses is
that we rely on the jobtreatment.
It takes about three yearsaverage to get somebody to get
to 90% competency of where youwant them to be.
That seems about right.
(14:51):
Yeah, that doesn't work.
In business, though, we do that.
That's the issue with smallbusiness.
We don't have an HR departmentwhich scales everybody up.
So your 30, 60, 90 should beable to scale whatever position
to at least a 70% competencyrate of what is considered your
goal.
So our hygiene coordinator, ourhygiene coordinator, has to
(15:13):
understand what it is so thatway she can help hygiene hit
their production per day.
You know.
Also, highlight, because eventhough hygiene is doing their
own daily chart scheduling orchart review, but their hygiene
coordinator can help them aswell so they can hit their daily
goals but also make sure thatpatients are getting the care
(15:34):
they need.
Paul Etchison (15:35):
So what is the training that you do at the
front, like, how does it workinto them?
David Amador (15:38):
So with front it trains into.
It's a little bit different.
On the videos that we do, itwould be more on the scheduling
page, on the daily page, whereit will show all patients that
have pending missed, it'llactually say, hey, this is how
much has been missed in perio,or these are secondary
opportunities for perio, orthese are patients that are due
for probing.
So our hygiene coordinator willlook into it.
(16:01):
She'll already know which listto go into and then, as hygiene
is going through their daily andour morning huddle, she'll call
out any other patients thatthey have been missed and then
give them the information.
So it's just like a laddereffect.
We call it in the office Ourhuddle is our priming.
We have a big time breakdown ofhow we do our huddle in the
morning and the whole idea isthat, based on our core values
(16:22):
that we're collaborating.
If say, oh, you're in themorning and you're prepped and
you're doing one column but youmiss something, hey, your
backup's got your back.
Say, hey, paul, don't forgetabout David, david's so-and-so,
this is going on and hey, herewe go.
So that's how we're able tomaximize what we do every day.
Yeah, I love that man.
Paul Etchison (16:39):
So what are some other areas of the practice that
you're utilizing some newertechnologies that maybe some
docs have not heard of yet.
David Amador (16:46):
I think a lot of doctors are not utilizing Grok
and ChatGPT to their maximum, sowhy we use it in office?
I want to call out one of mygood friends, peter Bolden.
He helped me out drasticallywith this Three years ago.
I was sitting like dude.
Come on, I just need marketinghelp.
I don't really need to knowabout AI.
I just shared with a goodfriend of mine.
(17:07):
We use Plod.
Plod is a little device that'sa recorder and will record and
transcribe everything.
Then I have broken up in usingChatGPT, so let's go into why
we're doing it.
How can I help you, paul, getbetter at communicating with
patients?
And part of communication isbeing able to connect, build
(17:28):
rapport.
That's what a good salespersoncan do.
So I created a chat GPT threadbased on several different books
, and then we'll record theirconversation and then transcribe
it and download the audio andjust drop it in and give them a
daily report card.
Now, this isn't like a reportcard.
Hey, you did bad.
(17:48):
No, how to scale them, how tomultiply them, how to teach them
, how to train them?
It's not about justcommunication with patients, but
it's communication with fellowteam members.
So I'll use this as well formyself when I'm having hard
conversations with team membersso say, we got to do an
evaluation or we got to have tosit down hard because something
(18:09):
happened.
Paul Etchison (18:10):
I get a raise today.
I get raises now.
David Amador (18:12):
Are you going to get a raise today?
Okay, let me click, let me turnthis on and make sure when I go
over this and I listen tomyself again and I go through it
did I build you up?
Did I listen to you?
Did I build you up?
Did I listen to you or did Ishut you down?
What level of leader was I?
So we use literally when I saywe use ChatGPT drastically in
that aspect, so that's oneaspect.
Paul Etchison (18:34):
Well, let me ask you about this what are you
using to actually record it?
Is this like a Bluetoothlavalier mic clipped to your
shirt?
No, no.
David Amador (18:43):
The company's called Plod.
