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Howard:
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It is just a huge honor for me today to be podcast interviewing Dr. Kenneth J. Polke, DDS, FAGD, DICO. That's Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry, Diplomate of the International Congress Oral Implantology. Dr. Ken Polke grew up in a tough neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio known as Collingwood. The same neighborhood depicted in true story in the movie "Kill the Irishmen" set back in the 1950s and 1950s. This neighborhood would later come to be known as "Bomb City USA" because of the mafia war, car bombing and racial riots. Dr. Polke saw people all around him struggling and at times even dying.
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Ken watched just working class parents literally work their fingers to the bones to provide for him and his three siblings. He watched neighborhood kids turn to the life of crimes so they can possess fancy cars and a beautiful woman. At times the lure of organized crime appealed again as well but with the support of his loving parents, a catholic school education and belief in his own athletic abilities, Ken learned how to conquer his own adversities and make a successful life for himself.
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Dr. Polke did this first by playing professional football with the Miami Dolphins and then with Cleveland Browns and then by owning a successful dental practice both in Ohio and then in Colorado. Today Dr. Polke has return home to Cleveland, Ohio to get back to his community much like Lebron James has returned home to Cleveland. Dr. Polke's storyline has caused some Hollywood interest already and who knows we may see Tom Selleck playing the role of Dr. Kenneth J. Polke on the big screen conquering your adversities, make the movie Rudy seems like a fairy tale. Man I can't believe I am podcast interviewing someone who played for the Dolphins and oh my god two teams. What was that like?
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Dr. Polke:
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It was just a fabulous experience. When I was with Miami back in '74, they were going for their third super bowl that year. Those were the years of the no name defense and Csonka and kick and Warfield. It was just a great experience.
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Howard:
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Wow. That is amazing. Describe your youth in influence.
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Dr. Polke:
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I grew up in fact, if you were scanning through the channels last night on cable TV there is a movie that we talked about called Kill the Irishmen. Kill the Irishmen is a movie about my neighborhood that you repeated in your bio called Collingwood. The movie depicts the true life story of Danny Green. Are you familiar with Danny Green?
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Howard:
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No.
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Dr. Polke:
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Danny was a local mobster in my neighborhood. Danny was in his 20s when I just growing up as a youth nine, ten or 11 years old. Danny later went on to become the head of the dock workers union known as the longshoreman. I don't want to ruin the movie for everybody. Like I said it was even Starz encore suspense channel even last night followed by Jaws was the next movie repeated after that. Danny grew up to take control of the longshoreman through various nefarious methods, murder being one of them. Danny controlled the dock. Everything shipped into the country and shipped out of the country was under Danny's control. Danny was part of the Italian mob in my neighborhood and Danny wanted to take over the teamsters.
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The teamsters were controlled by the Italian mob in my neighborhood and Danny had a falling out with the Italian mob because he wanted to become the president of the teamsters. Now if you think about it, if Danny had to control all the shipping within the country and control the shipping in and out of the country, nothing would have moved in this country without Danny’s say so. In theory, he probably would have been even more powerful than even the President of the United States but the Italian mob tell Danny "No, Danny that is our territory. You are taking over that. We control the teamsters." A war broke out between Danny and the Italian mob. Again I don't want to ruin the movie. I don't want to ruin the book for you but we talk about this in my book. My book is more of a sequel to Danny’s storyline. In the movie and in Danny’s story the war breaks out. I was playing for the Brown and killed about 45 of the Italian mob. The Italian mob had tried killing him numerous times.
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In fact his legend kept growing more and more and more every time they try killing Danny but they couldn't. The ironic thing of the story is, I was going through Case Western Reserve Dental school here in Cleveland at that time when they finally did kill Danny in '78. Danny was leaving an emergency dental visit out of Dr. Alfonzo Rossi’s office. Someone had told the mob that Danny was there for emergency toothache and they exploded the car up next to Danny’s. That is how the Italian mob finally ended up killing him but that is what my youth was like coming out of that neighborhood. These mobsters, we knew they were different than any other fathers in the neighborhood. We would play our little league games and we would see them there during the middle of the day. They would be there in nice cars, nice suits and they never seems to work. At the young age of nine, ten, 11 years old we didn't know exactly what they did for a living but we knew that were different than all the other fathers in the neighborhood.
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Howard:
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That was coming in or out of the boat on the great lake by Cleveland. This was Cleveland you are growing up in right?
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Dr. Polke:
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Correct.
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Howard:
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The ships coming in on the great lake to Cleveland harbor?
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Dr. Polke:
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No, these are ships across the whole country, whether it be the ports in Frisco, the ports in LA, the posts in Houston, ports in Louisiana, New York City ports, Danny controlled all the dock workers on all of those ports, not just Cleveland.
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Howard:
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You know what is romantic about the stories? You mentioned dentistry twice because you know the longshoremen are famous for dentistry?
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Dr. Polke:
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No, what?
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Howard:
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They’ve started dental insurance. I think it was 1958. It was the longshoreman's club and that was the first dental insurance in 1958. I tell talk about how money is the answer and what is the question, when they roll that out they covered x-rays at a 100% and dentists did not own x-ray machines and the technology had been out since Roentgen. Look up what year Roentgen invented the x-ray machine. When they started covering x-ray at a 100% like a domino effect from New Jersey to Kansas to Cleveland, everybody bought a x-ray machine which is so different than today where it is like CAD CAM has been out for 25 years and it only has about a 10% market penetration but when x-rays came out, it didn't even take 6 months to a year for everybody to go to x-rays. When an edge of a hand piece came out, it only took 6 months for every dentist to buy one to replace that. Remember the old jack rabbit?
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Dr. Polke:
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Yes as a kid I went to a dentist who had that.
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Howard:
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Everybody had a cuspidor.
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Dr. Polke:
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Yes I remember that as a kid too.
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Howard:
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I could tell you a story about a cuspidor but if I told you, you wouldn't even believe it but when I practiced in '87, there was an 80 year old dentist in town and he uses a cuspidor as an ashtray and he smoked two packs a day while working on the patients. I think he was the oldest dentist for everyone to discuss in those study club. He had this hideous wig that was on. He was the most fun guy you'd ever eat dinner with. The cover of the book talks about a mafia controlled neighborhood. You came over a lot of adversity?
