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Adrian Lefler
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Weekly

Cut through the AI noise with Adrian Lefler, a 15-year dental industry veteran who's actually using this stuff. No theory, no sales pitches, just the tactical AI implementations that are transforming dental practices right now. In 20-30 minute episodes, Adrian brings you real practitioners sharing exactly how they're using AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other LLM's to save time, increase revenue, and stay ahead of the curve. Whether it's automating patient communication, streamlining workflows, or implementing diagnostic AI, you'll get step-by-step guidance from people who've done it successfully. This isn't another "AI is the future" podcast. It's your practical guide to implementing AI in your dental practice today – without the hype, without the fluff, and without wasting your time. Perfect for busy dental professionals who want actionable insights they can implement immediately. Because while everyone else is talking about AI, we're showing you how to actually use it. New episodes weekly. Real results guaranteed.

  1. 18h ago

    55 : AI Won't Replace You. It Will Reveal You. Allison Lacoursiere on Dental AI, Burnout, and Women in Leadership

    Every dental practice that bought AI to save time ended up doing more work faster. Allison Lacoursiere explains why that happens and what it actually costs. WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUTAdrian Lefler sits down with executive coach Allison Lacoursiere, founder of Clear Coaching and Women In Digital Dentistry, to take apart the biggest promise in dental AI right now. Every vendor at every dental show says the same thing. Buy this tool and get your time back. Allison's argument is that the time does come back and then quietly disappears, because AI creates capacity without creating permission. From there the conversation goes into what is actually happening in your brain. Dopamine fires on anticipation and novelty rather than completion, so every AI output lands as a small hit and the loop closes faster than social media. Adrian tells on himself with the Midjourney story, almost 30,000 images generated on Friday nights instead of dinner with family, a slot machine dressed up as productivity. Allison describes AI leaders at large technology companies who are gaining weight, feeling unwell, and living inside what everyone now calls AI anxiety. The second half moves to implementation and leadership. Allison walks through why AI tools fail in dental practices (no training plan, no explanation of why, no checkpoints) and why frightened team members drop out of the prefrontal cortex and start working around the software. Then she gets into cognitive load, the invisible workload female practice owners carry, why accountability conversations feel harder for women, and what high functioning burnout looks like in someone who appears to be thriving. She closes with a direct message for the men listening. QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE1. Does AI actually give a dental practice owner more free time? It gives you capacity, not permission. Most owners absorb the saved hours into more output because worth is tied to productivity. Unless you decide ahead of time what the reclaimed hours are for, the calendar refills itself with work and the promised me time never shows up. 2. Why does a full day of working with AI leave people so drained? Dopamine fires on anticipation and novelty, not completion. Every new output is a micro hit, and AI closes the loop faster than social media does. After six hours of prompting your nervous system has been firing the whole time, which is why it feels like you ran a marathon. 3. How do you roll out an AI tool so a dental team actually uses it? Start with the problem it solves. Confirm the tool has been vetted, has real reviews, and has been in dentistry long enough to trust. Then build a rollout plan with training, explain to the team why it is happening, and schedule checkpoints. Skip that and people quietly work around it. 4. Should female practice owners lead differently than male practice owners? Yes. Women's energy runs on a monthly hormonal cycle rather than a twenty four hour one, and their brains network across contexts instead of compartmentalizing, so a hard team conversation follows them home. Building schedules and success metrics around that rhythm prevents the fatigue that comes from copying a male output pattern. 5. How common is burnout among women in dentistry and dental leadership? Allison Lacoursiere cites a study from last year where upwards of 65 percent of women reported feeling burnt out in their careers. High functioning burnout is hard to catch because the part of the brain that would notice something is wrong goes offline first, so women often cannot see it. ABOUTAllison Lacoursiere is an executive and leadership coach, speaker, and the founder of Clear Coaching and Women In Digital Dentistry. She built and later sold a full service Instagram marketing agency, has served as faculty for Align Technology and Catapult Education, and studied women's leadership at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management. Her practice works with high performing women, many of them dentists and practice owners, on the identity work, nervous system regulation, and belief change that sit underneath sustainable business growth. CONTACT INFORMATIONGuest: Allison Lacoursiere Website: https://www.allisonlacoursiere.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-lacoursiere-32789680/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allison.lacoursiere Host: Adrian Lefler Website: https://mysocialpractice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianlefler/ Book Adrian to speak: https://mysocialpractice.com/dental-marketing-expert/ Dental Marketing Services: https://mysocialpractice.com/dental-marketing-services/ 👍 Subscribe for more on dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and practice growth. #DentalMarketing #AIinDentistry #WomenInDentistry #DentalLeadership #DentalPractice #WomenInDigitalDentistry #HighPerformanceBurnout

