Anne: Hi everybody, it's Anne Duffy and welcome to Dental Entrepreneurs. The future of dentistry podcast. I'm so glad you're here and I'm really excited because I Have not only a dental entrepreneur extraordinaire She is one of my favorite DeWs dental entrepreneur women we've known each other for a long time.
Hi Aditi, how are you doing?
Aditi: I'm great. And how are you?
Anne: I'm doing great. I'm doing great It's monday. We both had a pretty good weekend and we're ready to roll here For this podcast for all those that are listening. I hope you had a good weekend as well But before I get started, I want to tell you a little bit about dr. Aditi Agarwal She is a general dentist practicing dentistry in the united states for 20 years with a prior education practice of dentistry from india She also founded two startup practices One of which opened in 2010 and the other in 2016.
She helps simplify and organize the running of a dental practice through Practice by Numbers, which she founded in 2014 as a business analytics company. Practice by Numbers enables offices to run like a great team, seamlessly and without much effort. Today, Practice by Numbers has pivoted to become an all in one platform serving dentists nationwide worldwide soon enough, right? I loved it when I looked at the website and so I encourage all of you to go to practice by numbers and in your like, meet Aditi. It's like dentistry has been your life and listen, we read short bios on here, but go read her bio because I mean, you started off, you went to dental school, started off in India,
Aditi: yes, I did. At 18
Anne: How do you get into dental school at the age of 18?
Aditi: there's no requisites for pre-med in India. So you go basically straight from high school. Into professional school, dental school, there is five years and the first two years is actually you're integrated with the general medicine classes. So you take a lot of the classes that the general medicine students take.
So the approach is very different. I think it's very holistic. so my approach to dentistry also is different compared to. Being a student here because we approach things very mind, body center, rather than just teeth
Anne: sense because of all the practitioners that I've met over the years started off in India, they really are really focused on the oral systemic condition, which makes perfect sense because when you think about some of the states, you can go into, you can do a four year degree as long as you get your, science under your belt. You can study anything before you get into dentistry and, and once you get in dental school in the states, man, it is teeth, teeth, teeth all the way, isn't it?
Aditi: yes, it is. It is. So it's a different approach, which was kind of shocking when I was that young but now I understand the value of that approach. especially, in terms of all the allied things like in oral cancer and things you talk to people, you really see a lot of surgeries firsthand because we would assist the surgeons instead of having dental assistants assist the surgeons.
Anne: Oh.
Aditi: Our students would assist the surgeons when they would do surgery for, say oral cancer. So you would first hand see and then they would talk about the medicine behind it while they were doing the surgery. So it was a very, it gave you a lot of knowledge.
And sometimes it's a little harder to digest, those people who are interested in it it's really eye opening.
Anne: Not only that, but I mean, what a great way to learn. just remember being in dental hygiene school and I had no experience in dentistry. And then just even, mesial, lingual, all that. I mean, that was like, just to be able to be in that arena and see a surgery unfold From the beginning to the end and just, that understanding is something that a lot of our, dental students maybe don't have the opportunity to gain.
you've taken that whole body approach with your practice by numbers. So I want you to tell me about how you're innovating in the dental space and what you hope. The impact will be
Aditi: So, you know,
and we are the only dentist owned and operated technology platform out there today. And what that means is that we have a vision for dentistry and dentists that transcends from just being a tool that you can use in dentistry to a tool that you can utilize to make the dentist and their team's lives better.
that's what we want to do. is a comprehensive and reliable and stable solution that helps dentists and their teams spend less time on administrative tasks and focus on better patient outcomes. That's what we want as practitioners, right? And You and me both. And how do we achieve this?
We achieve this by automating tasks all kinds of forms and informed consents that write back into your PMS, so you don't have to keep track of it. And all the reminders, text email reminders, your online payments, online booking, review generation, insurance verification, not to mention the analytics, of course.
That's our DNA. we are code based all our product is entirely based on the ADA code. we really go down to the grassroots level. that's how we're innovating.
Anne: so cool. Because I mean, for dentists by dentists. So you're actually in the trenches. And the other thing that really strikes me a Aditi is that it's, whole health, whole team, how to make their lives better. Usually when you think of analytics, you think of just, how much money are we making this month?
And are we meeting our goals and all of those things? it's, bigger than that, isn't it? almost like the mental health
Aditi: no, it is. If you can empower your team, I've seen it in my own practice, right? I'm my own guinea pig, right? I've seen, once I started to utilize the power of my team, my practices, Both just rule on their own. I mean, Our teams are very powerful. And I think if able to understand what they bring to the table and then that way use these tools to help motivate them make their lives easier.
