A native Lexingtonian, Dr. William E. Lee graduated from Henry Clay High School in 1973, Vanderbilt University in 1977, and the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry in 1981. He started a private dental practice with his wife, Dr. Janet Faraci Lee in 1984 and then merged practices with Dr. John Thompson in 1990.
VIDEO - DUwHF #1241 - Bill Lee
AUDIO - DUwHF #1241 - Bill Lee
Very active in organized dentistry, Dr. Lee is a member of the American Dental Association, the Kentucky Dental Association, and the Blue Grass Dental Society. He is honored to be a fellow in the International College of Dentists, the American College of Dentists and the Pierre Fauchard Academy. Having served many roles in organized dentistry, Dr. Lee is currently the President of the Kentucky Dental Association and a delegate of the American Dental Association. He has also served on many boards for organizations in the Lexington area mostly associated with his children’s activities. An avid learner, Dr. Lee attends numerous continuing education courses throughout the year.
Howard: it's just a huge honor to be at the Kentucky Dental Association annual meeting in Louisville with none other than the president of the Kentucky Dental Association he goes by Bill Lee: William Lee DDS a native lexa lexingtonians Antonian lexingtonians dr. William Lee graduated from Henry Clay high school in 73 Vanderbilt University in 77 and the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry in 1981 that's here in Louisville no in Lexington oh that's like okay okay um he started a private dental practice with his wife dr. Janet for Aussie Leigh in 1984 and then merged practices with dr. John Thompson in 1990 very active in organized dentistry dr. Lee is a member of the ATA the Kentucky Dental Association and the bluegrass Dental Society he's honored to be a fellow in the National College of dentists the American College of dentists and the pier for shard Academy having served many roles and organized dentistry dr. Lee is currently the president of the Kentucky Dental Association and a delegate of the American Dental Association he has also served on many boards for organizations in the Lexington area most social mostly associated with his children's activities an avid learner dr. Lee attends numerous seee courses throughout the year away from the dental office he enjoys spending time with his adult children Megan and Michael exercising traveling and playing racquetball right so thank you so much for so much volunteers I mean organized dentistry yeah I am I don't think non-members have any idea how many hours you guys spend volunteering time away from family and practice how many hours you think you spent non-compensation
Dr Bill Lee: oh that's that's kind of hard to say it's you know it but it's also a hobby I don't play golf you know I do play racquetball that's my that's my my exercise my fun that's but I get up and play yeah it's 6:00 in the morning you know get my exercise keep my mind stimulated go out and play racquetball and I'm ready to go to work you know but as far as organized industry and stuff like that that's uh you know I enjoy giving back to the profession I enjoy giving back to to my colleagues and counting the hours I don't know no it's a lot though it's well just to others yes to me it's probably not enough
Howard: so um you've been how long how many years you know since that you've been out of school you graduated in 88 180 2019
Dr Bill Lee: so 38 years
Howard: so almost four decades sometimes the kids come out of school they look at us later I'm an exchange you know
Dr Bill Lee: I've made comments this this meetings back in the Gulf House where I started my organized dentistry career okay this it you know it's been it's not been in the Galt House for you know two decades you know of course when it was here before the phones were hanging on the wall you know to change your TV channel you got off the cats went over and push the button you know well now our phones are in our pockets along with our TVs along with our our cameras along with our internet you know things have changed you know so what I did to get into dentistry what you did you get into dentistry it's different from what's you know the new graduates are facing so organized centers just got to change to meet those demands and those individuals got to see what organized dentistry needs it has to give them too so
Howard: so um what do you see what are the biggest challenges to dentistry today is insurance is a corporate dentistry the smiles direct Club what yeah what are the major if storms bring in your opinion okay
Dr Bill Lee: membership organize dentistry is it's the voice okay you know it is the organization it is the if we don't have the majority if we don't have the voices to make an impact then we don't have an impact and that's the message that we're trying to get that we have to get to across to our not only new members but our older members to that that aren't participating you know once we have the voice well then yeah we can't start making a difference on non-covered services so we can't make a difference on smile direct you know we can make a difference on live patient exams you know you know we can't make a difference on you know tell it industry and those types of things you know or Medicaid fees you know but we have to have a substantive voice in order to do that otherwise we're you know we're kind of blown away
Howard: but dentistry and he has far more membership than the at the American dollars oh yes yes
Dr Bill Lee: but you look at what's happened to medicine - you know dentistry is still roughly 80% general practice 20% specially well medicines just the opposite you know and they've kind of done it to themselves you know they don't have the real voice of you know the Medical Association you know and dentistry still does but our membership is declining you know and our voice is declining so like
