Original subtitles

[narrator] On "Tomorrow's World Today," we explore the cutting edge

advances that are shaping four different worlds --

the world of inspiration, where the wonders of

the natural world amaze and inspire us.

The world of creation, where ideas come to life

from traditional arts.

The world of innovation, where ideas and inventions

move us all forward.

The world of production, where innovations

are mass produced to improve our lives.

From Inventionland World Headquarters,

here's your host, George Davison.

Dentistry sure has come a long way from its humble beginnings.

In the early days, these rudimentary tools

and techniques defined dental care, and it offered limited

solutions to common oral health issues.

Today, the landscape for dentistry is dramatically

different, and it's marked with these remarkable advancements

and innovative practices

that enhance patient care and outcomes.

One of the most significant drivers of innovation is

something called a DSO, which stands for

a Dental Support Organization.

These organizations are revolutionizing

how dental practices operate more innovatively by providing

essential non-clinical support.

Now what that does, is it allows the dentist to focus

on what they do best, provide patient care,

not running the office.

These DSOs are integrating cutting edge technologies like

digitally scanning the inside of a mouth

and converting the data into math

that will be necessary to run a 3D printer

that will print the teeth that are needed for the patient.

DSOs are figuring out how to make our dentists better.

So I'm gonna send Greg to the world of innovation to

explore how these innovations enhance patient experiences

and make dental care more accessible

and efficient than ever before.

[inspirational music playing]

In today's rapidly evolving dental industry, there's a new

trend that's transforming the way patients receive care

and the way dental practices are supported.

Dental Support Organizations, or DSOs, are revolutionizing

dentistry all across the country.

I'm in Orlando, Florida, to meet with Dr. Rick Workman,

the founder of Heartland Dental,

and we're gonna discuss the benefits of DSOs and how

they are shaping the future of dentistry in tomorrow's world.

Hey, Dr. Workman.

Hey, good seeing you. How are you?

Good to see you. I'm great.

So Doctor, tell me a little bit about the, uh, the evolution

of dentistry in the United States.

It wasn't always even a recognized profession.

It's so true.

Been a lot of advances over the years.

Dentistry got its first dental school in Baltimore

in the early 1800s.

Since then, dentists have worked hard on

studying the science, understanding the science,

and how to apply that to oral health.

We now know today, a lot of connections between oral health

and systemic health, so a lot of changes over time.

Well, how about the changes since

you got out of dental school?

Well, believe it or not, when I graduated from dental school in

1980, out of all the dentists in America, 98% were male,

and 98% were white.

Today, there's massive diversity in dentistry.

57% of all people going to dental school today are women.

And so, as we've had a lot of technology changes,

there's been a lot of social changes.

It's very interesting and exciting times in dentistry.

Excellent. Well, I'd love to learn more.

Well, come on in. We'll talk about it.

Look forward to it.

-Welcome to my office. -Well, thank you very much.

So Doctor, let's talk a little bit about

what was going on in the dental industry

that inspired you to start Heartland?

First of all, I didn't set out to start Heartland Dental.

When I set up my first practice in Effingham, Illinois, I quickly

began to figure out how much I needed to learn as a dentist,

and all other aspects of running a dental practice,

including figuring out how to withhold taxes, et cetera,

and stay solvent.

Through a lot of hard work and many hours over the course

of the next decade, by the end of the '80s, I could see that

there were changes coming to dentistry.

The cost of education had increased a lot.

We had maybe a dozen dentists working together, and we were

building a community, and we were learning together.

And some of the newer dentists could begin to figure out that

they were learning faster, advancing in their career

faster because of all of our interactions

than some of their peers.

And they began to see the value of that.

And I began to see the value of that.

And through that, eventually, what's now known as

Heartland Dental supports 3,000 dentists nationwide,

and that same community, learning together, has created

tremendous advantage for all of us.

You mentioned that the cost of a dental education

and that's changed a lot.

How has a Dental Support Organization been able to make

that a little less of a strain on a new dentist?

So my total tuition for dental school was $5,000.

$32,500 to set up my first practice.

Today, 20 percent of all new graduates have over

$500,000 of student debt.

Another 20 percent have over $400,000 student debt.

This year, Heartland Dental will open over 100 new

practices at a cost of over $1 million per practice.

It's almost impossible for new graduates to do that

or replicate that.

