Dental Leaders Podcast

If you had a feeling in your gut that today’s podcast is for you, you’d be right.    Sunni Patel’s journey from optometrist to leading wellness, lifestyle and nutrition coach was the result of a brush with ill health.    Sunni chats with Rhona and Payman about the challenges of getting and giving diagnoses, the links between nutrition, gut health and well-being, and why love is just a four-letter...

FMC’s Craig Welling discusses his journey from sales rep to managing director at the leading dental communications organisation.   Craig gives the lowdown on the equity-backed management buy-out at FMC, gives his view on the group’s hotly debated awards and Top-50 list, and reveals why you should never play ping pong with Payman Langroudi.  In This Episode 03.56 - Backstory 09.50 - Education Vs ex...

Fitness fashion and lifestyle content creator Henry Wade chats with Rhona about his journey to being a successful content creator and leading a life in the social spotlight.    Henry also chats about navigating controversy online, the search for validation, and why kindness is the best antidote to haters and trolls.      02.05 - Henry’s story 04.21 - Learning Vs real-life experience 07.45 - Being...

Since leaving Greece in the mid-90s to study dentistry in London, Kostas Karagiannopoulos has carved a name as one of the leading practitioners of injection-moulding composite bonding.   He chats with Payman and Prav about the experimentation and ‘painful mistakes’ that helped him find his way and how a hedonistic year at university almost stopped his career before it started.   Enjoy! In This Epi...

The last time we spoke with dental sisters Victoria and Ariane Sampson, they discussed tentative plans for practice ownership.   Fast forward two years and those plans are now a reality as Victoria and Ariane open the doors of the Mayfair-based Health Society.   Payman catches up with the pair as they explain why their holistic approach to oral and general health makes The Health Society no ordina...

You don’t have to be a driver to be driven. So says this week’s guest, Tanay Kulkarni, who took a national sales rep role with Bryant in his first year of dental school—before even earning his driver’s license.   Tanay chats with Prav about how boredom with the first-year dental syllabus at King’s College led to him pursuing the role and his subsequent involvement with Bryant’s AI-powered note-tak...

Dentist have some of the highest rates of suicide, addiction and mental health problems. It is a stigma and a taboo both in the profession and in society Our guest is Sheetal Jain a dentist and mother of 3 young children who has suffered with an eating disorder and alcohol dependence and is now on a journey to recovery In a frank and sensitive discussion Sheetal goes into her childhood marked by h...

Artur Zolkiewicz is one of the country’s most in-demand personal trainers.    In this week’s Mind Movers, he sits down for a chat with Rhoma and Payman on the discipline of martial arts, a lack of positive role models for young men, and how he deals with the stereotypes around being a fitness practitioner.   Artur, Rhona and Payman also chat about the power of emotional intelligence and dealing wi...

Few disciplines in dentistry divide clinicians like endodontics, but Asad Rahman knew it was his calling by year three of dental school.   In this week’s episode, Asad talks about falling in love with endodontics, the road to expertise and becoming qualified to the hilt as an antidote to imposter syndrome.   Asad also chats about his role with the Portman group, in which he straddles the corporate...

Known to friends and colleagues as The FMR Guy, Dr Devang Patel is considered an authority on the science of full mouth rehabilitation, whose courses and lectures have helped hundreds of clinicians get to grips with complex treatment.   In this week’s episode, Devang chats with Prav about how it all started, recalling his unorthodox entry into dental school in India and a reluctant move to the UK....

Payman goes live this week from the busy launch event of Mahrukh Khwaja’s new book, Resilience and Well-being for Dental Professionals.   He was lucky enough to catch Mahrukh for a whistlestop chat on the process of writing the book, the importance of factoring well-being into work and team culture, and it matters now more than ever.    In This Episode 01.42 - Writing and pitching 04.53 - The valu...

Emerging AI technologies are set to transform dentistry—and this week’s guest is at the vanguard of the seachange.   Ophir Tanz says artificial intelligence won’t replace dentists but will support and free them to focus on patients and clinical time.   His latest project, Pearl, is already providing AI diagnostic support to a profession that carries out more radiography than any other medical disc...

Following the sad news of her untimely passing on September 15, 2023, here’s a chance to remind ourselves why Uchenna Okoye was one of the UK dentistry’s most beloved personalities.   Originally broadcast in December 2020, the episode touches on Uchenna’s London Smiling group of clinics and ITV and Channel 4 TV roles for which she will be remembered.  “I don't understand the jealousy and all that...

