The Powerful Journey From Dentistry to Surgical Innovation
In this episode of the Medical Sales Podcast, host Samuel Adeyinka sits down with Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, professor, and researcher, to give medical sales professionals a rare behind the scenes look at what it takes to earn a surgeon’s trust and win in the OR environment. Dr. Connelly breaks down his path from dentistry to an MD and PhD, what a real operating room setup looks like, and exactly how reps add value during complex cases like TMJ replacement surgery. He explains why long term relationships matter more than flashy pitches, what “subtle” outreach really means when approaching surgeons, and the consistent habits of the best reps he’s worked with for decades. The conversation also dives into the biggest innovations transforming his specialty, including virtual surgical planning, custom plates, guided implant workflows, and how AI is starting to reshape imaging, planning, and rep responsibilities. If you sell into surgeons or want to, this episode is a masterclass in professionalism, patience, and how to become the rep who belongs in the room.
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Transcription:
Samuel 00:00:04 Hello and welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. I’m your host, Samuel, the founder of a revolutionary medical sales training and mentorship program called the Medical Sales Career Builder. And I’m also host of the Medical Sales podcast. In this podcast, I interviewed top medical sales reps and leading medical sales executives across the entire world. It doesn’t matter what medical sales industry, from medical device to pharmaceutical to genetic testing and diagnostic lab, you name it, you will learn how to either break into the industry, be a top 10% performer within your role, or climb the corporate ladder. Welcome to the Medical Sales Podcast. And remember, I am a medical sales expert sharing my own opinion about this amazing industry and how it can change your life.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:00:50 So I am an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and so to be an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, you have to be start out life as a dentist, at least in dental school. And so I did did my undergrad about 50 years, doctor about 30 years ago at the University of Miami, where first year I was there.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:01:13 In the last year I was there. We won the national championship in football. So nice. That was a good time for a hurricane. Nice. Yeah, it was like it was awesome. And then traveled to Maryland for a few years and then went to Dental School of Columbia. And so I’m, I’m a native New Yorker, upstate New Yorker, so very different than New York City, Manhattan. But it was it was a great four years there, and I did I realized in dental school there I was wanting to be an oral surgeon. and so I applied to be a to different programs and ended up going to University of California, San Francisco. And that’s actually where I’m a full professor now, the, the in the training Program. I heavily involved in research and so I knew I was going to get my PhD. So after dental school, I went to a residency. Residency you get you you go to medical school to get your M.D.. And then being a glutton for punishment, I spent another few years doing my PhD.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:02:17 So. Wow. So wait a minute. So I got I got three of them.
Samuel 00:02:25 Then from. A dentist. You became a surgeon, and then from surgeon you became a PhD surgeon? Oh, man. You you are, you are. You must be a very smart person. No, that is amazing. That is amazing. You know, so I just want to hang out there just for a moment because I don’t think people. So everybody listening right now, they are either in medical sales or they want to be in medical sales or they’re somehow part of medical sales. Sometimes physicians too, but I don’t think people think about the rigor that that you go through. So that when a medical sales professional is approaching you to talk about their product or their service or device, they’re taking some of those in consideration. So when you when you went to dental school and then you became an MD. Was that just an automatic transition for you with that? What did somebody plant that seed did you say? Was that always the goal? How did that.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:03:20 It’s part of the training program. Part of the training program. So it’s the oral surgery program is a six year program okay. For the first year, you’re an intern. The year two and three, you go to medical. The third and fourth year of medical school. Okay. You do a year of general surgery and then two more years of oral surgery. So, yeah, you go through a lot of a lot of training and a lot of different experiences. I mean, it’s a whole journey. And, you know, most of the medical sales reps I deal with, you know, most of them are like plating reps. And, you know, they just play, you know, and but you know, really understand that because. Because they’re involved with the programs. A lot of them. A lot of the training programs. They understand.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:04:04 Yeah, yeah. Particularly the sales reps that are around like universities and. Training, training. You know, they really have a good idea of what happens because they see people at every level. Right. So they see the first year, the second year and they see the attending. So they, you know, the. If you if, you know, see if, if you are a sales rep, I definitely it makes a lot of sense to. At least spend some time near a training institution so you can get that flavor for, for what those people that you’re going to be selling to. You’re not doing that. That makes that makes a big difference.
