 Welcome back to Geeks Are Sexy. I'm Jason Ladute. This is our Memorial Day edition. I have my red, white, and blue on to recognize all of our service members' service and those who have passed in the service of this nation. Our next guest is Bianca Vallejo from Green Valley Smiles Dentistry. Bianca is also relatively new to the Las Vegas area. She comes from back east and went to school in Boston like me. The best place to go to college. Don't don't let my UNLV professors know that I said that though. And her goal is to build relationships with their patients and make sure they leave the office feeling like family. And she also puts out a great series of videos called the Oral Health Minute out on Instagram. So we're going to tell you how to find that. But check that out. You do those once a week? Yes. I've been trying to release them once a week. Once a week Oral Health Minute. It's a lot of fun, a lot of great energy, and it really makes dentistry less painful and a lot more exciting than I've seen up or traded in the past. Well thank you. So thank you for being here. Tell us how you got started as a dentist. So I've always wanted to be a dentist since I was a kid. My family dentist growing up was actually a close family friend. I regarded as an aunt. And so going to the dentist was a big ordeal. We had to drive an hour just to get to her practice. And so, you know, we'd make the whole family go at the same time. And so after I was done with my checkup, I'd be assisting the dentist while she did my mom and my sister and my dad. I bet your sister was thrilled about that. Yes, I was poking her with a suction. And I just was so impressed that she was a female business owner, you know, well respected in her community. And it really inspired me to want to go into dentistry since I was in high school. And is she still a mentor of yours? Yes. Okay, great. Yeah, it's important to have mentors. And people who come, you know, people who come when we're young and inspire us are great to keep the mentors. It's just cool. I remember when I graduated, she sent me a really sweet gift. And she's like, I'm so proud of you because I feel like we've been doing it. Send you one of those scraper things that we all love so much. It was a little like pluck. Okay. Yeah. So my experience with dentists comes from my time in the Air Force. And I will say that the care was excellent from the dentist side I had in the Air Force. But you feel like a little bit that like you're on the assembly line, because in the military, you very rarely ever see the same doctor twice in a row, just because of the nature of we're all moving around all the time and deploying and that kind of thing. What's your approach? You said it's really important to make sure your patients feel like family. Tell me about your approach to making your patients feel like family. Absolutely. I mean, one of my main goals is making each patient feel like their individual needs matter. I want to cater them to personalized dental care. And so right away, when my patient come into the practice, I greet them from the waiting room and I bring them back into my office and we do a one on one just like this. And I ask them tell me a little bit about yourself. What's your story? What brings you in? And, you know, any hesitation, spears anything like that. And patients love it because then they're finally feeling like their needs are being heard. And then it really helps me and make my dentistry that much better, because then I can cater a treatment plan towards what they want, what they said is important to them and taking into consideration some of, you know, the hesitations and fears that may be getting in the way. That's incredible, because I've never had that, whether it was in the military or since I've been out of the military in private dental practice, I've never had the doctor actually come and spend the time and sit down with me and say, you know, kind of the way I would equate it the way I sit down with my clients is let's talk about your goals, right? Well, it's a little bit different when you're, but you're talking about, let's talk about your dental health. What, what are you concerned about? What do you, what questions you have? I think that's great. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, patients always get so taken aback. They're like, Oh, the dentists, I've never had them introduce me like this before. And I want to just make sure that, you know, patients are used to the old way of dentistry. I'm trying to show them a new way of dentistry. That's awesome. That's great. So you are a big technology nerd, anyone who has watched Dental Health Minute, which you probably haven't yet, because you probably just heard about it. But when you go watch Oral Health Minute, she's always got the latest technology. Tell us how you're incorporating that latest technology. What are you looking for? And how are you incorporating that practice to help your patients? Well, we're so lucky to be living and practicing dentistry in this day and age because the technology has super, you know, advanced so much. This is not your mother's dental practice, you know, and the technology is there so that we can make dental care easier, more efficient, more comfortable for patients. You know, for example, like one of my favorite technologies that we have in my practice is the CADCAM. We can make crowns and bridges and veneers in the office in under two hours. And, you know, the old, I don't know if you've ever had any crowns before. Okay, lucky you. The old way of doing that is you have to take an old Goopy impression, send it to the lab, you're going to be in a temporary, come back with the model, hope it fits. And here we do it all. And like I said, in office, it's custom fit for you and patients can walk out of the office with a permanent restoration and they don't have to come back because let's face it, patients don't really want to be there in the first place. No, I want to go in, I want to get it done. And if I do have to come back, I want to come back once, right? Exactly. I don't