You will find that they themselves and want to go the extra mile to help you grow right to make your vision dream come true. So team empowerment It is the basis, really, for growth.
Anne: In this day and age now, of course, was since covid and all that the team has gotten the appreciation that they have so wanted all these years and then to have something that's going to help the team grow sleep better at night.
I mean, these are things, you know, when you don't know what's going on or you feel like you're falling short of giving your boss, The information that they need and then you've got to go dig for it. I mean, there's so many things so many layers there that you need to run a dental office these days that if you can make it easy for the team members it's just a win for everybody I mean it really is and it's it says that they're important their mental capacity is important.
Let alone the task that they have every day lifting that off their shoulders a little bit By that work
Aditi: No, it really is, simplifying the mundane makes it easier for them to be more effective at their jobs. And so if they're better effective, you can actually retain your employees better. everybody wants to feel like they're valued, and everybody wants to feel like contribution means something. And this way, you are able to both, develop value, and they feel like now you can track their contribution. An end result, some job that they do and it's tangible, they can actually see it. And once it's tangible, then they're like, Oh, yeah, I need to do that to meet my goal, then I'm going to do this to make it better.
And it's self motivating.
Anne: gives them some ownership in the practice. I again, I never had that.
Aditi: Neither did I.
Anne: nobody ever said anything to me. And, when you think about the dental professionals that both of us know, all the good ones, and I would say 99 percent of us are good, are driven by our own personal worth, our own personal accomplishments, to have that help, and it helps us, and not just one person, but it's going to help the whole team. if everybody's rowing in the right direction right, a rising tide raises all ships, you get everybody involved. I love that.
Aditi: absolutely.
Anne: one of the things that people understand when we do our podcast, I'd like to ask you a question you want to answer.
And I love this. If you could wake up tomorrow and magically transform one thing about dental care, what would it be?
Aditi: I'm going to give you a preface for it. We as healthcare practitioners these days, we are currently operating in a vastly different world. definitely from 20 years ago, but even from Five to eight years ago, technology is now at everybody's fingertips, and the consumer of today is generally very internet savvy.
when they make their decisions. So, As health care providers, it is our duty to stay on top of the changes in our industry so that we can guide our patients toward better decisions. And this means being more aware. Flexible and receptive to change, in and out of the operatory. And how do we achieve that?
Well, one thing I would really like to transform is the mindset of the dentist. A true mindset shift will allow the dentists of today to use technology as a tool to reduce stress. and overwhelmed. Because, they are practicing in a very different environment. There's a lot of stressors, you know that, I know that, compared to when I started out 20 years ago.
We had maybe two stressors then, Now we have 10. And the poor kids coming out with, huge loans from being in dental school, it can be pretty scary. I want to implore that they, change their mindset about technology. Not all technology is bad, sometimes it can be used to make your life easy.
You just have to understand and figure out how be open to it, right? As they say, be coachable,
Anne: Be coachable and let people help you. I mean Again, you've been around for a long time you've got like I think I was seeing 5 000 users For your and growing all the time because you're everywhere It seems like now and I love the idea how it can incorporate all the different. Verticals Of the tech that you need to me.
It reminds me of the easy button they don't have to know everything because you know everything on your, what you do, your lane, and so you can rely on them it would be so nice to be able to rely on somebody else for something to take care of that's going to work for the practice.
the 10 plates you're spinning at one time. You can eliminate a lot of those plates with a, program that actually works that way.
Aditi: Yeah, absolutely. And that's what we're trying to do is in the end, is to decrease overwhelmed, right? when my kids were growing up, it was really, really hard when they were little to be able to focus on the business. a mom. I felt like I was getting pulled in a thousand directions.
And I'm like, when is this going to end?
Anne: And apparently it doesn't ever end. I mean, you know, it starts with your core I know you, Aditi, you've got such a strong value sense and obviously a great integrity in how you act and show up.
It's just very honest and truthful and fun, where did your values, how did you get to have those shaped? Are you still connected to your past as much as you are to your future.
Aditi: I am. You know what they say, right? Your past molds your future, I'm an immigrant, I came to this country 23 years ago. I came here as a dental student. And I went through every pain point and more because I did it on my own. My family was there supporting me the best they could from, 000 miles away. But when you are young and you go through a lot of things, early in your life, you tend to appreciate everything that you get. and those same values we try to bring with PBN.
We try to lead and follow with honesty, integrity, I have a prolific appetite to do the right thing in dentistry. I'm a dentist who has lived through the struggle that a dentist faces in their career, all the way from dental school to being an associate, to doing a startup, to owning two practices.