Howard: how much of a decline I mean how much when
Dr Bill Lee: I graduated you know the membership was well over 75 percent or around 75 percent for a Kentucky or nationally that's okay yeah I was on council membership and there's like 73 percent and we try to make a push to get up there five percent now this was back in the 90s you know I think now nationally it's like 63 percent something like that now is that is that the Act does that count the all the retirees here members for free or is that County that's active membership and it may be live retired I'm not sure yeah sure how the what the number is that's the number that you uses I know they're so it's 63 cents about
Howard: two out of three right yeah right and is is two out of three is it giving you an effective voice well
Dr Bill Lee: yeah it still does it still does now in Kentucky um we're just a little over fifty percent so when I go to a legislator or go to an administrator and say well you know I'm speaking for about half the dinners of Kentucky really have the opportunity to say well good thing you're not talking about the other half and how many are over two thousand two thousand total or you're half total yeah so about a thousand or members in there right and there's two thousand and you're close to uh you're very close to national how far are we from Nashville from here or from Louisville about three hours and that's where smaller our club is nationally I guess so yeah yeah so that's bracing your backyard oh yeah oh yeah
Howard: so what do you think of things like smiles drugs club well obviously
Dr Bill Lee: it's you know they're practicing dentistry without a license basically no and a DA has has filed a lawsuit against small direct now you know and I fully support that yeah now that they claim they're tell a dentist's tree do you see this telling dentistry I don't know well you know now that um I mean you've been doing this 38 years I just saw great 32 at my practice I'm
Howard: so much the podcast people they just walked out of school what would it would advise after almost four decades of doing this all the way to the president of the Kentucky Dental Association what would you what advice would you give to someone just coming out of dental school
Dr Bill Lee: well I'm thinking involved okay certainly get involved in organized literature let me put it this way if you were to go out and start a practice is the easier to start a practice from the ground floor is it easier to start a practice buy a practice buy practice by practice you know the only did the thing that draws that the main drawback with that is this expense no but you can buy a practice and you know and then over time customize it to your the way you want to practice it as well yeah you've got a practice called the ADX 160 years old okay it is it is old you know but it's got a tremendous reputation it's got some gray hairs on the top end of it but you get a group of skies where a brand a year that can come in and customize it tailored to their needs and you've you've bought a practice you bought it an organization you has the reputation the respect of of the nation and you're not inventing the wheel you're not building it from the ground up I think
Howard: yeah I'm afraid that a lot of the young kids they have these very wonderful visions of America that it's just made in truth liberty and justice in the American Way and they ever saw how it actually operates its money's answer what's the question if you're not in there with your lobbyist fighting tooth and nail for your positioning the insurance are going to take it away corporate into you every they just think that that it's judged in this fair in a fair way it's a war 24 hours a day and it's what's your joke you don't want to see how sausage right so have you have you seen that in your eyes
Dr Bill Lee: oh yes yeah well as president Kentucky Dental Association I've had the opportunity tried to make the opportunity to meet with several people in the administration we've got a Medicaid issue in Kentucky and we set up appointments with with several administrators and last minute to get cancelled or postponed or changed well you know it seems like they've got better things to do to talk to Dentist
Howard: yeah well you got five digits in there Paul go sir from Arizona on the national level yes yeah I would actually went to Creighton University we were both in the same Swanson Hall oh really yeah yeah we were both in the same what do you call that dormitory okay you got it what guy from Alec what Georgia Texas right I know there's five days yes love yet did you ever meet with any of those guy I've met them yes yeah to spend any time with them no personally no I have it yeah but I mean but um do or do you think there that that helps dentistry how that congressman in there absolutely yeah
Dr Bill Lee: unfortunately don't have any any legislators in the state of Kentucky in in our General Assembly here in Kentucky you know and that's something that we've kind of asked for a push for so I like that but nobody stepped forward yet but yeah they have national representation from the dental profession absolutely yeah
Howard: so what do um what do you think I'm what what other challenges do you and do you think these young guns will have and what advice would you give them