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Dr. Polke:
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Even now, in returning back to Cleveland I got a phone call from my brother. He told me about one of the kids that we played little league baseball with. His name was Glenn Pauli. Glenn Pauli was just getting out of prison not too long ago. He was up for murder charges and racketeering and a whole extortion, whole number of other charges that he was sent away to prison for. By the good grace of god, there go I. That could have been my brother and I from the lure of the crime because these folks just lived down the street from us. It is not as if they were miles and miles and miles away. They were part of the neighborhood. There were stories in my book "conquering your adversities" where we talk about incidents with Danny Green and a lot of history of the Cleveland mob. In fact the Cleveland mob was more powerful than the New York mob because of the fact of all the cane sugar coming across Lake Yuri from Canada.
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That is how the bootleggers got their start in the '20s. In fact my dad side of family were all bootleggers. They ran speakeasies. This is how my dad side of the family made their living. I’ve got a very interesting family on my dad side. He’s got two uncles, my great uncles Frank and Eddy Sims. They were both professional boxers and they helped the mob in gaining control of the Cleveland area. Eddy Sims interesting not fought Joe Louis in 1936 for the heavyweight title here in Cleveland back during the depression. Eddy then went on to Hollywood and made bunch of movies with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Humphrey Bogart and had a rather very interesting career. After his Hollywood career was over, with he then went to Vegas and became the bodyguard for Bugsy Siegel. My dad side of family had some mobster ties there. No doubt about that.
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Howard:
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That was a great movie Bugsy Siegel. Was that the name of the movie?
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Dr. Polke:
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I believe so yes.
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Howard:
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Are you the only dentist period that ever was a quarterback at the NFL?
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Dr. Polke:
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To my knowledge, yes.
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Howard:
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Congratulations.
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Dr. Polke:
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Thank you.
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Howard:
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What was that like? Were you an all star kid in high school? How do you become a quarterback in the NFL? How many kids play football in college and then what? 400 get drafted each year in NFL. What are the odds of going from "I played in high school" to "I go to the NFL?"
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Dr. Polke:
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They are very infinitesimal, very small. There is no doubt about it but out of my high school there are 25 of us that've played in the NFL. If you listen to Mike & Mike in the morning, Big Mike, he is out of my high school. If you watch college game days on Saturdays, Desmond Howard, Heisman trophy winner, he is out of my high school. If you listen to CBS sports March Madness, Clark Kellogg who is one of the analyst for CBS sports, he is out of my high school's well. My high school was very prolific in sports coming out of that neighborhood. It was either sports or it was organized crime. It was the only way you were going to provide for yourself a good living coming out of that neighborhood.
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Howard:
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That is just amazing. What is the name of that high school?
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Dr. Polke:
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The name of the high school was Cleveland St. Joe's. It was an all boy’s Catholic school. If you weren't catholic. Although everybody predominantly was because it was all predominantly Italian neighborhoods, you either went to St. Joe's or you went to Collingwood high school which was the public school. My parents went without. They sacrifice their whole life to provide for us to get a better education. Education was one other way of getting out of that neighborhood. That is what my folks decided to do when they sent us there. I have nothing but great respect for that high school and very proud to be a St. Joe Viking but there are lot of us out there that've done very well.
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Howard:
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All my schooling was Catholic. I went to Boston Sacrament and St. Pats and Bishop Girl high school then Craig University. It is just different in a catholic school. I remember one time my friend said something. He said something snappy smart ass back to the priest and you have the door going into the classroom. Right next to that, it is a window pane. He threw him through the window pane. When his dad found out that what he had said and what he lived up to the priest or said hell no or do it for yourself or whatever, his dad then took a belt to him 10 times. When I grew up all my friends policy was that if you get in trouble in school, my dad has said "If you go to the principal's office and get 10 swats, you come home and I'm giving you a 100." All the parents backed the teachers. It was different than today. Everyone is a snowflake and has feelings. You just don't have that. My two older sisters after Bishop Girl went straight into the nunnery. It was a highly more discipline academic experience.
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Dr. Polke:
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Isn’t that amazing Howard? You would get a beating from the nuns. You get the paddle. You come home and you get another beating. My god things have changed.
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Howard:
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I remember one time I brought his little mookie where you turn it upside down and it make a [inaudible 00:14:20] boo. My buddy sat next to me John Leese who is now an Endodontist in Los Angeles. I turned that over but I put it in his desk. He didn't know what is going on. Everybody started laughing anyway. Sister Murielle found out the it was me. She slapped me so hard in the face that three hours later people are looking at me and saying "Did somebody slap you? I see a hand print on your face." You can argue all you want. It reminds me of that very controversial coach Bobby Knight.
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Dr. Polke:
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Bobby Knight, Indiana.
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Howard:
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It was like okay you might not like that but they do that in the Marine Corps and he is dealing with a lot of young boys and everybody has a different leadership styles but his record kind of spoke for himself. You could have gone and played for any other high school or college in the United States. What do you think of Bobby Knight? Do you think he was over the top discipline or do you think they should have left him alone?
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Dr. Polke:
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What he is noted for and famous for is for the one seen of throwing the chair. He probably could have done without that but you ask his players that have played for him. They have nothing but just amazing amount of respect for him and the values that they learn from him. The self discipline, the self sacrifice and all of those values that we don't seem to hold near and dear anymore but those players have got a tremendous amount of respect for him.
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Howard:
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I remember one time I lost a wrestling match and my coach, coach Tony Hager threw my warm up jacket you put over when you are done. He threw that in my face. It has that zipper thing and that zipper just tinged my front tooth. I thought he knocked out my tooth but I messed up. I completely messed up and I went back down. I sat down. I thought about it, the rest of the game that why did I do that. The guy had my head and I didn't reach up, put my hand on his elbow and push it off. It was like just stupidity but anyway. What inspired you to write a book?
