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Join Dr. Kim Kutsch, the brilliant mind behind CariFree, as he explores the extraordinary lives of thought leaders in the dental industry, and beyond. Contrary to Ordinary explores further than dentistry - here we unravel the minds of change-makers, paradigm shifters, and world shakers.
Every two weeks, we dive into the stories of our remarkable guests—ordinary people who continually defy limits. Discover their tales of success, resilience, and self-awareness, and explore how they leverage these experiences not only to elevate dental practice and patient care but also to champion personal growth and entrepreneurship. Listen for captivating conversations with innovators who seamlessly blend art and technology, pursue curiosity, and create the truly extraordinary.
Contrary to Ordinary isn't your typical dentistry podcast—it's a vibrant community that's hit #1 in ‘Entrepreneurship,’ #3 in ‘Business,’ and #21 in ‘All Podcasts’ for a reason. We've had the pleasure of hosting inspiring guests like innovators, dental leaders, pioneering inventors, and artists, including Angus Walls, Machell Hudson, Dr. Simon McDonald, Dr. Bobby Birdi, Rella Christensen, Professor Phillip D. Marsh, Carmen Ohling, John Kois, Dr. Susan Maples, Doug Young, Colt Idol, Stephanie Staples, and many more who've graced our mic.
Each episode isn't just a listen; it's a lesson in living an extraordinary life authentically, embracing rebellion, and nurturing leadership. We dive into diverse topics, from mentoring, coaching, personal development, and work-life balance to self-awareness, emotional intelligence, leadership, storytelling, altruism, and motivation. And yes, we also cover dentistry—exploring natural dentists, dental health, dental laboratories, oral care, oral surgery, dental hygiene, caries disease, brushing teeth, and overall tooth care.
Tune in to Contrary to Ordinary for a unique blend of wisdom that goes beyond the ordinary and resonates with all aspects of life! This podcast aims to empower you to be extraordinary in your dental practice and improve not just your dental care but your overall life!
Do you have an extraordinary story you’d like to share with us? Or perhaps a question for Dr. Kutsch. Contact us on our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter today.
About Our Host:
Meet Dr. Kim Kutsch: a retired dentist with 40 years of experience, prolific writer, thought leader, inventor, and researcher in dental caries and minimally invasive dentistry, brings his insatiable curiosity to the forefront. Eager to learn from those breaking boundaries in dentistry, particularly in preventative and non-invasive dentistry approaches, Dr. Kutsch launched the Contrary to Ordinary podcast. As a keen creative and curious mind, Dr. Kutsch extends his podcast guest list to artists, entrepreneurs, and fascinating minds who have piqued his interest. He wants to learn from them and see how he can be inspired by their extraordinary ways of living and adapt his learnings into his own life and his business, CariFree.
About CariFree:
CariFree is the new model for oral health and cavity prevention. Dr. Kutsch is the CEO and founder of this business. They create cutting-edge technology and science-based solutions to common dental health concerns for the whole family, making it easy to banish cavities for good with preventive strategies over restorative procedures. Find out how dentists are using CariFree products to revolutionize their dental practices here: https://carifree.com/success-stories/.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
When I first started writing, I got, as you have said many a time, the leaders are the ones with the most arrows in their back. There were a lot of endodontists, in particular, coming at me with shooting arrows. And I understand the resistance, that's human nature, and that's okay. But what if we had some space to communicate about this? I think that because I've tried to offer an unbiased and honest space for communication about these experiences, it resonates with people.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
On Contrary to Ordinary we explore the motivations, lives and characters of innovators who see limitless potential around them. Through these conversations, we hope to provide insight into how you can emulate the mindsets of these extraordinary people in your own life and work. My name is Dr. Kim Kutsch and I spent over 20 years in dentistry before creating CariFree over 20 years ago. We offer a range of dental products to the industry and the public that promote the health and wellness of people suffering from the disease of dental caries.
