Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hudson Valley This Morning with Ed Kowalski is the new
voice in the Hudson Valley.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi, this is Ed.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
I am so grateful for the support you've already given us.
We are creating a platform that gives you our listeners
of voice. Together we can build the best local community
talk program in the Hudson Valley. You're listening to the
best of Hudson Valley this Morning with Ed Kowalski for
the week that just concluded. This week, we're featuring our
interview with doctor Aaron Prunty from Taconic Dental Open wide
(00:27):
and listen, folks, it's a good interview. Eight o six
on Thursday morning. Welcome back to Hudson Valley this morning
with Ed Kowalski. I am pleased to welcome to the
WVIP microphone someone who I haven't seen in a while,
Doctor Aaron Prunty, is joining us. Aaron Prunty is the
is the principal over at Taconic dentalsable owner. Principal owner,
(00:50):
not a principle. It's not a school we're talking about.
It's a dental practice and Aaron has been in. She
just surprised me to tell me that that practice has
now been up and running and thriving for eleven years now.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Now Aaron's a little nervous, folks. So I want to
be able to make sure that this is the first
time that we're dealing with the dentist who's nervous as
opposed to me being nervous when I go see Aaron.
So that's sort of where I'm scared. It's an interesting thing.
Open wine, Uncle, Mike, No, open wine. No, no, no, no, Aaron,
There's so much I want to talk to you about
(01:24):
as far as dentistry is concerned, and certainly I've visited
your practice. You guys have looked at me a couple
of times, made some recommendations for me. Then COVID hit
and I never really followed up on them, which is
now why I have to get back to see Erin.
Talk to me about the overall dentist practice these days.
Your practice is very big, very large. You know, you
do a lot of different kinds of things. Talk to
(01:45):
us about it.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
So we have a multi specialty practice, So that means
that there's myself and another general dentist, and then we
also bring in some specialties as well, so we haven't
ended on this. That's somebody that just as root canals
all day long.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yeah, I know, would not want to be that.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
And then we also have an oral surgeon, so he
does extractions and implans and we now have a pediatric
dentist as well. So it's really nice to have everybody
working together in the same space because we're really able
to collaborate well, especially on more complex cases.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You know, the nice thing that I always liked about
visiting your practice is besides I mean, you guys are terrific,
you know, I mean, you're very skilled practitioners, but your
entire office staff is extremely helpful, and I think, you know,
one of the things that as a as a medical practitioner,
one of the things that I know a lot of
doctors struggle with is just the overall the myriad of
insurance issues. And everybody in your practice who does that
(02:45):
does it very very well.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Yeah, and we've we've reduced the number of insurances that we,
you know, participate with because you know, it is very
hard to deal with so many insurances and you know,
things like that, so we we have tried to streamline
process for my staff.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You know, it's interesting, you know, a good friend of
the show and another attorney that I've dealt with for
years in the Hudson Valley is David Weiss. And David's
going to be embarrassed now because David Weiss is about
my age.
Speaker 6 (03:14):
That's not embarrassed lawyers on the air.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
No, no, no, yeah, let me finish the thought here. David
Weiss is a guy who's about my age. He's never
had a cavity, an he brags about it. I'm like, David,
I can't stand the fact that you've never had a
cavisty to the dentist. He goes to the dentist regularly.
But Aron, let me ask you a question, how much
is that? How much of that is genetic? I mean
how much of of I mean I always like.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
To dispel the rumors of we just have bad teeth,
where people just kind of accept that, like they can't
do anything to you know, prevent it, and things like that.
But there's certainly differences between like quality of saliva and
then it's habits you've developed.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Early quality of saliva, Yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
Know, it's basically how quickly your mouth comes back to
a normal pH It's habits that go into a lot
too So one of the biggest examples I used with
people is drinking a cup of coffee. I would much
prefer to see somebody drink an entire cup of coffee.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And brush your teeth.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
You don't even have to brush your teeth, just be
done with it. The people that their entire cup of
coffee last them all morning are doing the most damage
to their teeth.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I did not know that. You know, it's funny bourbon.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
How does bourbon play?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
But you know it's fun sure. The the Jena, the
individual who's our new production assistant here in the studio
when she was actually she was the person who was
getting us booking Aaron into the studio today, and she
said to us last week, she goes, I just went
to the dentist. I've got ten cavities and the dentists,
and I drink a lot of coffee.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Yeah, it's more that the habits that you do with it.
So coffee, you're creating an acidic environment your mouth and
your saliva will get it back to like normal. But
if every time you get back to normal, you take
another sip and you go down to a cidic, you're
spending all day and eating your mouth having an acidic environment.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And the acidity causes the cavity.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, part of what that's interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I never knew that. There you go, it's funny. And
I was thinking about funny dentist stories in preparation for
for you coming in today. And I can remember the
best dentist story I had when I was a kid.
I remember this is back in the day before you
guys were wearing gloves and snorkels and all those kinds
of things. Snarkles, Well, I mean the whole You've seen
(05:40):
the whole hazmat suits at some dentists. Well, Mike, I'm
being pay but it's the truth. You know what I'm
talking about.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Oh yeah, you don't see me at all between my
mask and my glasses and my light on my head.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Exactly exactly. But I can remember being a kid going
to the dentist. My mother would allow me. He was
on eighty second Street and second Day Avenue. I guess
I could say his name because he's probably no longer
in practice, and he might even be no longer be alive.
But his name was doctor Strulsen. He had a wonderful practice.
But I remember clearly. I was about ten. He was
(06:14):
working on me, and at the same time ungloved working
on me. At the same time, he was eating a
sand par No.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
I thought you were gonna say, smoking a cigarette.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I've seen that too.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I've seen that too, So it's interesting that you bring
that up. But I have to applaud you because I
think one of one of my problems as a child
the dentists back then were there was no pediatric dentistry here,
was to encourage exactly what you're doing to get children
used to going to the dentist, that it's not a
(06:44):
scary thing. Yeah, I apply. That's fantastic because you're gonna
have a whole generations now that won't be afraid like
me to go to the dentist.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
That's actually one of the things that I really work
strongly at. I always say that I love people that
are afraid.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Of the dentists.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Well, here I am Aaron because.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
I always really want to change that, you know, like perspective.
And somebody who I'm friends with finally became a patient
a few years ago and she was like the chronic
afraid of going to the dentist and everything like that,
and she has finally, you know, changed coming to me,
and now she brings her her young baby whole like that.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I was.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Once I get there, I was. I'm very comfortable in
terms of being there. It's getting there that becomes a
problem for me.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I mean, we could, we could have her for the
whole show, because that's first thing I'm really proud that
you're doing. I mean, that is fantastic what you're doing.