Samuel 00:04:40 Absolutely. I can only imagine going back to the beginning of your career and getting your education really was. Was being an oral surgeon something that you wanted from your undergrad days or did that? Was that a kind of a discovery.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:04:55 No, it was a discovery. You know, I like. I went to college. I actually left high school early because I was sick of high school, and. And I was from being from northern New York. I was sick of being cold. And so I didn’t really matter. I just I did early decision to the University of Miami. I kind of had an idea that I wanted to be a doctor, that I want liked in the, you know, like the medical field. My mom was a nurse, so I sort of like had that keyed in, you know, most a lot of, you know, a lot of some doctors I knew not a lot. I, you know, I respected and, you know, it was just interesting, like, science was interesting to me. Yeah. Yeah.
Samuel 00:05:32 So then what prompted the PhD was that, was that also part of the program or was that a conscious decision after everything?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:05:39 Yeah, I know, I mean, so right after college I spent just about four years working in a lab, a laboratory at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Baltimore. And so that, you know, that that kind of I got I, you know, I ended up getting a really good research foundation there.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:05:56 And so from there I, you know, you really can understand how you can look at a problem from, you know, basic science, all, you know, all the way potentially up to the clinical application. And, and so it’s a really unique place to be. And so I always wanted that to, to be part of my, my journey. And so, so I always kept research. I was always a research student dental school doing research. I spent some time at IDC for doing research. So there was I it was always was like always there.
Samuel 00:06:29 Yeah yeah, yeah. Okay. So when you think about your space, please talk to the audience and tell us what does it look like with your actual reps or reps with you? When when are they selling to you? And once they are successfully sold to you, how are you working with them?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:06:46 Right? Sure. A lot of the reps we have very long term relationships with. So you know something? When I started residency like 20 years ago and some of the reps that were there 20 years ago are still around.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:07:00 Wow. And that I knew when I was an intern. Right. And so, you know, we know who they are. We know their family. You know, they know our family, you know. So it becomes a very, very tight relationship.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:07:14 And as time goes on, they they move up the sales ladder and they, you know, bring in their associate reps and whatnot. And so that I mean, it’s, you know, it becomes a friendly relationship every and the, you know, usually the way we work is, you know, it kind of depends on, on the level of their involvement you need on their product. So some of the long time reps, they know, we know their product better than they do. And so they don’t really necessarily need to be in the operating room with us. But if it’s other things that we’re not, we don’t have as much experience with just using them there. And they’re always in there on the operating room, just standing in the corner ready to answer a question.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:08:00 You know, just Johnny on the spot. And so that’s how it sort of developed. I mean, you all you always like you know, they they, you know, have a, have a second set of eyes, you know, looking at making sure the, the instruments are sterile. They know that everything’s set. You know, we have residents for that. But it’s always good to have somebody, you know, getting your back on that level as well, particularly when you don’t have residents. It’s always good. Oh yeah. They, they, they got that set up or the case is going to go here. You know this. Sure. And we can see and then you know, then we can, you know whenever you want we can talk about how things are changing.
Samuel 00:08:36 Right. No. So we’ll get there. So, you know, just so everyone listening can be crystal clear on what it looks like. Take us into the room at first. Doctor, can you just clarify specifically what you work on as a surgeon and then take the picture of what the room looks like in a typical surgery. Yeah.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:08:54 So as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, I do kind of full scope oral maxillofacial surgery. And that means in private practice and I do some private practice. Private practice is your bread and butter wisdom teeth and implants and things like that. And there’s absolutely a big role for medical sales there for, you know, dental implants and things like that. But, but, but that’s, you know, in the private practice environment. But in the hospital environment, it’s, it’s mostly the, well, surgery where we’re moving people’s faces around orthodontic surgery, surgery where we do temporomandibular joint reconstruction. And so there’s a lot of that that we do and a lot, you know, most of the time we have the rep for the plating company plating system that we’re using that day is in the room. Yeah. Basically the how the the case starts is the circulating nurses there? The scrub nurse is there, anesthesiologist is there. They start out by essentially getting everything ready. The patient prepped, patient goes to sleep, usually gets intubated.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:10:03 And then we especially specifically wrap the head because we’re working at the head and around the breathing tube and and go to work. And that’s, you know, essentially that is, you know, so that at a minimum, there’s the circulating nurse, the scrub nurse, anesthesiologist, a lot of times these days there’s a Crna, a certified registered anesthesiologist, or I think that’s how we know there’s a Crna. And and then there’s the surgeon. In the case where there’s residents, there’s at least one or 2 or 3 residents in the room as well.