Dr Bill Lee: well debt now when students are graduating with a quarter of a million dollar debt they were already you know behind the eight-ball you know and it affects them being able to go out and get financing to start a practice or go buy practice or to buy a home to buy a car start a family you know those types of things but on the flip side of that - I just I was fortunate I just got I just sold my half of my practice just a year or so ago but I was fortunate I had a very nice young man who had all the qualifications I would look for in the checkbook but there's a lot of a lot of people in my situation who are looking to sell or to associate get an associate in their practice but they they can't find somebody because the younger people have so much debt they can't afford to come into their practices and housing
Howard: housing is down the yes people have so much student loan debt they take it out so would you say that your practice was rural or urban no its urban its I'm in Lexington just right on the on the barrel on do you and you were you're married to a dentist yes yes Janet and so what advice in there say someone's a court of our listeners are still in dental school yes so him they're dating right now they're little lovebirds what advice would you give to two little young lovebirds that are gonna get married from those what did you meet your wife in school in school
Dr Bill Lee: yeah it's what is that common back then or was that a rare thing it was well there weren't that many women in dentistry right back then so so in that sense it was rare how many out of 16 out of sixty we had 12 women it was the highest at that point and my wife's class year behind there was 20 out of the 60 so and that was that was the highest and then it went back drop down of course now women make up half the em classes and has for quite a while so yeah dentists Mehring dentists are fairly common now now I said I'm never gonna date Adrenaline's never gonna marry your dentist I'm never gonna work from my wife and I did all three and it turned out to be the best things ever yeah we work together we merged our practice with dr. John Thompson my wife we had two kids so she went part-time and then she went back to teach at the dental school and ended up starting you know half a day a week to day and a half a week to three days a week to full-time so she end up teaching full-time she developed cancer and seven years ago passed away well thank you that's okay so but she had already moved out of the practice and was teaching when that happened our kids were grown fortunately but as far as advice you know we looked at it as we were we were evil you know we were you know we approached professionals it was you know there was times when we would come home at for dinner and we were talking dentistry and finally our daughter said one-time thing okay enough shop Talk you know let's talk family and then we kind of go oh yeah yeah so we really made an effort to limits ourselves you know homeless home workers work and you know understand that life is good
Howard: so when something that painful happens to how how long does it take you to get back to your feet you never really never really get back you adapt
Dr Bill Lee: you know you know as an example this is the first time I'm back in this building for for my dental dental meetings I have very fond memories of spinning my meetings here with my wife and my family know and it's you know it's been a challenge at times I'm so sorry oh thanks that has got to be you're in so am was so I got asked what is the bluegrass little site is that that's the local component that's what it's called oh it's not it's not a bunch of dentists that play bluegrass no well it's in central Kentucky which is the bluegrass the down Bluegrass State it's the horse farms you know it's you know that's what the region is known as you know you look in the grass and it's the bluegrass variety you know it was funny
Howard: I was telling the patients week that I'm we're going to the Kentucky dental so she's me and she said to me she said is that was the Kentucky Derby's who's the first thing as I was I imagined the Kentucky Derby's in Kentucky but um that is uh well Churchill dance is about a mouth that away yeah and it's my mom's it's my mom's Super Bowl oh yeah oh yeah I mean when we grab it it's every time there's a horse race if anywhere and in fact what was the big one so many years ago the triple Derby winner well Secretariat secretary okay yeah I mean that was uh that was an amazing deal so you're also a lot of the kids right you're a fellow in the International College of dentists and the American College of dentists and the pier for shark Academy um talk about those three things I'm sure a lot of the listeners don't
Dr Bill Lee: well they're honorary societies and you're nominated for the work that you do and different things there are all different organizations meaning different things the American College has a lot to do with with the ethics of Dentistry you know the you know their their profiles you know white coat ceremonies and stuff like that International College is just what it says it's it's international pier for shard is charitable contributions events that are internationally you know you know when I was in
Howard: when I was in France and we're doing podcast from Paris France when you know it I go to the pier for shard Museum yes okay it's closed for remodeling oh really okay who is the luck of that yeah so what do you what do you being the president of the Kentucky girl Association what do you think you how you see dentistry different now that you've done that experience and when you walked out of dental school what's I mean and visit me I mean your journey being the president the Kentucky Dental Association - how do you think you see dentistry different than this doctor here who just graduated an hour ago from dental school different
