I Asked a Dentist FORBIDDEN Questions | Dr Brady Smith

[Music] If you were to swear off either brushing or flossing, which one would harm you the most? Freaking tough questions, dude. So AI is coming into the dental space. This machine with his arm to like place the implant in there and screw it down. Are we comfortable with it? Got to be insanely rare for a dentist to also just be like, you know what? I'm going to do standup comedy on the weekends. About 3 minutes before I went on stage, I wanted to poo, pee, and throw up. What's your take on this uh this fluoride situation? Let me preface a bit. I'm an idiot. Uh what's going on everybody? Welcome back to Travis Makes Friends podcast. Today I am making friends with a dentist/ comedian, which will be an interesting conversation. Dr. Brady Smith, welcome to the show, man. Thank I am I'm just happy to be here, man. This is great. Thank you so much for having me. Yes, sir. In Chile, Las Vegas, you've come to find out in Chile. It is unseasonally uh counterintuitive. Yeah. Yeah, you know, unexpected in Las Vegas and I just brought tank tops and booty shorts and right, you had to go buy a shirt just for this interview. Yeah, I'm really cold. I'm really cold right now. It makes a lot of sense. It's really uh confusing because when you wake up in the morning and look outside, it's like blue skies. It's the sun's out and you're like, okay, it's a great day. You walk outside and you're like, I need a jacket. Yeah. But I'm from Portland, so anything's better. Not anything. Most things are better. Most things are better. At least there's no clouds in the sky. That's right. Yeah, you get to actually see the sun a little bit. I like Las Vegas. Isn't Isn't dentistry in Oregon or Seattle or something? Like the highest rate of suicide of any location/ge geography? I've never heard that. And I can I mean uh Okay. So, have you heard how does that make you feel? Have you heard about it geographically specific like that? Uh yeah. Yeah. Like it might not Seattle. I think it was I think it was Seattle though. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz one of them Seattle is the one that gets even less sun than Portland, right? I think so. They're pretty similar, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was literally like dentists in Seattle is like the highest. Yeah. You know, I get hit with that question a lot. Here's the thing. I mean, I know I know people really I mean, for sure. I guess I don't know why I'm saying it like I'm surprised. Yeah. I mean, I know I know people uh I mean, I've had class I've been I've been a dentist for 15 years and I've had classmates classmates that have to taken their own life. So, why do you think that is like just the busy schedule? I mean, here's what I can tell you about dentistry in general. It is it is a pretty thankless job in general. People do not want to see you. Correct. They Nobody wants to go to the dentist. Dude, is so funny. I'm agreeing so far. Yeah. Right. You're like, "Oh, yeah. No, you guys suck. You guys are the worst." Um, uh, I when Okay, my first week in dental school, you have these like, "Welcome to the field of dentistry. You guys have chosen." They They really pump you up. They make you feel really good like you guys have chosen the best profession in the world and you are gonna be pillars of your community. This is the way they talk to you, man. At least when I went to school. I mean, it' kind of be weird if they didn't though. Yeah. They're like, "You guys are do they start calling you doctor on day one." Oh, nice. It's nice. It's very humanistic that it's a humanistic approach. And they're like, "You're going to be pillars in your community. people are going to, you know, look to you, you know, as examples of how to live your life and and and you're going to get invited to people's weddings and their kids, you know, their kids' weddings. I've gone 0.0 weddings, man. Uh 0.0 weddings I've been invited to at this point. Such a weird example that they would use. Yeah. Um uh so, so yeah, no, I don't feel the love, uh from my patient base all the time. Yeah, you do have to work in dentistry to get the satisfaction, the fulfillment, the purpose of like what you're doing. Like I hated dentistry for the first 5 years. I love it now. Okay. And that transition was difficult to make. So, you know, why do dentists take their life? It's it's physically taxing. It's more physically taxing than you would think. Just like on your feet all the time. Yeah. And I hate complaining about working a 40hour week cuz people I have friends who like work in construction. They're like I'm working 40 hours 40. It's like I work I work 40 hours by Tuesday. Yeah. People working on the oil rigs in Colorado. So I hate complaining about it. But it is more physically taxing than what you would think. Mhm. In addition, people don't want to be there. Uh you do make good money. Uh but that also heightens people's uh skepticism of you. Right. So Dennis or a lot of people put Dennis in the camp of like a used car salesman or a shy it's kind of one of those industries that's unique because even in rural small town areas it's still the person with the most money in that area. Like it's not something where it's like you know some consulting job or something where like you got to be in New York City to you know what I mean? It's like well you can be in the tiny town in Arkansas and it's like you're still the guy with all the money in that town. Dude, Chris Rock tells a funny joke uh in one of his specials where he uh bought this super expensive house, like a $5 million house, and he talks about his neighbor who's a dentist. It's like, yeah, he's like, I thought I made it. I thought I like made it. And then like my neighbor's like a dentist. I'm like, what? Yeah, that's that sums it up. Yeah. But it's um Well, there's probably a correlation there too with the vocation choice because like you you probably don't pick dentistry because you're passionate about gum health. you probably pick it because of security, the the potential financial future and then don't enjoy it when you actually get into the work. But I find that basically anything that you create competence in becomes enjoyable regardless of how mundane it might have started off to be. Do you want to know why I want to become a dentist? Why here's the Okay, so there's two answers. one is what I wrote to the admissions uh for the dental school that accepted me into the program which was I used to live in South America and I saw all these pe people uh when I lived in South America that didn't have teeth and how that affected them made me so sad. Um, that's what I told admissions. The real reason I wanted to be a dentist because there was this guy when I was in high school and he was a dentist and his wife was a smoke show and he drove a Porsche and he had a huge house and he worked three days a week and I was like, "What does that guy do?" And they're like, "He's a dentist. That's what I'm going to be." Done. That's what I'm going to be. That's the real reason. That was as simple as it was on career. That's the real reason. Uh, also, you know, patients are pretty outgunned as