Business Spotlight: DentalTown Milton with Dr. Eric San Diego & Dr. Steven Ricci

Dental Town Milton: Comprehensive Family Dentistry and Modern Orthodontics with Dr. Eric San Diego and Dr. Steven Ricci

https://dentaltownsmiles.com/

Host Stacey Poehler interviews Dental Town Milton dentist Dr. Eric San Diego and orthodontist Dr. Steven Ricci about their backgrounds, how they joined Dental Town, and the benefits of an in-house, team-based practice. Dr. Ricci describes his long orthodontic career, free evaluations around age seven, and modern advances such as digital scanning and Invisalign alongside traditional braces. Dr. San Diego explains his comprehensive, prevention-focused approach, helping both children and adults manage dental anxiety, and coordinating early development topics like airway space and habits with orthodontic referrals. They highlight close collaboration among general dentistry, orthodontics, hygienists, and in-house oral surgeon, Dr. Cho, to reduce delays and improve outcomes, plus Dental Town’s annual Day of Caring that provides free dental care through volunteers and community partnerships.

00:00 Welcome to the Show

00:14 Meet the Dentaltown Doctors

00:50 Dr Ricci Origin Story

01:30 Dr San Diego Journey

03:16 Why Dental Town Milton

06:13 Helping Nervous Patients

08:51 When to See Ortho

12:40 Modern Ortho Tech

14:11 Adult Ortho Options

17:13 Conservative Dental Care

21:33 All in One Dental Team

25:33 Synergy Case Example

28:22 Switching Dentists Advice

30:12 Community First Philosophy

31:08 Day of Caring Event

32:40 Team Culture and Wrap Up

33:48 Podcast Outro and Contact

Transcript

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0:00

This is The Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Stacy Poehler.

Stacey 0:14

Hey, everybody. I am super excited to be talking to part of the team from Dental Town right here in Milton. I'd like to introduce Dr. Eric San Diego. He is a dentist with Dental Town. And then Dr. Steven Ricci, he is an orthodontist. Welcome, guys. Thanks for having us. Thank you. So why don't we kinda start with you sharing a little bit about your backgrounds and what drew you to your specific specialties. And how you found your way to Dental Town here in Milton. Dr. Ricci you wanna go first?

Dr. Steven Ricci 0:49

I can go first, not a problem. So yeah, I started in dental school, oh gosh, back in Virginia. That was in the early 90s. And got through that, did rotations through everything, fell in love with orthodontics. Yeah. I think it stems from the fact that I grew up playing Legos, and with Legos it's, to me they're just kinda like teeth. You're just taking these things and putting them together and solving a puzzle, and that's really what orthodontics is. You come to me with your teeth, and I gotta figure out s- each individual person's puzzle. How do I make things fit and look good? And it's just been a knack that I've had and been doing it for nearly 30 years and love it. Awesome. Yeah. So I grew up in Arizona, complete opposite of Georgia, for a lot of reasons. Grew up there, went to school up in Utah at BYU, returned back to Arizona to do dental school.

Dr. Eric San Diego 1:43

And what got me into dentistry was I was floating around in undergrad not really sure which path to take thinking that medical was the way for me since that was always preached. And funny enough, I hadn't been to the dentist ever in my life until I was 19 years old. So I had zero experience with dentistry, and it's funny that it ended up being my passion and my career, not having it be a constant part of my life. But I was in an intro to medicine class. A oral surgeon came in and talked about his pathway to becoming a dentist and then becoming a oral surgeon afterwards in his specialty. And just the way that he described it and through the photos that he showed of beginning and end of surgeries and cases that he had worked on, it really s- resonated with me on what I was looking for in a career. To be able to make a difference to people's lives that was not only visible to other people but to the person themselves that it was something that they truly recognized a difference in their own health or in the way they see themselves. And that's what got me hooked on dentistry. Talked with a friend who was a dentist and he hooked me up with a job during the summer, taught me how to be an assistant, and just grew and rolled from there.

