Episode 17 - FROM DENTAL STUDENT TO MULTI-LOCATION PRACTICE OWNER

SUMMARY: In this episode, host Karen Wood interviews Dr. Austin Westover, a VDA member, multi-location practice owner, and President-elect of the Shenandoah Valley Dental Association. Dr. Westover shares his inspiring journey from being intrigued by dentistry through his father’s early exposure to becoming a multi-location practice owner. He details his experiences with digital dentistry, AI in practice, and the challenges and rewards of managing multiple roles as a clinician and business owner. The episode provides practical insights for young dentists and dental students, covering topics such as acquiring loans, mentorship, and implementing technology.

HOST: Karen Wood manages the VDA Member Perks program. She has been in the dental field for over 20 years, having experience as a dental assistant, managing a periodontal practice, and working with dental teams as a sales consultant and trainer.  

GUEST(S): Dr. Austin Westover graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 2011. He has dedicated his career to pushing the limits of dentistry and enjoys living on the cutting edge. He has extensive knowledge in digital dentistry, 3D printing, in-office milling, and digital dental designs.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

https://westoverfamilydentistry.com/

American Dental Association Design Innovation Awards

VDA Member Perks: https://www.vdamemberperks.com/ The Virginia Dental Services Corporation (VDSC) was created as a subsidiary of the VDA to recommend products and services to the members of the VDA. By utilizing the VDA Member Perks-endorsed vendors, VDA members can enjoy the peace of mind that comes with using recommended companies, take advantage of special benefits, and receive discounted pricing, all while supporting the VDA. Since 1997, the VDSC has been pleased to provide over $3.7 million in funding to the VDA, VDA Foundation, VCU School of Dentistry, and others.

EPISODE CREDITS:

Producer: Paul Logan

Host: Karen Wood

Guest(s): Dr. Austin Westover

Post-Production/Editor: Shannon Jacobs

Subscribe, share, and send your feedback and topic ideas to thefulcrumpodcast@vadental.org.

The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional, medical, or legal advice.

Music in this episode from Epidemic Sound

Transcript

[00:00:10] Karen Wood: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Virginia Dental Association's podcast, The Fulcrum. My name is Karen Wood, and I'm the Director of Operations for VDA Member Perks, which is the VDA member benefit program. Our endorsed vendor partners provide discounts on products and services as well as an elevated level of support and attention to the VDA members that use them.

[00:00:29] Karen Wood: If you've listened to previous podcasts, you know that the VDA tries to bring relevant information that you can use to further your professional development and practice growth in the business side of dentistry. And we've occasionally touched on the personal aspects of being a dentist. Today we're trying something new and combining both.

[00:00:46] Karen Wood: We hope that this episode helps some of the younger dentists and dental students in providing a real-life account of a fellow VDA member and how they went from student to multi-location practice owner. Our special guest today is Dr. Austin Westover, an active VDA member and practice owner in Virginia and West Virginia, not to mention the father of four very active boys.

[00:01:06] Karen Wood: He serves on the VDA Member Perks board and is the president-elect for the Shenandoah Valley Dental Association, to name just a couple of his leadership roles. Thank you for carving out some time for us today, Dr. Westover. 

[00:01:17] Dr. Austin Westover: Happy to be here. I was happy to help out. 

[00:01:21] Karen Wood: All right. Let's start with my favorite question to ask dentists and their team members: What made you choose a career in dentistry?

[00:01:27] Dr. Austin Westover: This is always a fun question 'cause you know, I always wanted to say, oh, I saw these underprivileged people and really wanted to help, uh, which eventually is what I came to, but what first piqued my interest was back in the early nineties, I was in high school and my dad started a company based out of Los Angeles called Orth Alliance.

[00:01:47] Dr. Austin Westover: And it was one of the early, early DSOs where he went and purchased like over 250 ortho and pediatric practices across the country. And so, during my off hours, I would go and help with, just like video editing on some of the CE things and different things that they were doing. And he pulled me outta school one weekend and flew me down to Orlando, Florida, where they had their big annual meeting.

