Hello Voices from the Bench community, John Wilson here and I wanted to share some news about the evolution of the Program Mill lineup. Most importantly, Ivaclair's new Program Mill 7. What stands out right away is the reduced air consumption this mill requires, but what you'll notice first is that impressive new touchscreen. For us, the biggest advantage has been increased spindle power. You know, my laboratory's known for these larger cases with complex geometries, and I can tell you that extra power really makes a difference. Next time you see your Ivaclair representative, be sure to ask about the Program 07 and tell them John Wilson sent you. Thank you.
All right, Barb, we've officially made it to Mallorca for Exocad Insights.
Yes, I know. Somehow we're going to power through it, Elvis.
I know it's tough, but as promised, I finally tracked him down. Felix. Felix, how are you?
I'm great. I'm great. Hey guys, I'm really happy to finally connect.
Yeah, absolutely.
So you're here as an Exocad dealer. What is your take on the meeting so far?
Honestly, it's been great. Great turnout, a lot of familiar faces. Always nice to see what Exocad is working on. No doubt. We're very excited to bring these new features to our customers.
Is there something that stood out to you?
Well, one for sure is the Exocad Hub. It's a new cloud-based service and also really excited to see that the AI services are now on the Dental DB. We're still digging into the details, but as you can tell, there's a lot of things that still need to be worked on. We'll definitely use it in our milling center when?
Nice. That's really great. It sounds like a common rollout strategy for Imagine. Would you agree with that?
Yeah, for sure. Any of these new products that come out, especially from Exocad, we like to use them in our own production facility before we release them. Then for our support team, it's much easier to support our customers. And for ourselves to use those features as well, it's very beneficial to them.
You know, that totally makes sense. So for you. Other than being in Mallorca.
I mean, obviously it's great to see everyone in person, especially our partners. We don't really usually get to have conversations with them, so it's good to see them without the e-mail or video calls.
So Elvis and I totally agree. We do love face-to-face. Love these meetings.
Yeah, for sure. It's good to take a step back for a minute, see what's going on. not just do the day-to-day stuff that you do at work.
Yeah, plus it's not too bad of a place to do it, Ian.
Yeah, not bad at all. Not bad at all.
All right, let's get back to it.
All right, man. It's good to see you, Felix. I'm really looking forward to getting you on our full episode interview here next week.
One hour, one hour.
Yep, I appreciate guys. I'm looking forward to it as well.
Thank you. Enjoy Mallorca.
Welcome to Voices from the Bench, a dental laboratory podcast. Send us an e-mail at info at voicesfromthebench.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Greetings and welcome to episode 429 of Voices from the Bench.
My name is Elvis. My name's Barbara.
What's happening Barb? How's Florida? I already miss it.
Yeah, I bet you do. It's been raining and it's hot. That's about it.
Wow. Big weather update from Florida. I got to get out on a run because it's going to be 90 degrees before I know it here.
As soon as we wrap up, that's what I'm doing.
That's my plan too. So yeah, FDLA, it's over. We're back at it. Can you believe that we don't have a show until October?
Actually, I'm happy about it.
It seems so far off. I agree. Super busy at work. I need some time to focus. But that one in October, that's a meeting that no one, even you, Barb, should miss. NOLA Lab Fest by Nowak Dental Supplies. Last year, it was a hit and we are still talking about it today. I mean, hell, we just talked to someone in Florida that mentioned it.
Yes, we did.
This year, it's actually happening October 15th to the 17th in New Orleans. It's already got a great lineup of speakers and a really cool masquerade themed evening at Mardi Gras World, which I guess is a place that has all the floats that happen at Mardi Gras. Cool. Seems awesome. So head over to nolalabfest.com to check out the details and to register. Do not miss this event. So we're still working through all the amazing conversations that we got while at Exocad Insights on the island of Mallorca, Spain. I like just saying that we were on an island.
I do too.
Yeah, it's fun.
I like hearing it.
I don't go to islands very often, so I'm gonna milk it for what it's worth. So this week brings us two new, very heavy on Instagram guests and an old friend. First up is Andrea Bordea, who moved to Spain at the age of eight from Romania. She talks about going to school, doing her internship in a lab in Germany, working at a couple small labs, and then a big lab, Finding her friends at Iva Clark and Exocad and now is running her own lab and sharing the journey on Instagram.
Then our good friend Denise Ramos. She comes back on to talk about her very intriguing journey in our industry from vendor to the manufacturing side. From the early ladies of the mill shows to learning so much from the friends she has met along the way. Denise has a great perspective on our industry and always comes with a little bit of attitude.
Then while Barb was at the woman's luncheon, which unfortunately I was not invited to.
I'm surprised you weren't though.
I know. I did get a chance to meet with a dental technician from Chile. Daniela Torres talks about getting into school, opening her own lab right after graduation, growing her followers on Instagram, actually coming to the States to work at the MOD Institute, which is pretty impressive, and now back in Chile doing remote designs with, of course, Exocad. So join us as we chat with Andrea Bordea, Denise Romez, and Daniel Torres. Voices from the Bench. The Interview.
Bordea.
Andrea. Yes.
Andrea.
Say it again.
Andrea.
Andrea.
Bordea.
Bordea.
Yeah.
Andrea Bordea.
Yes.
Andrea Bordea. Yes. Do they rhyme?
Yes.
OK, just want to make sure I'm saying it right. That's all just covering. So this is super exciting. We're nearing the end of the second day of Exocad Insights 2026 on the beautiful island of Mallorca. Andreas Bordeus.
Andrea.
Almost. So close. Andrea Bordea. Bordea.
No, you just changed it on me.
What is it now? It has different pronunciation depending on where you're at.
All right. So where are you from?
I was born in Romania.
Romania.
That's why Bordea. Bordea, yes. But at 8 years old, I moved to Spain with my parents. So in Spain.
Why Spain?
They chose it.
They were just like, that's where we want to go and that's where we're going.
