On this week’s episode of the Dental Up Podcast, we chat with Dr. Alister Man, DMD on the importance of knowing your value and strengths as a Dentist in your practice. Knowing what sets you apart and when to outsource cases when need be.
In this episode you will hear about:
1.) What motivated him to pursue a career as a Dentist?
2.) Understanding the roles in your practice.
3.) Knowing your technical strengths and knowing when to outsource
4.) Key advice for upcoming dentists
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Announcer: Ladies and gentleman, 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 the University of Kentucky, earning his DMD in 2008. Currently practicing from Citrus Heights, California, please welcome Dr. Alistair Man, DMD. How’s it going Dr. Man?
Dr. Man: Hey, pretty good Shaun.
Shaun Keating: Dude, that’s a cool name. Hey man, what’s up.
Dr. Man: Nothing much, yeah. I’ve been following your podcast a little bit, so it’s good to be part of that.
Shaun Keating: Oh man, that’s so cool. I thank you for sending us work like you do. I thank you for taking your time out, it’s lunch time right now and it’s a beautiful day here in Irvine, California. How’s the weather out there with you in … Where the heck’s Citrus Heights at?
Dr. Man: It’s a suburb of Sacramento. We’re probably about 25 minutes from Sacramento.
Shaun Keating: Oh okay, cool. No, that’s awesome, man. California doctor, that’s a neat thing.
Dr. Man: Weather’s really nice out here. I think the fall weather suddenly came upon us this weekend, so glad to have some cool weather finally.
Shaun Keating: Oh I know, we’re the same thing. We live down by the beach and it’s like in the 80s and 90s down there, it’s like what the heck? The last few days it’s down like the 70s and it’s a welcome relief. It’s like, come on man, I’m sick of the heat. My face, I got to see that dermatologist like every three months, they freeze stuff off my white, pale face. It’s like, come on. No, that’s cool dude.
Shaun Keating: See, I always like to start off talking a little bit about sports. I know you went to the University of Kentucky, dude [crosstalk 00:02:13]. Big basketball.
Dr. Man: Big basketball and man, football team is 5 and 0, right now.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, they are. I was going to tell you that.
Dr. Man: Yeah, we beat Florida for the first time since 86, I think.
Shaun Keating: And that’s unheard of to be in football. I mean, you guys are always legendary in basketball but they’re really looking to … Did they get ranked in the top 25, or no?
Dr. Man: I think they were number 17, before this past weekend’s games.
Shaun Keating: Okay, yeah.
Dr. Man: I’m not sure if the new polls have come out yet. [inaudible 00:02:42] rankings.
Shaun Keating: I know Notre Dame moved up. They spanked Stanford. That was a tough game and then you see the Alabama’s. I like Georgia Bulldogs, man. They look pretty explosive and pretty good but heck, you never know, Kentucky might get in the dance and win out, you never know. That’s awesome. What about you watch a little bit of the NFL, last night. They had the Kansas City playing the Broncos and heck that dude, what’s his name, [Mahoneys 00:03:10] or [Kahoneys 00:03:12]. Patrick [crosstalk 00:03:14].
Dr. Man: Pat, Pat Mahomes.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, Mahomes. What a stud. That dude and they were [crosstalk 00:03:19].
Dr. Man: I watched the last to play where they had, is it Creed Rush, got in the end zone pretty good.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, I mean, they were down the whole game and the dude on the last three minutes drove it all the way down. I mean, they were losing 23-20. Three minutes to go and that Patrick Mahomes, man. He drove them down, got it in the end zone and they won. 27-23 and heck, they’re 4 and 0 and I think they’re rated one of the top, one to three, one two three. I think Rams. It’s hard to believe the Rams are up there and Chief’s are always good but they always blow it, man, in the playoffs and they always end up lose, like the Chargers. Chargers go for 13 and 3 and lose the first round or whatever but it’s neat with the football being back.
Dr. Man: Did you play fantasy football?
Shaun Keating: You know, I have every year and this year I’m taking a break. I’m still sponsoring. I do these, I do a couple of them on Dental Town and we sponsor $3,000 for a first, $2,000 for [inaudible 00:04:19]. Denis [Lovett 00:04:19] man, it’s like, “Yeah, Keating sponsoring again. Let’s get in here, free money.” It’s cool, it’s such a neat thing how it doesn’t matter what team you like. If you’re a Charger fan or say I’m a Ram fan, you still like all these other teams if you got your quarterback from the Patriots and you’ve got your receiver from [inaudible 00:04:42], form Detroit or whatever.
Shaun Keating: It’s neat how you look at all the teams because your players are on it but it can get pretty, it’s a lot of work to it to keep on top of it and it’s like my son was with us Sunday and we’re down watching football and stuff and him and his buddy were with us and they’re getting all upset because their players weren’t doing good. I go, “You guys got to get out of this stuff. You’ve got to enjoy the game of football. Quit getting stressed because your players aren’t getting you numbers.”
