Dental Leaders Podcast

At just 27, Ali Hashemizadeh is doing things most dentists twice his age haven't managed — two private associate roles, a growing reputation as an endodontist, and the kind of self-awareness that usually takes a decade to develop. In this episode, Payman sits down with the Newcastle-based, Aberdeen-raised, Iranian dentist to trace the path from a rocky first year on the NHS to finding his feet in private practice. Ali talks candidly about the complaint that rocked him early in his career, the perspective shift it forced, and why he's genuinely glad it happened. It's a conversation about curiosity, resilience, and the quiet power of just cracking on.In This Episode00:00:50 – Introduction: Ali Hashemizadeh00:03:45 – Lifelong learning00:07:25 – The future of dental events00:14:30 – Optimism as a work philosophy00:15:35 – NHS complaint, first job00:19:40 – Resilience and perspective00:21:10 – Going private early00:22:25 – Becoming the endo guy00:25:55 – Generalist or specialist?00:26:50 – The disease of the twenties00:28:30 – Iranian roots in Aberdeen00:38:15 – Foundation year in London00:40:55 – Outdoor pursuits and Ironman training00:46:10 – CBCT and safe-ended files00:50:05 – Endo, implants and aesthetics under one roof00:52:00 – Treatment coordinators and ethical selling00:57:15 – The value of mentorship00:59:00 – Networking and landing the jobs01:02:55 – The two practices compared01:07:35 – Lucas Lassman and the most inspiring lecture01:10:40 – Dental resources: YouTube and Instagram01:15:10 – Being Mortal and Man's Search for Meaning01:16:30 – Modern Wisdom and guilty pleasures01:22:35 – Ten-year plan01:27:40 – Fantasy dinner partyAbout Ali HashemizadehAli Hashemizadeh is a 27-year-old private associate dentist working across two practices in the northeast of England — Middleton Saint George Dental in Darlington and Ken Harris's clinic in Sunderland — where he has developed a particular focus on endodontics. Born and raised in Aberdeen to Iranian parents, he qualified from Newcastle University and completed his foundation year in London before heading back north.

Grant Goodstein, an American tech exec turned dental practice owner who runs Pearly Whites in Fulham with his wife Leah. He discusses moving to London for love, turning patient feedback into service upgrades, scaling Invisalign and premium hygiene, modernising tech and ops with AI and cloud tools, and blending NHS mission with private growth—all delivered with sports-style team rituals and practical business energy.

Mehy Lo Presti joins Payman on the podcast for a wide-ranging conversation that's equal parts origin story and quiet manifesto. Raised in the heartland of La Mancha by a Palestinian father and Italian mother, Mehy arrived in London in 2015 with barely any English, no NHS number, and — as it turns out — very little interest in following the conventional path. He's since built a reputation not just as a restorative associate but as one of dentistry's most creative event and experience designers, currently channelling that energy into Dent Town, a major immersive dental conference launching this September. The conversation ranges freely across the fear culture surrounding the GDC, the science of patient experience design, and the painful economics of putting on events that are actually good — before landing somewhere unexpectedly personal, as Mehy opens up about the impact of October 7th on his family and his mental health in the weeks surrounding his daughter's birth.In This Episode00:00:55 - Introductions00:01:50 - The outsider mentality00:03:05 - Palestinian-Italian roots and growing up in La Mancha00:07:15 - On parenting and giving children freedom00:10:30 - Problems with conventional education00:30:55 - GDC fear culture vs Spain00:37:10 - Moving to London from scratch00:40:20 - First steps in private practice00:41:25 - Master's in aesthetic restorative dentistry at King's00:43:20 - College of Extraordinary Experiences00:48:00 - Patient Experience Design00:49:30 - Designing the ideal squat00:52:55 - Reception as the heart of the practice01:02:10 - Google reviews and the "feel" factor01:04:05 - Associate vs clinic owner01:09:15 - The economics of running events01:17:15 - Events mistakes01:20:50 - Blackbox thinking01:25:00 - Setting patient expectations01:29:20 - Favourite resources01:32:05 - Fantasy dinner party01:36:25 - October 7th, Gaza, and personal impact01:43:00 - Faith, karma, and identityAbout Mehy Lo PrestiMehy Lo Presti is a London-based associate dentist with a master's degree in aesthetic and restorative dentistry from King's College London, currently practising at The Kensington Dentist. A son of Palestinian and Italian parents who met in Egypt and settled in Spain, he grew up in La Mancha before relocating to London in 2015. He is probably best known as the creative force behind Global Dental Collective and the Dental Rama brand, and is now co-founder of Denttown — an immersive two-day dental conference launching in September 2026.

