This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris discuss recruitment, the challenges faced by many business owners and share their tips and advice on how to recruit the right people.

To hear more from Chris and Andy, have a listen to this episode.

Topics:

- How to hire?

- How do you convince people to join your team?

- How to manage a team?

- Building a culture

- How to fire

This week in the Dentology Podcast we talk to Ali Abdelbagi, principal owner of Mumbles Dental Spa in Swansea.

Born in Sudan, one of the poorest countries on the planet, Ali talks about his younger days and his time studying and qualifying as a dentist in the country.

He shares with us details about his move to the UK in 2013 to complete his training, his decision to settle in Pembrokeshire and his journey from associate to practice ownership. He reflects on the buying process, the challenges and hurdles he faced, and lessons learned along the way.

This episode is a great listen for all those considering embarking on a similar path and thinking about buying a dental practice.

Topics:

- What was your upbringing like in Sudan?

- What brought you to the UK?

- Key characteristics of Sudanese people?

- Your undergrad thesis: dental anxiety

- Timeframe from being an associate to practice ownership

- Key drivers to being your own boss

- What did you learn about yourself through the buying process?

- Who did you seek advice from during the process and was it useful?

- Would you do anything differentLY?

- Does a positive mindset play a part when working through a challenging process?

This week in the Dentology Podcast we talk to Bhavin Bhatt, CEO of the Aligner Alchemy Academy.

Bhavin has a wealth of experience in the dental sector having worked as an associate, practice owner and now business coach for aligner dentists and their teams.

In this episode Bhavin talks about his days as a practice owner, the reasons he decided to sell up and how he stepped into teaching/training with the Academy. He reflects on the changes he’s seen across the dental sector over the years and discusses the importance of training offered to dentists at all stages of their careers.

Topics:

- Why dentistry?

- Timeline from working as an associate to becoming an owner

- Driver to sell up?

- Aligner Alchemy Academy

- Was this a natural next step?

- Is it tougher in the sector now than it was 10 years ago?

- Is there enough training offered to dentists these days?

- Could more be done at dental school?

- Top 3 tips for any dentist thinking of moving into the world of aligners

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris talk to Chris Barrow, consultant and business coach to the dental profession for more than 24 years, and principal of the Extreme Business Academy. A leading authority on the business of dentistry, Chris regularly contributes to the dental press, social media and online and has co-authored books and published a series of e-books on the business of dentistry.

In this podcast episode, Chris talks about his background, growing up, his early career days in the corporate sector and his decision to re-train as a business coach. Having undertaken a variety of roles over the years, Chris explains what drew him towards the dental sector and how he’s seen the sector change and evolve over the past 20+ years.

A great episode!

Topics:

- Recent cycling accident: did you enjoy or get frustrated by this enforced period of rest?

- Back to the beginning…what were you like as a kid?

- Career change from working in the corporate sector to training as a business coach

- Why the dental sector?

- How have you seen the sector change over the past 24 years?

- Extreme Business Academy

- How do you find time to relax away from all the work activities?

- Lessons learnt from appearing on “The Island with Bear Grylls”?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris talk to Dr Jeff Sherer, owner of Dental Design Studio – a group of 19 dental practices around the UK.

Having qualified as a dentist in 2000 from the University of Leeds, Jeff tells Chris and Andy about his background and how he ended up in the North of England, despite not being a native Yorkshireman!

He talks about his early days in dentistry and his practice ownership journey, from an initial squat practice to being a proud group owner of some 19 dental practices today. He shares some of his secrets to business success, as it clearly takes a lot of time, effort and plate spinning to run a large group of practices and delegation.

And if that’s not enough, Jeff has also recently featured in the ITV Tonight programme “Pulling Teeth: The End of NHS Dentistry?” and tells us more about that amazing opportunity.

This is a great episode and well worth a listen.

Topics:

- Background and family history

- Did you always want to be a practice owner?

- First practice was a squat – why this route?

- What prompted you to buy your 2nd, 3rd, 10th and most recently, your 19th practice?

- Secrets to success?

- Crypto pioneer – how do you see this impacting dentistry?

- The art of delegation

- Personal Development

- Featuring on ITV

- Is there anything you’d go back and change if you could?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris talk to Dr Indy Johal, Principal Dentist at Renew Dental, a private practice based in Walsall.

Having qualified as a dentist in 2009, Dr Indy tells Chris and Andy about her love for dentistry right from an early age, what it was like studying abroad and how her passion for the clinical side of dentistry has seen her complete further exams at the Royal College of Surgeons and continue her studies in the fields of Endodontics, Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics.

Dr Indy also talks about her exciting journey into practice ownership and the reasons why she decided to start her own practice from a squat rather than buying an existing practice. She reflects on what it is like being a business owner, the highs and the lows, and how it requires a very different approach from being solely clinical focussed.