But the other problem is people don't understand letting your
teeth go like I have. There's a lot of other
health problems that are going to arise, not just your teeth.
It can be some serious I know people who have
(07:53):
almost died from infections because they let it go so far.
So I mean, that's a whole other avenue to talk about.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
Yeah, there's a whole correlation between dental health and heart
health as well.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Yeah I've heard that as well.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, and you know, one of the things I tell
you what we're coming up to a quick break and
about a minute and a half, But one of the
things I want to talk about when you come back,
you know, the changes in the technology that are out there.
I've often wondered, would my anxiety going to the dentist
be reduced if there were things like soundless drills. You know,
(08:25):
sometimes when you hear that bourbon does work. But sometimes
you know when you end up sort of getting that
that high speed that high speed wine that oh no,
here it comes.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
You know, it's funnier because we always think they're so
quiet now because they really have gotten quieter. But we're
the only ones that notice that.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
The workers really. Yeah, but there are such a thing
as as a soundless or they're.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Not soundless, but they're a lot quieter because every once
in a while when we hear the old we still
have the older drills in the office. Every once in
a while when you hear when you're like, oh, that's
real loud and screech.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
By the way, have you I mean, I'm sure you
have done this. Have you ever been down to Washington,
D C. To the Smithsonian and seen the exhibit on
the history of American dentistry?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I actually have not.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
It's phenomenal there. It is if you ever find yourself
in Washington, D C. I found myself wandering around the
Smithsonian one day and I stumbled upon the History of
American dentistry, and it's like, oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
But logically she's been doing this since for and she's
going to tell the story about how she got involved
in It's twenty almost twenty five years really, so I
mean the history of back when they used you know,
chisels and everything.
Speaker 6 (09:42):
You know, interested in that, you want to know what's
going on now? Right?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Yeah, I would scare it that. I would scare if
I was in her position, I would scare me.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I'll tell you what. Let's take a quick break. We
are back with my good friend and a terrific business
woman in the Hudson Valley, doctor Aaron Prunty, who a
phenomenally successful and a great place to visit. That's a
lot of pressure to conic dental. Well, it's the truth, though,
it's absolutely And by the way, her point about the
friends that she knows, I mean we sort of run
in the same circles. I know a lot of her
(10:12):
friends and so on and so forth, and everyone worries
about Aaron Punty in terms of just how well how
good of a dentist she is. So we'll be right back.
We're gonna talk more about dentist stories, folks, So stick around,
we'll be right back. You're listening to news Radio fourteen
fifty thirteen seventy AM ninety eight five fmwk IP. They said, kowalkee,
Uncle Mike and doctor Prunty will be right back. Alrighty there,
(10:35):
it's a little bumper music for doctor Prunty here in
terms of always having a mouthful for things to say, Aaron,
we were talking off air about now you've been out
of dentist dental school for how long Neil, seventeen years? Okay,
and then the type of changes that you have seen
in the profession, I mean talk to us about that.
(10:57):
I mean there are things being done now that weren't
done when you were in school.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Yeah, so much as has gone digital, so we we
no longer take those guey impressions that a lot of
people are familiar with. We have oral scanner, yes, so
those take a series of photographs which replaces.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
You guys did that for me once, I remember, And then.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
We have a cat scan machine that allows us to
place implants safely. And our newest piece of equipment is
we actually have a three D printer. So we are
three D printing crowns and night guards.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Now wow, really yeah, because you know one of the
things that I struggle with is when they take measurements
or when they take you know, the impressions. I've got
a gag reflex, and I guess a lot of people
have a gag reflex. How do you deal with that
from a patient's perspective.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
I mean, at this point, you know, with the three
D scanners, it it really doesn't affect the gag reflex.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
It's so much.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Easier for people to like, you can pause, take a breath,
where once the impression goes in, that can't come out
until it's fully set. So people just have to work
through that gag reflex.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And now we have better to And I would think
you're probably lessening the amount of radiation are there being
exposed to.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Yes, the digital X rays have decreased rate significantly.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
It's minischool, so.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I think it's important you asked her how long she's
been out of dentistchool. Give us your why you became
a dentist because I was fascinated.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
Yeah, So I actually had to have jaw surgery when
I was sixteen. I had an underbyte, so my lower
jaw was out further than my upper jaw. So I
went through surgery when I was sixteen to correct that.
That's what started me down my career path.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, the why is always the fascinating part for me.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
What are the hardest things that dentists have to struggle
with and learn? It was like beyond beyond dealing with
nuts like me coming into the office. What are the
I mean? I mean, is there one procedure that you
remember being more difficult to learn than others? Or are
they all the same?
Speaker 5 (13:04):
I think you just I mean certain specialized procedures like
root canals. You know those those are more difficult. That's
why root canal specialists they go to extra schooling and
things like that.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
So when you get into those.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Really specialized procedures. You know, your general dentists a lot
of times doesn't have enough training to do that as
well as a specialist. For me, it's just balancing everything,
running the business, seeing patient and things like that. So
and every mouth is different. So just because you've done
(13:37):
something you know thousands of times, it presents sometimes a
new unique challenge.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Now on your website, in addition to all of the
services that you offer, which include pediatric dentists obviously, exams
and dental cleanings, preventive dentistry, emergency treatment, aesthetic dentistry, root canals, implants,
oral surgery, sleep APNA. What does that mean?
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Yeah, so a lot of people just don't feel comfortable
wearing a seapap machine. And there is a dental appliance
that will move your lower jaw forward when you sleep,
so which trays that snap onto the upper teeth and
the lower teeth, and then rubber bands pull your lower
jaw forward, which brings your tongue forward, which helps with
(14:22):
breathing in your airway.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Interesting because there's so many your teeth. It's fascinating and
I've had a lot of friends go through some serious things.
How much it affects your overall health?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yep, definitely.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
So we were talking off to your I am the
biggest coward you ever met a dentists. I'm nervous just
sitting here next to you because you're a dentist.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Aaron's nervous being here, so.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Different different reasons, though, what do you as a dentist?
Now you're successful and you've done this and you've treated
a wide array of patients with all kinds of fears,
what would be the one thing you could try to
tell somebody? Because there's people listening to us, right now
that really want to go to the dentists but are
scared to death to go. How would you alleviate that fear?
