Brews and Tiny Teeth, The Unfiltered Pediatric Dentistry Podcast

Dr. Roy Shelburne joins us on this episode to tell his incredible story about being arrested for Medicaid fraud. After years of running a busy and successful practice in Virginia, Dr. Shelburne received a phone call that the FBI had raided his office. All of his personal assets were seized, and he was tried and found guilty of medicaid fraud. He served 19 months in prison, and now spends his time consulting dentists on how to prevent this from happening to them. This was an eye-opening conversation. As pediatric dentists, many of us see medicaid. You may think that if there were an error or mistake with an office's Medicaid billing, penalties and fines could occur and simply be paid as long as the mistake was innocent. Dr. Shelburne's story demonstrates that this isn't always true.  For anybody looking for more information on Dr. Shelburne, his website is: http://royshelburne.com/ Link to registration for Dr. Shelburne's Dental Billing Bootcamp: https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fform.123formbuilder.com%2F6180041%2Fform&data=05%7C01%7C%7Ce22febb87d32459cfd8708da54595fb1%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637915040111326747%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=CBiK8%2FzfZ8Dp0LZGJpdrBQ3Nlsi2URYTti%2BOh60O%2BVI%3D&reserved=0

On this solo episode, I review 5 new tools/materials/pieces of equipment that I've purchased in my practice over the last year. I break down the good and the bad of these products, and how listeners can consider using them in their practice. We should always be trying new products and technologies to constantly try to deliver dentistry better, faster, and cheaper. The products I review are:  1. Dukal throat packs 2. Optrasculpt composite sponge 3. Mosquito diamond bur 4. Zyris anterior isolite system 5. Denovo extraction forceps

Lilly Cortes-Pona is a dental practice consultant and coach who specializes in pediatric practices. Her company writes the practice management newsletter for the AAPD, and she works with practice owners all over the country to help them lead, connect, and profit. In our discussion, we go through common barriers and issues that pediatric dentists face at each stepping stone in their career, from early practice owner all the way to multi-doc, multi-office practices.  In this podcast we discuss: - Challenges that early career dentists and startups face - The importance of considering utilizing a therapist for your mental well-being - When to bring on an associate and why associates are in such demand - How to get multiple doctors to agree on what direction to take the practice. - How a dental coach works and how they can work with a practice to improve outcomes LCP coaching website: www.lcpcoaching.com Lilly has also provided our listeners with a free link to her "checklist for success": https://lcpcoaching.formstack.com/forms/checklist_for_success

Wes Lyon is a CPA, CFP, and CEO of McGill and Lyon Dental Advisors. His company, McGill and Hill Group, publishes the McGill Advisory, which is a monthly newsletter to dentists updating the latest events and tips for financial planning, investing, taxes, and practice ownership topics. I became familiar with this newsletter at the office of my previous employer, and based on recommendations of some older and wiser pediatric dentists, I recently subscribed. I personally have found it very helpful as a practice owner to have monthly updates about what's going on in the stock market, tax updates, practice management and retirement planning strategies.   I would definitely recommend to my listeners who own practices or are considering buying or starting a practice to subscribe to the newsletter.  Wes has offered our podcast listeners a 10% discount using the code PEDIATRIC10. He also has offered a FREE trial membership for pediatric residents who are interested in receiving the newsletter. Click the link to subscribe or learn more: https://www.mcgillhillgroup.com/Advisory/Current Wes joins us to talk about 10 financial mistakes that he sees dentists commonly make. We review this list below in detail. 1. Improper insurance 2. Not having a budget 3. Saving in the wrong place 4. Poor debt management 5. Concentrating on salary 6. Paying excessive taxes 7. Being house poor 8. One house/one spouse 9. Not taking advantage of HSAs 10. Trying to be a financial expert