  2. Jul 24

    54 : Why More Dental Locations Doesn't Mean More Money: The Financial Blind Spot Killing DSO Growth

    Growing a dental organization is supposed to make it more profitable, but the last five years of DSO data suggest the opposite. Ken Kaufman, the CFO behind some of dentistry's biggest growth stories, explains why. WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUTAdrian Lefler sits down with Ken Kaufman, a 25-year dental finance veteran who helped scale Community Dental Partners to 75 locations and led finance at Nuvia Dental Implant Centers. Ken now runs AccruDent, the advisory firm he founded with his son Dallin to help DSOs with five to 25 locations build financial infrastructure that survives growth. His new book, Roll the Equity, co-authored with his daughter, comes out September 1 and breaks down how private equity really works in dentistry. \The conversation starts with Ken's contrarian claim: adding locations does not automatically add value. Going from one practice to two is inordinately difficult, and by 10 or 20 locations, bloat creeps in everywhere. Redundant practice management software, unmonitored lab and supply pricing, and non-revenue-generating hires quietly eat margins until a growing group is breaking even or losing money. Ken also explains the rise of the zombie DSO, an overleveraged group generating just enough cash to survive but not grow, and why accrual accounting is the biggest financial lever when it comes time to sell. Buyers build five-year models and discounted cash flow valuations, and cash-basis books get discounted for risk. He closes with a two-part playbook for anyone selling in the next three to five years: systemize the business so anyone could run it, and understand how private equity actually operates. QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE1. Does adding more locations automatically make a dental group more profitable? No. Ken Kaufman argues scaling often shrinks margins. Going from one practice to two is inordinately difficult, and each added location multiplies systems, hiring, and integration problems. Without strong processes and fiscal constraint, organizations accumulate bloat, and many multi-location groups end up breaking even or losing money despite higher revenue. 2. Where does operational bloat show up as a dental organization grows? Everywhere. Redundant software and practice management systems, overhiring non-revenue-generating staff, unmonitored lab pricing, and overpriced supplies all erode margins. Even AI tools contribute. A practice stacking multiple AI products can pay the same PMS integration fee eight separate times, sometimes totaling five or six hundred dollars a month. 3. What is a zombie DSO and how do dental groups end up there? A zombie DSO is an overleveraged group generating just enough cash to keep operating but none to grow. Most were created when buyers overpaid during the low-rate years, then variable debt costs spiked. The only way out is aggressively generating cash and working the debt down over time. 4. Why does accrual accounting increase a dental practice or DSO sale price? Accrual accounting matches expenses to the revenue they create, so buyers trust the financials. Cash-basis books get discounted for risk, and a conversion done during quality of earnings earns little credit. Groups that run accrual for years get chosen over comparable DSOs because investors know the numbers are accurate. 5. How long does private equity hold a dental investment, and what return does it expect? Private equity firms typically hold a DSO investment three to five years and target a two to five times return on invested capital. They raise money from limited partners, buy well-run groups, and resell them. Understanding that model helps founders build the kind of organization buyers actually pay for. ABOUTKen Kaufman has spent more than two decades in CFO and President/CFO roles at venture and private equity backed dental organizations, including Community Dental Partners, which he helped scale to 75 locations, and Nuvia Dental Implant Centers. He is the co-founder of AccruDent, which helps DSOs with five to 25 locations convert to accrual accounting and build financial systems that survive growth. Ken co-authored Financial Secrets to Grow Dental Organizations and the forthcoming Roll the Equity, releasing September 1. CONTACT INFORMATIONGuest: Ken Kaufman Website: https://www.accrudent.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethkaufman/ Host: Adrian Lefler Website: https://mysocialpractice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianlefler/ Book Adrian to speak: https://mysocialpractice.com/dental-marketing-expert/ Dental Marketing Services: https://mysocialpractice.com/dental-marketing-services/ 👍 Subscribe for more on dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and practice growth. #DentalMarketing #DSOGrowth #DentalFinance #AccrualAccounting #PrivateEquity #DentalPodcast #AIinDentistry

