Dr. Kevin Kuo is the co-founder of Dentyzion–a dental technology and digital marketing consulting company. He is also currently a general practice resident at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. He received his BS degree from the University of Tennessee, majoring in biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology, and received his dental degree from the University Of Michigan School Of Dentistry. He hopes to enroll in an Endodontic Residency following his GPR.
Kevin’s favorite quote and why:
I like to think of it more as a mindset, but what really helps me move forward and enjoy life, I guess is this mindset of: “We live for hope, but memories are what make life worth hoping for.”
The first phrase is self-explanatory. Hope is important. When we become hopeless, that’s when we become stuck in whatever situation we are in.
The next phrase is in order to have hope, you need good memories. And the key here is how to get those good memories. For me, when I look back at my best times, the parts that I really remember in my past life, they are times that were shared.
What this mindset reminds me every day is to be close to people around me, be good to them; and those are the people that you can really enjoy life with, and they are also the people that can help you move forward in bad times.
What Kevin does for the dental profession:
We imagine that in the future, when the clients approach us, they approach us with a problem. And it could be anything. If the company or individual (a dentist) comes to us and says, “Look, there’s this issue with technology right now being a barrier. It’s needed for sure, but the provider, patient interaction is greatly diminished. What can we do with it?” If the client comes to us, we’ll listen to them; ask follow up questions to fully gain an understanding of their issue. From there, we come together as experts to try to figure out a solution to a problem.
In this particular issue we are working on right now, we realized that Google Glass and wearable technology is a great solution. It’s a computer that’s on your head, that’s not noticeable when you use it. And when technology becomes unconscious basically, you are not consciously using it, that’s when technology becomes useful.
So once we figure out this plan (in this case, its Google Glass), we get team members to try to figure out how to make this happen. In this case, we brought dental schools and involve loupe makers (in this particular case it’s SurgiTel). We came up with a plan on how to implement Google Glass. And from there, we actually do it. We’re on a phase where we are working with preclinical directors and oral surgery directors in making Google Glass, which we install loupes with SurgiTel to make it useful for students.
So big picture-wise in what we do, we listen to the client’s problem, we come up with a strategy/solution for that, and then we actually help the clients implement the strategy. So we work with the clients from the very beginning to the end.
Kevin’s difficult time story:
As a young student, I think we started seeing patients as a D2 and at that time, knowing who I am, I wanted to be different, unique in how I do things. And I like technology, so I thought it will be a neat idea for me to create my own website. And I made this as kind of background information of myself, for patients to get to know me. And I actually made some business cards for them to link to the website. I let them know in person about the website. And there are times where I would actually bring a tablet with me to their first appointment to let them browse during down time. (There’s a lot of downtime during dental school, with checks and all.)
What happened in the end was not what I expected. So what I realized early on, it makes sense. Unfortunately, patients come in extremely nervous and they kind of put up this wall between me and them. And it’s very difficult because we want to help them, and it’s hard to gain trust. And strangely enough, what I realized is that second appointment, (and I assume it’s time for them to get to know me by going to this website) it kind of helps them get to know me and trust me more, just because there is some background information about me. And I just thought it was very interesting how different their approach is to those appointments after they got to know me.
What is concerning or exciting Kevin right now in dentistry:
For me, the most concerning part of dentistry is also the most exciting. Right now, dentistry is facing kind of like an awkward transition period where a lot of medicine is changing; a lot of the technology is changing. So, this is putting a lot of strain in our field.
For decades, we’ve kind of done the same things: the same techniques, the same restorative materials with composites, amalgam and crowns. And so it’s been very consistent. And this new era where there’s new medicine, new technology is certainly different, especially when you compound that with a different social trend. Before, patients were very simple; they just wanted you to take away their pain or to fill their tooth. But now, patients are looking for more diverse treatments; they want options, they want things to look good, in addition to things being healthy. So, all these things combined is definitely making it harder for dentists.
But what I see in this challenge is very exciting for me, because it pushes dentistry to be better, and I’m excited to be part of this transition period. And hopefully, I can make a positive impact on making it better.
The best advice Kevin has ever received:
As a sports fan, it’s from one of my favorite players, Tim Duncan who plays for the San Antonio Spurs. He’s always in the mindset of “a quick reset”. And what he meant by that saying is that when something happens badly, you can’t dwell on it; you just have to forget about it and move on.
And I find this very meaningful for what we do in dentistry, and in life in general. As far as dentistry goes, it’s difficult. It’s not an easy job; the cases that we treat are difficult. Unfortunately, sometimes we run into difficult patients. And there’s also a lot of people that we manage; there’s a lot of staff: dental assistants, hygienists, front desk. It’s a lot of pressure and it’s bound for something to go wrong.
