Dental Leaders Podcast

Hesham Ali, specialist orthodontist, discusses his journey, networking challenges, turning GDPs into competent orthodontists, and why being a specialist orthodontist will always be a secondary identity. Topics include teaching and events, ortho training and treatment, blackbox thinking, knowing vs. not knowing, orthodontics and health, and more.

Tara Francis, former dental school student turned facial aesthetics practitioner, discusses her journey from dentistry to aesthetics, the challenges of suppressing emotions in the dental field, the impact of toxic relationships, alternative careers with dogs, and managing social media as an introvert.

Oana Luisa Mateescu, a Dentist from Romania, shares her journey of pursuing her dental career in the UK. She talks about the contrast between UK and Romanian dentistry, achieving work-life balance, mastering new skills and technology, and her five-year plan. She also discusses the importance of good patient relationships, the impact of the pandemic on remote work, and the trend of designing dental practices in blank canvas venues. Additionally, she shares her reflections on learning from mistakes and her fantasy dinner party guests.

Sahil Patel says he was disillusioned with dentistry by his first year in dental school. But finding a dusty old scanner in the technician’s room at his university changed everything, igniting his curiosity to venture off the curriculum and delve into digital dentistry.   In this episode, Sahil recounts the ups and downs of his journey from associate dentistry in Cornwall to the proud owner of Harley Street’s Marylebone Smile Clinic.       In This Episode 02.29 - Backstory and training 22.06 - Into practice 31.44 - Practice ownership and building trust 36.30 - Patient journey 44.21 - The daughter test 46.30 - Career moves 50.57 - A regulatory case 01.02.03 - Clinical a-ha moments and tips 01.09.55 - Blackbox thinking 01.17.00 - Learning 01.20.45 - Fantasy dinner party 01.26.42 - Last days and legacy   About Sahil Patel Dr Sahil Patel is a multi-award-winning BACD-accredited dentist and owner of Marylebone Smile Clinic on Harley Street, London.

Dr Sunni, former optometrist turned wellness, lifestyle, and nutrition coach, discusses medical gaslighting, the gut-brain axis, fasting, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, stigma, trauma bonds, love, nutrition, and the importance of a healthy gut microbiome on this episode.

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 experience 13.54 - Starting at FMC 22.18 - The media landscape 25.10 - FMC buyout 51.23 - Awards and Dentistry’s Top 50 01.02.23 - Motivation and culture 01.09.53 - Dealing with large and small organisations 01.13.13 - Looking back 01.14.27 - The competitive landscape and the future of FMC 01.21.33 - Black box thinking 01.26.25 - Fantasy dinnerparty 01.29.12 - Last days and legacy About Craig Welling Craig Welling is managing director at FMC Media - a leading global multichannel media and communiations company serving the dental community.

Fitness fashion and lifestyle content creator Henry Wade shares his journey to success, navigating controversy online, and the search for validation. They discuss social media, mental health, monetizing, trolls, and haters. Henry also opens up about his darkest moments, marathon running, alternative therapies, imposter syndrome, and high points.

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 Episode 04.14 - Injection moulding - indication and limitations 15.23 - Patient communication and technique development 22.23 - USPs and differentiation and techniques 44.09 - Backstory 49.01 - Advice to young dentists 55.25 - NHS 58.30 - Outside the clinic 01.01.40 - Blackbox thinking 01.15.41 - Referrals and organic patients 01.22.58 - The front edge 01.26.43 - Last days and legacy 01.29.47 - Fantasy dinner party About Kostas Karagiannopoulos Kostas Karagiannopoulos is a specialist prosthodontist and honorary consultant at King’s College London, where he has taught since 2008.   He is a proponent pioneer of the injection-moulding composite technique, which he teaches through his Prosthoworks training academy.  

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 ordinary practice and why the clinic’s opening party could go down as one of the best of all time.   Enjoy!    In This Episode 01.24 - Becoming a principal 07.23 - Project management 11.30 - Scaling and growth 19.46 - Mayfair patients 23.34 - Health Society plans 27.39 - Health and aesthetics 34.23 - The vision 44.56 - What the future holds 49.10 - Management, careers and subliminal messaging 54.41 - Location About Victoria & Ariane Sampson Sisters Ariane and Victoria Sampson are perhaps known on Instagram as @thedentalsisters. They recently opened The Health Society—a multidisciplinary health centre in Mayfair, London.  

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-taking software, TapNote.   Enjoy! In This Episode 03.11 - Backstory 11.01 - The dental syllabus 16.10 - Bryant Dental 28.15 - Selling to dentists Vs patients 33.15 - TapNote 43.49 - The US, clinical dentistry and flexibility 50.15 - Black box thinking 57.39 - Confidence and articulation 59.20 - Fantasy dinner party 01.02.54 - Last days and legacy About Tanay Kulkarni Tanay Kulkarni is a recent King’s College graduate currently practising as a foundation dentist in Surrey.   He is a partner at the Bryant Group of disruptor companies. He is currently bootstrapping Aura AI, which uses AI to automate clinical record-keeping and diagnostics.