Very Clinical: Charlie Fryer on the AI in Dentistry Hype Machine
The Very Dental Podcast Network
Release Date: 10/14/2025
Very Clinical: Stepping Away with Dr. Frank Clayton
The Very Dental Podcast Network
This episode features hosts Zach and Kevin, who welcome returning guest Dr. Frank Clayton to discuss the psychology and process of retiring from dentistry. Dr. Frank Clayton, who sold his practice and fully exited clinical work in July 2023, shares his insightful journey and the various phases of retirement he's experienced, including the "honeymoon phase." Kevin, who recently sold his practice in August and is now navigating the associate phase, offers his perspective on the initial mental shifts of stepping away from ownership. The hosts and Frank delve into the factors that drive the...
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AME: Entropy and Reading Directions
The Very Dental Podcast Network
Alan reflects on his recent return to the Bioclear Learning Center, an experience that served as a powerful system reset for his restorative dentistry. He connects the challenge of maintaining new techniques in the dental office to the physics concept of entropy—the natural tendency of a system toward disorder. Alan explains that his initial failure to fully implement the prescriptive Bioclear system (including key steps like "bioblasting") was due to the energy required to fight against this entropy, often manifesting as personal laziness or team resistance to change. He stresses that...
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Very Dental: An Evening with Dr. Lance Timmerman
The Very Dental Podcast Network
This episode features host Dr. Alan Mead sitting down with his friend, Dr. Lance Timmerman, in the artsy Hotel Murano lobby in Tacoma, Washington, while Dr. Mead is attending a four-day Bioclear core certification course. The conversation flows between the excellence of the Bioclear hands-on CE curriculum and the company's continuous innovation in dental matrices (like the redesigned twin ring). Dr. Mead and Dr. Timmerman also share humorous and insightful anecdotes from their dental school days, discussing the crushing weight of modern student debt, the challenges of implementing new CE...
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Very Clinical: Tissue Issues: Grafting and Recession
The Very Dental Podcast Network
Hosts Zach and Kevin put the sports talk (mostly) aside to dive deep into a critical area of everyday dentistry: various scenarios involving soft and hard tissue grafting and the management of periodontal recession. They discuss how to handle common cases like recession in post-ortho teens (especially on the lower anterior teeth) and the different approaches for the challenging chewing tobacco patient. Zach and Kevin share their experience with generalized recession, debating when to refer for a graft—often noting that patient concern over esthetics or sensitivity drives the decision more...
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AME: Recommendation Engine--Tacoma Edition
The Very Dental Podcast Network
Alan records from his hotel in Tacoma, Washington, after finishing day three of a four-day Bioclear anterior and posterior certification course. Despite the dark and rainy November weather in Tacoma, Alan shares his enthusiastically positive experience at the Bioclear Learning Center, highlighting the high quality of the instruction and hands-on training. He then offers a "recommendation engine" based on his trip, covering a specific Bioclear product, a movie he watched on the flight, an airport security service, a local restaurant, and a final endorsement of the learning center itself....
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Very Dental: Dr. Tim Anderson has the Midas Touch
The Very Dental Podcast Network
Alan sits down once more with Dr. Tim Anderson to dive deep into the rapidly evolving landscape of digital dentistry. The episode begins with a hilarious, relatable discussion about the terrors of crashing recording software and the potential (and pitfalls) of AI, touching on everything from homework help to its role in revolutionizing clinical notes and reading X-rays. The conversation quickly pivots to Dr. Anderson's journey from engineering and architecture interests to his passion for the dental lab and in-house manufacturing, fueled by his residency and the purchase of a CEREC system. He...
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Very Clinical: Pickleball and Perio
The Very Dental Podcast Network
Zach and Kevin kick off this episode by catching up and discussing a shared, recent hobby: pickleball. They share their experiences, the learning curve, and their thoughts on why the sport has become so popular, acknowledging its accessibility compared to tennis. The conversation then shifts to a dental topic: periodontal disease. They reflect on the emphasis of perio in dental school and discuss their personal criteria for treating scaling and root planning cases in-office versus when to refer to a periodontist. Key referral points include cases with sudden, isolated deep pockets,...