Today's guest is on a mission to challenge the negative stereotype of dentistry. Dr. Kelly Blodgett, who founded Blodgett Dental Care in 2001, is dedicated to creating a more positive and patient centered dental experience. In addition to his work in dentistry, Dr. Blodgett is a trailblazer in the whole body health movement. He shares his expertise with a large audience on Instagram where his popular weekly series, Toxic Tooth Tuesdays and Wellness Wednesdays have garnered significant attention. The success of Toxic Tuesdays even led him to take it on tour across the country, a journey he'll tell us more about later. Interestingly, Kelly's career began in a different direction. He initially aspired to be a psychologist and spent several years volunteering as a responder on the University of Oregon's crisis line.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
We would start at 5:00 PM and you'd be on shift until 8:00 in the morning, and sometimes you might get a two, three calls and you'd get some sleep, and sometimes you're up the entire night-
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
wow.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
... talking to people. And of course, I felt at the time I was reasonably prepared to help people in that regard. But the emotional intensity that I would experience being present with people in crisis, it was a growing experience, it was a humbling experience, taught me a lot about how to create intentional space outside of that job so that I could be in a space where I could be present for people. And it also helped me appreciate that in my mind at the time, I had this vision of I'll have my office where I'm going to be working with people doing counseling in my future. And going through that, I was, you know what? I don't know if that's really my path.
And of course, Julie, my wife, we were dating at the time, we had both applied to master's programs. And at that point in time, we were already admitted so we had this whole trajectory that we thought was the path that we were going to go down, which then ended up shifting as I became a Christian, April of my senior year. Two months, I guess, before I graduated from college, I came to know Jesus as my Savior and as I was developing a spiritual and prayer life, through a series of events I came to hear God calling me to become a dentist and specifically to reverse the negative stereotype that's associated with dentistry.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
At that point in time, Kelly, had you considered dentistry as a career at all?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
I'd almost anti-considered it because as you know I have an identical twin brother who I think we were maybe in the fourth grade or fifth grade when Chris decided, I'm going to be a dentist. And as an identical twin, I don't know that I was conscious of this at the time or aware of it, but I'd never considered that. I was, eh, good for you. That's great. I'm going to take a different path. It seemed a little weird at the time to even think about that.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I just look at that and I think what a huge pivot from psychology to dentistry. But then as I listen to you, I go, I get that. I get the sense of you want to help people and your experience with the crisis line, I can only imagine, Kelly, how challenging and difficult that was. And I just think, I can't imagine just the emotional toll that would take on somebody. It takes a special person to be able to do that.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
I had an interesting experience two days ago, and I'm thinking about how blessed I am to have a team of people who is emotionally so aware and present. Anyway, we had a patient who was coming back, having her smile remade in one day, and my assistant, Mitzi, shared with me before I went into the room. She said, "I just want you to be aware of how anxious she is, that she's hardly eaten for three days, she's been throwing up two to three times a day for the past three days. She's just so worked up in her own..." Now, granted, she is a survivor of dental abuse, so I can really appreciate that why she feels the way she does. And I'm sharing it because I remember sitting down with her Wednesday and the energy of it felt just like I was back on that crisis line.
How do I need to position myself emotionally and create space for what she's experiencing? And by the end of the day, she was bouncing out of there hugging everybody. And like in relationships, sometimes it just takes more time to let her say what she needs to say or have tears where she needs to have tears or what-have-you. I know that by trying to rush things through, I'm not serving her or anybody else. Part of the reason of me sharing it too is that I reflect back on, I remember thinking about, God, why? Why did I specialize in this sort of a thing in college? What will that be to me in dentistry? Yet today it's very clear.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I think we just, as a profession, are maybe just beginning to appreciate what's happening on that side because our technical skills, our surgical skills are world-class. But I think it's that emotional side of helping somebody that we don't really get preparation for. As I look at your pivot, I go, yeah, that makes a lot of sense, Kelly. And then it also makes sense to me as I see what you do in terms of your journey on wellness and helping people, that all fits in and it fits this perfect puzzle piece.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
One of the things that I think makes such a huge difference in our space, our practice space, when I hire new team members, I ask them, do they think that they can communicate without using the words need and should? Then as our conversation goes on, I wait to see when I hear it because people don't need teeth. We know we have-
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Teeth aren't for everyone.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
No, that's right. And I've had plenty of lovely human beings in my practice who didn't have teeth. They had dentures, and it was fine. So to say, you need a crown, you need a filling, isn't really accurate. And so my intention is to retrain the thoughtfulness with which we use words in our space. Because I think there's this power dynamic outside of the physical stress that can happen for some people, there's this power dynamic, not just in dentistry, I think in healthcare in general, where when a "expert" says, "You need something," then who are we to say that is that accurate or not? Who are we to question it? And there's so much power in using accurate words. What you could consider based on your goals, which is quite frankly, that's something I learned from you 20 plus years ago, was, by the way, first option is you could do nothing, and what is it you'd like to experience 10 years from now?
And plugging that thinking into relationship building in a healthcare space is like magic because it resonates with human beings. "Wow, you're actually here to listen to me, how refreshing."
