On this week’s episode of the Dental Up Podcast, we have Dr. Tiffany DuShane, DMD stop by and chat with us about Restorative Dentistry. We dive deep into what inspired her to follow a Dental Career and why Restorative Dentistry has become her primary focus and passion.
In this episode we talk about:
-What inspired Dr. DuShane to pursue a career in Dentistry.
-What was the process of starting her practice with zero initial patients.
-What inspired her to choose the name of her current practice.
-Her thoughts on the use of new technology in today’s dentistry.
-Why Restorative Dentistry has become her main focus.
-Final advice for dental students.
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Host: Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Dental Up Podcast, brought to you by Keating Dental Lab, a full-service, award-winning dental laboratory. Each week, you’ll learn tips and techniques from real-world dentists, bringing you in-depth interviews, motivating stories, current events, and sports. Here’s your host, Shaun Keating.
Shaun Keating: Hey, everyone, Shaun here. Welcome to another episode of the Dental Up Podcast. Our guest this week is a graduate from Boston University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She is also a graduate from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, where she received her doctor of dental medicine degree. She completed a post-graduate program in advanced general dentistry at UCL, School of Dentistry, and completed a 10-month comprehensive aesthetic residency at the Aesthetic Professionals in Tarzana, California. Currently practicing from West Hollywood, California, please welcome Doctor Tiffany DuShane, DMD. How’s it going Dr. DuShane?
Dr. DuShane: It’s going great. How are you today? I’m so glad to be on this today.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool, man. I know. We’re waiting for you to get back from lunch, man. I was all biting at the bit, man. This world’s serious tonight, baby. We gotta get … No, it’s pretty cool that you came. Thank you. I know how busy you are and appreciate the work you send us. I know you’re new with us, but hopefully we’re doing okay. We can try and bunch of different cases with you, show you how really awesome we are. Again, thank you so much. I always start off talking a little bit about sports. You’re in Hollywood right there. You’ve got to be hearing about LeBron and all that. You guys into the Lakers at all or the World Series coming up with the Dodgers? I mean, you guys got it all right there.
Dr. DuShane: We do. We are very fortunate. Dodgers is big and on the screen at home this past week and a half, and it will continue.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool. I can’t believe they won it there at that last game, and, heck, last year, we were just talking about how they were Game Seven of the World Series, I think it was, and Houston came and beat them. Gosh, that was a real letdown, but here they are. It’s harder than heck to go back to back, so here they are tonight, and it’s been, I think, 103 years since the Boston Red Sox and the Dodgers have played each other. They were different names back then, but it was with, I think, Babe Ruth and all that. It was, I think, 1918 or 1915, or something, or whatever it was. I’m not good at those numbers, but it’s something. It’s been over a hundred years since they’ve actually played in the World Series against each other.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, it’s gonna be a great game. This is gonna be tough for me, because, as you mentioned, I did graduate Boston University, so I am a fan of both the Dodgers and the Red Sox. We’ll see how this plays out.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool. I know, I’ve seen that, and that’s awesome. Boston’s got some great schools out there. My dad is born and raised in Boston, so I kind of like Boston too, but Dodgers, they’re here, our home team, and I’m more of an Angel fan, to tell you the truth, but they’re horrible.
Dr. DuShane: Uh-oh.
Shaun Keating: I’m jumping on your bandwagon a little bit, but no, that’s so cool. I mean, heck, LeBron being there, I mean, LA’s such a magnet. I mean, the seats that you used to be able to get for a thousand bucks are now two. Everything’s double. It is so crazy.
Dr. DuShane: I believe it.
Shaun Keating: They had the lead singer of the Chili Peppers the other night, on their first home game, Saturday night. Kiedis or whatever his name, the lead singer, he got thrown out of the game after Paul, from Houston, got in a fight with Rondo, and Ingram, and they both got suspended a couple of games. What a great, exciting thing. They lost the game. They’re 0 and 3 so far, but they should’ve won last night. They were up by one point in overtime, and LeBron went up and missed two free throws at the end, and then he had a chance at the very last shot, a 22-footer fade-away, and he missed it, clanked it, so they’re 0 and 3, but it’s gonna take some time to rebuild this team. You can’t expect it instantly, but that’s pretty amazing though. All right, man, that’s enough about sports. Let’s dental up, Doctor DuShane.
Dr. DuShane: All right, sounds good.
Shaun Keating: Okay, so tell me, why did you get into dentistry, and at what point did you think, “I wanna be a dentist”?
Dr. DuShane: Can you believe it, that I told my mom, at age seven, that I wanted to be a dentist?
Shaun Keating: Oh, you’re kidding?
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, and I have children now that are 10 and 11, and I can’t imagine them knowing, at this young age, what they wanna do for their career. I don’t know why, back then, but somehow it stuck with me. When I was in high school, I had braces, so I went to visit my orthodontist. He sat me down, and he had this sketch of my profile and of my face, where my teeth were positioned, where the problems were, and he had this plan of how we’re gonna get from point A to point Z. I just found it fascinating.
