 If you want my honest opinion, there should be no insurance for dentistry. And I was thinking, because one of your questions was, what would you change about your industry? And this is going to sound really crazy, but I wish there was ratings for dental offices, just like restaurants. Like on Yelp? No. So you know how you go to ABC? No, not even that. Exactly. This is Started to Store Front. Today's guest is Dr. Naz, the owner of 32 a dentistry in West Hollywood, California. Her family emigrated from Iran when she was a teenager, and it upended her family's trajectory. She saw her parents go from running a successful business in Iran to just trying to make ends meet in the States. So all it took was a little encouragement from her orthodontist to pursue a career in dentistry since it was, quote, a good job for women. She hasn't looked back since that day, and now operates a very successful practice. The secret to her success? The idea that visiting a dentist should be like a trip to the spa. Speaking of visiting the dentist, when's the last time you went in for a teeth cleaning? Seriously though, as entrepreneurs, it's all too easy to worry more about the health of your business than your personal health. I'm sure there are at least a couple of you out there who can relate to putting off doctor or dentist appointments. So this is just a friendly reminder that you should make time for yourself and let medical professionals ensure everything is running at its best. And if you're in the West Hollywood area, stop by and see Dr. Naz. She understands the struggles of the self-employed and will work with you no matter what. So listen in as we cover everything from why she's made herself available to answer questions from clients even at three in the morning, why she believes that we should do away with all dental insurance, and why if you're looking to get some grills, don't come to her. Now, back to the episode. We're back in West Hollywood. Welcome to the podcast. Season two. We're here with our favorite dentist of all time, Dr. Naz. Say hello to everybody. Hello, everybody. So, Dr., when did you decide that you wanted to be a dentist? When I was 17. And what happened at 17? Did you have somewhere in your life? I was at the orthodontist and my orthodontist suggested that I become a dentist because it's a very good job for a woman. Okay. And then what'd you do from there? So, at the time, my parents had just moved, we had just moved from Iran. So they were kind of trying to figure out their own life because my dad used to be a head of a big company and then they kind of took everything away from us. So we, you know, we moved here and I think they were just trying to survive. So I don't even know how I ended up doing it. I mean, sometimes I think back and I don't even know how I did any of that. It was kind of like, okay, apply to dental school. Okay. I got an interview and then I got accepted and then I went to dental school and came out and How many years is dental school? Usually it's four, but I went to an accelerated program. So it was three. And then is there a residency program after? There can be one. I didn't do the residency then. I graduated. I started working in the Bay Area for about two years, which was... In San Francisco? Yeah. That was something. Did you like it? Well, okay. So when you first graduate, you have two ways of going about what you do. If your parents have money, then you have the opportunity to take your time and work in very shishi fancy places. Okay. And yeah, because you don't have to pay bills, right? Because your parents are taking care of it. Right. But most of us, we come out with like, at the time it was 250,000. Now it's half a million. In like debt, college debt, student loans. In like debt, exactly. Okay. Right? So I had to work, right? Yeah. So I started working in very large clinics, which meant at the time... Like public facilities. Well, imagine like Western Dental. Okay. It wasn't Western Dental, but it was something similar, right? So you're out of school and they tell you to do a root canal, an extraction and basically it's like a simply line, really, you know? But then what do you learn from that? You learn, you do so many procedures that everything becomes like, oh, okay, you know, I've done that. Yeah. And then I did that for, I think three, four years. So I became very fast. And then from there, you moved on to something else you went to a private... Then I was 23. So then I decided to open up my own practice at 23. Were you still in the Bay Area? No. I moved to LA. Did you love LA when you moved here? No, I was so young. I was just surviving. Okay. You know? So my dad's uncle had a shopping center and he suggested that I open up an office there, which I did, again, not knowing much. There wasn't anybody to tell me to do anything. I was just winging it. How big was the space that your first office? Maybe like 1800 square feet. It had like five operatories. And it was a clinic. And did you bootstrap it yourself? Did you go into some debt to do it? Or what was the... I did. Yeah, I did. But it wasn't that much because it was a very basic place. Okay. There was nothing fancy about it. My equipment was always good though. Yeah. So how much would you say each room would cost? Like what's the range? So we know the chair is six to 30. What are the costs of a room? Like a full room with all the... Oh my gosh. That's a hard question. The