Dr. Man: I played for about 10 years in a row and starting last year I stopped playing because winning is an okay feeling but losing is devastating.
Shaun Keating: It is.
Dr. Man: I would take it to personal and then I would treat people around me worse, and that’s not healthy.
Shaun Keating: I know.
Dr. Man: So, I pulled out of it.
Shaun Keating: You know, that’s-
Dr. Man: I don’t follow the NFL as much but happier for it, in some aspects.
Shaun Keating: Yeah and I found that as I got older in life, I’m like you, I know you have the three boys and you’re into basketball, we’ll talk about that and stuff and the kids are playing but you get so competitive at the sports at a young age and it just wears on you. I just remember, even when I started coaching my kids in little league and then in youth football, I would be miserable on most Saturdays when we’d lose those football games, man and I got out coached and we got eight year old kids out here. I’m treating it like we lost the Super Bowl and stuff and my wife is going, “How are you [inaudible 00:06:15]. Why are you … A whole weekend you’re all upset because your little kid lost [inaudible 00:06:19] and kick their butts.”
Shaun Keating: It went that way and it just, lately, it’s like the fantasy thing. My boys, I was just trying to tell them, “Guys you’ve got to chill, man. Look at this a great game. The Rams. The teams are winning and all this but your fantasy guys, you’ve got to let that stuff go. It’s getting [inaudible 00:06:38] and you ain’t going to win that thing anyways. You’re going to have players that are going to be hurt, in a couple months or a couple of weeks.”
Shaun Keating: It’s so hard to win fantasy but it seems like the same guys in our leagues are always the ones … There’s an art to it. There’s a lot of luck but there’s some strategy.
Dr. Man: There’s different websites for up to date news. Nowadays, everybody knows about [inaudible 00:07:02] but before that, that was my source. I could get in there and swoop in and get the free agents that were going to be starters.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, it’s important that you really have a strategy and you do have the up to date info because there’s guys that are, got a tweaked ankle or this and that. A lot of guys don’t really read into the deep reports and the guys that are reading into it and getting up to date stats, they’re the ones that are picking the right players for this week and who to sit and who not to sit. It’s neat when you take a break from it though, just like you said. So, that’s cool and pretty neat.
Shaun Keating: So, tell me about your boys there. How old are your boys now?
Dr. Man: Got a 10 year old, a 8 year old and a 6 year old, they’re all about two and a half years apart.
Shaun Keating: No kidding. Our boys are two years, five months apart. I got two boys, also. You’ve got three young men and they’re playing basketball. Is it that Kentucky college?
Dr. Man: [crosstalk 00:08:01]. Older two kids playing basketball and so they’re AU and the middle kid also playing comp soccer. That middle kid’s but I figure third grader, still doesn’t have to much homework, might as well play the sports.
Shaun Keating: That’s what we always did and that’s what I did. You just keep them so busy with sports and extra curricular activities, they don’t have time to sit around and be lazy and do stupid things, man. You’ve got to keep them busy, busy, busy, busy. That’s what I found to be the best thing for those kids and keep them alive, man. That was my whole thing and [crosstalk 00:08:38].
Dr. Man: Was have an Xbox at home but it seems like all their classmates are playing Fort nite, all the time. We don’t even let them. I mean, I guess, we don’t even let them play, really. I mean, they don’t really have the desire.
Shaun Keating: That’s neat. My kids were, they weren’t really into the … They had the Mario Brothers and stuff. My kids are those millennias right now but it’s a different world with when we grew up. You didn’t have phones, you didn’t have anything, you had to go outside and play and just drink water out of a hose and be home by the time it was dark. It just was a different life and now, all these kids are tethered to that phone or tethered to that … Unless you’re going to be a gamer for life. I mean, for a living. I don’t know how good that stuff is, looking at that. I never could get into that stuff. It’s a lot of tricks and techniques then.
Shaun Keating: Push it this way and his head pops out here and you get the golden eagle. I9 couldn’t remember all that stuff when my kids were trying to show me. I’m like, “No. Daddy not to smart when it comes to these games boys.” Let’s get out and throw the ball around. That’s so funny. Well, dude, man, let’s dental up.
Shaun Keating: So, tell me, at what point in your career did you think, when you’re growing up I wanted to be a dentist?
Dr. Man: Yeah, so, it was probably later on as compared to some other docs but when I was a kid, I was probably about four years old, living in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada. Real cool place out there.
Shaun Keating: No kidding.
Dr. Man: So, I had seven fillings in at one time.
Shaun Keating: You had seven what?
Dr. Man: [inaudible 00:10:18]. I had seven fillings, done at one time.
Shaun Keating: Oh, okay.