Payman kicks off this episode by discussing why it took Ten Dental founder Nik Sisodia to sit down for a chat on Dental Leaders.   But a quick look at Nik’s prolific achievements explains why he hasn’t found the time: As well as founding one of the capital’s most successful groups of clinics, Nik has also found time to steer the BACD and BARD while carving a name as a highly sought-after implant c...

Patient acquisition can feel like a minefield. If you’re wondering which advertising platform gives the best return on your marketing spend or how to generate and follow up leads, marketing scientist Prav Solanki has the answers.   In this solo show, Prav answers some of the most commonly asked questions about lead generation, giving insight into practice websites versus dedicated landing pages an...

One profession is more than enough for most clinicians. So, how does Rav Moore find the time to squeeze in dual acting and modelling careers alongside dentistry?   He explains how in this week’s episode. Rav also chats with Payman about the insecurities of being an actor and how the craft informs his daily practice as a dentist.   Enjoy!  In This Episode 01:01 - Discovering acting 07.10 - Revered...

You could say Shirin Ali has waited her entire career to answer Payman’s infamous question on worst clinical mistakes. The London-based associate says her black box moment happened while treating her very first patient.   But the experience did little to dampen a stellar career that’s seen Shirin spend almost two decades at one of London’s most prestigious practices.     She chats with Payman abou...

Ahmad Nounou’s Black Swan Dental Spa and Bristol Dental Suite practices have taken the South west by storm. So what’s his secret?   In this episode, Ahmad chats with Payman about his uncompromising approach to customer service that has earned his practices a reputation for providing the best patient experience in the industry.    He tells how he turned Black Swan from an ailing clinic into the suc...

Viewers of ITV’s This Morning and E4’s Body Fixers will be familiar with this week’s Mind Mover, Dr Tijion Esho. In this episode, Tijion chats with Payman and Rhona about his journey being one of the aesthetic industry’s most familiar faces. He shares the turbulent life of his Esho skincare brand and talks about dealing with grief following the passing of a close mentor and big brother figure, del...

Host Prav Solanki and implant impresario Pav Khaira have been fast friends for around 15 years. But only today did they realise they have a shared history growing up and grafting hard in corner-shop family businesses. Things have come a long way for our guest since his days helping dad shift cigarettes in the shop.  These days, Pav is a leading implantology educator whose Academy of Implant Excell...

Nino Sporomadze grew up in the former Soviet Union before making her way to the UK, where she has enjoyed a decade-long career as a hospitality entrepreneur.    And she is about to undertake a journey of a very different kind as she pivots from being a restauranteur to a trained psychotherapist.   In this week’s episode, Nino discusses how her experience as an immigrant to the UK informs her minds...

Payman says Bournemouth’s Dental on the Banks is one of the most beautiful practices he’s ever seen.    So what’s the story?   Brothers and clinic founders Damon and Ramtin Taheri tell all in this week’s episode. Damon and Ramtin also discuss life in Sweden, where both gained speciality status in orthodontics, and dispel several widespread clear aligner mistakes and misconceptions.   Enjoy!   In T...

Mind Movers - Waz Ashayer Inviting patients to appear as podcast guests is officially now a thing…   But there’s so much more to Waz Ashayer.    The fitness influencer, entrepreneur, and soon-to-be TV personality talks candidly about his rise to success from a low point of substance misuse, addiction and depression.    Enjoy!  In This Episode 03.01 - Defining addiction 11.47 - The turning point 24...

Imagine signing up to be the chief dental officer of a remote (and very cold) island nation you’d never even set foot on and knew nothing about.   That’s the position Amin Aminian found himself in when stepping into the role of chief dental officer of the Falkland Islands, where a relaxed diary allowed him to spend time honing his practice.   In this week’s episode, Amin reveals how this came to b...

When Maria Ensabella unleashed her London Cryo concept on the UK capital in 2006, she knew little about how to market the business successfully.   Maria chats with Rhona and Payman about finding her feet as an entrepreneur and gives a rapid-fire rundown of the benefits of the innovative cryo, hyperbaric, and IV therapies.   Maria also reveals the most significant mistakes and struggles she has ove...