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I mean, one of.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
The things a lot of times that stops people from
going to the dentist if they haven't been in a
while is they're embarrassed about the state of their mouth.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
That's sorry, true, I am. I'm very embarrassed about the
state of my mouth.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
They feel like they're going to be judged by it,
and you know, like everything, that's certainly not something I do.
I hope nobody in my profession, you know, like judges somebody.
And the only thing I can say to people is
is we see it all the time. It happens like
we understand, like we're just there to help you like
get back to you know, like healthy and everything like that.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
You know, like trust me.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Once a day, I have somebody that comes in and says,
I'm so embarrassed I haven't been to the dentist. And
you know, however long, you're not alone. So don't let
that fear stop yet.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And you guys are very non judgmental, I mean very
non judgmental.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
One of the coolest things is she has in her
office and I do a lot of work with the
military and the versity'sponders are service dogs, and she has
a dog in her office that you said calms a
lot of patients down.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Yeah, he wanders the office, so he'll greet people in
the waiting room. He'll come in while they're getting treatment on.
Patients love to just sit in the chair and pat him.
He loves it. Who's got a better life than him.
But it kind of gives people just gives them a
relaxed feeling. It doesn't feel like a dentist's office when
there's a dog walking around. It makes them feel like
(16:30):
they're in their home a little bit more comfortable.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
So it's very fact.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
I can tell you for a pts and that it's
very effective. I know heroes of mine that changed their
lives when they got the dog, there's no question. And
the dogs are so smart. They sense everything they do.
I'm sure your dog senses when they're really nervous, probably
goes over and nuzzles them a little bit, or you
know that.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
It's funny.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
We had a young patient in recently who needed to
be seen for a root canal and he picked up
his favorite toy and he went into that room and
he just left his favorite toy like with you know,
the little kids.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Wow. Now, Aaron, when you take your dog to the vet,
do you brush the dog's teeth?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
So I might be a little bit bad about brushing
his teeth.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Spy, you've heard that for the first time here, Doctor
Prunty does not brush your dog's teeth.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Every once in a while. I will clean his teeth myself, though,
but I do have to get into a better habit.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
There you go, There you go. There's a question. I
didn't think it was going to be asked today.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
What do you brush your dog's teeth? I brush Casey's teeth,
I mean the Toby's keith and he likes it. Actually,
you have to start.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Asking if she brushes your dog's teeth.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
He's part of the practice, for gosh sakes, right. It's
just it just came up in questioning with you anyway.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
But I think that's cool that you got the dog there,
and I'm sure it's very effective.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
From a business perspective erin I mean, I met you
obviously as a as a businesswoman in terms of running
the how How and you've been in New York now
for eleven years. Your practice is very, very successful, But
do you sometimes find challenging the regulatory environment in New
York State?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Everything?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, yeah, yep, Yeah, it becomes problematic in terms of
being able to deal with all that stuff, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
As a medical professional, it's got to be I mean,
you've devoted your life to be the best you can
at being a dentist. Now all of a sudden, you've
got to be the business woman beside. And I'm sure
you have people that help you, but in the end,
it's your business, and you've got to really keep track
of what's It's got to be an exhausting day some
days to be able to do the practice all day
long and then at night. I'm sure you've got to
(18:38):
figure out the business.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
Side of it.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
And they offered exactly one elective in dental school about
running a business.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Isn't that funny? Isn't that terrible?
Speaker 6 (18:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (18:48):
So, I think that's why a lot of corporations are
taking over a dentistry, because a lot of dentists don't
want to deal with the running the business.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Side, you know, in those larger practic this is too
you know. The part of the reason that I like
your practice is because it's not that it's not part
of a larger you know, I don't want to name
the national chains, but it's not part of the big
ones that I've got great commercials, but I think at
the end of the day, they don't have that type
of the kinds of stuff that you're talking about is
(19:20):
not there.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, it's interesting with all medical providers, and I've got
enough health problems.
Speaker 6 (19:26):
I go to a lot of them.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
The difference and I can tell just sitting here with
you and talking to you that your passion is dentistry.
It's not about making money. It's not about the you know,
the profit margin is not the big deal with you.
And that's fantastic. But there are a lot of younger
medical professionals almost taught that in medical school now where
they concentrate almost more on the business side of it.
(19:48):
I had a cardiologist one time. I swore it was
Doogie Howser. I thought he was twelve years old.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
When he walked in. He never looked at me.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
He always looked at his lat And then at the
end of the kicker was he says, Okay, you got
six months you're at a cardiologist's office. So he looked
at me and I was like, he said, what's the matter? Said,
you just told me you were a cardio. You no
come back and see me in six months. I said, dude,
you need to work on your bedside.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Man.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
I didn't have a heart edition when I came in,
but I have one now.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
Yeah. Unfortunately, that's a lot of insurance driven stuff, especially
with like the medical and a little bit with dentistry
as well.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
So yeah, we've been talking to Conic Dental. We've been
talking to doctor Aaron Prunty, a good friend of ours,
a wonderful dentist, a terrific practice. Their phone number is
area code eight four five two four three two three
seven eight. That's eight four five two four three two
four three two three seven eight. Their email is office
(20:42):
at Taconic Dental dot com. Is there our website, There
is Taconic Dental dot com. So all that information will
be up on our Facebook page. And you know, I'm
telling you.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
From eight thirty seven on Thursday morning, my dentist has
just left the building, Doctor Aaron Prunty from Taconic Dental,
a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful practice and a terrific dentist, and
it was so nice seeing her again, and she said, ed,
call me, We're going to get you back in, get
(21:14):
you going, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
So yes, I'm going to be doing that. So it's
a wonderful practice and certainly place you should visit because
she really does a different it's a different kind of
dental practice, and it's a very welcoming and good place
to visit. So there you go, There you go. And
it's always good to be able to make a dentist
nervous as opposed to a dentist making me nervous. She
(21:37):
was a bit nervous being on air, so hopefully we
hopefully we helped get her over that, over that anxiety.
She did say open wide ed and I said, okay, Aaron,
see you later. But you know, it's funny when you
think about it. You know, that's a kind of conversation,
as Uncle Mike just said, you know, we could have
that conversation forever, just in terms of talking about dental stories,
(21:59):
different up the technologies, funny stories, and I'm sure have occurred.
So I mean, those are the practice, Those are the
kinds of things I love being able to talk to
people about and then also share stories about people that
I know who are my age who've never had a cavity.