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I want to talk about, Kelly, that negative stereotype. I think we've covered this a little bit on this conversation, but why do you think that dentistry has such a negative stereotype attached to it?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Boy, we could go on for hours about this, but how would I put it succinctly? Well, I think that there is a great lack of autonomy on the side of the patient in dentistry, and it stems from that language issue. At least this is my experience and my belief that the vast majority of people just hear the you need and you should.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
And shame on you if you don't.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Talk about low energetic resonance. It doesn't get any lower than shame. And that's really where those word choices will lead you is to guilt and shame.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I think as a profession, we're really good at that.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. If you go back and watch Little Shop of Horrors with Steve Martin, it's, yep, that's the classic stereotype, the sadistic dentist guy who just wants to beat up on people. Some of the things I've observed over my years of doing this is, and really it's God teaching me through other human beings, that somebody will call up and they'll say... I'm just going to pick this one woman that I'm thinking of because it was maybe a decade ago, and it was a real eye-opener for me where she had two upper teeth treated with root canals, and after the second root canal, within two to three months, her health just went off a cliff and she went back and it never felt right. And she was wise, she actually worked in a holistic healthcare practice.
She went to her dentist, said, "After I had this root canal, my energy is lower and I don't feel right." And he's telling her, "It has nothing to do with your teeth." She's like, "Well, is it possible?" "No, it's not possible." That's what he tells her. She goes to see the endodontist. At least they referred her, "Go see this specialist." Same thing. "No, this isn't possible."
I don't remember how many dentists she shopped before she called my office. Her question was, "Would Dr. Blodgett take these teeth out?" And she says, "I know he likes to take out teeth. He does it very well. Why don't you come in? We'll have a conversation and pro and con it and we'll figure out which way you want to go?" And ultimately she did. She opted to have those two teeth out, we took them out. And the experience that I had and the whole team did watching her come back into our practice space two weeks later to get her stitches out was like a different human being walked in. And that was impressive enough on its own. But from a perspective of being humble, I couldn't help but think how many times have people said something to me that because I wasn't being as open as maybe I could be, again, recognizing God sent her here to teach us something. How many times have I dismissed something potentially that somebody said just because it wasn't in my vernacular or experience yet?
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I want to take a moment to talk about active listening. Kelly's focusing on it in the context of dentistry, but it's a skill that comes in handy in so many areas of life. The concept of active listening was first introduced by psychologists, Carl Rogers and Richard Evans Farson back in the 1950s. They believed that in any conversation, the listener has a very definite responsibility. Active listening isn't just about hearing the words, it's about truly understanding the facts and feelings behind them. When we fully engage with the speaker, we're in a much better position to offer advice, give feedback, and build stronger connections. If you're interested in learning more about active listening, we've added a link to a great Harvard Business Review article in the show notes for this episode. In the workplace, active listening can really help keep motivation and positivity high. But Kelly has his own practical approach to creating the atmosphere he wants at Blodgett Dental Care.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Surrounding yourself with people on a team who share. Doing your best to minimize weightiness or negative Nellies or Eeyores, whatever. I'm an eternal optimist to a fault. It's why we have intentionally shifted me out of the hiring process with team members because my mindset is, yeah, this would be great. Which in reality, we need more discerning team members to play that role, which would be my wife and a couple other team members. But I do strongly believe that there's goodness and excitement to be experienced in what we do.
I look at it like, I'm just thinking of the ridiculously odd scenarios that as dentists we find ourselves in where you've got a rubber dam on someone's mouth, they literally can't talk back to you. It would be awkward, I think, to just sit there and have a conversation with your assistant. I look at it like, well, how can we bring humor and levity into what we're experiencing and just acknowledge, this is weird. It is one of the oddest things they'll experience this week for sure. And keep it positive, because when they can walk out of the door and feel like, wow, that was so awesome, and they had to get injections and have awkward things in their face and they love it, and you get hugs, something's going right there. Part of that's just acknowledging it's a human experience.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Right.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
It's a human being here.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Exactly.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Let's not pretend that...
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
We're not just working on some teeth.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Right, it's not a mannequin.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
There's a human being attached to those teeth. Exactly. Kelly, you go around the country every year sharing your knowledge about whole body health, and I know that you're really one of the experts in the country on that topic. Tell our audience what the Toxic Tooth Tour is all about.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Toxic Tooth Tour, it was another one of those God shot things where in 2019 I felt this drive or calling to go out and share what I was learning and experiencing. At the time, I was midway through getting my board certifications in naturopathic medical dentistry and integrative biological dental medicine. And I thought, you know what? I could pick two, three, four cities and go around. And then COVID hit and I'm, all right, well... And for me to put something I want to do on hold is a challenge for me, but I'm, all right, I'm sure God's way just telling me to be patient.