[00:02:11] Dr. Austin Westover: And so, I was behind one of those big, like $40,000 professional movie cameras. And I'm, um, watching these orthodontists that are lecturing on business practices. And I remember one of 'em stands up and he says, yeah, I work Tuesdays and Thursdays from eight until noon, and I take home about $580,000 at the end of the year.

[00:02:32] Dr. Austin Westover: I remember looking out from around the camera being like, I'm sorry, what was that? Um, so that's what originally piqued my interest in it, uh, was just the fact that I didn't realize you could do so well. Anyways, fast forward, I finished up with college. I went on a two-year mission for my church and during that time I saw a lot of the need that people have for dentistry and just how difficult it is to; to really get that and how impactful it is to their life.

[00:02:59] Dr. Austin Westover: So, once I started out in dental school, I realized that if I became an orthodontist, I think I would just get really bored. Like I do a lot of ortho in my office, I do braces, I do Invisalign, I do all of that. But man, if that's all I did all day, every day, I think I would go crazy. Ultimately at the end of the day, I really love the fact where people can walk in and they've got just debilitating pain, right? And they walk out totally cured.

[00:03:24] Dr. Austin Westover: Like what kind of profession is there where you can really help take someone from debilitating pain, and within an hour, they're walking out feeling fantastic. Um, you know, the aesthetic aspect of it. I love the art, the science. I love really being involved in the creation of everything. So, all of that, I've really felt like I found my niche with the ability to really help people, but also to create a lot of really beautiful art. And just have a lot of fun with the people I work with. So, ultimately, that's kind of where I've come to after I've been in practice now for 15 years-ish.

[00:03:57] Karen Wood: That's a, that's a cool start. I like the Tuesday, Thursday, like, sign me up. 

[00:04:02] Dr. Austin Westover: Yeah. Seriously. 

[00:04:02] Karen Wood: So, do you have a mentor or some other form of guidance to help you make these, you know, solid financial decisions to get where you are today? I mean, how to handle student loan debt, finding the associates, uh, acquiring loans, and, you know, what are your recommendations on resources for dentists? 'Cause there's a lot of 'em that get very nervous about their career path because they don't know what they don't know. 

[00:04:23] Dr. Austin Westover: Right. I'm the first dentist in my family, the first medical professional. My dad is always in from the insurance side, so either big DSOs, he started out on the health insurance side. Overall, he's been able to help me with the kind of the big business things in general. So, he's been a big cheerleader and advocate for me of giving me the confidence to really jump into the deep end. But I mean, a lot of it is you've gotta really be willing to risk it. I mean, um, when I went from one location to two locations, I told my wife, I said, this is either gonna make my career or it's gonna bankrupt us. There's nothing in between.

[00:04:58] Karen Wood: What about your associateship to first practice?

[00:05:01] Dr. Austin Westover: Okay, that was much, much easier. So, when I first got outta dental school, um, I was offered a job working with a gentleman in town, um, Dr. Newman. And the agreement was, yep, you can work for a year, and then you can buy in. So, I bought in, and that was a really easy transition. I think he even like financed it, himself personally. That made it super easy. Just took money outta my paycheck each time. I did that for I think about nine years. When we hit about year nine, it was like. He owned the building. He was kind of on the cusp of retirement, and he didn't want to add on the building. We were filling up our side, and so I just needed more space to practice. And so, we sat down, mediated, and figured out the best course was for me to split off. We were kind of running almost two separate practices under one roof. So, I just picked up, built down the street. That was in 2020 when we moved in. We got the certificate of occupancy a week after the governor said we weren't allowed to do any non-emergency dentistry 'cause of COVID.

[00:05:57] Dr. Austin Westover: So that was a fun experience. Um, but that was my transition. And again, that was another one of those huge leaps. I was going from pretty much being debt-free. I think by that point, I paid off all my student loans. Still had a mortgage, but I was going from kind of small-town stuff to, it took out like a three and a half million-dollar loan to build a 10 operatory office ground up construction.

