Dental Leaders Podcast

If you’re a regular conference-goer, today won’t be the first time you’ve heard Yasmin George—a regular and engaging voice on the lecture circuit.   This week, Yasmin chats with Payman about her journey so far. She reveals what it’s like to study and teach at the legendary Pankey Institute and how working with the institute has shaped her approach to patient communication.   Enjoy!   02.11 - Backstory and education 12.03 - Schools and social standing 18.05 - Choosing and studying dentistry 24.04 - Gen Y and Gen Z 28.35 - First job 33.44 - Entering private practice 36.41 - Pankey and communication styles 55.09 - Patient retention and treatment longevity 01.01.01 - Ortho journey 01.04.41 - Orthopaedic orthodontics 01.07.53 - Curiosity, perfectionism and development 01.12.16 - COVID and reassessing commitments 01.14.57 - Darker days 01.24.48 - Blackbox thinking 01.31.36 - Different roles 01.36.13 - Fantasy dinner party 01.38.17 - Last days and legacy 01.39.47 - Fantasy podcast guest About Yasmin George Yasmin George graduated from Guy’s Hospital Dental School in 1988. She is a teacher at The Pankey Institute in Florida, US, and a former member of the Panel of Examiners for the Certificate in Dental Sedation for Nurses. She was also involved in the development of the orthodontics for general dentists with Dr Derek Mahoney and the City of London Dental School.  

Around half of the UK population have dental phobia, and 12% have severe anxiety. Few clinicians understand this as keenly as this week’s guest, Laleh Sharifian, who now spends her time as a sedationist.   Laleh recounts her journey pursuing a lifelong vocation into dentistry and sedation from being an early entrant at Guy’s, aged just 17.    She lets us in on the experiences that promoted her to decide that practice ownership wasn’t for her, discusses a day in the life of a sedationist and talks about her love of scents and fragrances.    Enjoy!  In This Episode 02.20 - Patient management 10.23 - Favourite practices 15.28 - Focusing on sedation 19.38 - Heavy duty Vs shorter treatments 23.04 - Introducing sedation to patients 27.26 - ICS Guidelines 31.15 - Sedation for children and young people 33.45 - Medical histories, contraindications and complications 39.11 - Challenging scenarios 48.00 - Blackbox thinking 53.52 - Backstory 01.00.49 - Why dentistry 01.03.57 - Parents, flavour and fragrances 01.09.40 - Guy’s and London 01.14.55 - Student life 01.17.21 - Specialising 01.20.20 - VT, first practice, ownership and beyond 01.31.37 - Regrets and failures 01.34.37 - Instagram and spirits 01.36.56 - Fantasy dinner party 01.45.21 - Last days and legacy   About Laleh Sharifian  Laleh Sharifian graduated from Guy’s Hospital in 1999, where her final year of research working on sedation and dental anxiety won the Malleson prize.   She completed a postgraduate diploma in sedation at GKT in 2002 under Drs  David Craig and Carole Boyle.   Laleh is part of the faculty of the Society for Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry (SAAD) and practices sedation under the Ivy Sedation brand.  

Liza Benting took ownership of her first practice after arriving in the UK from Cape Town, South Africa, in 2000—but life had other plans.   In this week’s episode, Liza describes her path from practice owner to associate and how feeling confined by the clinic's four walls led to an exciting new career as a negotiator for one of the country’s leading dental clinic sales and acquisition specialists.   Enjoy! In This Episode 02.01 - Coming to the UK 05.00 - From owner to associate 16.02 - Rapport building and treatment longevity 23.15 - Joining Pluto Partners 44.27 - Values and value 49.42 - Dentistry Vs business 53.53 - A week in the life 56.44 - Last days and legacy 59.47 - Fantasy dinner party About Liza Benting Liza graduated from the University of Stellenbosch in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2000. She now divides her time between clinical practice in the Midlands and acting as a negotiator for the dental M&A specialist, Pluto Partners.  

Limber up! This week Prav sits down for a chat with dentist-cum-fitness coach Rohan Verna.   Rohan reveals how finding fitness helped him overcome anxiety to discover a new lease of life. Now dividing his time between dentistry and fitness coaching for fellow clinicians, Rohan discusses the importance of self-care inside and outside the profession, revealing his top five fitness and wellness for busy GDPs.   Enjoy!     01.09 - Self-care 13.51 - Finding fitness 18.56 - Dental career 22.43 - The client journey 26.52 - Nutrition 33.18 - Top five tips 37.10 - Dentistry Vs coaching 43.13 - Bloodwork and supplements 49.29 - Last days and legacy 53.00 - Fantasy dinner party About Rohan Verma Roha Verma graduated from Bristol University and has practised in Surrey, Buckinghamshire, and Central London.    He now divides his time between dentistry and online fitness coaching for dental professionals.  

On Saturday, March 11th, over 1000 dentists and 138 exhibitors and 85 guest speakers will gather at Manchester Central for the North of England Dentistry Show.   In the first part of this special episode, Payman chats with FMC’s managing and marketing directors and event organisers, Craig Welling and Laurie Glover as they prepare for one of the biggest events in the dentistry calendar.   But that’s not all. We also hear Prav’s rapid-fire conversation with specialist periodontist Manish Bose, recorded in December 2022 at Neodent’s community event, also in Manchester.              Enjoy! In This Episode 03.30 - Craig Welling and Laurie Glover 15.45 - Manish Bose 17.13 - Practice purchase 22.26 - Blackbox thinking 28.23 - Referrals, goodwill and support 29.32 - Last days and legacy 31.51 - Fantasy dinnerparty About the Guests Craig Welling and Laurie Glover are managing and marketing directors at FMC, the dental communication company behind the North of England Dentistry Show held at Manchester Central on March 11th.   Manish Bose is a specialist periodontist and the owner of IKON, a specialist-led dental practice in Ealing, West London.    