Dr. Man: Yeah. So, the long story is that growing up, my mom, well, I guess my granddad was pretty strict about candy. So, my mom would only get candy for Christmas and New Years and just a couple holidays but beyond that, not to much candy in the house. So, growing up, my mom claims that she didn’t want to withhold from us but I think she just wanted candy for herself. So, I grew up just chomping on candy, all the time and so I had a bunch of cavities as a kid.
Dr. Man: So, as a four year old, granted the doc was probably doing a great job but it was a bad experience. Just taste tooth dust and everything. And later on, when I was an undergrad, maybe second year undergrad in college, had a great experience with a dentist. The contrasts and the experiences really made me want to pursue dentistry.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool. A lot of guys start out wanting to get in dentistry because they had some issues with their teeth. I know my oldest brother, Kevin, he was having some, he had to do some orthodontics and some other extractions, at a young age and so he had a guy that mentored him a little bit, at that time, and showed him the world of dentistry. 15, 16 years old, he’s thinking about being a dentist. Like you with the cavities and I think we all had a cavity. I remember getting, probably fifth, sixth grade, first time going to that dentist and getting all these fillings, silver fillings man with these cavities. It was like, what the heck.
Shaun Keating: But no, that’s neat. So, tell me a little bit about your college. How it went in your undergraduate? Tell me about your experience there? Here did you live before you went to Kentucky too and stuff? Tell me a little bit about that.
Dr. Man: So, pretty much, born in Baltimore, then lived in Canada for about four or five years and then from Kindergarten till high school, I was in Kentucky. Then for undergrad, I went out to a small school called Pomona College in Claremont.
Shaun Keating: Okay, sure.
Dr. Man: So, not to far from Irvine, I think.
Shaun Keating: No.
Dr. Man: [inaudible 00:12:27]. Hopped back to Kentucky for the dental school because, man, in-state tuition was much more affordable. I mean, one of the main things with new dentists now, I think a [inaudible 00:12:43], you can easily owe $400,000.
Shaun Keating: Oh yeah. I can’t believe that.
Dr. Man: Yeah. In-state’s pretty [inaudible 00:12:52] and so I think I owed $100,000.
Shaun Keating: See, that’s so neat that, I mean, to go to Kentucky. I mean, it’s a great university but here, right now, I got some of these guys, right now, it’s $4 to $500,000 by the time everything’s said and done but that’s with lodging or whatever it is you stay in, the dorms and all that stuff. But man, you just break that down, 12 months a year. God, that’s a lot of money, man. That’s $10,000 plus a year.
Dr. Man: [crosstalk 00:13:23]. Exactly..
Shaun Keating: A month, I mean.
Dr. Man: Yeah, I’m paying off my loans but never lost sleep over it. Just takes care of itself. So, for $100,000, I probably owe about $1,000 a month. Just because 400, 500. $4,000, $5,000 is like a mortgage. That’s a lot of money.
Shaun Keating: Oh, yeah. No, that’s big time and it’s just tough. I don’t know how they do it, carrying that much load, that debt load. It’s just so tough starting off because you’re not going to be making a lot of money starting off and you have to put your dues in but, yeah, it’s just amazing. I mean, I was just talking about it, yeah from USC to UCLA, University of California, LA, it’s a quarter of the cost to go to UCLA than it is to go around the corner to USC. It’s like why. But, yeah, it’s just tough. I don’t know how they do it but there’s guys that are paying off those debts and it just takes time.
Shaun Keating: I had a big debt when I did some SBA loans for this and took me eight years to pay it off but hey, we did it. So, that’s awesome. $100,000, heck man, you could spend that on a CEREC unit that’s going to set back [crosstalk 00:14:32]. There’s a lot of guys that spent $150,000 on that that [inaudible 00:14:36] using it. Da, da. Have you ever got into any of the cab cam, any of that in your career [crosstalk 00:14:43]?
Dr. Man: No, probably about five, six years ago, I had a CEREC machine. I don’t have the newest one that they have, right now. It was the blue cam and I had the MCXL mill unit. So, I did about 200 restorations, was pretty happy with it. At the time, I had a dental assistant that was really good about designing and milling out but when she had to go, I think she changed jobs and life happens. I found myself being at the office on Saturdays, milling out and designing and that’s not what I want to do on a weekend.
Shaun Keating: No and in the daytime it’s like, you guys went to 8, 10 years of college to be a doctor of dentistry. I mean, it’s like you don’t want to be a lab tech in that back little room cutting in secondary anatomy, watching that little single burr cutting on that thing. I mean, some guys do. I mean, some guys, they work in what you call poke and plum town. You poke your head out the window, you’re plum out of town. You’re seeing two, three patients a day. Heck yeah, let’s go spend two, three hours in the op and in the back lab room and let’s work on this. I think it’s a neat thing.