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Dr. Polke:
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In 2010, I ran for US congress. I had given a few speeches at a few political events. Few people came up to me and said "Jeez we really like what we hear. We like your ideas. We like you whole genre. We like your program. Would you like to run for office?" I thought they were talking about may be running for city dog catcher or something along those lines. They said "No we want you to run for US congress." I gave it some thought and I went ahead and put through my Ad in the ring and signed up for it, went through all, the paperwork and started running for congress. But I found out that it was full time job. You can't run for congress and run the dental office at the same time. I had to drop out after about four months but during that timeframe, I was giving a lot of speeches and a lot of folks came up to me and said "Jeez we didn't realized your background, your area that you came from and all the stories that you talk about are so interesting. You really should write a book." That was the impudence of it and we took it from there.
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When you live your life you don't think it is all that amazing but when people are coming up to you and saying that you really need to put it on paper, that is when you give it some serious thought. You think to yourself "Jeez this probably could help other people who are in a similar situation coming from a lower socioeconomic background and are looking for some inspiration." That is what has inspired me. Also I was thinking back to a time when I was part of the big brothers big sisters organization. I had a young black boy that was my little brother and I thought through the timeframe that he was growing up and what I was hopefully able to do for him and instill a set of values. I took that experience growing up out of that same environment and then I thought I put it on paper and see if we could help more people that are in a similar situation.
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Howard:
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How do they buy your book? You got a website ConqueringYourAdversities.com. Is that the best way to buy it?
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Dr. Polke:
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Yes, we have the first publication coming out in a week or so.
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Howard:
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It is not out yet?
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Dr. Polke:
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It is officially out in terms of being able to, that it's done. Let’s put it that way. This was a three year project. It is done. It is in its final stage which is actually being printed as we speak. If they go to conquering your adversities, they can order the book there and then I will ship them a copy if that is what they like. Right now, it is just in hard copy for them and then we planned to have it soft copy and so on so forth.
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Howard:
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You’re giving away your age when you and I talk about the movie "Rudy." That thing came out in 1993. Talked to some of these young kids that just graduated from dental school. They might be 25 years old and might not even have heard of that movie. What is the movie Rudy about? How does it play along? How is it close to you and your book and your message?
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Dr. Polke:
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Rudy, as we all know those of us who have seen the movie, came from the scenario where he was told that he wasn't fast enough, wasn't big enough, wasn't smart enough, wasn't anything enough and he overcame those obstacles. He did prove to himself and to the rest of the world that "Hey if you set your mind to something and you really work at it with self discipline, you can achieve just about anything." His goal was to play for the university of Notre Dame which he never played any games except may be the last minute or so of the final game of his senior year. He did achieve his goal in one respect and not in some of the other respects that he wanted but it just showed the value of hard work and self discipline.
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Our story line goes even a couple of steps further. Although Rudy played at the university level, the same scenario for myself as well. I was told I wasn't fast enough, wasn't big enough, wasn't strong enough, wasn’t smart enough. All these other things and yet I proved everybody wrong that through hard work and self discipline you can achieve your life's dream. My life's dream was to play in the NFL to become a quarterback and god blessed me with a throwing arm that to this day is still one of the strongest arms they've seen in the NFL based on some comments were made in newspaper clippings. That is what we are after is if you put your mind to something, you can achieve just about anything that you want.
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Howard:
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The movie Rudy really didn't have any famous stars in it but the other one you are talking about "Kill the Irishmen" which is newer movie that came out in 2011. You have Val Kilmer, Christopher walkins. That was an all star cast. Wasn’t it?
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Dr. Polke:
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With Paul Sorvino and Paul [inaudible 00:21:48] from law and order, yes it has got a great cast. We are looking to take our book to that same producer. He is an Ohio state grad. We are going to look and see if he'd take our storyline and produce it as a sequel to kill the Irishmen. We are also going to pitch our storyline to Lebron James right after the Cavaliers defeat the Golden State Warriors in the finals come up here. Right after NBA season is over with; Lebron has started a production company here in Cleveland. We are looking to pitch the story line to him for a movie production as well.
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Howard:
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I love Cleveland. I just lectured there a few weeks ago about the rock and roll hall of fame. That was so darn fun.
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Dr. Polke:
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Isn’t that amazing?
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Howard:
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I had no idea until I was flying in that the building is shaped like an old, what they call it, a phonograph?
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Dr. Polke:
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Yes.
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Howard:
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It is unbelievable, absolutely loved it. What is it about Cleveland? Why do you think Lebron went back home? You have moved to Colorado and had a successful practice. You moved back to Cleveland. What is it about going home to Cleveland?
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Dr. Polke:
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Cleveland still has that hardcore blue-collar mentality that you can kick us all you want. You can beat us up all you want but we are going to get back up and we are going to face you again and don't mess with us. It is essentially the mentality that you develop in this kind of an area. It becomes the core essence of your being. For Lebron, if it wasn't for the work ethics and the self discipline, even today it is amazing the workout routine that after all these NBA titles and so on and so forth, what he puts himself and his body through to perform at a better level each and every year. It is that same mentality and that core that brings us back home.
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We want to come back and we want to help Cleveland out. It’s been kicked down. It’s been beaten up. It’s been bad mouthed. We want to come back and make Cleveland even better than it is. It is amazing what is here. The rock & roll hall of fame. The pro football hall of fame. The Cleveland orchestra which is world renowned. The medical facilities that are here. The Cleveland clinic and one of the main reasons I hate to have even bringing this up but one of the main reasons we are back here is because of the Cleveland clinic.
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My wife had some serious heart issue. She had to have a pacemaker put in and after they killed her twice on the operating table back in Denver, she came out of the operating room the second time. When she finally awoke she said "Get me back to Cleveland where they know what they are doing." I hate to say that but this is one of the reasons why we are back in Cleveland. Cleveland clinic, I don't know what rating system you use there. They are always up there one, two or three in all of the hospital ratings. Their cardiac division is number one in the world in my opinion.