It's like, oh my gosh. And the coffee thing was
actually a very good tip. I didn't know that about
coffee be and cavity.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Cavity generating You not a commercial on TV now where
they're talking about it and all of a sudden the
chair flips out, and that if you've seen that commerce,
there's a commercial out there where that I forgot they're
selling a dental product. But anyway, like jogging in Central
Park complaining about their teeth, and his det just shows
up from nowhere and the chair pops out and all
of a sudden they're in the chair.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I just haven't.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I just had that feeling walking down the hallway. I
was like, God, I hope she doesn't put me in
the chair on the way down here.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Aaron, doctor Prunty's a good practitioner and a terrific, terrific, terrific.
She runs a great practice. So visit to Conic Dental, folks.
It's a good place to be.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Here's a perspective that you don't maybe and maybe we'll
end up going over there.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Mike, you and I would be and maybe it wouldn't
that be fun? You have to broadcast from the dental office.
We're now going into this next segment is we're looking
at Jeffrey Semantik getting his teeth cleaned.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
I'll have like a chainsaw going in the background. Oh
my god, what are they doing to him?
Speaker 5 (23:11):
About?
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Stop?
Speaker 6 (23:12):
Imagine that you're a chainsaw? What is there?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
You go one of those always what are they doing
to him? Jeff does that hurt? I could have fun
with that?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Oh, yes, yes we can.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
But it was very.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Important to message. And seriously, I feel a little better
about dentist's just talking to her, Oh, without a doubt.
And I want to go meet the.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Dog, which is cool with that. And listen, that story
that I shared about my childhood dentist is absolutely true.
I mean, this guy was eating a sandwich and working
on me.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
It's like, wow, my childhood dentist scared the Bejesus out
of me.
Speaker 6 (23:50):
And that's probably what I have. The problem I have.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Well, I did not know this that the basketball coach
for the Lady of Lord's basketball team, the girls basketball he's.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
He said that when he was here.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I did say that. Yeah, I did not know that
before he came on in, so she.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Talked about root canell.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I always think of the movie Little Shop of Horrors
with the wacky dentist.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
That's State Steve, Steve Morton, Bill Murray and Bill and
Bill Murray played the d the dental patient. If you've
not seen that scene, that's a terrific, terrific ess.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
He's got like Elvis Plain in the background. It's like, yeah,
that's the perception a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Have, exactly exactly.
Speaker 6 (24:24):
That was a nice break from what we were talking about, because.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Well, it's nice to be able to talk to and
you know, it's interesting, you know, and we could have
probably gone on for another segment with Aaron talking a
little bit about what what was it like setting up
a business here in the Hudson Valley. She's New York City.
We're definitely gonna have her back, and that's an important thing.
And it's interesting. We've heard the same thing from Jen
Foley from Doughnut Dolly's. We sort of heard it from
Aaron in terms of, you know, the regulatory environments that
(24:49):
that she as a business owner needs to be able
to comply with, and that's certainly been a passion of
mind right on how long?
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, it's interesting a lot of the guests that we've
had on already.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
You think about, for.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Instance Lauren, how the event that happened to them in
their early years forged their career. You know, Aaron is
telling us that she never thought about being a dentist
until she had that jaw surgery, right, and of course
Lauren had art transplant, and now she is running an
agency that you know, cater you know, uh, what's the
(25:23):
word she used. They have nine thousand waiting and they
they coordinate, the.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Incredibly passionate about what they do and what's certainly what
Lauren does.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
So I'm always fascinated with the why about why people
have done with it.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
And it's funny in terms of what what circumstances are
put in your life that make you do the kinds
of things that you eventually end up doing. So I
think I think the important thing is just to be
be aware of the signs, because they are there. They
look at what Frank Siller said to us the other day, Mike,
in terms of him basically saying, ed, there were signs
that we got along the way that that I didn't
(26:00):
know how I was going to do this, but God
was telling me I need to do it.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, I meant thirty eight amputees, and I promised them,
I'm going to build him a house.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
I had no idea I was going to do it,
but I knew I was going.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
To do it. And he did it, including that first
disabled veteran who said, will you build me a house anywhere?
And he goes, yeah, ill build your house anywhere. He
goes anywhere, and he goes, yeah anywhere. And guy goes,
will you build me a house in Hawaii? And Frank said, yeah,
we'll build your house in Hawaii.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
And again told us afterwards saying I had no idea
how I was.
Speaker 6 (26:27):
Going to do that.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
But to your point, that's exactly correct. I mean, doctor
Prunty had that experience in terms of being able to
have at a very early age some jaw work that
was done on her. And she said, that's an interesting
thing of being able to do, you know. And also
think about this, think about the kind of role models
that young people who now go to Taconic Dental see,
(26:48):
and who knows there may be future dentists that are
visiting that plat practice.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, when we have the account executive and there. Her
story is fascinating. She actually it was a transaction of
buying real estate is what first fascinated her. With real
estate and the municipality she was dealing with. She she
just was, I don't know what the right word is.
(27:12):
The absurdity of it. Sometimes it got her, and that
got her interested in that process, and she ended up
being a state senator and now she's the county executive. Right,
she never thought about politics, has anything to do with
politics until that happened to hers, So why was it
piqued her interest? And then now she's thank god it
did because she's been very successful.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
My point is that there are things that you see
that actually create these kinds of experiences that could create
opportunities and different ways of being able to do things right. Sure, absolutely,
so from that perspective, it's always it's always it's a
fun thing to listen to when you hear what made
people be what they've did. How many people become teachers,
(27:52):
how many because of the teachers that they've been exposed to.
The coach of the Lady of Lord's boys basketball team
was an IBM professional many many years, but his calling
was to be a teacher. He goes, he goes. I
don't view myself as a coach. I viewed myself as
a teacher, and that's exactly what he is.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You yourself, has said that you'd be interested in doing
some teaching.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Without a doubt, you know. I mean, I've always been passionate.
I mean, depending upon what school would have me. I'm
very interested in being able to teach constitutional law at
the level that it needs to be taught at.
Speaker 7 (28:22):
You can listen to Hudson Valley This Morning with Ed
Kuwalski Monday through Friday six am to nine am on
News Talk Radio fourteen fifty thirteen seventy AM and ninety
eight five FMWKIP.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
Hope to that.
Speaker 8 (28:39):
Fo spacious guys, I am the waves of Grain. Fuck
Purple Man, Majesty.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Run.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
The Fruited played, wouldn't wait a minute A man trail,
I love you.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
I'm many trail, you said my competter.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
Shake his face on d
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You are living a pen because
Hudson Valley This Morning with Ed Kowalski is the new
voice in the Hudson Valley.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi, this is Ed.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
I am so grateful for the support you've already given us.