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AME: Intentional Culture
The Very Dental Podcast Network
Alan gets candid about the concept of intentional culture, reflecting on his own experience taking over a dental practice where the culture was largely unintentional. He explains how he inherited a laid-back, reparative-dentistry-focused office, a product of the previous owner's lax style and the robust GM insurance benefits of the time. Alan admits that while his practice's culture has been adequate, making changes now is incredibly difficult because the unintentional status quo is deeply ingrained. He argues that new owners or startups have a massive advantage in establishing an intentional...
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Very Dental: Confessions of a CE Junkie with Dr. Lance Timmerman
The Very Dental Podcast Network
Alan welcomes his first-ever podcast guest, Dr. Lance Timmerman, back to the show for a candid look at the life of a "CE Junkie." Lance shares his extensive, and often scattershot, journey through continuing education—from early courses in sleep apnea and Botox to implants and orthodontics—and the key lesson learned: it's hard to dabble in specialty procedures. The discussion evolves into a broader reflection on how dentistry has changed, especially for new dentists facing massive student debt. Ultimately, Lance describes his successful transition to a semi-retired, three-day-a-week...
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Very Clinical: More Value, Less Grind with Dr. Sully Sullivan
The Very Dental Podcast Network
This throwback episode of the Very Clinical Podcast features hosts Kevin and Zach welcoming back Dr. Sully Sullivan to discuss his involvement with 3D Dentists. Sully details the Mastermind program, which focuses on business strategy for successful dentists, advocating for a shift toward comprehensive diagnosis and "fewer, well-planned visits" through the foundational use of full DSLR photography. He then describes the Digital Implant Continuum, highlighting its unique, all-encompassing curriculum that teaches everything from extraction and grafting to guided implant placement and restoration...
info_outlineIn this throwback episode of Very Clinical, Zach and Kevin welcome back Charlie Fryer to talk about AI in dentistry. Charlie recently finished a master's thesis about class II caries and AI so he can see applications in dentistry from the perspective of a computer scientist.
AI's Current Role in the Dental Industry
The guys discuss existing and potential applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in dentistry, acknowledging that the future of the profession will be heavily influenced by this technology.
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Invisalign/Aligners: Kevin notes that companies like Align Technology (Invisalign) are essentially data companies that leverage millions of intraoral scans from iTero to perfect tooth-movement algorithms and quickly generate treatment plans. He suspects much of the initial clin-check setup is AI-driven, with human checks afterward.
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Design & Manufacturing: AI is already used for the automated design and quick file return for appliances like night guards by companies like SprintRay, as well as for crown design in some printing workflows.
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Radiographic Diagnosis: The hosts discuss companies that use AI to read and assist in diagnosing findings on X-rays. A key discussion point is how these companies, like DSOs (Dental Service Organizations) such as Heartland or Aspen, acquire the vast amounts of patient data needed to train their models. The hosts posit that users become the "product," providing data with every image analyzed.
Future AI Applications and Benefits
The conversation shifts to more future-facing applications and the overall impact of AI on dental practice.
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Net Positive Impact: Zach and Kevin agree that AI will be a net positive for dentistry, primarily as an aid rather than a replacement for clinical judgment, drawing an analogy to how a GPS system advises a driver but the driver still makes the final decisions.
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Combining Data Sets: Charlie suggests combining various patient data, such as cone beam CTs, intraoral scans, and radiographic images, to develop next-generation tools for complex procedures like implant placement guidance.
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Practice Optimization: A major area for AI development is practice management. They discuss using machine learning to:
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Optimize scheduling based on patient history (recurrent neural networks) and procedure mix to maximize profitability and account for unexpected needs.
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Forecast inventory needs to ensure the practice is always adequately stocked.
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Financial and Marketing Tools:
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Patient Financing: Kevin highlights Sun Bit, a payment program that uses an AI component to quickly determine a patient's payment risk and rate by analyzing non-traditional data like utility payments instead of a full credit report.
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Marketing: AI is already effective in predicting click-through rates for online advertisements, which could be leveraged by dental practices.
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