Dr. John Meis (00:01.804)
Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of The Double Your Production Podcast, I'm Dr. John Meis here with my partner, Wendy Briggs. Hey, Wendy.
Wendy Briggs (00:09.698)
Hey, how's it going?
Dr. John Meis (00:11.18)
It's going awesome. And we're so fortunate today to have a guest with us. And our guest is John Cox from Sprint Ray. So John, do want to give people a little background on yourself and Sprint Ray?
John Cox (00:24.39)
Sure, I'd love to and Dr. Meis, Wendy, great to be here. And as always, I'm thrilled to be part of this industry and it gets more exciting all the time. So I'm John Cox, I'm Chief Growth Officer at SprintRay. I've been in the dental industry for over 40 years. Yes, that's 4-0. And I can honestly say this last five years has been some of the most exciting that I've participated in. My role at SprintRay is commercial leader, but I...
I like to think that I'm the eternal optimist from hell. I think next year is gonna be better than this year and the year after and year after. And with the pace we're on, we're seeing that. So glad to be here, glad to talk to you about what we're doing at Sprint Ray and exciting to be a part of this podcast. So thank you for having me on.
Dr. John Meis (01:09.13)
Your company has been everywhere at meetings, everything, and I think a lot of people know what you do. But do you want to give just a quick synopsis of SprintRay and the products that you have?
John Cox (01:22.588)
Sure. I would say that the company started as a KickStarter campaign back in 2015. That's 10, we're just in our 11th year of business, which is pretty amazing. And it really, it's set out to, they wanted to create, you know, the ultimate desktop printer. And shortly after that, they realized dentistry was the place to be because every dental appliance, every dental crown, every denture, every surgical guide is customized to that individual patient and it really lends itself for additive manufacturing or 3D printing. So it's really, it's perfect, it's a perfect application for this technology. And at that point they decided they're going to focus on dentistry. Fast forward 15 years, we're a company with 600 employees plus half of our engineers. We do everything from hardware manufacturer to AI designs. We've got an AI platform where we're generating automated designs of different applications.
And then of course we make all the resins and materials that go. So we control the whole ecosystem and we have desktop printers that do everything from dentures, night guards, surgical guides, hybrids, smile try-ins, sport guards, retainers. And then we have a smaller, newer technology called Midas, which is a digital press. And the only reason this technology came to be was when you go up upstream and you want to put more ceramic particles or filler into a resin, it becomes very thick, almost like a peanut butter or toothpaste. And it doesn't lend itself to traditional 3D printing. You have to press that.
And hence we developed a very innovative stereolithography press, the first one of its kind. And now we can produce chair-side restorations with high concentration of ceramic fillers, obviously more closer to what they use traditionally in the dental practice today. Those are really the platforms. And we control all the hardware, the software, the design aspect, and the resin. We control the whole ecosystem, which makes us unique in the space for sure.
Dr. John Meis (03:18.328)
That's so exciting. The introduction and growth rate for 3D printing is really pretty astounding. Do you have any stats on what that looks like?
John Cox (03:32.233)
We have stats or some reports that get produced or some analysts that follow the industry pretty closely. And from a standpoint of penetration, certainly in the Americas, you can say it's anywhere from say 16 to 20%, depending on which study you want to look at. But we think it's probably 18, 19, 20 % penetration in dental offices. And it used to be 3D printing was, it's been used in the labs for decades chair side in the practice, it's really come into its own in the last several years. initially it was a discussion around, this is the future of dentistry. 3D printing is no longer the future. It's all about scalability now. it's, thousands of printers are being placed by SprintGrey every year into the industry, into dental practice as well as labs.
And not only are they used chair side, but it's also connecting the chair side to the laboratory. So it may accelerate giving treatment to a patient faster at the same time, getting that design to the lab, the lab produces some, gets back. It's not.. there's a bit of a myth that says, "Hey, 3D printing is eliminating the lab." It really isn't. It's connectivity to the lab. And some things will obviously be printed chair side just because it's better for the patient, better for the practice. And other things will always be produced by the lab. That makes sense. But connecting the design, the communication, the speed, that's where the opportunities are with regards to, you know, connecting manufacturing and dentistry period.
Dr. John Meis (05:00.366)
So I'd love to.. Go ahead, Wendy.
Wendy Briggs (05:00.524)
I can tell you, was just going to say.. To me, that's the exciting piece, right? I think our listeners today might be thinking, "Gosh, you know, I don't have a 3D printer. Where does this really fit in my practice growth journey?" And I do know a lot of our members are high adopters of emerging technologies. So I know we have members that have been already using 3D printing for several years. So regardless of where they are in the spectrum, I was excited to invite you on the podcast for two critical reasons.