whole shebang. So when I opened up this office, it cost me 600,000. The total build out basically. Right. Build out and equipment. So that would be like a mid-level restaurant. Or a really expensive coffee shop. Or even like a brewery actually. I mean that's a substantial amount of money. The one thing I've always wondered is how... So like if you're a coffee shop or a restaurant you have... You have to do a lot of marketing to get people to come in the door. What is that like for like a dental shop? Is it... I don't do any marketing. I think you know that. Yeah. We've talked about that. Yeah. Is it just people come in? Like everyone needs dental... A lot of people are referrals from other people. From friends. Okay. I think it's the team. It's fun here. It is fun here. Obviously you're on this podcast for a reason. Yeah. So I think that's very different for people because you know when you go to a doctor's office no one's yelling from one room to another. Get me this. You know it's very like quiet and civilized. I'm like immediately thinking like where have you worked in the past where it's like that because I've never experienced that. You've never experienced what? Like the yelling. Well here we do it. Here you do it. But it's like nice. It's like... Yeah. But that's what I mean. It feels like sibling love. That's what I'm saying. That's true. You know when you go to a regular office it's very quiet. You ring something. You type something. Somebody walks in you know. So I think the vibe of like hey you know you walk in the room. You say hello to someone. I mean you know how it is. I love it. I'm a big fan. Yeah. So I feel like for some reason that works. So for a restaurant a payback period can be something like three to five years before they're essentially breaking even from their initial investment. Is it the same for you? They said to me that if I make it in five years I'm here to stay. If you make it back. Okay. But no I made it back earlier than that. Of course. But I must say that I've really given up a lot to make this. Like what? You know I'm here all the time. You are? My phone. I can get a text at any time. In the middle of the night from anywhere in the world. High profile clients here in LA. They might need something. Or not here in LA. Or not here in LA. You know. And I answer them. I mean I was on vacation and I was answering people. So that I think that's really important that when you can just talk to your doctor on the phone. Yeah. It's not very common. That's true. I remember the first time we text I was like is this okay? I was like is this my because I didn't I'm also that kind of guy where I don't want to I don't want to text people at while they're at dinner right especially if I know they have families because I know that time can be precious for some people especially busy people and so I'm always cognizant of that but you were texting back right away and I was like oh this is great. This is easy. Yeah no sometimes you know I have people who text me from other countries and it's 3 a.m. and then I can't go back to sleep but I still get off an answer. And so it's less than five years for the payback period. That's pretty cool. Yeah it was. And then in terms of the things you let's talk about your sacrifices is it mostly like family time that you're talking about or is it what other things have you sacrificed? Family time for sure. I don't have time for my friends you know because when I go home I'm exhausted and on weekends I don't have the energy to entertain because I'm so exhausted. Dentistry is very physical. I have a couple friends who are dentists and they always say that their hands at some point it starts to become like a real issue. It's not my hands right now it's my lower back. Okay and is it because you're just hunched over all day? Yeah and I don't stretch like I should. So when you were saying you're so busy that you didn't go to the dentist for years I'm also very busy. So I never give myself the right to take a day off and you know go to the doctor. I always feel like no I can't do that and that's bad so that's something I'm working on with my team. But the next decade in 2020 it's becoming more of a priority? Yeah we've talked about that actually that I'm trying to take Fridays off but I just looked and next week is booked again so. And here you are doing the podcast on a Friday. Well this is fun because it's you. Thank you. If you don't mind I'd like to take this opportunity. I want to ask your opinion because I always hear about how dealing with insurance companies can be a nightmare for any healthcare provider and I want to know like your thoughts on what can be done to either smooth out the process or overhaul the process because you're on the front lines of it in trying to provide care while also working with I mean I don't know how many different insurance providers that all of your patients have. If you want my honest opinion. We do. There should be no insurance for dentistry. And I was thinking because one of your questions was what would you change about your industry? And this is going to sound really crazy but I wish there was ratings for dental offices just like restaurants. Like on Yelp? No. Okay. So you know how you go to ADC? No not even that. Exactly. Three mission star dental office. So when you get a mission star it's not just about the food. It's about the atmosphere. It's about the service. It's the whole