Then things shifted from mills to maintenance with Rebekah Serrago and Chris Wilson from Garland Dental Services. What started decades ago as a garage-based repair business fixing handpieces has grown into one of the industry’s best-kept secrets for equipment sales, service, and support. Rebekah shares the story of growing up folding flyers for her father’s repair company before eventually becoming CEO and expanding Garland into a massive online sales and service operation supporting everything from ovens to mills. Chris joins in to talk preventative maintenance, service certifications, keeping ancient ovens alive, and why labs desperately need dealers that actually understand the equipment they sell. It’s equal parts family-business story, repair shop wisdom, and hilarious behind-the-scenes dental lab banter.

Finally, the future officially arrived when the podcast crew sat down with Antoine Coppens from Relu and orthodontic lab owner Christian Saurman of New England Orthodontic Laboratory. What started as four engineering students experimenting with AI in Belgium somehow turned into fully automated dental workflows capable of designing surgical guides, night guards, models, and restorations in minutes. The conversation explores how AI is reshaping lab workflows, reducing manual design time, integrating directly into LMS systems, and even learning individual lab preferences. Christian explains how his custom-built orthodontic lab management system helped eliminate workflow chaos and automate huge portions of production, while Antoine gives a fascinating look into where dental AI is headed next. Between AI-generated appliances, automated scan checks, and self-learning workflows, this episode feels less like science fiction and more like a preview of what labs will look like over the next five years.

Special Guests: Antoine Coppens, Chris Wilson, Christian Saurman, Rebekah Serrago, and Tony Aliatim.

If you’re passionate about creating natural, beautiful smiles—but want to simplify your workflow without sacrificing aesthetics—this is for you. I’m honored to be part of Ivoclar’s development team introducing a powerful new stain and glaze system featuring Structure Paste, IPS e.max Ceram Art. Create stunning depth and lifelike color in as little as one firing.

Let’s continue to innovate, simplify, and create meaningful change—one smile at a time.

CAM has been a major topic lately, and a lot of that conversation keeps coming back to hyperDENT. But instead of just talking about the software itself, it’s worth looking at real-world experience. Imagine USA has been using hyperDENT in their own lab for over 15 years. That kind of longevity says a lot—they’re not just selling and supporting it, they’re relying on it in their own production every single day. That’s what really sets them apart.

This week’s episode brings it full circle as Elvis reconnects with one of the podcast’s very first guests, Renata Bundy, now a longtime professor at New York City College of Technology. Along with her are two technicians who represent both sides of the journey—lab owner Roberto Rossi and workflow master Eugene Vega—creating a conversation that dives deep into education, mentorship, and what it really takes to succeed in today’s dental lab world.

Roberto shares his unlikely path from working sanitation in New York to building a thriving lab, Synergy Dental Studio, over nearly three decades. With a relentless focus on quality, constant improvement, and embracing digital (while still questioning it), he explains how his lab has grown into a tight-knit, high-level operation. Eugene adds perspective from inside the lab, describing his evolution from student to managing daily workflow, highlighting how important environment, mentorship, and work ethic are when transitioning from school to real-world production.

Renata ties it all together from the educational side, reflecting on over 20 years of teaching and how the program has evolved alongside the industry—from analog fundamentals to digital workflows—while still preparing students for the realities they’ll face after graduation. The group doesn’t shy away from the tough truths either: low starting pay, steep learning curves, and the high dropout rate among new technicians. But the message is clear—stick with it, find the right lab, and the opportunity is there.

It’s a conversation about growth, grit, and the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people—whether that’s in the classroom or the lab. And if nothing else, you’ll learn that a little Italian lunch might just be the secret to building a loyal team.

Special Guests: Eugene Vega, Renata Budny, CDT, TE, and Roberto Rossi.

If you’re passionate about creating natural, beautiful smiles—but want to simplify your workflow without sacrificing aesthetics—this is for you. I’m honored to be part of Ivoclar’s development team introducing a powerful new stain and glaze system featuring Structure Paste, IPS e.max Ceram Art. Create stunning depth and lifelike color in as little as one firing.

Let’s continue to innovate, simplify, and create meaningful change—one smile at a time.

Alright, Voices From the Bench listeners—We’re coming to you live from Dallas at DLAT, and we had to grab a quick pop-in from the floor.