  3. Jul 17

    53 : Why Social Media Is No Longer Optional for Dental Practices: AI Content, Instagram Rankings, and the Social Studio System with Matt Hutchings

    Posting on social media used to be a nice extra for dental practices. Now it's a requirement for growth, and most practices are getting it wrong in ways that quietly cost them new patients. WHAT THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT In this episode of BYTE SIZED, Adrian Lefler talks with Matt Hutchings, who has spent the last eight years at Productive Dentist Academy working across creative strategy, go to market products, podcast production, and on-site video and photo shoots for dental practices around the country. Matt kept running into the same wall over and over: practices need authentic, real content, but the busiest people in the office are the ones expected to create it. Doctors are busy. Teams are busy. The content plan breaks down right there. That frustration led Matt to build Social Studio, a hybrid photography and AI content system that turns a single on-site shoot into months of authentic, story-driven social content, without asking the practice to keep producing new material every week. A lot of this episode centers on how search has quietly changed. Last year, Google started indexing social media content directly, and geotagged, locally relevant posts are part of what gets picked up. Matt explains that follower count matters less now than engagement, watch time, and comments. He also points to something dentists overlook: user generated content, meaning the comments patients leave, now carries real weight in how a practice shows up in search. That shifts the whole point of posting from broadcasting to actually building a relationship with the people already following you. Matt and Adrian dig into how organic posting functions as a litmus test. Instead of guessing what to spend ad dollars on, practices can look at which organic posts got real engagement and use that data to fund paid campaigns, retargeting, and landing pages built around what already worked. Matt also explains why he sees Instagram as the current front door of a dental practice, the same way Google Business Profile became a front door years ago, when a widely cited statistic showed 64 percent of that traffic never even reached the practice website. Patients are making decisions based on what they see in the feed before they ever call. The back half of the conversation is about Social Studio itself. Matt shot core photography, patient portraits from multiple angles, empty operatories, team photos, and uses AI to recombine those real assets into new scenes rather than generating people or places from scratch. Adrian pushes on the obvious question: why not just use good stock photography, or hire a local photographer to shoot a thousand images once and skip the AI step entirely? Matt walks through the tradeoffs, including patient photo release complications, HIPAA risk with untrained photographers, unreliable turnaround from third parties, and the simple math that even a great shoot with real actors runs out of new content fast. He's also direct about the ethics of it. Every Social Studio post is labeled as AI-enhanced, and doctors pre-approve every image before it goes live, because the industry's comfort with this technology could change and he'd rather be upfront now than retrofit trust later. QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE Why is posting on social media now a requirement for dental practice growth, not just an option? What changed in Google's algorithm last year that made social media content directly indexable in search? Why does Matt Hutchings call Instagram the front door of a dental practice today? What did the 64 percent Google Business Profile statistic reveal about how patients decide before ever visiting a website? How does Social Studio's hybrid AI photography system solve the authenticity problem in dental marketing without losing what makes content believable? ABOUT Matt Hutchings has spent eight years at Productive Dentist Academy working across creative strategy, go-to-market products, podcast production, and on-site video and photo production for dental practices nationwide. He is the creator of Social Studio, a hybrid photography and AI content system built specifically for dental practices. CONTACT INFORMATION Guest: Matt Hutchings Website: https://productivedentist.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthutchings/ Host: Adrian Lefler Website: https://mysocialpractice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianlefler/ Book Adrian to speak: https://mysocialpractice.com/dental-marketing-expert/ Dental Marketing Services: https://mysocialpractice.com/dental-marketing-services/ 👍 Subscribe for more on dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and practice growth. [#DentalMarketing](https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/dentalmarketing) [#DentalSocialMedia](https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/dentalsocialmedia) [#AIinDentistry](https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aiindentistry) [#DentalPracticeGrowth](https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/dentalpracticegrowth) [#DentalSEO](https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/dentalseo) [#ContentMarketing](https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/contentmarketing)