From humble beginnings in a two-up, two-down in Birmingham, Saaqib Ali has gone on to create the city’s largest practice with a list of over 52K patients.   In this week’s episode, Saaqib talks about how his upbringing has shaped his definition of success. He reveals how he capitalised on the lull in business during lockdown to pull ahead of the competition and discusses how kindness pays off in practice for team members and patients.     Enjoy! In This Episode 03.50 - Backstory and upbringing 29.06 - Rishi Sunak 32.32 - University and discovering dentistry 46.29 - Defining success 01.03.26 - Post COVID 01.13.10 - Culture and kindness 01.24.07 - Retaining associates 01.34.50 - Blackbox thinking 01.55.31 - Fantasy dinnerparty About Saaqib Ali Saaqib Ali graduated from Guy’s Hospital London in 1999. He is the principal dentist at Sherwood Dental practice—one of the Midlands’ largest mixed practices.   

This week, Prav and Payman sit down for a chat with a dental and implantology leader from a short hop over the water in Northern Ireland.    James Hamill chats about growing up in Enniskillen, NI, and how his entrepreneurial mindset led from practice purchase to eventual burnout. But it’s not all doom and gloom: James talks about how close relationships with patients and an inspirational figure provided a ray of light.   James also reveals how he blagged the NI distribution rights to innovative US implant guidance tech, Chrome, and gives the lowdown on how the system is making life easier for patients and clinicians.   In This Episode 01.39 - NI frame of mind 07.36 - Discovering dentistry 16.52 - Dundee 20.19 - Business 26.09 - Starting with surgery 29.31 - Marketing the business 34.01 - Lows 42.02 - Highs 49.09 - Time out and 3D printing 53.44 - Chrome 01.19.15 - Blackbox thinking 01.26.08 - Work ethic 01.30.48 - Fantasy dinner party 01.34.28 - Last days and legacy About James Hamill Multi-award-winning dentist James Hamill is the CEO of Quoris3D dental 3D printing and design tech company.    He is Europe’s leading Chrome GuidedSMILE guided surgery clinician and one of the foremost Chrome clinicians worldwide.    James is a fellow of the International Team for Implantology (ITI) and a prolific implantology teacher and mentor.      He holds a diploma in implant dentistry from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and is a member of the Faculty of Dental Surgery.  

Imran ‘Imi’ Nasser has discovered his Ikigai—a sense of meaning and purpose. He sits down for a chat with Payman and Prav about purchasing his specialist-led practice in Cheltenham shortly before COVID brought UK dentistry crashing to a halt.   Imi also chats about his training endeavours with 15C, revealing where the course provider got his enigmatic name, talks about the trials and tribulations of teaching, and discusses the importance of creating supportive working environments where team members can flourish and grow.     Enjoy! In This Episode 00.35 - The podcast quiz 04.03 - Lessons and surprises 10.27 - A specialist practice 13.09 - Treating referrals 19.24 - Ikigai 24.24 - On teaching 31.05 - Backstory 37.17 - Mum 41.35 - Dental school 43.32 - Long-term plans 48.10 - Putting skills into practice 52.18 - Finding and creating supportive environments 01.00.04 - Blackbox thinking 01.03.33 - Training pathways 01.10.37 - A day in the life 01.18.16 - Fantasy dinnerparty 01.22.24 - Last days and legacy  About Imran Nasser Imran Naser graduated from Bristol University in 2006. He was awarded a fellowship in dental surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons in 2009 and completed a master’s degree in implantology in 2014.   He is a prolific implantology educator with AestheticProsthetic and 15C and has also written a book on cosmetic dentistry.    

It’s Friday night. The big Mini Smile Makeover (MSM) party is in full swing, and Payman is armed with his podcast mic.   Join him for this unique collection of conversations with delegates attending Dipesh Parmar’s legendary composite bonding training course.   Guests discuss life in dentistry, share their insights from the course and reveal what it’s like to train with Dipesh. Stick around until the end to hear a guest appearance from the man himself!        In This Episode 02.08 - Tuyab Shaujhat 14.23 - Busola Owaru 25.48 - Georgiana Bala 35.51 - Jazz Battu 43.07 - Martina Hodgson 53.58 - Matty Parsons 01.15.43 - Sarah Ansaldo 01.31.28 - Dipesh Parmar  

  Prav and Payman finally reunite this week for a chat with digital dentistry proponent and new practice owner Dora Lengyel.   She describes her journey from Hungary to Bristol via Kuwait and a career arc that has recently seen Dora purchase her first practice.   Dora talks about brand positioning, plans to bring the practice into the 21st century with digital smile design, and much more.   Enjoy!  In This Episode 10.48 - From associate to principal 16.53 - Brand positioning and measuring patient experience 38.53 - Backstory 43.27 - Dental school and first job 46.30 - Riding 54.09 - Practice purchase and digital smile design 01.06.17 - The five-year plan 01.13.25 - Last days and legacy 01.14.26 - Fantasy dinner party About Dora Lengyel Dora graduated with a degree in dental surgery from Peninsula Dental School in Plymouth in 2022. She has undertaken further study with the Dawson Academy and trained in digital smile design.   In 2021, Dora purchased her first practice, Dental Health for Life, in Chippenham, Wiltshire.