That's pretty awesome. Yeah, so in the 2000, there was a lot of immigration, so a lot of people decided to go to another country just for a few years to work.
But you stayed.
Yes. So how did they stayed?
They stayed.
It wasn't my choice.
Oh, you were eight. Yeah. Okay. So how?
Yeah. Elvis and I talked to 100 technicians, hundreds. How did you get into dental technology going from one country to another at such a young age? Who introduced you to it?
Nobody. I didn't know. I didn't know the dental technician field, but I was trying to go to the medical dental school. But I failed. I needed 0.1 points to get into dental school.
So you wanted to be a dentist?
Yes. Why? I don't know.
You didn't have a family dentist that was real positive.
No, maybe because I was wearing bracelets, bracelets.
Yeah, that's a really good point. Yeah.
And I had to go so often to visit my dentist. Maybe that's right.
I was like, you know what? I want to figure out how this works.
Yeah. And they couldn't solve my problem. So I was thinking maybe I could do it myself someday. That's pretty smart.
So you tried to go to college or you enter you.
Yeah, to the dentist and dentist school, dentistry school. And afterwards, I've looked for something similar. That's when you found.
And voila, here we are.
So do you go to a dental technology school?
In Spain, it's different. We study just for two years, and then we're doing the internship for a few months. Three to four months. I chose to do mine in Germany.
No, that was because.
We have a, it's like Erasmus Cold. Do you know what that is? They give you some money, 300 EUR a month.
Not a lot.
Not a lot. So you can choose. It was the first year that they were doing that. So I took advantage of it. Let's see how German people work.
I bet it was a really rough time for you, Sorry, Delvis, but you know.
Yes, Germany. I was young.
They're strict.
Yes, I was young and they were so serious. So.
How'd you find this lab?
My school.
OK, so the school, yeah. They signed up to accept students. Yeah.
And they find out that we just studied for two years.
And that's not enough.
And they're like, that's enough for us. And you're like, just wait, prove me wrong.
No, I was useless.
Useless.
Yes, that's a fact.
How long were you there for?
Four months.
Four months.
But then they offered me a job.
Wait a minute.
So you weren't useless.
Yeah.
They had to have known something.
They study for three years is different, the study method that they use. They start working. From the first time, first month that they started. In school. Yeah. Oh, wow. So they work and study at the same time. Yeah. So they.
We've heard that before.
Yeah. They got a lot of advantage.
So did you work there?
Yes.
Oh, you took the job?
No, just for the internship.
Oh, and then you went back to Spain.
Yes, I was so young and afraid that I was alone. Yeah, you were like, I'm out.
Yeah. So then what?
Then I started working. I want my summer to enjoy.
Yeah.
But you were in your early 20s. You should enjoy.
Yeah, but I got the call from my teacher who asked me if I want to start a new job close to the place I was living. So I took it. I didn't get any vacation. So I was at that small lab for six years.
And what'd you do?
Everything.
Yeah.
It was a small lab.
Everything, everything, right? Yeah.
And it was a good opportunity because those places you can get the more knowledge.
Learn everything. Yeah. Was it digital at all or was it? No.
14 years ago.
14 years ago.
Yeah. No. We got our first scanner.
You don't look like you're over 25 though.
That's what I was thinking. I was like, are you digital?
I was like, wait a minute, what?
That's good. I'm adding it together. It doesn't work.
That's good.
So it was completely analog. You're hand waxing, you're pressing, you're doing all that casting.
I mean, the first scanner came like, I don't know, my last year.
Wow.
And I got like a small course. And that was it. Okay.
So where did you go after that?
I went to another lab where I just sit on my bench and everything came to me. And you did one day you sit and finishing, ceramics? Ceramics. It was a different approach. Yeah, it was a huge.
So you were one step. So it was posteriors and anteriors.
Yes. I didn't have to think at all of the Yeah, you had to do it all. But here I just came to my workplace, sit down and being there.
Contacts, margins, occlusions, layering. Yeah. And did you like it?
Yes, I enjoy it. Yeah, and I've learned A lot.
What ceramic did they use at that lab?
At that time, at the both labs, we were using Ceramco. Ceramco 3, yeah, But for Zirconia, Evoclad.
So that's when you first got to see what Ivoclar did and how beautiful it was.
Yeah. And my first lab, because zirconia started to came and my boss asked me to look for a ceramic that could help us. And I was looking for catalogue. Oh, this one. This one looks nice. And we had A2 for. Two years, I think. And that's the only shade we were using, A2.
You ought to be kidding me.
No, it's true.
How do you use just A2? You stain the living, heck out of everything.
We didn't get so many cases, so many zirconia cases. And you can play with A2. And then in Sisal, I think it was in Sisal 1.
Interesting. Yeah. OK. So how long did you only stain?
Four years.
Wow.
So after 10 years of working for somebody else, I decided to open my own lab.
So what was that process like? I mean, did you start with equipment?
A basic one. A very basic one. And of course, everything is expensive. And I didn't have a lot of money. So I started with a furnace, my Evoclar kit.
Did you know you wanted Ivaclar? Were you just like, yeah, that's the best I'm taking that. That's going with me. Not going with me, but that's what I'm choosing.
Yes, I like it because I knew that Perramco is not enough. for what I want to deliver on my own lab. That's fair. Yeah. And because I was using the Emax for the ceramic, for the zirconia part, I started using inline for the metal ceramic. And nowadays, We don't use it a lot.
It's still around and it's still the best. But yeah, we don't really use. We don't do PFMs where I'm at. So I'm sure you kind of probably your same way.
How long ago did you open your own lamb?
Four years now.
Four years. And you just started with a furnace in your kit.
Yes. How do you say it?
So you had a poor model.
And dye trim. Yeah, the basic tools you need.
Did you hand wax or did you scan? Yes, of course, yes.
I had the scanner, a very old one, was so slow, but... But it worked. It worked.
Somebody else would fabricate and then send to you and then you would stain.
I was designing it.