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Howard:
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We’re going to have that. What is his name Dr. Kenneth Bell coming on, who wrote Beating the Heart Attack Gene talks about the Cleveland clinic. Ken why do you think when you go into health care, all their marketing, advertising, branding at Cleveland clinic, at Mayo clinic, at Houston, at John Hopkins, at Scripps. It is all about we are serious. We are the best. Your wife moves from Colorado to Ohio to go to the best doctor but when you look at all the corporate dental chains, it is all $49 for cleaning exam and x-ray. Bring this coupon on, it is $5 off. How come no one in dentistry sees the path laid by Mayo and Cleveland and Scripps and tries to brand it like "Hey we are serious as a heart attack. We are the best. People not only come to our practice from thousands of miles away, they move from one state to another." I mean Cleveland clinic what percentage of their population is it even from the United States?
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Dr. Polke:
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It is amazing. I’ve got a great little story I tell in the book. While working at the Cleveland clinic while I was going through dental school at Case West Reserve. We had one of the kings from the Middle East with his 75 wives take over one whole floor at the Cleveland clinic. He came in for his open heart surgery. I worked in the blood bank. We would get blood ready for the open heart surgery is the next day. I worked the weekend graveyard shift and the 2 main surgeons at that time were Dr. Cosgrove and Dr. Lu. Dr. Cosgrove I believe is now just retiring as the CEO of the Cleveland clinic but their philosophy was always push the envelope and push the envelope to get better and better and better.
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This king because of the great service and great health care they here received, he donated a millions to the Cleveland clinic which put them on the map. It is amazing. The reputation they have is being the best. I know you have Carl Misch interviewed in one of your series. I trained under Carl when I first got out of Dentist school. Carl has his office up on the Detroit, Michigan area which was just about a two hour drive from us. Carl is of the same mindset. He was bound and determined. He was going to become the best at what he did and sure enough he did. I can't thank Carl enough. He was one of my mentors and one of my gurus. It is sorry to see his passing.
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Howard:
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Same here. I actually cried when he died. It was just tough. You think of that king had 75 wives, he would have died of suicide not a heart issue.
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Dr. Polke:
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I am surprised he didn't want to die but that is all different story.
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Howard:
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Can I people your email address because I just love your email address? That is just classic. Can it say it on the air?
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Dr. Polke:
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Sure go ahead.
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Howard:
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DoctorQb@aol.com, doctor quarterback. DoctorQB@aol.com that is classic. I will never forget that for rest of my life.
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Dr. Polke:
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Howard, I'm sorry through all my years of dentistry which is approaching 40 that you and I never met and never had a chance to sit down and talk. I think we would have a lot of fun over few beers.
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Howard:
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I was just going to ask you what is that bar area downtown Cleveland where they block off the street? What is that area called?
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Dr. Polke:
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There were two areas. There were the flats. Is that what you are referring to? Down by the [inaudible 00:28:38] river.
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Howard:
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No I don't remember the flats. It was a bar district where this street were blocked off with wooden brick.
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Dr. Polke:
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Sure, where the progressive field is, where the Indians play and then the long square where the arena is for the Cavaliers play. Are you referring to that area there?
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Howard:
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I forgot but I just want to make the point that I love [inaudible 00:29:02] around the world because you get to see all these better ideas. When you go to so many ideas when you go to so many places like Romania and some of the Eastern Europe places, the downtown bar areas they block off from the cars, the bricks. They put tires and cars. I am talking about that area down in Cleveland downtown where they did that where they parked the cars.
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Dr. Polke:
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That is on the east side up above the flats.
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Howard:
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That was so smart. Then I come back to Tempe, you know Mill Avenue. What is the worst thing about Mill Avenue? You cannot even cross the street. All these cars and the congestion. I wish these people would not do [crosstalk 00:29:40].
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Dr. Polke:
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Downtown area is progressing. We are seeing more and more people moving back into Cleveland and talk about that in my book. Unfortunately it is sad to say but back in the '50s and '60s we have what was known as the white flight. When people say that they are from Cleveland, most often they are not. They really aren't from Cleveland. They are from north east Ohio which is a hugely populated area but I truly born and raised in Cleveland proper.
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Howard:
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We talked earlier about Danny Green, the mafia and the longshoreman. The x-ray was developed in 1895 but it wouldn't be until the longshoreman invented dental insurance, which I believe was 1958 so almost 63 years after the x-ray was invented the dentist buy it. The only reason they bought it because it covered a 100% and insurance has driven the dental industry throughout its entire time. What are you doing now? What is your career right now? You are not practicing anymore. What are you doing?
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Dr. Polke:
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I retired from my active practice and I've just been working on my book. As you probably know, I am new comer to this but writing a book and getting it edited and published and all those things, it is a learning curve for me so something new. I am excited about my book and what I want to do is promote my book and I am looking to perhaps get into coaching. I want to go down to Ohio state and sit down with Urban Meyer and tell him I am here and that I’d like to come help the Ohio State Buck guys. I am looking to coach. I am maybe looking at the political career here at Ohio. I may decide to run for Congress and one other thing I am exploring is the buying and selling of dental practices and helping young doctors achieve their dreams. Through my tutelage, I can help them grow their practices and show them the right avenues to take and how to deal with supply Companies and all those things that they teach in dental school.
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Howard:
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My advice to you there has never been dentist as a President. There is never been a dentist as a senator. There are four dentists in US congress. Paul Gosar from Arizona who I lived in the same dorm with at Craig University. We both lived in Swanson hall. He is practice here in Arizona. Have you met any of the four dentists who are in the US house representatives right now?
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Dr. Polke:
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There is one dentist. I believe he is from Idaho. When I was running for congress in 2010, I met with the speaker of the House at that time. I also met with my local congress Steve LaTourette who was also a patient of mine. He and his family were patients of mine when I was practicing here at Ohio. I flew into DC. I met with them and I also met with this particular dentist from Idaho. I apologize I forgot his name. Can’t think of his name. Memory isn't serving me well but you are right, there is four of them are dentist. How many doctors do you know signed the declaration of independence? Are you familiar with that?
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Howard:
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No I am not. How many are there?
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Dr. Polke:
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There were six doctors that signed the declaration of independence. I am a firm believer that we need more doctors taking a seat at the leadership to help run this country.
