From a family legacy dating back to the birth of orthodontics to leading-edge technologies that are reshaping the industry, Mike Wright is a name that stands out in the orthodontic lab world. As co-owner of ODL, Mike has not only inherited a rich history but has also forged new paths, diving deep into the realms of 3D printing, digital workflows, and the ever-evolving potential of AI. In this engaging interview, Mike shares insights into his family’s pioneering contributions, the hard lessons of running a lab, and his vision for the future of orthodontic labs. Along the way, he offers advice for navigating change, emphasizes the power of collaboration, and even reveals a surprising dream to become a world-class jump roper! Get the full story in this fascinating conversation that’s as informative as it is inspiring.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Wes: Mike, it’s been great talking to you and getting to know you a little bit. You have a really interesting family history in the industry. Can you tell me a little about that?
Mike: My family goes back to 1900 with my great-great-grandfather, Frank Casto. It was an interesting time because orthodontics didn’t really exist before then. Everyone was a dentist and they were just moving teeth. Then a guy named Edward Angle came along and said “Look, I’m an orthodontist, I move teeth. This is my specialty, this is what I do. I’m going to start a school and I’m going to teach people how to do this properly, the right way.” And he started this school called Angle School of Orthodontia out in California.
Frank, my family member, was in the second class and was one of the first orthodontists to graduate from the school. He later became the president of the AAO for a couple years and then the president of the ADA for a couple years. Eventually he started teaching at Case Western and that’s where he ended his career while doing private practice.
My grandfather was an orthodontist, and my two uncles were orthodontists. The Lone Ranger was my dad, Jim, who was an auto mechanic selling tools. He wanted to figure out how to support his family without staying in that business and he asked his dad if he could make retainers for him. He ended up making great relationships in Buffalo and started working for orthos in the area. Then he branched out into other areas of New York and started making retainers. And that’s the short story.
Wes: That’s super cool. Unless Edward Angle has great great great grandkids that are in the industry, I would say your family’s been in the industry longer than any other family out there. Any that I know of anyway.
Mike: Maybe!
I’m sure that Edward had some kids out there that had some kids, that had some kids that are in dental. Everybody’s in dental at some point, it seems like somewhere.
Wes: You ended up taking over ODL in 2017 – you, your brother and your brother-in-law?
Mike: We had been working in the business with my dad for decades and it got to the point where transition was going to happen. We did a lot of planning and family transition work, and it was great. We got to work together and understand how my dad ran the business. He taught us how to do most of the stuff and in 2017 he sold it to me, my brother and my brother-in-law. We’ve been doing it ever since!
Wes: Nice. What do you feel like you kept from your dad’s original vision and what changed? You guys have gone through a ton of growth, and I know you probably kept some things and changed some things. So can you speak on that a little bit?
Mike: We kept the core passion of what we do and Jim always had that and he had a very heavy work ethic that came from supporting the family. That was always part of who we were. We love what we do, but we’re not afraid of the hard work.
My dad always had this saying – and we have it on the back of T shirts – that says “just get the job done”. I’d have these conversations with him and he’d be like, “Okay, so just get the job done. Let’s just get going here. What are we doing?” He was always about getting things going, making sure that the job was done correctly and done quickly so that the doctors always had what they needed.
As far as change goes, when he ran the lab it was a little bit smaller. Digital was certainly on the horizon, and not that he wasn’t interested in it, but it was just such a heavy lift. I was coming up and I was just excited about it. We knew that was the future. We just went all in when scanners were coming out, doing STL files, looking at 3D modeling, and of course that ended up turning into 3D printing. We just kept at the forefront of that because we knew that that was the future.
There were other labs that were out there that had an older owner that weren’t necessarily jumping in. But for us labs that had younger owners and that were excited about it, we all jumped in at the same time. It’s been really neat because we’ve been in this journey together.
Wes: Yeah, it sounds like you were really progressive and leaned on the tech, the emerging tech, pretty hard. I know that is hard for people to do when they are set in their ways.
Mike: It was not easy but it is what sustained us.
Wes: You touched on 3D printing. What are your thoughts on metal 3D printing and how do you see that affecting and changing the industry?
Mike: On the dental side of things, crown and bridge work, they were able to jump into digital fabrication in the lab a lot sooner than we were. They were handmaking crowns and bridges and then mills came out and different materials came out and they were able to eventually digitally create those teeth and then mill them out.
For us, the fabrication process has always been hand done. We get a lot of STL files and digital scans coming into the building, but then it goes right into this manual process of wire bending and making things by hand. So it’s always been a bit arduous. We never really had a way of billing things out. We kind of just got stuck, not necessarily having the opportunity to jump into technology inside the lab.
Essentially when 3D printing came out all we were doing was transitioning from plaster to plastic. It was just a change of medium. It wasn’t anything that was helping us make things faster. It was more precise, and it was easier for the doctor but for the lab, it was terrible. All we were doing was just 3D printing stuff out and it costs a lot more money. It wasn’t helping us whatsoever, because we still had the same arduous process of making things.
Then 3D metal printing comes out and that’s when things changed. We were able to replace a process that people were doing on the line with a digital process that could then be 3D printed through additive technologies and manufacturing.
