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Episode 251: Dr. Deren Flesher - Redefining how dental offices engage with patients using AI
07/16/2026
Episode 251: Dr. Deren Flesher - Redefining how dental offices engage with patients using AI
In this episode of the Stress-Free Dentist Podcast, Dr. Eric Block sits down with Dr. Deren Flesher — an Oklahoma dentist and serial dental-software entrepreneur who co-founded Modento and founded Airo Dental. Raised in small-town Oklahoma by two hospital nurses, Deren came to dentistry late, after ending every shadowing session with one revealing question: “If I were your son, would you advise I do what you do?” Nearly every physician said no; every dentist said yes. Three years and “20 failures” later he got into dental school, associated at DSO offices doing thousands of extractions and dentures, then opened a scratch startup in 2015 that has since seen around 12,000 patients. The conversation digs into why he builds software to solve his own problems. Modento — a patient communication, forms, and consent platform — grew to a couple thousand offices and sold to Dental Intel (now Engagement by Dental Intelligence). His newest company, Airo Dental, centers on “Lane,” an AI voice scheduler that answers 100% of scheduling calls in his practice. Deren and Dr. Block unpack the real numbers: the national average is about 65% of calls answered, only about 50% of ready-to-book callers actually get scheduled, and an AI that never misses a call and books roughly 80% of the time can be about twice as effective as a human team — while being honest about what AI still can’t do. They also cover rebuilding the phone tree so patients self-select, the stress it lifts off the front-desk team, and close with candid money advice: after chasing tax-advantaged private deals, Deren came “full circle” to simple, low-cost, diversified index investing — pay your taxes, avoid shortcuts, and put the rest on autopilot so you can focus on dentistry.
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