Today's episode is all about taxes. As pediatric dentists, we have tax issues, and dental school doesn't give us the foundational knowledge we need to understand how taxes work and how to play the game.  Scott Clynch is a CPA and personal financial planner at Cain Watters. He joins us today to talk about how taxes work. We start big picture with basic concepts and definitions, and then walk through how taxes work at each career stage that a typical pediatric dentist goes through. Some things we talk about: - Marginalized vs effective tax rate, differences between deductions and credits - W2 vs 1099 employees - What can an employee dentist do to lower his/her tax bill? - What is an S-corp and how does it work? - What expenses should be run through a practice? What areas are grey and what's on the black list? - When does it make sense to implement a 401k plan for tax purposes? - What is a capital gains tax, and how does it work when a pediatric dentist finally sells his/her practice?

Ever since the big announcement earlier this year, NuSmile's Bioflex crowns have created quite the buzz among pediatric dentists. NuSmile revealed the crowns to the general public at AAPD 2022. These white, flexible resin polymer crowns could be a game changer to provide a flexible and esthetic improvement to traditional stainless steel crowns. As a millennial techie pediatric dentist, I wanted to learn more. Mike Loessberg is the Vice President of sales at NuSmile, a whiskey connoisseur, and a founding member of Bourbon and Baby Teeth. He joins us on the podcast to sip some whiskey and talk more about this new product, including some frequently asked questions he's received about the product. These crowns should be available and released for sale sometime this fall, likely at Bourbon and Baby Teeth in Louisville, Kentucky.  Mike also gives us some updates on BABT and what we can expect this year.  Mike can be reached via Facebook or at https://bourbonandbabyteeth.com/ 

Two oral surgeons join us for this week's episode. Dr. Chip Abraham is a fourth-year OMS resident at Indiana University, and Dr. Doug Orzel is a private practice OMS and practice owner in Grand Rapids, Michigan. These two oral surgery studs come on the podcast to talk all things oral surgery involving pediatric dentistry. We go through different tough clinical situations, as well as review a few listener Q & A's. Some of the topics we discuss: Should pediatric dentists be extracting permanent teeth? How do oral surgeons decide on a sedation modality? What agents and what doses? Do oral surgeons ever elect NOT to sedate? How do you suture a small extra-oral laceration? Can a tough teenager have thirds taken out with just local anesthetic?

Imagine being a pediatric dentist for 44 years, and then still having the ambition to start a thriving fluoride and prophy paste company at 80 years old. It was a pleasure to interview the founder of Wonderful Dental and our guest today, Dr. David Epstein. In today's episode, we learn more about what pediatric dentistry was like in the 1970's, how our profession has changed, and why the most important thing we should be doing is looking for ways to do things better. Dr. Epstein lets us look inside of the world of manufacturing fluoride varnish and why there was a need to develop better fluoride at a more reasonable price point. We had a fantastic discussion and Dr. Epstein's detailed bio can be found below. David W. Epstein, D.D.S., M.S.D. is a retired Pediatric Dentist in West Hartford, Connecticut. His education began with the study of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, a degree in Mathematics followed by a Doctor of Dental Surgery and a Master’s Degree in Pediatric Dentistry from Indiana University. In 1970, he joined the original Dental School Faculty at the University of Connecticut Health Center. He began his private practice in 1972, which has grown into a group practice consisting of five Pediatric Dentists and two Orthodontists. For more than forty years the primary focus of this practice has been preventive care with an emphasis on active child and parent participation.

Dr. Julia Richman is a pediatric dentist and private practice owner in Washington. She joins us on the podcast to talk about a variety of topics, including her journey from being a long-term (10+ year) associate to starting her own practice and the challenges that go with it. Dr. Richman has an interest in forensic odontology that we discuss. She also is an avid diver, and we talk about how cold water therapy and just being outside in general can be a remedy for the stresses of being a pediatric dentist. 

Live from AAPD 2022, this episode features short power interviews with 6 pediatric dentists (2 residents and 4 private practice). We learn more about their practice backgrounds, pearls that they’ve learned, new technology that changes the way they practice, and advice for other pediatric dentists.