Shaun Keating: Oh, that’s so cool.
Dr. DuShane: For some time, I thought I wanted to be an orthodontist. When I went to dental school, that’s what I thought I wanted to do. Once I got into my clinical portion of my training, just this whole world opened up to me with restorative dentistry, and so it was at that point I realized, “I don’t wanna specialize in orthodontics, but I really wanna do more than move teeth,” so that’s where I fell into being a restorative dentist.
Shaun Keating: Unbelievable. In the hundreds of dentists that I have interviewed on these podcasts, no one’s been there at seven years old, man. You win the medal. That’s the earliest.
Dr. DuShane: It is rare, that’s for sure.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool. I was eighth grade, so I was 12, 13 when I knew I was gonna be a dental tech. My brother was going to dental school, and I’d help him in the summers. I wasn’t real smart in school. I was real good in sports, but he said, “Shaun, you can be a dental tech,” so I kind of knew it at that age, but seven, man, that’s pretty neat. That’s destiny.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, absolutely, meant to be.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool. Tell me, where did you attend school? Where’d you go to college for dental school and stuff? Tell me a little bit about that, if you could.
Dr. DuShane: Well, I grew up in Los Angeles, and I wanted to go to school on the East Coast, so that’s where I started. I started in Boston, at Boston University. Of all things, I majored in chemistry. I was always drawn to science. After Boston University, I went to dental school for four years at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. That was a great experience. I couldn’t say I could live there, but it was a great city to experience, too cold for me, but fantastic education. Then I came back to Los Angeles, because this is where my family is, where I grew up, so I wanted to keep near my roots, and I attended one year at UCLA, doing an advanced general residency. When you dental school, it’s a lot of didactic, a lot of … Especially the University of Pennsylvania, they really train you with a pretty solid medical background. I wanted more practice, so I felt that doing a residency would give me the confidence that I needed before going into private practice.
Shaun Keating: No kidding. Was Ed McLaren at UCLA when you were there?
Dr. DuShane: He was, yes, absolutely.
Shaun Keating: Oh, I’ve had Ed at my lab, doing lectures. I always kind of give him shit because his last name’s McLaren, and I had a McLaren at the time. I’m like, “Dude, I’ve got a McLaren, and my name isn’t even McLaren. You got one?” He’s like, “No, Shaun. I want to be a dental tech.” He’s a real master when it comes to ceramics. I mean, he’s probably one of the best talents, when it comes to stacking porcelain, out there, of all the dental techs, and he’s a freaking dentist, man. I can’t believe it.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, absolutely.
Shaun Keating: I think he’s in Alabama now. Can you believe that? He went from UCLA. Now he’s the head dude at Alabama, and Alabama’s got so much money out there. I mean, they’re just so … Well, their football team does, but I’m sure the university does too. He’s got to be kicking his heels up, being out there.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, absolutely.
Shaun Keating: He does have Hollywood, and the beaches, and all the So Cal lifestyle. He’s in Alabama, at the end of the day, so I don’t know if the money will help.
Dr. DuShane: But he’s got his ceramics.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, he can sit in that back room, stack crowns all day. No, that’s pretty cool, man. UCLA pretty cool? Tell me a little bit about UCLA though? Any takeaways that you liked, didn’t like?
Dr. DuShane: It’s different when you’re doing a residency. I feel you’re a little less engaged in the college life. You’re really there to focus and hone in on why you’re there, so compared to college, undergraduate, versus your dental school, you’re really engaged on the campus, you’re engaged in the school, whereas AEGD, it was just kind of commuting, attending during the day, learning what I needed to learn, and then going home.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, absolutely. How long did it take you to get home from UCLA, to get to your house?
Dr. DuShane: In Los Angeles, there’s tons of traffic everywhere, all the time. I feel pretty fortunate, because, where I’ve lived and either gone to school or have my practice, I’ve always had a very short commute. I don’t know, maybe maximum 20 minutes, which, for LA, is pretty darn good.
Shaun Keating: That’s so neat, ’cause I know LA, man. You could live three miles from work and it’ll still take you half an hour because it’s just gridlocked, but you’ve got certain times that it hits really bad, and you get that down after a while.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, I feel bad. Sometimes I’m sitting there, not in much traffic, but you see these bird scooters go by, or bicycles, and they’re making it faster than the cars are.
Shaun Keating: I know, that’s so crazy. I remember we went to this Indy 500 last year, and we were in this five-mile line inside the place, and everyone had their little scooters and all that stuff. It literally took us two hours to get in, and all these guys on the scooters, and the ones that were even walking, they parked outside of the venue, and it’s just so smart, ’cause once you get in gridlock, there ain’t no turning around. If you only knew, but that was a little off the wall. That was the last time I was in gridlock, that I can remember, but that’s pretty cool. Did you start out as an associate or did you purchase? Tell me a little bit about how you started off when you first got out of dental school and everything?