Shaun Keating: I got a lot of guys, are CEREC guys and I do their other work that they don’t do on the CEREC. So, I’m doing their veneers and I’m doing their implants but they’re some of the best dentists because they really see the clarity of it and you can’t really go to that next step on your impressions. I’ve had some guys that weren’t the greatest practitioners get into it and it’s a learning curve for them because I couldn’t get an impression before and you’re not going to get it now unless you change your ways. You really just-
Dr. Man: Yeah, I think CEREC works best for more non-traditional preps. More [inaudible 00:16:32] dentistry. I’m probably just more old school. I pretty much try to get everything [inaudible 00:16:37]. I take a really nice impression, sub G’s not easy with CEREC.
Shaun Keating: It isn’t. You going the double cord technique are you? Tell me a little bit about on your impression taking. What do you like [crosstalk 00:16:46]?
Dr. Man: Mostly double cord but sometimes it’s pretty tight there so I’ll go single cord and use a 3M retraction paste.
Shaun Keating: Beautiful.
Dr. Man: So, I found the combination worked pretty well.
Shaun Keating: You an [inaudible 00:16:57] guy? A polyether guy or no? Using some polyvinyl [crosstalk 00:17:02] imprint.
Dr. Man: No, just PVS from [inaudible 00:17:04]. It’s called [inaudible 00:17:07] my friend who was a [inaudible 00:17:11] rep, roughly put a bunch of the material. Initially, just using [inaudible 00:17:17] free goods but that stuff works really nicely. It’s not to popular out here but really popular in Europe.
Shaun Keating: Yep, it’s good stuff for sure, as long as it’s capturing those crisp margins, that’s what we want, babe, and you got some good ones. Very little remix at all and I can’t thank you enough, baby. So, tell me a little bit about when you started out. Did you start out as an associate to purchase a practice? Tell me a little bit about how you started in the dental world after graduation.
Dr. Man: Sure, yeah. When I first got out of school, my first job was actually in Las Vegas, of all places. Kind of a different town, fun.
Shaun Keating: [inaudible 00:17:57] thinking.
Dr. Man: Basically, my best friend in undergrad, he’s an orthodontist now. His family dentist graduated from the University of Kentucky, so I thought it was going to be a good opportunity to start working with him. So, we packed a Uhaul and actually, my oldest kid was six months old at the time.
Shaun Keating: No kidding.
Dr. Man: He actually travels a great so it was actually pretty exciting. Just traveling west along the old Route 66. Got out to Vegas and it was in the summer of 08, so, that was when the economy really hit skids.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, that’s when it was in the shitter, for sure and to go from the green grass of Kentucky, green grass to the godforsaken desert, man. That must have been an eye opener coming over that hill.
Dr. Man: So, I showed up and really it wasn’t too much work to do. He was a great dentist, great practitioner. It was a pretty fun experience. Got hazed by the senior dental assistant. I’m a lefty and she made me sit on the right hand side. You pay your dues.
Shaun Keating: They can’t haze anymore. They’re making you stop everything in life, man. You can’t do anything anymore.
Dr. Man: So, literally we were handing out dental business cards on the strip.
Shaun Keating: You’re kidding. [crosstalk 00:19:21]. People probably thinking it’s for the strippers. No, it’s not the strippers, I’m a dentist.
Dr. Man: Exactly, so, not the best recruiting but, hey.
Shaun Keating: Give you an A for effort.
Dr. Man: Yeah, after a couple months, before this opportunity, there’s a doctor out in Paradise, California, Doctor Scott [Hannish 00:19:40]. I think he’s still is utilizing you guys for [crosstalk 00:19:46].
Shaun Keating: Yeah, Doctor Henderson. He the man. [crosstalk 00:19:48].
Dr. Man: Yeah, yeah. He’s a really good dentist so I did talk to him before about the opportunity and he [inaudible 00:19:55] he was going to give me a second chance to work out there. So, spent about two years out in Paradise. Learned a lot out there with there with them. There was a practice available through Henry Shy brokers out in [inaudible 00:20:10] so, got to talking to the doc up there and then I wanted to be a practice owner so, came out here.
Shaun Keating: No kidding. That’s pretty ballsy, dude. So, did you have any experience? How long did you have working for someone before you purchased your own?
Dr. Man: About two years. Most of my friends were, maybe more conservative, and I usually just, I’m not the most risk adverse guy. I’ll go out there and do it and I’ve been lucky in life. Things tend to work out.
Shaun Keating: That’s so cool dude and I love that attitude. Yeah, things’ll work out for you. Just keep doing the good deed and good things are going to happen, man. So, tell me a little bit about your practice. Tell me how the layout is? How many ops you’ve got and what kind of staff you’ve got working.
Dr. Man: Sure. So, I’ve got six total oporatories. Five ops that are used regularly. One is storage and my hygienists, I have one hygienist, full time. She works through two ops and I have the other three ops. I have, pretty much one front office staff each day. On Wednesday I have it doubled up to two front office staff and then, currently I have probably about, you could say one and a half assistants work each day. Ideally it’s two but I have two other assistants that are taking some college classes and I definitely miss working with them every day. One of my assistants is fantastic. I’m trying to encourage her to pursue dentistry.