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Howard:
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The one you were talking to was Representative Mike Simpson Republican out of Idaho, Paul Gosar republican out of Arizona, Brian Baban Republican out of Texas and now there is a new one Drew Ferguson, Republican out of Georgia. I have sent a request to interview all those guys but I think they are a little busy.
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Dr. Polke:
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I think their hands are full, yes.
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Howard:
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I think they are really-really busy.
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Dr. Polke:
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It was Mike Simpson who I met. I apologize I forgot his name.
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Howard:
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Mike Simpson, he is the one who’s been in there for a long time.
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Dr. Polke:
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Yes he is there for a while.
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Howard:
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He used to go to the senate. You are the first dentist who was the quarterback at the NFL. So you got to be first dentist who is a senator. Don’t go for the US house. Then you will be the fifth one. You don't want to be fifth. You have never done anything fifth place. You should be a first senator.
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Dr. Polke:
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Tell me how many folks you think in this country have played the NFL that went on become a doctor and went on to become a senator. How many would there be?
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Howard:
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You’d be the only one. There was a dentist from ... Marc Spitts was accepted in the dental school.
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Dr. Polke:
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Yes he was. You are right.
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Howard:
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But he didn't become a dentist. There was a guy who played for the Stealers. Big old lineman. When he ended his career, he went back to dental school. Do you remember that guy?
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Dr. Polke:
|
Are we talking about Webster?
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Howard:
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I am not sure of his name.
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Dr. Polke:
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Mike Webster?
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Howard:
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Is that that he was?
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Dr. Polke:
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It might be, but don't quote me on that.
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Howard:
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But you are the only one that I’ve heard was a quarterback. Are you thinking about doing practice transitions?
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Dr. Polke:
|
I hate bringing this topic up but the sale of my practice because we have already moved back to Ohio. I had turned it over to two brokers actually back in Colorado. It was such a bad experience. I am toying with the idea that that should be a great experience and not such a bad experience. I am toying with the idea. I learned so much through that horrendous experience that I would perhaps like to help a lot of other doctors. They don't have to go through what I went through because when you got an ailing wife six states over you are trying to help her recoup and run your dental practice from six states over and then sell it on top of that. It is pretty hefty burden to bear.
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Howard:
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Would you do that yourself on your own website or would you go work for a firm that does it? How would you do this?
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Dr. Polke:
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I would do this myself. My experience with brokers, I would not team up with anybody. I hate saying this but lazy, greedy, poorly written contracts, you name it. I went through the whole gamut. I am still [inaudible 00:36:45] up problems right now to this day.
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Howard:
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That is tough. This is May 29th. This is memorial day. That for spending Memorial Day with us.
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Dr. Polke:
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Happy Memorial Day. I want to thank all of our veterans out there that may be listening. I want to extend our sincere gratitude for our fallen heroes that have helped keep this country free. Unfortunately as they've said many times, that the price of freedom is not free. Unfortunately many have paid the dearest price of all. Thank you for all our veterans.
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Howard:
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I still can't believe that George Washington lead 17,000 boys to their death just to break off from United Kingdom. What a sacrifice? Can you imagine? 17,000 boys slain just so we could be independent.
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Dr. Polke:
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That is so incredible. In talking to you Howard, I can tell that you are a history buff. I think truly you will love our book because there is awful lot of history. We talk about the Kent state shootings. We talk about how the mob got started. There is a lot of history in there that I think you will love in our book.
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Howard:
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The best way to market is we got a dental town magazine. It is mailed to 125,000 dentists every month. What is even more cool is it is digital on dentaltown.com. It is emailed all over the world. You should contact the editor Tom J. Coby and write a book review for it. Do a book review and I was going to say for the book review or may be even the segway quest right now, this is Memorial Day but next Friday 6,000 kids are going to graduate from dental school. That is dental kindergarten. They think they are doctors and they are all that but they realized that they just showed up. The light just turned green and they can finally start to cross the street. What advice would you tell 6,000 babies who are 25 years old who just are walking out into a four lane intersection called dentistry? What advice would you give? Would your book apply to them? Would your book help them as they approach their journey?
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Dr. Polke:
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Without a doubt. No it wasn't written for dentist per say. So they are not going to get a detailed knowledge on how to run their practices better. I can give them some tips right now that I’d love to share with you and them. Again, it was written for the general public. It is the story of my life. It is really only goes up to about the dental school and all the adversities I had to overcome prior to that to just even get into dental school. The first tip I would offer these young doctors coming out, dentistry is a long career. One of my other passions other than having written this book is delving more and more into anti-aging. I would tell these dentists it is a long career. It is very physically demanding and because of that they need to do everything they can to protect their backs, protect their health, protect their vision so that would be my first bit of advice. If you can't take care of your own health, you very well can't lecture to a patient or advise a patient or any term you want to use how they should take care of themselves. So if you yourself are not in the best of shape, if you yourself do not have the best looking smile, it is very difficult for you to point that out to anybody else. So that's my first bit of advice.
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Second bit of advice is God gave you two ears and God gave you one mouth so what I would highly recommend for young dentist coming out to not to lecture to their patients. They need to ask a lot of questions and they need to listen. And if you really truly listen, this is where you are going how to learn how to diagnose properly, you're going to learn how to treat the patient properly. And you are going to learn how to have that patient develops trust in you, because if you come out hot and heavy with everything you have "learned in dental school" they are going to turn you off and all you're going to see as they used to say the backs of their heads and you will never see them again. So that's my second bit of advice and I'm sure you have seen that in many dental offices. I would imagine Howard in your consulting.
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Howard:
|
Absolutely. You're talking about buying in selling a practice. What advice would you give them if their 25 years old, they have been working somewhere for a year or two and now they are going to go buy a practice? What would you advice them on that?
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Dr. Polke:
|
First bit of advice I'd give is you don't have to have the Taj Mahal to be successful, so don't get into any leasing scam that's out their by the dental supply companies, don't sign any contracts until you know exactly what you are signing. Read it word for word, if you even want some free advice, I would be more than happy if they contact me, I'll be more than happy to advise them.
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Howard:
|
How do they contact you?
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Dr. Polke:
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They can contact me, either you gave the email.