far as like discerning what they're being told they need, right? Like you have, dude, Travis, you need a root canal. You're like, what? I guess, okay, this guy says I need a root canal. Yeah. And you don't have to sell it because the insurance, you build the insurance, right? Like, oh, that's a whole another thing. Insurance is uh a very polarizing issue for dentists. Okay. Um because it's terrible. Uh objectively it's terrible. Uh I mean premium I mean it it's not even insurance. Dental insurance isn't even a real thing. Dental insurance is uh not like medical insurance. It's it's actually pretty misleading to call it insurance. It's more like a coupon okay type of situation. It's a you know you might get $1,000 a year is all you get towards your teeth. And those premium those benefits haven't changed since about the 1980s. uh they have not uh scaled with inflation or the cost of living or anything like that. And uh there's a business opportunity right there. Uh right. Right. Right. So uh dental insurance is hard. It's hard to just Yeah. I mean for some people Yes. You can just build the insurance. For some people when I tell you need a root canal that's two grand, right? It's two grand. You woke up today not knowing two grand. And two grand will absolutely devastate a lot of people. Oh yeah. Two grand is not % of people with paycheck to paycheck or something like that. Two grand cannot I you got to pull it, you know? So, it's this well and if you're going to spend two grand, you're going to buy a TV or something. Yeah. And there's no way for you to know, right? How are you going to know if you need a root canal or not, you know? Like it's like you just you got to trust the person you're working with. I I feel the same way when I go to a mechanic. They're like, exactly. That's what I was going to like. Your air intake is bad. And I'm like, "Yeah, I know. I know. I've been thinking about that." I popped the hood the other day and I noticed the same thing. Yeah. Dude, the other day I I was getting my oil changed for the first time. I just bought a new truck and I was getting my oil oil changed for the first time in that truck. Yeah. And you got to pop the hood. I've never popped the hood on that truck. And so I'm like fumbling around like where's the thing? And the guy working at the Jippy Lube was like move over. And he opens the door. And I've never felt so emasculated in my life. And he just like reaches like like between my legs to this little lever and pulls a lever, pops the hood. I'm like, "Yeah, no, I was going to I knew where that was." No, I was just polishing it to make sure. Dude, I felt terrible. But um uh yeah, anyways, dentistry is crazy, man, because uh you just you just got to trust the you got to trust the person the person that you're dealing with. You just got to that's what it boils down to. You just got to trust. Yeah. So, you know, and it's hard to have that trust. So, I think there's just this built-in skepticism. And I think dentists feel that, man. Like, I mean, I feel it for sure. Like, I feel times where it's like I mean, part of my whole thing when I'm meeting someone for the first time as as a patient, as a doctor, is like I just want you to feel comfortable, man. I'm just I'm here to like break down like I'm I am here to help you and what do we got to do to get there? But you meet people who are immediately like, "My wife scheduled this appointment. I don't want to be here." Yeah. And they they hate everything you're saying. Well, it's also really rare for a dentist to have your skill set, I think, because I find that most dentists are like their their IQ is high, their EQ is extremely low. Like they just talking about just general communication skills or the ability to relate to any human being on any sort of a personal level before they just start violating your mouth with metal stuff. There's so many dentists that just instinctively believe you should value what I value. Correct. Instinctively, right? Like they take it for granted. They take it for granted. They do. That is absolutely an accurate criticism of a lot of of dentists. And the ability to get on someone's level and be like, you know, communicate, right? And be like, what do you want to like what do you want to do here? Here's the problem. Here's how we could fix it. Here's some options. just get on someone's level and be like, you know, what do you want to do? This is your math. Let's talk about it. Like even if you don't care, like try to make me feel like you do at least a little bit, you know? Yeah. Before you start just like shooting stuff into my gums. And then dentists take it personally. They do. Like if you don't if I'm like, if you question me or like like some dentists will be like it's it's it's a little bit of a short fuse. I'm sorry. Did you go to dental school? Yeah. Yeah. You know, if you're like you need a root can like well what are there any other options? And I'd be like immediately just get pissed at you because like you asked like that. But that's a reasonable question, right? What are the I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say because you told me this information. What happens if I don't get one? Right. Right. And that's a good that's a great question and I you know we'll get into that. Here's what could happen. Right. Right. And yeah. Uh talk to me about gum health, man. Like okay, you get told all the time when you're a kid, got to brush, got to floss. Yes. If you were like I know this I hope you get told that a lot. This is the the worst question for a dentist probably, but if you were to like swear off either brushing or flossing for the rest of your life, which one would harm you most? Travis coming in with the freaking tough questions, dude. Uh, you got to swear off one of them. I think flossing because I already think people aren't flossing. That's why I would choose that because I'm not coming from a a lifetime of resisting flossing. So, I don't know. I feel dirty if I go if I were to go a day without brushing my teeth. Yeah, that's true. You feel it on your teeth. It's so gross. Yeah. You get that grimy grit. I don't know how you go to bed with like that just nasty. No, I hate that. So, I'd say brushing is you got to keep the brushing and flossing could go. Okay. If you had like gun to the head, got to choose one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But gum health. So, um, in no way am I condoning people like, I heard a dentist on a podcast say, you know, to floss. No, you didn't hear that. There's nuance. There's context. Don't take me out of context. Yeah. This is the gun to the head question. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I've been doing a lot of more research recently on just longevity and health in general. And one of the ones that surprised me was how important gum health is to like preventing disease, even even like Alzheimer's and dementia and things like that. Right. Yeah. I feel like every year there's more information coming out that links gum disease to other systemic issues. Uh for sure. And I'm I'm not I'm not the expert on on that. Yeah. Um on how it relates to those, but everything is connected. Sure. Yeah. And the mouth is an area there not too many areas like this on your body that you just don't see a lot, right? You just don't have visual. You don't know what's going on, right? Um in there. And so, but it's also an area that gets just jam-packed with garbage all day long, you know, and then if it doesn't get clean, like you just don't you just don't see that. All right. I guess I got to floss then. You got to floss every day. And you got to get in there, man. Um, it's a good idea. Flossing flo for all the talk on flossing out there, you know. Uh, it's relatively simple. It's extremely effective and people don't do it. Right. Right. So, you know, it's just uh Yeah, that's what it is. But it's effective. Good stuff. What's your what's your take on this uh this fluoride situation? Everybody keeps talking about Florida in the drinking water with the whole, you know, make America healthy again thing. They're talking about cracking down or at least trying Oh, the RFK thing. That's what you're talking about. So, um, let me preface. I'm an idiot. Uh, I I you know, I consume the same internet that everybody else consumes. Um I so let's start with like what I was taught what what's taught to dentists generally everywhere is that fluoride is an element that does remmineralize tooth structure and there is a lot of science that supports that. Um I think uh then there's a lot of science that also says that fluoride is bad for you and there's so we got that to contend with right and so they put fluoride in very minor dosages in in your you know your crest near your Colgate toothpaste um uh but there are elements that you can find that have replaced fluoride. Uh uh there's a element called nani nano hydroxy appatite. Okay. Which is a similar similarly remmineralizing compound that is added to toothpastes that will um remmineralize tooth structures similarly to fluoride. So you could get the same benefit from what I understand you can get the same benefit without using fluoride without some of the downsides of fluoride. Yeah. So if you believe So if there are downsides to fluoride or if you believe that there are downsides to fluoride, yeah, you could reasonably replace that and just that's a that's a moot point, right? You can you don't have to use fluoride, but most major toothpaste do lose use fluoride and have for for years. It might make people stupider. I mean, who knows? Yeah, it it people are stupid. So you have that. Yeah. The the thing to me is like if it's a risk at all, you know, like like especially the drinking water thing, it's like, okay, leave it in the toothpaste, sure, when you go to the dentist, you know, put it on after the cleaning, but in our water all the time, like that that seems to be kind of an overstep. Yeah. And I think the part where I would say like I don't really know is like what's the the benefit of it in the water. Yeah. Is interesting. Well, especially because nobody drinks tap water anymore anyway. Yeah. And the water is the water that crosses a line into we're forcing everybody onto this, right? Which just my identity just like screams red flag now. It's in the water. Now everybody has to to do this. And there are especially in something as essential as water. Yeah. You know, you can't get you can't get off the water supply, right? or you're just buying bottled water forever. So, and Portland, Oregon, if I'm not mistaken, Portland, Oregon, where I I'm from the Portland, Oregon area. I actually live in Washington. Okay. Uh but uh I think Portland, Oregon is one of the only major um municipalities that still does not Oh, really? have fluoride in the water cuz Portland's so weird. They're like always like, "No, like no." They're so crunchy, you know? It's they're such granola people. They're like they're like no we're not going to allow that. So there's still no fluoride in the water. I actually used to sell water purification machines and we had a team up in Oregon and I remember going up there and we would run water tests on people's tap water and stuff and the water there was always way way way better. Okay. Than it especially compared to Vegas. Vegas's water's garbage. Okay. I didn't know that. Well they they um yeah it gets voted on all the time and then they always just strike it down as like there's like nope no fluoride. So yeah, I am what my position is there there's a reasonable alternative. Yeah. That I think uh is therapeutic in the form of toothpastes. Yeah. And things that you can use medic to your teeth and gums, mouth rinses, things like that, right? Uh so there's a reasonable alternative that I think works. I'm just overall a fan of being able to interrogate the science. You know, like people always say like the science is settled or whatever. And it's like, well, isn't that the antithesis of science, you know, like not supposed to be settled? You're supposed to continue running experiments and and coming up with new hypotheses to test. Uh, and that's one of those things just been like, well, we've had fluoride in the water since like the 60s, so why would we change it, you know? And I think if you pulled fluoride out and like there was like a fluoride ban and they're not going to use fluoride in any products, I don't think that that means like people's teeth will be falling out. Yeah. I don't I don't think that's a I don't think that's where we jump to. I don't I don't that doesn't seem like there's so many factors of like what causes cavities and gum disease. And it's like it's the diet. It's the medicines that you're on. It's your genetics. There's so many factor. It's your own oral daily oral hygiene or lack thereof. There's so many factors that am I like, "Oh, but if they take fluoride in the water, that's going to be the that's going to be the thing, right?" I'm like, I mean, that's a smoking gun for a lot of people, but how good is the um uh tooth replacement technology coming out in terms of you lose you like you lose a tooth to whatever decay or getting, you know, hit in the mouth or a car accident or something and you can replace it. Like, how how good is that? I mean, so we use dental implants. Yeah. Which are titanium screws. Okay. That looks they look like they come from a bucket from Home Depot. If you if you saw one, you're just like, "Yeah, I there's a bucket of those at Home Depot." They're 35 cents a piece. You just drill it into the skele the the Yeah. the bone. So, uh they're, you know, threaded screws that will go into the socket and adhere to the bone. And it's it's pretty slick. Uh I do a lot of implants, uh myself, and a lot of dentists do. And uh it's not 100%. Nothing's 100%. Sure. And nothing's as good as an actual tooth. Nothing's as good as your natural u hardware. Yeah. You know, but it's it's good. Yeah, it's good. And then also there's all these uh I always see these like things come up in my feeds probably because I'm a dentist and my uh my my algorithm is like this guy likes teeth so let's send this man what he wants. Right. Right. Uh so I get lots of tooth stuff. Um, but there's a lot of uh studies going on and trials going on with like um like placenta like like stem cell stuff where they think they can like identify like the