Prav is back in the host's chair for a conversation that's quite literally close to home — Andy Sloan is his boss. Andy is the MD of Agilio, the dental software and compliance platform, and a man who has overseen well over a hundred practice acquisitions throughout his career. But before any of that, he was a council house kid from the Wirral, running paper rounds at 14, pulling pints at 18, and somehow landing — by his own admission — in dentistry entirely by accident. This episode traces that unlikely path through hospitality, banking, accountancy and private equity, unpicking the one constant that runs through all of it: relationships. Andy opens up about the dark periods too — fertility struggles, the pressure of simultaneous transactions, and the moments where burnout lurked closer than he'd care to admit. Honest, warm and genuinely self-aware, it's a cracking listen—or catch the video on whichever platform you usually get your weekly Dental Leaders dose.In This Episode00:00:20 - Introducing Andy Sloan - Prav's boss 00:02:15 - Early life00:12:10 - Hospitality years00:26:40 - Meeting Lynette; buying the pub00:27:00 - Banking and sales00:38:15 - Into dentistry — DBG00:43:50 - Henry Schein Business Solutions and Europe00:46:45 - Portman Dental00:59:05 - Joining Julio; building the tribe01:04:00 - Julio's growth — 17 acquisitions in under five years01:07:35 - Relationships as the common thread01:13:20 - Blackbox thinking01:15:45 - Practice valuations — the levers that matter01:27:25 - Dark moments01:34:55 - Julio's future and the Dental OS vision01:37:10 - Dentistry Reimagined01:41:25 - Last days and legacyAbout Andy SloanAndy Sloan is the Managing Director of Agilio, the dental software and compliance group that has completed 17 acquisitions in under five years. His career spans hospitality, banking, private equity and dental M&A — including a spell as Business Development Director at Portman Dental Care, where he oversaw the acquisition of more than 120 practices. He is also the founder of Dentistry Reimagined, an independent industry event focused on the conversations dentistry has been too cautious to have.

This week, Payman sits down with Zain Remy, a Newcastle-based practice owner whose path to dentistry was anything but straightforward. After missing out on dental school the first time round, Zain took the pharmacology route, grafted his way through eight years of study, and eventually qualified from King's College London in 2016. What followed was a decade of pivotal decisions — a golden handshake from a corporate, a restorative diploma that nearly cost him his job, and a mental health crisis serious enough to land him in hospital for two months.Rather than shy away from any of it, Zain unpacks each chapter with an honesty that's genuinely refreshing. By October 2023, he'd bought his own private practice in Newcastle — and the lessons he's drawn from every stumble along the way are, frankly, worth the listen alone.In This Episode00:00:50 - Introduction00:01:35 - Growing up in London00:02:00 - Dad the dental technician00:04:40 - Dental school reflections00:14:45 - The pharmacology detour00:20:30 - Heading northeast00:22:40 - Foundation year00:24:20 - The corporate golden handshake00:30:05 - Restorative diploma and CPD00:40:05 - Burnout00:43:05 - Mental health crisis00:50:35 - Recovery and talking therapy00:57:25 - Buying the practice01:00:30 - Practice ownership: the hard reality01:05:10 - The associate–principal relationship01:10:25 - Social media as a clinical tool01:16:05 - Diary of Dental Practice Owners01:20:15 - The awards debate01:29:35 - Hiring and firing01:33:05 - Blackbox thinking01:40:05 - Fantasy dinner party01:44:30 - Favourite and least favourite treatments01:46:10 - Future visionAbout Zain RemyZain Remy is a dental practice owner based in Newcastle, who qualified from King's College London in 2016 after first completing a pharmacology degree. Having worked across NHS and mixed practices in the northeast, he acquired his own fully private practice in October 2023. He holds a postgraduate diploma in restorative dentistry and runs the Diary of Dental Practice Owners community on Facebook, offering an unfiltered look at life as an independent practice principal.

