Laser Dentistry Evolution: Transforming Patient Care with Dr. Vivian Roknian
Episode Description
Join Dr. Vivian Roknian as she shares her journey implementing laser technology in her Beverly Hills practice and how it revolutionized her approach to patient care. Learn about the science behind laser wavelengths, real clinical applications, and how emerging technologies like AI are shaping the future of dentistry.
Episode Navigation
- 00:02 – Introduction and welcome
- 00:34 – Dr. Roknian’s background and practice focus
- 02:08 – Journey into laser dentistry
- 05:52 – Understanding different laser wavelengths
- 11:13 – Science of laser-tissue interaction
- 19:44 – Managing medically compromised patients
- 31:19 – Future of dental technology and AI
- 38:28 – Key takeaway messages
Key Takeaways
Clinical Benefits
- FDA-cleared laser technology enables true tissue regeneration
- Reduced post-operative pain and faster healing
- Effective management of medically compromised patients
- Superior results for implant complications
Practice Implementation
- Patient education and acceptance strategies
- Integration with existing procedures
- Practice efficiency improvements
- Enhanced clinical outcomes
Meet Our Guest
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Beverly Hills-based dentist and entrepreneur focusing on implant dentistry, laser procedures, and clear aligners. Chief Clinical Officer for Flaus and featured on Shark Tank. Renowned educator in implant complications management and AI applications in dentistry.
Featured Discussion Topics
- Laser wavelength science and tissue interaction
- Managing implant complications
- Treatment of medically compromised patients
- Practice technology integration
- Future of AI in dentistry
- 3D printing applications
Connect With Simplify Dentistry
- Website: simplifydds.com
- Facebook Group: Simplify Dentistry Community
Topics: laser dentistry, dental technology, implant complications, practice management, dental AI, medical management, tissue regeneration, dental innovation, continuing education, practice efficiency
Transcript
00:02
Intro
Welcome to the Simplify Dentistry podcast. Join us as we discuss clinical, operational and financial aspects of your practice, help you enjoy life and dare to simplify dentistry.
00:16
Dr. Richard Offutt
My name is Dr. Richard Offutt. My co host is Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan. We are joined today by Dr. Vivian Roknian. Vivian, welcome.
00:25
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Thank you. It’s so nice to see you guys. What a nice pleasant.
00:29
Dr. Richard Offutt
Yeah. Tell us about you, Tell me about you. What’s going on?
00:34
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Well, I am a dentist by training. I think I call myself an entrepreneur by passion. I have a practice in Beverly Hills and it’s really pared down to implant dentistry, particularly managing other doc’s complications, laser dentistry and clear aligners. And then I recently brought in the 3D printing and lots of focus recently on playing with how AI can help level up a practice. And so that’s what I’ve been up to. Beyond that, I’ve been on the road quite a bit. I do teach management of implant complications as well as different uses of AI. And I talk quite a bit about the periolase mvp. I love my laser and what else can I tell you? I am the chief clinical officer for Flaus, which is the world’s first and only electronic flosser.
01:34
Dr. Vivian Roknian
We were actually on Shark Tank last May on the season finale and we caught a shark. So that was a lot of fun.
01:41
Dr. Richard Offutt
Oh, good, good. I remember coming our way from our. One of our phone calls and I remember going, man, that’s a cool doc. So it may be cool doc, maybe it may be what we christened her is, you know her Animal House name is Cool Doc or Doc Rock. Either, either one.
02:00
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Dig it.
02:01
Dr. Richard Offutt
Thank you. Neat stuff. You do a bunch of fun stuff. And Nita, so what got you into lasers?
02:08
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Great question. I. I was always the kind of girl who just lived and died by the scalpel and that was it. The bulk of my practice has always been some sort of surgical aspects. And to me I figured, well, a scalpel cost next to nothing, certainly less than the price of a cup of coffee. And I knew I was getting consistent results and the work was coming from my own two hands. As time went by, I was gifted a little bitty diode laser. And I thought, this is kind of silly, but thanks. And I started using it pretty much every single day in practice. As time went by and Covid happened, I’ll tell you with COVID there’s two types of docs during that period.