Dr Bill Lee: that's a good question and I'm not exactly sure how to answer it you know the one of the things that that you know philosophies or whatever one is things yeah I want to leave the world I want to leave the profession better than where I found it you know and can I say I've done that I'm not 100% sure what honestly you know when I graduated the profession was you know our organizations were 73 75 % you know we didn't have the third-party issues that we have now we didn't have the student debt we have now we didn't have some of the issues that we do have now so in that regard you know I'm not sure that we're in a better situation that regard on the other hand if if I hadn't done what you know participated in organized centers the way I have and my colleagues and people like us where would the fence would be now you know so haven't done good yes you know it's the profession in in good hands as it's a you know I tell you what the science and the technology if I were coming out of dentistry right now I would be excited to be practicing now running the business I'm not so sure so when I think
Howard: one of the biggest differences in my guys school is um I had my fees and if you had Delta Dental I sent you that my what I did and they paid a hundred percent of the exams 80% of root canals fillings and half run crowns and edge partials now they send me the thing and I mean so I actually I actually might my face they are 42 percent lower than they were in 1987 right how has that been against you and what is really between the kDa and deltas I mean are they I mean they have to work together somehow I mean yeah
Dr Bill Lee: I'm in the same boat that you are when I graduated you know Delta and all the other insurance companies had a had a max of $1,000 well Delta still has a max of $1,000 of course have my fees stayed it's you know $200 crown no and these your assistants so get paid the same amount of money I don't know per hour yeah no now I have we made efforts every minute of discussions try to change that of course we have now but you know have we been able to make that that happen well obviously not well
Howard: what would you what what is the relationship like though I mean when you talk to Delta because if you look at the thousand dollar max when Delta started if it was adjusted for inflation it would be well over five thousand dollars right so every time the earth goes around the Sun inflation joins up the cost of labor lab supplies all that stuff but in terms same so when you're having this got what would deserve what is their side of the story
Dr Bill Lee: well yeah we're cut we're kind of stuck in my opinion you know because you know the way to to combat that and say well we're just going to stop treating our patients we're going to stop taking the taking the Delta you know and you know and who does that hurt doesn't necessarily hurt us it hurts our patients and we're in our business to serve our patients and you know that's within Medicaid is a whole nother example of that you know we're there to treat our patients particularly the underserved you know so we you know we try to try to help those who can't help themselves and if we could pay for it great that's what we want to do but if we can't you know government the administration's have us in that lock
Howard: it's amazing as Delta Dental Kentucky is affiliated with affiliates in Arkansas Indiana Michigan New Mexico North Carolina Ohio and Tennessee luckily are among the largest dental plan administers in the nation I think there's only one bigger than this one probably what telephone or something it's amazing so insurance has changed baby also said technologies change big I mean my gosh when we got out of school the big new thing was going from a gold crown to a pfm right right now a pfm is almost it's on its deathbed it's all right well sin it's not doing well you know in our practice
Dr Bill Lee: when we when I merged with the you know John Thompson we were one the first ten in the nation to get them to get a dental laser yeah we the Indy yeah Glaser one of the first Tim in the nation to get that and that was the big new technology you know you know gosh several years ago we got the e4 d you know so we're doing crowns in an hour transit a day you know so yeah talking about PF ends you know we don't even doing that anymore you're right you know you know the science and the technologies were growing enamel well I talked to the graduating classes and I'm saying you know tell you what happened you know when I graduated thirty-eight years ago we were talking about gold crass and that was my standard in in now that you're saying that you know the standard is its full course of crowns and 38 years from now one of you guys will be standing up here at the podium saying well back in my day I had to put my fingers in your mouth and and we and you actually had to restore tooth not grow a tooth no
Howard: where's John Thompson on your website he retired I mean he yeah dr. Challa thorn all 1012 years ago but
Dr Bill Lee: dr. Thompson now dr. Thompson was older than I am okay okay ten years older than I am he so talked to to dr. Challa thorn who was who's 20 years younger than I am and then now I have you know we ran its course I was the old guy and I just sold my practice to dr. Karthik who's who just graduated Yuval from University of Louisville School of Dentistry a couple years ago you pick him
Howard: because you have the same name William well yeah that was coincidental they just don't have to be a real nice guy so that's another great question is um how do you what is the best transition when you sell a practice some people say that they want you to sell it and disappear tomorrow some say they want you to stay on for six months or a year how do you see a transition