I have literally worn every shoe.
Anne: And you're still wearing them.
Aditi: Yeah,
Anne: that, I just love it.
Aditi: and, you know, life is too short to make false promises, Ann, and, you know, our mission is to make dentist lives better, that's it, so that they can go back to being and playing other integral roles in their communities, We sometimes forget that we are a sibling, we forget that we are a daughter or a son, we forget that we are a parent.
And we forget that we are a friend. And so it's important that we don't let one role take over our lives. we do that sometimes. And I've been there. And so we wanted to create something where we have some freedom, where we can be the rest of us,
Anne: it's really still there, isn't it? And sometimes it makes me think that we carry burdens that we don't need to carry, and what I love is the young docs that are just getting out now, I'm really hoping that they're listening to this because, you can wait until you've been in this, rat race, if you will, for 40 years, and then look back and say, Oh, I shoulda.
but you're never going to have that chance to be the other side of your career. It makes up the whole person. I love that philosophy of DT. And I, and I know that that is what, really drives you in your mission here. You're obviously an achiever because when I think about you coming over to the States.
To finish your dental education at Boston. You just came by yourself? yeah, okay.
another crazy thing. I can't even imagine going from Dayton, Ohio, just gonna go over to Dubai or, India, finish up my degree and then stay here and, all that. I just, cool that you actually met your husband at Boston University.
And he's a big part of this So he must be brilliant in his coding. And I've asked you this, but he's not a dentist, is he?
Aditi: No, he's not. He's an engineer. he's 1 of those people who I think is a problem solver. when I would be like, oh, my God, I can't do this. He would instead of. Patting me on the back and say, tomorrow will be in a better day. he would be the one who'd say, let's figure out how to solve this.
Anne: Oh, wow.
Aditi: there is a difference in that. And initially it was frustrating to be honest, as a wife, where I'd be like I sometimes just need a pat on the back and say, it'll be okay. But the. Problem solver in him would be like, no, this is a problem. Patting on the back was not going to make that go away.
So we're going to find a way to fix it.
Anne: Wow. And that's what you need, honestly. I mean, That's such a great duo I've read something recently, before you sit down for the chat with your children and this would go with husbands and wives as well.
Do you want me to listen or do you want advice? And really we just want them to listen. I mean, going to share this with Tom. take a little good advice like this and it helps to have somebody solve these problems. And that's great. Because, what a great connection you guys are.
being husband and wife and father and mother with kids and all that, everything that happens within the household happens. Within those walls any smart husband that can help his wife figure some of this stuff out so that she's more available
Aditi: That's what he said. He was like, this is my ulterior motive so you can stop whining.
Anne: I love it. I love your hobby. And I think that's so cool. So wrapping up here, you're just such a doll. And again go on the website, check it out. Practice by numbers.
Aditi: our website is www. practicenumbers. com.
Anne: We'll have that in the show notes. And to wrap up a dt, you've got, 20 plus years in dentistry. You are a mom, a wife, a daughter, A beautiful friend to so many. What, are you most proud of?
Aditi: Oh my gosh. I am proud of our achievements, as a bootstrap company. We have seen organic growth year after year. And this is a testament to both our hardworking teams. In PBN and the product, we are committed to making this a product that is relevant, robust and reliable. My three R's, all I care about, you know,
Anne: Relevant, robust, and reliable.
Aditi: yes,
Anne: The three Rs.
Aditi: three R's, we care about only mainly two things.
One is being ethical and honest with our customers. And taking care of our team members. That's two things, lead with honesty. It may be a slow road, but the results are always and always, firm and great.
that's how we've been raised, both my husband and I. And that's what we believe in.
It's a harder road when you're an honest person. We all know that,
Anne: Hey, it's the only way to lay your head down at night and get a
good night's sleep,
Aditi: yeah, yeah, We want to be able to sleep at night, and sometimes honest words are hard to digest, but the end, it works out
Anne: yeah. And that's how you work. And that's why you're growing. And that's why you're just an absolute wonderful addition to not only dentistry in general, the future of dentistry, and in dental entrepreneur woman, Aditi. I just, I wish you all the best. I can't wait to follow your journey and to be part of it as well.
So thank you so much for joining me today.
Aditi: thank you. And it's always a pleasure. You are such a legend. You are an amazing, amazing person in yourself. I am honored to be part of your speed dial.
Anne: My speed dial. I know I pick up when Aditi calls. I love it. You are the best. Thank you so much and everyone that's listening today. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you the next time and remember to keep doing you. Thanks Aditi. I'll see you on the road.
Aditi: See you.