They do get the opportunity, though, to walk into a practice

like that who has the latest in technologies, systems are in

place, there's a mentor doctor they can work directly with.

As a community working together with our 3,000 supported

doctors, some which may be their classmates working in

another town, they can learn together and greatly accelerate

their uptake of the technologies

and all the new protocols that modern dentistry has.

Being able to keep up with that, like you mentioned,

the technologies and the learning curve that somebody's

up against now, to do that in isolation would be

extraordinarily difficult.

So what you're really talking about is dentists helping

dentists and really hoping that the through line is

that it gets to the patient. -Absolutely.

When there was a time where things were slowly changing,

you wouldn't have to do much different for five years.

Today, technology changes every six months,

and you've got to have somebody be an expert

or you're gonna be left behind. -Right.

Well, I can't wait to see this all in action,

so I'm gonna head down to one of the offices.

I can't wait for you to meet our team.

[Greg] Dental Support Organizations, or DSOs, are revolutionizing

the dental industry by providing essential

administrative and operational support, allowing dentists to

focus on patient care.

I'm in Orlando, Florida, where I'm going to talk to

Dr. Michael Badger, a Heartland Dental supported doctor,

about how DSOs are continuing to shape

the dental industry.

Hey, Dr. Badger.

-Hey, Greg, how you doing? -I'm great, nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

-Well, I was talking with Dr. Workman, -Yes.

He was really excited for me to get down here to O-Town West

and see what your team does.

I'm excited too, but we were talking about new technologies

in modern dentistry.

What's the most exciting thing to you right now?

Without question, it's AI Diagnostics

and 3D printing.

AI Diagnostics supports my diagnosis.

It allows for early detection.

It allows for my patients to see what I see.

Excellent, well, I'd love to get a tour of the facility.

Love to show it to you. Come along.

[inspirational music playing]

[Angeline] OK, so this one you can see here is an early decay.

The good thing is that we were able to --

[Michael] This is an example of AI being utilized

in our practice right now.

So we were talking about -- hey!

-Hi, Doctor, how are you? -Hi Angeline, hi.

Danielle, how are you doing today?

-I'm doing great. -It's so good to see you again.

I have a dear friend, Greg, here.

And I know you all are talking about

what's going on in your mouth -- do you mind if I share a little bit

about what's going on as far as your AI platform here,

just a little bit? -Yeah, that's fine.

OK, great. You and I were talking earlier

about how AI has enhanced the patient experience

so that they can see what we see.

We're able to share that message and gain

patients' acceptance and their understanding .

We're able to treat those things early on.

And catching them at an early break will allow us to be able

to make the patients' experience that much better.

Would you mind flipping that over to the way we look at

these x-rays ordinarily, and we're sitting up trying to

explain these things to patients on day in, and day out

and you see the difference.

[Greg] So as I'm looking at these AI x-ray images,

the pinkish red areas indicate tooth decay

and the yellowish translucent

areas indicate what's actually starting to decay.

Now the yellow areas aren't visible with the naked eye,

and these are the trouble spots that will need to be

watched closely.

[Michael] Absolutely, and the patient sees, and they get it,

and they understand the urgency and importance of treating this

while it's early on.

Because we believe that the best dentistry is the least

amount of dentistry. -Right, right.

Now, you'd also mentioned how important 3D printing is going

to be in the future -- can we take a look at that? -Yeah, yeah.

-Absolutely, let's go do it. -All right.

-Thank you both. -Thank you, Doctor.

Good to see you. Thank you.

Ok, do you have any questions about the...

So Greg, this is one of our 3D printing platforms.

It's actually making a prosthesis for a patient right now.

So this is creating new teeth for a dental patient?

-Absolutely. -What's it gonna look like when it's done?

Well, this is a provisional that we made for a patient.

So imagine someone coming here with no teeth

or badly damaged teeth, and they walk out with a brand-new smile.

This is so realistic looking.

How does this whole process start?

It starts with digital scanning.

And I know Dr. Plower is gonna go over that with you right now.

Excellent. Well, we'll catch up in a bit.

-Thank you. -Thank you.

So in talking to Dr. Badger,

he talked a lot about AI, 3D printing, a lot of

the new technologies that are being incorporated into

modern dentistry. -Yeah.

I know you're really excited about digital scanning.