Samuel 00:10:36 And is there usually an a rep, an associate rep, or is it usually one or the other? Or an associate.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:10:41 Yeah. A rep or an associate rep. Yeah. Yeah. Usually both of them don’t come because they’re covering a wide. Area. Yeah. You know, and and you know, and it’s the introductions being made in the associate reps, you know, comes around and we know who he is. And that’s great. Yeah. Awesome.
Samuel 00:11:01 Now when it comes to that rep or actually how long are your surgeries typically like the typical surgery the most. In fact what is the most common surgery and how long does it normally take?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:11:13 I specialize in TMJ surgery. And so like a one side TMJ replacement is about 4 or 5 hours three, three, 4 or 5 hours. And if you do sometimes we do both sides. That’s about 8 or 9 hours.
Samuel 00:11:29 Okay. So let’s think about wow, those are the long procedures. Let’s think about one of the procedures. What are you expecting for the rep in that in that span of 8 or 9 hours. Are they keeping helping you keep the room calm? Are they just there to be a resource when you have to question, are they doing something else that people don’t think about?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:11:50 I mean, the biggest part. The biggest help is when it comes to actually putting say. Sometimes we use cutting guides. And and so the knowing where to point the circulator to, oh here’s the package. And then the scrub nurse, the scrub tech takes the package opens it and and then, you know, here’s the screws pointing out where the screws are, where the screwdriver is. Because sometimes we’ll get a scrub a scrub tech that is not familiar with the system. Sure. And they’ll end up needing that advice. And rather than one of us have to kind of like take take our concentration away from the patient, then it’s awesome to have a rep that that does that, that serves that purpose. And that’s great because then they’ll they’ll end up teaching the scrub nurse more about their set and their system as well. Right. And I would say for the vast majority of the time, it’s not a very it’s kind of a lame at a time. Most of the time they’re just hanging out on their phone because we don’t need them until until at that point in time. But they’re always sort of paying attention. And if we need something, say we need some imaging or something like that, they’re they’re always there to and very willing to help out.
Samuel 00:13:00 Yeah, yeah. In fact, that was my next question. What does it look like? Is it they’re checking in every hour. Are they there? They’re in the room the entire time. But like you said on their phone, just waiting to be called on. What’s the normal.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:13:10 Dynamic? Sometimes they come in and out. I mean, we don’t, you know, for the most part, you know, the our reps that are that are with us, they sort of know when they’re needed. Just what I explained. And so, you know, we’re not going to notice if they’re in the corner or not or if they’re outside the door, even if they go for a coffee, coffee break, we’re not going to notice. and it’s really that the critical time is, you know, when we’re putting their stuff in.
Samuel 00:13:37 Sure, sure. Makes sense. So when you think about how reps approach you, Think about the first time. You mean a rep? What? Give us 2 or 3 things that you love. When a new rep is trying to gain your business, trying to develop a relationship. What are the things that say, you know what I. This is what I want to see.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:13:57 Yeah. I mean, to me, I like kind of a lower key approach. I don’t like to be sold on stuff, and I don’t like pushy things. I don’t like to see that necessarily, because I might have something that I like. And if you try to push something on me, I’m actually might be negative. You know, I’ve been using this for five years and why should I? And so, you know, and I know, you know, when you’re trying to sell something, you, you know, you sort of there are sort of rules. Not rules, but guidelines kind of like don’t take no for this, whatever. Whatever it is. Right. And so you have to be and I’m a pretty easygoing guy, but there are others that are not so easy going and kind of make immediate judgements on you based on whatever.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:14:41 And those judgments can go forward rather than realize. I realize that my first impressions usually wrong, but some people don’t. Some people just take their first impression and hold it against them forever. And so. So I like a subtle approach, you know, just to feel out, feel the person though, the surgeon out, the people out. And you know, it’s not it’s not a sprint. Right. It’s that it’s kind of a low. It’s a long ultramarathon.