Stacey 3:03

And that not going to the dentist for 19 years would be the what not to do, right? Exactly. My parents were more of the mindset of if nothing's hurting, then nothing's wrong. Couldn't be further from the truth. Yeah. Why don't we talk about Dentaltown, and Steven, why don't you tell us what led you to this practice and, what you like about it and how that philosophy fits, with your own personal passions and mission?

Dr. Steven Ricci 3:30

So I knew the the founder, Dr. Hanson, from early in his... when he started the Dentaltown, and then their head orthodontist Dr. Crosby as well. And I thought they had a great business and they were doing wonderful things, and the practices were growing and growing. And then at one point, Dr. Crosby reached out and said, "I can't do this. We have too many patients, too many, too much need for me to do it alone." And basically, I came on board, and that's how I ended up the Milton office. He really didn't even have time to start that. And so that, my coming on board with them helped us open Milton and I'm also at the Canton office location for them as well. I love the synergy that gets created by, having everybody in-house. You get the pedi- so it starts with the pediatric dentist. If they identify the things early, they can get them to us. We can fix things. We can communicate easily back and forth. We've got adult dentistry, so we can... For the adults that are in treatment, that same synergy exists, and you just don't get that at most places. It's, oh, the dentist might say, "You need to do this. Go call somebody." And maybe it's 19 years before they actually show up at the other person's, doorstep to follow through with that, which we just don't have those problems when it's all in-house and internal.

Dr. Eric San Diego 4:46

And so it's just a really good mixture and a great opportunity. Awesome. Awesome. And how about you, Eric? What led me to Dentaltown was hearing about Dentaltown. Moved here to Georgia just on a whim, a- straight out of school. Didn't know anybody in the area. It was just a new adventure for me and my wife and our early family, and we decided to give it a shot. And when I moved here, everybo- when I would tell people that I was a dentist, I had several people ask me, "Are you with Dentaltown?" And it was probably after about the third person asking me if I was a dentist with Dentaltown that I said, "You know what? Maybe I should look into this Dentaltown thing. Sounds like they got something good going on, and maybe I should be a dentist with them." Fortunately for me I did get that opportunity to drop off a CV and got a call back right away from our CEO, and he said, "Hey, you know what? We really loved everything that we saw here. We wanna talk to you. And we're looking to open a new location, and we're looking for a right fit to start that location." And it was the Milton location. It's kinda blossomed from there. Everything that I hoped it would be, it has been And how long have you guys been here in Milton? Since 2022. March of 2022. So a little over four years now.

Stacey 6:11

Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking that. And Dr. San Diego, I know that you treat patients through all stages of the life cycle, but you do have a passion for pediatric dentistry and seeing the little ones in early growth. Can you talk about, how you work with the younger patients and, maybe calm some of that anxiety and just that they're nervous and scared to be seeing a dentist? Absolutely. Somebody told me this once, and I find it rings really true. They said, "Treat your adult patients like kids, treat your kid patients like adults, and everybody's happy."

Dr. Eric San Diego 6:47

And it's funny, the more that we're able to build the confidence with patients, with the adult side, It's not only kids who have anxiety, right? For many reasons, we have patients from a very young age to a very old age who suffer from dental anxiety, who have reservations about what they're coming into the dentist for. Or may be afraid of the state of their mouth or the work that it takes to get them back to optimal health. And I find that the best approach is just showing them love and meeting them at where they're at. Our older patients who have that anxiety, it's, "Hey we take it step by step," and showing you along the way that you're empowered and that together we're building this continuity and this new pathway for you forward. And we've seen a lot of patients really blossom in easing their anxiety every time they come to the dentist building confidence in what we have to say. And vice versa for the kiddos, right? Just making it fun and engaging, right? Talking at their level, but bringing them up to, "Hey this is gonna be really easy, really cool. We're gonna look in your mouth. We're gonna brush your teeth." Making it more of a game for them engaging them in that, and helping them understand that there's so- There's not as much of a need to worry about the things that we worry about, and just show them that what maybe they are expecting in their heads maybe isn't the reality. Just educating those little kids along the way, making it fun for them, making it a very comfortable environment to be in. And I think especially on the kids' side helping the parents understand what we're doing engaging them in the process. That way they go home, they talk to their kids about what to expect.

