Today, we're excited to have Kelly Riedel, the COO of LightForce Orthodontics, as our special guest. Join us as we explore how LightForce is reshaping the industry with its revolutionary custom bracket technology. Imagine measuring and enhancing your protocols' effectiveness, all while setting a new standard in patient experience and practice efficiency. With LightForce, orthodontists can now create personalized digital treatment plans that are fast, precise, and uniquely tailored to each patient's needs. Kelly emphasizes the need to be customer-obsessed! There’s never been a better time to be an Orthodontist.
IN THIS EPISODE:
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
What follows is an AI-generated transcript. The transcript may contain errors and is not a substitute for watching the video.
(00:00:00) Dr. Leon Klempner: It's no secret that orthodontic, that the orthodontic marketplace is rapidly changing. Um, if you haven't heard our last podcast with Chris Benson, I suggest you listen to that one, but from our perspective, the progression to a digital office is inevitable. Every new patient will start with a scan and they'll either be aligners or braces.
Today, we focus on the leading brand for digital custom braces, Lightforce. Stay tuned. Our Golden Age of Orthodontics podcast sponsors make it possible for us to bring you new episodes. Dental monitoring is making orthodontic treatment smarter. DM Insights provides clear analytics on clinical operations and practice workflow.
You can measure and enhance the effectiveness of your protocols all while creating a new standard in patient experience and practice. practice efficiency. Lightforce Orthodontics is revolutionizing orthodontic care with cutting edge, custom bracket technology that offers personalized (00:01:00) digital treatment plans that are fast, precise, and uniquely tailored to your patient's needs.
Take advantage of the new standard of care with 3D printed, fully customized brackets. Combined with indirect bonding and digital planning. You can learn a lot more and take advantage of some special offers by visiting our partner page at pplpractice. com.
(00:01:22) Narrator: The future of orthodontics is evolving and changing every day, but although the way to achieve practice growth has changed, there's never been a better time to be an orthodontist.
Let's get into the minds of industry leaders, forward thinking orthodontists and technology insiders to learn how they see the future of the orthodontic specialty. How will digital orthodontics, artificial intelligence, clear aligner therapy, remote monitoring, in house printing, and other innovations change the way you practice?
Join your hosts, Dr. Leon Klempner and Amy Epstein each month, as they bring you insights, tips, and guest interviews focused on helping you (00:02:00) capitalize on the opportunities for practice growth. And now welcome to the golden age of orthodontics with the co founders of people and practice, Dr. Leon Klempner and Amy Epstein.
(00:02:14) Dr. Leon Klempner: Welcome to the Golden Age of Orthodontics. I'm Leon Klintner, retired board certified orthodontist, director of orthodontics at Mount Sinai Hospital, part time faculty at Harvard, CEO of People in Practice, father of three daughters, two granddaughters, and myself. Two grandchildren, husband to my high school, sweetheart will be 50 years this, this, uh, August.
I better remember that. And I'm joined by one of my daughters, the one and only Amy Epstein.
(00:02:46) Amy Epstein: It's very difficult to follow that just so you know, it's very hard. It is a big year though. I'll make a correction for grandchildren, two girls, two boys, uh, but 50 years with my mom in (00:03:00) August and one of my sisters is getting married this year.
The other one just had her second baby. So there's, this is a good year, a lot going on and we just. Got back from the, which was a really enlightening, informative and energizing meeting. Um, I'll just go back. I'm Amy Epstein. I, I gave a little talk at the, I was excited about that. We talked a little about light force during that.
Um. During that session, but I have 20 years of marketing and public relations experience, both inside orthodontics and outside of orthodontics. Um, and my dad and I co founded people in practice about almost 15 years ago at this point, um, trying to bring the, um, Tried and true tenets of marketing that global brands use to the industry of orthodontics so that, uh, orthodontist can, can market their practice with the most effective tools possible.
And we started this podcast, (00:04:00) I don't know, already a while back. Um, I think this is the 50 something episode, um, to bring the most forward thinking thought leaders in the orthodontic industry. And elevate their voices so that orthodontists, whether or not you attended the AAO or you didn't, or you couldn't make it, or you, you know, going to other conferences, what, so that you can hear, um, what the most innovative companies and the leaders of those companies are envisioning for the future of orthodontics.