thing, right? So I wish there was something similar for a dental facility. The mission star of dental. Well because you know when you go to, well if you go to a mission star restaurant you assume the quality of the food is different, right? Yeah. If it tastes bad you think it's you. That's what it comes in. That's very true. Yeah. So in a dental office you don't even know what materials I'm using, right? So I could be using a very low brand with you know BPA in it and you don't know what's in it, right? Or you could use the most amazing product, right? But when you deal with insurance companies if you really want to do it the way they say then you know if you're getting paid so much you cannot possibly use the best brand of composite there is because just the polishing part is expensive, right? Got it. So I wish that there was a way that people knew what materials is being used in a certain place. They were educated enough about it, right? Yeah. And then also the doctor that you hire hires a lab, right? Right. So how do you know what lab is used for you? And then some labs do all their work under a microscope and their ceramic is a much higher quality than something else and then you don't know. So you think a crown is a crown but a crown is not a crown. There's so many different versions. So many different types. There's so many different ways. It's like Toyota and Rolls-Royce. They're both cars. Right. So this is interesting to go back to the marketing. So because you don't market, do you think you should begin maybe marketing your firm but with that in that way where if you're buying BPA free, basically there's more consciousness to what you're doing, your decision making. And so then people can come here and expect that. It's almost like an Irwan, right? The Irwan supermarket. Right. Versus like a Ralph's. Like there's clearly a difference. People know about that more because there's a lot of marketing or as you said, market education. But do you ever want to take that on yourself? No, not myself. I'm not good at marketing. I mean, it's not easy. Especially in this case where you're almost marketing for an entire industry. That's a really good idea though. That's, it's, it brought up a good point. You know, if there were a dental rating system akin to the mission star, the question would fall upon who then would judge it for judging it. Well, I thought about that. Tell us. Well, it would be, it would be, you know, who judges the Michelin restaurants? There's a crew. There's a team for that, right? And they have standards, right? So for example, I have a doctor that I go to for my physicals, right? And one of the reasons why I chose him is because I feel like he pays a lot of attention and I'm not just a number, right? So, and he's not cheap by any means. So I called yesterday to ask for a prescription and they said they would call me back and they haven't. So to me, if you say you're, you know, the greatest and, you know, you want to be a concierge doctor, then I should have, I shouldn't call twice, right? So that would be one of the ways of judging. You know, you call and you see how fast do they get back to you? Are they communicating to you? You know, I'm a person that if I'm waiting for something, I say, communicate to the person that we're waiting. So they don't think that we forgot, right? So that's a service, right? The person is included. They know you're working for them, even though when they're not here. So I think that's worth something. So when, you know, when you say, how do we market? It's all these little details that are important that, you know, you call a person back. You pay attention. You, you know, it's all about communication. It's the hands-on. Yeah. Yeah. So that part I have control over or I try to do that. But the marketing thing, I think I need help with that. But your panel would include basically someone that judges you on service. Another panel might, or another person on the panel might be someone that judges you based on like ceramics or whatever equipment you're using. Right. It's all of that. Design is another one. The atmosphere. How do you feel when you're here? How do they greet you? Like a hotel, when you go, right? Right, right. It's the way they answer the phone. I actually was trying to find a doctor for myself. I would just listen to the person who answered the phone. How did they talk to me? How friendly were they? How helpful were they? Did they answer the phone right away? How many times did it ring before they answered the phone? It's a good idea. People listening, I mean, you should probably, somebody should do this. It doesn't seem that difficult. There's so many, when I think about like how many dental offices there are in the country, there's a gazillion. What's frustrating though is when people come and their experience is been very basic, right? So they've been to a C place, right? And then they come to an A place. Well, when they come to an A place, what are they paying for? They're paying for attention to detail, right? So when you pay attention to detail and you've been educated on things that maybe someone else didn't pay attention to, then you get to tell them so many things, but they might take it the wrong way, which I always tell people, my job is to tell you things so that you don't think I missed it, but it doesn't mean you have to do it. It just means I paid attention, right? So that's the hard