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Howard:
|
Doctorqd@aol.com
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Dr. Polke:
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I am more than happy to call them, they also-
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Howard:
|
You want to give out your phone number or website?
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Dr. Polke:
|
The website is conqueringyouradversities.com, the same as the title of the book. Those are the two preferred ways to reach me and I'll be more than happy to help them out in any way I can but the problems are always in the fine print and I'm sure you'll recall that when you first started out.
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Howard:
|
On the cover of your book, you as a quarterback? Was that you?
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Dr. Polke:
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Yes, when I was about 40 pounds lighter and I had hair.
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Howard:
|
And that was your quarter back for the Cleveland Browns in that picture right?
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Dr. Polke:
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Correct.
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Howard:
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Playing the Dolphins who used to be a quarterback on the Dolphins.
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Dr. Polke:
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Correct, yep. I was a quarter back through my whole career.
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Howard:
|
Wow, that's a great picture your quarterback for the Browns to while you're playing your other team that your forward team first right Miami?
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Dr. Polke:
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Oh no, we are playing the Buffalo Bills in that picture.
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Howard:
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Oh that's a Buffalo Bills I'm sorry.
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Dr. Polke:
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Yes Buffalo Bills. Yes, we are playing the Buffalo Bill.
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Howard:
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Are they going to go to Canada someday?
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Dr. Polke:
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The Buffalo Bills?
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Howard:
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Yeah.
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Dr. Polke:
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Aren't they there already?
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Howard:
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They have been threatening it for years and years and years. You say, when they buy a practice ... The millennials, their first house will be bigger than their mom and dad's house and their mom and dad have worked 40 years and easily you can go and take their parents square footage and both of their grandparents homes square footage, add it all up together and that's what their first house is and they are 27 years old and they already have $350,000 in students loans and they will go and buy a house for 350-500,000. I mean they just, my God they spend money. They complain about their student loan debt but they don't back out the price of their Honda Acura. They have already gone on two cruises, they flew on vacations. I mean our generation never did any of those things.
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Dr. Polke:
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No, they spend like the drunken sailors, there's no doubt about it Howard. What I would recommend they do is take that money whatever they spent on those big home and fancy cars and invest it in themselves. I would learn, unfortunately Carl has passed away but there are others that are taking his place. I would spend that money to advancing my skill level, that's where I would spend that money. I wouldn't put it all in a Taj Mahal office either. Start small, start very modestly and then build from there.
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Howard:
|
Me and Howard Goldstein and [inaudible 00:45:06] we put up 411 online CE courses that you can take online for less than a cab fare and they are like, no I'm going to just get on an airplane, fly across the country, stay in a resort, drop $3000 on a course. I mean, every time they have a chance to do anything at almost zero cost, they always pick the most expensive way to do anything. They would go back to a $3000 course, and I'll be eating dinner with them and I'll say, here's a sheet of paper, write down everything you learned on that sheet of paper that you didn't know before you went for that course and they're just "ah" You could have googled that on YouTube. You could have learned that on youtube in your underwear drinking a beer but you had to spend $4000 and you can't even show me notes?
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Dr. Polke:
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Right. Howard I couldn't agree with you more.
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Howard:
|
And speaking of Carl Misch, I got my fellowship in the missions too, my diplomate international congress of implantologist but before I went down there, the first thing I did is I bought his book and memorized it before I went down there. I couldn't believe when I was down there were 7, three day weekends. People would be asking questions to Carl I'd be thinking "Dude that like the first chapter of his book." I mean you could fly all the way from California to Detroit, but you couldn't buy the book for a $100 and read it on the airplane? You can always do something faster, easier, lower in cost, higher in quality if you just use your mind.
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Dr. Polke:
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But here is the problem though Howard. You're introducing logic into this conversation and why would they want to do anything logical or with common sense? So I just don't understand. To me common sense should prevail over everything you do. The other thing I would recommend is that expand their skill levels. One of my favorite areas of dentistry was IV sedation. I did my training for that and they was only couple of places that would give that training. But I went to the university of Alabama and I did my 80 hours there at the university of Alabama. I found that to be just a tremendous practice builder. The ability to control those patients that had a phobic about dentistry was just a tremendous practice builder. In fact I was even teaching IV sedation, I had teamed up with a couple of anesthesiologist, MD's these from the area there in Colorado and we were teaching in my office IV sedation. And that was just a fabulous experience.
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Howard:
|
Yeah when you learned that IV sedation at University of Alabama was that course taught by the Bear? Did Bear Bryant teach that course?
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Dr. Polke:
|
Howard you stick to the logic, I'll tell the jokes here. Okay.
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Howard:
|
But that was another tough disciplinarian wasn't he?
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Dr. Polke:
|
Oh he was, but a winner. He was a winner.
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Howard:
|
You talked about IV sedation, you talked about implants. Here's a big question a lot of them millennial have. You were talking about calling you for help, did you want to give out your phone number?
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Dr. Polke:
|
Yeah, I can give that number. And that number is (303)818-3076
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Howard:
|
303 is that a Colorado code?
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Dr. Polke:
|
That's a Colorado code yes.
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Howard:
|
I thought that was, so you kept your cell phone number.
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Dr. Polke:
|
I kept my cell phone number yes.
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Howard:
|
Okay, its (303)818-3076. But I think a big question there even before they even get to you is should I start my own practice from scratch or should I buy an existing? How are they supposed to get their mind around at the no go or buying an existing?
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Dr. Polke:
|
Well I think that is going to depend on several things. Their skill level their financial situations. I don't think there is a pad answer for any one individual, so it depends and in also the location. Are they thinking rural where there is a lack and a scarcity of dentist or are they looking at the city of Denver? Obviously my answer will be a no no on both of those accounts into the city of Denver. If they are just out of school, my pad answer is go team up with somebody for a while, learn dentistry how to do it well, how to do it fast. In fact one of the stories I wanted to relate to you, and relate to your young dentist out there, when I was working at the Cleveland clinic in dental school, they were doing a study there Cosgrove and Loop we were doing a study on their heart patient, and the problem that they couldn't figure out is why were patients coming essentially the same problems, having essentially the same surgery done and why was some patients getting off the operating table and others not getting off their operating table.