Dr. DuShane: Okay. When I graduated the AEGD, I was fortunate enough to land in a practice. It was a bit of a commute for me. It was 45 minutes to an hour south of Los Angeles, in traffic, a place called Harbor City, and the practice had been there for many, many years, since about the ’50s. It was a larger practice, where there were several specialists, orthodontists, oral surgery, pediatric dentists, and then a number of general dentists. I was there as an associate for about 10 years. It’s just interesting how life takes you, sometimes, where you least expect it. Although I knew at seven I wanted to be a dentist, I never knew or thought about having my own practice, because it’s really a separate and big responsibility beyond the dentistry. I loved working at Harbor Dental Associates because I really built up my speed, my skill. I had a lot of autonomy, and I was really building my practice within the practice.
Shaun Keating: You probably did, in the trenches, get so much different experience with all the different specialists. I’ve had a lot of guys who kind of went that route where, seven to 10 years plus, in an associate setup, but it was the best thing in the world, setting them up for ownership on their own. I mean, instead of going straight in, out of school, to own something, I think you did get a ton of probably great practical experience, for sure.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, I loved it, and then circumstance just put me in the position of eventually leaving there and starting my own practice. You asked me if I purchased a practice. I did not. I took a big leap and started DuShane Dental Lab five years ago, so 2013, with not a patient to begin. Dentistry, especially cosmetic dentistry, really is a combination of science and art. It requires both skillsets, so I thought DuShane Dental Lab really fits the description.
Shaun Keating: My youngest son kind of came up with the name when I was first starting off, and it was kind of cool. Since then, I remember, when we were first doing the dental conventions, we’d do the Yankees show, and we’d do the Chicago mid-winter, and they’d come by us, and they’d go, “Do you do artwork or what do you do?” I’m like, “No,” ’cause we had all these pictures of families and not really dentistry, just people smiling, and so we got a lot of static on that, and then we kind of switched up our booth, Premier Dental Laboratory, Full-Service … We kind of had to steer them, and then even, too, with Google searches and all that stuff, dental lab doesn’t really … You’ve got to put lab in there to get that algorithm to reach hits. It is what it is, but everything happens for a reason, and I’m sticking with the name.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, love it.
Shaun Keating: It’s great, ’cause you got your name behind it. It brands yourself. I did the same thing. It’s pretty neat. It’s just awesome, and it’s artistry all day long, for sure. It’s kind of a neat thing, but that’s awesome. What I really like is, man, you’re in Hollywood, baby. That’s just beautiful out there. What’s it like in West Hollywood, man? For practicing, I mean, you’ve got the Hollywood Hills. You’ve got everything right there. You ever ate at Craig’s out there at all? I always wanted to go-
Dr. DuShane: That’s a place that I drive by every day on my way home, and I think, every drive, “I’ve got to go there,” and I still haven’t been there. Have you been?
Shaun Keating: No, I haven’t, but I want to, ’cause I just hear that it’s got the greatest food, but then every night … Not that I’m starstruck or anything, but all the big-time stars go there, and it’s not be … I don’t think it’s to be recognized. It’s because they’ve got good food, and I’m a foodie. I just love good food, good places to eat. I heard Craig’s is just the bomb when it comes to food, and a pretty neat place. All the bigwigs and stars are there, and all that stuff, but, heck, I didn’t know it’s right there in your backyard. You gotta go by there some time and say, “Hey.”
Dr. DuShane: I know, but you’re right.
Shaun Keating: They’re gonna think you’re one of these blonde superstar Hollywood actresses or something, man. They’ll let you right in, but a guy like me, they’ll say, “Sir, wait in the line.” I’ll be like Doug Heffernan in the King of Queens, trying to get in, and no, they only let the girls in, and Doug had to wait in the back.
Dr. DuShane: It’s interesting. One thing that always catches my eye is that they’ve got the big paparazzi, whether it’s on that side of the street or across the street, that whole little strip. I think it’s called Melrose Place. Yes, always an eyeful as I’m driving home.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, and I guess there’s a certain way, back alley, you can get out. When you exit, you kind of go out a back way or something. I’m not sure. I’ve got some friends that live out there, and they’re like, “Shaun, we’ve got to go. You’d love it.” I hate driving out to LA. It’s far for me. I mean, I’m down almost on the edge of San Diego, down in Dana Point, but it’s a drive down there, and you’ve got to go at the right time of day, otherwise it could be a two or three hour trip. I’m not into that.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, absolutely. I hear you.
Shaun Keating: I could be in Chicago on a place in that much time. Okay, I’ll shut up here for a little bit. Let’s talk about you again. Tell me about a little bit of your layout of your practice, and tell me what kind of staff you’ve got working there.
Dr. DuShane: I have the most amazing staff, and I couldn’t do what I do without them being. In a practice, you do. It’s a team effort, so everyone has their role to play, but we all come together to make it a comprehensive type of office. It’s small. I mean, although I came from a large associate position with lots of operatories, lots of exam rooms, my office is very small, so we have four rooms. We really only use three. I’m never hopping between patients. I want my patient in the chair to have my 100%, undivided attention. It’s really small, cozy. We like to provide a really friendly atmosphere. A lot of people don’t like going to the dentist, so we try to change that experience for people and make it more positive.