This is a great episode and well worth a listen for anyone thinking of taking the first step towards practice ownership.

Topics:

- Early days in dentistry

- How did your family respond to your young ambitious dreams?

- Studying abroad?

- How have you developed your business skills?

- Route to practice ownership

- Why a squat?

- What impact did setting up a squat practice have on your life?

- Have you mastered the art of delegation?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris talk to Harry Singh, leading dentist, facial aesthetician and published author. Harry is also the founder of Botulinum Toxin Club (BTC) and Dental Property Club.

In this podcast Harry talks about growing up, his teenage years and why he decided to pursue a career in dentistry. Having qualified back in 1996, he reflects on the time he spent studying, his early dental career and why he decided to focus on facial aesthetics in 2002 – a cutting edge approach some 20+ years ago.

Harry chats to Chris and Andy about his passion for facial aesthetics, how he has perfected facial aesthetics treatments to ensure optimum results and the most comfortable experience for patients and the work he is now doing via BTC to train, support and enable other medical professionals to succeed in administering aesthetics and go on to open their own profitable clinics.

A firm believer in the importance of marketing and pushing boundaries to be seen and heard, Harry also talks about the time he spent visiting Necker Island with Sir Richard Branson and the lessons learnt.

Topics:

- Is there a strong tradition of medics in your family?

- How did your teenage years shape who you are today?

- What was it like studying 26 years ago?

- 2002: why facial aesthetics?

- If you could go back, would you change anything?

- What is BTC and how does it help dentists?

- What did you learn from Sir Richard Branson?

- How do you manage your own personal development?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris talk to Lottie Manahan, leading dental hygienist and therapist based at 38 Devonshire Street, one of the finest private dental practices in London’s Harley Street. Lottie is highly skilled in both cosmetic and periodontal treatments. She is passionate about prevention and believes it is the answer to stop invasive dental treatment being needed in the future.

In this episode Lottie talks about what inspired her when she was just 15 years old to train as a hygienist, her early days in dentistry and how she has gone on to become a leading oral health expert today.

She explains more about her work as a key opinion leader for Oral-B, her involvement in training and mentoring other dental professionals and her drive and passion as a ‘green hygienist’ to raise awareness for a greener profession.

To hear more from Lottie, have a listen to this episode.

Topics:

- What is the one activity that makes you the happiest?

- Pathway into dentistry?

- Any business training undertaken?

- Mentor support?

- How green is dentistry?

- How far do we need to move the dial over the coming decades?

- Any career mistakes that have made you a better person today?

- Toughest thing you’ve been through?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris talk to Tim Brown, CEO of ROI Corporation, Canada’s leading sales agent of dental practices.

Having worked in the dental sector since 1979, Tim has a broad experience in dental practice systems, including: appraisal, brokerage, leasing, and practice management.

In this episode Tim talks about the early days when ROI Corporation was founded by his father, Roy Brown, how it has evolved over the years and how it continues to do so to stay at the forefront of the Canadian dental market.

He talks more about the market and how this compares to the UK, particularly regarding support for dental professionals, how finance is raised and how long it takes for a practice sale to reach completion and tells us about the challenges currently faced across the sector.

This episode is a great listen.

Topics:

- What things from your teenage years shaped who you are today?

- How has ROI Corp evolved?

- How do you ensure the business stays at the forefront?

- The Canadian sales market

- Key numbers in Canada

- Has Canada been affected by similar challenges to the UK?

- What does success look like for you?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris talk to Kunal Patel, owner and Clinical Director of Love Teeth Dental Practice, a state-of-the-art practice based in Sutton, Surrey, where he works alongside his wife, Lucy.

Despite only having been a dentist for 12 years, Kunal is one of only two UK dentists to become a FastBraces Senior Master Affiliate, and he also achieved Invisalign Diamond Provider status in record time!

In this episode, Kunal talks about working as a clinical dentist and his journey into practice ownership. He explains his decisions and business plans to grow Love Teeth into a multiple practice brand, the steps he’s taking to achieve this goal and shares his secrets to success for recruiting a great team!

Finally, Kunal talks about the dreadful targeted attack he was recently subjected to and the impact this has had on his everyday life with his wife and family.

A great listen!

Topics:

- Pathway into dentistry

- Clinical dentist to practice ownership

- Love Teeth: a family business / growth into a multiple practice brand

- Why via squats?

- The timeline and numbers for your 1st practice to date

- What’s your secret to success for recruitment?

- What impact did the recent targeted attack you were subjected to have on how you live your life?

- How did your parents react?