So all that to say today. I'm thrilled to have Kelly Rydell on the show. She's the COO of Lightforce, which as my dad mentioned, provided they were a provider of the world's first and only fully customized 3d printed orthodontic system. And Kelly's really interesting. We had a little chance to chat before the show, but.
Prior to joining life force, she was director of global robotics operations for Amazon, delivering all robotics (00:05:00) technology into Amazon buildings worldwide, managing operations across five different product design centers, coordinated with a hundred or more suppliers across four continents, and even launched Amazon's innovation hub.
Kelly is actually an attorney by trade. She previously led the legal team for Amazon robotics. She has a BA from Middlebury College, a JD from Berkeley Law School, and was also a member of the 2016 Harvard Business School Women's Leadership Forum. And what I heard is that she has a print above her desk that reads, Here's to strong women, may we know them, may we be them.
May we raise them and she's still striving to do all three, which I am also striving to do. And I'm sure my dad did as well. Uh, I have two girls. My dad had three, uh, Kelly. Thanks so much for being here. Welcome to the show.
(00:05:51) Kelly Riedel: Amy, thank you so much. Uh, and thank you for that lovely introduction. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.
Absolutely.
(00:05:58) Dr. Leon Klempner: So, Kelly, you had me (00:06:00) in your introduction, obviously, um, but, you know, when I look at your resume, you've had quite an interesting journey and, um, you know, starting with being an attorney and then, uh, your time at Amazon. So when I. What I'd like to ask you is tell me a little about Jeff Bezos and what's going on behind the scenes, but this isn't the time for it, but we will talk later on, but, um, seriously, um, throughout your career, um, could you, you know, we, as orthodontists, we're a pretty small cottage industry.
You know, you, you were in a different. League than we were to say, to say the least. So if you could just kind of like, maybe give us a couple of pearls or maybe some lessons that you've learned that we could benefit from your experience.
(00:06:50) Kelly Riedel: Yeah. Um, it's funny that you raised Jeff. Um, I certainly learned a lot from my time at Amazon, and I'm grateful for the time I spent there.(00:07:00)
I would actually love to share a Jeff anecdote. It's, uh, you know, nothing, nothing too secret or anything, but it is a lesson that has really stuck with me over the years. So, um, this happened. It was sort of one anecdote. Jeff came to visit our robotics. Robotics was headquartered in the Massachusetts area.
Amazon is headquartered in Seattle. Jeff came in to visit us to take a walk around our factory and view all our new products. Um, and after kind of a really long day of sort of showing what we were up to in the robotics division, we all went out to dinner. So just to kind of set the scene, it's the executive leaders of the robotics division, it's Jeff, it's a handful of other people.
So it's a fairly small table, maybe 12, 15 ish people. Um, and we sit down and everybody kind of tucks into, Small chatter pocket conversation with the people next to them. And Jeff, you know, big personality sort of holds his hands out and, and, uh, commands the table and says, you know, this isn't a big table.
I'd like to have a single threaded conversation tonight. And he (00:08:00) sets the table with two questions. One, what is the worst job he's ever had? And two, what was your most embarrassing moment? And so everybody sort of looks, you know, a little deer in the headlight. And my boss, who I still consider a dear friend, and he leads all of robotics and all fulfillment technology for Amazon globally, really understood the assignment, somebody had to go first.
And so he sort of launched him with a story that was completely hilarious. And, you know. What happens at the table stays at the table. I'm not going to share anybody's stories. However, I will share that each one was like funnier and more wholly human than the next, including Jeff's, who actually shared an embarrassing moment, which was quite funny.
And what I remember what hit me so hard as like, hopefully a lifelong lesson that night. This Jeff really got a glimpse into not only who each of us was as an individual, like our true hilarious, embarrassing moment, worst job, kind of (00:09:00) fundamental self, but also kind of who we were and how we operated at a team as a team.