Shaun Keating: What about hygienists? Did I miss that?
Dr. Man: Yeah. I do. I have one hygienist. She’s full time.
Shaun Keating: Okay.
Dr. Man: She’s been with my practice for a couple years but the practices that I took over for, actually, I took over for two practices and she came with the second office that I took over for so she’s been working for about 25 years now.
Shaun Keating: Oh, that’s awesome when you’ve got that experience. That’s great to have, for sure. So, tell me a little bit about, what’s your favorite procedure? What do you like doing? What don’t you like doing?
Dr. Man: I really enjoy, pretty much all parts of dentistry. With being [inaudible 00:22:28] busy, I’ve referred more endo out. I just shout out to the guy next door and this guy has the most conservatives access, it’s as if he has xray vision. This guy, Doctor [Solano 00:22:43], he’s great.
Shaun Keating: That’s awesome.
Dr. Man: So, I’ve been referring more [inaudible 00:22:48] out but I’d say, I love prepping crowns and making them look as good as possible but I also really like the surgical aspects, extractions with [inaudible 00:23:00] graphs and lithium plants. Hiossen has a kit that let’s you, very conservatively, do a sinus lift.
Shaun Keating: Oh, you’re kidding.
Dr. Man: Cast kit, so, really enjoy doing that as well.
Shaun Keating: Really? That, I don’t know, some guys enjoy it and some guys won’t touch it with a 10 foot pole. Sinus lifts, dude.
Dr. Man: Yeah, so, in the past, the traditional way’s to access laterally but with this cast kit, C-A-S-T, the same osteotomy you’re using to place the implant, that’s the same hole that you’re going to access the sinus and use hydrolic force to lift [inaudible 00:23:42] membranes and impact more bone there. It’s just one less surgical site for the patient, it’s nice.
Shaun Keating: I never really got that because I’m just a dental technician. I just restore teeth, make teeth but I was watching a video and it was a 3D animation on these sinus lifts and how they got to open it up and then expand it and do it and it’s just, I just take for granted the models. I got these implants in and I just worry about aesthetics and fit and all this stuff but to see what you guys go through to do that. It just seems scary to me but I’m a sissy boy but-
Dr. Man: Sure.
Shaun Keating: … for a doctor, dentist like you, some guys really get into it. They get into the surgeries and they’re smart enough to know when to stop or when to refer it out, hopefully.
Dr. Man: Exactly, with a cone beam and surgical dye, that helps a lot. I mean, literally, for a straight forward implant case, you could probably be a monkey and place an implant. [crosstalk 00:24:43].
Shaun Keating: We used to do them on monkey’s heads back in the early 80s and Loma Linda University, man, we’re doing and seeing how they also integrated. It’s a trip how far it’s come in just those 35 years since we were doing them then and it’s getting more predictable especially with the cone beam and everything else, searching stance. I mean, it is, and even building up enough structure and stuff and building the bone up and sinus. It’s been pretty darn predictable with some of the newer equipment out and everything else. Its come a long way, for sure. It’s not just like seat of your pants. Let’s screw it in like they used to do.
Shaun Keating: Some of these guys. We get stuff I could do, put a book together on just the different impressions and stuff that I’ve seen through my years and just like, what were you thinking. I got guys that are putting two quadrant impression trays and trying to loop them together for a full arch and all sorts of stuff. Come on. All these, jeez, paper clips and all [inaudible 00:25:45] canals I did.
Dr. Man: Oh no.
Shaun Keating: Putting a paper clip in there and trying to pull an impression and, “Shaun, give me that access hole.” It’s like, “Dude, come on man.” But it’s come a long way. I got a lot of great dentists now that just, they try to practice good dentistry and they’re doing the right thing where sometimes they can get pushing that envelope a little bit too much. Tell me a little bit about, what have you done for your marketing strategy? Do you do mailers, social media? Do you work in the public sector? Tell me a little bit how you drive patients to your practice.
Dr. Man: That might be the weakest part of my practice, honestly. We’re purely internal referral. I’ve tried Yelp before but maybe I wasn’t persistent enough. It’s just something that I need to address pretty soon to keep it going.
Shaun Keating: I hear more and more though that, a lot of my dentists, they don’t really … I always ask about the marketing aspect and what you’re doing. A lot of them aren’t really doing anything other than the referral and the referral is still, it’s the holy grail of marketing for any business. It’s just, you take care of your customers and you ask them to tell some other friends, maybe, and they start talking about you and then those friends tell other people and the referral is just always the top of the line and the whole social media thing, we’re new to it too and it just doesn’t work.