And what we have to do – and what I’m hoping I could do –is to realize it, but don’t let it dwell and be able to forget things. And in life too, there’s always obstacles that we have overcome. And if we can just realize it and reset (not overthink it), we’re better able to overcome those issues and be happier.
The one habit that contributes to Kevin’s success:
We keep in mind the human aspect of patients. It’s hard especially at first when we are dental students especially, is that we sometimes forget and we see patients as cases, which is natural because we are focusing on the disease and we are trying to treat it, but the human aspect is very important.
And we found that when we keep that in mind, and even what we do too which is technology, we are trying to solve dental issues. If we remember the human aspects of patients and clients, we’re better able to help them because we can understand them better; we understand what they need help with better. And naturally, our solutions and our treatments will be better too.
Management or marketing pearl (tip):
What Dentyzion hopes to do is to inspire you to think about the future. And our future, what we see is kind of like a smart dental office is where technology is heavily involved, but in a good way. The great thing about technology is just being the fact that it’s so futuristic, so different, it automatically inspires people.
What we wanna do is we take that inspiration and make it work. And if we are able to make devices like Google Glass very functional, the patients will like it, it will make dentists’ lives easier. And in general, the patient care will be better, and the patients will be inspired from that, and you will get patients from referrals; you’ll enjoy working more.
So in general, we hope technology can be a means to inspire people to be better.
Technology or procedure that is exciting Kevin right now:
When we started this company, we had this mindset to innovate and try to solve dental issues and problems. And you can kind of summarize our goal in one statement: “We want to be able to one day create a smart dental office.” The word ‘smart’ is kind of keyword these days in technology, where you have smart cars, you have smart houses. And it’s bound, and it’s needed at some point for our dental offices to be smart.
Internet / App resource that Kevin feels is awesome:
Google Glass. It’s something that I wear every day when I’m at home. And it’s one of those technologies that it’s difficult to understand its benefit unless you wear it. And what I’ve found over the past few weeks when I wear this is that it truly is different; it’s grown to a point where I don’t realize that I’m wearing it. I’m able to receive messages, phone calls. And the most important thing, I’m able to see those messages and information.
Glass is a perfect device to receive notifications; whether is weather, sports scores. And that’s something important in dental offices too where you need constant notification feedback; patients could be running late, you can have that information there; you can have patients walk in early, your assistant can beam that information to you. So that constant stream of notification when we need it, without having to pull out your phone, go to your computer, is very neat.
Kevin’s book recommendation:
Coming from a guy who’s always looking into the future, at some point there will be a book about the San Antonio Spurs. I bring this up just because it really represents what we do as a company. And what the Spurs represented in this year’s championship game in wining it is they’re a team that’s truly a team; it’s not made out of a single individual. And that’s how our company runs too; we are four people. I’m speaking to you now, but the other three are just as important. And that’s how we treat our clients too; we wanna work together with them to come up with a solution for something. So, teamwork is very important.
And the other thing that you will find out in the future book is being able to fight through adversity. Last year was an incredibly bad year; the Spurs were about 30 seconds away from winning a championship and they eventually lost game six and eventually lost the finals. And other one is feeling sorry for them, but the team, the coaching staff, the management, they felt terrible for sure, but they used it as motivation to do better.
And for what I wanna do in practice and for what Dentyzion wants to do, is we want to be able to fight through things and make things better. And that’s one of the main aspects of Dentyzion.
Kevin’s recommendation for those who are about to start new or restart:
The best aspect I have is to get to know the city. And a lot of what we do as a company is to do just that; to talk to a lot of people; other dentists, you can talk to other companies: it can be dental technician companies that do your lab work, it could be software companies. You eventually have to network out; and that’s important in starting a new practice and it’s important to what we do and try to gain information to figure out what’s going on at the time and what can be better, and what your role could be.
If you work with us, we can make your practice hopefully –through technology—more practical, more efficient. And we hope by doing all these things, that patient care will be better and the patients that you see will be able to see the difference in care. And our company also has a digital marketing component. What we feel is important in a natural, secondary function to our company is that we help you figure out a solution to problems, but we also want to be able to display that. We are able to make a difference; make dentistry better — whether it’s your practice, your dental company or your school – it’s being able to show people how things are better is important.
Dr. Kevin Kuo can be reached at:
Website:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dentyzion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/KevinKuoProductions
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dentyzion
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