Smile Engineering. The Digital Dentist
About this Episode
What happens when a lifelong passion for making people smile meets a love for technology?
In this episode of Passionary, Alejandro and Ishita sit down with Francisco Porras: dentist, researcher, and founder of OP Digital, who is pioneering affordable digital dentistry across Latin America. Fran shares how he knew he wanted to be a dentist at age four, how a breakup and a phone call from Brazil changed the course of his career, and why a $500 3D printer can outperform a $10,000 one.
The conversation explores the generational gap holding back digital adoption, how AI won’t replace dentists but will transform diagnosis, and the real reason most people fear the dental chair. Fran runs a 3D printing farm remotely across five countries and designs aligners from a ship in the Atlantic, proving that passion paired with persistence can reshape an entire industry.
A story about someone who built everything around one simple goal: seeing people smile.
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