Voices From The Bench

Join the GOLDEN BENCH CLUB! All you have to do is leave us a 5-star review and comment on the Apple Podcast app (or any other app and email us a screen shot) and we will read your review on the podcast and welcome you to the Golden Bench Club. This super elite club is only for the best of the best Have you ever looked at crappy impressions or work and said to yourself, I could do better than this. That is exactly what this week's guest did. After working in a lab for an ex-father-in-law, Dr. Timothy Royer started doing all-on-xs in an in-office lab. Seeing all the bad he was getting, he was determined to become a dentist and do it better. After getting his Masters and then doctorate, Dr. Royer now owns Elite Dentures (https://elitedentures.net/) in Nederland, Texas where he is helping patients on their own journey through completely restoring their mouth and providing excellent care along the way. Listen to John Wilson from Sunrise Dental Lab (https://www.sunrisedentallaboratory.com/index.php) and take your

To run a successful company you need a good range of quality products and stellar people to help promote and train. Well that is who we found out is behind the company Aidite North America (https://www.aidite.com). Tom Heusing is the General Manager, Bob Hadley is the National Sales Manager, and Erica DiManna is the Marketing Manager. Together they talk about their previous employment together, finding their way back working together again, all about Aidite and Aidite North America, and why having the right people and the right partners is their key to their growth and success. Be sure to follow them everywhere at: Sign up for the Aidite Pulse monthly newsletter here: https://bit.ly/aiditepulse Aidite website: https://www.aidite.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AiditeNorthAmerica LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aidite-north-america/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aiditenorthamerica/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AiditeNorthAmerica If you are in the market for purchasing a new mill

Due to power outages and flooding from the hurricane, many of our lab friends are in need of help. The amazing Shawn Nowak of Nowak Dental Supplies (https://www.nowakdental.com/) has started a GO FUND ME to help those in need. Please consider giving what you can to help! https://www.gofundme.com/f/rebuilding-dental-labs-after-hurricane-helene?lang=enUS&utmcampaign=fpsharesheet&utmcontent=amp8c&utmmedium=customer&utm_source=facebook When a dental technician reached out to the podcast and recommended a dentist as a guest, we figured they worked together. But when we found that they don't and this dentist just does amazing restorations for patient's that can't usually afford them, we knew it would be a great episode. Dr. Ben Kellum went to dental school not really knowing what he was getting into. It was there that he learned to really like implants and took an opportunity to run a residency program doing implants and full arch for drug rehab patients. It was there that he learned that doing the lab work himsel

Join the GOLDEN BENCH CLUB! All you have to do is leave us a 5-star review and comment on the Apple Podcast app (or any other app and email us a screen shot) and we will read your review on the podcast and welcome you to the Golden Bench Club. This super elite club is only for the best of the best When you think of companies that have changed dentistry for the better, Ivoclar (https://www.ivoclar.com/en_us) is always on that list. From the world’s first pressed ceramic to emax (https://www.ivoclar.com/makeitemax), from heat injected acrylics to milled dentures, Ivoclar has been innovating and making teeth better. This week Elvis and Barb talk to their VP of Product Marketing for North America Don Bell. Don was on the podcast almost 4 years ago and comes on to update us on what's been happing with the company. He talks about coming out of covid, learning from customer feedback, the evolution of dentures and the upcoming Ivotion print, living in the age of digital treatment planning through communication and co

Join the GOLDEN BENCH CLUB! All you have to do is leave us a 5-star review and comment on the Apple Podcast app (or any other app and email us a screen shot) and we will read your review on the podcast and welcome you to the Golden Bench Club. This super elite club is only for the best of the best We love Denturist and all they do to help patients and the ever-growing edentulous population. So imagine how excited Elvis and Barb were when they got to talk to Jade Connors from Alberta Canada. Jade owns Pearl Denture & Implant Centre (https://www.pearldenture.com/) and talks all about the journey leading up to it. You see, Jade is a millennial and openly talks about the mental struggles she had to overcome to find her love of dental. Starting with Art, she was afraid of going "corporate" so she looked at dental. Not liking authority, she went into dental lab technology and earned her RDT from Nait Polytechnic (https://www.nait.ca/nait/home). It was then she decided to go back to school and become a denturist and