Oh, absolutely, but before I show you digital scanning,

I think it's really important to talk about

traditional dental impressions.

You know, traditional dental impressions were so delicate,

and the fact that dentists ever got it right

is actually shocking.

So this new technology has eliminated

a lot of human error.

Let me show you a little bit about digital scanning in here.

So if you take a look, our hygienist is scanning

a patient, and right here in real time, we see her teeth

coming up on the screen.

-Isn't that cool? -That's very, very cool.

So this is actually what's happening inside her mouth

as we speak. -That's right.

And she's able to see it in three dimension, and so am I.

So we're using these for accurate fitting restorations,

everything from dentures, partials, and crowns.

But I think what's more important is we're using this

as a patient education tool. -Well, how does that work?

So you've probably never seen your mouth outside of your head

in three dimension. -No, I don't believe I have.

Right, and so there's a lot of trust between a doctor

and a patient, meaning I usually look in their mouth,

and I tell them what's going on.

But now instead of just telling them, I can show them.

So educating the patient is clearly very important,

but education seems to be a really integral part of

the whole organization, dentist to dentist as well.

So let's go talk to Dr. Badger about that.

That sounds good. Let's do that.

Ordinarily, we'd end up trying to explain --

[Greg] Technological advancements like artificial intelligence

and 3D printing, are transforming the dental industry.

These innovations are revolutionizing dental

practices, enhancing patient care,

and streamlining operations.

I had a chance to sit down with both Dr. Badger

and Dr. Plower of Heartland Dental

to further explore the peer-to-peer network

that is setting new standards in dentistry.

-Hey, Dr. Badger. -Hey.

-Good to see you again. -Good to see you as well.

-Hey, Doc. -Hey, how are you?

-I'm good. -Well, Dr. Plower and I were talking about

digital scanning. You and I talked about AI,

3D printing, all of the new technologies -Right

that are being involved in modern dentistry. -Yes.

But one of the things that's really intriguing me is that

the peer-to-peer network that you all work in,

tell me more about that.

Honestly, it's a doctor to doctors.

Doctors helping doctors to become the best that they can

so they can serve their patients the best way

that they can.

You know, I practiced for 15 years on my own,

and honestly, when you're working in that type of

environment, as pretty much every doctor does in

the country, you're working on an island by yourself,

and there are things you gotta deal with on a day-to-day basis

that you're not -- may not be accustomed to dealing with as

a young doctor fresh out of school.

So having someone that you can lean on in a non-threatening

environment, someone who's willing to share and give

you positive exchange, and give you positive feedback is one of

the blessings of what Heartland Dental does and how we do it.

Right, and I guess you came into this network

as a new dentist, how was that for you?

Yeah, so my experience was a little different than

Dr. Badger's, so I joined as a Heartland supported dentist

right out of dental school.

And I did that because dental school really taught me

the fundamentals of how to treat patients, but what I was

really lacking was communication skills

and leadership skills,

and that's what Heartland offers.

Education's such a key part of our culture.

Heartland Dental University offered me Bell leadership

classes, offered me communication courses,

and then outside of the classroom, they offered

me mentorship. So I spent some time

in Dr. Badger's office, and I watched him lead a team.

I watched him communicate with patients, and that's been a key

part of my growth. -[Greg] Excellent.

Well, I guess we're all about to learn a little bit more

about that when Pat Bauer meets up with George back

at Inventionland. So thank you very much.

Thank you.

-Thank you, mm-hmm. -Thank you very much.

Hey Pat, welcome to Inventionland.

Hey George, super nice to meet you.

Well, it's great that you're here.

I've been looking forward to you coming in and talking

a little more about the dental industry and some of

the technology and innovation going on.

Well, the lifetime care for our dentists has not

fundamentally changed, because it's still about lifetime care,

you know, the dentistry lasting for a lifetime.

But what's changed is all the different products

and innovation, like digital x-rays 20 plus years ago --

now we put AI in that digital x-ray.

We also have Curodont and Align, Invisalign to make sure that

the function is there.

And our supported doctors are constantly looking for the best

products to deliver that kind of care to their patients in

the communities they serve. -[George] Isn't that fabulous?

It is. It's amazing.

You're integrating AI into it now and just more

and more progress.

That kind of leads me into some of the pictures that your team

sent in, and I was hoping you could go over

some of that with me.

