[00:00:00] Narrator: Welcome to the Dental Marketing Podcast, a podcast that helps dentists win in the online world of modern day marketing. Each week, we cover the most cutting edge marketing tactics and strategies that are working right now across our client base to drive leads, phone calls, and more new patients for dentists.
[00:00:21] Now here’s your host and founder of Kickstart Dental Marketing, Chris Pistorius.
[00:00:30] Chris Pistorius: Hey everyone. Welcome to the No BS Dental Marketing podcast. I’m your host, Chris Pastorius, and on this show, as you know, we talk about straight to the point, no BS tactics, tricks, and strategies to help you grow your practice. Now, there’s no fluff here. Just great information that you can start using today to increase your bottom line.
[00:00:50] So if you’re a dental practice owner, a manager, a front desk professional, or whatever, be sure to click the subscribe button on this page so that you can keep up with all the tips and tricks. Now, today we’re talking with a very special guest, Mr. Doctor. Todd Engel of the Engel Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:01:10] Now, Dr. Engel is well-known in dentistry. You’ve probably heard of him most likely, but he’s one of the top authorities in my opinion anyway, and dental implant rehabilitation, CT guided surgical design, complex treatment planning, and full mouth rehabilitations. He also hosted live radio. He has authored several articles and has been a featured speaker both nationally and internationally on the topic of dental implants.
[00:01:35] Now, Dr. Engel stays very busy. Not only does he run this top of the line, you know, best in America Dental Implant Training school for dentists, but he also has a thriving private practice called the Engel Dental Center, also in Charlotte, North Carolina. So Dr. Engel, thanks so much for being with us today.
[00:01:53] Dr. Todd Engel: Thanks for having me.
[00:01:54] Chris Pistorius: Sure, no problem. So, hey, tell me when you were five, six years old, were you just thinking in the back of your mind, I want to be a dentist? How did you get started in this crazy industry?
[00:02:04] Dr. Todd Engel: Yeah, so the definitive answers no, I wanted to play baseball and do all those things that little guys wanna do when they’re five and six.
[00:02:12] You know, the career moves, and changed a couple times actually. When I was a young teenager, 12, 13 years sold the hobby was drumming and few years later I became more involved. And by the time I was in my late teams, I became a professional where I was actually getting paid to play. And that kind of stayed with me until my mid twenties.
[00:02:32] And that’s what I did and that’s what I loved to do and actually still do a little bit now. But when I became a parent, when I became a dad of a daughter, our first daughter, I decided that I had to go back, and do something that was more stable and more local. Kept me at home, and I just went for the big thing.
[00:02:48] I wanted to be a doctor. I loved the idea about being intelligent and I wanted to learn how to be intelligent and take care of people. And oddly enough, I wasn’t even sure about what that meant. I didn’t know what branch I wanted to be involved in. I didn’t have parents that were doctors or grandparents or uncles or aunts.
[00:03:07] So I just went back to school a little bit later than most. And I was kind of going through the undergrad stuff, realizing, you know, all of the commitment that it would take, I was ready. And I think for me it worked because as a young adult versus coming out at 18 or 19, I was more prepared for the struggle and the fight of it.
[00:03:24] And so I got through all the normal biology stuff, and decided that I wanted to be a doctor. And I think the defining moment was I always thought that I would wanna be someone who would want to deliver babies. And then when I looked more into being an obstetrician, I loved the good stuff, but I didn’t love the bad stuff and I didn’t know that my heart could take that.
[00:03:46] So, oddly enough, at the same time, I had a relative that was involved in a very, very bad car accident. Survived it, thankfully, but had this whole face rebuilt with metal. Especially in too early, and I was so fascinated with it and you couldn’t even tell. And so I was like, wow, maybe I could, something like that.
[00:04:06] But I never thought it would be to this extent. I’d never at that point thought I’d be teaching it, but yeah, so that’s when kind of the passion of wow, that’s how you help people. Kind of hit me.
[00:04:17] Chris Pistorius: Yeah. That’s incredible. So I’d heard you talk before that you were a drummer. What kind of music, what tempo do you like?
[00:04:25] Dr. Todd Engel: Well, you know, for me, I mean, what I listen to and what I like to play are probably different. I don’t know like, people say that they, you ask them what kind of music you like and they go, oh, all kinds of music. And then you start, well, you like jazz. No, you like this. No, you like that? No. So for me, you know, in the drumming part of it, it was always fun when I got to play the upbeat dancing poppy stuff, right?