Thank you to everyone that donated to our Race for the Future 10 triathlon. This was the biggest one yet in terms of money brought in. All of this money goes right back in to our industry and remember you can give all year long! https://dentallabfoundation.org/ Sometimes the business part of the lab is not the most exciting. But honestly, it's super important for everyone to understand in order for a lab (or any business) to be successful. The thinking that more units equal more profit is just not true. The one to help your lab is David Lesh from 8&9 Consulting (https://www.8and9consulting.com/). David is back on for a third time and now he is sharing the secrets of the financials that labs need to be profitable. David emphasizes that if you're not growing profitable sales, you're merely exhausting your resources without reaping the rewards. He also shares practical tips on how to reduce COGS and set key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and improve financial performance and a unique approach to setting

SHIRTS ARE BACK! *Elvis & Barbara are excited to release two new shirts (along with long sleeves and hoodies) to get ready for fall! This time we have two designs, one for removable techs and one for fixed. “Just say no to brushing”- idea and the denture is from Brittany Mitchell: https://www.bonfire.com/shirt-for-removable-techs/ “Don’t pull out” features art work from Charlie Barbour at CIMBdesign: (https://www.redbubble.com/people/cimbdesign/shop?asc=u). https://www.bonfire.com/shirt-for-fixed-techs/ You should be able to both shirts in your cart if you want both…. And this time the podcast logo is on the back! Just a reminder that 100% of the profits get donated to the Foundation For Dental Laboratory Technology (https://dentallabfoundation.org/). Sale ends September 14th. On September 11th in Fort Worth, Texas, the 10th annual Race For the Future (https://dentallabfoundation.org/news-events/race-for-the-future/) will take place to raise money for the Foundation For Dental Laboratory Technology (https:/

SHIRTS ARE BACK! *Elvis & Barbara are excited to release two new shirts (along with long sleeves and hoodies) to get ready for fall! This time we have two designs, one for removable techs and one for fixed. “Just say no to brushing”- idea and the denture is from Brittany Mitchell: https://www.bonfire.com/shirt-for-removable-techs/ “Don’t pull out” features art work from Charlie Barbour at CIMBdesign: (https://www.redbubble.com/people/cimbdesign/shop?asc=u). https://www.bonfire.com/shirt-for-fixed-techs/ You should be able to both shirts in your cart if you want both…. And this time the podcast logo is on the back! Just a reminder that 100% of the profits get donated to the Foundation For Dental Laboratory Technology (https://dentallabfoundation.org/). *Sale ends September 14th. On September 11th in Fort Worth, Texas, the 10th annual Race For the Future (https://dentallabfoundation.org/news-events/race-for-the-future/) will take place to raise money for the Foundation For Dental Laboratory Technology (https:

Join the GOLDEN BENCH CLUB! All you have to do is leave us a 5-star review and comment on the Apple Podcast app (or any other app and email us a screen shot) and we will read your review on the podcast and welcome you to the Golden Bench Club. This super elite club is only for the best of the best. We all know the minute we remake something in the lab, the profit is gone. We just accept it and do our best to not have any remakes. But ALSO, a lot of it is not our fault and to keep a dentist happy, we eat it and do the remake anyway. What if there was a way to warranty everything the lab does for 5 years? I mean EVERYTHING..... even removables. Not only does that make your lab more attractive to dental offices, just think how easier it would be if every remake was a simple "okay" because you knew you would be paid for the remakes. Well, enter Quantum Health Holdings (https://quantumhh.com/). Less than a year ago, Jack Manno and Kim Solomon met insurance and warranty expert Max Zanan. Max has been working in th

Join the GOLDEN BENCH CLUB! All you have to do is leave us a 5-star review and comment on the Apple Podcast app (or any other app and email us a screen shot) and we will read your review on the podcast and welcome you to the Golden Bench Club. This super elite club is only for the best of the best. We spend a lot of time in our lab doing repetitive tasks that let's all agree, no one really enjoys doing. File organization, nesting, adding pins and supports... the list goes on. Kris Wouters has a long history in the 3D printing industry. After joining OQTON and working on automation strategies, Kris and the rest of the dental division started their own company to focus on the dental lab industry. They started OQCAM (https://oqcam.com/) to help labs streamline and simplify their digital workflow. Kris talks about his history, the history of the company, some great examples on how OQCAM can work in a lab, and how it's scalable to work with labs of all sizes. Introducing Ivotion Digital Dentures (https://www.ivocl