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They did several studies while I was there, but the main conclusion they came to was that it was the speed of the surgeon that determined whether or not that patient got off the operating table. The longer the patient was on the operating table, the morbidity and mortality went up dramatically and the same can be applied to dentistry. If it takes you three hours to take out an impacted wisdom tooth, you should have referred that out moons ago. So until you get your skill level to the point that thinks fast and do them well, then you need to not even consider buying your own practice or buying somebody else practice.
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Howard:
|
Regina Herzlinger out of a Harvard medical economist show that on a hernia operation, if the doctor does the entire surgery in under five minutes, it's like a 99% success rate and by the time he gets to 10 minutes, it's a 10% failure rate.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Like I said Cosgrove and Loop did that classic study on open heart surgery back in the late 70's when I was going through dental school and working there, that proved that very point.
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Howard:
|
But I know my homies, this is how they think. If you tell them, okay the guy across the street, numbs the patient, preps the tooth, makes a temporary, you make temporary first before the impression so you'll never have a reduction coping work out temporary and then take the impression, cement it, does the whole thing in 30 minutes and you take an hour in a half. He has 50% overhead and you have 75% overhead. A 100% of dental say well if that guy does it in 30 minutes, it's crap, it's not quality, it's just, he's a hack. It's like okay all the peer reviewed research shows the exact opposite, he knew what he was doing.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Right, let them go tell that theory to Cosgrove and Loop because the first thing they did with all their surgeons residents going through their program is they work with them on their speed. How to get the surgery done faster and faster and faster until they could do it as well as Cosgrove and Loop and that is what made the Cleveland clinic what it is today. Speed, I can't over emphasis that how important for the patient as well. Now think of it as in terms of you as a patient sitting in that chair. You want to be in that chair for 30 minutes or you want to be in that chair for an hour in a half. You're going to have a happy experience with an hour and a half visit? I don't think so. So from every vantage point that you can think of, that 30 minute visit is much better. And I agree with Howard.
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Howard:
|
I want to talk to you about something else. Talking about hours and minute, measure your statistic. If it isn't, measured it can't be beaten. I've never heard that but I really love that. If it isn't measured it can't be beaten, that must have come from your NFL days. We didn't know someone can run the four minute mile until someone ran a five minute mile. That is so profound but gosh darn it Ken, these dentist, you're talking about their bonding agents so 3 o'clock in the morning and then you ask any financial numbers of their practice and it's like a deer looking in a headlights. How do you get a dentist who just wants to do dentistry to look at the business.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Well from what I understand, a lot of these millennials don't want their own businesses. Correct me if I am wrong here Howard, but a lot of them just want to work for the man. That is why you are seeing the phase that we are going through right now where corporate dentistry is now consuming more and more of the dental offices across the country. What you are going to see eventually is the dental insurances companies are going to be the corporations owning those dental offices. That is the trend that I'm seeing. So it depends on that individual. If they are looking for anonymity, if they are looking for independence then they need to listen to you and they need to know how to run their business. But if they just want to punch in and punch out, then go work for the corporation's. That's what you're going to do.
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Howard:
|
I think cooperate dentistry wants Wall Street to believe that but Wall Street will not take any of those guys public. One of them to do an IPO. NASDAQ would IPO, Snapchat, anybody they'd IPO. They won't touch a dental DSO and their number one reason is nobody keeps their dentist. Some of these chains can't keep them for a year, the biggest ones, their average is social says is 2 years. It's the same in the private sector. Everybody who is saying these people, these millennials are some what different now, they just want to work for the man. There's not a human on earth that wants to work under your thumb, especially doctors, dentist and lawyers. They didn't go to school eight years to clock in and clock out, so the associate turnover in the best private practices and the best corporate dentistry, they all quit after a year or two. So they want their own.
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I completely believe that and if anybody argues with me on that I just say is "All you got to do is just call one broker on Wall street. Just call your boy from Manhattan and say hey how come no dental DSO are going to do an IPO" and they'll just laugh, they'll explain it to you in five minutes. I've been trying to get a lot of them to come on but they don't, I guess there is no reason why ...
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Dr. Polke:
|
Howard I agree with you. From day one I wanted my own dental practice. I wanted to be a business for myself and that's why I went into dentistry so I agree with you. I don't have my pulse on any of these millennial now, you do, that's your point.
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Howard:
|
If they want to be an employee, then ask them "Why don't you go back and live with your mom or dad?" They don't want to live with their mom and dad because they don't want to listen to their dad. They don't want to listen to their mom, they want their own house and they don't want to work for their dad. Humans are humans. Human part isn't changing. The human parts aren't changing. The human part says, "I don't want anyone telling me what to do. I don't want any checks and balances. I don't want any transparency." I mean everything they want to government to be they never want to be. They don't want any checks and balance, they don't want any body telling them what to do. They want everybody to mind their own business. They want to go home their own house, do whatever and all these associates, every one that I've talked to is just doing it until they find a place to jump.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Well, if they are looking for help to make that jump, that's what I'm looking to do to help them make that leap.
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Howard:
|
I want to ask you another question that guys like me and you have no problem doing but when I talk to dental consultants they say that when they go out and observe in a office for the first year, you say best forms of marketing are four methods. Ask for referrals, public speaking to organizations, schools and churches, write a book and hand it out to new and existing patients, as your budget grows add direct mail. But I want to talk to your first one ask for referrals. Every single dental consultant that I have ever met in my life who have come on this show, when they go into an office the first day they observe and everyone will tell ya, 30 years in that first day of observation, I never saw one person ask for referral. They are just too shy. They can't do it. They feel like a used car salesman. How come you and I can do that all day long and they can't do it one time?
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Dr. Polke:
|
Well I think we made it fun to do it, as opposed to it being a burden. We would hand out gift cards to our patient that referred other patients to us and we would have contest within the office by actually doing that to see how many more referrals we could get just from that type of internal marketing. We had posters in the break room and we charted those, how many came in from those in office referrals. And we would give out bonuses to the staff if we broke a record and kept breaking it. So we made it into a game. If you take all these things that become burdens, you know practicing football doubles what we call doubles practicing in the morning, practicing in the afternoon, if you turn them into a games and you skirmished against each other, it made it less tiresome, less burdensome. That would be my first advice, turn it into a game.