That’s right—because when you’re walking a show this big, you never know who you’re going to run into… and sure enough, we caught up with Jordan Greenberg—yeah, the HyperDent guy.

No booth this time, just cruising the floor, connecting with partners, supporting dealers, and checking in with labs looking to level up their workflows.

And get this—he’s not just talking theory. We’re talking fully automated solutions for preform abutments… no human nesting. That’s right—automation that knows your blank size, optimizes your workflow, and keeps production moving without missing a beat.

It’s the kind of innovation that’s pushing labs forward—faster, smarter, and more efficient.

So if you’re at DLAT, keep your eyes open… because the future of CAM might just be walking right past you.

This week, we catch up with the always entertaining and wildly unconventional Seth Potter—live from Paraguay. From sailing the world with his family to building a thriving remote design business, Seth shares a story that’s anything but typical. What starts as a conversation about exocad Insights quickly turns into a deep dive into faith, freedom, digital dentistry, and what it really takes to create a life on your own terms.

Seth walks us through his unique upbringing—growing up with a missionary dentist father, assisting on dental trips in the Dominican Republic, and spending his teenage years living on a sailboat. That early exposure to dentistry (and adventure) eventually led him into dental technology, where he combined analog fundamentals with a self-taught digital workflow to become a leader in remote design.

We also get into the evolution of his career—from working in a small lab and helping implement digital systems, to launching one of the first remote CAD design businesses in Canada. Seth shares how he hustled for his first clients (hint: it involves Indeed and a clever pitch), scaled through efficiency, and ultimately hit a breaking point that forced him to rethink balance, burnout, and what success actually looks like.

Now splitting his time between Canada and Paraguay, Seth has built a lifestyle that many dream about—while still pushing the limits of productivity, workflow systems, and digital education with exocad.

If you’ve ever thought about going remote, improving your efficiency, or just wondered what’s possible in this industry… this one’s for you.

Join us at exocad Insights 2026, happening April 30–May 1, 2026, on the stunning island of Mallorca, Spain. This two-day event features powerhouse keynotes, hands-on workshops, live software demos, and top-tier industry showcases—all in one unforgettable setting.

Barb and Elvis will be on site bringing you exclusive interviews, plus don’t miss the FIRST 5k run on the coast! And of course, cap it all off with the legendary exoGlam Night under the stars.

Tickets are limited. Visit exocad.com/insights-2026 and use code VFTBPalma15 for 15% off.

Special Guest: Seth Potter.

If you’re passionate about creating natural, beautiful smiles—but want to simplify your workflow without sacrificing aesthetics—this is for you. I’m honored to be part of Ivoclar’s development team introducing a powerful new stain and glaze system featuring Structure Paste, IPS e.max Ceram Art. Create stunning depth and lifelike color in as little as one firing.

Let’s continue to innovate, simplify, and create meaningful change—one smile at a time.

When it comes to digital dentures, design is easy—manufacturing is where things get messy.

That’s why the Elevate Denture Solution brings it all together. Built by Roland DGSHAPE, Ivoclar, and FOLLOW-ME! Technology Group, it combines machine, materials, and CAM into one fully optimized workflow—so you get consistent, high-quality results without the guesswork.

Want to simplify production and scale with confidence? Check it out at rollanddga.com/elevate.

This week, Elvis and Barb finally track down the always-on-the-move Katie (now Katherine!) Wilcox to hear her journey from dental assisting to lab tech to helping shape one of the industry’s fastest-growing digital solutions companies. What starts as a conversation about avoiding small talk and loving lab life quickly turns into a deep dive into outsourcing, automation, and how labs are surviving (and thriving) in a post-COVID world.

Katherine shares how her early curiosity in the back of a dental office led her into dental technology, why she fell in love with the bench, and what pulled her out of it into sales and software. From cold-calling labs during COVID to helping scale a global design center, she offers a behind-the-scenes look at how outsourcing evolved from “no way” to “no-brainer” for labs trying to manage workload and staffing challenges.

The conversation shifts into the evolution from Evident to EviSmart, where the focus is now on automation, workflow optimization, and reducing the chaos of digital file management. Katherine breaks down how connecting systems, eliminating repetitive tasks, and adding AI-driven QC is helping labs do more with less—without sacrificing quality.