This week, Payman chats with JW Oliver — serial entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, and the man behind Support DDS, the largest dental insourcing company in the US. JW's story begins well below the poverty line in Texas and winds through dental equipment, bankruptcy, and a fateful meeting at a Christian marriage conference that led him to Zimbabwe — and ultimately to building a 1,700-strong operation across Africa and Costa Rica.It's a conversation about purpose, resilience, and why answering the phone might be the most underrated skill in dentistry. Along the way, JW opens up about faith, failure, fatherhood, and why giving away 51% of your profits doesn't feel nearly as crazy once the cheques start to mean something.In This Episode00:00:40 - Welcome and introductions00:02:00 - Growing up poor; early entrepreneurial instinct00:04:50 - From dental equipment to Zimbabwe; the chance meeting that started Zim Works00:09:00 - Purpose over profit; donating 51% and building a philanthropy operation00:12:20 - Insourcing vs outsourcing; what Support DDS actually does00:19:30 - A typical UK dental practice use case; why unanswered calls kill marketing spend00:25:00 - The real challenge; onboarding, training timelines, and setting expectations00:28:10 - Faith; how it evolved, when it was tested, and the summer of 199400:40:25 - Blackbox thinking; not reacting fast enough to a changing market00:43:20 - Resilience as both superpower and blind spot; when to hold, when to fold00:51:15 - Writing books; creative process, ghostwriting, and books as authority tools01:00:10 - Immigration, assimilation, and understanding the other side01:08:50 - Fantasy dinner party01:11:00 - Darkest day; bankruptcy, Disney, and a wife who said "I trust you"01:13:55 - Treating everyone the same; from the excellence team to the C-suiteAbout JW OliverJW Oliver is a serial entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist based between Texas and Zimbabwe. He is the founder of Zim Works and Support DDS — the largest dental insourcing company in the United States — which employs over 1,700 people across Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Costa Rica, and donates 51% of its profits to charitable causes. A former dental equipment entrepreneur turned global business builder, JW is driven as much by faith and purpose as by commercial ambition.

What happens when a Royal Marine Commando dentist who spent six months being ambushed on every patrol in Helmand Province turns his hand to building dental businesses? You get Mike Hesketh: serial practice owner, consultant, and one of the more quietly formidable figures in UK dentistry. In this episode, Payman sits down with Mike to trace a story that runs from a North Wales council estate and the loss of his father at eight years old, through the front lines of Afghanistan, to a 10x practice exit and the creation of Dartmoor Dental — a 200-year-old manor house turned thriving, NHS-inclusive, ten-surgery practice. Mike talks with real candour about the four pillars he uses to build and consult on dental businesses, why he treats his NHS contract as a social obligation rather than a commercial one, and how the Royal Marines' mantra ‘cheerfulness in the face of adversity’ translates surprisingly well to practice ownership.In This Episode00:02:00 — Growing up in North Wales; losing his father at eight00:07:40 — Deploying to Helmand Province with 40 Commando Royal Marines00:12:05 — Leaving the military; getting ripped off on day one as a civilian dentist00:13:05 — Buying his first practice with £20,000 and a devil-may-care attitude00:51:35 — Selling Exeter and the year-long family world trip00:54:25 — Laura and the brand; how Dartmoor grew from £700K to £2.5M00:56:00 — The NHS contract as a social obligation01:07:40 — Barriers to entry, squat risks, and buying underperforming practices01:19:00 — Appointing the youngest clinician as clinical lead01:27:00 — Military-derived leadership principles; letting the ship sail without you01:33:15 — Fee guides as windows to the soul01:39:55 — The four pillars: leadership, infrastructure, branding, financial command and control01:53:35 — Darkest days in business01:57:30 — KPIs: one metric, embed the culture, then move on02:11:55 — Fantasy dinner partyAbout Mike HeskethMike Hesketh is a practice owner, dental business consultant, and founder of Hesketh Healthcare Accounting. He qualified as a dentist whilst serving as an officer with 40 Commando Royal Marines, completing the commando course and deploying to Helmand Province, Afghanistan. After leaving the military, he built and sold Exeter Dental Centre before buying and transforming Dartmoor Dental — a ten-surgery practice in Tavistock — from a £700K turnover to £2.5M in three years. Mike holds an MBA and a coaching qualification from Henley Business School, and works with a small number of practices on a bespoke, year-long consultancy basis.