Stacey 8:43

That's a big part of how we help those visits be easier and easier every time, is just helping the parents understand, too. Yeah. And can you talk a little bit about, how you transition from just, counting the teeth and cleaning them to talking to them about orthodontics and different oral issues and transitioning them to Dr. Ricci. Maybe, a little bit about, how you work with them, and then we can talk to Dr. Ricci and hear how, he works with them. Absolutely. I just wanna say first and foremost, it is such a blessing to have Dr. Ricci in our office. Working beside him for the past few years has been phenomenal for not only myself as a clinician, as a dentist and the continuity of care, but also for our patients who benefit from seeing both sides and having that tight relationship in the work that we do.

Dr. Eric San Diego 9:36

And it's really never one set age. We start talking about these sorts of things in infancy about airway space. We talk about palatal development using a pacifier, trying to avoid thumb sucking habits or breaking those habits at a young age. That way we avoid a lot of complications that can arise formation-wise because of bad habits. So just looking at that all along the way till we get to, the prime age. For some kids it's a little bit earlier, and I get that question a lot. Lots of parents say, "Hey, I see so many kids in my eight-year-old's class who have braces. Is my kid..." behind on things, what's going on with them. Some kids don't need it till way later. Some people, honestly, are unicorns and don't need much at all. And so it's just taking into account each patient, where they're at tailored treatment for each of them. Talking about what I see as far as this patient has a lot of crowding perhaps. Let's get a visit with Dr. Ricci, that way he could evaluate that a little bit more and see if palatal expansion is a great thing. Or even just that consult of we're on the fence here of if we need something early on, let's get Dr. Ricci's opinion on it, that way we know for sure. Do we need to do something now? Are we waiting too long, or is it okay that we revisit in a couple of years?

Dr. Steven Ricci 11:00

Great. Great. And Dr. Ricci, do you wanna talk a little bit about your approach and maybe some of the ways that orthodontics, has changed and is constantly changing in the modern age? So one of the things I've gotta say Dr. Santiago's amazing with the kids. I've seen a lot of different doctors. I, I've earned my gray stripe through here over the years. And I love just watching him start out with the kids, having been together for a few years. I... you see that fearful kid the first time, and I'm like, "Wow, okay. He's got his work cut out for him." And when they come see me in two or three years, like the kid's amazing. He just has a way of calming them, and it's just, he's just amazing. The kids couldn't get a better start than starting out with him from that standpoint. Now, when it comes to orthodontics, like one of the things you asked him was like, "Hey, is it too early? Am I behind?" There's so many variables that go into that. Generally we tell people around age seven is a great time for an evaluation, and the way we like to approach it is it's a free evaluation. We don't ever want somebody being fearful of coming to find out what the right thing is or what the timing needs to be, because they don't wanna waste money. Come find out. There are people that we say, "You're fine. You don't need anything," and we watch them for a couple years. There are people that will need braces at eight or nine. There's honestly been nine-year-olds that have all their adult teeth. Some kids d- just develop way quicker. I've had high schoolers with baby teeth.

Stacey 12:28

There's a wide range on that, and just getting for me to put eyes on the patient and look at the exact problems that we need to solve is always the best way to approach a situation like that. And what are some of the modern technologies that you're using, today that you maybe you weren't using 10, five or 10 years ago?