Dr Bill Lee: whatever works that's you and that's the best thing that I'll say okay what worked for us on boat well when dr. Thompson phased out and dr. Challa thorne came in dr. gel was associate for a year and a half or something like that and then he's and then he bought dr. Thompson outs over a course of a two year period so there were three of us in that practice for about a three or four year period before dr. Thompson finally phased out now when dr. Challa thorne came in he was ready to go start boom you know and we originally had tried to do the same type of setup that dr. Thompson dr. Calhoun did but he but he said well let me write your check and you stay on for a year and a half and then we'll you know we'll let it go and that was amenable to me so it that's the way it worked for me there there are some practices where you know the older doctor trying to get at he wants to hand you the keys and turn walk away or physically you're you know he's in a position where he can't or she can't continue to practice or you know the new dentist needs to be mentor needs to be brought along you know which takes longer time it depends on the situation and that's t where a good broker good well eighty eight practice transitions a new program that the ADA has actually it's a it's a pilot in Maine and Wisconsin that is a practice brokerage practice transition program that the ADA has developing which will do that it will appear a a new dentist with an older dentist but it's a it's a process that matches not just dollars but the personalities in philosophies and so far it's working
Howard: so I'm so dr. pate telethon is married to an orthodontist yes so does she get mad he likes to do Invisalign yes or did you see much turf wars between general dentists and specialists and how does it play off and a husband and wife when the general dentist to do tube is line when maybe their wife thinks she should be sending it to my office
Dr Bill Lee: well in that situation should not that big video because you know she's a wonderful person has a great practice and she has a partner too and actually he'll bring he'll bring stuff home her as a consult you know and say hey look you know can you help me with this or you know something
Howard: you see buddy have you had much experience for the reason I'm asking is let's say you're a young kid and and I know we I see this on dental town people posting a lot well they're like um you know they go to they're in a small town they go to study club maybe it's Childress Texas and she's thinking oh I want to do this molar endo but what are the sales there's kayo the ended honest and and I woulda do this Invisalign but you know there's you know bill that orthodontist I mean how does how does a little young graduate fit in at the study club avoiding turf wars or shouldn't our she's shocked think about it I'd say don't think about it don't think about it yeah just you know in fact I would say the opposite I would say if I was in a more endowed and Bill was only under honest in my small town I'd say hey Bill I'm gonna I'm gonna try this mall root canal and if his reaction was fear and scarcity like well you shouldn't do that yeah you should give it to me then you can just check out Bill's name is lives in fear and don't waste any more time but if he said hey well let me know how it goes hey thanks I hope growth an abundancy and if you just edit out all the toxic people in your life did so much you just have so much more fun and happiness understand that
Dr Bill Lee: yeah no yeah don't be afraid to ask for help don't be afraid to ask for you know ask questions you know of specialists of colleagues you know I never did you know and you know if you if you get in an abrasive response where you're right check them off you know not to go there anymore yeah I'm my experience has been has been that you're gonna find most dentists are gonna be open to offering assistance or help or guidance or whatever okay that's been my experience now I'm the gray hair guy too
Howard: so well this you have here I'll never give any something for a gray hair when I could have done so another thing I would ask about is um these partnerships you know when you're married their social glues you have love and family and children and then when you marry a dentist partner you don't have all those glues and you know half the marriages end in divorce what would it you know the pros of a partnership is we go split the cost of a laser or a CAD cam right hano right hopefully with a partner you cover more hours in the week since where I come from an Arizona 8% of all emergency room visits or odontogenic in origin because the dentist's are closed so what do you I used to eat you give on a partnership
Dr Bill Lee: that's good that's a hard question you know I've always had a partnership you know it's I never wanted to practice alone you know it's but that's my personal philosophy you know I always like to have in a second opinion I always liked having a colleague that I could bounce ideas off of but that's me most dentists I think prefer to be a solo practitioner a lot - okay - having a partnership at you're right it is a marriage it is as much giving as it is receiving and you've got to be willing to see that and to be able willing to sacrifice some of the control without obviously sacrificing you know your yourself and it's and that's a that's a delicate balance
Hoard: yeah because maybe one dentist wants to buy a hundred and fifty thousand dollar cad cam machine and the other one wants to buy a hundred thousand our laser and the other one doesn't want to buy anything how do you well and there again
Dr Bill Lee: it's also what stage in life you know I would say we were you know if an older partner is you don't want put any more money back into the practice because he doesn't want you know he's not gonna get it back out we're a younger practice younger practitioners is looking to invest in the practice so that he can build it out you know so there's different philosophies