[00:04:47] The old Motown stuff, the Michael Jackson stuff, the thriller stuff, and you see people dancing and having fun. I’ve always been a showman man. You know, I just get up there, and play and hit hard and keep people’s butt moving and feet moving and it’s awesome. But I certainly have a respect for a lot of others too.
[00:05:05] You know, my favorite band, I think, I’d have to say is Queen, but yeah, that’s kind of the drumming era.
[00:05:13] Chris Pistorius: Yeah. That’s awesome. And so you go from this drummer, did you ever really think about doing that professionally?
[00:05:20] Dr. Todd Engel: Yeah, totally.
[00:05:21] Chris Pistorius: Oh, okay. Gotcha.
[00:05:22] Dr. Todd Engel: Hundred percent. You know, growing up I was always a pretty decent athlete, but I never had size. Right. So I always could throw a football, I always could throw a baseball and meaning, well, and I always landed up playing shortstop and quarterback when I was a kid. But I never became that six three guy.
[00:05:41] And so ultimately age kind of blocks you out from being a professional athlete and I think a little bit of common sense too does Right. But I picked up this drumming thing and I think the association between that and dental, it’s just seeing people looking at you with a smile.
[00:05:59] So whatever stage you’re on, if you can make someone smile, a smile, or you can inspire them to look at you and you know that you’re part of their happiness. That’s a gift, and it’s a gift that I really enjoyed. Even to this day.
[00:06:15] Chris Pistorius: Yeah, that’s a great analogy of, you know, people smiling back at you. That’s, if you can be in a professional like that, that happens all the time, you’re probably doing pretty well.
[00:06:25] Dr. Todd Engel: Yeah, it was great. And I did, you know, the two professions for me are so similar. You know, when you know that you have a passion for it and you love to do it people can see that and they can feel it, and they get connected.
[00:06:40] Right. The vibe is, they like being around you and you like being around them, and it’s fun. Even if it’s for a short time, like a three hour show or a two hour office visit, whatever, it’s fun.
[00:06:54] Chris Pistorius: Yeah. So you get out of the drummer phase, you’re gonna be a doctor, you’re gonna be a dentist, let’s switch over to this implant stuff.
[00:07:03] At what point did you realize that, hey, this implant stuff’s cool, I want to do this, and then not only do I want to do this, but I want to get so good at it that I’m gonna teach tons of other doctors on how to do it as well.
[00:07:16] Dr. Todd Engel: Yeah. You know, it has been a personal marriage to my profession for 25 years. Right. So my institute is going on it’s 19th year. And so to sum it up in a few minutes is nearly impossible. But what I would say is this, that when I first started, I never had a dream to be the best. I never had a dream to, you know, as you had mentioned or other people do now, when did I know I wanted to teach tons of people.
[00:07:48] So as I go and look back with the experience that I’ve had, I don’t think I ever had that in my mind. But what I did have in my mind as just going way back to my youth, is always like seeing other people happy. And if I was able to be part of that success or part of that pleasure or part of that happiness.
[00:08:08] I just really enjoyed that. Right. And so coming outta dental school, I had an affinity for the surgery thing and I just felt like the intellect of being a surgeon was just so incredible. And I guess for me, the more that you know, the more that you value knowledge. And I love speaking with knowledgeable people.
[00:08:31] I love intellect, and so I felt like doing dentistry, you had to have a lot of intellect, but it’s almost for me, and in my opinion, doing surgery and bringing people back together, having a vision and taking them apart and putting them back together. There was something about that that was just amazing.
[00:08:47] And my search for being able to do that was lengthy. But I understood it. And so as I was understanding it, my peers were watching me. They were like, how are you doing this? and I felt like what might have come easy to me, not easy, like I didn’t put in the repetition, but easy, like where I understood it and I loved it.
[00:09:06] Right? It was very easy for me to explain to them like my philosophy, my strategy and the things that set me up for success. And literally one night I had a dream. I called myself the Martin Luther King of Dentistry, and I thought it, it really happened. And I woke up the next morning and I was just like, why aren’t I being more formal about how I teach people like me.
[00:09:28] Right. And I started writing and literally four or five days later I came up with this concept that till today is my number one hit, my number one song, my mentoring one. And updating cases in the course, not much has changed outside of that other than, you know, current medications that are out there and obvious life shifts, right.
[00:09:52] That are involved. But from the fundamentals of what I taught 19 years ago, much of it is the same, and the passion of not only being able to do that, but seeing the results in people, and being able to inspire people. It is a gift for anyone and I don’t take it lightly. I am so fortunate to be able to do that, but even that, even more than being fortunate, it’s the joy of it.