  4. Jul 10

    52 : 70% of Dentists Get Stolen From. The Other 30% Are Just Lucky

    Dental embezzlement is happening in practices right now, and most dentists will not see it coming. In this episode, Adrian Lefler sits down with David Harris, CEO of Prosperident and the leading expert on dental embezzlement investigation in North America, to break down exactly how theft happens inside dental practices, who does it, why they do it, and what you can do about it. EPISODE OVERVIEW David Harris has spent 37 years investigating dental embezzlement. In this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on the psychology of theft, the red flags hiding in plain sight, and the cold hard statistics that should make every dental practice owner pay attention. A 2019 ADA survey of nearly 19,000 dentists found that 47% had already been stolen from, with a lifetime probability of roughly 70%. The average loss is over $100,000. This episode covers the need vs. greed profile of dental thieves, behavioral warning signs, what proper pre-employment screening actually looks like, how to compare collections to deposits as a basic safeguard, and what Prosperident's investigation process looks like from first call to final report. ABOUT DAVID HARRIS David Harris is the CEO of Prosperident, the largest firm in North America dedicated exclusively to dental embezzlement investigation and prevention. With 37 years in the field, he has worked hundreds of cases, built the forensic frameworks the industry now relies on, and has spent decades studying both how theft happens in dental practices and why perpetrators almost always leave a trail long before anyone looks for it. COMPANIES & RESOURCES MENTIONED Prosperident: https://www.prosperident.com American Dental Association (ADA): https://www.ada.org Dentrix (practice management software): https://www.dentrix.com ADDITIONAL EDUCATION https://mysocialpractice.com/2025/12/sabotaging-dental-ai-byte-sized/https://mysocialpractice.com/2025/11/hackers-dental-byte-sized-podcast/ CONTACT INFORMATION Guest: David Harris Website: https://www.prosperident.com Host: Adrian Lefler Website: https://mysocialpractice.com 👍 Subscribe for more on dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and practice growth. #DentalEmbezzlement #DentalPractice #DentistryBusiness #DentalManagement #DentalPracticeGrowth #DentalTeam #Dentistry TERMS & TRANSLATIONS (For Show Notes) Embezzlement The theft of money or assets by someone in a position of trust. In dentistry, this typically means a team member, often in a financial or administrative role, stealing from the practice over time, usually in small increments that are difficult to detect. Need vs. Greed (Embezzler Profiles) Two motivational categories that describe why dental team members steal. "Needy" thieves are in genuine financial distress and steal to cover basic obligations. "Greedy" thieves feel undervalued and steal to elevate their perceived status. Both are dangerous; greedy thieves tend to escalate because there is no financial ceiling to their entitlement. Cheat Book An informal record a thief maintains to keep track of what they have altered in patient accounts so they can navigate the discrepancies without getting caught. In 1989 it was a physical notebook. Today it is more likely a private spreadsheet. Administrative Rights (Admin Rights) The highest permission level inside practice management software. A user with admin rights can override built-in safeguards, alter records, and erase transaction trails. When a front desk employee or office manager has admin rights, it creates significant embezzlement vulnerability. Checksum A built-in data verification tool in practice management software that calculates a value based on the size of the database. When the software opens each morning, it compares current checksums to the prior day. A mismatch flags a potential unauthorized change to the database outside of normal business hours. Collections vs. Deposits Reconciliation A basic monthly comparison between what the practice management software reports as collected and what actually landed in the bank account. This is the most fundamental embezzlement check a dentist can perform. Ongoing discrepancies that cannot be explained by credit card timing are a red flag. Articulation An internal audit technique that compares daily transaction data to monthly totals inside practice management software. It is designed to surface edits, deletions, or reversals that happened outside of business hours and were not intended to be visible to the doctor. Pre-Employment Screening A structured review of a job candidate before hiring that typically includes a criminal record check, drug testing, social media review, and reference checks with former employers. Must comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Do-it-yourself database searches are generally not FCRA compliant and should not be used as a basis for hiring decisions. FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) A federal law that governs how consumer information can be collected and used for employment decisions. Pre-employment screening companies must comply with FCRA. Dentists who run their own informal background checks using paid online databases may be violating this law if they use that information to make hiring decisions. Metaphor of the Ledger A psychological concept describing how some dental team members rationalize theft. They believe they contribute more value to the practice than their compensation reflects, and they treat the difference as money they are owed. This distorted accounting is a common precursor to "greedy" embezzlement. Saliva-Based Drug Testing An FDA-approved method of screening for drug use that does not require blood or urine. The test is administered via a swab and can be completed on-site at the dental practice during the hiring process, removing the logistical barrier of sending candidates to a lab.

