In Your Face® Podcast

Dr. Mehdi Peikar is the Founder, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Medical Officer at Brius Technologies, an innovative company that’s focused on transforming the orthodontic experience. He is a practicing orthodontist who graduated from UCLA School of Dentistry. He also holds a master's degree in quantum mechanics and condensed matter from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in biomechanics from Johns Hopkins University. 

Dr. Peikar's unique background in academia has been instrumental in the design of Brius and continues to drive success in achieving superior biomechanical results. Since their start, they’ve received FDA approval with thousands of successful treatments and satisfied patients.

In this episode…

For years, there have been two common methods for straightening teeth: braces and aligners. While these do a great job of giving patients beautiful smiles, they often have their own unique limitations. So what if there was a third way of straightening teeth that does not require braces or aligners?

Dr. Mehdi Peikar used his knowledge of physics and mechanics to create Brius Technologies as that third way of straightening teeth. Placed behind the teeth, Brius allows for the independent movement of each tooth. He now shares that technology with other orthodontists to help them treat and straighten their patients' teeth in a way that improves the experience for everyone. 

In this episode of the In Your Face Podcast, Dr. Blair Feldman interviews Dr. Mehdi Peikar, the Founder, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Medical Officer at Brius Technologies, about his revolutionary technology for straightening teeth. Dr. Peikar explains how the idea for Brius came about, the way the system works, and their process for onboarding and training orthodontists on this innovative method. Stay tuned.

Vance Morris is a customer experience strategist and international speaker. He has held a variety of titles throughout his career, including former birth control factory security guard, bankrupt out-of-work executive, carpet cleaner, successful entrepreneur, and Disney leader. After spending 10 years at Walt Disney World, Vance now runs the only Disney service and direct response marketing business on the planet. He coaches companies on how to create Disney-style service systems and then monetize them through direct response marketing. Vance is also the “Longest Reigning Marketer of the Year” and the Author of Systematic Magic: 7 Magic Keys to Disnify Any Business.

In this episode…

In most professional services industries, students are not taught how to attract or retain clients. This includes the dental industry — and many dentists and orthodontists spend a lot of money looking for new clients due to low client retention rates. 

So what can dentists and orthodontists do to attract raving clients, retain them for the long term, and stand out from their competitors? The secret lies in great customer service. 

In this episode of the In Your Face Podcast, Dr. Blair Feldman interviews Vance Morris, a customer experience strategist and international speaker, about best practices for providing excellent customer service in dental practices. They also talk about designing your practice around a theme, Vance's strategies for introducing customer service to resistant employees, and how to leverage referrals to get more clients. Stay tuned.

Dr. Blair Feldman is the Co-founder and President of Retainer Club. He is an orthodontics specialist who has been practicing for more than 20 years. He is a former Adjunct Professor of Orthodontics at AT Still University.

Dr. Feldman completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan and went on to receive his DMD at the University of Pennsylvania. He partnered with his friend and former CEO of a company that he helped scale up to over a billion-dollar valuation, Craig Weiss, to set up Retainer Club. Together at Retainer Club, they help other orthodontists grow their practices.

In this episode…

Over the last year, many orthodontists and dental practitioners experienced a lot of changes in the way they run their practices. This includes coming up with better ways of providing a personal touch for their patients, scaling or expanding their practices, as well as handling outsourced services.

Over the same period, Dr. Blair Feldman and his business partner, Craig Weiss, have featured many great guests on the In Your Face Podcast. The topics they covered ranged from building billion-dollar businesses to cleaning aligners and advocating for mental health in the dental profession. 

In this episode of the In Your Face Podcast, host Dr. Blair Feldman is joined by Dr. Jeremy Weisz, Co-founder of Rise25 Media, to talk about some of the great guests featured on this podcast over the last year. They discuss the key lessons learned from each expert, some of the most common mistakes orthodontists make with their office systems, and artificial intelligence (AI) in dentistry. Stay tuned.