Shaun Keating: That’s awesome. You doing any fluff-fluff earphones, headphones?
Dr. DuShane: We do, yes.
Shaun Keating: TV up in the sky.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, exactly. We find that people really like that. It just helps them tune out and not focus so much on what we’re doing, but just helps their mind to focus on something else. It tunes out the sound of our instruments, right?
Shaun Keating: Yes.
Dr. DuShane: The sound of the drill, that sometimes brings bad association with it, so I find that really helps.
Shaun Keating: Oh, it’s so neat. I’ve got my dentist, and he gives that little rubber block that he puts in your mouth so you don’t have to worry about holding it, “Is it open? Is it opine?” It’s just so relaxing nowadays, and that’s awesome. I love it when I hear practices doing that. Now, when you said with your staff, [inaudible 00:17:58] your staff, you really take care, what do you guys do to help your staff? Do you guys do team meetings, or do you do get-togethers, or anything about you and your staff?
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, absolutely. I am a big believer we all need someone to look up to, inspire us, and drive us forward, so I do have a dental consultant. Her name is the amazing Melanie Clarke, and I have another colleague who introduced me to her. She is my practice consultant, so she comes to the office once a month, and we have group discussion. There’s no fixed agenda. It’s really just to focus on how can we provide better patient care, what can we be doing differently, how can we change this or that, or what are we doing well, what do we wanna keep doing. We meet together as a group. We meet together, one on one. She’s fantastic. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for her.
Shaun Keating: God, that’s so cool. You need that. I mean, I did that. We had a thing called Tech, and it’s just you get together with business owners once a month, and then, once a month, they come. The head guy will come to your practice, or whatever your business is, and work with you for two or … It was once a month they were there for a whole day, and then a couple hours with a guy, one on one, but I did that four or five years, and you can never get enough input on how to better run a company. I grew with doing that, and I think it’s important. Dentists need that, not only for that practice management part of it, even on the CE, getting the right people there, continuously learning and bettering yourself, especially when you’re starting off. I mean, those first 10, 20 years, you should just bust your butt and learn everything you can, and then kind of cruise 20 to 30, and then, from 30 to 40, try to keep that business. I always kind of kid around. The first 10 years, I didn’t make any money. The 10 to 20, I started making some money, and then 20 to 30, you try to keep your business, and 30 to 40, you try not to lose it. It’s never-ending. You’ve just got to always keep kind of pushing it and keep your eye on the big picture, for sure.
Dr. DuShane: What’s great about my consultant is that she’s also a relationship coach or a life coach, so she brings with her experience, because that’s a lot about what it is. It’s relationships. We’re building relationships with our clients, our patients, so she has a heavy focus on that as well.
Shaun Keating: It’s so cool. Even with your staff, you’re with those guys longer and more than you’re with your family all day.
Dr. DuShane: That’s right.
Shaun Keating: 8 plus hours, you’ve really got to come together. It’s important that, yeah, you come together and kind of get along, and it’s your company, so, I mean, if you have a bad seed or someone that’s not fitting in, it’s, “Well, I’m sorry. You’re just not fitting in. We’re gonna have to find someone that does,” but more so than not, it’s pretty neat. Even here, we don’t have people that wanna leave us because they love it, “We wanna stay here.” It’s best too. It’s kind of like that football team or that baseball team in the World Series. When you have the same people doing the same thing, over and over, you get really good at it, and so you’re playoff bound every day. Every patient’s like you’re in the Super Bowl, and it’s just something. When you have the staff that’s been with you so long, kind of like New England Patriots with Brady, and the coach, and the other guys, it’s just a cohesive unit. When you have your staff that is happy, when you take care of them and treat them like family, pay them good, everything works better, and it’s just so much more easier, and it’s more predictable, and it’s very rewarding, so I love it when I see people trying to really work with their staff and try to bring people in to help them all just have better peace of mind, and come together, and work together. That’s really neat, Doctor DuShane. I love hearing that.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, absolutely.
Shaun Keating: Well, cool. Tell me, what’s some of the favorite procedures you like doing? What do you like doing? What don’t you like doing in dentistry? Tell me what you maybe outsource a little bit, if you don’t feel comfortable or don’t have the time. Tell me a little bit about that, if you could.
Dr. DuShane: Sure. I love to spend my time doing cosmetic dentistry, specifically veneers. I love working with ceramic. I find it really fascinating. I graduated about 15 years ago, and there’s, within this 15 years, just been such a shift, a change, an evolution of dental materials, just giving people better and better results. I love doing veneers. I feel it can be life-changing for patients. People are not happy with their smile, they might not smile as much, or they might hold their lip posture a little differently, and it affects their happiness. It affects their self-esteem. By providing an improved smile, it really changes people’s lives, and it’s really, really rewarding.