Samuel 00:15:10 I hope you’re enjoying today’s episode. And I want to let you know our programs cover the entire career of a medical sales professional, from getting into the medical sales industry to training on how to be a top performer in the medical sales industry to masterfully navigate your career to executive level leadership. These programs are personalized and customized for your specific career and background, and trained by over 50 experts, including surgeons. Our results speak for ourselves, and we’re landing positions for our candidates in less than 120 days in top medical technology companies like Stryker, Medtronic, Merck, Abbott, you name it.
Samuel 00:15:48 Would you run an Ironman race without training in a strategy? You wouldn’t. So why are you trying to do the same with the medical sales position? You need training. You need a strategy. And you need to visit, evolve, reassess and fill out the application. Schedule some time with one of our accounting executives. And let’s get you into the position that you’ve always dreamed of.
Samuel 00:16:07 No. It makes. It makes perfect sense. But I want to get a little deeper into what that looks like, because a lot of people listening right now, they want to be in medical sales, right? They’ve never had a position like this, or they’re in a different type of medical sales that they’re not dealing with a surgeon like yourself. So when you say subtle, when you say you don’t want to want someone coming to you pushy, can you give us a little example of what that looks like?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:16:28 Pushy. Someone, right? So give it an example. I. You know, I say that it’s usually a pretty effective approach to come forward with something educational that says our company has developed XYZ and I just if you want, I could use a brochure or a website if you think it would benefit you. Be happy to come back and tell you more and buy your sandwich or whatever. And you know, something like that I think is usually the a success, successful way to go. And then on the back end, setting that up with our assistance rather than directly with us because, you know, we’ve got other stuff to do. Right. And so that’s usually the way I see it. And most effective, effective, you know, just a nice introduction is what we do. This is the this is maybe the benefit that would have on you if you have if you have a current solution, that’s great. If you don’t have a solution for it then here it is. And yeah. And then like I said, kind of setting things up on the back end and not, you know, not have us to worry and think about that.
Samuel 00:17:35 Sure, sure. Think about your best rep Then. And you could be one that you know forever. It can be one that you’ve known for a number of years. What are the top three things they did that she just loved to see from all your reps on a consistent basis?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:17:48 They always know what’s going on. If not, they make it their their absolute mission to know what’s going on. And that might be with the case, with the order, with a whatever it said they are going to do. Think of nothing else until your questions answered and then just being friendly. And you know, we’re not going to necessarily go out to dinner together, but just being friendly and and you know, obviously the more time you spend with someone, the more familiar you get with them. You know, you know, after, you know, a hundred times in the Or and, you know, you step aside and chit chat and, you know, see what’s kind of like. So somebody who’s like a work colleague at that point.
Samuel 00:18:26 No, I get it, I get it. So earlier you said that in, in in hospital you’re dealing with certain kind of reps. And then outside of the hospital and clinic you’re dealing with other reps. Speak. Speak to that for our audience members. What two different types of reps are you referring to?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:18:43 So specifically, like dental implant reps, you would see most, most often in private private practice. I’ll say, I don’t know if there’s something that’s kind of over the last five years. The for whatever reason, the the presence of dental implant reps has decreased dramatically. And I’m not sure maybe they just implant companies don’t see value or needing it. Maybe everybody’s kicking it out okay. They don’t need to have somebody there sell you all the time. But that’s over the last five years. Definitely something I’ve noticed, though, that that’s the vast majority of reps that that you really see in a private practice in an oral surgery setting. Okay, for, for the hospital setting. Yeah, it’s it’s, so we, we do surgeries that require plates and screws to hold bones together.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:19:34 So definitely those reps We we we have reps for the TMJ replacement, which actually got bought by one of the plating and screwing reps. So it’s kind of the same rep do the same thing, right? Do we use sometimes biologic materials and they all have different reps. Some of the instruments we use, like some of the saws and and cutting instruments that we use have us they’re their own reps. And it’s all variable. Like particularly if we have a new instrument we’re using, that rep will show up 2 or 3 times to make sure we’re comfortable, and then we’ll be like, you don’t have to come anymore. And then, you know, and so everybody’s had, you know, trained I would say, you know, there’s that’s kind of kind of the in my experience in the oral surgery world.