  5. Jul 3

    51 : Why Buying New Dental Technology Is the Easy Part (And What Actually Kills the ROI)

    Most dental practices don't fail at technology because they pick the wrong software. They fail because they never built the people systems to support it. In this episode, Adrian sits down with Carrie Webber, CEO of Jameson Management Group, to unpack why technology integration breaks down in dental practices and what the ones succeeding are doing differently. EPISODE OVERVIEW Carrie Webber has spent 26 years at one of the most respected dental consulting firms in the industry, and she has watched the same pattern play out across hundreds of practices: a doctor buys a tool, the software company delivers training, and six months later the team has quietly reverted to their old habits. In this conversation, Carrie breaks down the real reason technology fails in dental practices (hint: it happens before the purchase), why team buy-in is not optional, how to lead change when your team pushes back, and what separates practices that truly optimize technology from the ones that leave expensive tools sitting underused. Whether you are evaluating AI diagnostics, patient communication platforms, or a new practice management system, the leadership and communication framework Carrie outlines applies to all of it. ABOUT CARRIE WEBBER Carrie Webber is the CEO of Jameson Management Group, one of the longest-running dental consulting firms in the industry, founded in 1990 by her parents, Dr. John and Kathy Jameson. A second-generation leader in dental practice consulting, Carrie works with practice owners on the leadership, communication, and change management systems that determine whether technology actually transforms a practice or simply adds to the overhead. She also co-hosts the Jameson Management podcast. Website: https://www.jamesonmanagement.com COMPANIES AND RESOURCES MENTIONED Jameson Management Group: https://www.jamesonmanagement.comPearl AI (dental AI diagnostics): https://www.hellopearl.comOverjet (dental AI): https://www.overjet.aiGood to Great by Jim Collins: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996 ADDITIONAL EDUCATION https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/05/dental-ai-resistance-byte-sized/https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/05/implement-tech-byte-sized/https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/05/ai-healthcare-byte-sized-pod/ CONTACT INFO Guest: Carrie Webber Website: https://www.jamesonmanagement.com Host: Adrian Lefler Website: https://mysocialpractice.com 👍 Subscribe for more on dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and practice growth. #DentalTechnology #DentalPracticeGrowth #DentalLeadership #DentalConsulting #DentalMarketing #AIInDentistry #DentalTeam TERMS & TRANSLATIONS (For Show Notes) Technology Integration The process of introducing a new software, tool, or system into a dental practice's daily workflow. True integration goes beyond installation -- it includes training, team adoption, and consistent use until the tool becomes part of how the practice operates. Technology Optimization A step beyond integration. Optimization means a dental practice is not just using a tool, but using it well enough to see measurable improvement in patient care, workflow efficiency, or production. Most practices stop at integration and never reach optimization. Team Buy-In The degree to which team members understand, accept, and are motivated to use a new tool or follow a new process. Without team buy-in, even the best software will be underutilized. Buy-in is built through communication, inclusion in decision-making, and repeated training -- not mandates. Vision Casting The practice of clearly articulating what a dental practice is trying to become -- what kind of dentistry is offered, what the patient experience looks like, and what role each team member plays. Carrie's framework uses this as the foundation for every technology decision. Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) A continuous improvement cycle used in business and manufacturing. For dental practices, it means: plan the technology rollout, implement it, evaluate how it is going, then adjust and standardize what works. Attributed to quality management pioneer W. Edwards Deming, who worked with Toyota. Change Management The structured approach to transitioning a team from how things are currently done to a new way of operating. In dentistry, this comes up every time a practice adopts new software, clinical technology, or workflow systems. Poor change management is one of the leading causes of technology failure in practices. Confirmation Bias The tendency to favor information that confirms a decision already made, even when evidence suggests it is not working. In dental practices, this shows up when a doctor continues investing time and money into a tool that is not performing, rather than cutting losses and redirecting. Continuous Improvement Loop An ongoing cycle of training, evaluation, feedback, and refinement that high-performing practices build around any new technology. Rather than treating training as a one-time event, practices with strong technology cultures return to it regularly to raise team competency over time.

  6. Jun 26

    50 : Stop Plugging In Software. The Real Technology Problem in Dentistry Is Human.