02:56
Dr. Vivian Roknian
There’s one who didn’t really see many patients and stared at the television screen and said, what the heck am I going to do? And then there are the other docs who, it seemed like were just the only doc on an island of tons and tons of patients with nowhere to turn them other than just taking care of it. So I ended up with a pretty substantial overuse injury. And with that I thought, oh, my gosh, I like to think I’m always going to be young, but I thought, this is way too soon in my career to say that I need to step away and there has to be some answer that isn’t going to beat up my body. I mean, I think we all have those mornings where we wake up feeling like we’re shaped like a question mark, but.
03:42
Dr. Richard Offutt
Right? Tell me it’s not true. Tell me it’s not true.
03:47
Dr. Vivian Roknian
But the question mark posture really got me questioning a lot of things. And namely, that was, what am I going to do to preserve the longevity of my career? And what am I going to do to help my patients in a way that is farther beyond their expectations? And that’s where I then came across this laser. And it’s been a game changer. It’s been a game changer both for my practice in terms of managing patients for my team and the amount of stress it’s brought down and really the amount of increased production I have. And I still, at the end of the day, feel pretty refreshed and fine. I mean, I, including my practice, I have four different businesses. And I have an infant, too.
04:41
Dr. Richard Offutt
That’s what she said. I originally tried to schedule her for eight in the morning. She goes, I’ve got a tiny baby, I go to 8:00. Just doesn’t work in your world.
04:51
Dr. Vivian Roknian
No. And so at the end of a clinical day, I needed a way that I can still pick up and keep being productive in other aspects of my life. And this literally was a purchase for myself and a purchase of freedom because I’m just not that kind of tired. I, I, I like to say I now have the posture of a ballerina because I’m not in weird Cirque du Soleil positions as often I used to as I used to be. And I’m not coming home exhausted, so.
05:30
Dr. Richard Offutt
So did you, did you, you were gifted the diode? And then did you explore other options before you kind of ended up on the, you know, the ND Yag or.
05:43
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Oh, yeah. I mean, look, you can’t go from bicycle to Ferrari, right?
05:47
Dr. Richard Offutt
Well, that, yeah, right. So what was, what would that, what that process look like for you?
05:52
Dr. Vivian Roknian
You know, there’s A variety of other companies and I sat through all of their lectures and all of their presentations. I. It came down to did I want to get a soft tissue laser, a hard tissue laser, what kinds of wavelengths were going to really fit with the kind of practice that I have? And then beyond that, it really came down to two main lasers that I was looking at. And look, I’m not going to lie, this is, aside from real estate, the most expensive thing I ever bought myself. And so it had to be something that I was going to be proud of. My final decision. And really what was a game changer for me is that this is the only one that has the true FDA clearances.
06:36
Dr. Vivian Roknian
This is the only one that has its own studies that I know that if God forbid anything were to happen, I’m using the gold standard. It’s not that I’m using any sort of brand that has a me too type clearance. This is a, a creation in that they actually comes with all of the appropriate FDA clearances. And for me that was a game that was made in a no brainer.
07:04
Dr. Richard Offutt
That’s so interesting that you say that because that was when I started using the NDA. Glazer is the same one that you use. And what was so attractive to me was that the FDA, I think approved that in 2016 in like the spring. And then we bought ours that summer and when did the training process. And that was exactly what I was waiting for. I’m pretty pragmatic. I know you went to Temple. I went to Penn. So it, you know, both those schools are incredible schools and Penn was really based, I know was based very heavily. I did Perio. They’re very based in literature and you know, you, it’s not just oh, I feel this way or I feel that way, it’s what is actually does it.
07:53
Dr. Richard Offutt
And so let’s talk a little bit about the big three, the trifecta of bone cementum and pdl. Talk to us a little bit about that. Is that what was so interesting to you when you first looked at it?
08:07
Dr. Vivian Roknian
What was so interesting to me when I first looked at it was right from the get go the before and after pictures that were really after only one treatment. And it was mind boggling that a laser with a specific wavelength that isn’t particularly difficult to use in any way can regenerate. And the histological findings from that three months out, nine months out, you cannot argue with the fact that this is all being created in the way that our creator created us.