Mind Movers is back — and what a return. Rhona is fresh from maternity leave (and a rather eventful ICU stay) and she's brought a guest who needs little introduction: cosmetic dentist Neelima Patel, known to fans of Married at First Sight UK as the woman who handled an absolute car crash of a match with extraordinary grace. This episode covers a lot of ground. From Neelima's route into dentistry and Kailash Solanki's famous mentorship programme at Kiss Dental, to the full, unfiltered story of her time on MAFS — the honeymoon that promised everything, the energy shift that followed, the Hinge bombshell, and the trolling she endured throughout. But this isn't just a reality TV debrief. It's a genuinely honest conversation about self-worth, the bruising reality of modern dating, what it means to be a high-achieving woman looking for a partner who matches your pace — and how to come out the other side stronger.In This Episode00:00:25 – Rhona's return & introducing Neelima00:02:05 – Choosing dentistry over medicine00:03:25 – Finding Kiss Dental & Kailash's mentorship programme00:05:10 – What makes Kiss Dental unique00:06:10 – Cosmetic dentistry aesthetics: Manchester vs London00:10:25 – How Neelima ended up on MAFS00:11:40 – Going against everyone's advice00:13:50 – Why she wanted to find love on TV00:16:30 – The wedding day: what you do (and don't) get to choose00:20:05 – First impressions of Stephen00:21:35 – The honeymoon — and the moment things shifted00:25:35 – Internalising doubt: gaslighting in real time00:27:05 – The trolling, and trusting her own intuition00:31:25 – The earnings conversation that changed everything00:38:25 – His true colours: recognising the venom00:44:30 – The Hinge incident00:50:20 – Traumatic, enlightening — or both?00:53:05 – The modern dating landscape & the male loneliness debate00:58:10 – Balancing dentistry with a media career01:01:00 – Mental health pressures in the profession01:04:10 – What she'd do differentlyAbout Neelima PatelNeelima Patel is a cosmetic dentist at Kiss Dental in Manchester, working alongside Kailash Solanki after completing his two-year mentorship programme in 2020. She qualified from the University of Sheffield in 2017 and has since built a reputation for high-end cosmetic work in one of the north's most sought-after practices. In 2024, she appeared on Channel 4's Married at First Sight UK.

Most dentists are brilliant clinicians and hopeless with numbers — and Bilal Ahmed has built a career filling exactly that gap. A chartered accountant and tax adviser who stumbled into the dental world through his wife's professional circle, Bilal brings a corporate finance sharpness to a profession that's long been underserved by the accounting industry. In this episode, Payman and Bilal cover the full financial landscape for dentists: from the quirks of associate contracts and HMRC tax investigations to the thorny arithmetic of Invisalign, the hidden traps in popular tax schemes, and the long game of inheritance tax planning. Honest, direct, and refreshingly unafraid to say when something just doesn't work — this one's a must-listen for any dentist who's ever wondered if they're paying more tax than they should.In This Episode00:00:50 - Introduction00:01:05 - Finding dentistry00:03:05 - Nuances of dental accounting00:08:35 - Tax investigations00:19:25 - Good accountant vs great accountant00:21:05 - Practice valuations and the post-Covid hangover00:59:00 - Pricing strategy01:07:05 - Making Tax Digital01:09:30 - Expensing and entertainment01:23:00 - Tax avoidance schemes01:28:25 - Inheritance tax planning01:34:05 - Last days and legacy01:36:05 - Being an outlierAbout Bilal AhmedBilal Ahmed is a chartered accountant, tax adviser, and business consultant working exclusively with dental professionals. He came to dentistry by accident — through his wife's network — and recognised quickly that dentists were operating in a financial vacuum, using accounts only at tax time rather than as a tool for planning and growth. Drawing on a background in corporate finance, Bilal now helps dentists make sense of their numbers, structure their businesses correctly, and plan for long-term wealth — all while keeping things firmly on the right side of the line.

Nasser Syed is a man who doesn't really do stillness. With a background in oral surgery and conscious sedation, he's pivoted from five clinical days a week to running a growing group of practices, training dentists, and launching a brand new facility hire venture aimed at super associates who'd rather focus on their dentistry than deal with the headaches of practice ownership. Joining him is Chez Bright, his PA and right-hand collaborator, who offers a candid view of what it's actually like to work alongside someone whose brain, in her words, is "a minefield." Payman talks with them both about building teams, backing yourself, and knowing when to say no — plus the early clinical mistake that still sits with Nasser decades later and the personal losses that have shaped his faith and his drive.In This Episode00:01:00 — Practice ownership00:05:20 — Developing associates00:09:00 — Picking a lane00:16:00 — Meeting Chez Bright00:17:45 — Running projects00:24:30 — AI and the future of dentistry00:31:10 — Manchester Sedation Course00:37:45 — HireADentalSurgery.com00:52:20 — Branding and virality00:57:15 — Blackbox thinking01:04:15 — Clinical communication01:13:00 — Lowest point01:15:20 — Faith and loss01:22:25 — Memorable lecture01:25:00 — Fantasy dinner partyAbout Nasser SyedNasser Syed is a Liverpool-born dentist with a background in oral surgery and conscious IV sedation, currently working across a growing group of practices in the North West. He founded the Manchester Sedation Course in 2015 — SDC-accredited and open to both beginners and more experienced clinicians — and now runs it alongside his clinical and business commitments. His latest project is HireADentalSurgery.com, a dedicated facility hire model in Hale, Cheshire, offering super associates the equipment and flexibility to treat their own patients without the overheads of practice ownership.