    In this episode, Adrian Lefler sits down with Melissa Turner, co-founder of the National Mobile and Teledentistry Conference and the American Mobile and Teledentistry Alliance. Melissa brings 20 years of clinical experience, has worked in over 100 dental practices across the country, and has spent the last decade helping dental teams and practice owners close the gap between buying a tool and actually changing how they work. Her lens is teledentistry, but the framework applies to every piece of technology coming into the modern dental practice, including AI tools, online scheduling, and virtual care platforms. If you're a dentist, hygienist, or dental team leader trying to figure out why implementation keeps failing even when the technology is good, this episode is for you. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN Why dental technology rarely saves time but can save energy and shift how that time is usedHow teledentistry is a retention strategy for baby boomer patients who are losing mobilityWhy online scheduling is not optional if you want new patients to actually bookHow to structure a teledentistry afternoon so the doctor is only needed for two to three minutesWhy the real barrier to technology adoption is mindset, not softwareHow mobile dentistry can triple patient volume without adding square footageWhat front desk team members should hear when a new system takes over part of their job ABOUT MELISSA TURNER Melissa Turner is a hygienist, clinician consultant, and co-founder of the National Mobile and Teledentistry Conference and the American Mobile and Teledentistry Alliance, a 501(c)(4) membership organization. With two decades of experience working across more than 100 dental practices nationwide, Melissa helps dental teams and practice owners understand what technology adoption actually costs before it pays off, and how to implement change in a way that sticks. She is one of the most direct voices in the dental industry on the gap between buying a tool and building a team that can actually use it. COMPANIES AND RESOURCES MENTIONED American Mobile and Teledentistry Alliance: https://www.amda.net/National Mobile and Teledentistry Conference: https://nmdconference.com/American Dental Association (ADA): https://www.ada.org ADDITIONAL EDUCATION https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/06/culture-by-design-byte-sized/https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/05/dental-ai-resistance-byte-sized/https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/05/ai-healthcare-byte-sized-pod/ CONTACT INFO Guest: Melissa Turner Email: melissaturnerllc@gmail.com Website: www.melissakturner.com Host: Adrian Lefler Website: https://mysocialpractice.com 👍 Subscribe for more on dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and practice growth. #Teledentistry #DentalTechnology #DentalPracticeGrowth #DentalMarketing #MobileDentistry #AIinDentistry #Dentistry TERMS AND TRANSLATIONS Teledentistry The practice of delivering dental consultations, follow-ups, and some clinical services using video, phone, or digital communication rather than requiring a patient to come into the office. The ADA recognizes two CDT-coded categories: synchronous (live face-to-face video) and asynchronous (store-and-forward, where information is reviewed later by the diagnosing provider). Synchronous Teledentistry A real-time, face-to-face virtual appointment between a dentist and patient, typically via video call. Billed in addition to the procedure codes for whatever clinical work is performed during the visit. Think of it as a virtual operatory visit where both parties are present at the same time. Asynchronous Teledentistry (Store-and-Forward) A care delivery model where a team member collects patient information, photos, or records at one time, and the diagnosing provider reviews and responds at a later time. This allows the dentist to evaluate cases without being physically present or on a live call. Common in mobile and remote care settings. Mobile Dentistry Dental care delivered outside of a brick-and-mortar practice, using portable equipment or a mobile unit to bring services directly to patients in homes, assisted living facilities, workplaces, or community settings. Distinct from teledentistry in that care is delivered in person, but off-site. CDT Codes Current Dental Terminology codes, maintained by the ADA, are the billing and procedure codes used in dentistry. Teledentistry has two specific CDT codes that allow practices to bill for virtual care services, making it reimbursable in many states. Online Scheduling A patient-facing booking tool that allows new and existing patients to schedule appointments without calling the office or waiting for a callback. Practices that implement online scheduling often see significant increases in new patient volume, particularly from patients who search and want to book outside of business hours. Baby Boomer Retention A strategy for keeping older patients, specifically those born between 1946 and 1964, active in a dental practice as their mobility decreases. Teledentistry and mobile dentistry are particularly well-suited for this population as they age into reduced independence and find it harder to travel to appointments. Technology Implementation Gap The period between when a dental practice purchases a new tool and when the team is actually using it well. This gap is the source of most technology frustration in dental practices and is driven more by mindset and team readiness than by the software itself.