Oh, you designed it. Yeah. Exocad.
Is that when you got into Exocad? Yeah.
But I'm not an expert. It was a must for me to do it, but afterwards I asked for help. And that help is my new partner, my new colleague.
Good for you. So did you? Yes. Good for you. How'd you find that partner?
It was, I don't know, we knew each other since we were young, but we never talked. So in a meeting, we start talking, yeah, you work at the lab.
So you're the brains, I'm the hands, I'm the hands and the brain.
I need somebody for digital because I'm not good at it.
Yeah.
Interesting. But you taught yourself how to use it.
Yes, I can use it.
That's so amazing.
So is it just the two of you now?
No, we are three. We have our little helper who started like six months ago.
Who's going to learn everything eventually, right? Yep.
She's doing great.
Nice.
Yeah.
Nice.
So what are you doing here? Sorry.
Here in Attic Sabat.
Are you speaking? You are at a clinic. We've been trying to get you all day. So you're just like watching everything and learning and taking it all in. Yes.
I want to share with my colleague and tell him, you need to do that. I'm not going to do it yourself.
This is what I learned that you need to do.
Yeah. I was. I'm here with EvoCla.
Yeah.
They invited me because I work with them and they launched their new products.
Yeah.
What do you think?
Talk to us.
I think you were a part of some of this. You were part of developing it, weren't you?
Not really. OK, not really, but I've used them. Yes, I've used them since last year.
OK, that was early, especially the.
It's, how do you pronounce it? Ceramart.
In Spanish, we say Ceramart.
There you go.
Everything we... With a TH, Ceramart.
I don't even try.
Yeah, you're right.
Yes, and it's amazing. It's amazing because it's truly life changing. As I told you before, I have a new employee right now. She just came out to school and she's starting to do beautiful So you just showed the materials?
She was just like, totally got it.
It's so easy to use. It makes you, yeah.
So what do you mostly do? Zirconia.
Yes, mostly zirconia, veneers, Imax veneers.
Yep. Full arch, all on X, yeah.
Pretty much everything but removables, right?
Yes, we can do that.
Yeah. Have you tried the new zirconia from Ivoclar?
Yes, of course. I already have two pieces.
Yeah.
Now I can share them.
Tobias. Is it Tobias? Yeah. He told us everything about it. Do you confirm that it fills every what you might need it for?
It combines the two other zirconia that they already have.
Yeah.
And it looks beautiful. The shade range. Well, yeah, the shade range. That's our as ceramists, our biggest struggle because of course translucency. Yeah, the translucency as well, because you of course you can change shades. with your knowledge and your experience. But we don't want to spend a lot of time, we don't want to waste our time doing that. So the shade range, it's perfect. The resistance, how do you say that? I think, no, I think that's, I don't know the words right now.
It's all good.
But it's perfect.
Yeah. So are most of your clients local or do you ship out or?
I ship all over Spain.
Oh, okay.
Yeah. The most clients I have are outside Madrid. Good for you.
Like on the outskirts of Madrid. Yeah.
Because you can send the cases. They engage.
Easily.
Easily. Yeah.
Do you ever go chairside and see the patient and get shades?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes, but not so often. Not so often.
They're probably too busy.
Yes.
She's running a business.
Yeah.
When did you start filming yourself and putting these videos out there that I don't know what you're saying, but I watch them. Okay. I talk there in Spanish.
Social media.
Yeah. But what made you start doing that?
When I started, well, it started before I opened my own lab because I don't know why. I was somehow preparing for loneliness. But I didn't know that. So I started filming just time lapses, just working. And I think people were surprised how many cases I have in a day. But I was just sharing, I don't know, maybe a story a week. I wasn't consistent. Afterwards, when I started my own lab, I was all by myself. So I started talking to the screen.
And then that's your friend. Again, I don't know what you were saying, but it's very instructional. I mean, it sounds like you're explaining what you're doing and how you're doing it and why you're doing it. I can't understand it, but it sounds like most people just show video and they really don't tell you how or why. But you're instructing on what you're doing, right?
So do you get in my magic?
Yeah, I love it.
Thank you.
Well, thank you.
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for stopping by.
Thank you guys. Good luck. God bless. You sound like you're going to be an up and comer without the car.
Oh my goodness.
KOL.
That's a huge responsibility. I hope.
It is, yes. And you should own it because you deserve it.
They should take you to the Chicago show.
Yeah. And then you can see us there.
Oh, I'm going to. Say that out loud over there.
It's recorded.
Bill, listen, trust me.
Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Next time, I'll have a bit of English.
Oh, you did very well.
There wasn't anything I didn't understand.
It's nothing he won't mispronounce. Thank you guys.
Thank you so much. Say that again. I didn't hit record.
She always looks sexy.
Oh, you added the she. I was going to use it for me later. It's Denise.
She's always got some really killer cool jacket on with these bejewels.
Those were fancy yesterday.
Did you like those?
That was like Elvis jumpsuit reminded me of it. It was pretty cool.
If you got to do style, do it well. And Denise does it well. She does. I drew the jacket to you.
All right. Let's see if I remember. Denise. It rhymes with something. No, it rhymes with something.
And Ramos now.
Oh, that's right. You got married. So what's the name now?
Ramos.
Ramos. What was it before?
It was Padilla, so it was less of Padilla. Padilla.
I knew it was something like that.
We're so happy to have you on.
So we talked to you back at an old ladies of the mill.
It's been a while, right?
First one, really? Yeah. There was no one in Tennessee.
Was I even there? No. I didn't think so.
Yeah, you were not.
You found good ways not to go to Ladies of the Mill somehow.
Don't trash me.
I love Ladies of the Mill.
But yeah, I struggled for a first couple years and then finally I got rolling.
Because you were one of the originals.
Yeah.
Like at the secret non-meeting. Yeah. That like started it all.