part, because sometimes you tell people this and they're so programmed to, you know, you'll tell someone you need deep cleaning. Well, I've always had a regular cleaning. Well, but your gums are bleeding. You know what I mean? So yes, you're used to that, but... Let's get into that. So myth busting with Dr. Nas, what are the things that people come in here thinking they know and they have it totally wrong? Oh my God, so many things. I've been here and the room next door is like, but I brush my teeth every day and I floss. Oh, that's a good one. Every day and I use mouthwash and you're like, none of that matters. Well, because even... First of all, it's important that you do that, but it's also genetics too, right? You know, for example, I was telling my hygienist today, I feel this medication that I take is changing my oral flora, right? So I'm the same person. So oral flora is like the bacteria in your mouth, right? So if you take... Almost like gut bacteria where things can change. Things change with age, things change with medication. And then genetics plays a factor. If you're a smoker, for example, people who have depression, they don't care so much about getting up and flossing. So things change in their life and they don't know why, but... The regimen changes. The regimen changes. Consequences. The biggest issue I have is people feel like repetition is accuracy and it really isn't. It's not right. What's another big one you deal with that people come in and say, how can this be? Oh, I get challenged on so many things. Is price one of them? Do people like, why is it this much? Of course, but that's why that Michelin store system really works. Because the thing is, I believe that people should really know what they're paying for. So some people will say, I went to Dr. So-and-So and it was this much. And then you look and you're like, yeah, I can understand why. Or people go and they say, I went to my country and I did my work there. Right, paid much less. Oh my God, you should see that. Yeah, no, for me, I was born in Peru. My mom does all her dental work in Peru, still, to this day. And we have cousins and aunts, uncles who are dentists. And she will not get anything serious done. She'd rather spend the money on the ticket and fly to Peru and be in the arms of a family member, but she also pays significantly less. We actually have a patient today that we were talking to Natasha about. He was here and I told him what to do. And he went to Brazil and he did it their way. And now he's back and he says, why is it like this? It's terrible. It's different. You're saying even in that it's not just price, but the procedure itself is different. It's, you know, no, he didn't do anything wrong. It's just, you know, for example, there's places where they take a tooth out and they give you the implant right away, right? Well, that is wrong most of the times. And this is a very, like this guy is very unhappy with his final result because he didn't do it that way. But he, you know, now when I show him like this is why, you know, they just found bones somewhere and they just drilled in and put an implant. It doesn't matter that around it is there's nothing, you know. So I'm like, you talk about drilling into bone and I'm sorry. I didn't even think about that. Continue, continue. Well, it's interesting you bring that up because I know Canada has free healthcare for all their citizens. And that's one of the things that I was curious about when you mentioned doing away with insurance. I know how important dental hygiene and access to a good dentist can be. That's one of the things where I feel like a lot of people would be like, well, if we did away with insurance, how could I afford dental care? How could I keep my teeth in my mouth? That kind of thing. I think that people don't really understand how dental insurance works. So dental insurance, dental insurance is not like medical insurance. So medical insurance, there is no limit, right? Dental insurance, think of it as a coupon. You get a coupon each year, right? So if you get a coupon cover, well, if different plans are different, no different plans are different. So as an individual, like you and I, right, we don't work for a big company. We have to buy our own dental insurance. That makes no sense because by the time you buy insurance, either you buy something that doesn't cover anything or you buy something, but they're not, you know, they're in the business of making money, right? So first they put restrictions on you. You can't have anything major done for a year, for example, right? So you're paying $700, I'm making an example. And then you don't really know, but your benefits that you can get out of them cannot possibly add up to more than $300, right? Because they'll say, this is not covered for a year. That's not covered for a year, right? So sometimes you're paying around $700 to get benefits of $1,000. And out of that $1,000, you're kind of gambling with what part they'll pay and what part they won't pay. So what makes sense is if you find an office that they're willing to charge you a fair fee as if you had good insurance and you just pay that. And that's what we do with our patients, you know? The saddest part, I think, is like some people make decisions off that too, right? And so if they have a cavity but their insurance doesn't cover it, they'll wait until the next calendar year, which is, I mean, it can't get cheaper. You