Samuel 00:20:22 Sure, sure. Okay. So let’s let’s change gears a little bit. You’ve been doing this for, I think, self-proclaimed 30 years. Okay. I think we’re almost there. So? So take us back to 2007 and think about any medical innovation that impressed you. And then fast forward to today. What has been, in your opinion, the most impressive innovation in your space?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:20:57 Okay. So so back then, I mean, back then when you’re just starting out, I mean, everything’s new. So it’s you kind of like just figuring figuring out what your role in the world is. That’s fair. Yeah. That’s a good question. I’m trying to think what what would at the time, you know, maybe a different, like, plating design, not necessarily earth shattering to me or anything like that, but that would be one thing. I would hear the reps talk about plating, design, things like that. And then it was outside of my specialty because we do six months of being, you know, an anesthesiology resident and being an anesthesiologist, and I saw a lot of stuff there that was pretty amazing.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:21:40 Like particularly like neuro angiography, things like that. Where there, you know. Yeah. So where they, they put a basically a cannula in your leg vein in there and they seek it up all the way to your, the vessels in your brain. So if you’ve had a stroke they can kind of clot that off. And I know that that was very impressive. So that was kind of like the beginning stages. And and so that that sort of thing I think was the most amazing. But again, you know, when you’re just starting out, it’s all kind of new.
Samuel 00:22:11 The better question is, what’s the biggest technological innovation you’ve seen up until today, I think.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:22:18 I think virtual surgical planning.
Samuel 00:22:21 Talk to us about it.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:22:23 So that is so when I first started out like, say, automatic surgery where you would rearrange a person’s jaws because they’re not exactly there, like saying the upper jaw is too small or the lower jaw is too big. So we we do surgeries where we can rearrange things.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:22:39 And when I was an intern, we used to do them just with on stone models, and we used to literally cut the models and glue them back together when we got them in the right orientation and that, and then we would make a splint, like physically make a splint on that model. Okay. Now we take a CT scan and we, we get on the, we get on a zoom call just like this with a technician on the other end who has the CT scan all set up and 3D reconstruction done. And we can he he’ll do the virtual surgery where he makes the virtual sure surgical cuts virtually. We’ll put the bones exactly where we want. We’ll make custom plates exactly where where we want before we, we we just we would bend, bend in, bend in the plates at the time of surgery. So we there was nothing custom about them. Okay. And so we. So now. But now we we plan exactly where the bones go. Exactly where the place. Go. So we know where we were putting the bones, where we wanted them. And. Yeah, I mean that that’s revolutionary.
Samuel 00:23:43 When did that innovation first come around? It’s fairly recent.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:23:48 You know, time flies so fast. Maybe 4 or 5 maybe. Yeah, maybe like 6 or 7 years ago or so. Yeah. Yeah.
Samuel 00:24:01 What did that do for. I mean, and of course there’s data, I’m sure. But just from your opinion and what you saw, what did this do for accuracy of procedures. I mean, did it 100% increase. 200% increase? I mean, talk to us a little bit about that.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:24:15 No, I mean, it’s, to me it’s a 100% increase. You know, that obviously been very, very ballpark ish. But like, you know, when you just say when you’re doing a lower jaw surgery before there was no real way to tell where your judgment was going to end up. You just pushed on it and hoped that it ended up kind of in the right place so that it didn’t. It didn’t relapse when you took all the, you know, all the things, everything off.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:24:40 But now we can we can put the jaw joint and make a custom play exactly where we wanted. So we know that jaw joint is going to end up where we wanted it, because it said before the ding, it’s like you either have to redo it or accept it or whatnot. So that sort of thing is really changed how we can, you know, best serve the patient. Really.