First of all, like you mentioned, technology, innovation.. We have an upcoming retreat here in April where that's gonna be our entire topic. So we have long focused on how dentists can be innovative in the practice. We've also focused on patient experience. And I think those two things go hand in hand, right? So that's the first thing, the growth of 3D printing. We had a representative from SprintRay come to one of our recent meetings. And when they actually dug into what the Midas can do, our members were super excited because we have long been advocates and proponents of same day dentistry.
So here we have this interesting intersection where the technology out there in dentistry is now supporting the operation side of the practice by enhancing patient experience, but also by enabling doctors to do more high level, high quality, world-class dentistry and harnessing same day. I think a lot of providers over the years have wanted to do more same day, milling chair side, but we've been hesitant or reluctant because of the quality differences.
And I think SprintRay does a great job of closing the gap. So for me, I get excited from those two angles, right? Obviously innovation, technology, and what can enhance patient experience. That's a huge win. From the optimization of same day dentistry and the growth in the production per visit, that's an even more compelling win for a lot of our listeners. So that's one of the reasons I was excited to have you on here today.
And I know your history in past lives and past roles. You've been involved in technology for a long, long time. So I know you've seen a lot of new innovation come to market. And I'd love to have your opinion on where you think, you mentioned 3D printing isn't the future. It's actually being utilized now more than ever. But I think, have you noticed, have you been able to see an uptick in demand for what sprint rate is bringing to dentistry? And if so, how does that compare with even just a few short years ago?
John Cox (07:24.028)
Sure. And I love your enthusiasm and it echoes mine for sure. I think the idea that dentistry.. Number one, dentistry needs technology and they need to find ways to deliver care faster, less chair time, lower cost for a few reasons. One is ideally open-shelf access to care, which is the ultimate. Two is it allows practices to thrive and get back to maybe some of the profitability and where they used to be. And there's a lot of pressure on... Absolutely dentistry needs technology that does those things.
From a standpoint of the ramp and the number of practices adopting 3D printing and SprintRay, we're certainly, we're fortunate and we never take anything for granted, but we're crazy about innovation. We're innovating nonstop. So we're constantly innovating our solutions, our hardware, our software, our software gets better on a weekly basis.
The AI gets smarter on a weekly basis. And obviously there's a lot of exciting news around AI and how it's benefiting dentistry. And our resins, we're constantly coming up with next generation resins. We're never sitting idle thinking we have the right solution or we have the final solution. We always believe that the next solution is better than the one we have. And that is, it's in the DNA of the company. The number of systems that are getting adopted is, it's unbelievable. I mean, the number of practices to see the benefit.
And if you think of a simple thing like a night guard, if you can produce a night guard in minutes, 30 minutes chair side. So now think in terms of when you think of the hygiene appointment, when the hygienist is noticing posterior tooth wear, which is probably on 80 % or more of the adult population, and you say, hey, a night guard might be a good idea. And it used to be we'd have to send out, but now we can produce it. As a matter of fact, we can have one for you before you leave. Scan that patient, send it to the cloud, AI designs it, you produce, you don't produce one, you print two.
Dentists will come in, check the fit and whether it's $300, $200, $100, $500, it doesn't matter. But the idea that you can give the patient something and it costs the practice, let's call $30. And you give it to the patient and I know it's $400 or whatever it might be, but it's going to protect your teeth long-term. It's going to prevent other things from happening. "Let me show you the wear that you've already got. And by the way, today I'm going to give you a second one. I'm not going to charge you for it."
Just the ability to do that is a powerful patient experience. I, you know, in all my years in dentistry, the most exciting thing has always been seeing the joy that the patient receives, whatever treatment they get. So if you give them an implant to fix a tooth, you give them a denture, they don't have teeth. You restore their smile because they're unhappy with the aesthetics. Those patients just are so much gratitude. And the idea that you can deliver these things with 3D printing at a lower cost, arm's length from the patient. It happens so quick. It's bringing what I would call consumerism into dentistry.
And another example I would give you is like a smile triumph. The idea that you can give a patient, I mean, now with Midas and we have a new capsule, you may have seen in Chicago, it's just a large capsule, but we can print a smile mock-up, know, three to three, social six we'll call it, or you can do, you know, two layers of four. But you scan the patient and if a patient's unhappy with their aesthetics and the numbers I've seen is about 50 % of the adult population isn't happy with their aesthetics. But two things, one is they think it's out of their range from affordability standpoint. And we have practices leveraging this technology and they're bringing ultra thin veneers made of our hybrid ceramic composite pressed in minus and delivering for hundreds of dollars and charging the patient a fee that might be five, six, $7,000. And they're restoring those patients with a beautiful smile in...