only get one mouth. Well, what also they do is a lot of people don't come in for cleanings and I ask them why and they say because I didn't have insurance. So basically they could have had something done for $150, but now they've gotten serious gum disease and now if they can help it, it's thousands. Right. That's why I get a cleaning four times a year. Right. Everyone. Well, that, but that's smart. I mean, I don't know if it is or not, but it feels. I'm telling you it is. It feels intelligent. I don't know my oral bacteria. What did you call it, the oral one? Oral flora. Oral flora. What a beautiful name, oral flora, for something so disgusting. That's why I used it because it was beautiful. I thought you were going to say like, that's the name of my daughter, oral flora. Could you imagine? How have you seen the industry change from like, like I want to get to the point where we're inventing teeth. You're just putting a gel into like some, some little thing. And next thing you know, it's a tooth within a few minutes. Yeah. And you put the little laser gun in there that shines this blue light. It's really hard to outdo thousands and thousands of years of evolutionary biology. To your point. Elon Musk, man. What if Elon got into the dental industry? What would he do? We don't know. He would come up with a Michelin system. Yeah. Yeah. You really think that, that's interesting. It could, it could solve a lot. It could make it easy. When you go to conferences, dental conferences, what do they talk about? What's like the net? Do they talk about the future? Do they talk about this Michelin guide? Depends on which one you go to. I like aesthetics. I enjoy going to, to different classes for that. What does that mean? Like, like dentures? No, no, I actually don't do dentures, believe it or not. On purpose? I don't enjoy them at all. So I don't do them. Do you not do them because you've come up with a way around it, like either preserving the teeth that they have or offering an alternative, or you just send them to someone else? I send them to someone else. Because, you know, okay, this is gonna, no, I'm not gonna say it. Oh, no, you gotta say it. You can't say that. You gotta say it. Well, when we were, oh no, I cannot. This is terrible, you guys. No, just don't make names. When we were in dental school. Okay. Two weeks ago. When she was in dental school. No, when we were in dental school, they used to say, what's the best type of dental, what's the best denture patient? Is it a dead one? No, it was almost like that. It was like, if they cross the street and, okay. But because of them? Pretty much. Because denture patients are never happy. Is that because I've never, I don't, okay. Well, that's why I've never had dentures either, but I can imagine that they don't feel natural. They are never happy. So it's, I just refuse to do them. You also don't do grills, like gold grills. Oh my God. Yes. Did I tell you about that patient that wanted me to get into that? That was me. No, no, no, no. I want diamonds. It's not you. There's a patient who we have. Why don't you do that? Who works with wrappers. And she was telling me how much I need to get into that, which I was thinking, could you imagine? Well, I'm surprised you don't do that. It's so easy. It's like Invisalign, but it's gold. I actually thought about what would I do differently about the design of them. And I thought black diamonds would be cool. My wife would love black diamonds. I don't know if they're in her mouth, but she would love. She keeps sending me pictures of black diamonds and I'm like, I'm getting the hint. Well, I mean, you know, they need to come up with something cool and interesting. Take your snowboarding. Be like, here you go. I got what you asked for. A black diamond. That's a, that's, that's funny. I'm out and thank you. Well done. Nick is entering 2020 with the brand of dad jokes, like no other. Do you ever think about selling the business? No. This is my baby. Wow. Which are, do you think about giving the business, like carrying on generations? How do you think about that? You give it to your favorite patient, Diego? Like what? I don't think my girls are interested in it. I don't think not yet at least. And your husband's a dentist too, right? My husband's a dentist too, yeah. And your daughters have never shown any interest or? No, because they see how. They see the grind. They see that it's very difficult to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wish one of them would be interested in it, but it is a very difficult job. It really is a difficult job. You know, dentistry is fun and to me it's not difficult. It's having the business of dentistry that's very difficult. Because when we went to school, nobody taught us business. I don't know what I'm doing. I wish I was better educated business wise. Do you ever see that as being changed in dental schools? Because I have a couple of friends who are in med school and they talk about the same phenomenon. It's that you're trained in everything, but how to operate your own practice. And with that, how to have a bedside manner of sorts. So like, do you see that other people are taking note of this and like, oh, maybe we should educate our dentists who are coming up through dental school on how to operate and run their successful practice? I think to be a good business person, you need a lot of education, you know? So I don't know how they would