[00:06:21] Dr. Austin Westover: It was a huge, huge risk. And then COVID hitting right at the same time. So, there are a lot of gray hairs and a lot of, uh, stressful times. But at the end of the day, you know, if I didn't push it and risk it, I'd still be practicing in a four operatory practice and probably bringing in a third of what everything's bringing in now.

[00:06:39] Karen Wood: So, in that process of going from associateship, that's a large leap, not every dentist is gonna be able to stomach that kind of risk, but just what were your resources to help, you know, this is the right thing. I've got the right loan; I've got the right people in place to help me make this successful. 

[00:06:56] Dr. Austin Westover: Yeah, so. You know, this is totally gonna sound like a plug for the VDA, but I've always tried to be active in, in just dentistry in general. I like the camaraderie. When I'm at the Virginia meeting or different CE meetings, talking to vendors, um, going through the list of the preferred vendors of the VDA. I mean, they've been really helpful, just, uh, giving me a really good starting point. So, from there I was able to talk with them, a couple banks looked at and said, no, you're too high risk. I went to a course by Mark Tholen forever ago, and it was all on practice design. I got in touch with him and then he put me in touch with some lenders that were a little more willing to risk it for someone at my stage. And then everything kind of fell in place from there. They recommended the architect who helped me find the contractor, and it all kind of went downstream from there.

[00:07:40] Karen Wood: Well, let's, let's stop there for a second because, I remember during the COVID shutdown when we're all like kind of scrambling for positive news and I see an ADA article that Dr. Austin Westover has won the ADA design award.

[00:07:55] Dr. Austin Westover: Yeah. So, the architects, I guess, well, when I first talked with my local reps, they're like, oh yeah, we've got an architect outta Northern Virginia that's done a few offices.

[00:08:02] Dr. Austin Westover: So, I talked with them and they said. We've done like six or seven dental offices. And when I talked with Dr Tholen, he said, Call these guys out of Austin, Texas, Fazio architects. And so, I reached out to them, and they're like, Oh yeah, we've done like 2,500 dental offices. I'm like, you're the guys I want.

[00:08:20] Dr. Austin Westover: So. I went with them. Um, my wife at the time, she gave kind of some broad ideas to the interior designer that worked with Fazio. The goal was to try to figure out an office that was like a really elevated, homey, warm feel. So, a lot of like blues and warm wood colors and um, just kind of like a classic timeless, traditional farmhouse kind of look. The architects even sent in a professional camera crew to take all the photos and, I didn't realize there was architectural photographers, but apparently that's a thing. And, uh, so we submitted it and we won. And the feedback from patients has been really great too. It's not a cold, like sterile environment. It's a very warm, um, just clean, calming presence. 

[00:09:07] Karen Wood: I've seen the, the videos and, and the pictures online on your website. It's pretty amazing. So, I'm sure that you love going into the office every day. 

[00:09:14] Dr. Austin Westover: Absolutely. Well, next time you're in town, you gotta swing by and check it out. It's, I need too. It's beautiful.

[00:09:19] Karen Wood: So, I mean, in your role as a dentist and then, you know, you're taking care of patients and then you're also a business owner, so an employer. So, what do you find most fulfilling about the two different sides of practice ownership that you have? 

[00:09:35] Dr. Austin Westover: Ooh, practice ownership. That's, that's the tough one. That's the part that causes me the most stress. I feel like clinical dentistry wise, at this stage, I've got a good niche. Um, I'm comfortable with it. There's very few cases that stress me out. The business stuff is really kind of learning and progress. We don't get a lot of schooling on this. I mean, ultimately, you just have to find a really, really good office manager. I think it's been the key to make it successful for me.

[00:09:59] Dr. Austin Westover: There's just so many little things you have to do and if you're seeing patients from eight to five. Like, when do you find time to run the business? So, the biggest struggle I have right now is just trying to find all the time to just fit everything in. So, um, that's, that's the part I'm currently still working towards. 