[00:10:15] That’s what keeps me there. The joy of someone coming to me and saying, Hey, Engel you’ve really changed dentistry. You know that It wasn’t until a few years ago where I was able to say, you think so? Really? And now I feel okay. You know, 16,000 alumni. A quarter of a million implants a year going in, you know, you feel like maybe you made a dent.
[00:10:36] And and I love it. I love it. You know, as you age you realize life’s short. And to look back and to see, you know, 20 years of help and what I’ve done to the industry, it makes me feel like I really donated. So it’s good, good thing.
[00:10:51] Chris Pistorius: Now, typically, you know, when you get into these types of classroom situations. It’s typically not a GP teaching other gp’s is that right?
[00:10:59] Dr. Todd Engel: Well just for clarity in other classes, not that I visit them a lot, but usually you have the oral surgeons and the specialists, GP’s. And the reason for that is because we didn’t learn this stuff in dental school. And not only did we not learn in dental school, but to the credit of the surgeons, they go on for two to four, six more years depending on what type of degree they’re trying to achieve.
[00:11:20] And they intellectually have it, right? Yeah. So it’s kinda like teaching a five year old how to ride a bike. The the father or the mother knows how. Right? So you gotta give that drip to the kid and teach the kid whereas, and those guys, there’s a lot of great guys and gals out there doing this that are specialists.
[00:11:38] But I think the advantage that I have is that I’m a GP. And when someone can look at a screen or hear me speak from a GP to a GP, I think that it makes more sense to them, right? Like, wait, this guy did it. I think I can do it. And the great part of it is, you can, you know you really can, it’s just like losing weight or going to the gym, and getting this physique that you want.
[00:12:03] It’s not easy and you wake up every day. Some days you don’t wanna do it. But that’s the difference between the guys and gals who are on Channel four on Saturday playing golf and those who are is the commitment to the sport. And I’m a workaholic. I am, you know, but I love it.
[00:12:21] Chris Pistorius: Yeah, I mean, that’s important. If you don’t love what you do, I think other people can see that and it’s pretty transparent. And so, in full disclosure, I’ve sat through two of your classes now, and I think I told you this, you know, I’m not a dentist, certainly I’m a marketing guy.
[00:12:39] And the way that you are able to articulate yourself and just make complex things just seems so simple. I mean, I’m like coming outta that thinking, man, I wonder if I could do this myself. Right? And I’m like, oh, okay. And then I come back to reality. But you know, you have that knack and you can tell that you love it and you can tell that everybody in your class really, you know, you want them to be successful, you know, at the end of the day.
[00:13:04] So maybe you could tell me a little bit more about, you know, you have different skill levels, obviously that come to your classes. And you know, I think probably as an instructor, as I’ve done some courses as well, you can identify pretty quickly who’s gonna be, you know, kind of top at the class and maybe who’s gonna need a little bit more help.
[00:13:21] How do you manage that? How do you get some of the people that you kind of think may need more help? How do you give them more attention or, you know, what’s your strategy around that?
[00:13:30] Dr. Todd Engel: Well, I think that, well, first of all, thank you. I think that the mechanics of doing surgery and the mechanics of placing dental implants it’s not the most difficult thing in the world, but what is difficult is the management of everything else, right?
[00:13:44] And so thank you for acknowledging that, you know, what you’ve seen in my teaching. I think that and we can get into this a little bit more, but I think that the full management of the patient is now, I think, what may be missing in a lot of relationships out there, the full management of a patient, I mean which I’ll come back to, but to answer the question about how do I teach where, you know, there might be different intellect in the room.
[00:14:11] What I teach in mentoring, one is the fundamentals of the implant language. So, it’s one of these things where it’s algebra one, and if you wanna be a scientist or a doctor or an astronomer, you know, an engineer, whatever it is that you wanna become, you have to get through Algebra one and Algebra One can be taught to you by someone you really enjoy it.
[00:14:33] That makes you wanna go right and take Algebra two, in your next semester of college. And you want that instructor and that instructor’s courses are always full because they teach you, but they make it an experience for you where you’re like, Hey, I like that. A good restaurant versus a not such a good restaurant, right?
[00:14:53] So I think what I have maintained over my career is people in enjoyment, right? So they come and I make it fun and I’m down to earth and I make it doable. And part of the talent that I have to work on constantly for me is if you brought in a bag of balloons and there were 20 balloons and you cut the bag open from the ceiling and all the balloons were starting to fall, imagine that some fell quicker than others and you had to keep them all off the ground. Right?