fit that in with the curriculum that we already have to learn. We have to pass the board and be able to do the dentistry part of it. But I wish that, you know, I'm sure that's what consultants are for. Yeah, I wish, I wish, you know, when I, when I got out, when I left, when I sold my first practice, I took two residencies. I took a residency for perio and I took a residency for aesthetics. And, you know, that made me feel a lot more confident. I wish there was one for, for business of dentistry, you know? I don't think it exists. Like people, Natalia does this. So Natalia will say like, oh, she'll introduce me in some cases as like the business school guy. And that means that I learned, I know something about business. And I always tell her she couldn't be more wrong. Like the reason I know things about business is because I've had to start companies. And you can read in a book all you want about having to raise capital. But until you've done it, it's a completely different thing. It's like accounting. I took an accounting class in business school and then I decided to do the accounting for my business. But because I thought I knew something about it, but even then it's like, you should just hire an accountant. Like what makes you a good business person is one, being able to address all the little parts that your business is, and then hiring the experts because you know yourself what your weaknesses are. That's kind of how I view it is that business school is something that shouldn't exist. You only learn by doing like yourself. To get in here, you did everything you could. You did it. Yeah, but look at how many mistakes you make. That's the beauty of it though. Success is the worst teacher. The mistakes are everything. The mistakes are where you, you one, find out who you are, which you'll never read in the book. And then two, it's everything. Because on your next location, you're not going to make the same mistake. Yeah, but Diego, I also feel like it's the, it's how you're made, right? So I treat people a certain way, even my staff, right? So I always like to compliment people on what they're really good at. Because I feel like it's good to celebrate their accomplishment, right? But then sometimes, because you're very busy telling them how good they are at something, they forget how much they don't know. So then they start to challenge you, but then you're thinking, you know this, but there's so much you don't know. So you don't know what you don't know, right? So when I make mistakes, yes, I learn for that minute. But because it wasn't a rule that was given to me, I'm a rule person, right? So I tend to go back and make that same mistake a different way. I see. You know what I mean? I see, yeah. So I feel like when you go to a class, and I understand your point, right? I agree with you. There are certain things that I've learned, and there's certain things that are just my character, right? And my character makes certain things happen. But I wish that my dad, for example, was a businessman, and he would have told me things when I was younger. Mind you, he did tell me and I didn't listen. You know, I remember my dad telling me to buy an apartment instead of an expensive car. Right. But I didn't listen, because at the time I wanted the car. You wanted the car. I mean, it's hard, it's hard to listen. It's hard to take good advice sometimes, like in that example. All of us could literally just drive around in a Toyota Camry, because that's really all we need. No, you're right. But see, this is what I mean. You watch your parents do certain things, right? And that becomes your life, right? So my dad wasn't, he never explained to me business. Did you ever ask him? Did you try to seek his advice, his counsel? See, the thing is I don't listen to people, though. Yeah, you have to do it your own way. Yeah. So when they told me, you know, don't spend so much money building this place out, I didn't listen. I think that's a good, so this is how I look at this. When I got into business and all these different industries I've been in, there were so many people who told me what wasn't possible and like the right way of going about it. And that certain things take like 10 years to grow. And I just put all of that away and I put it, okay, these are myths. It's my job to bust them. Some of them will be true. Most of them will not. That's just something I felt like people had wrong. And as I was going through these lists of like, what the savants, the experts in the industry knew, I just kept realizing like, wow, everyone's got this so wrong. And it's their fears that they're really projecting on to you. This is very true. Because it took them five years to get there, kind of what you said about the payback period. What's the payback? Oh, everyone says it's five years. Okay, but it could have took you two, could have took you three, right? Well, something about what I've experienced for myself, there are moments in my life that I'm very drawn to something, right? I want something really bad, right? And when I want something and everyone knows, everyone who knows me well knows this about me, I become obsessed with it, right? So I'm so obsessed with it that it cannot fail. Yeah. So when I opened this place, that's how it was. And everyone, which they're not wrong, they told me it's insane how much the rent is to this place. It really is, right? Of course, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, when