Where'd we go? Sorry about that.
Wendy Briggs (11:25.102)
You're good. Carry on.
Dr. John Meis (11:25.604)
We're good. We're good.
John Cox (11:43.389)
A beautiful smile in a couple hour appointment is crazy when you think of that, what's possible. And it might be an extended period where they were. It doesn't mean that the lab in the future, if they can afford more, they may get that ultra aesthetic, boutique, porcelain result later, but it doesn't prevent the patient from fixing what that problem is today in the chair, in the practice.
And those things to me are some of the most exciting solutions that we're bringing to dentistry. And what it's doing, it's unlocking patient opportunity. If you have a patient population that says, "I can't afford a $20,000 smile design, but I can afford a $5,000 one." Now, all of a sudden, you just unlock volume.
And you may have, you know, a couple hundred patients in your practice that can get started here. And a lot of practices, what they're doing is they're saying, "Hey, if we charge five, six, seven, if you decide to go to that boutique, that the ultra aesthetic solution, we'll put all those dollars towards that purchase." Don't use, not like you're spending money again and again... These are the things that are practices are doing to drive new revenue streams. And again, when you deliver smiles and you know it better than certainly I do, being on the delivery side, it's some of the most satisfying stuff you can deliver and very rewarding not only for the dentist, but the team, because the team is very much touching this stuff and delivering.
Dr. John Meis (12:54.2)
Yeah. Well, you hit on some biggies here. You hit on efficiency, and one of the ways to overcome reduced reimbursement is to become more efficient. You hit on motivation. And when you introduce a new technology like this, it's very motivating for the doctor, very motivating for the team, if you do it properly. And then you talked about all the different use cases. So what are the most common procedures being done with 3D printing right now from what you see?
John Cox (13:27.1)
So where it started, I mean, models continue to be printed and that's the most basic functionality of a 3D printer. But night guards and... driven by COVID and that epidemic of tooth fracture and breakage, almost like the night guard evolution or revolution, continue to see tens of thousands of night guards printed every month on our solution. So night guards are very popular.
Digital dentures has come on very much and really it's been unlocked by I think or can you see you talked about it.. material science has advanced so much that the idea that you can produce a digital denture in an hour of highly durable highly aesthetic materials that stand the test of time. You drop them and they don't break. In the early days, the material wasn't that strong, so you had a lot of challenges. Now, we have major DSOs that have adopted our technology across the whole portfolio or across the whole network of practices. And they're delivering digital solutions in a more patient friendly, efficient, as you said, and cost effective way.
So the material science dentures, surgical guides replacing implants. The idea that when you think if you have to wait for a guy to come back two weeks later from the lab, that patient that said yes to get that single tooth implant, life happens, they may not come back. And I think if you talk to a lot of practices, they would tell you that there's a high percentage of patients that say yes to that single tooth implant or a couple of implants that cancel at a later date because something came up. If you have the ability to generate the case, it, get the implant done, get the guide back the next day, print it and get that patient in Thursday instead of three weeks from Thursday, the chances of getting them in and getting the case done and collecting the revenue is exponentially higher and it's driving obviously lot more adoption. So surgical guides is a big one.
Hybrid arches for implants. The whole arch craze that's going on in dentistry where we're putting a whole arch of fixed dentition on a number of implants. That's been a terrific growth engine.
Retainers, direct print retainers. Used to make a retainer in the past, you'd have to print a model, do a vacuum form, trim it. There was a lot of labor. Now with the technology, the advanced software and advanced materials, we can direct print a retainer. So you just scan the arch when they're done the ortho and direct print the retainer in minutes. And of course, you can print multiple and give to the patient.
So these are the things that are driving the adoption.
Of course, restorative has been a big boost for us. We launched our first ceramic product three years ago in Chicago that was FDA approved for the DE2740 crown code. And not that every dentist is using it to do a full contour crown, they're not. But where it is being used in growing in usage is partial coverage crowns. Because if a dentist is doing a direct composite buildup, and most dentists don't like doing them because they're time consuming, they're hard to get good results and they don't get paid well for them.