whatever that makes the tooth buds when you're when you develop as a embryo that they can isolate that and implant that into your body and grow a tooth. Wow essentially. Now I don't know. I'm sure if I'm sure if that was possible, it's going to cost you $800,000 for a tooth. Yeah. Right. Right. It's gonna take some time. Yeah. Yeah. But it's wild what they can do, you know. Yeah. I think like 20 years ago, I saw an article they grew an ear on a mouse. Like they just grew an ear on a Do you remember that? No. You don't remember that? I never saw that. All right. You pull it up, Google it or something. They I remember a picture like in a newspaper of this mouse with a human ear. That's wild. On top of it. Yeah. That's one of the most like in terms of AI, one of the applications that I'm most excited for is anything related to like health, longevity, medicine, like anywhere where there's just this crazy crazy volume of information that you have to go through 12 years of schooling in order to be able to get certified in and even then you still don't know everything like you know just a fraction of what information is available. So I think like the next decade, two decades are going to be very interesting when it comes to all of these things related to any sort of physical health. I have an interesting question for you. So AI is coming into the dental space in a couple different ways and I actually want your opinion as a non-dentist. Okay. Right. Just as a consumer of dentistry. Do you go to a dentist at some point in your life? Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You said Yeah. Okay. Sometimes. Yeah. Um Okay. So, one of the ways that AI is being used in dentistry right now is um uh uh uh decay identification. So, it basically X-rays. So, you take your X-rays, it throws it up on a screen. They're digital X-rays and the software uh identifies all the cavities for the dentist. Okay. Okay. To me, it's a polarizing issue. I hate it. I think it's terrible. I think it's so just not accurate or you know it's just okay so here's what here's I I always want to know like uh what a patient thinks um if if I'm the one looking at this and saying you have cavities or if the machine is the one now technically it's both of us and what I say to you obviously the AI can't control so if I saw something on the AI if you look at it looks like a paint by numbers it looks like you you see these X-rays on a view box or on a computer Um, and uh, there I highlight in like a pink a pink little circle and they will it'll say basically it tells the dentist like here's where the cavities are, here's where the bone loss is, here's where the bone should be. This is this is like it tells you all this information, right? Because it's compiled with like thousands and thousands and thousands of other X-rays and this is what this is what a cavity is. Yeah. Because one of the things that you know you deal with as a patient is you could go to a dentist and the one dentist says you have 10 cavities, another dentist says you have two, right? Because there is subjectivity to this. It's not as like what do you personally? It's not as black and white as you think it should be, you know? I think it would really depend on my trust relationship with my dentist. All right. you know, like if like if I didn't if I had a dentist that I just never really super trusted, but it was just whatever is like this person's covered under my, you know, my dental plan in my company or whatever, then I go here. But I don't really like trust this guy's opinion. Like I I kind of want to know the second opinion of what a computer would think. Okay. So, you don't feel weird about the computer saying you have six cavities? No. No, I wouldn't. Okay. I wouldn't. Espec Especially as the technology gets better. Right now, it might be really rudimentary or maybe I feel weird about that. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I feel weird with any sort of medical thing or just just because this is like stepping on your vocation. Um okay. So I also feel like it's going to be used the companies that create AI these AI softwares they're also selling it to insurance companies which are using it which are using it to deny claims. So insurance companies and and they do sell. So one thing you should know about the AI company is selling the software to dentist because now you come and sell the software to me it's 600 bucks a month forever forever. Yep. So I have to basically pay for this but they're the way they sell it to you and this is absolutely how they sell it to you is that you're going to diagnose more cavities. You're missing doc. There's these studies that are missing. It pays for itself. Docs are missing 40% of cavities. There's so many cavities out there you're missing. You're neglecting your patients. Now you get the software where you're going to be able to see this and you're actually going to make more money from this. And they're simultaneously going to the insurance company and saying these dentists are being too aggressive with the way they're diagnosing cavities. So you're going to be able to deny claims like crazy. You're going to save so much money right from this. And I feel like they're playing both sides. And so it's not necessarily the product that's the problem. It's it's the it's all the BS that surrounds the product. And I just feel like a first year dental student can see a cavity on an X-ray and you have enough nuance as a like it's not that big of a problem as a human. Yes. I just don't think it's a problem but dentists are crazy about it. They love it. They I mean there's a lot I'm just like I don't know why I don't know why I had um but I'm more concerned about like someone like you like no I actually like that's good to know actually. I actually like helps me evolve my opinion is like someone like you is like no I actually am interested in like what the computer says. Yeah, I think I would be I don't know if I could say that for everybody just because I have a general interest in those things in AI and and in helping it improve processes and things like that. Um but I I recently had Dr. Alan Bowman on the show. He's a um a hair restoration doctor out of um Florida. Oh, cool. And I went out there as part of like our whole thing and they did a treatment for me, a PRP treatment. Yeah. So pl you know plasma treatment on the scalp and part of that was this this imaging that they did to identify you know the strength of particular hair and follicles and whatever and they used an AI and that was like extremely helpful for them because it is more difficult to tell from like the naked eye you know the percentage of hair follicles that are this particular width versus the percentage of hair follicles that are this particular width versus the ones that are non-existent where they used to be like spit out this whole image where it rates the different hair like different hair strands is like green, red or yellow, strong, weak, you know, medium or whatever. And it was extremely helpful for them. So, but that's also like you said like if any, you know, first year dental student can spot a cavity, then maybe it's just not as necessary for the dental field as it would be in some of these other fields. You ever seen uh you ever watch The Office? Oh, yeah. Okay. So, there's only six or nine times, right? So, there's an episode where uh Michael Scott is following the GPS. Yeah. And runs his car right into a lake because the GPS says turn right. I drove my car into a lake. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, that's what this is to me. This is like like you're taking the human element out of it and you're just going to like you're just going to like I don't know like if dentists become reliant on that especially like right out of school, you're so reliant on the systems that you implement like the skill. Exactly. Right. So the ability to be like, well, without this, can I actually do it? Yeah, you can. And how sad it would be if you couldn't, but that's fair. Yeah, AI is interesting. Are you worried about like a Terminator situation like Skynet coming becoming aware? Because I am actually kind of worried about that. You know, Elon Musk is making robots. I know. Like eerily similar to the iRoot robots, dude. He got sued over the fact like the the writers of that movie, the producer of that movie sued Yes. uh Tesla because they're like, "This is too similar to our robots that took over the world." You know what I mean? Science fiction is becoming reality. Um I I don't know, man. I don't cuz I think there there's got to be a dangerous element to it to I just don't understand it well enough to give an educated response to that question. You know what I mean? Cuz like if if you had somebody who truly deeply understood AI and uh you asked them that question, they would actually know based on like what they're what the code that they're writing and you know, potential restrictions or whatever um that they would be able to put on there or they would they would know. Me throwing it out like throwing out an opinion is like is basically just as much science fiction as the movie would be. It's like I could I could sit here and pretend like that's going to happen, but it could also just be a huge leap forward and advancement in, you know, human technology or something like that, too. So, I I I really I don't have a good answer for that. It is kind of scary to think that that potential is there. Especially when you marry it with quantum computing, which doesn't seem like it's too far away, especially with AI continuing to get better. Like AI is going to get to quantum comput like figure out quantum computing probably before a human's going to figure out quantum computing. Quantum computing. Is that when they develop feelings? Uh, no. No. So, it's just the it's the ability. It's the ability for um and again I'm no expert in this so Google it to double check me on all this but quantum computing as I understand it is basically um right now computers communicate in in binary right so it's all ones and zeros okay and so with quantum computing it works much more like functioning like a brain like there's unlimited characters numbers see the hairs on my neck just went up when you said that I'm just like nope they can't it it it looks more like neurons firing rather than just like two like two options if that makes sense So the the the the computing ability is going to be you know 10,000 times the world's best supercomputer that we have right now as I understand it. Uh so so quantum computing married with AI is you know going to be pretty pretty insane like the the the the exponential um transformation in technology that will occur when those two things are able to actually collide and and produce things is going to be equivalent to you know what it's been in the last decade where it's just like we we've already feel like we you know pre iPhone was like we're making progress we're making progress we're making progress but computers took up whole rooms still in like the '7s. That was not that long ago. But then now the thing in your pocket, you know, I just saw Nvidia came out with this computer. It's a It's like this big. It's a thousand times more powerful than an average MacBook and it's like three grand. They just unveiled it at um at CES here in Vegas like last week. Uh so it's like when when you look at when you look at that and that what that computer can do and it's this big and it used to be used to take up a full room for like you know what a megabyte of of storage or computing power and the the sheer the sheer um attraction that we've made in that space over the last couple of decades is insane. When that happens it'll be an inflection that will make this look like steady growth instead of a hockey stick. You know what I mean? That that hockey stick will be just like straight up to the moon and who knows what's going to happen after that. I have another dental question for you as a consumer. I'm really curious. So, I'm at a dental conference uh this weekend um here in Las Vegas and there's a machine that is being there's a vendor and they have a machine. It's a machine that will place an implant in your mouth, humanless. So, now similar to my last question, uh are you okay with a a computer telling you how many cavities you have? Would you rather have a human, me, just a guy like me, just a dude, just a Yeah, this guy knows what he's doing, right? Just imagine yourself in a chair with your mouth open and this machine with his arm. Yeah. Like you're on an assembly line. Yes. And then that is what's going to actually drill the hole into your bone and then place the implant in there and screw it down. Yeah. Are we comfortable with it? Are you how do you view that as a non- dentist? So theoretically I'm I'm I'm okay with the idea, but I'm not signing up to be first. I'm not signing up to be 100 like I'm like in a decade. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Think of this when you have a million case studies and I can look at it and be like, okay, it actually makes fewer mistakes or whatever, you know, like and then at that point it's like, all right, then then put me in the chair. But I'm not signing up for the first few years of that. Right. I know. I got a friend of mine who's a dentist and he has one. Uh it's like a $200,000 machine. I'm sure it's crazy. So, it's uh it's uh it's been around for a couple years and I've watched you can watch them. It's called Yomi. Uh Yo Mi. I'm not sponsored by them. I should be. Yeah. Um but you can look at videos online. I just say that so any listener you want to go watch a robot place an implant. And the dentist I know uh did it on himself. Wow. And you just sit there and my gosh, you got to be sit. You got to sit still, dude. No kidding. Yeah, you better like strap. You better sit still. Better not sneeze. Yeah. Um, but it's just these these um advances in techn There. It's just it is wild, man. And it just seems like, dude, I mean, I've been a dentist for 15 years. In the first two or three years, I was still using analog X-rays. Like you like I you take the X-ray, I got to put it in a developer. Developer. Yeah. Yeah. and it would take me 15 minutes to look at the little X-ray, put it in a little view box, and that was like my time, you know, which wasn't that long ago. It wasn't that. We're talking 2010, 2012. I was still using analog X-rays, right? And then I made the jump to digital and that was like 10 years ago, dude. Right. And so now it's just like now a robot can 100% take my job. Yeah. So, yeah. So sweet. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, school. Yeah. You wonder why Dennis killed themselves, dude. We're just obsolete, man. We don't No one needs us. Oh, man. All right, let's uh let's talk comedy. Um, like I said, it's a it's a uh got to be insanely rare for a dentist to also just be like, you know what? I don't think I'm going to do standup comedy on the weekends. Why or how did you get into that? Yeah. Um, okay. So, uh, I started doing Tik Tok. Okay. In like the beginning of 2022. And if I go back, I started doing Tik Tok at the advice of um a mentor of mine. I think you probably know Patrick Bed David. Oh yeah, he's on the show. He's been on the show, I think. Right. I think I saw that. He's been on the show. So um years ago, I kind of got turned on to Patrick Bet David and the stuff that he's talking that he was talking about. And I signed up for a mastermind with with him. And it's probably the best money I've ever spent. Uh um and I wanted to grow a nonprofit organization called the Halo Dental Network. And I've started lots of businesses, but they're all dental businesses, right? So, I know how to do that. But starting a nonprofit was really hard. And so, I got his advice on that. And one of the things he he said was, "Uh, dude, your personality is so dynamic. Uh you need to get on TikTok." And I was like, "But I don't know how to dance and I'm not a little girl." Yeah. And he said, "Two pretty solid objections really." And then he's like, "Brady, tomorrow 100,000 people could know who you are." 100,000 pe and it's free. Yeah. And he's like, "You need to not sleep on this." And so I started a channel u and I just kind of put my own personality out there, you know, and so uh you and it just resonated with a lot of people. So I got a big following. Was it kind of like education based or entertainment based? Not so much, man. Uh, you know, it's more entertainment. Okay. Always entertainment. Dentally centric. Yeah, for sure. Uh, I just think teeth are something everyone can relate to in some way. Everyone's got teeth or started that way, you know, at least started that way. Um, and so everyone goes to the dentist or everyone thinks about going to the dentist. Everyone has a dental experience, you know. Uh, as far as like things you remember for like ever, removal of your wisdom teeth is almost always like where were you when 911 happened? Like it's like like you you remember your experience with wisdom teeth being removed no matter how old you are. It's a very, you know, it's entrenched into your brain in some somewhere every single person. So I started getting a following and it wasn't dentists, it was people, it was non- dentists who mostly would follow me. They just liked my take and like uh how I talked about dentistry. Yes. And that's always been a like a uh a tool that I've been capable of, a skill that I have is to just break it down normally, like the ability to recognize like you're not a dentist. Let me talk to you like a regular person. Let me give you let me tear down the walls of dentistry and tell you this is what's going on. Yep. And so that that went off really well. Uh, and I started doing like uh like musical parodies, like I play guitar and sing and so I do parodies and then um and also as part of the Halo Dental Network, the the charity that I run for probably 10 years I've been doing free dental work on comedians. Oh, really? Yeah. And it's just kind of like I just uh kind of bond with comedian type people. Um just because I'm n I mean like I'm just naturally inclined towards jokes. Yeah. And laughter and all that in general. And so I have a lot of friends who are comedians because I've been doing like, you know, some dentists will like, you know, have a soft spot for veterans or victims of domestic violence or something like that. And for me, I was like, no, I just like these degenerate comedians. I just want to help out these none of them have dental road warriors that just eat corn nuts all day long and ruin their teeth. The worst. I shouldn't have I should have chosen different people. Uh, but I became friends with a lot of comedians uh through my career. And uh then this Tik Tok thing uh blew up and I started getting um solicited by dental conferences. Mhm. Come to our conference and and perform your music parodies and tell jokes. Okay. And I was like awesome. And the first one that I was invited to was in Las Vegas here. It was at I want to say Caesar's Palace. It was 2,000 people. Damn. All dentists. Uh dental or dental professionals. Yeah. And I was opening for Sebastian Maniscalo. That was their keynote and uh it was like my first gig. Yeah. And I've been in a band for a long time. I've been like in a spotlight. I always cracking jokes in classroom situ, you know, just I've always been a class event. Was that when was that event? That first uh that was in May of 2023. Okay. So, not too long ago. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty recent. Um, and I did not even it did not even register to me that I was going to be nervous cuz I just it's not in my DNA to be nervous. Like I don't get embarrassed. I don't like that's just not it's very difficult to embarrass me. And about 3 minutes before I went on stage, I wanted to poo, pee, and throw up. Yeah. Like it was not just like a mental thing like, "Hey, snap out of it." It was physical. It was a physical visceral thing. And so, but I went on stage and I did it and I did great and I'm very happy. I was proud with my performance. Mhm. Um, but then I was like, if I keep on, but then that led more performances. Did Did Sebastian Medcal go see the performance? Uh, no, not that time. Uh, the next year they brought me back and I opened for Ray Romano. I got to meet Ray Romano and that was that was more of like a Yeah, we were kind of hanging out together a little bit. That's awesome. Um, but Sebastian Venusal comes in with like two armed Caesar's Palace guards. Yeah. Um, and then uh he shows up like two minutes before he goes on stage and then leaves and leaves. So there was no I was excited to meet him. I'm a big fan and he killed it. But uh uh no I didn't actually get to meet him. But that led to more gigs, more dental. There was a a large group of people. I can't come to our conference too. Mhm. And then I was like but I'm so nervous. So I went back to my comedian friends and I was like hey can I have some spots locally? Can I local shows? Can I get time? And they would give me time. So, I started doing standup and then I was like, were all of your jokes up to that point about teeth and dentistry? I would say it's it definitely re my I think my comedy is enjoyable for people who are not dentists. Okay. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. But it is my Yeah. You draw on your experience. Yeah. It it is my experience, my unique look on life. If you you know, you look at someone and why they're funny or why you like them or what comedians you like, there's something about them that like you relate to, right? So definitely I would say 90% of my comedy is uh dental based. Okay. But relatable for sure. So how how often you how you've been going up since that time? So now I go up uh you know a couple times a month. Um nice you know I'm not like you know most comedians are working like you know Yeah. five times five nights a week they're up there. I'm not doing that. Two spots a night. Five nights a week. Yeah. I'm super beginning at it you know but it's it's I I really enjoy it. I feel super comfortable. Uh it's a new thing. Um I'm doing a tour that's starting in April where like a 14 city tour and uh we're bringing people out, man. And we're selling out every show. The last four shows we've done, we're selling out clubs. And so we're excited to ramp it up a little bit more. Where you were you taking the tour? Mostly West Coast. Uh we're doing California, Texas, some Texas cities. You can go to drradysmith.com to kind of see all the cities and tour dates. Um, I've been trying to stay local. I mean, I listen, I've run three businesses, uh, three dental practices, and I am married. I have a four kids, uh, busy, busy life. And so, uh, you know, my wife has allowed me time. Yeah. You know, here's the thing. You go to your wife as a dentist for 15 years and you're like, I would like to be a stand-up comedian now. And she says, would you like a new wife as well? Because we can make that happen. New career and Yeah. And I'm like, I don't want to do I don't want to like I don't want to like not be a dentist. I'm the kind of guy who's like if I win the lottery tomorrow, if I if I have a billion dollars tomorrow, I still want to work two days a week. Uh you know, I just I like it. I like it. So, uh but I do like comedy as well. So, you know, but she's super supportive, which is nice and because it takes a lot of time. Would you see yourself stepping away from the pract like still having them running them, you know, doing some meetings and stuff, but ultimately doing more comedy than anything else? Uh, my purpose is I mean, comedy is fun. It's fun to make people laugh, but my my purpose deep deep down my purpose is helping people transform their smiles. Okay. And so that is uh like part of my identity. Yeah. Unfortunately, it's like that's my thing. That's what I like. Uh I didn't always like I hated dentistry for the first 5 years, but like I do love it now. And uh there's a lot of things that have happened that have helped me kind of make that transition to hate something than to love it. Yeah. Um but it's all the way that I view it and how I do it. Yeah. But one of the things was doing free work. So I that's why I started doing free work for comedians because it just it just feels good to do stuff for people that they can't do for themselves. Sure. Sure. So, as I pop another one of these Zins in, um, how how how much am I ruining my gums here by by using these nicotine patch? You know, there's it's such a new product that we don't know. But you're going to be uh the guinea pig to find out, Travis. Uh, we're going to find out, right? We'll find out for sure. Yeah. Um, I just saw someone like two weeks ago, actually, and they had like some ulcerations, right? Okay. So if you chew tobacco tobacco if you chew tobacco it's similar where you put it like a like in a spot like everyone who chews tobacco has a spot they put it in and I can identify that as a dentist in an exam in a second. Yeah. I can be like you chew tobacco and that's where you put it. Mhm. Because it makes the tissue it looks like uh when you've been in the pool for too long and your fingers are all like wrinkled like the tips of your fingers are Yeah. all pruning. it prunes the tissue and so it's super obvious. Uh, and the only two times in my entire 15-year career that I have ever found um oral cancer, like seen it and been the one to find it and get it diagnosed and start the ball rolling. it is in uh two individuals that were chewing tobacco and that tissue just kind of starts getting gnarly and starts growing [ __ ] and so stuff um and uh um keeping it professional. Uh but those are the only two times. So when I see someone with the Zens, it look it's obvious, okay, but different. Okay. So that's that's all I know is obvious. It's obvious that you're doing it. Yeah, I can see that it is having an effect on your gum tissue. But it almost looks somewhere between that pruning of the tissue and like uh like if you burned yourself with pizza. Like if you burned like if the tissue how that would make sense. Yeah. Like some kind of ulceration. Yeah, it does burn a little bit. Yeah, especially when you're first starting it. Yeah. Yeah. So, I am uh but you know, I'm not a scientist. I just that I can tell you're doing it. Yeah. And it is so new. Like we don't we don't know that the long-term impressions are anything that's brand new. I hope not. I hope it doesn't I also hope not. I also I hope I hope that for everyone using Zen, right? So, I've heard I just heard some like really good things about nicotine in general recently that have made me be like h you know I I like I like any sort I like experimenting with neotropics. Anything that like gives me the ability to kind of produce better creatively when I'm writing or when I'm podcasting or something like that like I take these like little magic mind neutropic shots that are you know um just organic um matcha shots that have a bunch of different neutropic factors like ashwagandha and cortiseps and things like that. I take those a lot of times before before class. Cortiseps are the fungus that um that whole show was based on, right? I don't know what show cortiseps. Uh what's the one with Pedro Pascal and they all turn into zombies, but it's it's a fungal infection. Oh, I don't know. Uh Last of Us. Last of Us. Oh, I've seen it. I've not seen it, but I've seen the I've seen it. I've seen were the fungus that they used in the show to like like the they like uh inhabit your body. Anyway, I don't mean to scare you. Sweet. It's really cool. It's a really cool show. So, there's no free lunch basically is what I'm telling you. There's always, you know, I I'm I'm pretty open-minded, I think, as compared to most dentists when it comes to like holistic approaches. And I I do think diet and nutrition is super slept on. Oh, that was one thing I wanted to throw out. Uh the carnivore diet. I've heard I've heard anecdotal um support for gum health, teeth health as it relates to a carnivore diet. Have you seen anything like that? you know what the research so I have been doing carnivore for the last 6 months uh and exclusively carnivore I would say I'm Monday through Friday I'm like 85% religious about it okay on the weekends I'm like 60% religious about it okay got it uh I like my sweets same but I do know I have patients who have done it for sure and it um I mean carbs and sugars are what causes uh what leads to cavities. Okay. Would that also include like fruit? Yes. Okay. Yes, that would. So I I don't think the back So what happens is the bacteria digest the sugars or the carbohydrates which carbohydrates and sugars are pretty indistinguishable on a molecular