I tell you I wish I was a business person, I could use this space for so many other things, right? There are so many dentists who've approached me asking me if they could use this space. And if I was smart, I would let them. Yeah. But I won't. Because you want control. Well, because, you know, I, yeah, because I respect my environment. I know this wallpaper was specially made and what it took to make the wallpaper, right? So I don't want some person who doesn't even understand what my equipment is to come and just ruin it or, you know what I mean? Yeah. But that's bad too. Because, Yeah. I don't have that. If someone makes me a good offer, I'm taking it. See, but that's what, that's the deficit. You're smart. Well, no, it just means I'm not, I think I can, for me, the way I, I'm just very logical with certain decisions and I allow myself to be emotional with others. It's like a car purchase, I'll be emotional. I'll allow myself to be emotional, but with business, I just try to, I try to be very logical about it. But I think it's, it's not easy, even having said that. I, sometimes I think I'm a computer. It's like if then, if then, if I get a good offer, then yes, it's kind of a thing. But I hear you completely. Or sometimes people tell me we should be less expensive. See, even when I hear that, so I just hear like, where have they been before? And maybe they didn't pay enough to begin with. That's how my mind goes. I don't like, what's the reference? I don't know what the, is there somewhere where someone can Google cost of a cavity in LA? Yeah, but then it comes back to your whole point about Michelin stars is they don't understand that you're paying for a lot of different things. You're paying for the quality of the tools that you're using, the quality of the dentist. You're paying for the interaction and the personal service, like being able to text you at 3 a.m. from another country. Their dentist that they'd went to before probably didn't offer that. And so with that comes a higher premium, just as you would expect to pay a higher premium at a restaurant that serves Kobe beef versus whatever McDonald's throws in their patties. True, I agree with you. I'm with you. But you know, there's also a team, right? My team has different experiences, right? They're all younger. So they think of themselves. They think, what would I want? So when they give me their opinion, it's from their experience, their way of thinking. And if I'm asking for their advice, I also have to be open to it because nothing's worse than saying, what do you think? Yeah, no, you know. I mean, I'm not saying that's pretty good. I think that's immoralizing. I do that a lot. I'm like, that's bad advice. I'm going to move on. Well, no, it depends. You know, sometimes, sometimes we all agree together that we're going to try something. We say we're going to try this. Like, what was the last thing you guys agreed upon? Not grills, obviously. Well, okay. So I'll tell you if this is actually a very educational thing to talk about. Tell us. We had a patient who, Natasha answered the phone and she booked him for a cleaning, right? He was here to see one of the specialists so he didn't have x-rays like he should have had, right? Got it. And he was here years ago. So when he wanted to come in, I said that I would not see him without recent x-rays and why did I say that? Because if something happened to him, meaning as I'm cleaning his teeth, a crown came off or, you know, something breaks or he has an infection, something like that, right? He could say, oh, that wasn't there. You just did that. So there's a liability that you're protecting yourself from. Yeah. So, and, you know, that's malpractice. You can't do that. So yesterday when he came and we said we need x-rays, he didn't like that. He couldn't understand why I can't just clean his teeth, right? And I was like, well, because I just don't do it that way. And he said that he's been to many places who do that. And I'm sure there are places that do that, but that's not my standard. So we made a decision that, you know, she would just approach people telling them, this is the cost and this is, you know, for minimum x-rays or whatever, instead of like getting into why it's a bad idea and, you know, because nobody wants to hear that. So what happened? Did he do the x-rays? No, he didn't. He left? Yeah. And I was very okay with that. Wow. But this is the struggle. You know, how do you explain to somebody that you need an x-ray to find out what's even going on? When they challenge you on that and tell you, you know, Dr. So-and-so does it without an x-ray, then you just kind of want to laugh. I think every cleaning I've ever had, usually, the first thing that every time I've got a new dentist is the x-ray. That's always, you know, it's like, they're kind of like, there's no other way. There is no other way. They're like, we need x-rays first. And I'm like, oh, and then, you know, whatever. It's like, when you go for a physical, can they do it without drawing blood? I don't even want to go there, right? I don't even want to think about that at all. You don't like the word blood and bone, I hear. Just not. There are people cringing on the podcast. Sorry, people. Tell people the Dr. Na's recommended teeth cleaning guide. What should people do? I think that you should definitely go in for professional cleanings. How often? How often would you