Dr. Steven Ricci 12:48

So I think the greatest invention, and I think Dr. San Diego would probably love this inven- loves this invention, is the digital scanner. In my day, everybody and all the adults that had braces remember the gooey impressions, the molds that, you know the slop goes into your mouth. It might have made you gag a little bit, might have not. There's none of that anymore. So basically, it's a small video camera that goes in your mouth, and we just take, millions of little pictures of your teeth as we move it around your mouth. And then I instantly have a 3D image of your mouth that we can rotate it around, share it. It can be emailed. I haven't done one of those gooey molds since like 2017. And, that's been amazing. Now, that technology is what also led us to being able to do mo- virtually any orthodontic case with Invisalign. So a clear aligner, because these scans are so accurate, we can make these very well-fitting aligners that we now have control over moving the teeth without having to glue braces on the teeth. We still do braces for people that want it, but, for the most part now, we... they're pretty much interchangeable. It's more about what does the patient want. There are still kids that want the braces, the traditional braces, because they want to put the colors on and have fun. I... in fact, I've had some adults that have chosen braces s- because they want to have fun with it as well.

Stacey 14:07

And then we have kids that do Invisalign. Yeah. Maybe talk a little bit about that because I think often people forget that, there are adults who need orthodontics and I'm guessing some of them may start with Dr. San Diego and, maybe complaining about some of the things that, they don't like are causing them trouble, and then, make their way over to you and start investigating the orthodontics.

Dr. Steven Ricci 14:32

Can you guys maybe just talk a little bit about how you've worked together with adults as well? So to me, I think the adults fall into kinda a couple different categories. We occasionally get the adult that never had orthodontics as a child. It's something they've always wanna do. I would stress to them that it's never too late. We can, come in, let's find out about what we can do for you. Then there's a subset of adults that have maybe some... They've got some dental issues going on in their mouth. A- and this is where it's so great having Dr. San Diego around, because we can get that digital study model, and then he and I can sit it, sit there, look at it, talk back and forth. And he's "Okay, here's what I need you to do. Can you do that?" And maybe I can, maybe I can't, and we may sit down after five minutes and go, "We've got two or three different great options that we can present to the patient." And then one of us will, present it, and maybe there is only one option, but we still get to present what we think is the best way to fix their mouth the way they wanna do it And then the third adult is just somebody that maybe had braces as a kid, their teeth have shifted, and they're like... They still think it's gonna be the 1980s braces that they remember, and they're just scared to go in. And the reality is, come in and find out. Sometimes we can just almost refresh your teeth or your smile with some Invisalign. It's... Not every case is two years. Sometimes it's four to six months. There are some things that can be done at all different times, or treatment lengths, really and really fit what they're looking to get out of it. They won't be forced into two years metal braces, rubber bands, head gears. Pretty much all the trauma they probably remember from the 1980s orthodontics.

Dr. Eric San Diego 16:13

For sure. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. I love what Dr. Ricci said there. Just the ability to collaborate so closely and especially with adult care. Yeah. 'Cause we will run into a lot of things, especially, I think, in our modern day, where a lot of people are thinking a little bit more about the aesthetics of their teeth. And so having the ability to, like Dr. Ricci said, me scan them in part of my aesthetic consult with patients when we are doing a lot of aesthetic work, sit down with him and say, "Hey, you know what? I'm planning this, I'm thinking this, but I would like to see if orthodontics could be part of this to make, A, the treatment more conservative, B, make it look even better to get a better final result there," takes both departments.

Stacey 17:03

And Dr. Ricci does a great job of walking those patients through those needs. And we have seen amazing results with those sorts of cases. Yeah. And can you maybe talk a little bit more about, the adult side of your practice and, you know how you sort of balance intervention and conservative treatment? I think there's a hesitancy of people to switch dentists because they feel like they're gonna go to a new dentist and they're gonna tell them that, they need to get 18 cavities refilled and and majorly change their mouth and stuff. And I hear people all the time who say they don't like their dentist, but yet they just keep going back to the same dentist every six months because it's like, "I don't... I don't wanna take the effort to switch." So maybe just talk a little bit about, your approach if, someone's listening and they're, deciding they wanna come in and see you. What's your approach with a new patient and what are some of the things that, you're gonna be looking for and helping them with?