Shaun Keating: I mean, I think it’s a whole package deal. I have to do dental conventions. I have to do media, print layout. I do direct mailers. I do all this stuff but at the end of the day, I’m getting more doctors by my existing doctors by just giving me referrals and the same thing with dental practices. I mean, there’s some good practice management that just got some systems in place on just letting your patients know that if you could, give us a review or give us this, referral.
Dr. Man: The overall quality of the patient that comes through internals is [crosstalk 00:27:52] fantastic.
Shaun Keating: It’s so neat and when a doctor’s referring me like, I got Doctor Alister Man, he referred me three dentists or two dentists and they’re always, it’s peer to peer so we’re, it’s your best patients you’re going to get is from referrals and my best dentist I’m going to get is from referrals by dentists and it’s basically treating people good, doing the best job you can and they can tell when you are genuine and are trying to do a good job and your staff is. They can tell when the staff is real and everyone’s really there to get you through this and try to make it as pleasant as possible and it just works.
Shaun Keating: And you’re so young at it too, dude. You’re only out 10 years, man. Give yourself another 10, 15, 20 years, you’re going to be just, it’ll just be autopilot. Might be that way now but it does get easier and you just find yourself working smarter and not harder. That’s the thing. There’s a lot of guys, “Well, I put in all the hours. I work really hard. It’s not about how many hours you put in and it’s not, I had an old football coach that said, “You can’t come in here and do X’s and O’s on this chalk board for 12, 15 hours. That ain’t going to get you any better.”
Shaun Keating: You just got to work smarter in the time period that you have. And treat people good and take care of your staff. Like, your girl, your hygienist, 25 years man. You want staff members that have been in the business a long time so you’re not putting out fires all the time. You got experience. It’s like that NFL team or those playoff teams. They band together, look at the Warriors, they been together, the Corps’ been together three, four years now and I know substitute’s and they’re just like-
Dr. Man: My kid used to be a big Warriors fan but he says he’s off the bandwagon now.
Shaun Keating: It’s tough, man. I mean-
Dr. Man: They’re to good, they’re to good.
Shaun Keating: Ah, they are and it’s like, what about the Sacramento Kings, man. Are they still around or what?
Dr. Man: They are but they have a young team right now. We got De’Aaron Fox from Kentucky and Willie Cauley-Stein. They took Marvin Bagley so, we’ll see. It’s just not easy.
Shaun Keating: What about with the Maloof brothers? Remember, they used to own it and then I think they sold it so did they do anything new with the stadium or the arena or anything?
Dr. Man: They did. They were probably one of the, arguably, one of the older NBA stadiums sleep train and they just built a brand new one, I think, two years ago. [inaudible 00:30:24] one, center. So, it’s a really nice facility now. You have concerts there and everything.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, that’s neat. Didn’t they call it the Cal form or something back in the day or, no, maybe [inaudible 00:30:37].
Dr. Man: Oh, you mean Cal House?
Shaun Keating: Yeah. Where’s that at?
Dr. Man: That’s in the Bay area.
Shaun Keating: Okay. I just remember Phil Jackson, when he was coaching the Lakers. They hated him down there. That was back when Jason Kidd played there, I think. That was years ago but hey, Sacramento’s the capital of California man. A lot of people don’t realize that.
Dr. Man: It’s a nice spot. A lot of, good family town. Big enough to get the food choices you want but small enough where it doesn’t feel to intimidating.
Shaun Keating: Oh, it’s neat. I’ve been down there a few times and it really is a foodie area and it’s really up and coming. I mean, it’s such flat land out there they say but it’s really a neat place. Yeah, I like Sacramento, it’s beautiful out there, for sure. What about this weekend? You going to watch that McGregor fight at all, the end of the UFC, at all?
Dr. Man: I didn’t get to hear about it. Who’s he fighting?
Shaun Keating: He’s fighting some dude, [Kabeebcould 00:31:40], [Kalaba 00:31:41]. He’s undefeated, I think 21 [inaudible 00:31:44]. He’s like, yeah, light heavyweight champion. I have a feeling this guy’s going to give Conner McGregor his hands. He’s going to come after him because this guy, he takes down everyone like he’s a real good grappler dude and we’ll see if Connor, man. I just see dude. He’s a small little Irish dude and he’s a cocky little guy.
Dr. Man: He’s tough though, he’s tough.
Shaun Keating: He’s a tough dude. He puffs his chest out when he walks. Just want to slap him harder.
Dr. Man: I think awhile back, didn’t Conner and that boxer-
Shaun Keating: Yeah, Mayweather-
Dr. Man: Mayweather.
Shaun Keating: He [inaudible 00:32:20] the whole fight with him, I think. He did really good man. I couldn’t believe it, that he held his own and he made $100 million, freaking ridiculous.
Dr. Man: Was there a rumor that they would fight again? MMA instead of boxing.
Shaun Keating: I don’t know. I think I heard the rumor was Mayweather retired after that fight but now he’s coming out to fight [inaudible 00:32:43] again. That’s what I heard. It’s a cash grab probably because Paki, I don’t think he has it all but I don’t know.