We are creating a platform that gives you our listeners
of voice. Together we can build the best local community
talk program in the Hudson Valley. You're listening to the
best of Hudson Valley this Morning with Ed Kowalski for
the week that just concluded. This week, we're featuring our
interview with doctor Aaron Prunty from Taconic Dental Open wide
(00:27):
and listen, folks, it's a good interview. Eight o six
on Thursday morning. Welcome back to Hudson Valley this morning
with Ed Kowalski. I am pleased to welcome to the
WVIP microphone someone who I haven't seen in a while,
Doctor Aaron Prunty, is joining us. Aaron Prunty is the
is the principal over at Taconic dentalsable owner. Principal owner,
(00:50):
not a principle. It's not a school we're talking about.
It's a dental practice and Aaron has been in. She
just surprised me to tell me that that practice has
now been up and running and thriving for eleven years now.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Now Aaron's a little nervous, folks. So I want to
be able to make sure that this is the first
time that we're dealing with the dentist who's nervous as
opposed to me being nervous when I go see Aaron.
So that's sort of where I'm scared. It's an interesting thing.
Open wine, Uncle, Mike, No, open wine. No, no, no, no, Aaron,
There's so much I want to talk to you about
(01:24):
as far as dentistry is concerned, and certainly I've visited
your practice. You guys have looked at me a couple
of times, made some recommendations for me. Then COVID hit
and I never really followed up on them, which is
now why I have to get back to see Erin.
Talk to me about the overall dentist practice these days.
Your practice is very big, very large. You know, you
do a lot of different kinds of things. Talk to
(01:45):
us about it.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
So we have a multi specialty practice, So that means
that there's myself and another general dentist, and then we
also bring in some specialties as well, so we haven't
ended on this. That's somebody that just as root canals
all day long.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yeah, I know, would not want to be that.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
And then we also have an oral surgeon, so he
does extractions and implans and we now have a pediatric
dentist as well. So it's really nice to have everybody
working together in the same space because we're really able
to collaborate well, especially on more complex cases.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You know, the nice thing that I always liked about
visiting your practice is besides I mean, you guys are terrific,
you know, I mean, you're very skilled practitioners, but your
entire office staff is extremely helpful, and I think, you know,
one of the things that as a as a medical practitioner,
one of the things that I know a lot of
doctors struggle with is just the overall the myriad of
insurance issues. And everybody in your practice who does that
(02:45):
does it very very well.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Yeah, and we've we've reduced the number of insurances that we,
you know, participate with because you know, it is very
hard to deal with so many insurances and you know,
things like that, so we we have tried to streamline
process for my staff.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
You know, it's interesting, you know, a good friend of
the show and another attorney that I've dealt with for
years in the Hudson Valley is David Weiss. And David's
going to be embarrassed now because David Weiss is about
my age.
Speaker 6 (03:14):
That's not embarrassed lawyers on the air.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
No, no, no, yeah, let me finish the thought here. David
Weiss is a guy who's about my age. He's never
had a cavity, an he brags about it. I'm like, David,
I can't stand the fact that you've never had a
cavisty to the dentist. He goes to the dentist regularly.
But Aron, let me ask you a question, how much
is that? How much of that is genetic? I mean
how much of of I mean I always like.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
To dispel the rumors of we just have bad teeth,
where people just kind of accept that, like they can't
do anything to you know, prevent it, and things like that.
But there's certainly differences between like quality of saliva and
then it's habits you've developed.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Early quality of saliva, Yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
Know, it's basically how quickly your mouth comes back to
a normal pH It's habits that go into a lot
too So one of the biggest examples I used with
people is drinking a cup of coffee. I would much
prefer to see somebody drink an entire cup of coffee.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And brush your teeth.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
You don't even have to brush your teeth, just be
done with it. The people that their entire cup of
coffee last them all morning are doing the most damage
to their teeth.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I did not know that. You know, it's funny bourbon.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
How does bourbon play?
Speaker 3 (04:33):
But you know it's fun sure. The the Jena, the
individual who's our new production assistant here in the studio
when she was actually she was the person who was
getting us booking Aaron into the studio today, and she
said to us last week, she goes, I just went
to the dentist. I've got ten cavities and the dentists,
and I drink a lot of coffee.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Yeah, it's more that the habits that you do with it.
So coffee, you're creating an acidic environment your mouth and
your saliva will get it back to like normal. But
if every time you get back to normal, you take
another sip and you go down to a cidic, you're
spending all day and eating your mouth having an acidic environment.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And the acidity causes the cavity.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yeah, part of what that's interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I never knew that. There you go, it's funny. And
I was thinking about funny dentist stories in preparation for
for you coming in today. And I can remember the
best dentist story I had when I was a kid.
I remember this is back in the day before you
guys were wearing gloves and snorkels and all those kinds
of things. Snarkles, Well, I mean the whole You've seen
(05:40):
the whole hazmat suits at some dentists. Well, Mike, I'm
being pay but it's the truth. You know what I'm
talking about.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Oh yeah, you don't see me at all between my
mask and my glasses and my light on my head.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Exactly exactly. But I can remember being a kid going
to the dentist. My mother would allow me. He was
on eighty second Street and second Day Avenue. I guess
I could say his name because he's probably no longer
in practice, and he might even be no longer be alive.
But his name was doctor Strulsen. He had a wonderful practice.
But I remember clearly. I was about ten. He was
(06:14):
working on me, and at the same time ungloved working
on me. At the same time, he was eating a
sand par No.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
I thought you were gonna say, smoking a cigarette.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I've seen that too.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
I've seen that too, So it's interesting that you bring
that up. But I have to applaud you because I
think one of one of my problems as a child
the dentists back then were there was no pediatric dentistry here,
was to encourage exactly what you're doing to get children
used to going to the dentist, that it's not a
(06:44):
scary thing. Yeah, I apply. That's fantastic because you're gonna
have a whole generations now that won't be afraid like
me to go to the dentist.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
That's actually one of the things that I really work
strongly at. I always say that I love people that
are afraid.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Of the dentists.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Well, here I am Aaron because.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
I always really want to change that, you know, like perspective.
And somebody who I'm friends with finally became a patient
a few years ago and she was like the chronic
afraid of going to the dentist and everything like that,
and she has finally, you know, changed coming to me,
and now she brings her her young baby whole like that.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I was.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Once I get there, I was. I'm very comfortable in
terms of being there. It's getting there that becomes a
problem for me.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I mean, we could, we could have her for the
whole show, because that's first thing I'm really proud that
you're doing. I mean, that is fantastic what you're doing.