Samuel 00:25:03 That’s awesome. And, and with the, with what you just described. Oh gosh. I gonna we’re gonna have to add this one. I had I had a question for you and I just lost it. Yeah. Because I wanted to actually ask if that’s the virtual is one of the biggest surgical surgical innovations. What has it done as far as speed of the surgery or our surgery is faster now because of this or it doesn’t really impact that. It’s strictly just impacts the success of the surgery and knowing where to put things in the right place.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:25:35 So some surgeries are faster, okay. Sometimes it’s just sometimes I would say it doesn’t. It not doesn’t necessarily because there is there’s still a learning phase going on right now of companies iterating their their custom plates and screws. And so as they go through those iterations, the performance or accurate or ease of use I think is improving. But that that that takes some time sometimes when the ease of use isn’t so great and, you know, maybe the next, next time, you know, we give them feedback and it will be so I you know, I so on that level there it’s getting better. The speed is getting better. The on the dental implant side, what is improving speed and increasing speed is we’re able to, you know same thing virtually place implants right. Right. and so we take us. We take an in-office CT scan. Send it to a lab. And and with the same thing we go through with a technician on the other end. They’re placing the implants where they need to be. And then at the end of our treatment planning session, they make a guide. Where where exactly where the implants go.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:26:51 So the guide we now we just we obviously have to drill into bone to, to make a hole for the implants. So the guide is exactly where we planned it. And it does increase the speed and accuracy a great deal. So similar type of thing. But you know and every every application is a little different. But like between dental implants and like. Yeah. Yeah. Or like six or thematic surgeries.
Samuel 00:27:16 That’s amazing. So what type of technician is this that’s doing it on the other side?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:27:21 So they are I don’t know what you would call somebody who knows how to run the software. And so. It’s. From the. Company that. Of whatever software you’re using. Yeah. And usually it’s the plating company or the, the company that’s selling us the, the hardware and, and the vast majority of the time the rep is on that call too. So that’s another, that’s another. So the rep will be there to make sure the communications intact and and nothing gets lost. And so that’s a kind of a new role for a rep is to facilitate that virtual surgery. And so it’s a very I guess that’s pretty interesting actually.
Samuel 00:28:05 How has AI impacted any of this?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:28:09 It’s coming. It’s coming. So there are lots of. So there’s still very much, I think, a desire to have a human in the loop, no doubt, but AI manipulation of imaging AI, AI is going to be able to place implants. They’re going to be able to design custom plates. There’s nothing it won’t be able to do. I think technically, then it’ll just be able to eventually, you know, not need the technician so much. But really, what the technicians for is somebody to know how to use the planning platform, but they’re not going to be able to. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, at some point the surgeons are just going to look at it and sign off on it. Kind of like the way we do now with a, with a live technician. And I think I think that that probably mostly will be one of the big advances because everybody’s trying I think everybody’s trying to find a solution that will involve AI.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:29:07 Some of it is not necessary. They’re just doing it because it’s AI and it’s more.
Samuel 00:29:11 Than it’s the latest thing. It’s the latest.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:29:13 Thing, right? But there are places where it really will provide value and patient benefit.
Samuel 00:29:21 Do you see a world where a robot is doing the entire surgery with that human interaction in your lifetime.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:29:32 Probably not without human interaction, but they do. They have a robot that places dental implants now. That does it now. And, I’m not sure the economics really works out at the moment for that. You know.
Samuel 00:29:45 Speak to that.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:29:47 So, you know, I’m not I honestly don’t know how much the robot is, but I was probably pretty expensive. And particularly people in private practice, if you know something they want to scale. You can’t charge too much for it, you know. So one of the one of the bigger advances over, like, say, the last 20 years was people went from playing, you know, playing radiographs to digital radiographs and then digital radiographs. And they have this machine called the cone beam CT, which kind of like more or less takes a CT scan in your office. Okay. So just, you know, it took 20 years for some people just to adapt that technology. You know, to go from playing film to read, you know, to digital. Same thing with the EMR as electronic medical records is taking them, you know, a long transition. Some people are early adopters, some people takes a long time. And, you know, those are transitions, particularly for the robots. You know, there are people that that are all for it. It doesn’t matter how much it will cost. But then, you know, if you look at the, you know, people looking at the economics of how many implants do I need a place to justify the cost of this robot?
Samuel 00:30:56 Gotcha.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:30:56 And it doesn’t make sense for for them need to go do this right? Or is it really better for for me to for a robot to do it than me just to do it. Right.
Samuel 00:31:06 So for the for the for the individuals that see the value of the robot and want it, regardless how much it costs, what value are they holding on to? Like, why are they saying this?