Shaun Keating: Oh, it so is, especially, too, ’cause we’ve done a gazillion veneers. It’s tailored off in the last several years, with the economy and people not having as much money as they did back in the day, but we used to do a ton of veneers, especially the no prep or the very minimal prep, when you get diastemas and just spaces where you can go in and give a little finish line there at the gingival, and [inaudible 00:23:23] or whatever and wrap it, and keep on the enamel on the [inaudible 00:23:26], where you’re in the centric and all that stuff. You could do these cases pretty darn quick. We have one dude here, he’s the only one that can do them, but we do the feldspathic veneers also. We don’t do a lot, but they’re the foil veneers. We used to do them out of palladium but palladium went through the roof, I mean, platinum, but now we use palladium foil, but you can get those down three-, four-tenths, and you can even mask out dark [inaudible 00:23:55] of stump shades. We use the Noritake ceramic from Japan, and, Noritake, man, the EX-3 is just unbelievable, but we do a ton of Emax veneers and love them. We can do the cut back, micro layer on the side ledges, get some nice trends and halo effect. But I’ll tell you, the veneers are neat. I learned them way back in the day. Bill Strupp was into that stuff, him and his gold and his feldspathic crowns, and he’d keep everything super gingival. It’s just amazing what you can do. I have one Korean dude, he’s 40 years doing them, and he’s just a wizard. The dude is great. I love him, but we don’t do as many as we used to. We used to a ton of them, 10 up top, 10 below, and just do the buckle veneering of the premolars, just so we build out that buckle profile, so it doesn’t get lose behind 6 and 11. So many times you see 6 and 11, and it trails off at 12 and 13 or 4 and 5. It’s like, “Dude,” and you don’t need to go and crown that whole thing, man. You just do a buckle veneer on that, just bomb that thing on, and it’s just so beautiful, and all the functions still in place with the natural enamel. Yeah, neat stuff. So you like to doing veneers. What about endo? You doing endo or, nah, you pass it along?
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, so I rely a bit heavily on my specialists.
Shaun Keating: Good. No, that’s good.
Dr. DuShane: Well, it’s interesting, because I feel like a lot of people in practice, they just wanna keep the business in house, and sure, financially, that’s great, but I would rather focus in on what I love, ’cause then I do better at it and attract more of that, and then count of my specialists to provide equal amazing service for the endodontics, for the root canals or for the oral surgery. I’m not a one-stop shop. I have my specialty and my area of focus. Everything else, I refer out.
Shaun Keating: Awesome. Head’s on straight, girl. You’re gonna last forever in this field. I’m telling you. I do have a lot of guys and girls that wanna be MacGyver and try to do everything, and it’s just better to be 100% on what you’re doing, and your time efficiency, and everything else. I have one doctor always say his thing is, “I wouldn’t even do it on my wife. If I’m not gonna do it on my wife, why would I do it on you? Let’s go to a specialist. This guy can do it for you, and he’ll do it right, and blah, blah, blah, and all that.” It’s kind of neat. What about any implants? You thought about sinking any implants, pulling back flap and drilling some implants into the skull there, or no?
Dr. DuShane: No, I don’t. I definitely restore them. I love working with different abutments, and designs, and whatnot, for restoring implants, but not the surgery. That, again, referring out, although my husband would love me to do something like that. I’m like, “You’re not the one in here doing that stuff. It’s gonna be me.”
Shaun Keating: He wants you to do it ’cause, what, more money, or just because- ?
Dr. DuShane: I guess so. That, and he’s telling me, “You should consider Invisalign.” He did push me to get a new digital scanner, which I’m very happy about, which I’ve sent cases to you for, the TRIOS, the 3Shape.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, that’s it. That’s so cool, the TRIOS. I love True Def. The 3M people are so nice to us. I’ve got a 3M unit here. They’re great. The [inaudible 00:27:20] is good, but, man, I’ve had a 3Shape scanner in my lab for almost 10 years, and I’ve boughten many more of them, and they’re just so sharp. I had the head CEO in here working with us, but TRIOS, man, that just rock and rolls, and you’re top of the line, girl. I’m glad you didn’t go cheap. You went to the Rolls Royce of scanners, man. I’m telling you, man, it’s instant. We get that instant, and it’s so freaking accurate. That’s awesome, man, good for you. Look at you, biting off that scan. We doing a [inaudible 00:27:52] for you yet or what?
Dr. DuShane: Not yet. I’m getting there. I’m still just getting my comfort level, and then I hope to phase out of the models.
Shaun Keating: I’m telling you, man, I did a … Jack Ringer, past president of the AECD, did my bridge here on the lower left. I had this old little bridge, 18, 19, 20 … 19 [inaudible 00:28:12] or whatever. Back in the day, they had to extract teeth, ’cause we had no money, and my mama said, “How much to extract it?” They said it was 12 bucks, or 20 bucks, or something. That was back in the ’70s, but it was, “Pull the tooth,” so I had to put a bridge in there when I got older, but we did this thing, no models, nothing, and literally, the next day or two days later, we went and put it in. [inaudible 00:28:36], we pulled it two tapes out of occlusion on the model work. I looked at it, ’cause I didn’t wanna adjust it, and we went to the mouth with no adjustments. I even put one of my aesthetics, BruxZir Aesthetics, and I’m kind of a grinder, but it’s strong. I mean, it’s 750 megapascals of [inaudible 00:28:52] strength, so we put that in my lower left quad, man, and I’ve been almost a year now, and it’s just freaking … I love it. It’s so amazing, man. We didn’t even have models, so nuts.