But the other problem is people don't understand letting your
teeth go like I have. There's a lot of other
health problems that are going to arise, not just your teeth.
It can be some serious I know people who have
(07:53):
almost died from infections because they let it go so far.
So I mean, that's a whole other avenue to talk about.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
Yeah, there's a whole correlation between dental health and heart
health as well.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Yeah I've heard that as well.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, and you know, one of the things I tell
you what we're coming up to a quick break and
about a minute and a half, But one of the
things I want to talk about when you come back,
you know, the changes in the technology that are out there.
I've often wondered, would my anxiety going to the dentist
be reduced if there were things like soundless drills. You know,
(08:25):
sometimes when you hear that bourbon does work. But sometimes
you know when you end up sort of getting that
that high speed that high speed wine that oh no,
here it comes.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
You know, it's funnier because we always think they're so
quiet now because they really have gotten quieter. But we're
the only ones that notice that.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
The workers really. Yeah, but there are such a thing
as as a soundless or they're.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Not soundless, but they're a lot quieter because every once
in a while when we hear the old we still
have the older drills in the office. Every once in
a while when you hear when you're like, oh, that's
real loud and screech.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
By the way, have you I mean, I'm sure you
have done this. Have you ever been down to Washington,
D C. To the Smithsonian and seen the exhibit on
the history of American dentistry?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I actually have not.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
It's phenomenal there. It is if you ever find yourself
in Washington, D C. I found myself wandering around the
Smithsonian one day and I stumbled upon the History of
American dentistry, and it's like, oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
But logically she's been doing this since for and she's
going to tell the story about how she got involved
in It's twenty almost twenty five years really, so I
mean the history of back when they used you know,
chisels and everything.
Speaker 6 (09:42):
You know, interested in that, you want to know what's
going on now? Right?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Yeah, I would scare it that. I would scare if
I was in her position, I would scare me.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I'll tell you what. Let's take a quick break. We
are back with my good friend and a terrific business
woman in the Hudson Valley, doctor Aaron Prunty, who a
phenomenally successful and a great place to visit. That's a
lot of pressure to conic dental. Well, it's the truth, though,
it's absolutely And by the way, her point about the
friends that she knows, I mean we sort of run
in the same circles. I know a lot of her
(10:12):
friends and so on and so forth, and everyone worries
about Aaron Punty in terms of just how well how
good of a dentist she is. So we'll be right back.
We're gonna talk more about dentist stories, folks, So stick around,
we'll be right back. You're listening to news Radio fourteen
fifty thirteen seventy AM ninety eight five fmwk IP. They said, kowalkee,
Uncle Mike and doctor Prunty will be right back. Alrighty there,
(10:35):
it's a little bumper music for doctor Prunty here in
terms of always having a mouthful for things to say, Aaron,
we were talking off air about now you've been out
of dentist dental school for how long Neil, seventeen years? Okay,
and then the type of changes that you have seen
in the profession, I mean talk to us about that.
(10:57):
I mean there are things being done now that weren't
done when you were in school.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
Yeah, so much as has gone digital, so we we
no longer take those guey impressions that a lot of
people are familiar with. We have oral scanner, yes, so
those take a series of photographs which replaces.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
You guys did that for me once, I remember, And then.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
We have a cat scan machine that allows us to
place implants safely. And our newest piece of equipment is
we actually have a three D printer. So we are
three D printing crowns and night guards.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Now wow, really yeah, because you know one of the
things that I struggle with is when they take measurements
or when they take you know, the impressions. I've got
a gag reflex, and I guess a lot of people
have a gag reflex. How do you deal with that
from a patient's perspective.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
I mean, at this point, you know, with the three
D scanners, it it really doesn't affect the gag reflex.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
It's so much.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Easier for people to like, you can pause, take a breath,
where once the impression goes in, that can't come out
until it's fully set. So people just have to work
through that gag reflex.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And now we have better to And I would think
you're probably lessening the amount of radiation are there being
exposed to.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Yes, the digital X rays have decreased rate significantly.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
It's minischool, so.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I think it's important you asked her how long she's
been out of dentistchool. Give us your why you became
a dentist because I was fascinated.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
Yeah, So I actually had to have jaw surgery when
I was sixteen. I had an underbyte, so my lower
jaw was out further than my upper jaw. So I
went through surgery when I was sixteen to correct that.
That's what started me down my career path.
Speaker 6 (12:44):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, the why is always the fascinating part for me.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
What are the hardest things that dentists have to struggle
with and learn? It was like beyond beyond dealing with
nuts like me coming into the office. What are the
I mean? I mean, is there one procedure that you
remember being more difficult to learn than others? Or are
they all the same?
Speaker 5 (13:04):
I think you just I mean certain specialized procedures like
root canals. You know those those are more difficult. That's
why root canal specialists they go to extra schooling and
things like that.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
So when you get into those.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Really specialized procedures. You know, your general dentists a lot
of times doesn't have enough training to do that as
well as a specialist. For me, it's just balancing everything,
running the business, seeing patient and things like that. So
and every mouth is different. So just because you've done
(13:37):
something you know thousands of times, it presents sometimes a
new unique challenge.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Now on your website, in addition to all of the
services that you offer, which include pediatric dentists obviously, exams
and dental cleanings, preventive dentistry, emergency treatment, aesthetic dentistry, root canals, implants,
oral surgery, sleep APNA. What does that mean?
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Yeah, so a lot of people just don't feel comfortable
wearing a seapap machine. And there is a dental appliance
that will move your lower jaw forward when you sleep,
so which trays that snap onto the upper teeth and
the lower teeth, and then rubber bands pull your lower
jaw forward, which brings your tongue forward, which helps with
(14:22):
breathing in your airway.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Interesting because there's so many your teeth. It's fascinating and
I've had a lot of friends go through some serious things.
How much it affects your overall health?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yep, definitely.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
So we were talking off to your I am the
biggest coward you ever met a dentists. I'm nervous just
sitting here next to you because you're a dentist.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Aaron's nervous being here, so.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Different different reasons, though, what do you as a dentist?
Now you're successful and you've done this and you've treated
a wide array of patients with all kinds of fears,
what would be the one thing you could try to
tell somebody? Because there's people listening to us, right now
that really want to go to the dentists but are
scared to death to go. How would you alleviate that fear?
Speaker 4 (15:10):
I mean, one of.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
The things a lot of times that stops people from
going to the dentist if they haven't been in a
while is they're embarrassed about the state of their mouth.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
That's sorry, true, I am. I'm very embarrassed about the
state of my mouth.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
They feel like they're going to be judged by it,
and you know, like everything, that's certainly not something I do.