That’s when things really changed and that’s why I think 3D metal printing is definitely the future. Now we can take something digital and create something that can go directly into a patient’s mouth without having to do much or just do minor fabrication or just minor tweaks and changes to it.
That’s kind of been the game changer for a lot of us and we see that continuing to progress.
Wes: It seems like a much more direct process.
Mike: To some degree.
It’s a very expensive process. It is hard to do because you’re dealing with some pretty expensive high-end technology on the metal side versus resin printing where you can get a pretty cheap printer, plug it in and go .
When it comes to metal, it’s very sensitive. There’s a lot of work that goes into it and it’s just not easy. You’re still getting a ton of failures. You’re trying to figure out how to turn metal powder into this actual metal piece.
It’s all kind of space-age stuff, but at the same time, it’s definitely helping us.
Wes: In office labs aren’t going to have this in like the next year or two – in terms of their own machines.
Mike: No, I don’t even know why they would do it because of the post-processing.
It’s not an easy process. To be honest, if I was a doctor I would pay a lab $200 to do it for me. I am not going to be paying people and trying to figure out how to do this in my office, at least that’s my suggestion.
Wes: It sounds like a very specialized and very expensive set up.
And that brings up what I was going to ask next, which is where do you see this industry heading in the next five to ten years?
Mike: Well, AI’s on the table. I think that’s a big one.
AI development and AI designing. I think that we’re going to be able to get rid of quite a few processes where people have to check things. I feel like that’s going to push directly into 3D printing.
There will be different materials and different chemistry for things that we can print. That will allow us to come up with some pretty neat ways to do things faster and better. You don’t necessarily want to print what you could make manually yesterday. You want to print something that is totally different that you couldn’t make previously.
That’s how we look at it – can we do something that you absolutely couldn’t just do manually? That’s where the frontier comes in. You got to get outside the box a little bit. Get uncomfortable and see if this is going to work.
That’s where we are right now. We’ll see how that comes to light in the next five, ten years.
Wes: That sounds super exciting! Not just more efficient, cheaper, and faster but actually significantly better. Doing things we couldn’t physically do before.
Mike: Correct. Exactly.
Wes: That definitely sounds pretty exciting.
Is there anything you wish you knew when you started?
Mike: Oh, gee – like in the lab business as a whole?
Wes: Yeah, the lab business as a whole.
Mike: I would say how hard it is to teach people how to do things the right way. It is incredibly difficult to teach, to train, and to manage people.
That is probably the same answer you would get from anybody managing a business. That the people part is the hardest part.
Wes: That makes sense. Do you have any advice for other people in the industry?
Mike: Get uncomfortable. Start having uncomfortable conversations. Start learning. If I’m not comfortable doing something that is a sign for me that I should probably just jump in even more. Learn more, experiment more, fail often, fail early and then start to learn and get through that process because nobody likes doing it. That’s the hardest part.
Wes: Don’t get stuck in your ways.
Mike: Try not to. It’s really hard not to. At the same time, just just keep riding the wave. Just keep moving forward.
Wes: What is your favorite thing about running a lab?
Mike: My favorite thing is all the people I get to meet. That’s the fun part because the industry is pretty awesome and there’s a lot of great people in it. That’s been really great.
The networking and being able to share things and have those conversations. I’ll talk to another lab or another industry partner about things and people outside of the industry are like “I can’t believe you talk to people about that”. But you don’t keep that a secret.
Well, I guess you could, but it’s better to have the relationship.
Wes: That is something that has really impressed me. Things seem very collaborative and not so cutthroat like other industries.
Mike: Yeah, you’re right.
Wes: I think you kind of answered this already but what is your least favorite part of running a lab?
Mike: I think the management is the hardest part. It is for me, because I’m a people person. I like to have fun conversations. I like to be the galvanizer. It’s not fun to get on people’s backs. That’s the hard part for me.
Wes: Two sides of the same coin, right?
Your favorite thing is the people, your least favorite thing is the people.
Mike: Shocking, right?
Wes: I know you are based in Buffalo.
Buffalo wings: love them or hate them?
Mike: You got to love them. They’re delicious. But they’ve got to be done our style. There’s a way to do it and I think we cracked that.
We’re not a huge town. We are tiny. We are a blue collar town and we love our wings. Our wings and our bills.
Wes: The world is a much better place for buffalo wings.
Mike: You know what?
I’ll take it. That is our contribution to society. Yeah.
Wes: The last question I have for you is very random.
If you could instantly become world-class at one completely random skill, what would it be and why?
Mike: So random. I have no idea.
You know what would be fun – the first thing that comes to my mind is so dumb – but it’s jump roping.
I see these dudes jump roping and they do the craziest things. That would be so cool to do!
Wes: I like it.
Mike: There you go. World class jump roper.
Wes: World class jump roper! We might see you on America’s Got Talent 2026.
Mike: That’s the most random thing I can come up with to match the randomness of your question.
Wes: That’s awesome. Now we know what to get you for Christmas.
Mike: Maybe, maybe.
Wes: Love it.
Thanks so much, Mike!
Mike: Thank you!
and Powered by 
