Chris (00:01.521)
So how would you say that you ensure that aesthetic type improvements in dentistry don’t compromise long term oral health? Is there a balance there at all that you see or no?
Desiree Yazdan (00:07.118)
Well, yeah. So I actually think that when you do cosmetic treatment patients, because they’re investing in themselves, they end up taking better care of their smile. But I think the education piece is really important of like, what they should be doing, how to care for their teeth, believe it or not. I mean, I’m sure you know this, but like a lot of patients don’t know how to actually
take care of their teeth, they use the wrong floss, they use the wrong toothpaste, they use the wrong toothbrush, they see fancy things on social media that everybody swears by and they’re like, this person uses this and it’s like, no, don’t use that, that’s terrible. So I think just educating them and especially on their mouth and what’s going on with them is really important.
Chris (00:52.713)
Yeah.
Chris (01:01.971)
Yeah, know, Dennis are always famed for, you know, tools and they love to buy shiny things sometimes, especially a cosmetic. But what technology has had the biggest impact on your practice and why?
Desiree Yazdan (01:16.354)
Hmm. That’s an interesting question. I would say two things. one is joining, like switching over to a cloud based practice management system, called the dental app. think would the dental app. I think dentists are stuck in like the dinosaur ages when it comes to technology.
Chris (01:28.285)
Yeah. Which system do you use? OK.
Yeah, gotcha.
Desiree Yazdan (01:42.735)
And there are things out there that can help you run your practice. I I used to have to like use this remote desktop thing to like log in. And if my practice, if my computer was turned off at work, like I couldn’t see the schedule, I couldn’t pull information. And as like a working mom, you know, if I needed to speak to a specialist about something and I couldn’t…
in up the info, it was so frustrating. And now I can literally run my practice on an iPad. And it makes it so much easier for patients because I’m not clicking a million buttons to like treatment plan one thing. I’m just clicking one button and it’s great. And I would say that, and I would say a scanner. I held off a long time before I got a scanner because my ceramics are still like, I don’t want you to scan your preps. I want to…
Chris (02:14.994)
Yeah.
Chris (02:22.214)
Yeah. Yeah.
Desiree Yazdan (02:37.678)
I want you to take impressions. So there was kind of no point for me to have a scanner, but I ended up loving a newer one that came out and I purchased it. I think it was like two years ago actually. And I love it because patients can see what we see. And I think that that’s really important.
Chris (02:38.757)
Yeah.
Chris (02:55.666)
Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s a great answer. It’s just not always the cheapest investment, but I think anything that you can use to kind of better explain procedures and why people need things and it kind of lays it out there and makes sense, I think can always be a really big factor in dentistry and especially case acceptance. If they can visually see a problem like, man, I need to take care of that.
Desiree Yazdan (03:11.854)
Mm-hmm.
Desiree Yazdan (03:21.292)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you could do the same thing with intraoral photos, and I did that for years. But I think just showing the scanner, it shows the wear on the teeth. It just shows more that is hard to explain to patients until they can actually physically see it themselves, and if you just explain it properly. So I think the scanner has been really helpful for that.
Chris (03:27.624)
Yeah.
Chris (03:41.98)
Yeah.
Chris (03:47.077)
Yeah. What’s your approach with dental or patient anxiety and communication to kind of improve treatment acceptance?
Desiree Yazdan (03:58.104)
So whenever patients are really anxious, they end up like just being like, well, you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to take great care of you. And there’s different levels of anxiety. anxiety for dentistry is a learned behavior, so you can unlearn it. So sometimes I explain that to patients and I, you know, we start small. Like I, don’t do anything that first appointment that would feel scary to them. So we start really small.
Just a lot of education. And then we also have, you know, I have patients that can’t even get a cleaning unless they’re sedated. So we have like a medical anesthesiologist, we offer nitrous, we offer oral sedatives and also just slow moving treatment. And we kind of gauge where people are at. And then just, you know, make a treatment plan that’s going to work for them.
Chris (04:34.809)
Wow.
Chris (04:44.891)
Yeah.
Chris (04:53.765)
Yeah, makes sense. Anxiety definitely interferes with acceptance, though, wouldn’t you say?
Desiree Yazdan (05:02.566)
Yeah, yeah, that’s a good point. So in terms of case acceptance, you know, I always get really curious about why if a patient is like sitting in the chair, they’re nodding along with you, you know, they’re anxious and they’re like, yeah, I get it. I know I need that and blah, blah, blah. And then they end up not booking. It’s really an opportunity for you to find out why, right? And sometimes they’re like, oh, like, let me check with my spouse or
You know, it’s really expensive. Well, if it’s expensive, there’s payment options, right? That make it super affordable these days and they know they need the work. They understand. So there’s usually something lying under there, which is the anxiety, right? So if instead of a lot of dentists, I think feel really pushy if they keep asking questions and they keep talking about the treatment. But I always come from a place of curiosity of like, why is this patient not wanting to book? And so when I
Chris (05:32.496)
Alright.