And he accomplished this so quickly, only because he was sort of skillful enough to set up the environment such that we could each feel really comfortable to kind of be our true selves. And so I thought about that story when you mentioned his name, because I think, you know, in that regard about our doctor's offices, like, it's really clear who the boss is in an orthodontic office.
It's really clear who the Bezos is. It's the doctor, but it's also really critical that their entire team under them is successful and are highly engaged and operate really fluidly and really well together. Together, so that all the individuals. And collectively as a team can be their best. So, long story about a small dinner, but when I think about that one anecdote and what it reinforced for me, it's that, you know, as leaders, of course, it's our job to sort of serve our teams.
But I do (00:10:00) think when you demonstrate your true. Interest in who your team members are as like individuals as real humans, not just at work as workers and then you give them the space to feel both comfortable and safe to be their best true selves. They will be, and then it's sort of like the old Richard Branson quote, right?
Like you take care of your employees and they will take care of your
(00:10:26) Narrator: customers.
(00:10:29) Dr. Leon Klempner: I love Kelly. Yeah, me too. And, and, and I think it's particularly pertinent for orthodontists now where we're, we're, our profession is transforming and in order, in order to Um, to really, uh, take advantage of, of the technologies that are available to us and to thrive, we can't do it alone.
And it's, you know, it's a frightening thing for orthodontists and I'm sure for staff as well to move through (00:11:00) some learning, some new, new areas and new ways that we could be treating our patients, but it's critical and, and the staff needs to be along. So. Uh, it's kind of a wake up call for us, uh, in terms of how we choose our staff and who we want on our team.
Uh, but I really appreciate that perspective.
(00:11:21) Amy Epstein: I'd imagine as well. I mean, it's, it's difficult to keep staff. It's difficult to find good staff. It's difficult to keep staff and, um, And the team members that were that orthodontists are bringing are on are different to the ones that have been there in the past.
And, um, I think that the strategy that you outlined is a good 1 in terms of engaging people and encouraging them to stay on because you see them as. The humans that they are and connecting with them, building a relationship. These are all the things that engender customer loyalty, patient loyalty. But what about team loyalty and engagement as well?
I mean, it's (00:12:00) equally important. So I think that, um, I like it and it's a great reminder to see the humans that we work with every day.
(00:12:08) Kelly Riedel: That's right. And let them be, have work be a place that they could be their best selves and really thrive. That's what people want. Um, that's the truth.
(00:12:17) Amy Epstein: So, uh, aside from the Jeff stories, um, transitioning from Amazon robotics to light force must have been a significant shift for you.
What are there some strategies or innovations or, um, ideas or anything at. From your time at Amazon that you're integrating into Lightforce.
(00:12:40) Kelly Riedel: Yeah, absolutely. Plenty of things. Technical process procedure. I have, I'm so fortunate to have a few of team members that I worked with at Amazon here working for customers at Lightforce.
So yes, across the board. Um, I think one thing that is a real commonality that, that I found that I did not bring, but I am so (00:13:00) grateful for between Lightforce and Amazon. Um, Is this idea of customer obsession? So Amazon has a bunch of leadership principles and for as long as I shall work, I will remember them and hold them dear as important.
And for your listeners, you can just look them up on the internet. There's nothing secret about them. If you Google Amazon leadership principles, In my view, they are the best way to be sort of a leader and a successful worker. Um, but the unique part about him, how Amazon uses them is they don't just have them and read them and teach them.
They live them. It is how they hire and how they evaluate themselves and how they evaluate others and how they choose what, what to invest in. And they serve as this sort of. Rubric of shared values, a kind of true guidebook of how to be successful. Um, and so one suggestion I have for your listeners actually is to do that.
Um, for your own business, really think about who you are, who you want to be, (00:14:00) and what values do you want to sort of share as a team and bring to your customers? And then this part is super critical, but write them down, like actually crystallize them into writing. And then relentlessly live them, um, really act on them.
They aren't things that we read and write. They're things we do every day. And 1F Amazons is actually a shared kind of core value with Lightforce. And Lightforce has three core values. And the most important is customer obsession. So what does customer obsession mean? Does it mean love your customers? I mean, maybe, but sometimes.
