Bite-sized dental wisdom in under 2 minutes.

In dental school, we were given three hours to prep a crown. Three hours! And honestly, sometimes that still wasn’t enough. And that’s how we all operated, that was our normal. But when “normal” is all you see, you start believing it’s the ceiling.

Until it isn’t.

At our school we were required to do an externship, most people shadowed a dentist down the street to get their hours. I didn’t.

I flew to Newport Beach and shadowed one of the most well-known cosmetic dentists at the time. Was it also a convenient excuse for a good shopping trip? Obviously. But cosmetic dentistry was my goal, so I figured I might as well learn from the best.

And within five minutes of watching her prep, my brain exploded.

She wasn’t just faster.

She was operating in a completely different universe.

What took us hours in school, she did in minutes. Clean. Confident. Efficient. No wasted movement. No hesitation.

I remember standing there thinking,
“Holy sh*t, this is what’s possible.”

That moment broke my frame.

Up until then, I thought I was good.

After that, I realized I was just operating inside a small box.

When I came back to school, everything shifted. I prepped faster. I thought faster. I planned better.

I ended up prepping four anterior teeth, scanning, designing, cementing — and I won the cosmetic dental student award that year.

Not because I suddenly became talented overnight.

But because I saw a new ceiling.

And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

This applies way beyond dentistry.

You can go through life thinking:
“I’m doing fine.”
“This is just how it’s done.”
“I’m already better than most.”

But if “most” is your comparison, you’ll never get better.

You don’t know what level 10 looks like until you stand next to it.

You don’t realize how slow you are until you watch someone truly efficient.

You don’t realize how small you’re thinking until you meet someone playing a much bigger game.

Breaking the frame isn’t about feeling bad about where you are.

It’s about expanding what you believe is possible.

Because once the ceiling moves, your standards move with it.

And that changes everything.

-Dr. Alex

P.S. If the way your office runs feels harder than it should but you’ve accepted it as “just how it is”… that’s your three-hour crown prep talking. Milo is the faster version. We’re almost live. Join the early access list.