AI in Dentistry: AI Receptionists & Running a Practice After a Stroke | Dr. Greg Wu

Is an AI receptionist ready for your practice? Dr. Greg Wu installed Mango's AI receptionist three weeks before this show. A third of his patients loved it, a third didn't care, and a third hated it. He shares what he changed, how AI helps private practices compete, and how a stroke at 45 moved him from the chair to mentoring the young dentists who now run his offices.

In this episode:
- Three weeks with an AI receptionist, and adding a way for patients to skip it
- "It's not dentist versus AI. It's dentist plus AI and staff."
- Call notes that write themselves into your practice software
- Why moving to the cloud made him feel safer from hackers
- Opening a scratch startup five months before COVID
- His hemorrhagic stroke, and coaching his doctors from the hospital
- How to step back from clinical work: disability insurance, margins and a mentor role
- Will all these AI and tech subscriptions ever consolidate?

📰 Plus dental news: a dentist and a beautician fight over a bigamist's estate, a $6 million seed round for a dental AI assistant, a dentist runs for Congress in Ohio, a dentist couple jailed for shoplifting in Singapore, and new research on suicide among health care workers.

Dr. Greg Wu earned his DMD from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in 2005 and completed an AEGD at UCLA. He owns Emerson Dental, a multispecialty practice in Westford and Bedford, Massachusetts, is clinical director of On-Site Dental Care, which brings mobile dentistry to assisted living communities across New England, and has lectured since 2008.

🙌 Special shout out to Mango Voice, our educational partner, for making this episode possible!
Learn more about Mango: https://fanflet.com/dinks/mangodinks

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:35 Rain, rain and more rain
3:06 Patients who forget their appliances
5:20 The patient who searched the dental aisle for pain relief
7:37 Redoing a crown to make it right
10:30 Chad's first Inspire patient
12:32 News
13:10 News: a dentist, a beautician and a bigamist's estate
14:25 News: a $6M seed round for a dental AI assistant
16:19 News: a dentist runs for Congress in Ohio
17:48 News: a dentist couple jailed in Singapore
18:42 News: suicide and burnout among health care workers
23:44 Thanks to Mango, our sponsor
24:01 Introducing Dr. Greg Wu
25:55 Losing power right before the show
28:38 Why he moved his practice to the cloud
29:04 From Tufts to buying his first practice
32:04 Learning the business side of dentistry
32:44 Opening a scratch startup months before COVID
34:29 His stroke at 45
36:55 Coaching his doctors from the hospital
39:07 His biggest fear after the stroke
41:19 How to step back into a mentor role
42:56 Disability insurance and thin margins
44:18 How AI gives private practices a leg up
44:56 Three weeks with an AI receptionist
47:06 Dentist plus AI, not dentist versus AI
47:49 AI for consistent call notes
49:00 Will all these subscriptions ever consolidate?
50:14 Greg loses power (again)
52:29 What Align buying exocad tells us
55:03 Why vendors may start bundling services
57:55 Should subscriptions be regulated?
59:49 Social media and young dentists
1:01:32 Closing

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