Dental Leaders Podcast

If you’ve ever feared a call from the GDC or falling foul of today’s increasingly litigious working environment, this episode is for you.   Payman sits down for a chat with medical and dental indemnity expert Gary Monaghan about the challenges of covering the profession.   Gary talks about his early experience in plastic surgery and the parallels with dentistry. He reveals how his indemnity servic...

This week’s short solo show explores a potentially transformational strategy you can put to work in your practice with as little as five minutes a day.   IT genius Jeff Sutherland first explored the value of a short daily team meeting in his book Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time .   Prav’s been a big fan since reading the book shortly after its publication in 2014 and has si...

Are women underrepresented in dentistry? Over half of dental graduates are female, yet only one in five podcast guests has been female.   And there is also an underrepresentation in academia, on the lecture circuit and in almost every walk of the profession.   Our new mini-series looks at the issues by revisiting some of Prav and Payman’s most insightful conversations with dentistry’s leading ladi...

This week, Prav sits down for a heart-to-heart with his friend, colleague and implant virtuoso, Riz Syed.   Riz describes how he almost fell out of love with dentistry before discovering implants and recounts his journey through dental school and beyond to eventually becoming a leader in the field.   He talks about what it takes to build up the confidence to carry out complex cases, reveals some o...

In a special solo show this week, show host Prav sits down to talk broadly about practice growth and the techniques to achieve it.   He discusses why patients spend up to a couple of years considering whether to go ahead with big-ticket treatments and what systems clinics can implement to nurture potential patients over the long term.   He also reveals why most practices aren’t ready to scale when...

Since landing in London via Madrid and New York, Sandra Garcia Martin has made a name as one of cosmetic dentistry’s leading lights.   Sandra chats with Prav about the challenges of learning a new language to study dentistry, training with some of dentistry’s greatest in New York and why engaging with good causes should be on the curriculum for every clinician.   Enjoy! In This Episode 02.05 - Tec...

This week sees the return of dentist, educator and breakdancer extraordinaire Shiraz Khan.    Shiraz reveals how he almost chose a career in medicine before setting on dentistry. He describes starting on the first rung of the ladder as a receptionist and the joy of discovering he’d been accepted at dental school.   He also chats about family life, overcoming career challenges, and the inspiration...

Alfonso Rao has never let the lack of a big plan get in the way of success. He’s the owner of a succsesful chain of clinics and Delta training academy—one of the UK’s leading implant training facilities.   Alfonso sits down for a chat with Prav about moving to the UK from his native Italy, his journey from associate to entrepreneur and how he is passing on his family’s medical heritage to the next...

Implantologist Katie Blake couldn’t have picked a better time to purchase her first practice.   Shortly after buying Cairn Brae dental practice in Witham, Essex, Katie and her husband Alex had their first child just in time for the COVID pandemic.   She sits down to chat with Payman about her implant journey, training with Malo in Portugal, life as a new mum and practice owner, and much more.   En...

This week, dentist and entrepreneur Loven Ganeswaran talks to Prav and Payman about his Chairsyde patient communication app. But it’s his impromptu hip-hop performance that really impresses!   Loven talks about the challenges of building teams, raising funds and balancing time between clinical work and running a successful start. Plus, he reveals why his busy schedule will never get in the way of...

Neil Gerrard got an early start in dentistry, helping out at his dad’s lab, where he first started making models aged just 13.   But after spending some time as a clinical dental technician, Neil enrolled in dental school to scratch his itch to work more closely with patients and see the fruits of his labour pay off first-hand.   And dentistry is still very much a family affair for Neil. He now pr...

If you’ve ever had the good luck of hearing one of Louis Mackenzie’s lectures, you’ll know you’re in for a treat: He’s one of the most engaging, entertaining and witty speakers on the circuit.   Louis sits down with Prav and Payman to talk about what it takes to spot and nurture exceptional talent. They also discuss the secrets behind treatment longevity and Louis’ role at Denplan, sharing plenty...

You wouldn’t know from it his calm demeanour, but Rajiv Ruwala is a busy guy.   Things have always been that way for Rajiv, who purchased his first practice with his sister Aneeka before starting his VT year and quickly grew the ailing three-chair practice into a successful seven-surgery clinic.   He’s since opened a second practice under the 2 Green Dental brand and is poised to open a third, jus...