Desiree Yazdan (05:58.446)
And getting that sense from them, like they don’t want to book, they’re really hesitant. I get really curious. I’ll be like, I’m just curious. Like, why are you hesitating to book the treatment? You seem like you understand it and that you know you need it. And then the real reason comes out. Oh, I’m really afraid of this. I’m afraid it’s going to hurt or I’m afraid it’s not going to work or whatever it is. And then now we have the opportunity to have an actual conversation about what they’re afraid of and kind of like coach them on that rather than.
Chris (06:21.798)
Yeah.
Desiree Yazdan (06:27.147)
you know, just being like, I don’t want to be too pushy. So I’m just going to let them slide. My mentality in that is if a patient is sitting in my chair, they want treatment and they know that they probably need treatment. And so like my job is to help them get that treatment. And so I’ll go to bat for them. And if they don’t, maybe they don’t fully understand it, right. That’s sometimes.
Chris (06:48.731)
Yeah.
Desiree Yazdan (06:52.525)
part of it, like their brain shuts off, they don’t fully understand it. So I explained the same thing in a different way. So, you know, those are just kind of some of the things that really help with the case acceptance of anxious patients.
Chris (07:03.098)
Yeah, that’s great advice. think that’s a real weak spot for lot of practices of, you know, the acceptance part of it. So I think that’s a great way to look at it and to identify the true objection of why somebody’s not getting the treatment versus just kind of skimming over and saying, okay, well, thanks, you know. So I think that’s a, that’s a great strategy for you. Now I want to get to social media and personal brand stuff. You’ve built a very strong online presence.
Desiree Yazdan (07:18.315)
Right.
Desiree Yazdan (07:21.75)
Yeah.
Desiree Yazdan (07:27.565)
Okay, yeah.
Chris (07:30.903)
What advice would you give to Dennis trying to grow their brand in a similar way?
Desiree Yazdan (07:38.1)
Yeah, so my advice would be know who your target audience is. And I always narrow it down to one patient. So I know we think as Dennis, like, well, I can help anybody, everybody who has teeth or doesn’t have teeth, I can help them. But really, you and your business are meant to serve a specific type of patient. And so you have to know who that person is. And then you have to consistently create content to reach that person.
And I think where people get in trouble is they think, okay, I’m going to do this for like two months and then they do it for two months. So like, well, I only have like three people liking my post and I like, I’m not getting any traction. I’ve tried everything. And so they stop and they give up and then they get inspired again six months later. And then they go on this role of like posting and then the same thing happens. And my theory is it’s kind of like a value bank. So for example,
Chris (08:26.511)
No.
Desiree Yazdan (08:35.501)
When you’re putting money into a bank, right, let’s say a CD or any kind of like investment situation, the amount of money that you’re putting in is not necessarily like you’re not going to be able to live off the interest of that money for a long time, right until that interest is compounded so much where then you can actually use those funds to live off of it. And so the social media is the same way you have to
build this compound effect by consistently putting out value and eventually it will sprout like a tree like as if you were planting a seed, right? It’s like it will sprout like a tree and it will, you know, give you all the fruits that you need, but it takes you being consistent and not worrying about the vanity metrics of it. And I also have this theory that the lurkers are always buying. So the lurkers to me are the people who are watching what you post or screenshotting all your stuff.
Chris (09:08.823)
Yeah.
Chris (09:19.524)
Yeah.
Desiree Yazdan (09:33.933)
They’re not liking anything. They don’t even follow you. They’re not even engaging with you, but they’re constantly looking at what you’re doing. And the reason I have this is because I’ve had, you know, hundreds, thousands of patients sit in my chair who are pulling up tons of photos that they’ve screenshot on their phone and they’re pulling up their Instagram. They’re not following me. They haven’t liked anything. And like you would never know in their world that I exist at all.
Chris (09:52.004)
Ha ha!
Desiree Yazdan (10:03.17)
but they have like a whole album dedicated to teeth that they like. And so I’m like, that’s interesting. Like this person doesn’t like one photo of mine. They’re not even following me, but they are here in my chair. And so if you could remember that, then it helps you show up.
Chris (10:07.428)
Yep.
Chris (10:18.735)
Yeah, that’s amazing. That’s such a good point. The lurkers are out there for sure. How long did it take you to start building your brand or you’re like, wow, this is actually working?
Desiree Yazdan (10:24.651)
Yeah, yes they are.
Desiree Yazdan (10:30.669)
It’s taken me one year of posting every day.
Chris (10:33.196)
Nice. Nice. That’s awesome.
Desiree Yazdan (10:34.879)
I don’t think it would take that long now. I think just when I started, I feel like I was one of the first dentists to really promote my business online. Because when I started using Instagram, nobody was using it to promote their business. And I started to. And so I didn’t understand how to market it in a way that was resonating with people. And I think just getting into
that realm of like understanding what to do and then posting every single day like really taught me what worked and then when patients would come in after that year mark, I’d be like, what brought you in here? Can I ask you like what triggered you to actually come in? And I would ask them and I so I started to learn. But I think the learning curve is less now for people because there are so many, you know, people out there who have grown brands on social media. There’s so many.