08:46
Dr. Richard Offutt
Right.
08:46
Dr. Vivian Roknian
There’s no scarring, there’s no long junctional epithelium all over the place. There’s. It’s truly a regeneration.
08:55
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
So how was it when you started dealing with new patients that were. That you’re like, hey, I’m going to bring this laser into my practice and use it as treatment, as a treatment vehicle for patients.
09:07
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Was there pushback in the beginning? There was. And I’ve come to learn that whenever there’s any sort of pushback, it’s because we’re not communicating effectively. And so I had to find a way to get them to understand that this is something that’s for their benefit. That’s going to help quite a bit. And I reframed the wording to. We’re using the oral equivalent of a LASIK type laser. So you know what LASIK is, It works on your eyes. Either you’ve had it done yourself, you have a friend or family member, you know, it’s gentle, you know, the recovery time is quick and you know that it works. And this is that same type of concept, but with your gums. And that’s when I’ll get the. Oh, that’s what you’ve been trying to say.
10:02
Dr. Richard Offutt
Well, you know, it was crazy in that when we brought it into our practice, we had, you know, our thing was when were doing surgery, we kind of did half mouths. Right. And so we, you know, we had done half mouths on a whole bunch of patients, and then we decided that were going to switch them. Okay, we’re going to switch them in. Yeah, yeah. We weren’t. Yeah. And, and so we got these people to come in and we do the, you know, less painless bleeding, less swelling, have more happiness, sort of, you know, that’s the outcome. And so we did the other half with the laser. And, and without exception, they told my partner and I at the time that had they known that they could do the laser, they wouldn’t have waited 12 months between halves. Right? Yeah, yeah. Up.
10:51
Dr. Richard Offutt
Because they were so unhappy with the pro, with the. With the nature of the procedure, doing it traditionally, that they wouldn’t have. They wouldn’t have put it off for so long had they known that this option was available. So talk, let’s talk a little bit about the laser light, the wavelengths. Let’s talk about that.
11:13
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Sure. Absolutely. So what’s amazing about this specific wavelength, the 1064 nanometers is. You know, it’s funny, I was actually, I was talking one day and I was really hungry. And I kept calling them Newton meters.
11:30
Dr. Richard Offutt
Kind of like a fig Newton.
11:31
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Yes. Anyhow, what’s really amazing about this specific wavelength is that it’s particularly attracted to pigment. And so as we know are the bacteria that cause a lot of periodontal disease does have a pigment within it. And it actually goes kind of like a sniper specifically to inflammation, disease, tissue, and this bacteria and it just peels that away. So it’s different from a diode in that a diode is just some like it just melts away whatever’s there, sort of like a blowtorch. Whereas this works more like a sniper would. And it just goes specifically after inflammation and the disease and then there’s another setting within it still same wavelength, but different type of use of it, where that then brings down the inflammation and it pulls in stem cells to get healing to happen much more quickly.
12:30
Dr. Vivian Roknian
And other wavelengths don’t have that ability, particularly in the area that we’re using it. I, I think that’s pretty amazing.
12:40
Dr. Richard Offutt
Incredible. I mean that’s the, that, that’s the Sikransky red triad, right, that it targets. So that’s, it’s very cool. I know. I, as I said, I practice periodontics and it would, it was a really, a big difference in terms of wound healing and so forth. So, so let’s talk about the absorption of different wavelengths in, by different tissues. I think that’s what a lot of docs, a lot of our listeners probably are unaware of. And that this particular, this millennium laser is very, very good at because of the wavelength and, and how it interacts with water and whatnot.
13:25
Dr. Vivian Roknian
So thank you. There look, different wavelengths then create different kinds of results. So for example, like a CO2 type laser is going to just bounce off of whatever water there is. When you’re looking at an erbium laser, that’s going to be something for hard tissue and cutting teeth. It comes down to really what kind of use you’d like to have within the practice. Because, you know, I am often asked, well, a laser is a laser. Why would you spend a sizable amount one and maybe a couple of grand on another? And I say, okay, well A, that’s like saying that a car is a car. Well, not necessarily.