Payman takes a trip across the pond this week to chat with UK-born Upen Patel, who practices in Sacramento, California.   They explore the differences between UK and US healthcare, education and culture, and Upen chats about his experiences at some of the US’ top training academies.   Payman and Upen also talk about the challenges of funding dental school, Upen’s love of squash, and much more.   E...

After Mudasser Hussain discovered the transformational power of executive coaching, Mudasser Hussain decided to slim down his clinical hours to divide his time between dentistry and coaching.   In this week’s episode, Mudasser chats with Payman about his motivation for helping others through coaching and how his love of football is bringing the dental profession together on social media.   Mudasse...

Foodies are in for a treat this week as we sit down to chat with dentist and Masterchef contestant Rishi Nanavati.    It’s not just Masterchef judges who were impressed with Rishi’s fusion dishes—they also struck a culinary chord with fellow vegetarian and Indian food lover, Prav.   Rishi takes us through his Masterchef appearance dish-by-dish, revealing how it felt to go head-to-head with eight o...

In this week’s extended episode, Prav sits down to chat with one of the profession’s larger than life characters, Amit Patel.   In a wide-ranging conversation recorded shortly before the Association of Dental Implantology (ADI) Team Congress in Manchester, ADI president Amit reveals how and why a specialist periodontist now leads the association.   Amit also chats about real-life Vs online network...

Niall Hutchinson’s red wine social media posts are designed to provoke discussion on some of dentistry’s thorniest topics.   So get ready for a robust and full-bodied discussion as Payman chats with one of dentistry’s most outspoken and engaging characters.   Niall and Payman take crack open a red to take on everything from the saturated dental courses market to NHS dentistry, the role of corporat...

Fresh from the opening of her brand new squat practice, Martina Hodgson chats with Prav and Payman about the rationale behind opening a squat after years of successful ownership with Wakefield’s The Dental Studio.   Martina also talks about her insatiable drive and ambition, being an Invisalign Diamond provider and why she teamed up with Andrea Ubhi to start the Inspiring Women in Dentistry event....

Things have come a long way for Kailesh Solanki since he last joined his brother Prav for a chat on the podcast and talked about winding down his clinical hours to focus on business.    So how are things going?   Kailesh has been busy since his last podcast appearance, finalising an exit deal for his Manchester-based Kiss clinics that will see him staying on with the brand to open and develop ten...

In 2017, Hannah Burrows and Jay Shah set out to solve a problem that takes up hours of dentists’ time and designed a platform to automate clinical note-taking.   Some five years on and Kiroku is going from strength to strength. Jay and Hannah chat to Payman about the challenges of starting out and their vision for Kiroku’s for the future.   Enjoy!  In This Episode 01.20 - Kiroku 07.20 - Meeting an...

This week’s guest is the closest thing in dentistry to a media mogul. Ken Finlayson launched his first dental magazine in 1995, which quickly expanded to more than 20 digital and print titles under the FMC umbrella.   Ken chats to Payman about how it all started, discusses the challenges of hosting and judging awards, Dentistry’s Top 50 List and much more.   Enjoy!    In This Episode 01.39 - Start...

Adam Naughton is one of the thousands of dental students whose academic life was rudely interrupted by the COVID pandemic.   In his fourth year of study, he’s yet to get hands-on with impressions, crowns, root canal and other treatments.   But that hasn’t stopped Andrew from putting his name out there and finding his niche on social media early on. His Positive Smile Club Instagram channel pitches...

We have the unpleasant smell of the farmyard to thank that Martin Wanendeya didn’t follow his early dream of becoming a vet.   But the animals’ loss is dentistry’s gain: Since graduating from Bristol in 1995, Martin’s gone on to found one of the most recognised brands in dentistry and build a name as one of the most skilled implantologists in practice today.   This week, Martin chats to Payman and...

Last time we spoke with Dev Patel in February 2021, he let us in on big ambitions to change UK dentistry through M&As and modernising old practices with the growing Beauty Partners group.    So how’s it going?   In this week’s episode, Dev reveals what he’s been up to since his last chat with Payman. He talks about Beauty Partners’ first big M&A venture north of the capital, talks about the challe...