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:31:21 So. so I think, you know. Accuracy and speed. Probably. But, you know, in my mind, if you’re doing it virtually anyway and you’ve got a guide cause you’re basically taking out the guide part of it because you’re going to do it virtually. And to be able to tell what the the robot, what to do. Right. So I think I think it would. I think it’s more, more of a, you know, people like me that have been placing implants for 20 years or whatever. It’s not going to improve too much, but maybe people that are not so used to it, not that they don’t have the experience, might look at that and say, oh, this is a good solution for me because I’m not real comfortable. Sure. You know.
Samuel 00:32:08 So you see it more in the wheelhouse at the newer. Just the newer.
Dr. S. Thaddeus Connelly 00:32:11 I think so, yeah. Because, you know, and it’s just like a lot of other dental AI like radiographs software that’s out there, you know, they can look at a cavity and spot a cavity, but, you know, that’s what you know. That’s what a dentist who’ve been practicing for 20 years does every day and can like, you know, walk into a room and smell it. They don’t they don’t need help doing that. Right. So what do they really need help with? And so, you know, new people. Yeah okay then fine. But someone who’s experienced I don’t need help with that. They’re like no, no, wait.
Samuel 00:32:43 That’s it. That’s the point.
Samuel 00:32:45 I hope you enjoyed today’s episode. And remember, I have a customized and personalized program that gets you into the medical technology industry as a sales professional or any type of role for that matter. Become a top performer in your position and masterfully navigate your career to executive level leadership.
Samuel 00:33:04 Check out these programs and learn more by visiting our site. Fill out an application, schedule some time with one of our account executives and allowing us to get you where you need to be. Stay tuned for more awesome content with amazing interviews on the Medical Sales podcast.
Medical Territory Manager!
I was a Regional Sales Representative for Long-Term Care pharmacy services. I had dreamed of getting into the med sales industry when I went into my career as a nurse, but the pharmacy sales job came to me, and I had just settled. Fortunately, I had a job shakeup that allowed me to determine that now was the time to pursue my original vision.
I absolutely would not have this position without Samuel and the Evolve Your Success community. A lot of people my age would just stop trying, but EYS believed in me.
EYS allowed me to break into the industry in 90-Days after I had been trying on my own for over two years! I had lots of recruiter screenings, and a few interviews with hiring managers, but I was never offered a position.
Before EYS, I didn’t realize I was doing the bare minimum to get hired. I was applying everywhere, hoping to get noticed and waiting. It just wasn’t working! I didn’t know that that was not enough to compete in an industry this sought after, and against people who knew what I didn’t know about the process.
Of course, I had to think hard before making a financial investment that’s reasonably substantial. But when I read the testimonials of real med sales reps on the site and learned that I wasn’t the only one taking a chance on my success, that EYS was sharing that risk also, I knew I had to do it. Though you might be able to cobble together some of the steps of getting a role in med sales from online research on your own, you just can’t know what you don’t know!
The process of going through EYS presents this insider knowledge to the student, as well as giving you a progression of difficulty as you obtain the information, and you begin to master it. Not only that, but they give you access to amazing mentors and instructors, allow you to practice your interview skills, and teach you how to market yourself through social media and your own website! I cannot stress enough that EYS was the factor that made the difference in my successfully landing my dream job! The support, structure, and knowledge gained was invaluable!
I would recommend this course to ANYONE looking to break into medical sales
Thank you so much, EYS! This journey has been life changing and has resulted in the successful culmination of my 18-Year ambition! 
Sports Medicine in Phoenix! I extend so much gratitude to the Evolve Your Success group as I land this role and get ready to pursue my dream job. I am a Physical Therapist who became a little stuck in the profession due to issues with reimbursement and the difficulty for continued growth upwards. I turned to EYS to assist me in learning about the medical sales industry and gain knowledgable mentors who were able to help coach me in this process. I am a strong believer in surrounding yourself with the best and good things will happen. I did work hard, but with the support of my mentors and other colleagues going through a career change, I felt a sense of community and it confirmed my drive to get into this industry. I have already learned so much through the interview process, and feel very blessed to have had the resources this group provided. I have made lifelong friends and I cannot wait to continue to follow others’ journeys to pursue this incredible field. I urge you to give Evolve Your Success a try to gain mentorship, guidance, and support through any career transition.
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. I owe this opportunity to Samuel, the program, and the incredible mentors at EYS.