want to, I don't want to, like, I really don't want to come back at all. If you can get me in there and like say, look, let's just get this done and send you on your way, I'm more about that. Now is it like a 3D printing kind of thing? Yes, yes, 3D milling unit. It's very cool. So, all right, so trade shows, are you going to any of those this year? What's the thing you're looking for? What's your wish list item you want to get for your office? Honestly, everything is there right now. I couldn't... I don't believe you. No, maybe an updated, like there's a newer milling unit that crowns and there's, they can make zirconia crowns, which is one of the strongest crowns on the market. So, I would like to upgrade maybe, but I didn't that, I already have it. All right, oral health minute is such a cool way, such a fun way of tackling some of these things, some of these dental health things that a lot of people don't really want to talk about and find it hard to talk to their dentist about. How did you come up with this idea and tell us what you've learned doing oral health minute? For sure. Well, I've always, my approach with patients is, you know, I try not to speak too much science and jargon to them, right? If I'm trying to explain gingivitis, they don't want to hear about all the bacteria. So, I've found a way to make it relatable so that they can understand and recognize the value and importance of, you know, what the treatment I'm recommending. Okay. And so, from there, I was a natural transition for me to, like, I wanted to reach more than just my patients. So, I created a one-minute video series and my whole goal is just to make oral health education fun, relatable, and it's so quick that you don't even realize you learned something. Absolutely. I think it is fun and relatable and you have such great energy in the oral health minute. It really is. You can tell it comes from a place of, I'm looking to help the community. Whether you come into my office or not, I want you to know, I want the community to know this about oral health. It's such a fun and most importantly in today's low attention span society. Yeah. Short burst of knowledge about oral health. I love it so much. Thank you. So, where are you looking to take your practice in the future? What's your strategy to get there? Sure. So, one of my biggest goals is I want to become the provider of choice in this Las Vegas area. Okay. You know, when patients are having dental needs and concerns, I want them to think about me and my practice. And so, that starts with proper, excellent patient care, clinical excellence. And I'm actually onboarding a new doctor this summer. So, just making sure that every team member that I bring in is onboard with my vision, which is, you know, providing excellent patient care one patient at a time. So, you heard it here first, breaking news. She's onboarding a new doctor this summer, which means she's going to have a bunch of room for new patients this summer. So, when do you want to see new people coming into your office? Actually, I can see new patients every day. So, every day. Yeah. One of the, I think, actually, I had a couple walk-ins this afternoon because they couldn't get into their dental practice because it's a holiday weekend. And so, that's why I got a little, I was a little late today. I'm sorry. That's okay. But, you know, we'll let it slide. I always make sure that I have emergency slots or walk-in slots available because we get it, you know, things pop up. Okay. So, tell us where your office is at. Tell us how people can reach you. And tell us who you're looking to connect with. Who are the, who are your ideal patients? Sure. So, there is no ideal patient. Like, everyone is my ideal patient. I'm just looking to get connected with the community. Okay. And so, you can find me. I'm Dr. Bianca Vellio at Green Valley Smiles Dentistry, which we're in Henderson. And to watch my Oral Health Minute videos, I'm primarily on Instagram. So, at Dr. Bianca Vellio. So, yeah, look forward to all the followers and your feedback. Okay. Who is, who is a strategic partner in the value you'd love to have? Um, I, that's a difficult one. Like I said, I really, I think it's just more, I just want to get, I want just to spread the awareness that we're here serving everyone's mental needs. And yeah, just, yeah. Well, we'll, we'll work on that one offline. And we have from Sheena Sharma, awesome Dr. Bianca Vellio. You are amazing. Well, thank you, Sheena. So, I do have, I do, so we'll work on that. You and I will work on that. We'll figure out who your strategic partner is going to be. And we'll have you back to tell us who your strategic partner is going to be. Okay, absolutely. We can get that message. I do have, I do have one more question for you before you go. Okay. So, what are the little, little toys you give to the kids in the office? Do you have a good selection of toys? What have you got? I have balloons, balloons, patients love it. Okay. I have stickers, pencils, I have a little treasure chest. Um, the treasure chest is important. I know when I was a kid that was the, that was the incentive, right? Or the Goody Bag Tooth Brush Kit. That's, that's most patients because that's because that's what kids love is to be reminded they're brushing their teeth, right? Yeah. Okay. Oh, it's great. Tell us one more time. Did you give out your office phone number or how can someone make an appointment with you? If they were, if they were so impressed with you today, they're ready to see you next Tuesday because you're taking Monday off, right? I am off on Monday. We have an emergency line if you need me. So, my office phone number is 702-757-3399 Green Valley Smiles Dentistry dot com. Also, my personal website is ValleoDental.com where you can also watch, um, my Oral Health Minute video as well. Yes. Go, go watch Oral Health Minute. Sit right here. We're going to bring back the other two guests, David and Shamar. We're going to do our panel discussion. I'm Jason Ladute. This is Geeks are Sexy. We'll be right back with the panel in just a few minutes.