Brews and Tiny Teeth, The Unfiltered Pediatric Dentistry Podcast

Dr. Vinny Miriyala is a pediatric dentist who wears a variety of hats in his professional career. Besides working both in private practice and academics, he also takes on an administrative roll by working with insurance companies and the federal government doing peer-reviews and fraud/waste/abuse claims.We have a great conversation about how to avoid liability as a pediatric dentist, specifically what mistakes docs make that get them served a letter from an attorney. Dr. Vinny can be reached at dr_vinod@hotmail.com

Dr. Adi Genish is pediatric dentist in the beautiful Beverly Hills area of California. She is also a well-known social media influencer and has attracted an impressive following to her profiles on Instagram and TikTok. Dr. Adi talks about why she went back to specialize in pediatrics, and what inspired her to open her practice in Beverly Hills. Her office vision was to create a dental spa for children, and you can tell she spared no expense in designing a very modern practice. We also discuss treatment modalities and parent expectations for the families she sees in Beverly Hills. Dr. Adi also gives us some pointers for social media and reviews its importance for having good content in the modern world of pediatric dentistry.

Dr. Ivy Fua is a pediatric dentist in Burbank, California. Right before COVID she purchased and renovated an established pediatric office to create "Grin Garden Kids Dental and Orthodontics." We talked about how she used a marketing and branding firm to help create her new office, along with the challenges of surviving the transition during COVID. We also discuss:- Outsourcing your insurance billing, is it worth it?- Difficulties when you hire and then lose an associate- Dealing with parents who have fluoride concerns- Being a mom and running a practice- Does it make sense to do full ortho or just phase one?

If you think your life is busy... wait until you listen to this episode! Dr. Gary Lehn is a partner and owner of a 6-office practice in Nebraska, along with the father of 8 children. His kids range from one all the way up to 16 years old. Gary shares his journey and tells us about how he grew his family and his practice together. He gives some advice about how he manages his time, and what his life outside of work looks like. This is a great episode for those docs who work in a busy practice, along with trying to grow a family at home.

Dr. Andrew Lusk is a pediatric dentist from West Virginia. He started a practice almost two years ago, and he comes on the show to talk about life as a West Virginia practice owner. In our discussion, we talk about:- Should pediatric dentists work on Fridays?- Why it's tough to fight Delta Dental, and why using umbrella insurance plans worked for him- Using minimally invasive treatment options to help his patients- Why it's tough being a business owner with cash flow and income inconsistencies

Dr. Tim Followell is a pediatric dentist and the program director of the residency program at the University of Louisville. He has been teaching at Louisville since 2020, where he works with the residents to teach them a wide variety of new techniques and procedures. Dr. Followell is also a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which peaked my interest in having him on the podcast. (He could probably strangle 99% of the general population). In this episode, we focus on what changes Dr. Followell is seeing with his residents. We discuss new procedures, what they are moving away from, and how they try to produce well-rounded pediatric dentists. They also have CO2 lasers to allow the residents to do TOT work! I finish by asking Dr. Followell if he thinks we are producing too many pediatric dentists to enter the workforce.

Today's episode is a collaborative episode that Brews and Tiny Teeth did with Dr. Joel Berg of the AAPD Newly Erupted Podcast. We had a great discussion about what inspired me to become a pediatric dentist, the importance of practice owners in rural areas, and how seeing kids with Medicaid can allow an early startup to grow exponentially.

Whitney Linville is a a pediatric dentist and practice owner from Louisiana. She graduated from residency in Omaha, Nebraska in 2018, before starting her practice from scratch in Youngsville, Louisiana. This episode is awesome because it's the exact vibe I try to chase after for my podcast. We each have a drink and just talk shop about a whole bunch of awesome peds topics, including: - Dealing with snow, hurricanes, and bad weather - The middle age stage of practice ownership - What the pediatric dental scene is like in Louisiana - Medicaid reimbursement in Louisiana - Patchwork ART/ITR glass ionomer fillings that don't hold up - When not to reimplant an avulsed tooth - Whiny tweenagers who don't want you to touch their loose baby teeth.

This episode is all about resiliency. We have a demanding, repetitive job with a lot of stress. Whether it's trying to navigate massive student loan debt, figuring out how to become a practice owner, or handling difficult parents, it's important to take care of ourselves in order to practice for decades instead of years. Dr. Niloo Mofakhami is a pediatric dentist from Virginia, and a practice owner of 20 years. We talk about resilience strategies that she shares with younger docs and residents that she mentors. Some of these topics include: - Not working weekends - Taking quality lunch breaks - Seeing the appropriate number of patients in a day - Prioritizing health - Talking to a therapist - Outsourcing tasks

Dr. Mike Dowling is a pediatric dentist from Maine. He joins us to talk about his experience as a practice owner serving the very underserved state of Maine. Mike talks about how hard it has been to provide care to such a high caries risk area, while battling a lack of operating room access and minimal time slots for mobile in-office anesthesia. Mike decided to expand into his leased medical building to create a fully certified and compliant stand-alone surgery center. When the project is finished, it will be a fully-functional surgery center with the capacity to do twice as many dental anesthesia cases as any other facility in the state. Mike shares his journey with this project, as well as gives advice to any other doctors struggling with access to anesthesia time in their community.