About the show
A weekly podcast dedicated to the dental laboratory industry. Featuring anyone associated with the profession from all over the world. Host are in their own dental laboratory every day making teeth and interviewing people from the industry on their time off. New episodes every Monday morning.
Voices from The Bench on social media
Episodes
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Episode 395: Lori Margiotta Wants You to Follow the Numbers to Find the Growth
October 20th, 2025 | 1 hr 1 min
care credit, case acceptance, ental, front desk, gatekeeper, growth, identify, laboratory, math, patients, recall, receptionist, relationships, sales, solutions, staff, systems, technician, treatment, trust, unbooked, vision 21, voices from the bench
Elvis and Barb chat with Lori Margiotta from Bookkeeper for Dentists about bridging the gap between dental labs and offices through smarter business tracking. Lori shares how understanding simple numbers like lab expenses and case acceptance can help both labs and dentists grow together.
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394: Will Varda Has a Recipe for Digital Succuss (and Scones!)
October 13th, 2025 | 1 hr 5 mins
3shape, accordion, canada, community, conspiracy theories, cooking, cruise, dental, digital, education, fundamentals, fur purse, laboratory, lead dies, learning, mesh, nipples, obsessed, online, philosophy, rdt, recipe, scones, slow game, social media, speaker, technician, voices from the bench, wine, wing it, workarounds
This week we chat with Will Varda from British Columbia — a second-generation dental technician who grew up in his dad’s home lab and now leads the Dental Technicians Association of BC. Will shares incredible stories from his father’s days crafting crowns for Iranian royalty using goat-horn hammers to his own journey into digital dentistry, community building, and teaching others the “recipe” for digital design.
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393: Ed Molina is Helping Everyone Save Face with a Facially Driven Digital Workflow
October 6th, 2025 | 1 hr 1 min
assistant, dental, digital, education, employees, exocad, facial scanner, full arch, grammetry, kois, laboratory, mentors, patients, photogrammetry, photos, protocol, shining 3d, teaching, technician, tough love, training, troubleshooting, voices from the bench, zircon zahn
Ed Molina shares his journey from working retail to becoming a leader in digital dentistry. Guided by mentors and hands-on experience, he helped pioneer facially driven workflows and now teaches clinicians how to integrate digital design and technology into their practices. Ed discusses mentorship, innovation, and the challenges of bringing digital solutions to everyday dentistry.
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392: Jed Archibald is Impressed with Empress and So Much More
September 29th, 2025 | 1 hr 4 mins
dental, design, die, digital, education, family, finish, ivoclar, laboratory, lavender, management, margins, mechanical tension, mill, outsource, press, printing, rockstar and skittles, technician, testing, utah, utah valley dental lab, voices from the bench, wax, workarounds
Back again is Jed Archibald talking about minimal prepped restorations using Empress from Ivoclar, ZirCAD Prime, better printer resins, and so much more!
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391: Amy Helayel & Todd Hydock: Viva Las Locators with Zest
September 22nd, 2025 | 1 hr 7 mins
abutments, ce credits, cement, clinical help, communicate, conversions, cross train, david bowie, dental, education, expert, fixed, foot tattoo, housings, inserts, john madden, laboratory, las vegas, locator, milled, october 11, online, oring, sales, speaking, surgical, teaching, technician, van, voices from the bench
This week we talk to two past lab technicians that work for Zest Dental Solutions, Amy Helayel & Todd Hydock. They talk about the angled abutments, Locator Fixed, and the Technician Master's Program.
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390: FDLA 2025 and Jensen Dental Part 3 with Leah Gold & BONUS with Jade Connors
September 15th, 2025 | 1 hr 10 mins
addendum, all-on-x, analog, approval, assisting, bedazzled, cdt, cold, dental, dentist, denture hole, documentation, efda, feedback, first time, gerber style, honors, hybrid, jensen, jewels, judges, laboratory, learn, life, mapping, messing up, mind, outsource, power week, practice, rhinestones, speaking, study, swiss school, technician, teeth, voices from the bench, wax, wax up, work
This week we finish up the conversations at the Jensen Dental booth at the FDLA with assistant turned lab tech, Leah Gold. Then we get a nice follow up with Canadian Denturist Jade Connors and the Candulor KZW competition.