level. Okay. So the bacteria process the same and the bacteria that create the bacteria create acid and the acid is what erodess your teeth. So the bacteria don't erode the presence of bacteria does not erode your teeth. Doesn't cause decay. When you look at decay, it's like decay is like a brown spot on a banana, right? And once it starts, it continues to go slower than a banana, you know, decomposition. So it's the acid that the bacteria produces. And that is what erodess and decays your teeth. And the acid is produced when the bacteria eats carbohydrates and sugars. So theoretically, if there were a particular diet that would be better for your teeth, it would just be staying away from carbs and sugars. Yeah. So if you're only eating meat, uh eggs and cheese, I mean, lactose would definitely be a sugar. Okay. But like if you're just like strict, eggs, beef, chicken. Yeah. I don't think I don't think you're going to have cavities. Interesting. Based on what I know. Yeah. And um uh Jordan Peterson is a very well-known person who is strictly meat. And uh I have seen clips very strictly from what I understand. Very strictly. And I have seen clips of him uh saying that his perodonal disease is completely reversed. And I do not have a problem believing that. So he's I think it was on Rogan when on a Rogan episode he said that he he's uh one of the things he just casually mentions but I I have zero problem believing that. Yeah. I think his daughter Michaela too is very prominent in pushing that forward for a lot of people. Yeah. And I think u scientifically it makes it makes uh biologic sense. Okay. Okay. You're just starving out the bacteria that cause the problem. So yeah, it's a good it's a good benefit, I think. Well, this has been great, man. I I I want to turn the conversation a little bit towards money because I have another podcast called Travis Makes Money. All right. So, on that show, we talk exclusively about money. We have a few minutes left, so I figured why not let's do it. Um talk about that for a second. Um what's your overall uh your o overarching philosophy when it comes to money in terms of your personal lifestyle? Not necessarily growing the businesses, building the businesses, but when it comes to lifestyle expenses, lifestyle bloat, how what's your personal financial philosophy? You know, I have very um middle class aspirations. Okay. And I have an income that allows me to uh sustain Yeah. my middle class aspirations. I don't want a private jet. Yeah. Um uh I you know I I run three businesses. I own real estate with some of those businesses. Um and I'm comfortable, super comfortable. Yeah. Uh but I I I do feel like my philosophy is is sustaining a lifestyle that I providing for my family and providing for my um you know just sustaining that I guess. I don't know. Does that answer your question? Yeah. Yeah. I guess just as it relates to kind of percentages when you look at burn life like lifestyle burn versus income like do are you looking at a certain like are you trying to put a certain percentage away into the future versus investing into things now like experiences that make your life richer? Yeah, I love spending money on experiences. I do not like spending money on things. Okay. Except for investments. Um, I have a weird I don't know about weird. I'm into collectibles. So, I'm into comic books. Okay. And I I I just bought a a a first generation iPhone. Factory sealed iPhone. Oh, factory sealed. Wow. Yeah. And I spent $40,000 on it. And but I believe that's going to 10x. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Factory sealed like that in time. So, it's a factory sealed legitimate iPhone 1. And you're just not going to find these anymore, right? And and then but I got I got into this by getting into collectibles like comic books. So comic book is like comic books are my my thing and I spend a lot of money your vice financial vice. I have comic books that are six figure comic books. Yeah. And um so those are things I spend money on. Yeah. Lifestyle investments. But you know you know the thing is like I could do other things. I could buy Bitcoin. Yeah. Buy Ferrari. Yeah. Right. But I just I want to have cool [ __ ] to look at. Yeah. Right. You know what I mean? Like I want it to be something that like I can see them be like that's badass, dude. Right. That's super cool. Like I put them in a areas where I can see, you know, my things. I like my things. So I do I do like things, but I'm careful with the things. But like a house Yeah. It's more like I approach that as like what's reasonable for us. Sure. For our necessities. Yeah. Well, I think that's touches on a really great thing, which is basically don't buy dumb stuff if first of all, if you can't afford it. Yeah. But second of all, if it's not something that you truly want, cuz you see people buying stuff just to impress other people. Other people that don't give two shits about them. They still buy that stuff to impress those people. Um, but when you're buying, like if it's like if you truly genuinely value cool cars, Yeah. then buy a cool car for sure. But if you're doing it to impress the person that lives down the street, probably not a great use of your money. Yeah. And you'll lose that money. I mean, like that's you're going to be reckless with that. I mean, I think Yeah. So, yeah, money is not something that I I that I say I don't care about. It's just that the money comes. Yeah. At this point in my life, I have a couple pretty welloiled machines. My dental practices are welloiled machines. They do very well, and I just stop worrying about it. Yeah, I don't live a life where I think about how much something is going to cost because I know that the things I want to buy are not going to supersede that. I would worry about that if it's like uh you know my goal in life is I want to own an NBA team. Sure. Sure. I have to wildly different goals. Wildly different. Yeah. And I don't think that's bad. No. At all. Just what do you want? It's just like I'll never have $100 million cuz I will cash out at $3 million. Yeah. Right. you know, I'll just never make it because I'm like, "No, I'm pretty happy with you, my middle class lifestyle." Well, listen, man. This has been this been fun. Um, where where can people go find a little bit more about you, follow your stuff? Definitely socials, Tik Tok and Instagram. Uh, Dr. Brady Smith, Dr. Brady Smith, and then Dr. Brady Smith um.com is also a place where you can find all the things I'm up to. If you want information about the Halo Dental Network, if you want you want to find out where I'm where I'm going to be and come see a live show, um that's all there on the website. Sweet. drdradysmith.com. Go check out some of the stuff that he's putting out there on TikTok on Instagram. And if you're in one of the cities that he's going to be at, drradymith.com, go over there, get some tickets, support him, support his show. Um dude, thanks so much for doing this. A lot of fun. Thank you, man. This is fun. Yes, sir. Appreciate it. Everybody tuning in, watching, listening. As always, remember to leave every relationship better than you found it. We'll catch you on the next episode. Peace.