Join us at exocad Insights 2026, happening April 30–May 1, 2026, on the stunning island of Mallorca, Spain. This two-day event features powerhouse keynotes, hands-on workshops, live software demos, and top-tier industry showcases—all in one unforgettable setting.

Barb and Elvis will be on site bringing you exclusive interviews, plus don’t miss the Women in Dentistry Lunch, celebrating career growth, wellbeing, and the real stories shaping our profession. And of course, cap it all off with the legendary exoGlam Night under the stars.

Tickets are limited. Visit exocad.com/insights-2026 and use code VFTBPalma15 for 15% off.

Special Guest: Katherine Wilcox.

If you’re passionate about creating natural, beautiful smiles—but want to simplify your workflow without sacrificing aesthetics—this is for you. I’m honored to be part of Ivoclar’s development team introducing a powerful new stain and glaze system featuring Structure Paste, IPS e.max Ceram Art. Create stunning depth and lifelike color in as little as one firing.

Let’s continue to innovate, simplify, and create meaningful change—one smile at a time.

When it comes to digital dentures, design is easy—manufacturing is where things get messy.

That’s why the Elevate Denture Solution brings it all together. Built by Roland DGSHAPE, Ivoclar, and FOLLOW-ME! Technology Group, it combines machine, materials, and CAM into one fully optimized workflow—so you get consistent, high-quality results without the guesswork.

Want to simplify production and scale with confidence? Check it out at rollanddga.com/elevate.

"Live" from the Ivoclar ballroom at Lab Day 2026, Elvis and Barb dives into conversations that perfectly capture what this industry is all about—innovation, relationships, and a whole lot of nerding out.

We kick things off with Frederic Rapp, who went from growing up in his dad’s basement lab in France to scaling it into one of the largest labs in Europe. After selling the business, he found his way back into the industry through innovation—helping labs unlock the gold mine sitting inside their own data with icortica. From dashboards to AI-driven insights and even voice-activated notes in the parking lot, it’s all about working smarter, not harder… and maybe not looking like an idiot when you walk into a doctor’s office.

Then things shift to a great partnership with Casey Baldwin and Darin Lockaby, where we get into a seriously cool collaboration between Ivoclar and DESS. Think plug-and-play workflows that let labs mill their own abutments in-house—FDA compliant, streamlined, and actually simple. With margins tighter than ever, this kind of control over production isn’t just nice… it’s becoming necessary.

From scaling labs to scaling data, from implants to AI, this episode is packed with insight, laughs, and a clear message: the labs that embrace technology (without losing the human touch) are the ones that are going to win.

Join us at exocad Insights 2026, happening April 30–May 1, 2026, on the stunning island of Mallorca, Spain. This two-day event features powerhouse keynotes, hands-on workshops, live software demos, and top-tier industry showcases—all in one unforgettable setting.

Barb and Elvis will be on site bringing you exclusive interviews, plus don’t miss the Women in Dentistry Lunch, celebrating career growth, wellbeing, and the real stories shaping our profession. And of course, cap it all off with the legendary exoGlam Night under the stars.

Tickets are limited. Visit exocad.com/insights-2026 and use code VFTBPalma15 for 15% off.

Special Guests: Casey Baldwin, Darin Lockaby, and Frederic Rapp.

Walking the Lab Day Chicago floor? Make it worth it.

Stop by the FOLLOW-ME! hyperDENT booth (E-27, East Hall) and take part in their Milling Roadmap—a quick, scavenger-hunt-style activity that leads you to key milling partners like Axsys, Imagine, DOF, and Roland.

Collect stamps at booths you’re likely visiting anyway and get entered to win some great giveaways—including this year’s grand prize: a foldable Honda electric scooter.

You’re already walking the floor. Now it might carry you.

Come see and talk to Elvis and Barb at all these amazing shows coming up in 2026*

• Cal-Lab Association Meeting in Chicago Feb 19-20 https://cal-lab.org/
• LMT Lab Day Chicago Feb 19-21 https://lmtmag.com/lmtlabday
• Dental Lab Association of Texas Meeting in Dallas Apr 9-11 https://members.dlat.org/
• exocad Insights in Mallorca, Spain Apr 30 - May 1 https://exocad.com/insights-2026

This week we finally sit down with the one and only Matthew Douglas — technician, educator, denture-setting machine, former Affordable legend, past DLAT president, and all-around force of nature out of Texas.