I mean, I used to sell a course on this and I don’t anymore because I just can’t keep up with all the, I can’t keep up with all the platforms that like how fast they change, but there are people that have courses on this stuff. And so your learning curve is less than when I first started.
Chris (11:33.06)
I was gonna say. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris (11:44.876)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was just going to say you should start your own just for Dennis. That would be amazing.
Desiree Yazdan (11:53.581)
I had it.
Chris (11:56.245)
Yeah, you should. You should. I mean, in your spare time with all the other things that you have going on, that’s crazy. But yeah, you’re definitely an expert in it. So what I guess the social media thing, such a big mountain to climb for so many people. And it really shouldn’t be. Start off small, you know, but what’s one content strategy that’s consistently worked for you? Like what type of content do you find that really hits the hardest?
Desiree Yazdan (12:26.508)
So I really think like people don’t understand that there’s a barrier between you and the person looking at your content. And so they have to get to know like and trust you and you have, know, they’re not engaging with you actually. And so the more like the way that you put out your content, the…
longer form content that you have, even if it’s the caption, it’s a photo, but the caption is long, like people will start to get to know you just by the way that you’re writing things out. Or if you have a longer video, like it’s going to get less views, it’s going to get less engagement. But I think those are the things that really resonate with people are when you’re explaining something that they don’t know. And then they’re like, like the fact that she
knows this and now I can see it in this picture or video or whatever that makes a lot of sense to me. Like I want to go to this person. It kind of sets you up as an authority and you know as dentists we have a lot of knowledge that other people don’t and you should capitalize on that and explain things and it could be anything. It could be an implant. It could be you know hydroxyapatite. It could be fluoride. It could be veneers like whatever you want to be doing in your practice. You just have to talk about it and
Chris (13:29.461)
Yes.
Desiree Yazdan (13:49.639)
you know, just become the authority in that area for your own brand and people, it will resonate with people. And I think also, knowing that your content isn’t made for everyone, right? So it’s either going to repel people or it’s going to attract people and being okay with that. So like when you get criticism from people, like, why’d you post that and blah, blah, blah. It’s like, well, you’re not my ideal person. So you, that’s why you don’t think it’s relevant, but.
Chris (13:53.319)
Yeah.
Chris (14:07.658)
Yeah. Yeah.
Chris (14:16.927)
Yeah. Yeah.
Desiree Yazdan (14:19.05)
My ideal person is like eating up every word.
Chris (14:22.486)
Yep. Yeah. The authority piece there is strong because, you know, a potential patient looking to get implants, for instance, they look around, they see you like, you know, talking about it over and over and like, man, other people are like learning from her. Obviously, I want to go to her because she’s teaching other people about it. you know, the authority play is such a big thing with social social media content. Well, Dr. Yazdi, I’m going to wrap up.
Desiree Yazdan (14:42.698)
Right.
Desiree Yazdan (14:48.416)
Totally. And there’s room for everyone. Perfect.
Chris (14:51.318)
There is, there is. that’s, no, that’s another good point. In fact, two weeks ago, somebody said, well, it’s too late for me to start social media posting because everybody’s already doing it. It’s, you know, it’s already saturated. And I’m like, no, this is things just getting going. So I’m glad you brought that up. That’s a, that’s an interesting point. Don’t think that it’s too late, right?
Desiree Yazdan (15:15.969)
Right.
Chris (15:17.238)
Yeah. So Dr. Yazdan, I’m going to wrap it up. This was an awesome conversation. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective on your business, your journey, social media and everything in between. Just how you approach everything, I think is amazing. I think, you know, to my audience, think if you look at Dr. Yazdan and how she thinks beyond kind of just procedures and really focus on the prevention, the education, the long term outcomes of social media,
I mean, she’s doing a lot of things right. But it did take her some time to learn this. And, you know, this is something that, as she mentioned, you can learn right now. There are courses out there. There are people that can, you know, get you accelerated much faster. So don’t think that it’s too late. Don’t think you can’t do it. There are always ways to do this, and it’s a great way to promote your practice for everyone else listening. If you’re not a dentist, I don’t know why you’re listening, but.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave us a review and share it with another practice owner who’s trying to level up, not just clinically, but also socially. And as always, this is the No BS Dental Growth podcast where we talk about what actually works. Dr. Yazdin, thanks so much for your time. I hope we can have you back in a few months and just get an update on what’s working. right, awesome. All right, we’ll see everybody next time. Thank you so much.
Desiree Yazdan (16:22.806)
Thank you.
Desiree Yazdan (16:28.236)
Thank
Desiree Yazdan (16:33.132)
Thank you. Would love to. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you so much.
Chris (16:42.226)
Awesome. You’re a natural.