Dr. Eric San Diego 18:03

Absolutely. First and foremost, it's, I always approach it in a comprehensive manner. And that may be a word that some people don't always hear around dentistry or feel like they get from dentistry. But with a comprehensive exam, we're looking at absolutely everything, airway space. Every single time there's oral cancer checks. And I really feel strongly that the most conservative way that we could do dentistry is being able to prevent things, right? Being able to catch things early enough or change the tide early enough that we're not dealing with bigger issues down the road. For example, if I'm able to take an X-ray and see a cavity starting to form, then we can talk about preventative measures such as using a higher strength fluoride tooth- prescription fluoride toothpaste or other products such as Duradent which help to remineralize the tooth structure in those areas in a focused manner so that we can help aid in building the tooth back up naturally rather than just waiting every single time for it to get a little bit worse. Monitoring, monitoring those areas. Another conservative approach if a patient we know- clenches a lot. Instead of waiting for something to break, we say, "Hey, let's use a night guard." That's something that's very cost-effective, very simple to do but makes a big impact longterm. So for me, being conservative is doing all the things we can to be fully informed, and then make decisions early that'll help benefit longterm so that there's minimal dentistry that we need to do. When it comes to restorative, 'cause lots of people do actually need some work on their teeth, right? And I think especially, like I was talking about earlier with the aesthetic department, when patients wanna change things around, sometimes I look at their teeth and they're like, "Hey, I was thinking of veneers across. I saw it on TikTok. I wanna do this." I say, "Let's pump the brakes a little bit. Let's talk about it. Let's have a full visit, just you and me, where we could look at all these things that you want. Let's take some pictures. Let me do a mock-up with my lab technician. Let me talk with Dr. Ricci" because s- sometimes in a lot of cases teeth are beautiful, they're just in the wrong spot, right? Or maybe with just moving things around, it really dramatically enhances the look of things, and then we don't need to pursue more of those avenues with ceramics or composites to aesthetically fix things. So just that as the basis of we're not ever trying to rush into anything. We're never trying to upsell things. I, I feel like, again, that's feedback I get a lot from patients, is just at other places feeling like there's a constant push of "Hey gotta do this, gotta do this. Let me do this. I'm gonna do this for you," rather than the discussion that we try to intentionally have with patients of, "These are our thoughts.

Stacey 21:13

These, this is the things I'm seeing. This is why it's important to me. This is why I think it should be important to you, and let's talk about what we could do together to get you to where you wanna be as far as your oral health goals." And I know you mentioned the aesthetic and restorative dentistry. You also have, an in-house oral surgeon. It's really a one-stop shop, for all things dental. And I think one of the things I love about Dental Town is that there's a community feel when you walk in. I feel like I always see someone I know, someone from Milton who's, there when I'm there. And then you guys have this great community that really has everything that we need right there in one place. So maybe you can talk a little bit about, the different pieces and how does having everybody right there working together benefit patients and save people time and, all of that stuff.