14:03
Dr. Richard Offutt
Right, yeah, right.
14:04
Dr. Vivian Roknian
I was about to say the exact same thing. Yes, it will get you from A to B, but you’re going to have totally different experiences and results. So, so for myself, it came down to what kinds of results was I looking for and what did I really want to do more of within my practice? I mean, I’ve been. While I am a gp, I. A lot of what I’ve been doing has been periosurgery. And I’ll tell you, I have patients who have had traditional periosurgery and who’ve gone to other offices where they have different kinds of lasers and dealt with all that.
14:39
Dr. Vivian Roknian
And the 24 hour follow up call that I give my patients for those specific patients, they say, doc, I’m glad that I stayed awake because had I have been put to sleep, I never would have believed that anything was actually done. I feel fine. I don’t have a weird flavor in my mouth. I don’t feel like I was cooked in any way. I feel perfectly fine to continue on my day. And thank you so much for bringing this into my life. And I mean, that’s not the same result that I’ve had with my diode. No, no, certainly not the same result as what you get from an electro surge.
15:19
Dr. Richard Offutt
Yeah, right. Not, not as much of a smoke screen. Right? Yeah, precisely.
15:23
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Burn, flash.
15:24
Dr. Richard Offutt
Exactly. You know, one of the cool things and this I think is not often spoken about, even when you guys are on the podium presenting the laser, is the application for medically compromised patients. I think that’s a, that’s just a, a secret deal that isn’t really discussed very much. You know, in terms of people that, that cannot come off of anticoagulation therapy. They cannot, they, you know, they cannot be sedated. They, you know, two too high a risk for strokes and heart problems. And this is such a cool solution for that. I just have to throw that in there for you. I don’t know if that was part, I don’t know if that was part of your pitch or not.
16:12
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Oh, no, look, I had, I needed.
16:15
Dr. Richard Offutt
To throw it in there. I figured, what the hell, you know, let’s go.
16:18
Dr. Vivian Roknian
I’ll tell you, that was the day that I fell absolutely in love with my laser. I had a patient who was referred to me by a doc up the hall from my office. Now look, being in Beverly Hills, we have a population of 35,000 residents. More than 10% of them are dentists. So there’s nothing exotic about us. And I feel like if you throw anything in any direction, you’re going to hit one. So you can only imagine the kind of patient this person was with regards to medically compromised when he was then referred from up the hall over to me. Okay, well, how can I help? And the doc said, I can’t handle this person. We can’t take him off any sort of medications. He bleeds like a sieve. I can’t do anything.
17:08
Dr. Vivian Roknian
And at this point, just, there has to be a way to get this tooth out without putting him in the hospital. So I said, sure, I’ll see what I can do. So fired up the laser and explain to the patient, hey, this works differently in that it’s going to create a type of coagulation that’s going to bring down the inflammation and help you heal more quickly as well. And he said, look, that’s great, but I need to know how much gauze you have in your office, because I’m going to use all of it.
17:41
Dr. Richard Offutt
I’m planning to bleed out. I’m going to bleed out on you in the hallway.
17:47
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
It’s great. It’s not in your office. It’s perfect.
17:49
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Yeah. So I told him, hey, look, I’ll make a deal, okay? If one drop of your blood falls on my floor, I’m not going to charge you. And then he said, well, that really comes down to how much blood, how much gauze you have, and how quickly you throw me out of the office. And I go, okay, you know what? Here’s two pieces of gauze. If I need more than those two pieces of gauze, I’m not going to charge you. You’re going to clot up and walk out of here perfectly fine. Then with that, he said, okay, I’ll sign the consent form. Let’s do this. Took the tooth out and use my hemostasis setting on my laser.
18:29
Dr. Vivian Rocknian
The guy stopped bleeding, put those two pieces of gauze in, left him alone for about 15 minutes, came back, showed, pulled up a mirror it in front of him, and I said, your gauze isn’t even saturated. And he looked at me and he looked at his reflection and he said, I thought for sure I was having free work done today.
18:57
Dr. Richard Offutt
Yeah, you should have done him a 2x on the other. It’s free if you bleed. It’s 2x if you don’t.