Matt’s story starts with baseball. A promising career cut short by a hip injury (the “Bo Jackson thing,” as he calls it) led him to find a different path — one that started at TSTI in Waco and ended up shaping thousands of dentures, dozens of labs, and one of the fastest-growing state dental lab associations in the country.

From living in an RV at the end of an airport runway while in school… to learning how to tear down porcelain ovens and rebuild lathes… to mastering ambidextrous denture setups with a soldering iron (yes, really), Matt built his foundation the old-school way. And he built it fast.

We dive deep into his 12-year run with Affordable Dentures — managing high-production labs doing 60+ arches a day, training technicians across the country, helping open over 200 sites, and eventually becoming a regional leader. He shares what it takes to build systems that move that kind of volume — staggered lunches, zero idle time, and a whole lot of hustle.

From there, Matt takes us through Barksdale Dental Lab, the early days of All-on-4, learning analog conversion workflows before digital streamlined everything, and why zirconia has changed the long-term game for full-arch restorations.

When Matt returned to Texas and got involved with the Dental Laboratory Association of Texas (DLAT), the show had about a dozen booths. Today? Over 100. He breaks down how restructuring leadership, empowering the right people, removing outside management costs, and reinvesting in members transformed DLAT into one of the strongest state meetings in the country.

If you want to grow your business, you need clear insight into what’s happening inside your operation and across your customer journey. That’s where Icortica comes in.

At Canadian Dental Labs, Icortica has become a cornerstone of how we operate—giving us at-a-glance visibility into performance, helping us focus our efforts, spot opportunities early, and solve problems before they grow. It takes the guesswork out of decision-making and shows us what to do next.

Plus, the Icortica team is incredibly responsive and feels like a true partner in our success.

If you’re serious about growing your business and understanding your customers better, Icortica can get you there. Learn more at icortica.com/voices — Icortica, helping dental labs grow.

Join us at exocad Insights 2026, happening April 30–May 1, 2026, on the stunning island of Mallorca, Spain. This two-day event features powerhouse keynotes, hands-on workshops, live software demos, and top-tier industry showcases—all in one unforgettable setting.

Barb and Elvis will be on site bringing you exclusive interviews, plus don’t miss the FIRST 5k run on the coast! And of course, cap it all off with the legendary exoGlam Night under the stars.

Tickets are limited. Visit exocad.com/insights-2026 and use code VFTBPalma15 for 15% off.

Special Guest: Matthew Douglas CDT.

Walking the Lab Day Chicago floor? Make it worth it.

Stop by the FOLLOW-ME! hyperDENT booth (E-27, East Hall) and take part in their Milling Roadmap—a quick, scavenger-hunt-style activity that leads you to key milling partners like Axsys, Imagine, DOF, and Roland.

Collect stamps at booths you’re likely visiting anyway and get entered to win some great giveaways—including this year’s grand prize: a foldable Honda electric scooter.

You’re already walking the floor. Now it might carry you.

Come see and talk to Elvis and Barb at all these amazing shows in 2026*

• Cal-Lab Association Meeting in Chicago Feb 19-20 https://cal-lab.org/
• LMT Lab Day Chicago Feb 19-21 https://lmtmag.com/lmtlabday
• Dental Lab Association of Texas Meeting in Dallas Apr 9-11 https://members.dlat.org/
• exocad Insights in Mallorca, Spain Apr 30 - May 1 https://exocad.com/insights-2026

This week we sit down with Michael Joseph, a London-based lab owner whose journey through dental technology is anything but traditional. From delivering impressions on a scooter through the streets of London to completely rebuilding his lab as a fully digital operation, Michael shares a candid, honest look at what it really takes to survive—and thrive—in today’s dental lab landscape.

Michael walks listeners through his early days pouring hundreds of stone models by hand, navigating education with dyslexia, and eventually earning his degree in dental technology. After years at the bench, he pivoted into dental sales, working with companies like Orascoptic, Sirona, and Skillbond/Argen—experience that gave him deep insight into materials, equipment, and the business side of dentistry. That sales background ultimately fueled his return to lab ownership and helped him build a strong network of clinicians from day one.