[00:10:18] Karen Wood: So what does a typical day in your practice look like in working with your team for patient care and, and I have to ask this 'cause I've just been dentistry for so long and every consultant will tell you that the morning huddle is one of the most important things you can do. And a lot of offices just don't get that done. So, do you actually do a morning huddle and, from there, where does your day go?

[00:10:39] Dr. Austin Westover: Yeah, so we typically start, we do a morning huddle at 7:45. The whole team's involved. We put a little sign out on the check-in desk of, yeah, grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable. We'll be back in a few minutes. In the morning huddle, we start off with the best thing that happened the previous day. So, kind of celebrating our wins first and foremost. And then we just move on to running through the patients of the day, looking for different opportunities, filling holes in the schedule, talking about patients that have special needs or certain health concerns, or just even preferences to make them more comfortable.

[00:11:11] Dr. Austin Westover: Just to make sure everybody is aware of who's coming in, what they're coming in for. Making any last-minute tweaks or changes and, and then we just hit the ground running. So usually, I kind of just dive in and run solid. Mondays I have a lunch break, but I'm usually spending that time doing some digital dentistry and designing and lab work or catching up on emails. But generally, I'm kind of just nose to the wheel there and just working through. And then at five o'clock, I kind of blink and the day's over and come up for air and try to figure out what just happened and go home. Then I have to go through all the notes and tweak and change and realize, oh, we forgot to send that case to Invisalign, or, oh, we needed to change this, or, oh, we needed to do that. So. Just a lot of catch up. Again, going back to the work-life balance, I haven't figured that part out yet. So that's my next step. 

[00:11:58] Karen Wood: Let us know when you do, we, yeah, we could all use that. But you mentioned digital dentistry, so let's talk technology for a second because, um, I know how passionate you are about it, and you're a bit of a techy nerd. And, and I say that with, with all the love in my heart because I'm one myself. So, what are some advancements in dental tech or techniques that you've incorporated into your practice? And have you incorporated any AI features? 

[00:12:20] Dr. Austin Westover: Yeah, so this is the stuff that I get really nerdy and super excited about. I think obviously the big thing is AI, we'll start there. We're currently using Pearl for X-rays. It just kind of flags and tags things that are suspicious. I never rely totally on that. I'll always kinda cycle back through, but I think it's like two hundred bucks a month, and I figure if it helps me just see one cavity that I would've missed or one of my associates missed. Then it's worth it for me. We use Oryx, O.R.Y.X., and we switched over to that maybe eight, nine months ago, and they've really been pushing the envelope on advancements.

[00:12:55] Dr. Austin Westover: So, they rolled out a whole AI suite that had everything from assisted perio charting to clinical notes, and it would provide a summary of everything. Where you could even have the microphone running and the patient would talk, and you would talk, and then it would copy the whole transcript, and then also break it down into summaries of the whole visit.

[00:13:12] Dr. Austin Westover: We played around with it for a little bit, and I personally felt like it needed a little bit more. I mean, we started it right when they launched it, and so I'm gonna give it another year or so to circle back and try that out. But I think there's a lot of really interesting things that can do, especially when it comes to front end billing dealing with insurance predeterminations. So, ORYX has done a lot of the automated stuff, which has been really helpful, and it's really helped front with accounts receivables and collections. The more we can see with that, integrating better with the insurance, I think the quicker we'll have turnaround times. 'Cause ultimately the number one question is how much is my insurance gonna pay? Which really another different way of saying how much am I gonna have to pay?

[00:13:52] Karen Wood: Right. 

[00:13:52] Dr. Austin Westover: And then trying to streamline it so that way we can get paid by insurance quickly.

[00:13:56] Karen Wood: Are patients looking for tech? I mean, do you find that there's an advantage there? Like you're showing an X-ray? Do they find that, that, you know, second look, I think what they call it with Pearl, um. 

[00:14:06] Dr. Austin Westover: Second opinion or something.

[00:14:08] Karen Wood: Do, do you find that that is helpful for helping a patient understand the treatment that they need? 