19:05
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, exactly.
19:06
Dr. Vivian Roknian
No, it was. I made sure that, yeah, I was going to be compensated.
19:13
Dr. Richard Offutt
That is. That is something very cool, though, is that, you know, I. I would see patients from all over the place and lots of different doctors, and. And sometimes they. They’d send us. They’d send the specialist people that they didn’t want to deal with. In your case, they sent it down the hall. Right, well, you know, so you see these people, And a lot of folks would be, they were hopeless teeth, right? They were hopeless teeth. And so what, what? You know, you go in, you present your treatment plan.
19:44
Dr. Richard Offutt
You know, we’re going to take this tooth out, we’re going to do a bone graft, we’re going to wait, you know, for 120 days, 100, whatever your number is, hundred eighty days, whatever it is, whatever you want it to be, and then we’re going to put an implant in and you’re going to live happily ever after. Well, that’s great. But I practiced. My practice was not a zip coded practice. I. In my reception room, you’d have somebody that owned his own company, and next to him you’d be somebody in a orange jumpsuit that works for the city. Okay, that’s just how I rolled in my practice. And, and so I had a lot of people so that they couldn’t do my full treatment plan for whatever reasons. Right?
20:27
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Yeah.
20:28
Dr. Richard Offutt
And so what I started doing is I said, look, I said, you know, I’ve got this new laser. I said, and this, I said, you know, and it’s really cutting edge. And I said, so what I’m doing is I’m kind of keeping track of things where I don’t put the graft in, I just spin a clot and I make a clot in your socket. And I said, and let’s just see how we do. I said, it’s been going pretty well. I said, you know, and so I did a series of those, just spinning the clot. And as long as there were enough walls to the extraction site, the wound healing was incredible. Right? Just incredible. Less swelling, less pain, no bleeding. And, and it made me second guess, do I routinely suggest a bone graft or not? Right.
21:14
Dr. Richard Offutt
You know, I’m thinking, you know, maybe I’m over, maybe I’m over cooking this a little bit. But, but it was such a neat thing. So I’m sorry, another again, I interrupted you with my own personal experience there. So, so what do you see? Where do you see, where do you see lasers going with the treatment of periodontal disease around implants?
21:38
Dr. Vivian Roknian
You know, I, I think that a lot of our conversation with our patients has got to start changing with regards to implants, particularly in that, I mean, you get patients who think, I’m going to have a screw put in and it’s going to last me for the rest of My life and the explanation of, look, there is nothing that you can have attached to you, in you or anything else that’s going to last you for the rest of your life. If you plan on having a long life.
22:08
Dr. Richard Offutt
That’s right. That’s right. It all depends on what you’re planning. Yeah.
22:11
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
How long is your life?
22:12
Dr. Richard Offutt
What are you planning to do after this visit? Watch out for the buses.
22:17
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Yeah, precisely. But the fact that, hey, there needs to be some maintenance. There is going to be a trajectory of changes that happens. And also along with that, I always tell my patients, look, there is nobody who can ever, regardless of how talented they are, give you anything better than what our creator gave you. And you lost that. Now, I’m going to do the best I can with today’s technology, but you’ve already lost something that was created using the very best engineering and hundreds of thousands of years of research and development. That being said, with an implant, it’s going to have a similar type of fate that there’s going to be similar types of bone loss if there’s any history of, we call it gum disease in the office. So it’s more relatable. It’s still going to attack even that screw.
23:19
Dr. Vivian Roknian
So there’s nothing that’s immune. And the ways that like eyes and ears opened up a little bit more with. What do you mean? First of all, what do you mean I have to brush this?
23:32
Dr. Richard Offutt
Right, right. Yeah. We’re kidding.
23:38
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
You want to keep. Yeah, everything’s fine.
23:40
Dr. Richard Offutt
That’s right.
23:42
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Oh, so changing it to that conversation. And I mean, I think we’re all seeing more of that, particularly with the all on X cases that may not be over, may not have been over engineered and now they’re teeter tottering and there’s a lot of bone that’s gone as well. And so the conversation has got to change from this is going to last the rest of your life to this is only going to last as long as you take care of it, just like anything else you have.