The conversation takes a powerful turn as Michael opens up about the challenges of Brexit, COVID, staffing losses, and personal upheaval that nearly ended his lab altogether. Instead of quitting, he made a bold decision: gut the lab completely and rebuild it from the ground up as a fully digital operation. Investing heavily in milling, printing, Exocad, and workflow automation, Michael shares how committing to systems, protocols, and vertical integration transformed not just his lab—but his mindset.

Elvis and Barb dig into Michael’s digital workflows, including photogrammetry, full-arch immediate load cases, remote design teams, LMS integration with GreatLab, and why reliability and consistency are the real competitive advantages. Michael also explains how peer referrals—not ads—became his strongest growth engine, and how simplifying communication with dentists through WhatsApp, QR codes, automation, and self-booking systems has completely changed the way his lab operates.### If you want to grow your business, you need clear insight into what’s happening inside your operation and across your customer journey. That’s where Icortica comes in.

At Canadian Dental Labs, Icortica has become a cornerstone of how we operate—giving us at-a-glance visibility into performance, helping us focus our efforts, spot opportunities early, and solve problems before they grow. It takes the guesswork out of decision-making and shows us what to do next.

Plus, the Icortica team is incredibly responsive and feels like a true partner in our success.

If you’re serious about growing your business and understanding your customers better, Icortica can get you there. Learn more at icortica.com/voices — Icortica, helping dental labs grow.

Join us at exocad Insights 2026, happening April 30–May 1, 2026, on the stunning island of Mallorca, Spain. This two-day event features powerhouse keynotes, hands-on workshops, live software demos, and top-tier industry showcases—all in one unforgettable setting.

Barb and Elvis will be on site bringing you exclusive interviews, plus don’t miss the Women in Dentistry Lunch, celebrating career growth, wellbeing, and the real stories shaping our profession. And of course, cap it all off with the legendary exoGlam Night under the stars.

Tickets are limited. Visit exocad.com/insights-2026 and use code VFTBPalma15 for 15% off.

Starting the year strong in the dental lab isn’t about goals—it’s about results. Predictable productivity is what drives real profitability, and unpredictability is costly when remakes rise and production slows.

That’s why labs rely on Roland DGA’s DGSHAPE milling solutions. With consistent accuracy, minimal downtime, and automation you can count on, systems like the DWX-53DC deliver reliable output day after day—making ROI measurable and growth predictable.

See consistency in action at LMT Lab Day Chicago, Booth I-20.

Choose DGSHAPE. Crafted with Japanese precision. Trusted by dental professionals worldwide.

Learn more at rolanddental.com

Special Guest: Michael Joseph.

Then we switch gears and catch up with Jess Gray, whose career journey is a masterclass in saying “yes,” learning fast, and building something special. From front desk at Aspen to running a rapidly growing in-house lab in the Finger Lakes region, Jess walks us through analog-to-digital dentures, Exocad self-education, facial scanning for All-on-X, in-office workflows, team building, and what it really takes to scale a lab while still loving the bench. This episode is packed with inspiration, tech talk, and real-world lab ownership lessons you don’t hear every day.

Happy Holidays from Ivoclar!

As the year comes to a close, all of us at Ivoclar want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the incredible Voices From the Bench community. Thank you for your partnership, your trust, and the support you’ve shown throughout the year.

From our Ivoclar family to yours, we wish you a joyful, healthy, and safe holiday season.

May your days be merry, your nights be bright, and your smiles shine like freshly fallen snow.

Ho, ho, ho — Happy Holidays from Ivoclar!

Big news is coming your way in the world of CAM. Our friends at Ivoclar have teamed up with FOLLOW-ME! Technology to bring the Ivotion Denture System into the HyperDent CAM workflow.

That’s right—your favorite pre-shaded, two-layer Ivotion discs, the ones that let you design and mill a complete denture in one seamless process with no bonding and no mess, are now moving beyond closed systems. Thanks to this new partnership, Ivotion can finally be milled on open machines through HyperDent.

And it gets better: you’ll first see this powerful workflow available on the Roland DWX-53 series mills—already a staple in so many labs—as well as the Imagine iMills.

If you’ve been waiting for a faster, cleaner, more flexible way to produce full dentures, this is it. Ivoclar and FOLLOW-ME! just made the future of denture manufacturing wide open.

Get ready—HyperDent is about to change the way you mill Ivotion.

Special Guests: Jess Gray and Rik Jacobs.