I really couldn't figure out what was going on.

Well, this is Dr. Plower.

She's one of my favorite doctors.

She is using an iTero scanner. So that's an iTero scanner.

And back in the day, they would use goop.

So when they were doing a crown or Invisalign,

an orthodontic procedure, we would then put goop in

the patient's mouth, which would then make

an impression of that tooth. And nobody likes goop.

-[George] Mm-hmm, no. -And it's really awful.

Well, now this is a digital impression that is

much more accurate.

The digital impression then gets sent digitally to the lab.

so there's no mail going back and forth. -Nice.

And then the final product is sent so that they can seat it

with the patient, both Invisalign and the crown.

And that's a massive innovation.

I mean, now the patient can actually see on a screen what

their mouth actually looks like.

And they can see it blown up on a big screen and say,

"Oh, why does it look like that?"

-Right. -And so it helps the patient understand what they're doing

and why the doctor is doing what they're doing.

I've been in that position just like that girl.

And that goop was down in there.

It did not feel good.

Nobody wants goop in their mouth.

-That's a great advancement. -It is.

It's a massive innovation. And it keeps on getting better.

They're making the wands smaller.

They're doing it.

They keep on making them better and better so that

the experience not only for the patient but for the doctor

is that much better. -That's a big advance.

-That creates everything. -That's -- yeah, I really like that one.

[Greg] Smart technology in the dental industry saves time and money

and provides more options for preventative care for patients.

We're continuing our conversation with

Pat Bauer, Heartland Dental's President

and Chief Executive Officer,

about what the future holds for the intersection of

technology and dental care and how Dental Support

Organizations, or DSOs, will continue to lead the way

in innovation.

You know, they sent me these other pictures, too.

Could you explain this one, Pat?

Yeah, this is a hygienist that looks like she's cleaning

a patient's teeth, and what she also has

the ability to do there is use Curodont.

Curodont is a product -- do you remember back in the day

when you went to the dentist and they'd say, "Well,

"if you have -- I see this small cavity and it's just too small,

so I'm going to watch it?" -Yeah, I remember that.

So that watching now no longer has to happen.

As soon as they say "watching it," they can use Curodont,

which is a peptide type of liquid that goes on the tooth,

the hygienist puts it in,

and it remineralizes the enamel.

So now you don't have to have a drill that is now

very painful to go in there and take it out.

It goes away.

So it actually grows the enamel.

It's almost as innovative, honestly.

It'll change the decay model from when fluoride did it back

in the day, when they first started putting fluoride in

the water, was to make the teeth stronger, -Right.

so that the decay would be less.

Well, this is also gonna change the model because now if

you don't have to, you can put this on it, and you're a child

or an adult, and you don't have to have a filling --

it's the best lifetime care we can deliver to a patient because

now I don't have to have a filling, and you don't have to

have that, you know, that grinding of the drill

that you can hear.

Right or the pinch of the cheek and they stick you with

the syringe and then the smell of the -- what is that smell?

-The hair -- the hair burning smell. -Right, right.

-It's just terrible, awful. -Burning teeth.

Yeah, it's just not -- it's not a good smell, and that's

why it's so innovative for them to be able to do this,

and the hygienist can place it, and it's just the best care

that we can deliver to our patients.

That's wonderful. What a great advance.

It's amazing.

All right, well talking about advances, I was hoping while

I have you here, you could tell me a little more about,

you know, the future of dentistry in tomorrow's world.

Well, if you think about it, most dentists graduating today

won't own their own practice.

The amount of debt that they have, how much it costs to

start a practice is very prohibitive.

Plus they have all that back office stuff that they have to

worry about -- insurance, HR, technology,

regulatory issues that come about.

They don't have time for that, plus being the best dentist

that they can be.

And so the future is more people like us supporting

doctors so that they can really lead their practices

and really do better patient care,

which is really lifetime care for the communities they serve.

And me as a patient, I'm liking what I'm hearing because

the doctor, dentist, is gonna be a much happier person while

they're working on me, right? -Yes, exactly.

That's a good innovation. Thank you for that.

It is. You're welcome.

So how about a tour of Inventionland?

I'd love to see it.

All right, come on, let's do it.

[George] And remember, tomorrow's world is where inspiration

and creation drive innovation and production.

See you next time.