It's like, literally I pressthe button and it records right
away and it has its own AIfunction, so it'll connect to
ChatGPT as well?
Paul Etchison (18:52):
Oh, is it also recording the person you're
talking to or just you Recordeverything?
That's amazing, man.
I could tell you when some ofmy best associates were the ones
that I just hung out outsiderooms and we also recorded their
sales presentation.
We recorded my salespresentation, we went through it
, but, like if there was someway to at least use AI just to
(19:13):
cut out all the extraneous BS,that is unimportant, because it
takes a long time to like to sitthere and listen to an entire
new patient exam.
David Amador (19:23):
So that's exactly what I'm talking about.
So I can literally just heretake this, and the thing is, a
lot of patients, like you're,talking about the associates.
So I talked to a good friend ofmine, craig Spodek, about this
that he would do this all thetime and he still does with his
associates.
But hey, what about the handofffrom the assistant to the
doctor or the hygienist to thedoctor?
Did they pass over all thereport that they gave that they
(19:46):
originally established?
Or was it like hi, this is Paul, this is Dr Amador.
I got to go what?
No, no, how about the hygienistto the doctor?
And how about the doctor orhygiene to our patient care
coordinator?
And then it's all of the setup.
So if I could record all ofthat, I could figure out who
needs training without having tolisten to anything.
(20:08):
I love that.
So this is a new thing we'vebeen doing in the office and
it's slowly like I have ahygienist there.
She was my head assistant andthis has helped scale her with
connecting with patients.
English is not her firstlanguage, wow, and she gets so
excited and so driven andwanting to help people out that
she's that person that juststarts spitting so much stuff
and all of a sudden you're likewhoa, wait a second.
(20:29):
So this has helped her be ableto connect with patients.
So I'm seeing her acceptancerate now starting to climb
because people are saying, yes,yeah, people are connecting, and
people are like bathing her madreviews.
Paul Etchison (20:42):
Some people listening might say, oh, and
people were like bathing her madreviews.
Some people listening might say, oh God, well, that sounds like
too much work.
But I can tell you from when wehave recorded exams and we
didn't have to record every examI'm talking about with the
associates that really benefiteda lot.
I'm talking like maybe six,eight exams.
I mean, what could we have doneif we could do it easier and do
more of it?
You know what I mean.
David Amador (21:01):
But that's the thing.
Everybody wants everything tobe easy.
Well, ai has made it easier,because before you'd have to sit
there, it would take out ofyour chair time, right?
So your time and you're playingthe long game.
If I build up this person,they're going to be able to help
scale us.
So the question is if you havea 50% treatment acceptance, but
(21:22):
now you have an associate thatcomes in, he only has a 25%
treatment acceptance, but youhave this great machine.
You're able to just to keep ongetting more bodies in the chair
, more body.
It means you need twoassociates with double the
patient's volume.
It means you need to have amassive office.
Okay, what if I could justtrain this one?
Train them up past me, becauseI didn't?
At the same time, I do it formyself as well.
(21:44):
How can I better communicate aswell when?
Paul Etchison (21:46):
we think about this and say sales, some people
are like, oh, we don't need tosell.
But the fact of the matter isif we want our patients to get
healthy, we do.
Because if we take liketraditional sales and we say,
how do we hit the pain points ofour patients or pain points of
our prospective customers sothat they buy from us?
The fact of the matter is a lotof our patients aren't in pain
(22:07):
and they're just coming becauseit's what they're supposed to do
.
I have to go to the dentistevery six months.
Exactly so there's not a wholelot of pain points to touch on
there, so it's like a lot ofgetting them motivated to get
their teeth healthy with thingsthat they can't see.
That don't hurt comes fromthese verbal and communication
skills, and if you don't careabout them, I would go as far as
(22:28):
to say that you don't reallycare about your patients getting
healthy.
I think they go hand in hand.
David Amador (22:32):
So it is a breakdown in like what's your
core values?
You know what I'm saying, andthe verbal aspect is a part of
the whole tool and it's not thewhole pie.
So they always talk about oh,you got to have your photos for
new patients or for exams.