But it actually means something more specific, which is focus on your customers. And I think that's one of those things that's like kind of easy to say and, and easy to think, of course, don't we all focus on our customers? But I mean, Leon, you have lots of jobs, right? You like, I heard all of the, the different things you participate in.
It's so easy to like, Forget that there's so many things to (00:15:00) focus on when we are running businesses, we might have to focus on our shareholders or our boards, our bottom line, our employees, competitors. And you hear all the time, people say, well, if the practice down the street is offering X, should we offer X or if our competitors doing why should we do Y?
But I strongly believe that the best companies actually don't do that. They start with their customers and their customers needs and problems and challenges. And desires and they work backwards from there and like force 100 percent does this and I will say I'm proud. I watch our customers do this too.
They really you can hear it in the way they talk about. Their patients and their patients families and how they and their teams are working together to support the standard of care of the patient experience. And so every decision goes through the lens of how will this decision impact our customers?
And that's how we make decisions here at light for. So I think of (00:16:00) anything. What I'm bringing is that fundamental belief. That the best companies, the best doctors offices, the best service providers. Anywhere really become the best and stay the best by relentlessly and singularly obsessing over their customers.
Mm
(00:16:16) Amy Epstein: hmm. I think that that is, um, it's It aligns. If you could have seen this little 30 minute thing I did at the AO, it aligns so well with what I was talking about, which is a little bit like, how do you as marketers, how do you differentiate yourself from the competition? It doesn't seem. Start with the competition.
It starts with what do your patients need? What do they value? What do they want? What is important to them? And it varies from practice to practice, but it starts with understanding your unique. Group of people who you serve day in and day out and really positioning the way that you go to market, it starts with the (00:17:00) values, but then how you go to market with that, uh, but based on what they actually need, because it doesn't matter if it's, it doesn't matter if you do it well, it doesn't matter if the competition is or isn't doing it.
If it's not. What the patient needs and wants and what's going to resonate with them. It's not going to land. It's not going to be
(00:17:18) Kelly Riedel: meaningful. I agree with you completely. I mean, people want to feel seen. They want their needs to be met. And if we start there, it's the right place to start.
(00:17:27) Dr. Leon Klempner: So let me, let me take it down a little bit from the big picture into some more bread and butter type of specifics that I know our listeners are interested in.
Uh, for me, at least what you do is like. The Wizard of Oz, right? There's a curtain, you know, and, and, and instead of putting brackets on my patients in real time, I'm manipulating some software and then I'm pushing a button and then (00:18:00) in my office are these trays. That when I bond them in place, create a fully personalized orthodontic appliance to that particular patient's anatomy and, and issues and problems that I set up just on the software.
So tell me what happens in between when I push the button and when the UPS man comes in and drops off, uh, you know, the trays.
(00:18:28) Kelly Riedel: Sure. Um, at a really high level, we receive the files from your office into our digital, uh, team. We turn that digital file into something usable for orthodontic treatment planners, or orthodontic treatment planners, then digitally.
Manipulate the teeth on screen, turning, you know, the teeth from where they are to where they should be for a healthy, beautiful smile. Um, we have a doctor internally look at every single case. So we don't sort of sample or skip every single case is looked at and reviewed by a doctor (00:19:00) to make sure A few things one in their view.
Is this the right treatment? uh plan Two, is it in line with the instructions from our customer doctor for this case? And three is it in line with the instructions from our doctor for generally how they want their cases to be treated? Let me send it back to your office for you to review Review. It is your case.
It is your patient. Um, and we want, of course, it to be your kind of decision. How you treat that patient, um, is your art and science. Then you send it back to us with either modifications requests or, or approval. And then it comes to Wilmington, Massachusetts, where we have our factory.
(00:19:39) Amy Epstein: So Kelly, uh, looking ahead.