[00:14:12] Dr. Austin Westover: I've had one or two patients ask, are using AI for anything. I especially like it for a patient that comes in where you can tell that they're just not buying it. You talk through what they have, and they look at you. You're like, yeah, I don't believe you. I'll put it up on the TV and say, ' Yeah, I see these bright pink spots on the X-rays. ‘ Those are the cavities, right? The AI is just flagging those. There's another cool feature where it will, it will trace out the different layers of the tooth, so it'll color like the, the pulp chamber will color purple. The dentin, I can't remember what color it makes it, but it basically. It breaks the tooth down into different layers and then it will lay how big the cavity is on top of it. So, I think it's especially helpful for those deep cases where you, like, do you see how close the pink cavity is to the purple nerve? That's why we have to do a root canal or extract the tooth. Um, I think that's been helpful for patients. 

[00:14:58] Karen Wood: What about insurance claims? Does that AI feature help with the claim process in getting things paid for? 

[00:15:05] Dr. Austin Westover: I would have to ask my, my admin team. I do know my admin team has been able to get payments from a lot of the insurance companies now within like two or three days, which blows my mind. So, I think our average time to collect our full amount now is, it's like seven or eight days total. 

[00:15:20] Karen Wood: Wow. 

[00:15:21] Dr. Austin Westover: So, I don't know if it's because of these helpful AI features or I don't know. Whatever it is, they're pretty fantastic, though. 

[00:15:29] Karen Wood: So, what's on your technology wish list? 

[00:15:31] Speaker 2: Well, it's funny, some people like fancy cars. Some people like big houses. I like my gadgets. I just got the Sprintray Pro 2 this last week, which was kind of a bittersweet purchase for me because A, it's so easy to use. You just kind of send stuff, and it just doesn't, and that's blown me away. But the bitter part is the fact that I used to have to do a lot of like tweaking and changing and setting and placing screws and supports and all of this stuff, and now it's just automatically done, and I feel, I feel like I’m just not getting enough interaction with it, you know. So, it's good. This is better for the overall process, um, but it doesn't scratch that itch. So that's been a new, a new one. We've been huge into scanning. I've been scanning crowns in the mouth since like day one, back in 2011 with like one of the, like the original E4D scanner and mill. So, we mill, we're milling, we've got puck milling, we've got block milling, we've got 3D printers. 

I just picked up the Midas. I think the Midas, especially once the materials catch up, I think that's gonna really revolutionize things for everybody just because for what is it, like 10, 15 grand? You can be doing same-day dentistry super-fast. And SprintRay’s got AI, crown design, and I, I don't know, I feel like the future of lab stuff is gonna be sending stuff out to designers, having 'em send it back, and then you manufacture it in the office. And whether that designers AI or lab technician. Maybe some of each. I really think that's where, if we fast forward five, 10 years in dentistry, I think that's where most offices are gonna be. 

[00:17:00] Karen Wood: Is your team like your dental assistants? Are they able to design the crowns for you? 

[00:17:06] Dr. Austin Westover: They, I've got one assistant who's, she's getting really good at it. I used to have one that did it all, and then she kind of semi-retired. Yeah, this new one, she's, uh, EFDA 2, and she's taken over our lab and she'll do everything. She'll stop at the margin marking, and then I'll double-check that, and then she can take it the rest of the way, and I'll approve the final. Or if I'm designing it myself, I'll do the design and then she'll actually process it for milling or printing and customize it, glaze it, fire it to an anything that way.

[00:17:34] Dr. Austin Westover: But going back to your original question, as far as what's on my wish list, I kind of feel like I've got all of the technology available except for the implant robot, which I just don't see the ROI for my specific office and how I practice. So, I think it's shiny and cool, but it's not something that I have any plans for.

[00:17:52] Karen Wood: That's a smart way to look at it, because every shiny toy could be in your, in your hands, but if it's not gonna help your patients or you doesn't really, you know, benefit you. So, is there any like new trends in dentistry that you think are gonna be impactful for the, for the dentistry in the future? 