On September 11th in Fort Worth, Texas, the 10th annual Race For the Future (https://dentallabfoundation.org/news-events/race-for-the-future/) will take place to raise money for the Foundation For Dental Laboratory Technology (https://dentallabfoundation.org/). Barb is doing her 9th solo race and Elvis is teaming up with Mark Williamson and Bobby Kenney to form The Abutments. Go to dentallabfoundation.org and click on the DONATE TODAY button. There you need to log in or create an account. Then select “Race for the Future” and enter the name of either Barb Warner or the Abutments, then the amount you want to donate. Join the Race: https://fdlt.memberclicks.net/donor-form DONATE TODAY: https://fortworth.californiatriathlon.org/Race/Register/?raceId=99407 Before we get into this week's episode, Elvis and Barb want to give a big THANKS to Jensen Dental for hosting us at this year’s Florida Dental Laboratory Association Symposium. A great meeting with a great company. Go show them some love and get some MIYO. Fir

Elvis and Barb are back again this week recording wonderful people at the Jensen Dental (https://jensendental.com/) booth at the Florida Dental Laboratory Association (https://www.fdla.net/) Symposium. THANK YOU JENSEN! (go get MIYO) First up is MIYO (https://miyoworld.com/) expert, teacher, guru Terry McQuiston. Terry talks about his dental journey that eventually landed him at Jensen Dental teaching everyone the wonders of this amazing liquid ceramic. His role now is onboarding labs and making sure they have their "ah ha" moment and not become "missing in action". Then we meet the new VP of Global Sales for Argen (https://argen.com/), Juston Gates. Juston is new to not only Argen, but also our industry. He talks about where he came from, how it compares to our profession, and some exciting things that Argen has just released. We wrap up the episode with everyone's favorite person to see at a dental show (and if you don't know her, go be her friend), Nina Rapuano. Nina talks about joining Jensen Dental as he

On September 11th in Fort Worth, Texas, the 10th annual Race For the Future (https://dentallabfoundation.org/news-events/race-for-the-future/) will take place to raise money for the Foundation For Dental Laboratory Technology (https://dentallabfoundation.org/). Barb is doing her 9th solo race and Elvis is teaming up with Mark Williamson and Bobby Kenney to form The Abutments. Go to dentallabfoundation.org and click on the DONATE TODAY button. There you need to log in or create an account. Then select “Race for the Future” and enter the name of either Barb Warner or the Abutments, then the amount you want to donate. Join the Race: https://fdlt.memberclicks.net/donor-form DONATE TODAY: https://fortworth.californiatriathlon.org/Race/Register/?raceId=99407 We are starting off the collection of conversations from the Florida Dental Laboratory Association Symposium in Orlando, Florida. Last June the AMAZING people at Jensen Dental (https://jensendental.com/)gave us space in their fantastic booth to record some of

This week we wrap up the conversations at the exocad (https://exocad.com/) Insights 2024 meeting from Mallorca, Spain. Elvis and Barb can not thank exocad enough for this amazing opportunity to showcase some many AMAZING people in our industry. Things were learned, friends were made, laptops were returned, and memories were made. Thank you exocad! First up is dental technician that is working on business development at Nobel Biocare (https://www.nobelbiocare.com/en-us), Chuck Genco. Chuck is 35 year veteran in various dental labs. He's now with Nobel Biocare helping them create a solution based digital workflow with a emphasis on "time to teeth". He talks about his journey, his role at Nobel, and what some interesting things they are working on. Then we talk to two friends in Spain, from Syria, working in Sweden. Yousef Ibrahim is a ceramist. Maher Al Hanfeish is the cad/cam technician. After leaving Syria, they both found their way to the same lab in Sweden and have been friends ever since. They talk about t

Join the GOLDEN BENCH CLUB! All you have to do is leave us a 5-star review and comment on the Apple Podcast app (or any other app and email us a screen shot) and we will read your review on the podcast and welcome you to the Golden Bench Club. This super elite club is only for the best of the best. As we continue the amazing conversations we got while at exocad Insights 2024 in Mallorca, Spain, we want to thank again the good people at exocad that made all this possible. This episode brings us three fantastic conversations with 3 fantastic people. First up is Dr. Marcus White from England who is one of the UK's foremost opinion leaders in digital dentistry and intra oral scanning. Dr. White talks about his on-site lab, utilizing remote designers and milling centers, and his view of the full arch workflow. Next is UK lab owner, Ashley Bryne. Ashley is the son of a lab owner that told him not to get into the business. It's a great thing he didn't listen to him, because now Ashley owns Brynes Dental Lab, one o