At the in-lab summit. Yes. Yeah, so Jill and Christina said they had this idea and I really wanted to support them, and the organization really wanted to support them, and I went to my boss at the time and I said, You they want to do a little meeting inside the meeting, and first we received the man-haters. we'll receive, the guys were not too happy, but I said, we're doing this. And it was 20 of us. And I mean, I still remember like some of the faces. I have the original picture and it comes in my memories all the time. Yeah. So I see, you know, all the ********. Yes, you know, I remember Marina was there, you know, she's great. And Jill and Christina and like everybody just kind of came together and it was like very special. I think that that's when I became an Elvis fan, because when we did the first summit, you actually received a lot of backlash too, remember?
That was so cool.
Yeah, you were the guy. That's why he was the guy.
I got an award.
It was like the only guy.
I wasn't the only guy.
Brian was always there.
Brian's amazing.
He was the one that made me cry. I was telling him sort of like a little bit of my story. And then when he went on stage talking about how they support females in the industry, and he said, as a matter of fact, somebody told me their story yesterday, and he starts to talk about it in my ear. And we've come a long way.
In a really short time.
We are women in dentistry. I mean, you were at the breakfast in Chicago with me, like it was, I'm a huge supporter, and I'm feisty and I don't take no for an answer. So, I like to fight for her voice, the female voice. It's just so important.
And she's a fellow runner, just did her half marathon in Dolly last week.
Well, I am a Dolly fan and a lot of people are surprised a little bit about that. They don't see that.
Why with the jewels and stuff? How can that be surprising? Well.
I'm Hispanic, so people think, salsa and other music, but maybe Bad Bunny, which I am a fan. I am a Bad Bunny fan. So have.
I. like the football show. Just saying.
I mean, but I do love my Dolly. I, it's funny because, in my home, I have two girls, I have twins. And when they were growing up, they heard the music, right? In the morning, we're cleaning on a Saturday or Sunday. And it was Dolly and Carrie and, then, we have the Selena. and the old school salsa, and they're like, Okay, time to clean. We know the drill, Mom.
The music comes on, we're working. Exactly. So tell us what you're doing here.
Yeah, how the hell did you end up in Tallorca?
You texted me and said, Hey, I'm going to Mallorca. And I was like, Oh my God, I can't wait to see you.
Honestly, I think this is just mere luck. Well, no, it's just, you know, with the company where I'm at now, New Aesthetic USA, and we're trying to do different partnerships, and we're trying to be more in the And the digital libraries, and Exocad is like one of our partners, so it sort of kind of organically happened, but I'm very happy I'm here. I mean, so many faces, and I do love to travel and just kind of see dentistry in different countries. It's just so different. I was with Desktop Health, I was part of that organization. And I got the chance to go to Cologne, and see the show. And what I did is I flew in early. I had a friend that has a lab in Dusseldorf. Oh, wow. So I flew into Dusseldorf. You know, he was a KOL for Dance Ply. Small world.
Okay.
Right. He was a KOL for Dance Ply. So back then, you know, we did a lot of work together when I was with Dance Ply. So I just called him up. I'm like, Hans, I'm coming, but I want to see a lab, you know, in Germany. Like I want to see a lab. So I flew in, Dusseldorf, got to see the labs on Technique. I believe he said he already sold half of the lab, and he's not really involved any longer, but it was a really good experience. I mean, three floors.
Is there differences that, like, just tell me about it? Is it?
Like it's very what is the difference between so and this was like back in 2022 so to me for me to come from the US and seeing like the cleanliness the and almost the manufacturing type of workflow that they had as opposed to you don't see well I didn't see at least at that lab I didn't see any chaos or everyone was very methodical. Everybody was, everybody knew, sort of like what their role was.
And that's not a dig on us, but we're definitely, it's an organized chaos. Yes. Our days are, my days are stressful.
I feel that sometimes it's the pressure from, you know, the clinicians as well, because I don't believe that they are just as organized. And I believe in it. It's funny, when I was sitting this morning listening to Dr. Coachman, And he was speaking about.
Did you watch him?
I did.
I wanted to see him so bad. He's so attractive.
I know.
And brilliant. So facially and mind.
I'm just saying.
Right.
His delivery is great.
Yeah. Sorry. That's a true woman's statement right there. So anyhow, back to your point. I forgot my point.
What point?
You were saying you were watching Coachman this morning.
But you know what he said. No, but he really drove the message of your lab is your backup, but we need to be organized as clinicians. We need to treatment plan. We need to properly deliver the information to the lab.
So you were taking accountability?
It was great. I mean, it was amazing to hear that. And there was another lecturer yesterday, I don't remember her name, but she She was also, she's one of the heroes. I know she was in one of the posters. And again, clinician, clinician from here, and she talks about her small city and how she's like, we spoke with her yesterday. Yeah, so she works with the lab and her message was, hey, I have an in-house lab, but I also have an outside lab. And we all work together in unison to deliver the best patient care. And I think that if more clinicians did that, It would really drive the message, and it will really, again, at the end of the day, transfer to the patient, because that's all we want to do.
Well, we really need these clinicians to get a little bit better at treatment planning. I mean, half of my time is them calling me, wanting me to help treatment plan. I didn't go to school for this.
Yeah, no, it's just true. I don't see this page. And that's not atypical. I mean, I have a few, I have so many, friends and customers in the industry and they say the same thing. They're like, Denise, I just bought this software because like I'm treatment planning. I'm like, wait, you're treatment planning? Like, you know.
We shouldn't be, but we are.
Yeah. Well, I mean, and then my next question is, well, how much do you charge for that?
Very important question sincerely, right?
Because, at the end of the day, I'm A saleswoman at heart, so every time I have a conversation with a fellow lab technician, okay, we'll try to bring up the level, right? Yep, are you charging? How much is your time worth it? Do you tell them, Hey, my time is worth this much, so if I'm gonna spend this time... And monetize it that way because, they're growing, they're charging the patient.
But the fear is someone else won't charge and they'll just, you know. I don't know.
Keep them loyal.
I think so.