We actually did our first iteration of that in 2002. I was going to be in Kansas City, for instance, doing a podcast and taking a muscle testing course. And I'm, you know what? Maybe that'd be a good place to kick this off. It's literally in the middle of the country, so let's just put it out on social media and invite anybody who wants to come and learn about the connectivity of the health of your mouth and the health of your body. How does this all work together? And not just the physical aspects, but the energetics as well.
We did that year, 2002, we did Kansas City, LA, Dallas, Texas, and New York City. And awesome, not massively attended. We'd have 20 to 30 people show up, but the connections that we made, some of whom chose to come to Portland and work with me, others, I found them resources in their area. Bottom line was they got assistance and guidance and help and a listening ear and better information, more accurate information and validation for that matter, that what they were experiencing is true. That was 2022. Didn't do it 2023, had a lot of things going on. And then this year I'm doing eight cities. I just want to do more outreach.
And I actually put it out to, this is maybe end of 2023, I put a post out on Instagram and said, "Hey, I'm looking to do the Toxic Tooth Tour again, want to connect with people out in the country and elevate their understanding and all that of what's going on with their oral health and their whole body health, and where would you like me to come?" And we had thousands of people respond. It was unbelievable. We picked the eight most requested spots. Matter of fact, last weekend was our first one. We were in Miami, Florida, and we had 35 people come. And it was just plain awesome. Small percentage of which were dental professionals.
We had one endodontist come, which I was like, this is awesome. She wants to learn about... Because I write a lot about the downsides to root canals, and I also write about here are the upsides to root canals as well to be fair and honest and accurate. And it was great. She and I had the most lovely conversation. Now, we've been texting this week so we can share information. And if I can serve the human population by elevating understanding of what happens in health beyond just what we can measure with a blood test or what we can see on an X-ray, there's so much more to health than that.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Hey, Contrary to Ordinary listeners, I want to tell you about my company, CariFree. We offer affordable science-based solutions to common dental health concerns for the whole family. Banish cavities for good, and welcome in a healthy smile and a great first impression. Visit CariFree.com for more details. Now, back to the show.
I think as we look at health, what does health mean? I think that health for a long time has meant absence of disease. And I really see us shifting both as a profession, but healthcare in general, I'm hopeful, is shifting to the point of wellness. But wellness doesn't just mean that you don't have any disease, it means you're actually thriving. Instead of just not having disease, wellness is really about thriving as an individual. And I think you're helping drive that change of that awareness and understanding, Kelly.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Well, thank you.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I think that's really important. You have 123,000 followers on Instagram, which I have to tell you is off the charts. And I'm thinking, why was it important for you to reach out that way, and how do you think other dentists, other dental professionals, can utilize these platforms?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Yeah, yeah. I've got to acknowledge, in all fairness, that I was resistant to it at first. I had a team member who was... Mara, you've met Mara?
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Oh, yeah.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Bless her heart. She was like, "Kelly, you should start sharing this stuff on social media." My only exposure to it was my daughter's in their teen years doing social media. I'm like, "I don't want any part of that." But as I started to write, I did this based on a conversation that Mara and I had with one of our patients who owns a health clinic of her own. And that woman had asked me, "Are you doing Instagram?" Because she's like, "I know what you're doing here. It's amazing. Are you sharing this?" And I'm like, "No." Her question to me was, "Do you not want to help new patients?" I'm like, "Wait a minute, what am I missing?"
So I started writing, and I will say this, there's a recipe to why I believe we've been, or I've been very successful in writing. There's a lot of stuff out there that's very dogmatic, this is the best. And there's oftentimes a lot of financial incentive behind it, which I don't have. It's like, oh, this product or whatever. And I feel like my goal is to be unbiased, and oftentimes I'll present any scientific information I have as well, which is what I think has been most successful as I address root canals. I started sending extracted roots of teeth, not the top part that was exposed to the mouth, but what was in the jawbone, to a lab in Colorado called DNA Connections. And I have them run a report of, all right, what's living in this thing in your living jawbone? And I started doing that seven or eight years ago. That was an eye-opener for me.