Um, we talked about a, I a lot in general, like in our, our lives, it's at the AO recently learned a lot about AI, um, it's integrated into so much more than we even. No, right (00:20:00) now. Um, and I imagine as, uh, probably the weeks go on, I was going to say the months and the years go on, but the weeks go on, how do you see AI and robotics enhancing the capabilities that light force has
(00:20:13) Kelly Riedel: right
(00:20:13) Amy Epstein: now?
(00:20:14) Kelly Riedel: Yeah, it's a great question, Amy. And I think you're right that we are living in such an interesting time with respect to these technologies that Tools like artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, they're on so many people's minds as we collectively sort of watch and participate in them on the future of them unfolding right before us across a ton of industries that we use in lots of different ways in our life.
So I agree completely with your observation there. I'll say for Lightforce, we have an incredible Product and engineering team, um, and they actually innovate on behalf of our customers. Of course, that's true really of any company's product, uh, product and engineering teams, but also on behalf of our internal teams, our (00:21:00) internal operations.
So our digital operations, where we plan. Uh, cases and then our physical factory. I think that's important to note because that isn't true of, um, of every company. So, by and large, all the tools and the software in our digital work streams, and that managed that sort of maintenance and operation of our factory are developed internally, which It has the unique benefit of right from the beginning, right from the inception of those tools, we're not pulling something off the shelf, but we're building them as we talked about earlier, starting with the needs of our specific customers and their desires and wishes and problems to solve and we're working from there.
So in terms of these kind of forward looking technologies in operations, specifically, as I mentioned, we're really focused on ensuring our customers get high quality products at the right time, every time. And so a lot of the application of these tools is going towards that goal of ours. Um, and there are places where (00:22:00) we are, or are planning to use machine learning.
In service of that exact goal. So, for example, in treatment planning, you have some machine learning applications in both the operation and the maintenance of our physical factory. So how do the machines run? How do they coordinate with each other? How do we know when it's time to give them some maintenance attention?
That type of question. And then from a quality perspective, how do we ensure that each element, each component that we send out is quality? Um, on the robotic side, a very dear friend and one of my favorite colleagues at Amazon always said, humans should do what humans are really good at, which is essentially make kind of high value judgment, especially in ambiguous situations and robots should do what robots are really good at, which often is sort of repetitive tasks, high precision, especially when, you Speed serves that, um, we are not automating at Lightforce.
We're not automating for automation's sake. Uh, the reality is (00:23:00) robots actually are still fairly expensive. Um, and not all tasks are perfectly applied to them. So we will continue. We are and will continue to look across our value stream and select the tasks that the cost makes sense to include automation.
And it's the right task to automate. Um, and examples of that. Or, uh, this rotation of brackets in our factory, right? So that looks like what we described that sort of high precision, high repetition speed serves it as well as using, um, high resolution images to check the quality of our. Components before they go out again, sort of high precision, um, high repetition that kind of needs and then the research and development.
So, not in operations, but actually in our sort of customer facing applications, machine learning is an excellent tool for both experimentation and. Problem solving because you can do a lot of predictive modeling more quickly than you (00:24:00) can without it. And so 1 benefit to having an end to end digital system as we do is that we have data all throughout on how our product moves through our system.
And so we can use feedback and performance data from earlier treatment plans or earlier in the system. To feed that into future hardware designs, future treatment planning protocols and things of the like, so that we can be always ever better and always more responsive to the changing needs of our customers and of their patients.
(00:24:34) Dr. Leon Klempner: So, Kelly, um. If you, if, if you were to tell me 10 years ago that there was going to be a company like life force, where, you know, they would be, they would be custom printed. There's some kind of magic that would create these customized. I would say you're crazy. The truth of the matter is, um, where, you know, So things are moving at a rapid pace, and it's in our interest (00:25:00) as clinical orthodontists, of which I am not, but was, to be aware of what's coming and to focus on how we could prepare our practice for the future.
So tell me, if I were to put on my glasses. future focus glasses, which I've yet to find, but if I could, and I narrowed in on light force, what, what, what maybe might I be seeing from light force over the coming years?
(00:25:27) Kelly Riedel: Yeah. Well, future is very bright. Um, and our mission today is to empower the experts, so your listeners to create the unique bite and smile that every patient deserves.