[00:15:28] So you’d be running back and forth and your expertise in doing this would be, I know, kind of almost like the order. And I know which one’s gonna fall quicker and I know how fast I have to run back and fort. That’s something I think I’ve mastered, right? So if you take the the balloon, the red balloon that’s coming down really, really slow, that might be a slow learner where the purple balloon is almost hitting the ground.
[00:15:50] I gotta run over there and kick it up to keep that person interested. While I’m still entertaining the red balloon, if that makes sense. And I think, I’ve been teaching this so long, Chris, that like I tell the audiences that come to me. I know how to do this. I mean, there’s only so many times you could teach the quadratic equation before you know the squadratic equation, right?
[00:16:09] So the way to keep the quadratic equation interesting in the room full of people that don’t get it the same way is you humanize it, right? So you make it more about the classroom than the equation. You see? And what’s interesting, which would take me into my next part, and I know we don’t have a ton of time, but when Covid started and nobody knew what this was, okay, so let’s go back to March two years ago, and no one knew what was going on.
[00:16:39] People were calling me and saying, Hey, will you do webinars? Will you do podcasts? Will you do, you know, zoom meetings? And just talk to them, and just make sense of this time. And I did, and I said, guys, when we come back, the industry’s gonna be very, very different. And much like the rich get rich and the poor get poor, unfortunately in this, what’s happening with all of this you have the dentists that are going to follow one track of practice and then you have the dentists that are gonna follow the other.
[00:17:06] And I think that there’s a great divide right now. And which gets me to the point that kind of connects them. I think that the thing that’s most important above all is taking the time and making sure that you prime the relationship with your patient with whatever it is that you wanna do, and some business models.
[00:17:27] Don’t allow for that, right? So I take 20 minutes with every patient. There’s a lot of business models that don’t allow for that. And I think that ultimately you have to pick what kind of success you’re gonna have. Is it gonna be a lot of success with six patients a day, or is it gonna be a lot of success with 36 patients a day?
[00:17:43] And you have to find that recipe. And that’s kind of going back to the balloon thing. That’s how I am as a speaker, as an educator. But it’s all, it goes back to the passion too. I mean, I just love it. So thanks for bringing it up. Thanks for being in the classroom, and acknowledging that I just, I like to inspire versus, you know, just teach.
[00:18:01] Chris Pistorius: So yeah, you are like an analogy master. I don’t know if you have a master course in that or not, but you are like spot on.
[00:18:09] Dr. Todd Engel: Appreciate that. Appreciate that.
[00:18:11] Chris Pistorius: I love the balloon analogy that I’m like, oh yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
[00:18:15] Dr. Todd Engel: Well, I think, you know, even when I teach these people that are in what we call mentoring one, the first class of the continuum.
[00:18:21] You know, you get these doctors that are brilliant and you get these doctors that have great hand skills. You know, when they come to my classroom, you know, I’m like, guys, you know, you have a handpiece spinning at 40,000 rpm and you go in between teeth, then you cut a little one millimeter box.
[00:18:34] That’s talent, you know? And so the difference is, is how can I make you understand my language? If you barely understand the letters, right? So for instance, I’ll ask somebody in the classroom who in here speaks another language, and I’ll call on someone, and she’ll say, I speak Korean. And I’ll say, okay, could you teach me your whole language in three days?
[00:18:54] In a way, right? So you’d have to break it down and have a strategy to how I would learn your language, maybe start with conjugations or verb, whatever it is that you start with, right? And then ultimately over months and months and months and being immersed in it or moving to Korea as an example for a year, you get it.
[00:19:12] And that’s the same thing with the implant thing. So to the analogy comment. So if I’m teaching you how to keep an implant straight between teeth. I’m gonna use the analogy of a field goalpost, or if I teach you the analogy, you know, if someone says to me, Dr. Engel, what does it feel like if you start drilling in bone and you drop in and you’re above a nerve or under a sinus?
[00:19:32] And I say, it’s almost like driver’s ed, right? Eventually you just realize when you’re driving a car that certain things don’t peer you as much. And so I’ve always taught with analogies and they’re fun. And so thanks for saying that.
[00:19:45] Chris Pistorius: I think I’m kind of the same way cause it’s almost kind of like when I do classes, I’m like, how can I make this easier for people? And for me, that’s the way it works.
[00:19:55] Narrator: Are you looking to grow your practice but are a little unclear on what the best way is? Let us help you out. We have over 13 years of experience in helping practices just like yours, increase new patient growth. Just go to KickStartDental.com and sign up for a free strategy session where we will give you some great insights on how to take your practice to the next level.