I hope nobody in my profession, you know, like judges somebody.
And the only thing I can say to people is
is we see it all the time. It happens like
we understand, like we're just there to help you like
get back to you know, like healthy and everything like that.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
You know, like trust me.
Speaker 5 (15:45):
Once a day, I have somebody that comes in and says,
I'm so embarrassed I haven't been to the dentist. And
you know, however long, you're not alone. So don't let
that fear stop yet.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And you guys are very non judgmental, I mean very
non judgmental.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
One of the coolest things is she has in her
office and I do a lot of work with the
military and the versity'sponders are service dogs, and she has
a dog in her office that you said calms a
lot of patients down.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Yeah, he wanders the office, so he'll greet people in
the waiting room. He'll come in while they're getting treatment on.
Patients love to just sit in the chair and pat him.
He loves it. Who's got a better life than him.
But it kind of gives people just gives them a
relaxed feeling. It doesn't feel like a dentist's office when
there's a dog walking around. It makes them feel like
(16:30):
they're in their home a little bit more comfortable.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
So it's very fact.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
I can tell you for a pts and that it's
very effective. I know heroes of mine that changed their
lives when they got the dog, there's no question. And
the dogs are so smart. They sense everything they do.
I'm sure your dog senses when they're really nervous, probably
goes over and nuzzles them a little bit, or you
know that.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
It's funny.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
We had a young patient in recently who needed to
be seen for a root canal and he picked up
his favorite toy and he went into that room and
he just left his favorite toy like with you know,
the little kids.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Wow. Now, Aaron, when you take your dog to the vet,
do you brush the dog's teeth?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
So I might be a little bit bad about brushing
his teeth.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Spy, you've heard that for the first time here, Doctor
Prunty does not brush your dog's teeth.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Every once in a while. I will clean his teeth myself, though,
but I do have to get into a better habit.
Speaker 6 (17:27):
There you go, There you go. There's a question. I
didn't think it was going to be asked today.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
What do you brush your dog's teeth? I brush Casey's teeth,
I mean the Toby's keith and he likes it. Actually,
you have to start.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Asking if she brushes your dog's teeth.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
He's part of the practice, for gosh sakes, right. It's
just it just came up in questioning with you anyway.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
But I think that's cool that you got the dog there,
and I'm sure it's very effective.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
From a business perspective erin I mean, I met you
obviously as a as a businesswoman in terms of running
the how How and you've been in New York now
for eleven years. Your practice is very, very successful, But
do you sometimes find challenging the regulatory environment in New
York State?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
Everything?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, yeah, yep, Yeah, it becomes problematic in terms of
being able to deal with all that stuff, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
As a medical professional, it's got to be I mean,
you've devoted your life to be the best you can
at being a dentist. Now all of a sudden, you've
got to be the business woman beside. And I'm sure
you have people that help you, but in the end,
it's your business, and you've got to really keep track
of what's It's got to be an exhausting day some
days to be able to do the practice all day
long and then at night. I'm sure you've got to
(18:38):
figure out the business.
Speaker 6 (18:39):
Side of it.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
And they offered exactly one elective in dental school about
running a business.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Isn't that funny? Isn't that terrible?
Speaker 6 (18:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (18:48):
So, I think that's why a lot of corporations are
taking over a dentistry, because a lot of dentists don't
want to deal with the running the business.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Side, you know, in those larger practic this is too
you know. The part of the reason that I like
your practice is because it's not that it's not part
of a larger you know, I don't want to name
the national chains, but it's not part of the big
ones that I've got great commercials, but I think at
the end of the day, they don't have that type
of the kinds of stuff that you're talking about is
(19:20):
not there.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yeah, it's interesting with all medical providers, and I've got
enough health problems.
Speaker 6 (19:26):
I go to a lot of them.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
The difference and I can tell just sitting here with
you and talking to you that your passion is dentistry.
It's not about making money. It's not about the you know,
the profit margin is not the big deal with you.
And that's fantastic. But there are a lot of younger
medical professionals almost taught that in medical school now where
they concentrate almost more on the business side of it.
(19:48):
I had a cardiologist one time. I swore it was
Doogie Howser. I thought he was twelve years old.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
When he walked in. He never looked at me.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
He always looked at his lat And then at the
end of the kicker was he says, Okay, you got
six months you're at a cardiologist's office. So he looked
at me and I was like, he said, what's the matter? Said,
you just told me you were a cardio. You no
come back and see me in six months. I said, dude,
you need to work on your bedside.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Man.
Speaker 6 (20:09):
I didn't have a heart edition when I came in,
but I have one now.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
Yeah. Unfortunately, that's a lot of insurance driven stuff, especially
with like the medical and a little bit with dentistry
as well.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
So yeah, we've been talking to Conic Dental. We've been
talking to doctor Aaron Prunty, a good friend of ours,
a wonderful dentist, a terrific practice. Their phone number is
area code eight four five two four three two three
seven eight. That's eight four five two four three two
four three two three seven eight. Their email is office
(20:42):
at Taconic Dental dot com. Is there our website, There
is Taconic Dental dot com. So all that information will
be up on our Facebook page. And you know, I'm
telling you.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
From eight thirty seven on Thursday morning, my dentist has
just left the building, Doctor Aaron Prunty from Taconic Dental,
a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful practice and a terrific dentist, and
it was so nice seeing her again, and she said, ed,
call me, We're going to get you back in, get
(21:14):
you going, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
So yes, I'm going to be doing that. So it's
a wonderful practice and certainly place you should visit because
she really does a different it's a different kind of
dental practice, and it's a very welcoming and good place
to visit. So there you go, There you go. And
it's always good to be able to make a dentist
nervous as opposed to a dentist making me nervous. She
(21:37):
was a bit nervous being on air, so hopefully we
hopefully we helped get her over that, over that anxiety.
She did say open wide ed and I said, okay, Aaron,
see you later. But you know, it's funny when you
think about it. You know, that's a kind of conversation,
as Uncle Mike just said, you know, we could have
that conversation forever, just in terms of talking about dental stories,
(21:59):
different up the technologies, funny stories, and I'm sure have occurred.
So I mean, those are the practice, Those are the
kinds of things I love being able to talk to
people about and then also share stories about people that
I know who are my age who've never had a cavity.