[00:18:10] Dr. Austin Westover: I mean, obviously corporate kind of growing and growing. Um, you know, my dad's got an interesting insight 'cause he sees it from the other side. I mean, right now, they just pulled him out of his like third retirement. Now he's running some ortho pedo and oral surgery DSO based outta Tennessee. And I think they've got eighty offices or something. Um, but I think we're seeing more and more of that. And what I've noticed and heard and kind of experienced from patients coming, they just, they're really trying to drive costs down and trying to drive profits up. And so, patients are being looked at more as kind of monetary sources than they are individual people that we're trying to help. And so, I think there's gonna be just a huge, kind of divide. Where I think the individual private practitioner has a lot of opportunities to really make these really nice kind of boutique or kind of more patient geared practices versus the corporate that are just going for just numbers. Obviously, we're seeing more, um, squeezing of insurance companies, also trying to do the same, increased profits, decreasing expenditures.

[00:19:14] Dr. Austin Westover: Um, but on the positive side, I think a lot of dentistry is just untapped. The digital stuff is gonna open up a lot of same-day procedures, same-day work. Um, driving costs down on our side. I mean, we're 3D printing flippers and full dentures now, and milling dentures in-house. And I mean, shoot, I can make a denture start to finish, total cost in, I'm like, I don't know, an hour of design time. Two visits and maybe $20 in resin, right? So, I'm discounting those dentures for patients versus spending four or five visits, and you know, hundreds of dollars in lab bills. So, I think there's a lot of—a lot of fun opportunity there for growth.

[00:19:55] Dr. Austin Westover: Um, I think a lot of dentists are burning out too 'cause they're working solo, they're being squeezed by insurance, and they don't have a lot of connection with other people just in general. Um, so I think group practices are helpful in that sense 'cause you have other colleagues that you can work with, you have, uh, more of that interpersonal interaction that helps lead to more fulfilling lives. But that's where I see things going in the future. 

[00:20:19] Karen Wood: You hit a little thought process with me on the denture thing. I remember when I was a consultant, I worked with an office and the dentist jacked up his, uh, denture fee 'cause he didn't wanna do them. Is the digital side of printing dentures more accurate so you're not having a ton of relines and follow-up appointments?

[00:20:36] Dr. Austin Westover: Yes. So. According to Wally Renne, who's been, he's been my big kind of digital design mentor. So, you know, he's got all the studies and all that fun stuff. I think what's really nice is the quick turnaround, so if a patient comes in with a denture already made, you can do just a wash, reline, scan that, and you can have a denture made in an hour, hour and a half. Um, I find that we're getting fewer, fewer remakes, and the remakes really aren't as big of a deal.

[00:21:03] Dr. Austin Westover: If a patient comes in and the teeth are not set properly, or you got the VDO wrong, or there's no retention, it's like a whole thing, right? You gotta start at the beginning, remake the whole denture, you know, you gotta deal with the lab. And with the, with the digital one, it's like, what do you not like about it? Cool. Lemme just open up your old case file and move the teeth around. Or if it's not getting good retention, let me just do a wash impression, re-scan it, like. It just makes, so it might take me an extra half hour, hour of time. Um, and then I usually print 'em to dentures 'cause it's like all of the costs for me is really the design time.

[00:21:36] Dr. Austin Westover: So, if they lose one, they break one, whatever happens, it's like, yeah, you gotta back up. So, and then the other thing, if they lose or break both of 'em, you're like, yeah, just give us a hundred bucks. We'll just print you a new one. You know, like it makes it really, really nice and a lot quicker and easier. Um, I just went to an amazing denture course by the Dean of the dental school, and he just went through like a whole different design and, and how they do it. He's a big proponent of the mill dentures, which because of that I went and tried that on a couple patients. So, I 3D printed some and I milled some. And, um, they said they both felt great and they were happy with either one. So, I think most of it comes down to the design, but either way, there's just a lot of really cool applications. The milling is a little bit harder. It takes like three, four hours to mill the base. Versus printing takes an hour. 