You got to have photos, you gotto have a reference point to
point out the crack, got to havea scan, or you should have, or
(22:54):
at some point, either photos orscans, something you can't just
be looking at x-rays.
But if you have that, a photois just not enough because you
don't have pain.
So then you need to be able tohave the communication For us.
We talk about the four phases ofhealth.
Phase one is gum health.
Gotta have foundational health.
If the gums aren't healthy, wecan't support anything else.
Now that the gums are healthy,let's go to phase two.
(23:14):
Let's take care of eachindividual tooth so they don't
keep breaking down.
No more termites, because if weget rid of that, we'll also
protect our gums.
So phase three we've got toprotect the bike.
Stop the teeth from breaking.
Let's get them in the rightposition.
Look here, this is why itbreaks.
And then phase four let'sreplace what's missing, because
if it's missing, it's going tocause shifting and breakdown of
(23:35):
all the other phases.
By having this conversationbreak it up into phases, taking
pauses, communicating, havingthe videos or having pictures to
go over, patients now can startto correlate and connect.
It becomes a play.
But the end of the day, theconversation of sales is so.
I've had new team members thatcome in and be like, oh, I can't
(23:57):
do sales.
I was like you sold me on yourapplication Are you married?
You sold your husband to getyou to say yes, do you have kids
?
You sold them to go get dressed.
We do sales every single day.
It's just a dirty word thateverybody puts a dollar sign on
it, yeah, but at the end of theday the email sold me to.
When I saw Dental Hero podcast,I was like, yes, landed that
(24:20):
plane, I got sold by the pitch.
Paul Etchison (24:23):
You sent me an email and said hey, man, we got
to talk about technology.
I said, oh, this sounds like areally cool topic I want to
explore.
And he talks a lot Dude.
Well, you know what?
I think you weren't trying.
I don't know if you were tryingto do it, but he literally just
gave a ton of dentists.
I mean, that spiel with thefour foundational things.
I mean that is something thatis a struggle for any dentist to
(24:44):
explain and I love how you putthat there.
I think it's a nice way forpatients to understand it.
So those four phases.
David Amador (24:49):
Guess what?
Guess what helped me get thefour phases.
Chat GPT brother Really.
Paul Etchison (24:54):
That's great man.
Yes, I remember somebody.
I did ortho on and I went outof order.
That's why I'm sharing thestory.
Yeah, is we put the light?
014 night tie.
That's like a very light wire,doesn't put a lot of stress on
the teeth.
We put that on.
We saw her back a month laterand, holy shit, the whole mouth
was straight and the reason wasis because her periole was out
(25:14):
of control, so something didn'tlook right after that.
How did these get straight sofast?
And then we looked at the perioand oh man, those teeth were
loose, but they got tight againand I still see her as a patient
and you've got the smile youwant, and I should charge you
extra for getting there so fast.
David Amador (25:31):
Speed braces.
Here is my card.
You could pass it out to allyour friends and get the fastest
it was.
Paul Etchison (25:39):
No, but we've all been there, man, we've all been
there, so we got two thingsdown'd.
Love if we could do a thirdtechnology thing that you think
that would be useful tolisteners, man you know what we
are now using, a different onethat was now.
David Amador (25:51):
Of course it's slipping my mind the name of it,
but what it does is it helpswith new patient leads.
That call in Doesn't interact,doesn't do anything, but it
helps evaluate based on thecriteria that we give in it,
because we gave a lot morecriteria than I had to break it
down on.
Like, hey, did you pick up thephone?
Did you ask the person's nameright away?
Did you follow the blueprint tosuccess on the phone call?
(26:15):
Or were you real quick, hi,midtown.
No, no, sorry, bye click.
So how can we train on that?
Because, at the end of the day,phone verbiage and
(26:36):
communication isn't reallytaught, especially nowadays.
Everybody's on this all thetime, heads down on Twitter.
They're fast to do their thumbsbut not good to talk to people
on when a call was made, andthen it'll send right away to
Paul, you just hanged up thephone with this new patient.