I give them my cell. Last night I took a call at dinner at 830 from a doctor in the US. So it's six hours difference. Stopped what I was doing in Spain, took the call. So I think it's comes down to that sort of loyalty and being there and the communication, having myself, having access to us. Did you tell anyone in space? Not this one. I actually got my *** chewed a little bit. It wasn't my fault, but I took it. I took it. So you shouldn't have answered the phone.
Listen, I do it too, okay? I'm in sales, we're always on, right? I'm in sales, so if a customer needs me and it's really important, it's an emergency, because I do, earlier in my career was more flexible and I answer all the time, and now I'm a little bit more cautious with my time, my time. I have like 10 hats that I wear in my company, so there is no way I have the time to, You've.
Got to have work-life balance.
Right.
You have to know where that line is. If you can give yourself permission. If.
I do. I mean, I'll tell you what. And Elvis knows this. My favorite time is when I come home and I just lay on the couch and my dogs come and I can just play with my dogs and my 5 little puppies. You know, I'm a.
Five little puppies? What do you have? You obviously know, but I don't.
I have three schnauzers, a poodle, and a Shih Tzu. They're all rescues for my babies.
I have two German short-haired pointers, and I used to have three cats. Now I have two cats. We're all animal lovers here. Yeah, we are.
Yeah, we are. But no, so that's why I'm here. And I mean, I think It's funny, I was sitting there reflecting about this trip yesterday. I said, where's the road? I began my career going to York, Pennsylvania at Densply and casting frames and injection, the success injection system, porcelain. I mean, back then, you had to know it all. I mean, they really trained you to understand every single process. I mean, I did partials, I did a full denture, I did zirconia was newer. Circle had just been re-released, so that's just, but.
You're only twenty how can that even be?
I don't do that at all. I graduated high school like when I was 10, college when I was 15.
I'll take it, I'll take it. That's great to have that background.
It really is, because, and when I started, it was just dense play prosthetics, by the way. yeah, before it was TruBite and Seremco, so I kind of came to the tail end of that, and then the murder happened, right? So a little history from me. So I started with Enterprise Rent-A-Car. That's kind of like my first real real real girl job.
I'll say that is some of the best training.
It is.
I've heard this from many people. What Enterprise does something on me to train their managers and their it just?
Yes, and I've heard that. That's absolutely. I was very worried about taking the job because my first job out of college and someone said, no, you take that job. And one thing that I've learned in life, personal and business mentors, if I listen, if I'm the smartest room, I'm the smartest person in a room, sorry, I was going to say it backwards, but if I'm the smartest person in one room, then I'm in the wrong room. Exactly. So they said, no, someone said, you take that job. I remember I was bartending at Ruby Tuesday still. And one of my regulars said, girl, I've seen you hit those books for like years in that booth right there. Like you take that job. I said, okay. So I took the job. You know, from there I got recruited out to Coca-Cola. So Coca-Cola hired me. And I was with Coca-Cola. I was part of many teams and many projects. One of them was 3D printing. They were looking at packaging. or something like that. I don't remember exactly what the project was, but I remember it was about 3D printing the PET packaging, because the plastic, it's difficult. And 3D printing really took off in manufacturing way before it hit, the clinical space. Well, clinical space in general, it's surgeries, anything. So I remember when I was in training at Dents Fly and they were talking about, printed dentures. And I remember the technician said, no, never happening. Awful. And I'm sitting there thinking, Really? Because I know that this was like years ago, but I saw something like that and they said that it was coming into the medical field. So why wouldn't it hit dental? I just remember having that thought. So when the murder happened, I was just beeline to selling equipment. I was told no. They really wanted to sell the equipment.
Well, you wanted to do it, and they were like, no.
You're not ready or no. No, you have a consumable experience, but not equipment. And I'm like, I'm ready to do this. So my boss at the time said, just wait. Again, my mentors. Mentors, champions. I love all my mentors and champions. And then with Dance Ply, I have great, great mentors. Mark Reese, Tom Husing. I mean, and the list goes on and on and on. Mark Reese is a very good dude. He's a very good man, good friend of mine. And I just, I owe him so much. I mean, he really believed in me. So he said, hold on, just wait. And Things happen, realignments happen, and he said he came down to, I live in Naples, Florida, and he came down to co-travel with me, and I had this huge co-travel prepared, and Barbara, you know how I am. I was ready to do it. He said, no, we're not going to see anyone. Like, I just want to talk to you. Do you still want this position? I said, absolutely. And I went and I did it, and I learned so much. And it was amazing. It was an amazing time. COVID hit. Obviously that kind of put a damper on things. But believe it or not, COVID was COVID year after like just coming out of COVID. It was my record year.
For selling equipment.
Yes. So many clinicians build their in-house labs. So many labs had the time to take back and look into their operation and say, okay. Where are my flaws? Maybe I should have listened to this chick.
People started getting more efficient.
We're taking it now, we're ready to go.
So that was kind of like the consensus back then. So I was able to do that, but then I was still feeling a little bit limited, and then Envision Tech at the time gave me a call. They said, Hey, we're looking for someone, and at that time, Diaz did not have 3D printers. We had the material, but not the printers, and I said, Well, I just learned all of substractive manufacturing. I need to learn additive, so I moved over guys that turned into desktop health. That was an amazing experience. I know their mentor that I that came my way, Mister Kevin Dillon. I don't know if you know him, call him Sensei. Learned so much from him. Anything 3D printing between him, also Blonnie. I mean, he's, you know, he just he knows so much. I mean, so the whole team was just so knowledgeable and I took that knowledge and I, you know, like just, yeah, just ran with it. I mean, it was an amazing experience. And well, you know, the company did not do so well. And.
Companies went like this, but you kept going straight.
I had to. I had no choice. you can't. I have two kids. They're expensive. They're girls.
So true.
And I like nice shoes. So do I. Exactly. So hilarious. Isn't that crazy? I mean, it's been it's been a whirlwind. And then, you know, Ivo Claire group, you know, I heard the call. I was part of their digital team. And the road led me here where I am today. I'm the director of sales for New Aesthetic USA.
