• Vision 21 in Las Vegas Jan 15-17 https://www.nadl.org/nadl-vision-21
• 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, Barb and Elvis finally sit down for a long-overdue full episode with the man behind the Fans of Voices From the Bench Facebook group, second-generation lab owner, NADL President, and all-around industry cheerleader: Joe Young of Young Dental Laboratory.

Joe shares his family’s incredible journey from Hong Kong to Philadelphia, how his parents built a small ortho lab out of a spare room, and how he grew up trimming models on a step stool before eventually returning to the lab after college. He walks us through the evolution of the business—from analog ortho, to adding fixed, to diving head-first into early CAD/CAM. Today, Young Dental is a 26-tech, multi-department full-service lab serving PA, NJ, and DE.

Joe talks about the challenges of ortho work in a digital world, the need for wire-bending talent, the rise of aligners, and the struggle of balancing old-school techniques with new-school tech. He also reflects on family legacy, his dad’s 45 years as a CDT, and why keeping that generation’s knowledge alive matters more than ever.

As NADL President, Joe dives into board service, workforce development, collaboration across organizations, and his goal of connecting labs and vendors more effectively. Plus, he gives an honest look at what it’s like to step into leadership, find your voice, and leave a legacy for the next wave of techs.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a VFTB episode without gifts, jokes, accidental innuendo, and a rapid-fire Q&A that reveals Barb’s love of tomahawks and Elvis’s dream of 88-degree weather.

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!

Elvis and Barb are gearing up for their chat with the HyperDent Dude himself, Jordan Greenberg from FOLLOW-ME! Technology. At LabFest, Elvis found out that every hyperDENT license comes with Template Editor Lite — a built-in feature that lets you make safe, customized tweaks to your milling strategies. Whether you want to prioritize surface quality or speed, this tool gives you the control to fine-tune your results while FOLLOW-ME! keeps everything validated and reliable.

Because in the end, us lab techs love to tinker — and hyperDENT makes it easy to choose your own CAM-venture.

Special Guest: Joe Young.

We all know and love Nowak Dental Supplies for not only their products and services, but for everything they do for our industry. This week we talk to two people from Nowak Dental Supplies that are bringing the conference/party of the year to New Orleans in November. Brandi Nowak is one half of the owners and she tells the story of starting in 2000. Taking over her grandfather's legacy that started in the 40s, she has helped the company become what it is today. At the beginning of 2025, they brought on Marybeth Starr to help them grow even more. Marybeth is a veteran of the vendor side of dental laboratories and brings experience to get the job done. Together they have put together NOLA Lab Fest that is happening in New Orleans on November 7 & 8. This is a must attend event because it is going to be what these two are, fun.

Register today at: https://www.nolalabfest.com/

THANK YOU to Aidite for sponsoring us! Go buy their stuff from Nowak... win/win for everyone!

Take it from Jennifer Ferguson from Ivoclar. If you have a PM7 or are thinking about getting a PM7 (Take it from Barb, you should), on July 1st Ivoclar is launching the "Ivoclar Block Module" that can speed up milling emax by 45%!! The best part is that you can try it for FREE for 90 days. All you have to do is send them a message on Instagram at Ivoclar.na or send a email to jennifer.ferguson@ivoclar.com. Now go mill emax faster!

Special Guests: Brandi Nowak and Marybeth Starr.