Howard: so what expensive value you guys have bought some expensive equipment you guys got a bio lace laser mm-hmm that's you remember how much that cost her off pop my head no so do you think do you think the bio lace laser was a return on investment are you glad you bought it no we're glad we bought it
Dr Bill Lee: yes from a charge or material standpoint hard to say whether it paid for itself from the publicity so to speak or the marketing although we didn't direct market you know yeah I would say it did the the e-40 the the in-office crowns the mill that certainly did okay as expensive as it was to set up
Howard: and why did you go with that plan mecca's afford a plane mech is in Helsinki Finland and their 840 is in Dallas as opposed to Sirona densely Sirona
Dr Bill Lee: when we did the research that just seemed to be the it when we did it we headed five we've had it for five years something like that and you about it yeah we'd like to yeah we did that just it spoke to us the you know the literature at the time was you know the you know the margin of error was better the software was easier to manipulate the you know yeah it's funny because
Howard: on dental town talk about oh my gosh sometimes sometimes my homies can be challenging but we had to um I mean so so e-40 zone by plan Mecca dental companies in the world and we had to separate on the cad/cam under us yeah we had to suppress saranya warm with the plant Mecca form because the people who are paid spokesman's force they're so aggressive they are numb yeah I mean we had a separated plan Mike and then banned a bunch of them because anytime they asked a question on plan Mecca they just go in there and say well if you would have bought it sir AG machines well and we ban those people we actually ban them we there's no place for toxicity and remember on dental town on every post there's a report abuse a button it goes Howard gold scene and volunteer dentists and we play baseball three-strikes-you're-out but but the main question is your you are not rural your urban right but you still found milling your own grounds
Dr Bill Lee: yes now our office was large enough that we actually had an in-house laboratory we had we had a dental lab technician in our office and we had that from the time that dr. Thompson our practice merged back in 1990 so we always had a lab tech and which is which is fabulous so if it's a shade resolved just a little bit or something needed to be tweaked or so whatever Gary come over you know hey you took a look immediately it was done we didn't have to send her back to the lab we temporize or whatever and actually that's Gary yeah yeah
Howard: you know what that was a thing back when I was in high school and I would go visit Kenny Anderson and prepared and Peltzer and Knutson having your own lab was far more common than it is today yeah so do you think the the cad/cam is the new modern-day lab man but you still have gary yeah we do yeah we do
Dr Bill Lee: yeah it is he doing more removable lab work crown and bridge he does he does all our that's all removal up to processing okay he doesn't do it done do the problem we do we do outsource that not because he can't but it's just he doesn't okay but he's yeah he's tryna bridge train and even though yeah technically I can I can you know design and mill of the equal dinner like that I've got an experienced lab tech who knows all the stuff yeah it can stain it and everything like that why you know why waste my time when
Howard: I find you notice a lot of my friends and that bought CEREC machine jury forties or whatever that you know in order to schedule patient to numb prop scan mill see was taking two to three hours yeah so what they did is a numb perhaps can make the temporary release them and then at the end of the one day a week a lab tech comes in and fills out all the crowns oh really yeah someone who you know because how many crowns is Gary made in his lifetime Oh hundreds of thousands yeah yeah and so when you go buy a CAD cam and your best side is that your dental assistant who's never made a crown is now gonna start making the crowns are you who didn't go to school to be a lab tech but what school to be a dentist now you're gonna slow down to be a lab tech
Dr Bill Lee: it's a challenging situation but uh well see that's see our situation with theory is that you know yeah the patient comes in with scheduled you know 90 minutes to two hours you know none prep and and then I move on you know laptop goes to the lab Geary you know designs Mills I've seen another patient over here another chair the patient you know with their Kindle or book their magazine or whatever you know takes you know five to seven minutes to to design it twenty minutes to mill it so half an hour later I've got a yeah we got a crown right there paste is still numb after I've already you know Nessa tossed and prepped and scanned the next patient sitting in the chair next to him I come back and insert this crown you know and the process keeps on going well do you know if we're doing single units we could do you know four or five in the morning four or five different patients you know now of course multiple units that's
Howard: yeah scanning and milling is for Celia so you wouldn't be yeah no not not in that way you know not in that way yeah it's a it's amazing how CAD CAM has come so far would you recommend it if you didn't happen and it'll stop talking about dsos the only DSO that I know that has an in-house lab in all the locations aspect and I think they have a better target market before I left I was in Safeway and I saw a patient and I said how are you doing and I said you know husband would be going he goes he's you know I don't come to you anymore he goes because we never had to relight or whatever you always have to send it to the lab and be back he said but a new Aspen Dental opened up by me and were they at a not Cape Creek in Casa Grande and he goes um I go down there and they do the relay well I sit the waiting room and they do the whole thing okay while I wait and I thought well that is better yeah and so so Aspen's the only one I know that has a lab and all the clear choice ties with the implants here you okay the all on four where they have and that was your business model the mixing the the surgery with it right the prosthodontist the lab tech all-in-one where that's kind of what you've been doing