Craig Weiss is the Co-Founder and CEO of Retainer Club and Mouthguard Club, subscription healthcare businesses that manufacture 3-D printed custom retainers, mouth guards, and night guards. He is also the Founder and CEO of Aladdin Dreamer, a company that helps users improve their sleep health with its cutting-edge lucid dream simulation software and hardware.

Craig is the former President and CEO of NJOY Inc., where he helped generate over $150 million in revenue, raised $200 million in equity financing, and increased the company's valuation from $10 million to over a billion dollars in 2014. He is also the Co-Author of the book I Am My Brother's Keeper with his brother Jeffrey Weiss. Craig holds a degree in Law from Arizona State University and a degree in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania.

In this episode…

To grow any type of practice or business, an entrepreneur must take the time to find the right people to hire. Hiring should never be just about filling a vacant post: it should be about finding people who are qualified, honest, loyal, and ethical. 

Craig Weiss strongly believes in hiring people who are smarter than him. He also believes that honesty is more important than loyalty when dealing with employees, and given a choice between the two, would rather hire someone who tells him the truth. 

On this episode of the In Your Face Podcast, Craig Weiss shares an interview he did on The Performance Enhancer Podcast where he talked to Dr. Ruchir Sehra about his strategies for building an honest and loyal team. Craig also shares the history of the Retainer Club with Dr. Sehra, why he co-authored the book I Am My Brother's Keeper, and explains why he believes Aladdin Dreamer has a great future.

Craig Weiss is a serial entrepreneur and the Co-Founder and CEO of Retainer Club and Mouthguard Club. He is the former President and CEO of NJOY, Inc., where he helped generate over $150 million in revenue, raised $200 million in equity financing, and increased the company's valuation from $10 million to over a billion dollars in 2014. 

Craig holds a degree in law from Arizona State University and a degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining NJOY, he practiced law as a U.S. Registered Patent Attorney, focusing on the drafting and prosecution of patent applications for medical devices, as well as e-commerce and business method inventions. He has eleven patents to his own name, including five for medical devices.

In this episode…

Starting a business in a new category exposes the entrepreneur to a lot of challenges but with the right business partners, things become easier. They can share ideas, find solutions to problems together, and share management responsibilities. 

Since joining forces behind Retainer Club and Mouthguard Club, Craig Weiss and Blair Feldman have been the best partners. Their goal has been to help orthodontists provide better dental services and products to their patients through their retainers and mouthguards, creating a superior experience for both the patient and the orthodontist. 

In this week’s episode of the In Your Face Podcast, host Craig Weiss sits down with John Corcoran, the Co-Founder of Rise25 Media, about how he and his business partner, Blair Feldman, started Retainer Club. Craig talks about the challenges they faced promoting their product to orthodontists, what makes the two of them good partners, and how they raised funds during the pandemic.

Dr. Dustin Burleson is a speaker, teacher, author, and business strategist for over 3,000 orthodontists located across 32 countries. He writes and edits 5 newsletters monthly and is the Director of the Leo H. Rheam Foundation for Cleft and Craniofacial Orthodontics. 

He also operates large multi-doctor, multi-clinic orthodontic and pediatric dental practices in Kansas City, Missouri. He's a champion of the private practitioner and has a long track record of helping orthodontists transform their practices and leave a strong legacy for their families, employees, communities, and the orthodontic profession. His marketing campaigns have generated over $425 million in revenue for his clients and privately held practices. 

Dr. Burleson has worked extensively with the prestigious Disney Institute, Ritz Carlton Leadership Development Center, and the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School. He has been invited to speak throughout the world and has shared the stage with celebrities, athletes, and business leaders who mirror his passion to help people live healthier, happier lives. 

He's been featured on Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNBC, the Kansas City Star, Parents Magazine, and Family Fun. He is a 2 time Inc. 500 honoree, recognized for building one of the most successful orthodontic practices in North America. Dr. Burleson’s latest Amazon best-selling book, Smiles Change Lives: The Smart Orthodontist’s Guide to Building a Purpose-Driven Practice is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever fine books are sold.

In this episode…

A smile is something beautiful that every person is entitled to. For kids with less-than-perfect teeth, smiling can instead lead to teasing from other kids and an effect on their self-esteem. Not only that but not every parent can afford orthodontic treatment for their kids. In this perfect storm, affected kids may avoid smiling and often shy away from spending time with their friends.