Dr. DuShane: Unbelievable, how technology evolves.
Shaun Keating: It’s just really coming so far, and to have our techs just really dialed in. Some labs are trying to do it, and just being a middleman, and really don’t have any technology behind them or just knowing dentistry and teeth, and [inaudible 00:29:22], lateral excursion, the whole thing, contact circles, and we do. I mean, most of our techs are certified dental techs. We get at it when the units are fabricating them, but we have to grind them in, glaze them, and make sure contours are perfect. It’s such a neat thing, man. I mean, it was so hard to stack crowns back in the day. I remember when I was [inaudible 00:29:42], to build up a crown, it would take 10, 15 minutes, and then my boss got me on the egg-timer. We’d get the egg-timer so we could do it in six minutes. After a while, you do it over and over, you got it down to six minutes, and then you built it up perfectly, where you’re not grinding away all your incisors. It took 10 years of 8 hour days to master it, and a long, long time. Still, I wasn’t really the master of it. It was hard, and there’s some people that are so talented. Now, we have these libraries of anatomy, and it fits in perfectly into adjacent teeth, but it opposes it on the occlusion, and the software is just so amazing. It’s just so much more predictable, dentistry, nowadays, and with the strength of this new zirconia that’s becoming very, very aesthetic, it’s a game-changer, for sure. That’s really, really cool.
Dr. DuShane: Love it. It keeps us both excited about what we do.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, I’m getting excited just talking about it. I’m ready to go, baby. Come on. No, okay. Tell me, what has been your marketing strategy? What do you do to drive patients to your practice? Are you doing kind of like mailers, any social media? You working the public sector? Tell me a little bit about how you drive people to your practice.
Dr. DuShane: Let’s see. I started my practice five years ago. Being from LA, I reached out to all my family, all my friends, told them I was starting a business, and that’s where it started.
Shaun Keating: No kidding.
Dr. DuShane: I signed up for a few PPO dental insurance plans to drive a little foot traffic, and I had joined a networking group called BNI, Business Network International, and they have a handful of chapters in Los Angeles. The intention is to get together with the same group of people every week. Each person represents a different profession, and you support each other. You give word-of-mouth referrals. It’s a referral-based networking group. I did that for about a year, but then, unfortunately, my chapter dissolved, but it got some really reliable patients. Again, having been here, I just started to network with some of my specialists, so I sometimes would get referrals from my specialists. Now, I have a solid enough base that I really focus mostly on internal marketing, so really loving on our amazing patients, the ones that we really like, and ask them for referrals of friends or family, anyone looking for a dentist. I find that those are the most reliable, long-term patients.
Shaun Keating: You, and every other dentist that I’ve talked to. That really is. It’s the best way to get business, is from excited, happy people that have already worked with you. There’s nothing better, and it’s free. Maybe you give them a Starbucks card, or a Visa card, or whatever. Maybe it’s a handwritten note. Different offices do different things, but that’s awesome, man. I really love hearing that.
Dr. DuShane: Nowadays, there’s sites like Yelp, where people will write kind reviews, and then that brings you up in the ranking, and it draws attention. Social media, definitely. I have my office Facebook and Instagram page. When I created it, it’s really just for a landing spot for people that want to validate you and learn a little bit about your office, so just kind of post stuff, personal stuff, post dentistry that we’ve done. It’s a kind of nice blend, representing how people would feel if they come into the office.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool. You need to do a little video, a viral video, like that one dentist did, dancing to Drake, man. We’d rather see a girl dancing to Drake than a guy.
Dr. DuShane: Oh, yeah, I saw that. You’re giving me some ideas, all right.
Shaun Keating: No, that guy blew up, but for just a little 30 second or 20 second … He did it when his staff left, ’cause he was embarrassed to dance in front of them. Shit, you get me out there dancing, they’d be like, “Turn that thing off. We don’t wanna look at this dude,” but that guy was a pretty good-looking dude, I’m just saying. He was a tall, dark, body-building type dentist. He didn’t look like most dentists. He looked like he was a model, like Fabio’s dark-haired brother, not that you even know who Fabio is.
Dr. DuShane: Of course, I do. The blonde, long-haired guy, right?
Shaun Keating: Yeah, that’s it. I got that from my wife’s books, that’s it.
Dr. DuShane: Okay, right.
Shaun Keating: No, that’s funny. Well, man, what are your thoughts on the new technology? I know you got a scanner. You thinking about anything else cone-beamish or … Well, you’re not really gonna sink the implants. What other piece of equipment are you eyeing? Anything out there in the future? I think you look pretty good, what you got going right now, but any other thoughts on what you might wanna pick up in the practice?
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, I mean, maybe, on the horizon, maybe a mill for some small cases here or there, but my philosophy, relying on my specialists, is I also value my lab.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, thank you.