Now, you can shift that partial coverage rather than doing a full contour crown, which some dentists will do obviously, you can do a partial coverage, do the prep, scan it, send it to the cloud. The dentist will leave the operatory and go do other work in another, could be a hygiene check, could be other... could be a consult, whatever else. The dental assistant will produce that indirect restoration and 20-30 minutes later, the dentist will come back and bond it in place. So fully cured, no shrinkage, better, way better anatomy, more static and arguably a more durable long-term solution for the patient. And it also qualifies as a ceramic restoration. So it gets pulled, it gets paid as a ceramic indirect full partial coverage crown, which is probably 3x what they get paid on the direct.
These are the exciting things. And that's another area that's really exploding is in that partial coverage, inlay, onlay. And then the ultra-thin veneers is really a new category that dentistry is just starting to realize what's possible. And it's exciting. I mean, it's so exciting.
Dr. John Meis (17:37.015)
I love that you brought up the durability of the current materials. You know, one of the criticisms early on was the materials were not as durable and that was a bit of a disadvantage, but the materials have come along a long ways. And I always love to go by your booth when I'm at any kind of conference because I may be seeing it every four months or something, but in four months, the software, you can tell the difference in the software. And you know, you guys have done a really great job of advancing both the, you know, kind of material side, but also the software side.
John Cox (18:16.176)
Yeah, I think, you know, my time, my time in dentistry and Wendy, you alluded to it way back and been involved in a lot of technology. And if technology is not super easy to utilize, then you're only going to get a small percentage of the industry that adopts it, uses it, and gets benefit from it. And our mission is, our moonshot is, to the idea that you can, you know, scan whatever it is. And think in terms of what do I need to produce and push that into our AI design. And that design will design whatever that is and get to the printer and it'll cure.
And you'll take out what our co-founder, Jing, refers to as the magic box. And there will be your crown. There will be your onlay. There will be your denture. And it's that easy. It's like the big easy that we chase every day, which I believe is part of our secret sauce, is we make the workflow so easy and that includes, you know, the hardware has to be totally intuitive, easy to utilize, minimal moving parts, minimal things that can go wrong. The resins obviously have to, you know, stand up to what the expectations of every dentist and dental professional needs it to do for the durability for the patient.
And then the workflow, that software component in between, is the tricky part and we've invested millions of dollars and we purchased an AI company about three years ago. And since that point, we've really been on this journey to try and make dental workflow as simple as scan, AI design, produce in minutes, post-process, get to the patient.
And we believe everything should be able to be delivered arm's length from the patient in a short period of time as possible at as affordable price point as possible for the practice. So, you know, the patient benefits and, I'm not saying it's everything because I want to, it's important that the lab there's, it just connects that piece. So if it's a temporary crown and they, they prep and deliver it a great temporary crown and that design goes to the lab. So a dentist might love zirconia that, that design goes to lab immediately in that lab automatically has a design that has been, the fitment is insured. So the fit, the form, the function is perfect. And now they just produce it in the material of choice and they send it to the practice. it's shortening the timeframes.
Ideally, it gives the practice more opportunity to save more money on the lab side too. It's just a great connection source from practice to lab, leveraging technology, leveraging software. And it's, you know, it's... I mean, you can tell my excitement around it is it's pretty awesome. And every practice we get on board, the more they print, the more they realize this is truly a game changing for their practice for their team. And I know team is certainly a big part of what you have brought to the industry and optimizing, motivating, inspiring team members. can tell you 3D printing is one of the most motivating, inspiring technologies that a team member will ever get involved with.
Dr. John Meis (21:42.018)
Yeah, the way the teams can support does give teams a fair amount of autonomy, you know, so that they're able to function with the technology and that's really fun for team members.
John Cox (21:55.677)
Imagine, and I love to tell this story because I think it's so powerful. Imagine a patient comes in and they're unhappy with their smile and a team member produces the ultrathin veneers, they characterize them, them, and they bring it in. And I always tell dentists, don't, like make it a big deal. Take advantage of the opportunity that you're changing someone's life. And do the, call it the Tiffany's box example. And I say, get your own Tiffany's box and let the, whoever your team member is, dental assistant, whoever's producing it, let them bring it in. And actually let them sign a card. I made this just for you. And then they'll open it up and they'll give it to the patient. They'll show them. And then it'll go on the patient's mouth. And you know, at the end of it, they'll get the mirror and you obviously the tears follow and the joy, the overwhelming. And that team member is in that operatory and delivered that.
And that's as close as a dental assistant or a hygienist, well, a hygienist, I'm not you, but a dental assistant ever gets what you do, Dr. Meis, all the time. I mean, that is stickiness. That is purpose and the practice. That is motivation. That is inspiration. And this is the piece that I'm so excited about with what we're doing in dentistry. It's great for the patient, but it's also, it's great for the industry and it's great for the team. And you put all this together.