Join the GOLDEN BENCH CLUB! All you have to do is leave us a 5-star review and comment on the Apple Podcast app (or any other app and email us a screen shot) and we will read your review on the podcast and welcome you to the Golden Bench Club. This super elite club is only for the best of the best. Can we explain how thankful we are to exocad (https://exocad.com/) for providing us the opportunity to talk to all these amazing people in our industry while in Mallorca, Spain. This week is no exception to great conversations as we start by meeting the NEW President of exocad North America, Beth Collington. Beth is no stranger to dental, with 28 years of experience she come to exocad because of their wonderful culture and their leading innovation into dental software. Then we talk to a lab owner in Portugal, Luis Saraiva. Luis talks about his journey into dental technology, opening a lab with his wife, and understanding the importance of letting technicians do what they do best to create the best restorations. W

Join the GOLDEN BENCH CLUB! All you have to do is leave us a 5-star review and comment on the Apple Podcast app (or any other app and email us a screen shot) and we will read your review on the podcast and welcome you to the Golden Bench Club. This super elite club is only for the best of the best. Mallorca Spain is known for exporting wonderful almonds, oranges, lemons, olives, olive oil, grapes, wine and excellent cheeses. But did you also know they are known for exporting amazing conversations from people changing dentistry? This week we are back with even more conversation from exocad Insights 2024. First up is the stellar sister duo of Kristina Vaitelyte and Margarita Vaitelyte. Kristina was on the podcast a while ago but this time we caught them together. They talk about the importance of communication, since Kristina designs in England and Margarita finishes in Lithuania, the workflow of near instant patient treatment planning, and always working with the end result in mind. Then we learn what a Dent

We start off our collection of conversations from exocad Insights 2024! This week features Jaime Moreno from Spain, Saulius Janusevicius from Lithuania, Alex Chabachevitch from Canada, and Pinhas Adar from the US. Join the GOLDEN BENCH CLUB! All you have to do is leave us a 5-star review and comment on the Apple Podcast app (or any other app and email us a screen shot) and we will read your review on the podcast and welcome you to the Golden Bench Club. This super elite club is only for the best of the best. This week we start with the conversations we got while in Mallorca, Spain recording at the exocad Insights 2024 meeting. THANK YOU exocad (https://exocad.com/) for inviting us to this amazing meeting. It's held every two years, so go ahead and plan on attending in 2026! First up with talk with a certified exocad trainer, Jaime Moreno. Jaime talks about his boutique lab, the technology he uses, and common questions a trainer gets. Jaime is also the gentleman that took time out of his busy schedule to go t

On September 11th in Fort Worth, Texas, the 10th annual Race For the Future (https://dentallabfoundation.org/news-events/race-for-the-future/) will take place to raise money for the Foundation For Dental Laboratory Technology (https://dentallabfoundation.org/). Barb is doing her 9th solo race and Elvis is teaming up with Mark Williamson and Bobby Kenney to form The Abutments. Go to dentallabfoundation.org and click on the DONATE TODAY button. There you need to log in or create an account. Then select “Race for the Future” and enter the name of either Barb Warner or the Abutments, then the amount you want to donate. We love meeting dental technicians from all over the world. It's even better when we meet them when they are in other parts of the world when recording. Sabine Mayer started in a lab 32 years ago and for 28 years it was just a job. There was no passion or obsession. Then she fell in love with another dental technician and that passion helped create a passion for teeth. Sabine grew her skills, got

On September 11th in Fort Worth, Texas, the 10th annual Race For the Future (https://dentallabfoundation.org/news-events/race-for-the-future/) will take place to raise money for the Foundation For Dental Laboratory Technology (https://dentallabfoundation.org/). Barb is doing her 9th solo race and Elvis is teaming up with Mark Williamson and Bobby Kenney to form The Abutments. Go to dentallabfoundation.org and click on the DONATE TODAY button. There you need to log in or create an account. Then select “Race for the Future” and enter the name of either Barb Warner or the Abutments, then the amount you want to donate. There are a LOT of full arch restorations being made in out industry. Usually referred to as an “all-on-X”, these are amazing life changing treatments that come with a hefty price tag and in turn a decent profit for everyone. It’s not super complicated to do a case, but a lot can happen during and after that will require the work of a team to overcome. Two dentists are changing the mindset in dent