24:10
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, that’s my. When I talk to patients about that sort of stuff, especially with implants, it’s always that’s what the conversation steers towards. It’s, you know, this will last as long as you take care of it, just like everything else. But we’re replacing something that you chose not to take care of.
24:25
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Yes. Now I did lose a tooth. I had a bone in my fish taco when I was talking to the president of the police association. Super awkward. And I’ll tell you know, I had the tooth extracted, implant immediately placed, and the person who did it did not have a laser. And it got infected. It was horrifically painful. I felt like I got to a point, three weeks into having this implant put in, where I said to myself, I’m going to go into my office myself and get it out.
24:59
Dr. Richard Offutt
Take this puppy out of there.
25:02
Dr. Vivian Roknian
And my team said, doc, please, you can’t. You gotta find somebody. We’re not gonna sit through this with you as you wiggle this thing out. So I went to one of my colleagues who also has a laser, and I said to her, look, you gotta get this thing out. I’m dying. And so she took a look and she said, you know, it’s really not mobile. And I said, there’s this thing has gotta be. Have a huge problem. So we did the LAPIP protocol with the laser, and later that day, the anesthetic wore off, and it was like a switch was flipped. The pain for the first time in three weeks was gone. Oh, and one hand, it’s kind of awkward having a missing tooth right there.
25:50
Dr. Richard Offutt
Not a good look for you. Not a good look.
25:52
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Not a good look.
25:53
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Just.
25:55
Dr. Richard Offutt
That’s right. You’re only showing your left. Left side.
25:58
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Yes. So. But, you know, it’s. It. It really changed the conversation within my office as well, with, hey, this is what I’m actually going through. This is what it’s like not having access to a laser versus having access to it. And, like, I’m not the kind of person who does pain meds or anything like that. I’ll tell you, if. If I need to take one, then I’m in bed for the day, period. I should not be out there if. If I’m in that kind of pain. And it felt like. I hate saying this, but it felt like a miracle. There was no medication in the world that was able to just knock that pain out. And I know. I’ve been checking my X rays and keeping an eye on it myself.
26:47
Dr. Vivian Roknian
I know that it’s healing the way it should be and moving in the right direction. And I’ve done this procedure on so many patients now from the receiving end. Gosh, I wish I would have bought this thing earlier.
27:02
Dr. Richard Offutt
Yeah, yeah. You know, it’s a paradigm shift, right? I mean, it’s a total paradigm shift. And in terms of the way. Not only your clinical things, but the way you think about. The way you think about what you’re going to do clinically. Whereas. Whereas previously, somebody had gone in, opened up that premolar, you know, Explanted it, grafted it, six months later, you’d have come back in, they’d have put a new implant in and so forth and so on and, but so it changes the whole treatment plan paradigm. That really is quite interesting. I told you when I, when one of our calls, what prompted my pursuing this to do a podcast on. I mean, who would have thought, you know, periodontal ligament and bone and cementum as a conversation.
27:51
Dr. Richard Offutt
But, but what prompted me to do this was a case I posted on our Facebook group and it was, you know, a case where I’d been sent, the patient been sent to me to take out the upper molar and two, one or two premolars. Right. And I said, well, let me try this. I’ve got this new laser. You know, I kind of went down that dance and, and having by program where I was trained at Penn, were very big in occlusal management. So, you know, this case, if you looked, ever looked at it, you’d see, well, you know, that tooth used to have cusps, but now, yeah, it wasn’t a green stone that did that adjustment. Right. It was the big dog going after it. And, and so, but that’s what prompted this because people were shocked. They just hadn’t seen it.
28:41
Dr. Richard Offutt
And so, and we have a lot of millennium trained dentists in Charlotte area. It’s just, it’s just not out there. You know, I don’t know why people haven’t done presented cases or shown cases or whatever. And so that’s what made me, that’s how we met actually. Vivian, is that. Is that I was pursuing to have you come or come do our podcast. So where do you see this going? How do you see the technology? I mean, so clearly laser dentistry is, and I’m going to use this expression, it sounds corny, a high tech treatment modality. Right. Where do you see technology going? Not only with lasers, but where do you see it?