That is what we're going to do. That is what the future looks like and how we get there and what the changing needs are and what the technology requires to do it will change over time and we'll change with it. But providing that personalized, unique care. To every patient is exactly what our hope to do (00:26:00) is.
(00:26:01) Amy Epstein: And, you know, the, when we, we talk a lot about the, what technologies offer the clinicians, right? Like the orthodontist, they have benefits there, but the patient benefits is really what, you know, we're trying to market. On behalf of the doctor about the technologies that they employ and it, it seems like the patient benefits of, um, efficiency and treatment and comfort and treatment.
Like, those are the outgrowths of that customized approach. And so is there, um, are there, is that, are those focuses part of the future plan and, and continually improving that efficiency and that comfort that. You're able to provide through light force.
(00:26:47) Kelly Riedel: Yeah, I think exactly right, Amy. And, you know, Leon, you mentioned Jeff Bezos early.
One thing he's famed for saying is don't focus on the things that are changing. Focus on the things that don't change. And so even if we (00:27:00) rewound using your hypothesis to your 10 year ago self, and we asked you, do you think light force would exist? I agree with you. You might say that's crazy. But if we said, Do you think patients and families want shorter treatment time?
Do you think they want to go to the orthodontist less often? Do you think patients believe their care should be personalized to their body and their needs uniquely? I think you would have said yes, 10, years ago. And so, Amy, absolutely. We are focused on those things that don't change. Efficiency and the orthodontic practice.
Allowing orthodontists to operate at the top of their license, right? To use their Art and science without necessarily having to sort of spend time chair side. Doing other things, patient comfort, patient experience, whether that's time of treatment, frequency of treatment, these things, these things probably aren't changing.
And there are solutions provided by our, our offering.
(00:27:59) Amy Epstein: (00:28:00) Well, it sounds good, Kelly. Thank you so much for joining us today. We learned a lot. It's so nice to meet you. Um, we're always, we always love to, to meet the leadership of the companies that are the most innovative in the industry. So it's really nice of you to come on the show.
And we enjoyed talking with you. If we have Questions for you from our listeners, or how can, can people get in touch with you if they have, uh, maybe specific questions for you or want to learn more about light
(00:28:23) Kelly Riedel: force? Sure. Well, Lina and Amy, thank you both so much. Um, on behalf of all of my first for having me on and giving me a chance to speak today.
And I would be happy to speak to any of your listeners. My first name is Kelly K E L L Y. Kelly at lightforceortho. com. I'd be happy to hear from them.
(00:28:40) Amy Epstein: That's great. And you know, we're, um, we have a light force page on our website, actually, that if listeners want to go to pplpractice. com and go to the partners page, there's a light force page there, and you can fill out a form and learn more about light force that way as well.
So if you. Enjoyed our (00:29:00) episode today and hearing Kelly talk, please be sure to tell a colleague visit our website to learn more. Kelly. Thank you again for being with us today. We enjoyed it and we will definitely invite you back. If you're open to it, I look forward to it. Thank you both. I appreciate it.
You can subscribe or download other episodes of the Golden Age of Orthodontics on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and if you want to see us on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts, and if you enjoyed it, like I said, we really do appreciate you telling a colleague, you can learn more about people in practice who helps orthodontists.
Reach their patients with the right messages about the technology like light force that they employ in their office. You can learn more about our practice at pplpractice. com.
(00:29:48) Dr. Leon Klempner: Thanks again for watching and listening as always. I mean, I really appreciate the support that you give us. Uh, if you'd like to reach me, it's Leon at pplpractice.
com. I know that (00:30:00) this is. Can be unsettling to think about new technologies and different ways of doing things. But, um, remember you're not alone and that we will go through this together and remember for forward thinking orthodontists, it has never been a better time to be an orthodontist. We are in the golden age.
Take advantage of it. So long for now.
(00:30:25) Narrator: Thank you for tuning in to the golden age of orthodontics. Subscribe now on Apple podcasts, Spotify. Or visit our website at thegoldenageoforthodontics. com for direct links to both the audio and video versions of this episode.
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