It's like, oh my gosh. And the coffee thing was
actually a very good tip. I didn't know that about
coffee be and cavity.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Cavity generating You not a commercial on TV now where
they're talking about it and all of a sudden the
chair flips out, and that if you've seen that commerce,
there's a commercial out there where that I forgot they're
selling a dental product. But anyway, like jogging in Central
Park complaining about their teeth, and his det just shows
up from nowhere and the chair pops out and all
of a sudden they're in the chair.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I just haven't.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I just had that feeling walking down the hallway. I
was like, God, I hope she doesn't put me in
the chair on the way down here.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Aaron, doctor Prunty's a good practitioner and a terrific, terrific, terrific.
She runs a great practice. So visit to Conic Dental, folks.
It's a good place to be.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Here's a perspective that you don't maybe and maybe we'll
end up going over there.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Mike, you and I would be and maybe it wouldn't
that be fun? You have to broadcast from the dental office.
We're now going into this next segment is we're looking
at Jeffrey Semantik getting his teeth cleaned.
Speaker 6 (23:06):
I'll have like a chainsaw going in the background. Oh
my god, what are they doing to him?
Speaker 5 (23:11):
About?
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Stop?
Speaker 6 (23:12):
Imagine that you're a chainsaw? What is there?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
You go one of those always what are they doing
to him? Jeff does that hurt? I could have fun
with that?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Oh, yes, yes we can.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
But it was very.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Important to message. And seriously, I feel a little better
about dentist's just talking to her, Oh, without a doubt.
And I want to go meet the.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Dog, which is cool with that. And listen, that story
that I shared about my childhood dentist is absolutely true.
I mean, this guy was eating a sandwich and working
on me.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
It's like, wow, my childhood dentist scared the Bejesus out
of me.
Speaker 6 (23:50):
And that's probably what I have. The problem I have.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Well, I did not know this that the basketball coach
for the Lady of Lord's basketball team, the girls basketball he's.
Speaker 6 (24:00):
He said that when he was here.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I did say that. Yeah, I did not know that
before he came on in, so she.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Talked about root canell.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I always think of the movie Little Shop of Horrors
with the wacky dentist.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
That's State Steve, Steve Morton, Bill Murray and Bill and
Bill Murray played the d the dental patient. If you've
not seen that scene, that's a terrific, terrific ess.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
He's got like Elvis Plain in the background. It's like, yeah,
that's the perception a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Have, exactly exactly.
Speaker 6 (24:24):
That was a nice break from what we were talking about, because.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Well, it's nice to be able to talk to and
you know, it's interesting, you know, and we could have
probably gone on for another segment with Aaron talking a
little bit about what what was it like setting up
a business here in the Hudson Valley. She's New York City.
We're definitely gonna have her back, and that's an important thing.
And it's interesting. We've heard the same thing from Jen
Foley from Doughnut Dolly's. We sort of heard it from
Aaron in terms of, you know, the regulatory environments that
(24:49):
that she as a business owner needs to be able
to comply with, and that's certainly been a passion of
mind right on how long?
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, it's interesting a lot of the guests that we've
had on already.
Speaker 6 (24:59):
You think about, for.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Instance Lauren, how the event that happened to them in
their early years forged their career. You know, Aaron is
telling us that she never thought about being a dentist
until she had that jaw surgery, right, and of course
Lauren had art transplant, and now she is running an
agency that you know, cater you know, uh, what's the
(25:23):
word she used. They have nine thousand waiting and they
they coordinate, the.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Incredibly passionate about what they do and what's certainly what
Lauren does.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
So I'm always fascinated with the why about why people
have done with it.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
And it's funny in terms of what what circumstances are
put in your life that make you do the kinds
of things that you eventually end up doing. So I
think I think the important thing is just to be
be aware of the signs, because they are there. They
look at what Frank Siller said to us the other day, Mike,
in terms of him basically saying, ed, there were signs
that we got along the way that that I didn't
(26:00):
know how I was going to do this, but God
was telling me I need to do it.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Yeah, I meant thirty eight amputees, and I promised them,
I'm going to build him a house.
Speaker 6 (26:08):
I had no idea I was going to do it,
but I knew I was going.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
To do it. And he did it, including that first
disabled veteran who said, will you build me a house anywhere?
And he goes, yeah, ill build your house anywhere. He
goes anywhere, and he goes, yeah anywhere. And guy goes,
will you build me a house in Hawaii? And Frank said, yeah,
we'll build your house in Hawaii.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
And again told us afterwards saying I had no idea
how I was.
Speaker 6 (26:27):
Going to do that.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
But to your point, that's exactly correct. I mean, doctor
Prunty had that experience in terms of being able to
have at a very early age some jaw work that
was done on her. And she said, that's an interesting
thing of being able to do, you know. And also
think about this, think about the kind of role models
that young people who now go to Taconic Dental see,
(26:48):
and who knows there may be future dentists that are
visiting that plat practice.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, when we have the account executive and there. Her
story is fascinating. She actually it was a transaction of
buying real estate is what first fascinated her. With real
estate and the municipality she was dealing with. She she
just was, I don't know what the right word is.
(27:12):
The absurdity of it. Sometimes it got her, and that
got her interested in that process, and she ended up
being a state senator and now she's the county executive. Right,
she never thought about politics, has anything to do with
politics until that happened to hers, So why was it
piqued her interest? And then now she's thank god it
did because she's been very successful.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
My point is that there are things that you see
that actually create these kinds of experiences that could create
opportunities and different ways of being able to do things right. Sure, absolutely,
so from that perspective, it's always it's always it's a
fun thing to listen to when you hear what made
people be what they've did. How many people become teachers,
(27:52):
how many because of the teachers that they've been exposed to.
The coach of the Lady of Lord's boys basketball team
was an IBM professional many many years, but his calling
was to be a teacher. He goes, he goes. I
don't view myself as a coach. I viewed myself as
a teacher, and that's exactly what he is.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You yourself, has said that you'd be interested in doing
some teaching.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Without a doubt, you know. I mean, I've always been passionate.
I mean, depending upon what school would have me. I'm
very interested in being able to teach constitutional law at
the level that it needs to be taught at.
Speaker 7 (28:22):
You can listen to Hudson Valley This Morning with Ed
Kuwalski Monday through Friday six am to nine am on
News Talk Radio fourteen fifty thirteen seventy AM and ninety
eight five FMWKIP.
Speaker 5 (28:34):
Hope to that.
Speaker 8 (28:39):
Fo spacious guys, I am the waves of Grain. Fuck
Purple Man, Majesty.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Run.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
The Fruited played, wouldn't wait a minute A man trail,
I love you.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
I'm many trail, you said my competter.
Speaker 7 (29:23):
Shake his face on d
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You are living a pen because
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