Dr. Eric San Diego 22:12

Absolutely. For me, I just love it. I love having Dr. Ricci with us doing orthodontics. Dr. Cho, he's our oral surgeon, absolutely phenomenal. And it's just so nice for a family to come in, and we service the entire family from youngest to oldest, from Beginning of life to end of life to everything in between. We think of the whole gradient there, right? Coming in as a kid focusing on watching development, right? If we need orthodontics, great. Dr. Rick, he's in-house with us. He's taking care of things. If he sees a problem with a tooth that's not descending, Dr. Cho's right down the hallway. We get with him, and he'll help surgically move that tooth into place as part of orthodontic treatment. Later down the road as a teenager we're talking wisdom teeth. We get back with Dr. Cho, and he helps us out with that, does a phenomenal job. And then later on in life, just great care from our hygienists, keeping everybody on track with what they need to do, really educating and empowering our patients. I think that's maybe one part that we miss out a lot on talking about is how phenomenal they are in educating our patients, making sure that our ortho patients are taken care of on a regular basis to prevent a lot of cavities and gingivitis that can happen during orthodontic treatment very easily. We talk about adults, right? Just normal care, but sometimes accidents happen. Sometimes we break a tooth, right? Eating those darn popcorn kernels. Everybody's had it. And then again, I'm able to transition that care over to Dr. Cho and say, "Hey, in this situation, a single implant's all that's needed. We don't need to be more aggressive than that. Let's get him on board." Takes care of that, and then I restore it. It's just so Great to have that comprehensive team all under one roof have the familiarity of the teams there on a weekly basis with us, and keeping that continuity of care and those communication lines open between providers. For me, that's the ultimate benefit there. I know that I struggle with that, seeing medical providers. I'm a normal person. I go to the doctor, too, right? And when you have to get referrals out, out of office, and they say, "Go over here." And then you get that, those results done. You go back to the original place, they're like, "Did you get the copy that they sent?" They're like, "What copy? What are you here for?" Sometimes the communication's a little lacking, and that's frustrating in our medical system, and oftentimes dental system, right? Just not having all the communication lines open. But that's the huge benefit between having Dr. Ricci and Dr. Cho with me is especially in complex cases where it takes all of us putting in effort to get us to the goal that we want, we're able to just sit down and talk and really put our heads together, and we're all on the same page. We share the same notes and we're well informed with what each other is doing and where we're going, and it helps a ton.

Stacey 25:33

Dr. I imagine it's just a whole lot easier if you see a hygiene issue or, a cavity or, a tooth that's gonna need, surgical removal that you just have everybody right there. Can you talk a little bit about maybe can you think of a case or someone that you saw and how having the support of the other providers, really did make a difference in the patient care?

Dr. Steven Ricci 25:59

For me, I know... all my patients, most of them anyway, come from him. They're his patients. But I think, my role is really to support him, and I think Dr. Chao would say the same thing, is we wanna support Dr. San Diego deliver the most optimum care that he can deliver to each patient. So somewhat like an individual case may be an adult with some restorative need. Maybe the tooth is too small and we have to make some space for it. Here's a traditional dilemma where I make space around it. Great. Make an appointment with your doctor over at your normal place. Let him see it, if he likes it. Two weeks goes by, they finally get in there. They see that doctor. He says, "No." They show back up and you're like, "What'd he say?" "Oh, he didn't tell you yet?" And we might waste six months going back and forth before we even find out, did I put the tooth where he wants it so he can do the restorative work? I've had cases with him where I'm like, "Hold on. Don't move. Hey, what operatory? Where's Dr. San Diego? where's he at?" And then I just drag him over and go, "Take a look at this tooth right now. Is that where you want it? More space, less space? Tell me what you want." And he might say, "A little more right there," or he might say, "Hey, it's great." Good. Guess what? 10 minutes later, we've got them on his schedule to get the tooth fixed instead of wasting six months going back and forth trying to find out, where are we? Yeah. And you just can't beat that synergy, and that's that's just an example of what he's is talking about, having all of us under one roof. A- and to the patient's the ultimate winner in all of that. Yeah- we love the synergy, but it's the patient that wins, and that's why we're doing all this, is we do it for the patients.

Stacey 27:33

So I can imagine- Yeah things like, the x-rays and the digital scans that- Yeah they're... You have access to everything that's already been done right there- so you're not repeating tho- or those things and making the person, sit through them and even pay... in some cases pay extra, again, to have that stuff done. I imagine at some point, we're gonna be s- 20 years down the road and, Dr. San Diego's gonna be seeing adults that he saw, when they were little kids and, you know- Yeah that continuity it, it probably really it just creates a ideal situation for those patients that they're able to see you from, the very first visit to, going through the orthodontics and then, I don't know, maybe coming in and you're telling them it's time for a root canal. Or the wisdom teeth. Anything else that, that either of you wants to share a- about the practice and why you think it's important that folks, come in and check you out and not be afraid to, switch dentists if they're already seeing someone?