People, when they say new aesthetic, I'm like, the bottle with the bright bird on it. And they're always like, yes, whoever did that was like, that's your.
Fernando. Fernando, yeah. So all of our Portux products, they're all distributed through Zoopler USA. So, you know, they're a great partner of ours. They're just a great team over there. I mean, and they've been so welcoming. I mean, we have awesome KOLs. You know, I brought Jimmy on board with me because, you know, I'm A Jimmy fan. I'm a fan of Jimmy. Jimmy is just, he's just great. He's just such a nice man and so genuine and so gentle. Like, I just... I love the way he teaches. And then on the other hand, we have, we just brought on board tom-tom and Zelesky.
Tom Zelesky.
Tom Zelesky, yeah. We know Tom.
We just talked to him in Dallas.
Yeah, we did. Yeah.
So yeah, so I sponsored him to do a lecture in Dallas. I mean, he's just so great with people, right? Like he has the energy and he just like draws you in. So yeah, so that's, I like doing that. Yeah. I.
Got it. Oh, go ahead.
Oh, I was going to say, so Zubiler is the only place you can get Is it in America or?
We have some smaller, like the grandfather, like little distributors, but they're not real, distributors and they usually just don't, but for the most part it's, yeah, it's a Zublar with the Portex product. We're just launching a new product as well, a new composite. It's called Saphira.
Sweet.
I know. I'm really excited about this one.
So what is it a resin again?
It's a composite. No, it's so it's more like the clinical composite, but it does have like, you know, the gum composite. Yeah, so it's different, right? It's more of the clinical product as opposed to the lab, but also, with the pink composite, then it does have, its applications for the lab, so, but it's been it's been very exciting. It's this position has really allowed me to do things and do things my way, which, with other companies, you're, they always get the freedom. Yeah, and it's more of So here, now I'm behind the scenes where I'm creating the product, I'm bringing it to market and I'm commercializing the product. Before, it was, here's your product, good luck. And it was kind of great.
But that's kind of say.
I have to ask you, because we saw the article, you sent me that, in Chicago, you had a brainchild, right? It's all about art. How did that come about? How did you do that? Because that got a lot of press. That was genius.
It did. Well, I hope so. And I hope it keeps coming. So here's the heart of it all, right? So the heart of our products are real more analog acrylics and denture teeth and so forth. I mean, we do manufacture some teeth for other companies. So I wanted to bring these kind of products to young hands. the younger dental technician, it's not, if they're a dental technician, they're typically just using the brand that.
The lab is using.
No questions asked, nothing. Like, you know, they don't know any better. They don't know what's out there. But there's a lot of talented like dental technicians. Like, Mandy, the first thing I thought is, I'm going to send Mandy or you know, some teeth and some acrylic. Like, you know, Tell me what you think. And it's not even more of I'm trying to sell a commercialized product. You want feedback. Yes, I want to know what you think about my teeth. You know, Chris Hernandez, you know, he's kind of all over social media nowadays. And the first Chicago, like 2 years ago, I said, hey, I'm going to send you some materials. Please just bring me a denture. I want to see what you do. And great feedback, you know, on the materials and the teeth, you know. the image tee, the Zena tee, the reflection tee, the super C. So it was very important to me that young hands had my product, but then I wanted to make it fun because I'm fun. I pushed the status quo and that's been my brand and it's just never going to change. That's who I am. So I said, you know, I want to do something fun. But I don't want to do a here's all the list and the checklist of how you're going to do this then. No. I said the only rule is that you're going to use the products of me and whoever partners with me. So the first idea I had was I'm going to call Tay Harvey because she's amazing and Annex is a fun brand. So I want to be fun. And thank goodness, you know, she did answer the call and she jumped on and she's great through like the whole process. And I said, you know, Tay, The only thing we're going to do is just they have to use our products. That's it. They have to use their products and it has to be fun. And we really got some cool entries. You saw that?
Beautiful research.
The winner, remember? Oh, the winner was amazing. I was walking around Chicago with the winner on my hand and everyone had something to do with it. So imagine how many people I talked to about my products. I know. So So that was kind of like the, idea behind it.
Every year, you're thinking maybe that'll be I hope so.
I hope so. I mean, they did ask if we wanted to do it, in every show, but I spoke to Tay and we said, No, we want to make it special. Yeah, we want to make it special and you want to make it fun. And it's now I'm thinking it's more like, you know, the Tay and Denise, like, you know, denture competition, like, you know, but it was really cool to receive some of like, you know, the submissions. I mean, you saw some of them, right? You saw them. The winner incorporated the articulator into the piece. So that was really cool.
It was so cool.
I know. Listen, I wake up every morning and I sit there and I think, how can I make this industry better? I'm not a dental technician by trade, but it's in my heart. You know, I just kind of.
Oh, you're one of us. Don't worry.
Oh, thank you. Thank you for inviting me to the club. I feel so special. No, I'm honored because, thank you guys. But it is an honor, to be part of the community and being embraced. And I just, we were just, I was at the NADL, right? The NBC meetings, NADL, JDT. I was a part of the advisory board this year.
Now you're coming up on the boards and you're really going to love that.
Oh, I really enjoyed it.
Giving back to our industry has been one of the greatest things.
Yeah. So far, I mean, the most I've done is from the silence and through the companies that I work for. But the marathon, I always sign up for the triathlon that now it's just a run, right? Like the Texas?
It's not a triathlon anymore, but it has all the elements of it. It's weird. I don't know.
It's really weird. I can't. Do you prefer the Chicago one? Yeah, right.
I think it's too big.
Really? I'm with Barb. I kind of miss.
Bird told me that we may go back to Chicago. I need that to happen.
Chicago was fine.
I mean, I can get my bike there. I can get my bike put back together. I know where to ship it, where to bring it.
So I have a story about the bike.