[00:22:23] Karen Wood: It's exciting to hear how you're implementing all this technology, 'cause it's a huge benefit for the patient, and also it sounds like it keeps you motivated and passionate about your work. Not every day is gonna be easy at uh, you know, taking care of patients and being a business owner. But I think that that's a big, a big nod to what technology can do when you're feeling the success with it. 

[00:22:44] Dr. Austin Westover: Absolutely. We had a couple cases this last month in my office up in West Virginia, and up there at a totally different ballgame than, uh, Virginia. I had two patients in the last month that we extracted number eight on, right? So, we just popped out tooth number eight, and what they were expecting was waiting a few weeks getting the denture made, having all these different things, having to deal with the flipper. And I've got the Midas up there that I'm still playing around with; it's brand new. So, we just scanned it and designed it. I did a Maryland bridge. 3D printed that in seven minutes, popped the teeth out and glued it on. They went home with like a beautiful looking smile, like within an hour appointment. So just stuff like that, it's, I mean, how could you not love that?

[00:23:27] Dr. Austin Westover: Right? Like, instead of someone walking around with a huge hole in their smile, now they've got a tooth that's comfortable, they're happy with, they can't chew with it. It's not gonna be a great long-term solution. Um, but it's gonna tide 'em over while things heal and we can get in and do an implant or bridge or, um, kind of a more permanent denture, whatever they decide to do. 

[00:23:44] Karen Wood: I'm sure that makes your team feel positive about dentistry, too. 

[00:23:49] Dr. Austin Westover: Yes, definitely. They're really, they're really on board, and we're, we're having a lot of fun with it. 

[00:23:54] Karen Wood: Nice. So, it sounds like you love dentistry, you found the thing you're supposed to do in your life, okay. If dentistry was not an option for you, what would your profession be? 

[00:24:07] Dr. Austin Westover: Yeah, so I, I was questioning this a lot when I was in dental school. I was like, man, what would I do? And I think I'd want to do like a one of the life flight helicopter pilots. I think that'd be super fun because you're still involved in the medical stuff. You're still like an EMT. You're still helping people, and you get to fly a helicopter around. I think that'd be fun. What's not to like about that? 

[00:24:26] Karen Wood: Well, awesome. Dr. Westover, it's been a pleasure to have you here today, and we really appreciate you sharing your career experience, which I'm sure will be helpful for many dentists. Can you share your practice website for those listeners that wanna see this award-winning office? 

[00:24:40] Dr. Austin Westover: Sure, it's easy. It's just westoverfamilydentistry.com. Uh, and feel free if you have any questions about anything, too. I'm always a big proponent of helping others and, um, just being involved in the dental community and just having good contacts. If you have any questions or, um, we're in town and just want to come by and say hi. Yeah, shoot me an email and we'll connect, and I'll help in whatever way I can. 

[00:25:00] Karen Wood: I don't think we mentioned in town. You're in Winchester. 

[00:25:03] Dr. Austin Westover: Yes. So, my main office is Winchester, Virginia, and the office we just opened is up in, um, Charlestown, West Virginia.

[00:25:10] Karen Wood: Well, that's very generous of you. I think networking is so important, and it's something I think that we've kind of lost track of. You know, here at the VDA we really encourage everyone to reach out and find your mentors, find your people, and, and have your support system. So, it's really important.

[00:25:24] Dr. Austin Westover: The, the longer I do this, the more I realize the importance of, you know, viewing the other dentists around you as colleagues and not competition. Because ultimately, at the end of the day, nobody can treat all the patients. And really, we're all trying to do the best we can to help each other. And if we band together and create those relationships, it's just more rewarding and more helpful.

[00:25:45] Karen Wood: Dr. Westover, we thank you for your time and, and your words of wisdom and your positive spirit. This is amazing. Contact information can be found in the show notes for Dr. Westover. 

[00:25:55] Karen Wood: Please, like, subscribe, rate, and share our podcast. Let us know if you have any suggestions for future topics, as it's our goal to bring relevant and helpful content to VDA members and their teams.

[00:26:05] Karen Wood: Thank you for listening, and we look forward to having you return for the next episode of The Fulcrum.