recommend? It depends on your mouth. Okay. So if you don't have pockets higher than three, you can go every six months. If you have pockets higher than three, you have to go every three to four months. And the pockets you mean are the gum line test? Is that what the three is? Correct. Yeah, what they probe you and they see. Three millimeters to seven millimeters or something? Well, hopefully not seven, but yeah. There are people with sevens, and those people need to either get surgery or... But our pockets also is already correlation between pockets and age. So like a five-year-old wouldn't have threes, right? No, three is not bad, but no. It's not just because you're older doesn't mean you're going to have higher pockets. No. Okay. My pockets have increased as I've gotten older. That's my data brain going older age means... Well, yes. I mean, that's the reasonable thing, but it doesn't mean you're 60 years old, you have seven millimeters, you're okay. No. Got it. Okay. All right. What else? What else? Even if you don't have the money to go in for anything else, don't miss your cleaning. Put it on your credit card. No, no, no. Don't miss cleanings. Don't miss cleanings. Because that has to do with inflammation overall. And then brush twice a day. Hopefully. Do you recommend mouthwash? You can be honest on the podcast. Do I recommend mouthwash? I don't use mouthwash. Not as necessarily a substitute for brushing, but more as like a... That's what Nick does. He just uses mouthwash. I just, I drink it. He puts ass in it. Yeah. But if you do, make sure it doesn't have alcohol in it. Well, that's why I drink it. Oh, because it has alcohol in it? So mouthwash doesn't do anything, right? For the most part, it's just... I mean, it does for a second. I'm sure it does do something, but... It's not, it's a marketing campaign. Pretty much. Floss, floss is important. Floss is everything. Floss is everything. Yeah. Oh, floss over brushing. Yeah. Hashtag. I don't know floss over brushing, but both. In conjunction with each other. They're just important. There's no, I mean, there's no way you can not floss. Don't chew on ice. That's another one. Oh, really? I don't know why people do that. Oh, I had... You like chewing on ice? Yeah. I don't do it as much anymore, but I used to love it. Oh, wear a night guard if you need one. Or just a retainer, right? No, not always. They're different? I like that. This is why I hate coming here. I always get educated in some way. And I'm like, oh, God, I had it wrong for so long. Yeah, no, not everyone can wear a retainer. Depends on their symptoms. Because I did the Invisalign, and so I used the retainer at night. Yeah, that's okay for you because you have no symptoms. If you can't open up your mouth or if you have like flat teeth, then that's a problem. Okay. So sometimes you see a very young person who's a heavy grinder. What's a very young person to you? They're 20s. Wow. Nice. Okay. I'm always like, people call me young sometimes. So I'm like, am I young? I don't know. Am I young? I don't know. How old are you? 34. I just turned 34. That's young. Is it? Thank you. But not very young. Not very young. Just yeah, I'm in the mid group. I'm in the middle now. But 20s is young, no? Yeah, I guess. Especially to be having... I thought 12 when you said young. Molar problems and whatnot. Where can people find you? Tell everyone the address of this location. Seriously? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hopefully. I mean, you want a new business, don't you? Or to give them another address. 8763 Santa Monica Boulevard. Is there a website that they can find you on? Yes, it's 32advancedentistry.com. And you have to spell it out. 32. 32. 30TWO dentistry. And you have an Instagram I heard. Which we never do. We never... See, that's the thing. Like, you know, when you're busy working, you really don't have time for that. You got to hire the expert. Hire a social media person. I really should. You should. They're not that expensive in it. It'll make the world of the difference. No, but they're boring. The social media people? A lot of them are very generic. I wish there was somebody who would... Do you wish there was a Michelin star guide for social media people? Because it's the same as dentistry. There's a level. There's levels. You're right. There is. Like anything, yeah. We're going to have to reach out to Michelin to get them to sponsor this episode. Who knew their business could be so many things? Yeah. Dentistry falls in line. They're limiting themselves by just sticking to tires and restaurants. Seriously, this is an opportunity. Well, please come visit Dr. Nas here in West Hollywood. Michelin three star dental operation. Top notch team. Your team's amazing. Thanks for coming on the podcast. Thank you so much. It was fun. Thank you. We here at Startup the Storefront would love to hear feedback from you. Reach out and let us know what you think, either through rating us on the podcast app or by sliding into our DMs. You can find us both on Facebook and Instagram at Startup the Storefront. Our theme song is composed by DoubleTouch. If you want to learn more about the products and businesses featured on today's episode, check out the links in the show notes. And if you enjoyed the episode, consider subscribing because we've got a lot more great guests coming up that you won't want to miss. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.