  7. Jun 19

    49 : AI Can't Have the Idea: Why Human Creativity Still Runs the Room

    AI Can't Have the Idea: Why Human Creativity Still Runs the Room AI in dentistry is everywhere right now, but is it actually solving your marketing problem or just making it look like you have one? In this episode, Adrian Lefler sits down with Len Davis to draw the line most marketing gurus are afraid to draw. EPISODE OVERVIEW Every dental practice owner is being sold the idea that AI tools will transform their marketing. But what if the real problem is not the tool, it is the lack of a great idea behind it? Len Davis, founder of a full-service creative marketing agency with 26 years in the industry, joins Adrian to break down why AI is a powerful execution machine but a deeply flawed idea machine. They explore how dental practices can use AI to handle narrow, repeatable tasks while keeping human creativity at the center of campaign strategy. If you have ever wondered whether handing your marketing off to ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI tool is a shortcut or a trap, this episode gives you the honest answer. ABOUT LEN DAVIS Len Davis is the founder of PUREi (Pure Imagination), a full-service creative marketing and production agency based in Batavia, Illinois, with 26 years in business. Len and his team specialize in campaign strategy, video production, photography, design, and website development. Len has spent the last several years stress-testing AI tools across image generation, video production, and strategic planning, not as a skeptic, but as someone who has to bill clients for results. His TikTok content challenging the creative limits of AI has earned him a practitioner-level perspective on exactly where these tools break down. COMPANIES AND TOOLS MENTIONED ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.comClaude (Anthropic): https://claude.aiPerplexity AI: https://www.perplexity.aiMidjourney: https://www.midjourney.comGoogle Gemini: https://gemini.google.comPhotoshop (Adobe): https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.htmlMake (formerly Integromat): https://www.make.comN8n: https://n8n.ioOpus Clip: https://www.opus.proClaude Code: https://claude.ai/code ADDITIONAL EDUCATION https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/03/authentic-marketing-for-dentists/https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/02/tiktok-ai-video-seedance/https://mysocialpractice.com/2025/11/ai-dental-tools-imaginable/ CONTACT INFORMATION Guest: Len Davis Company: PUREi Website: purei.com Host: Adrian Lefler Website: https://mysocialpractice.com 👍 Subscribe for more on dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and practice growth. #DentalMarketing #AIinDentistry #DentalPracticeGrowth #ArtificialIntelligence #DentalAI #Dentistry #DentalBusiness TERMS & TRANSLATIONS AI Hallucination When an AI tool generates information that sounds confident and credible but is factually wrong or completely made up. For dental practices, this is a serious risk if AI is used to write clinical content, cite statistics, or generate patient-facing claims without human review. Execution Machine A term used in this episode to describe what AI is actually good at: completing specific, well-defined tasks quickly and repeatedly. For a dental practice, this might include drafting follow-up email sequences, generating image variations for ads, or summarizing patient review trends. It is not a substitute for campaign strategy or creative direction. Idea Machine What AI is frequently marketed as but, according to Len Davis, is not yet capable of being in practice. A true idea machine would generate original, differentiated concepts a dental practice has never tried. In reality, AI tends to regurgitate patterns from its training data, producing suggestions that are generic and safe rather than breakthrough. Prompt Engineering The skill of writing detailed, specific instructions to get useful output from an AI tool. In image generation or content creation, a well-crafted prompt can dramatically improve results. For dental teams using AI to create social content or marketing copy, learning how to write strong prompts is the difference between usable output and generic filler. AI Image Generation The use of tools like Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, or Google Imagen to create original images from text descriptions. For dental practices, this could eventually replace some stock photo costs, but requires human creative direction to produce images that reflect the actual brand, tone, and patient experience of the practice. Workflow Automation The use of tools like Make or N8n to connect software systems and automate repetitive tasks without manual effort. For dental practices, this might include automating appointment reminders, new patient follow-ups, or review request sequences. AI can assist with certain steps, but the overall system still requires human setup and oversight. Authenticity (in marketing) The quality of marketing content that feels genuinely human, personal, and trustworthy rather than generated or generic. In dentistry, where trust is the primary driver of patient choice, authenticity is not a soft value but a hard competitive advantage. AI-generated content that feels robotic or impersonal can actively harm a practice's reputation.

  8. Jun 12

    48 : What the Robot Can't Quantify: Helen Edwards on AI, Identity, and the Future of Human Professions

