Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran

Dr. Lynn Hurst was born in Corpus Christi, Texas (1957), the middle of 3 children, to Reverend Chester Clive Hurst, Jr. and Dorothy Mae Owens Hurst. Dr. Hurst graduated from A.C. Jones High School (Beeville, Texas), in 1975 and Southwestern University (Georgetown, Texas), in 1979, with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) major degree in Biology and minor degree in Chemistry and was a research assistant for 1 year at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. In 1984, Dr. Hurst received his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) with Honors (Omicron Kappa Upsilon) from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Dental School. In 1986, Dr. Hurst simultaneously earned his Specialty Certificate in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, College of Dentistry and Master of Science (MS) degree in Orthodontics from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Graduate College. In 2017, Dr. Hurst co-founded Candid, as Chief Dental Officer, to help usher in the first orthodontist directed teledentistry/teleorthodontics healthcare dental service organization, with a mission to provide accessible, affordable, quality and safe oral healthcare to everyone who desires a beautiful and healthy smile.

Dr. Agatha Bis is a practicing dentist in Oakville, Ontario, Canada and the founder of UPB Dental Academy, which is an online learning platform for dentists looking to improve, grow, or change something about their practice. She has been in practice for 23 years, currently working 4 days a week, with no weekends or evenings. Her practice has 5 full-time hygienists, and completely fee for service. She created UPB Dental Academy to share with other dentists the systems that have been extremely successful for her in growing her business because she is passionate about elevating dentistry in the eyes of all the patients, creating successful happy dentists around the world, and helping others achieve their ultimate level of success doing what they dreamed of when they first got into dental school.

Lauren Kelly, Director of Strategic Markets, received her Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from the University of North Texas and has been in the dental plan industry for more than eight years. She began her career at Careington International Corporation in account management where she helped clients develop strategies to grow their business and served as their primary contact for their day-to-day needs. In 2015, Lauren transitioned into a sales and management role and currently oversees the Launch Loyalty sales and support teams. Lauren specializes in helping dental groups develop custom in-house discount plans for their offices. She has been integral in the development and strategy of the Launch Loyalty platform and has extensive experience in helping dental groups develop and refresh their in-house discount plans.

Dr. Christopher Cetta is a Board-Certified Orthodontist who practices with Blue Wave Orthodontics in Bradenton and Tampa, FL. Dr. Cetta grew up in New Jersey and is a third-generation doctor. He received his undergraduate degree from Wake Forest University in North Carolina and graduated from Rutgers School of Dental Medicine in New Jersey. Dr. Cetta practiced general and cosmetic dentistry for several years prior to specializing in orthodontics at Jacksonville University in Florida. He is the co-inventor of Precision Aligner Buttons™ by DynaFlex and has had several articles featured in the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics. Dr. Cetta also plays bass for two rock bands, including the all-orthodontist group “Relapse.” Dr. Cetta currently lives in St. Petersburg, FL with his beautiful wife Nicole and puppy Jagger.

For more than 20 years, William “Bill” Hiltz has been helping dentists settle their most pressing and complex problems. Bill’s qualifications in engineering, biology, computer science, data analytics, education and business help him to provide thoughtful insight that is generally unavailable elsewhere. Since 2004, Bill has been primarily focused on matters involving fraud, embezzlement and litigation support for dentists and practice owners.

Dr. Mark Tholen is the former CEO of the nation’s premier dental office design firm, which created over 3,000 offices in virtually every State of the Union, Europe, and Australia. His career in dentistry spans over 30 years including clinical practice before obtaining his MBA from the University of Texas. He is the author of three dental textbooks published by Lea & Febiger, the most recent of which is a comprehensive book on all aspects of dental office design with over 7,500 copies sold. Dr. Tholen has lectured extensively in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Asia and is a former consulting editor to the parent corporation of Dental Economics. Currently, he is the principal instructor of the extremely popular dental office design seminar, "Inspiring Success", sponsored by A-dec of Newberg, Oregon.

In July of 2019, Christian Brutzer became president of Ivoclar Vivadent North America, taking over as long-time President Robert Ganley retired. Brutzer is also the global head for Ivoclar Vivadent Asia/Pacific region, and a member of Ivoclar Vivadent AG, Liechtenstein’s corporate management board. He will maintain in those positions. A lawyer by education, Brutzer, who was born in Germany, furthered his experience during a post-graduate program in Japan. He has been in the dental industry since 1989, serving in various executive management positions in Europe, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Australia and the USA. He speaks multiple languages, including German, English, and Japanese. Brutzer joined Ivoclar Vivadent AG in 2006 as director of sales Asia/Pacific. In July of 2011, he became a member of the organization's corporate management team. During his tenure leading the Asia/Pacific market for Ivoclar Viavdent, he oversaw the establishment of subsidiaries in Japan, China and India, and new representative offices in Korea and Indonesia. He led his team in building Ivoclar Vivadent's presence in mainland China from a representative office to one of the leading international dental companies in the Chinese market. He also helped maintain strong market positions over the years in Australia and New Zealand.

Karen Daw is an award-winning national speaker, author of numerous articles and CE courses on safety in dentistry, and a consultant to practices across the country. She earned her BA from the Ohio State University and her MBA with concentrations in Healthcare Administration and Business Management. After graduation, Karen was recruited from the Emergency Department to her roles as Assistant Director of Sterilization Monitoring and Health and Safety Director for the OSU College of Dentistry. Karen draws on her rich background to educate audiences large and small on how NOT to do safety, and, best practices to avoid penalties, negative reviews and the 6 o’clock news!

Syed graduated with a Bachelors in Dental Surgery in India and decided to move to the United States for a better life. He and his gorgeous wife Ameena moved to Chicago and fell in love with it. After several struggles he got accepted into NYU Royal College of Surgeons' one year Oral Surgery certificate program for international Dentists. After completing that he joined University of Illinois at Chicago where he earned his DMD in the International Dentist Degree Program in 2015. After his graduation he associated for 4 different practices, figuring out different practice philosophies with his mentors and learning everything from building a practice to running a multi million dollar practice. He did his first practice in April 2016 in Chicago with 6 chairs and now is running 11 very successful practices hiring over 30 associates and 5 specialists. His goal is to make dentistry predictable, affordable, accessible and comfortable.

Matthew Cooke is the Vice President of Consulting Strategy at Call Box. For the past 10 years, Matt has worked with thousands of healthcare organizations to improve their strategic operations, optimize their caller experience, capitalize on marketing efforts, and streamline operational workflow. He's led numerous webinars and speaking engagements, specifically in the dental industry. Prior to his time at Call Box, Matt led project teams at Epic Systems, consulting with healthcare organizations of all sizes across the United States. Kimeran Johnson is the Director of Client Acquisition at Scheduling Institute. For the past 15 years, Kimeran has worked with dentists and their teams to streamline processes in the practice around new patient acquisition. She helps them leverage data and training to produce greater results in marketing and team performance. Kimeran has experience in training, management and marketing. A fun fact is Kimeran trained Howard Farran’s Today’s Dental team a decade ago on the 5-Star New Patient Phone Training.