Dr. DuShane: I also don’t wanna become the lab technician. You’re the expert in that area, not me. It’s interesting to kind of keep an eye, see what’s out there, but I love my scanner, and I love the work that you’re doing for me, so I appreciate that.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool, man. I love that. Do you do any dental conventions or gatherings? Do you just stay to the local, the CDA in Anaheim, or do you go to the one in San Francisco, or do you go out of state ever, for some of your CE?
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, I do a lot. Yes, yes, yes, to all of the above. I think that being good at what you do requires ongoing education. We can never get stale, especially as our industry’s always changing. It starts on a local level. I have some specialists that I work with, that’ll have small gatherings every so many months. I belong to the Beverly Hills Academy of Dentistry, which gets together a few times out of the year. Then I belong to Spear Education.
Shaun Keating: Okay, cool.
Dr. DuShane: You might be familiar with them. Frank Spear has his headquarters out in Scottsdale, Arizona. Annually, at least annually, I go to a big meeting in Arizona. Of course, the LA Dental Society, and the CDA, all of the above. I love the CDA because you get to walk around, see all the new products on the market. It just keeps you inspired.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool. Yeah, we love Spear. We love Kois too. John Kois, I’ve had, actually, out here at my lab, and done lectures for a hundred dentists. John’s the man. Kois is great. Him and Spear used to be partners back in the day, and then they split up and did their own thing, but I’ve seen that you did something in Tarzana. I had a dentist, Samir [inaudible 00:36:56], used to live out there, and have a practice. Do you know Samir at all?
Dr. DuShane: Name sounds vaguely familiar.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, he’s a big [inaudible 00:37:04] guy, and he teaches out at Scottsdale with Spear and stuff. Yeah, he was in Tarzana. I remember he had a big old house he built, and then he moved. He’s in Scottsdale now. He went from LA to the desert, but Scottsdale’s pretty big-time nowadays. They’ve got some big companies. Other than the 120 degree weather in the summertime, I think it’s pretty neat in the desert. They’ve got pool, I guess, but you can’t go surfing.
Dr. DuShane: You’ve just to plan your trip at the right time of year, or if you’re a golfer, or you like to get out and do some sport, I know they have some nice golf resorts out there.
Shaun Keating: Oh, yeah, I go out there every year to that Barrett-Jackson. Me and my wife, we just go out there and stay down there at the Princess Hotel. It’s right on a golf course.
Dr. DuShane: Exactly, that’s where I stayed for the Spear seminars. So much fun.
Shaun Keating: It’s so neat, and they’ve got the little cars that take you into the little town, and you just walk. It’s beautiful. It’s a neat place, but again, golfing, I can’t golf at 100 degree … My course is on the beach, man. I love that little ocean breeze, but I’m a little heavy. You run hot in 100-plus degree, and I’m swinging for the freaking woods. I’m not that great of a golfer, swinging for the fence every time. It’s like, “Dude, take half that swing off, buddy, and it goes better,” but I try to kill it every time. Here I go, off on a rant again. Okay, so what else do you think? What do you do when you’re not working, Doctor? Tell me a little bit about that.
Dr. DuShane: When I’m not working, I love to spend time with my family. I’m a big believer in balance, as much as I can. Being in a dental practice, a business owner, you’re always thinking about stuff, so I like to balance work with my family. I have two daughters, that are 10 and 11, and an awesome husband. I’ve got a dog, so I like to take the dog on walks, try and keep active.
Shaun Keating: What kind of dog you got there?
Dr. DuShane: She’s a mix. We rescued her about three years ago. She’s a little Dachshund-Terrier. She’s the best. My sister says she swears she’s part cat ’cause she’s really mellow and she’ll sit on your lap. I read a study or an article, recently, that talks about how pets are really good for your health. They lower your blood pressure. They decrease anxiety. Yeah, so we have had the dog for three years, and then my two kids said to me, “Mom, we want hamsters. We want birds,” and they kept nagging me, and nagging me, so I gave in. Now, we have a house full of many pets.
Shaun Keating: Like Doctor Doolittle’s house, man.
Dr. DuShane: I know, it’s crazy.
Shaun Keating: That’s cool. In a couple years, those girls are gonna say they don’t want those hamsters, they want boyfriends. You’re gonna go no, stay in the house and play with those hamsters. You’re not leaving this house. I know Mister DuShane’s gonna be saying, “Nope.” He’s gonna be sitting there with a shotgun. That’s awesome, man. What are some of the dos and don’ts in the profession you could kind of tell some of our younger people starting off? Say, they’re starting a practice. What are some of the dos and don’ts you think you could tell us?
Dr. DuShane: I think you just kind of have to stick to your vision and not be discouraged, because I will never forget the day that I started my practice. I joined this building, and someone said to me, “Wow, you’re starting your own practice in this area?” It sounded so discouraging. I thought, “Huh, why is he telling me this?” I have always tried to put the blinders on and not worry about the person down the hall, up the street. I feel, if you’re passionate about what you do and you’re good at what you do, that things fall into place. Just follow your passion and your dream, and just don’t give up, ’cause it definitely will test you occasionally, so just never give up.