Dr. Man: He’s getting older.
Shaun Keating: Yeah but this could be [inaudible 00:32:53]. This Saturday should be a good one, for sure. I think I got this thing on Saturday. Sammy Hagar’s is playing on the beach down in Huntington Beach here and I’m sponsoring it and stuff.
Dr. Man: Cool.
Shaun Keating: I got a car show and stuff and they don’t get on till 6:00 at night, man. I’m like I’m going to have to leave Sammy because I got fight night that night too so we’re going to be leaving early. Sammy, we’ll listen to you a little bit baby but I’ve got to get back home for my fight.
Dr. Man: Do you have any classic cars that your showing?
Shaun Keating: I was going to bring some in but they’re just limiting it to 100 cars. I got different cars but they got a lot of unique cars and I have a car that’s being made over in, well, it’s in Purdue University right now. We had it made in England. It’s called a Keating Bolt and it’s pretty cool but it’s not ready yet. I was going to get it and bring it to the show but still we’re having a heck of a time trying to get this thing registered because it came over from England and so we’re still working on that. I was going to bring it but then again, at 8:00 at night, at 7:00 at night, I’m not going to be driving that thing home, half cockeyed. So, I’m thinking, how am I going to get the car home. To have such problems.
Shaun Keating: So, no, I’m not bringing a car but there’s a lot of different cars. He’s got his, Sammy’s got his Ferrari from his, I can’t drive 55, video. It’s a million dollar Mustang. It’s a bunch of different unique cars but that’s pretty cool. It’s on the sand and they got REO Speed wagon is going to be playing with them. They got Vince Neil from Motley Crue are going to be singing some songs. Joe Satriani is going to be there. Yeah, it’s going to be fun man. Right in our backyard, so, kind of neat.
Shaun Keating: All right, baby, so what else can we talk about before we wrap this up man? What kind of advice can you give some of my younger dentists starting off? I mean, some of the do’s and don’ts. What do you think that could help some of the people starting off?
Dr. Man: Sure. This is really more personal but when I started off, I took over some practices. I chose not to buy the brand new equipment. I bought the second hand but very quality, 8X stuff. Nothing against the demo wraps, as far as them coming in. They give really good service.
Shaun Keating: Yes.
Dr. Man: But as far as setting up an office, they want to set you up with a brand spanking new $20,000, $25,000 operatory.
Shaun Keating: Yeah.
Dr. Man: If you’re starting out, you don’t necessarily need that. You could do that, you could finance it but that’s just something else you have to worry about. So, I would recommend the [inaudible 00:35:40]. Take it easy with the new equipment, if you can.
Shaun Keating: Absolutely.
Dr. Man: Or don’t have as many ops. And also, I think, it’s much easier taking over a retiring dentist, than to start from scratch.
Shaun Keating: I’ll bet.
Dr. Man: Taking over a office, you’re really having hygiene [inaudible 00:36:00]. That’s really what drives your office. Starting from scratch, not easy.
Shaun Keating: Absolutely.
Dr. Man: Maybe, 20, 30 years ago it was possible but a little more difficult now.
Shaun Keating: Oh, I bet. I mean, it’s like you said, hygiene really drives a practice and I’ve got a few guys, they got two, three, four hygiene working all day, hygienist working and it’s a [inaudible 00:36:25] but it’s important that you know your limits and don’t buy anything that you don’t have to and the new equipment, if you can get other equipment that’s just as good for half the price, do it because it’s not going to make your practice any better and just like I always say, I got the best drums you can get but it doesn’t make me any better drummer. I’ve got the best golf clubs you can get, it doesn’t make me a better golfer, it’s the person. It’s not the sword, it’s the swordsman.
Shaun Keating: But for sure, what about any CE out there that has helped you, maybe front desk, back desk, front of the office, back of the office? Some education and techniques and stuff. Anything out there that you can recommend that you like doing?
Dr. Man: Sure. I mean, as far as implants, I’ve been really digging the Hyoscine system. [inaudible 00:37:15], Nobel and Astra, the big three. They make great products but I’ve been very happy with the Hyoscine system. It’s just ease of placement, ease of restoration, plus their sinus lift kit. That whole system’s great. [crosstalk 00:37:33] very happy with that.
Shaun Keating: That’s awesome that you can do that. That’s awesome that you can do that man. It’s crazy. What about any practice management you’ve done? Anything there?
Dr. Man: Not too much, I guess. I mean, I treat my staff like they’re my own family and it’s, if someone asks for time off, I’m usually pretty lenient. I respect them, they respect me back. As far as dental [inaudible 00:38:02] management, I haven’t really done to much there.