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389: FDLA 2025 and Jensen Dental Part 2 with Nick Bathija, Shanna Gripp, & Mark Stueck
September 8th, 2025 | 1 hr 8 mins
allow, bond, brushes, cdt, color, courses, creation porcelain, dental, dentist, driver, easy gum, education, free, full service, hand polish, hand skills, harvest, high shine, hybrids, jensen, kol, laboratory, lick, light, mcdonald's, metal finisher, miyo, model room, nbc, quality control, social media, structure, technician, testing, tips, tricks, voices from the bench, webinar, wine, zirconia
We are back with three more conversations from the Jensen booth at the FDLA Symposium 2025. First up in long time Jensen employee Nick Bathija, we then revisit with Shanna Gripp to see what she's been up to and wrap up the episode with Mark Stueck, past chair of the NBC.
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388: FDLA 2025 and Jensen Dental Part 1 with Savannah Jones, Gabriel Jimenez, Tom Zaleske, & Josh Williams
September 1st, 2025 | 1 hr 17 mins
alaska, basement, career, cost, dehumidifiers, dental, disinfecting, exocad, fees, frameworks, gc america, hot, keystone, laboratory, lmt, metal, microwave, patient centered, polish, pow, printers, regulation, removables, scan, self taught, solo, speaking, technical, technician, walmart
Back in June, Jensen Dental invited us to record at the FDLA symposium! This week we meet Savannah Jones and Gabriel Jimenez from DCS Dental Lab, then removable guru Tom Zaleske, and master of metal printing Josh Williams.
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387: Dr. Brandon Kofford is Getting Even Smarter About Conversions
August 25th, 2025 | 1 hr 9 mins
break, complaints, consultant, conversion, dental, dental surgery, fda, implants, laboratory, legacy, medium, multi unit abutments, peek, precoating, round, screws, swivel, technician, testing, torque, voices from the bench
We welcome back Prosthodontist Dr. Brandon Kofford, the inventor of the Smart Denture Conversion system. This time he comes back to talk about the new 2.0 version, the Infinite Angle Omnibut MUAs, and the use of prefabricated arches.
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386: Farewell to IDS 2025 & exocad Part 11 with Agata Bak, Iman Ansari, & Larry Bodony
August 18th, 2025 | 1 hr 1 min
9, bite finder, black pearl, ceramic, challenge, clients, coffee, consulting, dating, dental, designer, exocad, gc, growth, iceland, ids, in house, laboratory, last minute, lava scanners, love, managing time, marriage, metal, mill, new suit, outsource, partnerships, president, resume, retired, risk, social media, technician, trade shows, veneers, voices from the bench, walking
All 11 hours of conversations from the exocad booth at IDS 2025 is coming to an end. This episode starts by telling the story of how Agata Bak and Iman Ansari fell in love and eventually opened Black Pearl Dental Lab. Then we meet the man responsible for the growth and popularity of exocad in North America, Larry Bodony.
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385: IDS 2025 & exocad Part 10 with Pierre-Luc Duchesne, Dereck Donnelly, & Dr. Eimear O’Connell
August 11th, 2025 | 58 mins 12 secs
1on1, art, back to the future, box, canada, dental, ds core, education, exocad, exoplan, feedback, fp1, fusion, glaze, grandmother, hero, ids, invisalign, ireland, itero, laboratory, maple syrup, marketing, master cup, nexus, packaging, panther, phototgrammetry, prep, public, scan, scotland, sleep apnea, smile design, stain, surgical guides, technician, teeth, vita, voices from the bench
Back for the 10th time with conversations from the exocad booth at IDS 2025. First up are two people creating excellent customer experiences with Panthera, Pierre-Luc Duchesne and Dereck Donnelly. Then we meet the Irish dentist in Scotland, Dr. Eimear O’Connell who uses digital to give her patients the best treatment possible.