So we're doing it for Barb's convenience, I think.
Barb's doing it for Barb's convenience and to raise at least $5,000.
Well, Barb, we need to figure out the bike thing. So the bike situation, the first time I did it in Chicago, my husband now came with me.
Yeah, it's a.
My best friend said, no, it's fine. Just undo the bike and then put it together over there. So he puts the bike together. We fly the bike and it was not working. Like the brain's happening.
I have a bike shop. I ship it to the bike shop. They put it together. I pick it up. I bring it back and I ship it out and it's a half a mile from the hotel.
I think that's the bike shop we found. So I had to rent a bike.
I'll help you. It's a pretty, pretty sweet deal.
It's a rental bike. It was crazy. But so I love giving back to the community. It's important to me. But the first interview I've ever had with, back then with Mark Reese, he said, if you're in dental longer than three years, you're never leaving. And to this day, every time I see him, I'm like, I'm still here.
That is so true. I've never heard that.
I'm still here.
Somebody else had that three-year mark mentioned. And I was like, I've never heard that, but it makes sense. I thought it was 3 days. You're done.
You're a lifer.
I'm definitely a lifer. I'm never leaving the industry. I love it. I mean, I wake, like I was saying, I wake up every morning and I think, okay, how can I help? How can I be of service? How can I, every time I do something or solve a problem for a customer, a client, a partner, I always say, you always hear me say the same line, I live to serve.
I love it. Love it.
That's it. Thank you.
Oh, you're welcome.
This was fun. Like, I never really sat here and just talked about me. I'm not that interesting.
But you are. I just hit like almost 1/2 an hour and it was felt like 2 minutes.
Oh my God, really? My daughters are going to be so happy when they hear this. They're so proud of me.
And I wish them well.
Oh, thank you.
They're my girls. Life's life's thrown you a couple curve balls as well.
Yeah, and I think that that's really where that's where we bonded, you know?
So thank you for coming on.
Oh, absolutely. No. Thank you.
Have you met Lab Day West in a few weeks?
Yes, sir.
I will see you there. You won't see us there.
Oh, really?
Come on now.
Oh, OK.
He was like Dallas, NADL, Miyorka, and ACD, which I didn't go to because it was too much.
Oh, you didn't? Oh, so did you go to ACD? Oh, you didn't. OK.
He's going to be like.
This sounds like so good. Yeah. No, it starts in January, right? It starts with vision. And then I feel like it's like a, that is a sprint.
It doesn't stop.
You know, it's a total sprint of shows leading up all the way to LMT, then kind of take that break. And then you're off to the rest of it.
It used to be a long break, but then Noak threw in Lab Fest, right?
But that one's fine. But that one's fine. I'll see you there for the Ladies of the Mill event. You know, I am not going to miss it. Every Ladies of the Mill event, whatever it is, I'm first in line.
Awesome.
I love it. Thank you so much.
No worries, guys. So good to see you. Oh, yeah, I'm going to go get some paella. Yeah.
You better. Where are you going? Tell me.
Oh, I don't know.
I'll find out. Better.
Yeah. Okay, my English is... Not too good.
So far, so good.
Thank you.
You're going to be fine.
I drink alcohol, so it's fine.
I love it. I love it. So here we are, Exocad Insights, day two.
Yes.
The great Leo says, you got to get Daniella on. And I'm like, well, okay. Daniella Torres.
Yes.
Welcome.
Thank you so much. How are you? Yes, I'm good. Thank you.
Where are you from?
I'm from Chile.
Chile. I don't know if we've ever had a Chile person on the podcast before.
It's very nice, but the south of Chile is the Patagonia.
Is that where you're from?
No, I'm from the city.
Oh, why don't you move to the South though? Sounds better.
Because the South is the natural, the Malta, the Vulcan, so it's very beautiful, so you have to go.
I would love to go to Chile sometime. So tell me, why are you at Exocat Insights?
In this moment, I feel like a famous person here.
I love it.
Danny, designer, can you take a photo with you? So it's very nice. I feel very, very good here.
Is this your first time at Insight?
This is my first time.
Isn't it fantastic here?
Yes.
Compared to Chile, how is Palma?
It's very nice.
Yeah.
Yes. But Chile is, I think, is my first love. It's my country.
I get it.
Yeah, you have a lot of views. The north of Chile is the desert.
Yeah.
In the middle is the city. So the big build. So in the south is more natural. I love it. So it's very nice.
Yeah, you're making me jealous. So tell me, how did you become a dental technician?
In 2016.
Oh, not too long ago.
Yeah.
About 10 years ago.
It's my, no, in 20, no, in 2016, yeah, I graduate in lab dental technology.
So you went to school for it?
In Chile, in Santo Tomas is the name.
Why did you go to school? How did you hear about it? Okay.
Yes.
No, nobody was, no, none of your family was in it. Nobody was a dentist.
No, my dad is military. My mom is home.
Yeah.
Mom.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Yes. And me, my brother, I don't know, is different. So me.
So you just saw it in school and said, why not? And you loved it.
Yes.
Yeah.
And I like always the computer when I was child.
Yeah.
So yes.
How long is the school?
Two years.
Two years.
Yes. Two years.
Did they do digital? Did you use Exocad?
No.
All analog.
No, nothing. It's very analogic when you study, but in my first work, like the first time the CAD CAM, the skin, the computer. So yes.
So you graduated and you ended up at a lab?
Yep.
How big was the lab? Were you by yourself or?
Myself.
You opened your own lab.
Yeah.
Wow. How did you do it?
It's very, it's very nice. It's very difficult in Chile.
Yeah.
In South America is very difficult, but it's working.
Okay.
Yeah.
So You just started out of your house.
Yes.
Okay. And how did you get business? How did you get clients?
With my Instagram.
Instagram. So talk about that.
My Instagram is like a portfolio because they show my works, my videos. So I don't know. I have a lot of followers. So now I don't know. I like influence.
Oh, influencer.
Yeah.
How did you grow it?