Dr Bill Lee: yeah well when yeah when you talk about you know the same day crowns or that type of sup your patient you won you're not having temporized and then you're not have to worry about that Tipperary coming off before the next patient you know before they have to come back and then you're not have to reappoint them taking up more chair time take it up wonder if they're gonna show up you know that type of stuff so yeah patient comes it you know the patient comes in they ship to cus pops gonna need a crown will they you know within an hour and a half two hours later they're done they're complete you know they you know they're fixed and they're happy you know
Howard: when I asked the dentist what they're most stressed about most of them will say it's all all the people these are the people the patient's the people the staff you have a whole load of staff members here she's just got out of school she's gonna probably be someone's associate for a 2 or 3 years she'll start her own practice would would advice would you give her how do you manage a team of people I mean there weren't any courses on it and don't know no where do you learn them
Dr Bill Lee: well nice staff is probably the most important to me ask aspect of dentistry you know the technical skills the you know the patient's dentists are gonna know you know yeah if you want to see good dinner for you don't look at the at the at the final restoration if you look at the preps you know that's how you judge a dentist the perhaps threats yeah that's how you judge a dinner if you don't look at the you judge your lab tech I look at the restorations okay but you know to me yeah okay yeah but to me you know a patient's not not gonna know whether you're a great dentist or just a good dentist okay yeah but they're gonna they're gonna relate to you as a personality they're gonna relate to your staff even more so you know so to have a good staff you know that that that can you can relate to your patients that are honest with you that that work hard those are the individuals do you have to find okay how to do that that's a crapshoot you know I got fortunate because most of my staff and of course I'm just retired but you know uh most of my staff had been there for for ten years or more you know I've got somebody there that was there when I first got there no
Howard: but isn't it a red flag it isn't a red flag deal when you see somebody who has an office 10 20 30 years old yes when you got that revolving door then you've got to ask why yeah well when an office has a revolving door that the owners gotta own it right well that's my opinion Miami I mean because you're selling invisible so I know the difference finger whopper with cheese in a Big Mac yeah I don't need to go to Wikipedia but when you tell me I have four cavities I mean I don't know you told me a ride prostate cancer and me to have my gallbladder I'm at the mercy of you right so if everybody's a revolving door and every time that's the number one complaint they have you're on all these DSOs and they come into my own okay well you're doing way in there and he said I had five cavities I thought well that's weird but when I went back he got any work there anymore yeah and every time I go in there so if you're a DSO and you can't even keep your dentist I mean that's the number one tip I hear yes and it's the same with with other so what does a revolving door tell you about DSO so if their average dentist works there one year well
Dr Bill Lee: it's Walmart now it's you you're getting what you paid for you know I I don't trust that you know but as I said I've been fortunate is I've got I've got a whole patient pool that comes back to see my hygienists I don't come see me but they can see behind roots they spent six five minutes behind Jeff's on five minutes with me you know and that's the relationship that brings them back you know but if that hygienist is different every six months that trustus isn't there the trust you know so why is that patient gonna come back
Howard: yeah and plus they don't even know what a good cleaning is eight they just right there used to right and I remember the funny is saying I when I stole my practice I thought I had one of the worst hygienists because she always use that baking powders machine gun and made a mask some of the patient was done they had it everywhere and so she went on a maternity and the next hygienist said you covered for I thought was much better to make a mash everybody was upset that the knew that this one didn't use the baker realtor dressing I thought wow so I mean yeah so it's just so when you have an invisible product like medicine like we do trust is very important oh yes oh yes