[00:20:22] Chris Pistorius: But let me ask you, you know, there’s gonna be a lot of dentists watching this and paying attention to it, and there’s gonna be a lot of them in different, you know, some have done, probably done implants before, but, you know, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to somebody and maybe that, you know, isn’t doing implants now wants to learn?
[00:20:40] And they’re thinking about getting into that business. What do you recommend to them?
[00:20:44] Dr. Todd Engel: Yeah, it’s a great question. I think ultimately, you know, first of all, going back to the initial question you asked me in my initial beginnings, okay, I bought a very small 800 square foot office for $125,000.
[00:21:00] I came outta dental school with that, like everybody, I didn’t have anybody financing me and I didn’t have a relative that I was going in a practice work, so I had to have this kind of vision board of what I wanted each year. Right. And I never knew how good it would be or how big it would be, or, but I always knew I would be successful.
[00:21:18] Like to what magnitude? I don’t know. But I never fear feared that I would fail regardless of what I was doing. And the reason for that is because I always knew that with complications in practice or with clinical failures in practice, right? That there’s ways to bounce back. But the key is for me is always be kind to the person that you’re with.
[00:21:44] Always be where your feet are, meaning make them feel like they’re the most important thing that exists right now, and they are, and always be truthful. And I have found that that combination has always made people around me comfortable with me. Yeah. Okay. And so the next thing for me was like your question was, well, what would you recommend for those people who are considering going in implant dentistry?
[00:22:13] I would recommend that you understand your limitations and you need to be taught those, right? So when people come into my mentoring one class, I always say, I am going to put you in the proverbial box. And you have to be disciplined. And if you’re disciplined, you can grow and learn. Like I did, like the first few words of Korean as you know, the analogy I used earlier.
[00:22:33] And if you try to use more bigger words, you’re gonna embarrass yourself. In this case, you’re gonna get yourself in trouble. And you have to feel like if this is what you wanna get into, you have to be relentless to the commitment of the learn. You know, otherwise, honestly, just don’t do it because this is medicine, you know?
[00:22:56] Oh, you’re a doctor. I’m a doctor. What do you do? I’m a dentist. Oh, you’re a dentist, not a doctor. No, I’m a doctor, right? And so over the years, our subset of medicine is, oh, you’re the dentist. Meaning like, you didn’t have to work as hard, or you’re not quite as smart as an MD. The heck with that, yes we are right?
[00:23:14] But the question is, how far do you need to advance in your own domain? So to answer your question, I would say always be committed to being better. Understand that not all, everything that you do is going to be the way you want it. Okay. That’s why they call it a practice, I always say, and not perfect.
[00:23:33] Chris Pistorius: Not a perfect, I remember that.
[00:23:36] Dr. Todd Engel: Yeah, you have to be okay with knowing that you will fail. And sometimes a bigger fail and sometimes a nominal fail, but you have to build and you have to be able to get over that. And on saying respect, I would say when you do really good things, you know, be humble. Try to find that center point where, you know, you have a few back and you have a couple outstanding ones that are strong.
[00:24:06] And we don’t dwell on the, on the ones that weren’t so good for too long that we try to stay in the middle where we’re more stable. And I think that’s probably the best advice that I could give, and especially for the young doctors, like for me, you know, who wears my heart on my sleeve. I mean, when I did cases, you know, I know how to put it in its place now.
[00:24:27] Right? And the thing that allows me to do that is my conscious of knowing I did everything to the best of my ability and I took on and permission to do that. And if you work on being good, money will be there. Money will be there. I mean, ask the local restaurant owner in your little town somewhere who has 12 seats.
[00:24:49] Restaurants always hold with a line outside cuz the food’s good. So be good, be honest, be kind and everything else will follow up.
[00:24:56] Chris Pistorius: Yeah, I think that’s great advice. And you know, I also like how you run your institute in that. You mentioned M1 a couple of times. Now you have four different stages or levels of learning.
[00:25:10] Yes. Could you maybe just tell everybody how that works?
[00:25:13] Dr. Todd Engel: Sure. So we have four stages of learning. I never believed in to have anyone sign up for a continuum. Like you sign up and then I see you x amount of weekends over the year or what have you. Because of merely what you said earlier, which is, you know, how do you handle people that learn differently?
[00:25:31] And people do learn differently, right? So what I decided to do, I decided that I was gonna develop a curriculum that connected, that the doctor, the attendee and or team would take it at the pace that they felt comfortable growing. Right? Because in order to take algebra two, you have to be ready for that formula, right?