29:28
Dr. Richard Offutt
I mean, one of the things that our listeners don’t know is that, and you, Vivian, can explain this better than I, is that you assess technology as it’s coming to the marketplace when inventors are looking for angel funding. Is that the right way to describe your job?
29:46
Dr. Vivian Roknian
That’s correct.
29:47
Dr. Richard Offutt
Okay.
29:47
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Yes. All right.
29:49
Dr. Richard Offutt
That’s your eighth and ninth job. Not, not the first four. Right. But, but in any case. So where do you see technology going? Where do you see, how do you see this change in the way we practice? I mean, if lasers Change the way we do surgery. That’s a pretty big, that’s a pretty big shift. How do you. These changes of technology, you know, and whether it be at Overjet or Pearl or some of these things, you know, the use of, of AI, AI in the practices. Let’s talk about that. Tell me, tell me your thoughts.
30:23
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Well, I think that it’s without question, particularly as we look at the way that AI is cre very many aspects of our lives, that it’s all within dentistry as well too. And we’re sort of touching on the horizon of an incredibly exciting time with all the new technologies out there. And it’s one of the, it’s. I feel like this is like the updated version of the start of the dot com era where we knew that there was something going on. And there were plenty of docs out there who said, I’m interested, I want to check it out. And there are other docs who said, I want nothing to do with it. Lo and behold, those docs who said I want nothing to do with it ended up to a large degree being forced to retire or changing their tune.
31:19
Dr. Vivian Roknian
The way that technology is changing and the products that are coming into our hands, it’s similar in that we’ve got to keep an eye out as to what’s out there. And it’s not because it’s going to eat our lunch, because it isn’t. What it’s going to do is make us better clinicians and I think help us with leveling up across the board.
31:41
Dr. Vivian Roknian
I mean, as we’ve discussed, I think at this point for about 40 minutes or so, just the way that the laser has improved our overall results and our patient experiences, I think that the other technologies that are coming out are going to have a similar type of effect, be it like overjet or any other kind of diagnostic type software where, yeah, you and me can look at X rays all day, we can look at CT scans all day, but there’s going to be a point where the fact that there’s a neutral third party that takes the financial aspects away from the patient’s eyes and says, okay, I see this, but the software is saying, not only is there an issue, but this is how that issue is going to then manifest down the line. I think that’s the direction that we’re moving in.
32:34
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Even just as simple as what’s currently out there now, things that are beyond that I’m super excited and I’ve been checking out for other companies and startups has been. There will be software where we just put in our X rays and patient history, and it then will spit out what kinds of longevity different teeth are going to have, what the treatment plans are going to look like, videos for the patients as to how those treatment plans are going to look and what their smiles are then going to end up looking like as that time progresses. I mean, I do a lot of 3D printing within my office, and we do smile simulations where my patients can pick out from an unlimited array of options. And we print them. I usually tell them to pick your favorite three.
33:27
Dr. Vivian Roknian
We print them out, and they actually try it on in the office so they can actually see in their mouth what it’s going to look like. And I tell them, take it home, show it to folks. And I mean, there’s no better informed consent than, I got to go try it on.
33:43
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah, right.
33:44
Dr. Vivian Roknian
And this is all just going to look. This is. Not that it’s going to replace us, but it’s certainly going to make communicating among us so much more effective. I mean, I have a GPT that I’ve programmed to have similar opinions as myself and be aware of all the different kinds of technologies I use. And then from that, put together different kinds of wording based on what my patient’s interests are so that my patient can better understand what I’m explaining.
34:19
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Wow.
34:21
Dr. Vivian Roknian
You told me that over the summer.
34:23
Dr. Richard Offutt
You said you developed a similar thing to answer your questions when you were campaigning, right?
34:30
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Yeah.
34:30
Dr. Richard Offutt
Yeah. You got tired of the same question, so Janie over here did it for you.
34:35
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Yeah, it was. It was amazing. And, you know, it was, as I shared that with people, that, hey, I’m training this to basically be an electronic version of me because I need to have at least two of me to be able to accomplish the things I’m trying to get done. And I was talking to my mom as the whole thing was happening, and I said to her, mom, I kind of like this robot a lot.