And again, you can't negate that this is the report. This is what we found in there. What does that mean for your body's immune system? How does that connect? And we're just opening up a platform to have discussions. Now, when I first started writing, I got, as you have said, many a time, the leaders are the ones with the most arrows in their back. And there were a lot of endodontists in particular, and I remember one instance of a group of dental students coming at me with shooting arrows, and I'm like, "Well, just take a minute and think about this and take a look at the information. I understand the resistance, that's human nature, and that's okay, but what if we had some space to communicate about this?" I think that because I've tried to offer an unbiased and honest space for communication about these experiences, it resonates with people. God willing, I get to do this a long time. It's so much joy to meet people and connect with them and see them feel better. It's a great way to spend my energy.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
The legendary astronomer, Carl Sagan once said, "When you're in love with something you want to tell the world." Kelly really brings this to life, sharing his passion for his work in a way that genuinely resonates. In today's world it is easy to think that we've already uncovered everything there is to know. We can explore the globe from our couches and learn almost anything with a quick click, but people like Kelly remind us that there's still so much value in connecting the dots and discovering more. What else might you not know about Kelly beyond his work?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Something people probably wouldn't know about me, when I was younger. I took piano lessons from the age of five until I was 16. And it must've been late grade school, early middle school, I was a very accomplished composer of more modern versions of classical music you might say, and had won awards in middle school for compositions I was writing. I would go out and play at festivals and things. That's probably something I don't share with people. It's more socially acceptable for me to put on a guitar or a bass and go rock out than to acknowledge my inner nerd. But I remember finding so much joy in that as well. This is back in the day when I would pen it by hand. Take the musical paper and actually write it out, which was a ton of fun.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
What's one thing that you wish every dental professional knew?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
I wish that every dental professional knew that if they spent more time listening and less time talking, they would have greater practice satisfaction, they would help more people, they would develop stronger relationships, they would make more money. Boy, I have observed people continuing to struggle because they believe it's got to be a struggle. When you think about, well, is there a better way? Man, we're doing it day to day. And I'm not saying it's perfect. We are always in a state of refinement and reconsideration and listening to the feedback of patients. It's not always 100% positive. We just had a situation a couple weeks ago where a patient had some feedback for us, and I was like, "That is a gift. Thank you so much for sharing that because we want to improve." That's what I've observed. It's so much less about us having answers and more about us asking better questions.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Right. We started our new patient entry with, "What's your chief complaint?" That's how I was trained. Let's start off on a real positive note, let's have you complain. And I look back at that now, and I just think, really, that was the best we could do? Tell me what your complaints are. This is the complaint department, and yet I think a lot of healthcare is still like that. I think that, Kelly, you bring up a lot of really good points. I'm reflecting as you're talking about that, asking better questions and listening more.
And then I think you mentioned a belief system there, right? Some dentists and dental professionals, and I think this applies to everybody, sometimes we get in a spot in our life and things seem really hard, and then we believe it has to be. And whereas if we changed our attitude about that, God, why does this have to be such a struggle? When it's, maybe I'm the one that's created the struggle?
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Yeah.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
I read this quote I want to share with you, it's Teddy Roosevelt, and I read this morning, actually, and it really just resonated with me, that he said, "If you kicked the person in the pants who was causing most of your problems, you wouldn't be able to sit down for a month." And I think that God gave us two ears and one mouth intentionally. We should listen twice as much as we speak, and you're right, and ask better questions. And if it seems to be a struggle, change your attitude about that. That struggle might be a blessing, it might not be a struggle at all.
Kelly, I want to thank you so much for spending time with us today. I think what you're doing is just so vitally important. I think you realize, to a degree, but I don't think we ever fully appreciate how much difference we make in people's lives. You're making a tremendous difference in so many people's lives and moving the conversation forward in the profession that maybe without you wouldn't be happening. And maybe that's why God at one point said, you, I want you to go do this, instead of what you did. But prepared you perfectly for what you're doing today, interestingly enough.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Absolutely.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
You were perfectly prepared for that. Thank you, Kelly, so much for sharing all of your wisdom and advice and your life stories with us today.
Dr. Kelly Blodgett:
Thank you, Kim. A pleasure.
Dr. Kim Kutsch:
Thank you so much Dr. Kelly Blodgett for joining me today. And thank you for coming on this inspiring journey with me. Around here we aim to inspire and create connections. We can't do it without you. If this conversation moved you, made you smile or scratch that little itch of curiosity today, please share it with the extraordinary people in your life. And if you do one thing today, let it be extraordinary. Bye for now.