Our guest this week on the Dentology Podcast is Claire Berry, award winning hygienist and facial aesthetics specialist qualifying from the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh whilst serving in the Army.

With lots of experience, she is also a key opinion leader for big names such as Oral B and writes articles for dental journals and magazines and has been featured in other magazines such as Yorkshire Brides, PBL and other aesthetic publications. She carries out facial aesthetics and has been doing this for a number of years, in which time she is becoming known for her bespoke natural lip enhancements, as well as more advanced procedures.

In this episode, Claire chats to Chris and Andy about her childhood, her passion for sport, the years she spent serving in the Army and some of the challenges faced on leaving. She also talks about the beautiful private practice in Leeds where she currently works 4 days a week, her role as co-founder of the nationwide study club, the Contemporary Hygienist and shares her thoughts on where she sees hygiene going in the future as part of long-term dental care.

A great episode – enjoy!

Topics:

- Background & childhood

- Your enthusiasm for sports

- Your army days & adjusting to civilian life

- The driver behind creating the Contemporary Hygienist

- Where do you see hygiene going in the future as part of dental care?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris chat to Dr Robbie Hughes, principal director at Dental Excellence, a dental practice and cutting-edge laboratory in Liverpool.

Robbie qualified from the University of Liverpool in 2008 with honours and an array of prestigious awards for distinction grades and exceptional clinical performance. Very early in his career he set his sights on promoting excellence within the private dental sector, with a very special interest in cosmetic dentistry.

In this episode of Dentology Robbie talks about his background, the lessons he’s learnt from sport that can be taken into business and he explains more about his forward-thinking approach to business and his work within the dental sector. He talks about the reasons why he wanted to own his own dental practice, his plans for business development and next steps.

He also tells us more about his other business ventures and partnerships – Avant Garde Dentistry, a digital smile design business, and MediForm that is changing up the scrubs game!

This is a great episode with a very focused and driven guest!

Topics:

- Where does your drive come from?

- What did boxing teach you that you have taken with you into business?

- Was owning a dental practice a given for you?

- The changes you wanted to bring about into dentistry

- What’s the big picture for Dental Excellence (practice & lab)?

- Avant Garde Dentistry: how far are we into the digitisation of dentistry based on what you’re seeing?

- MediForm: what was available on the market that you wanted to fix?

- What is the biggest mistake you’ve made?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris discuss the principles of management.

Management is an important part of any business as without a strong and reliable management team to deliver the company vision and ensure effective processes are in place, it won’t succeed.

In this podcast episode Chris and Andy also explore the four characteristics of management and discuss why every business needs effective managers to achieve results.

To hear more from Chris and Andy, have a listen to this episode.

Topics:

- What is management?

- How does management differ to leadership?

- The importance of having a good management team

- The four characteristics of management

- Why management is vital to achieve results

In this week’s episode of Dentology, Andy and Chris chat to Alfonso Rao, co-founder of Apollonia Clinics.

Alfonso tells us about life growing up in Italy, the influences that drew him to a career in dentistry and how dental practices differ in Italy and the UK. He shares the reasons he moved to the UK, why he chose to base himself in Bristol and how he only learnt to speak English some 12 years ago!

Now the owner of 8 dental practices, Alfonso tells Chris and Andy about life being his own boss and what his plans are for the future growth of his dental practice group. He also talks about the importance of maintaining a good work life balance and shares details of his new venture, the Delta Dental Academy, where is now focusing on teaching others in the profession.

A great episode – enjoy.

Topics:

- Your childhood in Italy

- Why dentistry?

- How does dentistry different between Italy and the UK?

- Moving to the UK

- Opening your first practice

- What is life like working in one of your practices?

- How do you maintain a good work life balance?

- The Delta Dental Academy

In this week’s episode of Dentology, Andy and Chris chat to Nicola Gore, principal at Totteridge Dental Studio.

With so many roles to juggle, from being a mum of two, long-standing VT/FD Trainer, owner of two dental practices, publisher of a dental book, and founder of the British Iran Dental Association (BIDA), Nicola shares her story and achievements with Chris and Andy in this latest podcast episode.

She tells Chris and Andy about her background growing up in the UK and Iran and explains what drove her to pursue a career in dentistry. She also shares some great advice for younger people thinking about dentistry as a profession and explains what her teaching role entails.

Finally, having recently written and published a book “Dentistry in a Nutshell”, a practical guide to clinical dentistry, Nicola tells Chris and Andy about her book, her work as founder of the BIDA and what’s next on the horizon for her!

Topics:

- Tell us about your background & childhood

- Pathway to the UK

- Any advice to younger people thinking about a career in dentistry?

- Your role as a Foundation Dentist Trainer

- Who are your mentors?