[00:25:52] So mentoring one really is, I’m a little biased, but in my opinion, the best intro implant course in the world. I just really believe that, and I say that somewhat humbly. It really breaks down the basic fundamentals about how to be safe how to build teeth and how to be confident. Like what I hear more than anything in the reviews I read is I have the confidence that I didn’t have, and he makes it, he breaks it down to be totally doable.
[00:26:23] I want people to understand how the body works, to want them to understand how people heal. Just all of the basics. The anatomical considerations, right? That’s mentoring one. Mentoring two goes into advanced cases like single anteriors. Ridge splitting, sinus movement, internal sinus lifting multiple implants, socket grafting, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:26:45] So it’s more of a cosmetic surgical program, fix and repair. And then mentoring three is a fully guided course, which is, you know, not where we’re going. It is where we are. Guided surgery workflow, all the way from the beginning to a printed, temporary that’s for singles, multiples, and full arch staged.
[00:27:05] So it’d be like an overdenture full arch deal. And then nurturing four which I wrote about five years ago, is a full arch immediate load same day course. So we do a lot of surgery. I think we do about seven or eight arches in that class. Everybody does full arches and so the growth rate, it really depends on you.
[00:27:23] And what’s interesting is the alumni are so committed, and I think it’s the style of learning that they love. I like to make it fun while they’re learning. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job at it year after year. It’s got more demand for the courses than they sell up quicker. And I have a great time doing it.
[00:27:36] So that’s it. 1, 2, 3, 4. It’s kind of how it goes and yeah, it’s been an amazing learn.
[00:27:43] Chris Pistorius: Yeah, it’s incredible to me as being kind of like the, you know, non-doctor in the room when I go to these. But It’s not just in class learning. I mean, there’s a lot of lecture and then there’s an M1 anyway. You get out the tools to kind of practice before you do anything.
[00:28:01] And then the final day of the M1, I believe is, you’ve got these students actually working on live patients and to me that’s incredible. In a three day course, you can go from, you know, kind of learning to practicing on, you know, some clay models or whatever they are to live surgery.
[00:28:19] Tell us a little bit about that process and how did you develop that? And in the beginning, I definitely want to know this. Like your first or second class you’re going from like working on models to live people where you’re like, Ooh, is this a good idea? ? Tell us about that.
[00:28:33] Dr. Todd Engel: Well, it’s like the 20 year marriage, right? It’s going back and say, hey, where was the best place you traveled to? And what was like your defining moments that you guys remember as a couple? When I started writing these courses, I felt like, just early on, like what is missing in this education, and I think it was a few things.
[00:28:55] One, at the time there weren’t really any GP’s teaching this stuff. In fact, it was frowned upon even for us to do them, let alone teach them. So that was one hurdle we were facing. The other thing was there was no private organization in this country doing courses where doctors, mainly GP’s, right outside of residencies, could go and learn how to do dental implants, and learn on patients.
[00:29:22] And so my formula was, you know it the way that I became a good practitioner at a school and then year after year after year, developing quicker, better hand skills. It’s by working on people, right? Not working on plastic models where if you kind of screw it up you just get the next one and you drill again, and you try to straighten out your prep or whatever.
[00:29:43] So you had to be really mindful that there was a human connected to that you had to go for excellence and it made you really think about what you were doing. You don’t have a lot of second chances on a live human being. So my model was let’s get real people like we had in dental school where we can’t mess up, where we have to think things out.
[00:30:03] What if they bleed? What if they move? What if they get angry? What if we can’t find something that we’re looking for? What if we can’t drill deep enough? All of these things with a human connected to it. Which made you think, you know, critically. And I thought it was a great concept and I started this concept in 2004 and I was using an implant, I was working with at the time Henry Shine, and we were using an implant called Can Log, and we had four straight courses sold out and no one really even knew me at the time and they were sold out because we had live patients and no one had ever heard of this.
[00:30:41] And the problem that came from that was people from around the country were calling and saying, Hey, I wanna go. I wanna go. I wanna go. They were calling from Canada, they were calling from all over America and we couldn’t date them cuz at the time I was in California and California’s a closed licensure meaning there’s no reciprocity with CE.
[00:31:02] Like you can’t come in from Chicago and work on a live human. So I got together with the people at Shine and we were like, well Todd, you know, what do you think would blow this up? And I said, well, I’ve gotta go to different states.
[00:31:14] And so I would find young dentists like myself at the time, and I would help them in their implant journey. And I would say, okay, now can we use your office? Can we come here three times a year? And here’s the deal. We’ll donate the stuff to you, to the public and et cetera, et cetera, and you can learn how to speak and teach and do.