It will send an email rightaway saying hey, look, you
missed this opportunity to talkabout this, do this and this
emotional connection.
I would recommend doing X givethem a call back.
(26:57):
The program's called PatientPrism.
Paul Etchison (26:59):
There we go, yeah , and I would say that this is
also.
We didn't talk about this and Iam not promoting people by any
means, because I get nothingfrom Patient Prism.
I get nothing.
Oh, by the way, I get nothingfrom them either.
You know what I feel like theyshould.
You know what, if you guys arelistening over Jet and Patient
Prism, you gotta pay me somemoney.
No, but I'm using it anyway.
So, like, one thing I lovedabout Patient Prism is that,
back in the day and earlyadopter of recording our phone
(27:21):
calls, that was something that Ithink I was doing, but you had
to have somebody listening tothem all the time.
That was the thing, and whenyou had that was the problem.
Every single phone call, you'rehearing people just
rescheduling their appointments.
You want to hear new patientcalls.
What I love about Patient Prismis it's that missed
opportunities, it shows it, itputs them there and the phone
calls right there and it's likebam, bam, bam.
I can listen to probably somany more phone calls in such
(27:44):
little time, sorted by whoanswered the phone.
Man, it's cool stuff.
It's still the same thing.
We're still listening to phonecalls and giving coaching, but,
man, I love it yeah.
David Amador (27:55):
Yeah, you're able to save more bandwidth.
It's all about bandwidth, right?
So how can I just take amassive funnel and funnel it
down to where I need to focus on?
But, paul, I do want to say onething.
We're talking about all thistechnology and I want to say
this because I had a reallygreat doctor that I worked with
for a long time and she'd buyall the technology.
If somebody is not takingownership and it can't be you
(28:18):
somebody is not taking ownershipof these technologies within
your office, that this is hey,this is your new baby, you're
going to implement it, you'regoing to write up a workflow for
it, so that way then we couldpass it on to somebody else and
then you're going to teach it.
If it's not happening, it'sjust money out the door and it's
not being used properly.
Because, then if you have to askhey, what's going on with it?
(28:39):
Oh, let me go check, it's notbeing utilized.
Paul Etchison (28:41):
Yeah, I'll share a story.
We're talking about Overjet andwe're talking about patient
prism.
Overjet, I said, is a slowimplementation in my office.
Guess who's in charge of thatimplementation?
Me?
That's why Because I'mresponsible for it I need to put
in the patient prism thing.
We could use a lot more of it,but guess who's listening to
phone calls Me?
(29:02):
I'm glad we interviewed this.
This was for me, hey that'sexcellent.
David Amador (29:06):
Listen, I will say one thing Before you do any of
that if you haven't read a bookcalled Traction, it's a great
book, yeah, so it talks aboutyou know you have a visionary,
you know whoever's the owner.
Sometimes you have to beeverything at one time, but once
you start separating hats, thenext thing is you got to have
somebody to implement,Somebody's going to help you
implement everything.
You can't wear all the hats,man, and if you are, you can't
(29:28):
just keep on adding.
You got to master them so thatway you could pass it on to your
assistant or pass it on tosomebody to take it over.
Paul Etchison (29:34):
All right, David man dude.
Great episode and so much greatinformation.
If the listeners want to learnmore about you or reach out to
you or just find out more aboutall this stuff that we talked
about, where should they go?
David Amador (29:46):
So you can DM us on our Instagram handle Midtown
Dental Studio, FL.
Or email us at midtowngmailcomor dude.
You know what?
I'm a coach with the MastermindBulletproof Podcast, so reach
out to the Bulletproof.
I'd love to have you guys onMastermind, because this is all
we do and talk aboutconsistently.
Paul Etchison (30:05):
Yeah, love it, man.
Well, dude, thanks so much forcoming on the podcast.
I know a lot of listeners got alot of little pearls out of
this.
I know I did, man, so this wasgreat.
So thank you for taking timeout of your day to be with the
listeners and myself and reallyappreciate it.
Definitely, man.
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