    Researchers studying thousands of people found a counterintuitive truth: the people who go deepest with AI are the ones who stay most true to themselves. In this episode of the Bite Size Podcast, Helen Edwards, co-founder of the Artificiality Institute, shares research-backed insights that challenge Silicon Valley's loudest claims about artificial intelligence replacing human workers. This conversation cuts through the fear and hype dominating AI headlines and replaces it with something far more useful: a research framework that helps dental professionals understand how AI actually changes the way we think, work, and grow. Helen and Adrian explore why the "AI will replace all jobs" narrative is driven more by venture capital investment strategy than by evidence, how dental AI tools like X-ray analysis expand clinical work rather than eliminate it, and what the "three B's" (blending, bonding, and bending) reveal about your relationship with AI tools right now. Whether you are a dentist watching robotic implant demos or a practice owner wondering how AI will reshape your team, this episode gives you a framework to think clearly about what AI should do, what humans must continue to own, and how to stay the author of your own mind. ABOUT HELEN EDWARDS Helen Edwards is co-founder and researcher at the Artificiality Institute, a nonprofit research organization studying the relationship between human performance and artificial intelligence. She and her co-founder and spouse, Dave Edwards (former Apple software product manager and early internet executive), have conducted research with over a thousand participants across hundreds of hours of workshops. Helen is a visiting researcher at UC Berkeley's Center for Human-Compatible AI (CHAI) alongside Stuart Russell. She is also a sought-after keynote speaker and one of the more compelling voices on TikTok challenging the binary narratives around AI and the future of work. COMPANIES AND RESOURCES MENTIONED Suno AI (AI music generation): https://suno.com Waymo (autonomous vehicles): https://waymo.com Artificiality Institute: https://www.artificiality.world UC Berkeley CHAI: https://humancompatible.ai My Social Practice: https://mysocialpractice.com ADDITIONAL EDUCATION https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/05/ai-healthcare-byte-sized-pod/https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/04/learning-ai-hiring-byte-sized/https://mysocialpractice.com/2026/03/authentic-marketing-for-dentists/ CONTACT INFO Guest: Helen Edwards Website: https://www.artificiality.world Social: @artificiality on TikTok and Instagram Host: Adrian Lefler Website: https://mysocialpractice.com 👍 Subscribe for more on dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and practice growth. #DentalAI #AIInDentistry #ArtificialIntelligence #DentalPractice #FutureOfWork #DentistryPodcast #HumanAndAI TERMS & TRANSLATIONS (For Show Notes) Blending: One of three ways AI changes how we think, according to Helen Edwards' research. Blending is when a person's reasoning merges with AI-generated thinking to the point that the two become difficult to separate. For a dentist, this might look like using AI to draft a treatment narrative and genuinely adopting that framing as your own thinking. Bonding: The second dimension of AI integration in Helen's framework. Bonding occurs when your professional identity begins to attach to the AI tool, and you start to see yourself differently because of how you use it. A practice owner who now thinks of themselves as "tech-forward" because of their AI tools is experiencing bonding. Bending: The third dimension. Bending is when AI expands the frameworks you use to make meaning and solve problems. It is the growth dimension. A dentist who uses AI to explore clinical literature outside their specialty and starts asking new kinds of diagnostic questions is bending. Cognitive Sovereignty: Helen's term for staying the author of your own thinking. It means maintaining awareness of how you use AI, having agency over those choices, and being accountable to others for the work you produce. For a clinician, it means the judgment behind a treatment recommendation remains yours, even when AI assisted the analysis. Vibe Coding: A term from AI research describing the ability to build functional software by describing what you want in plain language rather than writing code. Relevant for dental practices because it means practice owners and office managers will increasingly be able to create custom tools for scheduling, communication, or reporting without hiring developers. Augmented Dexterity vs. Autonomous Intelligence: Helen's framework for evaluating dental robotics demonstrations. Augmented dexterity means a robot is enhancing a human's precision in a controlled, highly staged environment. Autonomous intelligence would mean the robot is truly making independent clinical judgments in unpredictable, real-world conditions. According to Helen's research, dental robotics today is far closer to the former than the latter.

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About

Cut through the AI noise with Adrian Lefler, a 15-year dental industry veteran who's actually using this stuff. No theory, no sales pitches, just the tactical AI implementations that are transforming dental practices right now. In 20-30 minute episodes, Adrian brings you real practitioners sharing exactly how they're using AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other LLM's to save time, increase revenue, and stay ahead of the curve. Whether it's automating patient communication, streamlining workflows, or implementing diagnostic AI, you'll get step-by-step guidance from people who've done it successfully. This isn't another "AI is the future" podcast. It's your practical guide to implementing AI in your dental practice today – without the hype, without the fluff, and without wasting your time. Perfect for busy dental professionals who want actionable insights they can implement immediately. Because while everyone else is talking about AI, we're showing you how to actually use it. New episodes weekly. Real results guaranteed.

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    Adrian Lefler
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    2025 - 2026
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