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384: IDS 2025 & exocad Part 9 with Paul Dowling, Jacqueline Ffrench, & Thomas Baaske
August 4th, 2025 | 1 hr 2 mins
3d, 4 day work week, academy, ai, better life, business, community, dental, dentures, digital, efficient, exocad, feedback, generations, global, health, ids, inventory, ireland, ivotion, lab day chicago, laboratory, leadership, lean manufacturing, part time, polish, printing, removables, repair, small changes, soft reline, strength in the industry, technician, voices from the bench, well being, workflow, zirconzahn
Back again to a time in Germany when we recorded in the exocad booth at IDS 2025. This week we start with Paul Dowling & Jacqueline Ffrench who are doing amazing things in Ireland for the lab community. Then we meet Thomas Baaske from Ivoclar that tells us all about the new printed denture material, the inventory system, and Ivoclar at IDS.
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383: IDS 2025 & exocad Part 8 with Dr. Milad Shadrooh, Dr. Robbie Hughes, Zelko Relic, & Ben Weber
July 28th, 2025 | 1 hr 1 min
ai, computer sciences, confident, dental, dental therapist, digital workflows, education, exocad, hand holding, ids, implants, infrared, inspiration, laboratory, liverpool, models, move or remove, moving teeth, palate expanding, printing, scale, singing excited, smile makeovers, software, solution, stadiums, suck down, technician, training, trimming, under the hood, voices from the bench
A jam-packed episode featuring conversations from the exocad booth at IDS 2025. Two doctors that are teaching others the ways of digital at Avant Garde Dentistry, Dr. Milad Shadrooh and Dr. Robbie Hughes. Then we have a great time getting to know Zelko Relic, the CTO of Align Technologies. We wrap up the episode with Ben Weber from ModuleWorks.
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382: IDS 2025 & exocad Part 7 with Jade Connors and Lisa Aguirre
July 21st, 2025 | 1 hr 6 mins
artist, bego, blinged, dd, dental, dental inkjet printer, dirty talk, exocad, front office, gemstones, heal the mind, ids, influencers, japan, judge, kol, laboratory, lecturing, managing, mental health, music, national denturist association, paper vs patients, pictures, positive attitude, product manager, rdt, roland dga, sick, stickers, switzerland, technician, travel, vita, voices from the bench, work hard and play hard
Back again.... still.... with more amazing conversations from the exocad booth at IDS 2025 in Cologne, Germany. First is past podcast guest and Canadian Denturist Jade Connors. Then we learn all about DGShape and the Roland mills with Lisa Aguirre.
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381: IDS 2025 & exocad Part 6 with Björn Zäuner and Tillmann Steinbrecher
July 14th, 2025 | 1 hr 58 secs
articulation, bite, bottlenecks, ceo, code, customer feedback, dental, design, distributors, emotional engagement, exocad, growth, hand articulate, ids, jaw motion, laboratory, memes, milling center, open software, ortho lab, psychology, purple, remakes, researcher, smile design, student, technician, training, user interface, voices from the bench, xsnap
Barb and Elvis bring two powerhouse conversations from the exocad booth at IDS 2025 featuring two people that are changing digital dental design every day. Björn Zäuner tells the story of Bite-Finder and how it can lower remakes by up to 50% and then we chat with the CEO and co-creator of exocad, Tillmann Steinbrecher.
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380: IDS 2025 & exocad Part 5 with John Krier & Dr. Jeff Horowitz
July 7th, 2025 | 1 hr 6 mins
above the line, add, airway, be involved, below the line, bored, ceo, clients, cpap, culture, dental, dentist, designer, exocad, fda, feedback, foundation, ids, invisalign, knight dental lab, laboratory, melatonin, midwinter, palate expansions, panthera, partners, sleep, sleep apnea, technician, tmj, voices from the bench
The conversations from the exocad booth at IDS 2025 just keep coming! This week we talk to two Americans in Germany. John Krier is the CEO of Leixir Dental Group, Barb's boss and Dr. Jeff Horowitz that talks about creating airway passage and his podcast Dentist IN the Know.