That's why the ramp and the acceleration is happening. You asked me when it's all these things put together. There's just so much great stuff here.
Wendy Briggs (23:30.988)
Yeah, and I couldn't agree more. And it was interesting, we highlighted a Forbes magazine article on why dentists are slow to adopt technology. It's all those things that you mentioned, John. It's the worry about workflow, resistance from the team, all the headaches with the software. Will it integrate? How seamless will it be?
And I'm just delighted that SprintRay has figured out that that really is the issue. You know, so many times doctors go to the meetings like Dr. John and they're excited to see the software and see what's changed. And they come back to the team and say, I've just ordered a SprintRay. And the team looks at each other and rolls their eyes and says, gosh, here we go again, right? And I think that piece is often overlooked because the doctor and their excitement doesn't know how to transfer that excitement to everybody else.
And they may not know how to explain to the team, "Hey, this is what we need to do differently with your one-hour hygiene visit or with your 50-minute hygiene visit to be able to utilize this technology effectively."
And that's where we come in, right? We focus on those systems for implementation and optimization. We walk through the anatomy of an appointment and we identify, you know, this is how we use this technology. If we want to do a same day night guard for this patient, here's what that workflow looks like. You know, those are the things that often the team might be missing.
And to your point, if the technology solves a lot of those headaches initially, that's a huge win. But then recognizing that if, as executives, as leaders, we recognize, hey, these are some of the questions that we need to answer. We're going to bring this technology to the team, but we're going to also deliver a plan for implementation of this technology. And the most critical part of that entire plan is why it matters to the patient experience. And to your point of the Tiffany's box, I love that because that's personalizing the patient result and allowing the team to participate more fully in that.
You know, that's the key, I think to any event of innovation or technology is really having a plan for implementation and understanding, you know, change management is a critical element with any changes in a practice. But certainly when we're embracing new technologies, especially for those team members that really haven't seen it or been able to experience it or get excited about it yet, that's often what's missing. And frankly, it's the Achilles heel of why so many great technologies sit in the corner, gathering dust, are not utilized. We don't see the impact of the ROI. That's a really compelling challenge that I think working together in this way, can help solve.
John Cox (25:56.977)
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. The other piece that has been really, and we didn't get it at first. I would say, a few years in, we realized that the technology might be super easy for us to utilize, but when you put it into a practice and someone doesn't have any experience or understanding, the training and the onboarding is so critical.
And we've worked hard on the workflow to make the workflow super simple. But the other piece of it is how do you make that onboarding and train a team member? And we've invested the last several years in really focusing on how do we onboard, how do we train, how do you get to that speed to competency and as quick an order as possible? And that's another critical issue, because you're right, if it's too hard and too difficult and they're losing time, the dentist isn't going to be happy and then it gets to your point, gets shelved.
Part of Kevin's role, we talked about Kevin earlier in his new role with the gurus, is to make sure that in the first 90 days of adoption, they're going to do X number of prints and they're going to get to that speed to competency quickly. And we know the recipe for success to make that happen.
And now it's a matter of just executing on that. And again, making it, I just call it the big easy. We have to continue to make this the big easy. And if we continue to do that, continue to shorten time to treat. So compress chair time, compress cost, and focus on the big easy, then I see a future where this technology is in every dental practice. It's having an impact on patient experience, which we talked about some of the examples, and I can give 10 more. The patient experience is through the roof. The fun, the motivation of the team...
So you talk about benefits of the team and keeping team happy and sticky and in the practice we all know it's not as easy it used to be. And then the idea of lowering costs and delivering some care, this is like, you just can't not have it if you're a dentist. And it continues to get better and better and better.
And I think what you guys are doing with technology adoption and helping practices understand why they need it, how to adopt it, the impact it has, how do you talk about it? How do you tell a patient? I mean, if you don't tell a patient that this is an awesome thing and like a night guard, they never know and they think it's just a fee. I think that patient communication is a piece that is missing in a lot of practices as well. So there's so many parts of the puzzle and if a practice gets it right, success is guaranteed. You know, it really is guaranteed.
Dr. John Meis (28:40.952)
Yeah. John, I so appreciate you hopping on today to give us kind of the current state of the 3D printing world and the capabilities of SprintRay. Thanks so much for being on with us. And that's it for another episode of The Double Your Production Podcast. We'll see you next time.
Wendy Briggs (29:02.434)
Thanks everybody.
John Cox (29:03.623)
Thank you.