[00:31:32] And they loved it. And before I knew, I had 13 locations. I had 13 locations, 12 in the US and I was also in Toronto. So I was doing three classes a year at each location. That’s 39 weekends. And then I was doing one weekend. Extra cuz I was living in California, I did a fourth.
[00:31:53] So I was doing 40 weekends a year. And I mean, we all know that I think there’s seven federal acknowledged holidays, right? So, I mean, there’s not many more weekends left. Besides, you know, outside of Christmas and all the holidays, right. Easter and everything. And so I worked it, man, I hustled and at about seven or eight years I was like, I’m done with this traveling stuff.
[00:32:13] So I started to limit the amount of places that I would go and ultimately I moved to North Carolina because North Carolina has a law that allows you to come in on a reciprocal that lets you work on patients. And so that’s how that came. And I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think the classes are phenomenal and I think I’m a fun speaker.
[00:32:35] I mean, if I was a student in the class, I’d want someone with my vibe, meaning like the excitement of what I’m doing and loving people and having fun and telling borderline, you know, funky, nasty jokes. You heard them Chris. Just real life, right. And wow, the speaker’s cool. This is fun.
[00:32:51] Chris Pistorius: Yeah. It’s not like somebody’s talking down to you, in my opinion. You guys are all on kind of the same level. It’s just you’ve done it a thousand million times, right?
[00:33:00] Dr. Todd Engel: And the thing is, is I don’t come off that way. Look, I’ll just tell you I placed 30,000 implants. I do 155 arches a year. Forget that now, the only reason I’ve told you is cause I have the experience.
[00:33:13] But I think in the entire course. I would bet that I do not show more than five of my cases, not more than five. And I think I only show one on day one, maybe two. But it’s not about me, but to answer where you’re going day three makes it different. Right, so yeah, I’d love to be in a two day lecture with someone like me who was fun and related and all this and didn’t wanna show up everybody with my knowledge, intellect in my beautiful cases. Right.
[00:33:39] Real and humble. And three is the differentiator. So we donate to the public. And the thing about donating to the public is it’s not like we ever see them again. Get in line, get a free implant, and then see around. These are all either my patients that we donate to.
[00:33:55] Or doctors in the area that say, hey, if you need an implant, you know, you can’t afford one with me, go to Engle. You know, he’ll get this done for you and I know he’ll send you back. And so, for me to look back on it, it’s probably like the person who invented liquid paper.
[00:34:11] You go go, and you look back and you go, I don’t remember how I did that, but damn, that was a really good idea. And it’s carrying through these generations, right? And I look back and I’m just, so, I’m honored and I’m honored. I’m just honored that I hit on something and it made something.
[00:34:32] And all these people were able to be rewarded from it. I mean, I’ve had an amazing run with amazing doctors who do amazing work, and it’s just been, I couldn’t have planned this out if I tried.
[00:34:46] Chris Pistorius: Yeah, well you did, I don’t think anybody can plan it out, but I think, you know, I’m all about being able to adjust, adapt, and overcome in life.
[00:34:54] And it sounds to me like, you know, everybody has a story, right? But man, for you to go. You know, being a drummer to maybe I wanna be a doctor to leading the charge in implant dentistry for GP’s. It’s incredible. And I think a lot of people watching this are gonna be, you know definitely charged up about you know, I think you give a certain amount of energy to people that, that need it, and that’s inspiring for sure.
[00:35:20] Dr. Todd Engel: I appreciate that.
[00:35:21] Chris Pistorius: Yeah, absolutely. And we’re gonna start wrapping it up here. People are probably watching this and they wanna learn more. What’s the best way to find out more information about your courses, and how all that works?
[00:35:35] Dr. Todd Engel: Yeah. I appreciate that, Chris. If they’ve not heard of it or seen it, it’s me. It’s Engel, E N G E L institute.com. And it’s got probably about 20, 25 classes on there, dates. And they kind of fill up a little quick, I think some of them at the beginning of the year full. And we max out at somewhere around 15 to 20.
[00:35:59] And the reason for that is we wanna keep it personal. You know, I don’t wanna rent out the big convention hall at some hotel. You never see your eyes or never know who you are or, you know, have you in a line of people. I want to keep it intimate and small and so yeah, it’s EngelInstitute.com.
[00:36:15] I love communicating with a lot of the people that have come through my journey and I always tell people, don’t call the office, don’t email. It’s just everything gets so caught up in backlogged. The best way to do it is let’s talk on Instagram, right? ToddEngeldds.com.