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To be able to ask somebody for their friends to be sent in, shouldn't be a hard thing to do. Hey Howard, I am starting a brokerage business and I want to help young dentist sell their practice or find a practice to buy, what have you. How would you like to send me some of the people that you know that are in the market for doing that? Now how long did that take me to do? How long did it take me to ask you Howard. I don't understand it. I really don't understand it.
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Howard:
|
Speaking of finding practices on that, dental town has a quarter million dentist on the website. It has free classified ads but it didn't cost anything to put a classified ad but there's 6,050 ads in there right now. There's dental students looking to buy a practice, there's older dentist looking to sell a practice. But I'll tell you one way the best way to look for leads for yourself or whatever is to start posting on that practice transition deal and following those classified ads cause it for free and there is over a 1000 unique dentist a day on those classified ads and right now these kids walking into school, they could post or looking for an ad, just like monster.com. You could put your photo, you could put a PDF, you could do all of those things. But it's a great place to lead.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Well I appreciate the tit bit, and of course you are going to send us people our way because now you and I are very good friends. Correct?
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Howard:
|
That's absolutely right. I'm going to come and visit you in Cleveland, I'll definitely come there when I get my heart attack.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Howard, I think we will definitely have a good time. We'll go see the Indians team, go check out the Cavs, who knows our Browns may even have a good team this year.
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Howard:
|
Yeah. It's so tribal. I love the Arizona Cardinals. When I was in dental school, Kansas didn't have a football team so they had Kansas Chief and they had St Lewis Cardinals football team. Then when I left dental school and came to Arizona, the Arizona Cardinals, the St. Louis sold the team or whatever and moved it to Phoenix, so I've been a big fan. One last thing, public speaking organization, school and churches. February is Dental health month. I've always got into all the second grades classes and third grade classes. I just think that was great. You know what my secret recipe was for the church? I figured there's this really nice dentist, where my sisters runs a nunnery Lake Elmo, Minnesota. He not only fixed up my sister for free but all the nuns in there. My other sister at Wood stop, Dr Pelcher, did all the dentistry for all the Immaculate Heart Mary nuns for free so I thought okay I'll pay back.
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I went to the local churches of my area and I said, "Hey two dentist are doing my sisters for free so I'll do you for free" and they weren't catholic. They were Luther had wives and kids. I still think that was the best marketing I ever did in my life. I fixed up half a dozen churches, pastors and priest and Rabbis and so many. You would not believe how many people asked their priest and rabbis and Lutheran and men and pastor asked her I'm looking for a dentist. They say, "Oh my God, my boy Howard." Then for charity, you can't say charity because then everyone wants charity for 50 pound overweight, smokes a pack a day, spends a $100 a month on weed, but I told the priest, I said, "If you truly know someone need help, here's my card, you just write fix him up and you sign it. I'll do a no questions asked." So when they sent in charity, it was truly someone down under logs, they were pre-screened.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Howard we did the same thing. See great minds think alike Howard and we did the same thing. We would tell the priest, the pastors, the ministers, the rabbis in the area if you truly truly have somebody in need, that's really down on their luck we will do what we can to help them out within restrictions and yes it was a great practice and the community loved it because you were there, you showed that you cared. Getting back to one of my original thoughts was people don't need to know what you know, they want to know that you care and that's the first thing. Show that you care, that you are not there to bill them and they'll send anybody and everybody to you so that's a great idea Howard. Love it.
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Howard:
|
We went five minutes over the hour, I'll just end on this note. You think it when you are doing cosmetic dentistry that it is all on these young beautiful girls that are going to be runway models. When I look back at my 30 years of cosmetic dentistry, most of all the cosmic veneers I did were on 60, 70, 80 year old ladies. The best marketing I ever did was, one of those ministers, I can't say his name. He was a Lutheran ministers so now you're down to two churches and all it took you ... Okay his name is Don, but anyway. He said, "I'm up there as a pastor, I think my teeth look horrible" and so I said, "oh, so then you should do veneers." I made him these 10 veneers and he wanted them big and white and long and all that stuff.
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|
Oh my God, you know how many little old ladies will go look at your teeth. He said Howard Farren. I had more 70, 80 years old ladies coming in saying, "Now he is the most handsome pastor. He is so handsome. I want to get my teeth done." And it was amazing. I did free veneers on a Lutheran minister and got 20 veneer cases from retired women.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Howard that's a great story
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Howard:
|
Go ahead.
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|
Dr. Polke:
|
You got a lot of satisfaction out of that, didn't you?
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|
Howard:
|
Oh it's always fun. We're in the people business and if you are having fun with people you will love your career, and if you aren't having fun with people-
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|
Dr. Polke:
|
One of the other thing is if you do everything with a sense of humor as well, it goes a long way. People appreciate, because the last thing they want to do but if you can entertain them to a certain degree, you've got a self depreciating sense of humor, boy they love that. They really think you're human. And if you put up pictures of yourself and your family, like we had a wall of fame. I had my football pictures up. The parents were bringing their kids in their football gear or their baseball gear or soccer gear and we had a wall of fame and the parents loved the idea that they can bring in their kids pictures. Those are all the things that make you human and that's what they want to know. You're their doctor but you are also a human being.
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Howard:
|
Visit his website conquering your adversities. Ken, thank you so much for spending an hour today with me and my homies. I had an amazing time.
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|
Dr. Polke:
|
Thank you Howard this was a treat and a pleasure. I'm glad we finally had a chance to meet and to talk. Thank you.
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Howard:
|
Okay buddy next time we will be drinking a beer in Cleveland.
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|
Dr. Polke:
|
Ah sounds great, my treat.
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Howard:
|
We'll meet at the next April when they induct me into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Very good.
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|
Howard:
|
I don't think I could ever play in the NFL but I can sing twinkle twinkle little star while playing it on a piano.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Howard that's great. Thank you.
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|
Howard:
|
Alright buddy.
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Dr. Polke:
|
Have a good one.
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