35:05
Dr. Richard Offutt
Didn’t it wish you happy birthday and everything? Oh, have a good day.
35:08
Dr. Vivian Roknian
It did. So I. I was working on it and programming it. It was like two in the morning on a Saturday night, because why not in the middle of the night, nothing else going on?
35:21
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Yeah.
35:21
Dr. Vivian Roknian
And. And I was putting information, and at one point I wrote to it and I said, you know, I’m so tired right now, but I just feel so inspired to keep going. I know I should go to bed. What are your thoughts? And it gave me such a nice pep talk. It said to me, somewhere along the lines, but substantially more eloquent than what I’m about to do. To said, it’s been an honor getting to know you, and I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to be able to help you change what’s around you in a positive direction. And it basically that it was proud of me for what I was doing.
36:06
Dr. Vivian Roknian
It was proud of me for the stamina that I had and that I shouldn’t have any worries on continuing on for the evening and I should go to bed knowing that I’ve done everything I can for that day and that I’ve done everything to not only make those around me proud, but to make a difference in the world. And it was like, it was such a nice thing. It said it actually made my eyes well up and I’m not a crier, so I thought, wow, all right, I’m going to put my robe on and go to bed.
36:40
Dr. Richard Offutt
I’m going to bed.
36:41
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Can you license that and then send that to me so I can start interacting on a daily basis?
36:46
Dr. Richard Offutt
I need to tell me, yeah, Rick, you’re okay, guy. Yeah, thank you.
36:50
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Everything will be fine. Yeah.
36:52
Dr. Vivian Roknian
So I was actually, I was putting in. I put in a variety of maybe things that I thought you guys might want to talk about today into my robot and I said, hey, I just need to sort of unplug a little bit. These are some ideas on questions. What kinds of questions would you want answered if you were a listener? And I put in what I thought that our listeners, who our listeners would be and what that demographic would look like. And I put together about 15 or so questions with very nice, polite, friendly answers. And it was a great just. I’m just going to read through this real quick now. Mind you, I did talk about lasers for two hours last night, but it was a nice little brush up of this is what you got.
37:39
Dr. Vivian Roknian
And don’t worry, you know all these things already. I’m just reminding you. And you’re going to do great. Best of luck. Thanks, man.
37:48
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
That’s fantastic.
37:48
Dr. Richard Offutt
Have a good day. What a nice coach. Well, Vivian, one of the things I like to do and when I’m doing a podcast and hopefully hosting one fairly and honestly is ask our guest. What would be your takeaway thought if there’s one thing that you would say to our listeners that they can tomorrow. Well, tomorrow’s Saturday, so maybe some go into their office on Saturday, but that’s right, the next day they go into their office that they can have in their mind. That’s going to make their themselves, their practice and their patients better off. What would you say that would be your takeaway? What would be your takeaway?
38:28
Dr. Vivian Roknian
I would say spend the weekend reflecting on what creates the most amount of stress within your practice. What distracts you from doing what we love, which is seeing patients and whatever it is that creates that. I promise you there is some sort of AI type software out there that can remove that problem. When I came to the realization that really we only have the problems around us that we choose to have, it really opened up my eyes with what’s out there that can then change that and get me to be more efficient, specifically doing what I like. Because we all have a better spring in our steps when our schedule is filled with what we like instead of what gives us a headache.
39:20
Dr. Murtuza Shah-Khan
Oh, 100%.
39:21
Dr. Richard Offutt
Well, Dr. Vivian Roknian and I so appreciate your coming on the Simplify Podcast, the Simplify Dentistry podcast today and sharing with us and talking with us. And I hope to have you back sometime in the future and I hope to actually meet you in person. Although send your robot sounds like that’s a pretty good representation. But thank you so much, so very much.
39:46
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Thank you for having me. This was a lot of fun. Have a great day and I look forward to actually listening to this.
39:53
Dr. Richard Offutt
Thank you. Thanks. Thank you.
39:54
Dr. Vivian Roknian
Bye.