To support these parents and their kids, the Smiles Change Lives program was started by Tom Brown and his mother Virginia Brown in 1997. Virginia grew up with these anxieties about her teeth, but after treatment positively impacted her life, she decided to pay it forward.

In this week's episode of the In Your Face Podcast podcast, co-hosts Craig Weiss and Blair Feldman are joined by Dr. Dustin Burleson to talk about the benefits of giving back a smile to a child. Dr. Burleson explains how the Smiles Change Lives program works, how they help orthodontics and their practices, and his reasons for writing a book by the same name.

Dr. Lynn Hurst is the Co-Founder and Chief Dental Officer for Candid. Since graduating from dental school at the University of Texas and completing his orthodontic residency at the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Hurst has become one of the national leaders in clear aligner therapy and cutting edge orthodontic innovation. He has an extensive background in academia as the Founding Dean of Roseman University's College of Dental Medicine and the Associate Dean for Advanced Dental Education at the UNLV School of Dental Medicine. For over 20 years, Dr. Hurst has successfully treated 20,000 patients with clear aligners. 

In 2017, Dr. Hurst joined a group of tech industry leaders to co-found Candid and bring affordable, convenient, and results-oriented orthodontic care to people everywhere. Since launching, Candid has continued to stand on the leading edge of technology and clinical innovation with Dr. Hurst at the helm by creating a patent-pending clear aligner prescription, building a state-of-the-art manufacturing dental lab, and incorporating remote monitoring to provide a best in class patient experience.

In this episode…

Technological advancements in recent years have led to the growth of teledentistry and DIY treatment plans. For people seeking orthodontic care regularly, having a convenient option available can come in handy because they can schedule remote appointments with their orthodontists and receive the same quality care they've always had.

Candid works with orthodontists to help them provide better orthodontic care to patients through aligner therapy and remote monitoring. Candid also helps orthodontists get proper diagnostic records so they can provide better treatment plans for their patients. It’s a win-win. 

Craig Weiss and Blair Feldman, Co-Hosts of the In Your Face Podcast, are joined by Dr. Lynn Hurst, Co-Founder of Candid, to talk about how Candid works with orthodontists to help provide better services to patients. They also talk about how orthodontists have been impacted by COVID-19 and how they can integrate Candid Pro into their practices.

Dr. Dan German is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Orthodontist of orthobrain®, which he founded in 2016. This is a subscription-based consulting and education platform powered by the expertise of orthodontists to help dentists deliver orthodontic care with confidence. He is an orthodontic pioneer in the fields of interceptive orthodontics, aligner therapy, digital braces placement, and 3D imaging. 

Dr. German has been a keynote speaker at the Greater New York Dental Meeting and the famed Equilibration Society in Chicago. In 2009, he was named the top Invisalign Teen Provider by Align. He is honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Louisville, Department of Orthodontics, making it the second time the award has been bestowed in history. 

Before orthobrain®, Dr. German owned the largest orthodontic private practice in the country and grew the business from one employee to 65 in six years. He has also served as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Orthodontics at The Ohio State University, College of Dentistry, but his most proud role is that of devoted father to seven children and loving grandfather with his wife, Teri.

In this episode…

Since the coronavirus outbreak, most dental practices have been forced to start offering teledentistry services to their patients, which involves seeing patients online without the need for physical presence. However, this may not work for everyone and there's a risk of loss of human touch.

Dr. Dan German believes that dentists and orthodontists can still provide quality care to their patients at a lower cost through teledentistry. So, he devised a system to operationalize the teledentistry practice to be more efficient and effective.

Dr. Dan German, the Founder, CEO, and Chief Orthodontist at orthobrain®, joins Craig Weiss and Blair Feldman in this week's episode of In Your Face Podcast to talk about the role of teledentistry in current and future orthodontic treatments. He also talks about his work of helping dentists and orthodontists deliver orthodontic care with confidence and how his mindset of being a dentist first has helped grow his practice.