Dr Bill Lee: yeah to me of this you know I as an example I went my mom's interest you know that was the doctor that that's that I started with you know and developed a relationship with him and you know they turned out to be a patient of mine too you know so you know mutual trust in that regard well he retired two years ago and you know I said you know give me a name give me somebody I can go to and he was busy didn't get me a name by the time I needed to go back to see a doctor at least where my regular recall came out so I went someplace and I hated it absolutely hated it you know just I would not comfortable I think at the time of day you know I just didn't think that that this individual was what's paying me any attention to me personally you know I was a number you know and I called my old cop said you're gonna have to help me here if I can't see you give me somebody who's gonna be like you you know and he did you know and I've got a great relationship with my new doc now it just is it's because I've got trust in him now whether he's saying the right things or not I don't know Wow
Howard: would have a much more successful practice a person with great people skills but a below-average dentist are perfect dental skills and below average people skills without a heartbeat people skills I know I know I'm telling you I know some of that most busiest practices of the world where guys are just crushing it never take and they complained about the seee that the state recommends they take but man if you get an A in relationship people skills staff they're never gonna know that your crown they didn't
Dr Bill Lee: the best clinician in my class graduating class the best overall clinician my class could not make it a private practice yeah yeah so people skills is worth far more dollars than that yeah absolutely yeah because we saw it invisible product right
Howard: yeah and that's why and that's why I believe that so many people are always experts in politics and because you can't see their thoughts but you say well what you can see on golf when you go golf everybody says you're a lousy golfer and then you go try to do a layup on a basketball and they say you can't dunk a bounce right so they and that's why people hate math you know where they hate math because there's a right answer and a wrong answer and you're wrong because you're crazy but then so they say okay where can I go where there's no scorecard and I can just be right because I believe it and it's all the sides like art critics music experts right you know this anything without a scorecard is where they gravitate to and when people say they're not good at math I say well then be a music critic yeah him
Dr Bill Lee: well they're my both my kids were in band you know a marching band and I Lafayette marching bandit in Kentucky was either number one number two in the state for well two decades no I always been on the top well I'm tone-deaf almost you know and I couldn't tell what's good or bad on the field I'm yeah I yeah I can see lines that concede steps and you know you know the continuity that type of stuff but whether it was a good performance or not I didn't know now but by gosh somebody did you know and the subjective scores they always were either number one or number two in the nation or end up in state
Howard: so you know I'm which one day better their ABCs or what's ABCD or oh not Monday Sunday Monday Tuesday a B's the ABC song and then what's the twinkle twinkle little star oh okay and which song do you like better you always talking you they better it's the same song and I love that with my a grander is Mozart it's Mozart song so I always sing that to my grandchildren what up guys bring a little star than ABCD I didn't realize they know I'd see it's cert it's three and a half hours long 14 different renditions is the most wild you'll never think of a twinkle twinkle little star and how I wonder where you are without listen the original but I thank you so much for letting me podcast interview thank you so much for all you've been to dentistry certainly congratulations on being the president of the Kentucky Dental Association and thank you for sharing all your wisdom with all my homies
Dr Bill Lee: well sir and actually I appreciate you being here welcome to Kentucky and I hope hopefully you come back to d'armée
Howard: you know that my father I actually lived in this town when I was 10 years old so I got to tell you long story short my dad had nine SONICS and 500 which song and then he won to go national so I had won in Louisville Abilene Kansas Kearney Nebraska Childress Texas and I learned more from my father on what his mistakes were yeah then what he actually did I love the fact he's an entrepreneur I love the fight but in in Wichita where he had five he had a management team is doing really really well what killed him was the one in Childress Abilene Kansas town Nebraska and Louisville Kentucky so I spent each one of my high school summers on an opening crew okay I spent a summer in Louisville Kentucky which the summers are awesome because dad would leave me there with his Lincoln Towncar okay opening a sonic drive-in in a hotel with a credit card for three months yeah Childress and Abilene and Kearny I mean yes so I had the most amazing summer of my life good for you in all for those and but I got to tell you I'm the one lesson I had to learn the hardest this is the only place I ever got shot at I was I saw my first tobacco film I just like in Kansas I went to hop the fence and go explore and pull up some plants and throw them in the back of the car and there was some Shack over there and I heard it being about that was that a shot than a peon that holy shoot on me Anna so rule number one dope you can play anyone's cornfield in Nebraska and anyone's refilled in Kansas but you get a plane it's back uphill Kenya no I guess not although there's not many tobacco fields around anymore well they're a bunch of them back then but the end the plans for more higher dollar but man I love my summer in Louisville I had the best memories here we're good and that that River I pulled a catfish out of that River sighs my arm Wow fun time well good for you well welcome back and thank you for all you've done well thank you okay I appreciate it have a great day all right appreciat