In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Julia Sadove-Lopez - a dentist, parent advocate, and founder of Oris Wellness - to explore a side of pediatric airway health we haven't covered enough on this show: what it's actually like for the parents trying to navigate it.
We dig into Julia's personal journey from dental school through corporate dentistry, into holistic practice in Chicago alongside Dr. Kevin Boyd, and ultimately to a career pivot that took her to Portugal and led her to found Oris Wellness. She opens up about the mental health toll of clinical practice, the moment she realized she needed a change, and how she turned her passion for patient education into a coaching and advocacy business.
We also tackle some of the most frustrating problems in our field, including why parents are hearing completely conflicting recommendations from provider to provider, why our diagnostics are all over the map, and why the interdisciplinary nature of airway care makes things even harder for families. Julia shares what she hears from parents every day, how she helps them cut through the noise without ever telling them what to do, and what clinicians can do better to move families from fear and confusion toward clarity and action.
Chapters:
- 0:00 — Introduction & Episode Overview
- 3:21 — Welcome, Dr. Julia
- 4:16 — Julia's Career Journey: From Dental School to Holistic Practice
- 15:18 — Life After Clinical Practice: The Pivot
- 19:08 — Why Dental School Falls Short
- 23:07 — Sponsor Break: The Generational Wealth Code
- 27:37 — From Clinician to Coach: Understanding Parent Motivation
- 36:12 — What Parents Are Frustrated About
- 37:47 — Conflicting Treatment Options & The Diagnostic Problem
- 58:24 — Social Media's Impact on Parents and Providers
- 1:02:25 — Navigating Interdisciplinary Care
- 1:09:01 — The Coaching Model: Education, Not Diagnosis
- 1:14:47 — Advice for Parents & Providers
- 1:25:11 — Where to Find Dr. Julia
Key Topics:
- Julia's path: from traditional dental education to holistic practice to career reinvention
- Why dental school isn't preparing graduates for modern practice (and the new CODA airway/sleep requirement coming in 2028)
- The parent experience: conflicting diagnoses, competing treatment philosophies, and the emotional weight of decision-making
- Why diagnostics, not treatment methods, are the real failure in our profession
- Social media's dual role: empowering parents while fueling confusion and anxiety
- The interdisciplinary challenge: navigating ENTs, allergists, myofunctional therapists, and dentists who don't always agree
- How Julia's coaching model works: education, advocacy, and helping families ask the right questions
- Advice for clinicians: stop disparaging colleagues, start listening to parents, and invest in comprehensive diagnostics
- Advice for parents: don't navigate this alone; find community, trust your voice, and expect to be heard
LINKS:
What is The DOC Podcast?
The DOC Podcast brings you unique educational content taught by Dr. Mike DeLuke, a Board Certified Orthodontist with over 20 years of clinical and academic experience. Dr. DeLuke built his orthodontic practice from scratch in the early 2000s and grew it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise in less than 10 years. He was able to retire from his private practice at the age of 46 years old, and now devotes his energy to teaching his colleagues how to succeed both personally and professionally. He also provides locum tenens coverage for colleagues in South Florida.
Dr. DeLuke has served as a faculty member at numerous hospitals and orthodontic residency programs around the country, including as the cleft craniofacial orthodontist at Albany Medical Center in New York, and as a clinical professor at The University of Connecticut in the Department of Orthodontics. He is presently an adjunct professor in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at Healthcare Network and a Visiting Professor in the Department of Orthodontics at Montefiore Einstein Hospital in the Bronx.
The DOC Podcast will bring you in-depth discussions and interviews with industry leaders and experts on a variety of topics, including clinical excellence, practice management, finance and wealth creation, health and wellness, taxes and accounting, fitness, and much more!