Shaun Keating: Oh, that’s so cool. Well, man, you just got it rolling and rocking and rolling, man, and I’m in awe of you, man. I just think you’ve got a great practice going, and it’s so young, starting off, and you’re fresh, and you’ve just got a good attitude. I think you’re gonna be very successful. You’re already successful. I just think you’ve got great things ahead of you, man, and I’m gonna work hard to show you what we can do and everything else, for sure, but we’d love to have you down too. We have some different seminars, and you’re just down the road.
Dr. DuShane: Would love that.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, we’d love to have you down. Come see our facility. Yeah, we’ll get you down to … Didn’t you bring your staff? You were telling me a little bit earlier. What did you do? You had a team-building thing or something with your staff? What’d you end up doing there?
Dr. DuShane: We did. We went to Disneyland. We had so much fun.
Shaun Keating: Oh, that’s so cool. I love Disneyland.
Dr. DuShane: Joey, my office manager, had me going on Splash Mountain, which gives me such anxiety, going down that final drop with the splash, but I said, “I’m gonna do this for you,” and we had a blast.
Shaun Keating: Oh, that is so cool. My favorite one is the Radiator Springs, where they’ve got the little cars over there in California Adventure.
Dr. DuShane: Oh, yeah, I think that’s California Adventure.
Shaun Keating: Oh, that’s so cool. It’s pretty cool you can get beers now and everything. Before, I used to have to go to Club 33. My brother-in-law got me into that. He’s a big Armenian waste disposal company guy. I don’t how they got it, but we got into Club 33 all the time, and that was the only place you could get alcohol in Disneyland, so it was the hot spot for us Irish.
Dr. DuShane: I didn’t even know about that. I thought it was only California Adventure.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, it’s a secret little door. It’s a private membership, this Club 33. It was ridiculously expensive, so we don’t do that anymore, but we go to California Adventure, and they’ve got all these little spots now. We actually have something. They’re redoing a lot of it next year, and they’re taking some things out. I’m involved with this company that has pre-made drinks, and we actually got that contract over there at Disney, and that’s kind of an exciting thing. It’s called Blue Marble Cocktails, and they’re pre-mixed. We got picked up by Disney. Thank you, Lord. I don’t know if I’m supposed to be saying that, but who cares. I think it’ll be all right, maybe not.
Dr. DuShane: I swear, I don’t know what parent doesn’t want a drink at the end of a long day at Disneyland.
Shaun Keating: Oh, I tell you, those little kids driving you crazy and screaming. No, it’s kind of neat, the way you can go between each park, but that’s so cool you bring your staff out there, and team-building, and stuff like that. That’s what it’s all about. I know some staffs will take them to the Angels came, or if we’re in your guys’ situation, you’ve got the Dodgers out there. I think that’s so important, ’cause, at the end of the day, I don’t care if you’re a plumber, a painter, a lawyer, or whatever profession you’re in, you’re only as good as your people, and you’ve got to take care of them. You take care of them, and they’ll come back tenfold for you. You take care of your patients, like me. We take care of our doctors. It’s so easy. It’s just basic golden-rule type stuff, but I tell you, if you just do that in anything, it will come back to you. It takes time. It’s not on your time, it’s on His time, so you’ve just got to keep your faith and keep doing the right thing, and good things will happen, and I know they’re happening for you guys at DuShane Dental Lab out there in West Hollywood, California.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah.
Shaun Keating: Well, hey, get out there and cut us some crowns, baby, and send them on over digitally.
Dr. DuShane: I sure will, absolutely.
Shaun Keating: Doctor DuShane, thank you so much for your time, man. I really appreciate it. If there’s anything I can ever do, please let me know. It was great talking to you. Seven years old, you knew you were gonna be a dentist. I love that.
Dr. DuShane: That’s a long time ago.
Shaun Keating: Hey, it’s destiny, man. That’s so cool. I think, the next time we talk, you’ll probably have another practice, man. You’ll have one over in Bel-Air, one in Beverly Hills, and one in West Hollywood. Hey, it’s just working smarter, not working any harder. You won’t work any harder, but it just all … Your husband will be running the business part of it, man. Just have him do the books and keep an eye on it, and you just do the teeth and do the dentistry. No, it’s a neat thing.
Dr. DuShane: Yeah, absolutely.
Shaun Keating: All right. Well, hey, again, thank you so much, Doctor, and it was great talking to you. We’ll talk to you real soon.
Dr. DuShane: Okay. Thanks, Shaun, appreciate it.
Shaun Keating: Okay, bye-bye.
Dr. DuShane: Bye-bye now.
Host: Thanks for joining us on the Dental Up Podcast show this week. Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or search the Dental Up Podcast on iTunes for our weekly feed. Don’t forget to visit keatingdentallab.com/promo for exclusive offers. Keating Dental Lab is a full-service dental laboratory, and we’re nationwide. We’d love for you to send us a case so we can show you the Keating difference. If you dig what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes, and we’ll be back next week.
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