Shaun Keating: Well, you’re still young at it and I think there’s some people out there that do some good programs but in time you’ll get it and it’s just like you said, man, just to treat people good, treat patients good and just try to do your best job and just do good dentistry and try to do the right thing and it’ll all work out. You put the time in and it all come back to you. That’s just awesome Doctor Man. It was really neat. I love that you’re in sports. Heck, we could, I don’t want turn this time in sports all day but, my [crosstalk 00:38:35].
Dr. Man: I think every March [inaudible 00:38:37] Madness, you guys have that big prize, if you get the [inaudible 00:38:43].
Shaun Keating: I’ll give you $100,000 and then I give you lab work for life, as long as I’m living. So, that may be a couple years or it might be 20. But it’s just something, I would do, I would love nothing more than to do that. We give quite a bit, several thousand dollars away to the winners of that each year but to do a perfect bracket. I mean, we should almost even do it like if you can get it to the Final Four perfect. Even do the $100,000 or something because. You know and I would I would give more but it’s just, I don’t know, I just think it’s so hard to do but it would come back so much for me even if you know word got out that we had, because it’s never happened. I think Buffett does, Warren Buffett has something. I thought I heard he had something like a million dollars for a perfect bracket and then someone said it was like a billion because, I mean, he’s got much money but it’s just the odds.
Shaun Keating: I think you’re going to get struck by lightning like 15 times in a row. But I mean, I would give nothing else. I mean, to give $100,000, you get free lab work, that would be the greatest thing because you don’t think that would be all over the news and everything else. Hey, some dental technician lab owner said he’d give free lab work for life and $100,000 dollars and they got a winner. So, I have a feeling I have a few dentists, there’s a lot of dentists that don’t know about my lab. I mean, even in Irvine.
Shaun Keating: I can meet a dentist, I go, “Hey, I’m Sean Keating. I’ve got a dental lab,” “I’ve never heard of you.” Because a lot of doctors, a lot of these doctors don’t open the dental journals anymore. A lot of them don’t see the letters that come in each day, their staff’s throwing them away. They don’t see me on Dental Town because I don’t get on dental town so I’m really not known at all out there so we’re just trying to do-
Dr. Man: Keating’s done amazing. Probably about seven or eight years ago. Actually, more than six years ago, I had a patient that I restored a implant on and he’s an older gentlemen, his wife had passed away just a year before and he was truly heartbroken but he was the type of guy, he’d walk through the office and just brighten up your day but on his birthday, he was out with his friends and he had a heart attack at the wheel-
Shaun Keating: [inaudible 00:41:08].
Dr. Man: … and he passed away and he was supposed to see me the very next week to place his implant in [inaudible 00:41:14]. And I just mentioned it to Keating. And you guys didn’t have to do it but you guys stepped up and you didn’t even charge me a lab fee.
Shaun Keating: Aww.
Dr. Man: That was amazing.
Shaun Keating: [inaudible 00:41:26].
Dr. Man: I was more than happy to pay for it because you guys had already done all the work.
Shaun Keating: Yeah, no, that’s okay. I remember that. I mean, we get that. You’d be surprised that, hey, the person died, it’s like, whoa. It’s just so sad because you just don’t think it and the Lord knows. Gosh, it hits us hard here. We’d never charge on that. Even [inaudible 00:41:47], when we have cases go awry, at the end of the day, we both work for the patient. They’re the ones paying us. They’re paying you, you’re paying me but at the end of the day, we always look at the patient’s always right and when we start a case, we’ll stand behind it forever. [crosstalk 00:42:04].
Dr. Man: Exactly, I’ve found that to be the case. 100% of the time.
Shaun Keating: Sorry about that dude, it’s tough. But yeah, no.
Dr. Man: I just wanted to thank you guys for that, over the years too.
Shaun Keating: Anytime, man. Doctor Man, I can’t thank you enough for all the work and if there’s anything we could ever do, please let me know and dude, I can’t wait to see those three boys of yours, going on and we’ve got to see him in the Bigs playing basketball or soccer and keep him busy.
Dr. Man: [inaudible 00:42:37] recreational. Neither my wife and I are that tall, so we’ll see.
Shaun Keating: Hey, you never know dude. Hey, dynamite comes in small packages and you never say never. I mean, the NFL. They’ve had running backs that are 5’6″, 5’7″ and they’ve had basketball players, soccer players. Yeah it’s not the size, it’s the size of the heart in a person. They can do anything. You can do anything in life so you never know. They might be at the Kentucky and you might have the point guard, man. This dude’s be 5’8″, running around there. Throwing up three’s like nothing. Training them.
Shaun Keating: Well, hey, keep staying positive. God bless you and your family and Doctor Man, thank you so much for coming up on the Dental Up Podcast.
Dr. Man: Same to you Shaun, thank you.
Shaun Keating: All right, buddy. We’ll talk to you real soon.
Dr. Man: Okay, bye bye.
Shaun Keating: All right, bye bye.
Announcer: 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. Keatinge 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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