- Your book “Dentistry in a Nutshell”

- The British Iran Dental Association

- Working alongside your husband

- How do you juggle your time?

This week we welcome Dr Chinwe Akuonu to the Dentology podcast.

Chinwe has been a qualified hygienist for almost 10 years having qualified in Italy in 2013 and is now successfully pursuing a career as a Dentist since qualifying from Kings College in 2021.

In this episode of Dentology, Chinwe tells us more about her early days and journey to the UK and explains the key factors that have driven her towards a career in dentistry. She also shares more on her success at winning the KCL Patient Consideration Prize in 2020 and gives us her tips and advice on how best to manage dental anxiety.

Chinwe is a currently a Key Opinion Leader with Colgate, so we look forward to hearing more about the exciting projects she has coming up!

Definitely an episode not to be missed!

Topics:

- Your story & journey to the UK

- The driver to pursue a career in dentistry

- Tips for managing dental anxiety

- Describe a typical working week

- Being a Key Opinion Leader with Colgate

- Any exciting new projects?

- Describe the toughest thing you’ve been through

- Future career path?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris discuss leadership styles and how these are implemented across different businesses and in different situations. They chat about the importance of having a leadership style that fits with your business and its goals, and how important it is to be authentic in your chosen style. A leadership style isn’t something you can copy from someone else or pretend to have.

To find out more and hear the thoughts of both Chris and Andy, have a listen to this great episode.

Topics:

- What is leadership?

- Examples of some incredible leaders and how their styles differ

- The importance of being authentic

- What are the different styles of leadership?

- How can leadership work in your business/practice?

This week we welcome Nicki Rowland to the Dentology podcast.

Nicki is a well-known face and voice in dentistry and is co-founder of The Exceptional Leadership Academy (ELA), a consultancy and training organisation that supports dental businesses to thrive and grow.

Nicki has over 30 years’ experience working in an NHS and private dental practice setting having set up and run her own award-winning practice for many years. In this episode, Nicki reflects on what it was like to be a practice owner and tells us more about what the key drivers were that led to the decision to sell. She also explains more about the ELA and shares her thoughts on the future of dentistry.

Nicki was nominated into ‘Dentistry’s Top 50’ most influential People in 2021 for her leadership and mentoring support to DCPs across the pandemic – this is a great episode, and one not to be missed!

Topics:

- How did you get into the dental profession?

- Tell us about setting up a practice alongside your husband

- Was it the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

- Did your views about the patient journey differ?

- What was your driver to sell?

- Does everyone immediately know what their purpose is?

- What do you see for the future of dentistry?

- Can dental practices follow a 21st century business model?

Andy and Chris chat to Alex Sharp in this week’s episode of Dentology.

Alex is a qualified dentist and is passionate about enabling dentists to have a better life in dentistry by helping them find the right working environment.

In this episode, Alex talks about how he started out in dentistry and the lessons he’s learnt from various experiences early on in his career that have influenced him to reach where he is today.

He also tells us more about the values that underpin his decisions and approach to both life and work and why personal awareness is so important.

In his quest to support other dentists just like him, Alex has recently started to build a “community” via Facebook that aims to support other associates in similar situations and provide an outlet for those looking to have a better life in dentistry to be able to share experiences and get advice – you can join this group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1152406788923244

And if you’d like to find out more/receive updates you can sign up here https://mailchi.mp/0537464b4db5/careful-healthcare

Topics:

- What drew you to dentistry?

- Career journey

- Lessons learnt

- How did you end up here?

- Core values that underpin big life decisions

- The Facebook community group

- Based on your experience, what do you see as the core problems in dentistry?

- How can these problems be addressed?

- What’s the one thing you’ve figured out that most others probably haven’t?

This week’s guest on the Dentology Podcast is Joe Lovett, founder and director of Catalyst Sales & Marketing.

In this episode, Joe talks to Chris and Andy about his childhood, the importance of family and his pathway into dentistry. From his early days working at FMC rising to Sales Director, through to his decision to spread his wings and set up his own company, Joe talks about the skills he’s learnt along the way, how Catalyst supports dentists and the importance of networking in a business strategy.

Joe also talks about his latest initiative ‘Fast Tracking Your Future’ that offers the dental profession advice and support in exchange for a charity donation and tells us more about the ‘Global Dental Collective’ taking place in September that will give attendees the opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions on some of the most challenging topics facing dental professionals today. To find out more visit www.globaldentalcollective.com

A great episode and one not to be missed.

Topics:

- The importance of family

- Pathway into dentistry

- Networking & spreading your wings

- How does Catalyst Sales & Marketing support dentists?

- What is the Fast Tracking Your Future initiative?

- What’s your view on the future health of dentistry?

- How do you find the right fit when looking to bring parties together?