I don't know. Honestly, I don't know. I can't believe that because I don't know. It's very hard to believe that I'm done in designer, you know. Yeah, I don't know. It's a dream.
Sure.
So.
Did you get Exocad when you opened your lab or?
Now, yeah. Yes. I have two case. So I have the flex and the perpetual. The perpetual is. In my house.
Okay, I get you. I get you. And then, I mean, did you teach yourself Exocad or how did you learn?
In the first time, it's myself with, I don't know, YouTube.
YouTube, yeah.
But in 2026, it's very hard to find the good information about the digital designers. So it's very hard. But In 2020, no, in 2022, I fly to Madrid with Juan Carlos Palma.
Okay, yeah.
He's a trainer, the Exocad. So I learned in Exocad with him. So you.
Went to Madrid. How long were you trained? Like a week or.
Yes.
Wow.
One week.
Yeah. And you learn everything you needed to know, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes.
And you went back to your lab and started doing everything digitally after that?
Yeah.
So what do you do mostly? Crown? Fixed.
Removable? Crown, all on X. Do you really? WhatsApp, I don't know, veneers, bridge, Maryland.
All of it.
Yes.
Yeah.
Denture.
Do you do dentures too? Yeah.
I like the dentures.
I love doing dentures.
Yes.
Do you manufacture everything in your lab or do you?
No, in my lab, but when I work in United States, I worked in the United States for two years ago.
In the United States.
Yes.
Oh, where?
In the MOD Institute. It's with Waller Rene and Michael C. Yes.
Wow. I didn't know you went to the MOD Institute. Really. Wow. So what'd you do there? Just design or.
Yes, design, maybe 3D print, a lot of things.
Okay. So you moved there for two years?
Yes.
Did you love it?
Yes, it's a very nice place. Charleston, the South Carolina. It's beautiful.
It's now chilly.
Yeah, Chile's is better. Chile's is better because in the summer in Charleston it's very, I don't know, it's sticky, humid, humid, humid, yeah. And Chile's more cold.
I love it. I love it. So at MOD, you were a designer?
Yes.
And you did the printing. And then you went back to Chile. Then what?
Now I work in myself, I don't know.
You opened a lab again.
Yes.
Okay.
But is the remotely, is our design. Yeah.
But do you manufacture?
Not yet.
So what do you do with that? Do you send it to somewhere else, a manufacturer for it?
When I finish the design. So the client, I don't know, is milling or printing.
Oh, you're doing this for dentists that manufacture in their office. Oh, so you're only doing design. That's nice.
Yes.
How many are you doing a lot of designs while you're here on vacation?
No, It's my vacation. Okay. It's no time for design. No, I need to break.
Yeah. So when did you decide to get into the Instagram and the social media? When did you do that? Like right away or?
No, I started Instagram in 2019. 2019, okay, yeah. Yes, 2019, yeah.
And what did you do? Just stuff you were working on.
Yes, it's like the portfolio, but they show my designs, the videos. When the people ask me, Oh, Danny, what is your work? How can I explain that? It's very hard when the people in...
I make teeth.
Yeah. Do you like a dentist? No. Most common question.
Yeah.
So look. It's a good reason to do it.
And dentist started following you and then dentist started sending you work.
Yes.
Wow.
Yes, it's, I don't know, it's very strange because I allow, I am the lab technician. So the dentist, lab technician, so.
Yeah, I love it. I mean, that's one way to grow, you know, and if it works for you and it keeps you busy, I imagine.
Yes.
Yeah.
I got a lot of messages. Sorry, my followers.
You're not answering this weekend? A little busy? Sorry, but yeah, what brought you to Mallorca to come to Insights?
Because I am a hero.
Are you a hero?
Yeah, I am a hero, so I know how my teacher. But I am a hero.
Yeah, there you go.
I am a hero, so yes.
How have you been liking it? I mean, have you gone to the lectures and everything? Yeah.
Yes.
Learning a lot or?
Yes. With a new actualization, the versions.
Oh yeah. Yes.
It's very nice. They are the Exocad Hub.
The Hub.
I don't know if, can I see that, but.
Yeah. we talk about the Hub.
Yeah. It's amazing.
It is amazing.
The Exocad Hub or Hub?
Hub.
Hub. It's very nice. Yes.
Yeah. So how many clients do you work with? How many dentists do you think? That many.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah, I don't know.
How do they send you the scans? I mean...
E-mail.
E-mail. Really.
E-mail or WhatsApp?
Yeah. How many do you do a day?
This depends.
Yeah.
It depends. I don't know. Maybe I like, I don't know. A lot. 22 per day or 19 or 14?
Yeah.
It's relative.
Yeah. That's amazing.
Yeah.
So what is your Instagram? How can people follow you?
It's Danny Designer.
Danny Designer.
Yes. Danny Designer Point CLCLL.
Yes, for Chili. Is it Danny DANNY.
Yes.
Okay. Yeah, I think everyone should go check her out. I think it's really fascinating. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Absolutely. Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
A huge thanks to all the ladies that took their time to come talk to us at XOCAD Insights. When Andrea first came by the booth to say hi, she didn't want to come on the podcast. But a little encouragement from Ivoclar and lucky for us, she agreed. And we always love catching up with Denise. And since this recording, she's started with Exocad. Amazing. Sorry that I missed the conversation with Danny, but it's great to see young, passionate people in our field create content to showcase others how great it can be to make teeth. And thank you again to Exocad. Elvis and I had an amazing time.
And we still have more conversations to come.
That's right.
All right, everybody. That's all we got for you. And of course, we'll talk to you next week.
Have a great week. Bye. Greetings and welcome to episode 429 Voices from the Bench.
The views and opinions expressed on the Voices from the Bench podcast are those of the guest and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the host or Voices from the Bench LLC. So join us recently chat with Andrea Morgan, Denise Ramos, and Daniel Torres. First up is Andrea Morgan, who moved to Spain at the age of 8 from Romania.