[00:36:34] T O D D E N G E L D D S.com. And it’s quick and easy, right? It’s all and off and it’s great. Speaking of social media I know you’re not asking, but I’m going to tell I had the opportunity of meeting several social media speople, and I don’t even like to call them social media people. Or do I like to call them marketing people.
[00:36:54] I like to call them promotional relationships or marriages. And kudos to you, Chris. It’s to capture the heart of Engel clan to be part of what we’re doing, which you are. It takes a lot because we put a lot of people through a strainer . To protect our brand. And I just wanna give you a thank you and anyone who is listening I want them to know that they should definitely follow in, subscribe.
[00:37:16] There’s a lot of learning pearls. Take it a step further and see how we can help you for sure. Great dude, great business, great concept, great model for sure. And you got my stamp for that one.
[00:37:27] Chris Pistorius: Awesome. Thank you so much.
[00:37:28] Dr. Todd Engel: Just one more thing in the next 10 seconds or 20 seconds here, I have found that, you know, hearing no, or being defeated in anything, we always have, you know, methods and routes that we can bounce back at.
[00:37:42] And I always tell my audiences, I’ve heard the word no so many times going back to 2009 when I told big CEOs that this was gonna work, and some of them didn’t believe it. And it’s hard when you walk away with your tail between. But you have to believe. You have to believe and you have to stick to your passion, and you have to fight on. And that’s been the mojo for me, man.
[00:38:07] Chris Pistorius: That’s a great story. And you know, there’s so much we haven’t covered. I have got up this like, just whole list of questions and I got like to like four of them just cuz it’s been such great great content. But I definitely would love you to come back and do another session maybe in a couple of months.
[00:38:20] Cause I know this is a big topic. I get asked about implants all the time on the marketing side of the business. Like, hey man, I really wanna do implants, but I don’t really know where to get started. And you know, I think people see, you know, they’re taught in profit margins, right? And implants have, I mean, the business side of it does make a lot of sense.
[00:38:38] There’s a, you know, once you get good at it, I think it’s a fairly easy thing to do. And some cases, and the profit margins are there, and there’s definitely a business reason to do it as well. So on the marketing side of it, you know, I get asked about it all the time, so I know that this will be good content and I’d definitely like to do a follow up with you if you’re available.
[00:38:55] Dr. Todd Engel: Sure, absolutely. Absolutely. I think before I let you go, in terms of success for the doctors out there, I think the key is to really of course to know which cases are good, but to also know which cases aren’t good. And I think if you pick the right cases, which we go through in mentoring one quite a bit, if you pick the right cases, you can really set up your averages quite high to six.
[00:39:17] For success and then it can be quite profitable. And that’s very fair. I think everyone should make money.
[00:39:24] Chris Pistorius: Yeah. You bring up a great point. I was just about ready to wrap up, but I remember in your last class that I was in, you talk about this, like it’s okay to say no, you know?
[00:39:33] Because there are some cases that it’s not worth it to mess with. Cuz if you make a crucial mistake, that’s something that’s gonna be with you for a long time. In the beginning, take all the easy stuff. I mean, is that the best advice that you would give to somebody?
[00:39:48] Dr. Todd Engel: That’s the si that’s the single most thing for me in my career right now. I know how to place implants, I know how to do arches of implants. For me, it’s now about can I meet this person’s needs? And keep in mind that the higher the treatment plan, the more expensive the treatment plan, the higher the chance that this person is a moving target with what they want in you. Right. So, yeah. For sure.
[00:40:12] Chris Pistorius: Yeah. We’ll grow up. Well, great. Thanks Dr. Engel so much for being with us. We’ll definitely follow up with you in a couple of months to see how you’re doing. But yeah everybody, thanks so much for listening in today. If you like today’s episode, please hit that subscribe button.
[00:40:27] We release a new episode like this every week to help busy professionals like you to get the most out of your marketing strategy and really business strategy. So thanks again and we’ll see you in the next episode.
[00:40:39] Narrator: Thanks for joining us this week on the Dental Marketing Podcast. Make sure to visit our website, www.KickStartDental.com/podcast, where you can subscribe to the show in iTunes, Spotify, or via rss so you’ll never miss a show. While you’re at it, if you found value in the show, we’d appreciate a rating on iTunes or if you’d simply tell a friend about the show that would help us out too.
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[00:41:21] And thanks for listening to The Dental Marketing Podcast by Kickstart Dental Marketing, where dentists go to win online.