Dr. Steven Ricci 28:35

I get that question a lot too as a specialist where people will make the comment, "I don't like my dentist," or whatever, their fears may be. I- my general advice is you need to have a relationship with your dentist where you guys can communicate. And if there isn't a good line of communication, you absolutely need to switch and find somebody that will... If you have questions, that doctor should b- take his time, answer your questions. And, th- that's the number one fear is people don't get questions answered and so then they walk away from that doctor and "Oh, I don't know if I like him or I don't..." It- y- your brain creates scenarios when you don't know answers a- and it never creates the right scenario or, it just goes through like crazy things Dr. Sandigo's fantastic. You meet with him he's gonna answer your questions. I don't s- I've never heard of anybody coming away not feeling good about the interactions. Getting a comprehensive plan, that doesn't mean you have to do everything. I don't think you can have a plan unless you know all your problems, and then you can pick and choose. Hey, you know what? This year, let's do this. This is the most important thing on my list. Then I'm gonna hit this next year. A- and, or, hey, this tooth might need some work in a few years. Let- let's watch it so that it- you're not surprised down the road when it needs work. That's what a comprehensive plan means. It doesn't mean you have to do all 18 cavities day one. It's, hey, here's some areas to watch. Maybe we can do a few things now. Let's watch these others and see how things progress over time. He's amazing at doing that. A- and that's what you're gonna get. Thank you. Appreciate that, Doctor. You're welcome.

Dr. Eric San Diego 30:12

I, for me, I just always like to echo what the founding dean of my dental school said Jack Dalenberg. He said, "A tooth is connected to a person's connected to a family, and a family's connected to a community. And when you work on a tooth, you're not just working on the tooth, you're affecting an entire community." And for me, that was the whole reason I went to the school I went to. That's the whole philosophy that my career is built on, is we're not just treating tooth by tooth, we are uplifting our community around us. We are treating individuals as a whole person. We are treating entire families. And for me, no better place to do that than at Dentaltown. I've truly found that in working with Dentaltown over the last few years is that l- it's... They put that into practice day in and day out. And I know speaking about the community, that you do, several times throughout the year, you'll do an event where you're providing free dental care for, for those who, couldn't get it otherwise.

Stacey 31:20

Can you talk about, one of those events and, how everybody comes together to do that?

Dr. Eric San Diego 31:25

Absolutely. I love that event. It's called our Day of Caring. And I think it's going on year 12 now if I'm not mistaken. I think year 12 of our da- annual Day of Caring, where volunteers from all of our offices, both providers, doctors, hygienists, assistants people give their time donated on a Saturday to give back to our community and provide free dental care for patients who are really in need, who don't have any other dental insurance, no other help otherwise. We partner with a lot of schools in the area and work really closely with the school nurses to identify who would benefit as well as just through our own screenings in our offices. It's a day that we really are able to focus and remember back on why we actually do dentistry, right? It's not just solely a job. Yes it's something that keeps us busy, something that gives us a roof over our head, food on our tables. But it's so much more than just us and just that. It's about the, those we serve and those who we can make a big difference for in our community.

Stacey 32:40

Yeah. And the last thing I think is, one thing that does truly make Dentaltown feel like a community is the other support staff that you have there. From the hygienists and the assistants and the the folks who are working in the office. It... everybody's friendly. Everybody knows your name. They make you feel at home. It's just, it's not a revolving door of new people every time you go in. You guys do have a, a core team that that you'll see when you come into the office. I think that's a a differentiator for you all as well and something that can really, make the experience better for for you guys as providers, but also for, for the patients too. Absolutely. Yeah. Definitely. Good deal. It was so nice talking with both of you this evening. I hope that you enjoyed it and that, we d- we encourage a few people out there to come on in and see what Dentaltown is all about. Thank you so much, Stacy. Yes. It was a pleasure being on with you tonight. All right. Yeah. Thank you both. Been fun. Been great. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, Milton and More.

33:52

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