Dental Leaders Podcast

Join us for part three of our Leading Ladies series, looking back at highlights from conversations with female dental leaders.   Among others, we hear from Olympic dentist Jenny Kabir, orthodontic and microbiome geeks Ariane and Victoria Simpson, and Harley Street high-flyer Sandra Garcia Martin.   Enjoy!   In This Episode 00.39 - Jenny Kabir 08.03 - Ariane and Victoria Sampson 17.09 - Raabiha Maan 26.52 - Nicola Gore 36.09 - Alexandra Luzinschi 47.05 - Hannah Burrow 50.57 - Martina Hodgson 57.40 - Katie Blake 01.07.11 - Sandra Garcia Martin

From humble East End beginnings, Sarah Elliston followed her dental vocation with a nursing, fresh from high school, before moving onwards with a place at Royal London Hospital’s competitive therapy training.   She recounts how her finals and first job were almost interrupted by a life-threatening illness, discusses hierarchies in the profession and answers the question on everyone’s lips: Just what is guided biofilm therapy?       Sarah lets us know why she recently left therapy behind and offers a few tantalising clues about an exciting new road ahead.   In This Episode 01.53 - The state of play 06.33 - Skills and training 17.15 - Hierarchies in dentistry 24.05 - Backstory and career progression 37.08 - An unexpected diagnosis 47.53 - Guided biofilm therapy 52.19 - Blackbox thinking 57.56 - Bear 01.05.07 - Fantasy dinner party 01.07.08 - Last days and legacy About Sarah Elliston Sarah Elliston spent 11 years in dental nursing before gaining therapy qualifications with the Royal London Hospital in 2010. She has also worked as a clinical educator for Essex University. Sarah recently took a break from practice to develop a new range of dental products.

Welcome back to the second part of our ongoing Leading Ladies series when we look back at highlights from conversations with female dental leaders.   This week, we hear from diverse voices from across the profession on a whole host of issues faced by women and the profession as a whole.   Enjoy!   In This Episode 00:35 - Lauren Sparkle 09:39 - Shaadi Manouchehri 11:08 - Elaine Halley 16:59 - Fazeela Khan-Osborne 22:44 - Zayba Sheikh 30:43 - Gina Vega 33:50 - Hannah Woolnough 35:05 - Shazia Ahmed 36:20 - Slaine McGrath 38:23 - Jasmine Piran

Back in 2020, Payman and Prav sat down for a fascinating chat with up-and-coming cosmetic dentist Zainab Al-Mukhtar.   Zainab spoke so fondly of her inspirational mum Fareeda Daar that it only seemed natural to Fareeda’s story.   She describes how she settled on oral surgery after realising a medical career wasn’t her thing and recounts her journey to the UK from Tanzania via Romania, Yemen, Oman and Vienna.       Fareeda also discusses the trials and tribulations of running a busy practice while raising a family and reveals the secrets behind the success of her Harrow on the Hill practice.   In This Episode 02.12 - Inspiration 06.26 - Study in Romania 14.29 - The UK and Oman 32.29 - Practice purchase and the secrets of success 38.42 - Risk and resilience 47.01 - Social media and confidence 51.50 - Instilling value and values 54.04 - Blackbox thinking 01.11.06 - Plans 01.16.55 - Fantasy dinner party 01.17.55 - Last days and legacy About Fareeda Daar Fareeda studied dentistry in Romania before moving to the UK to gain a master’s degree in dental implantology.   She was the principal dentist at Park View Dental in North West London from 2000 to 2010 and has been the principal at Harrow on the Hill dental practice since 2010.  

After co-founding 76 Harley Street in 2007, Farid Monibi is now at the helm of one of the UK’s top specialist-led practices.    Farid talks about his journey to the UK from war-torn Iran in 1980 via Majorca, California, and Germany to build 76 Harley Street from the ground up.   He also recalls early mentors, chats about his twin loves, carpentry and high-adrenaline sports, and his approach to growing and managing one of the country’s foremost clinics.        In This Episode 02.23 - Learning goals 06.15 - Max-facs and early mentors 12.57 - Opening 76 Harley Street 18.03 - Entering dentistry 24.00 - Leaving Iran 27.46 - Germany Vs the UK 31.17 - Guy’s and specialising 35.45 - Building 76 Harley Street 46.05 - Management and marketing 54.02 - The 76 team 56.18 - Adrenaline 59.17 - Blackbox thinking 01.10.19 - Customer journey 01.20.08 - Last day and legacy 01.22.47 - Fantasy dinner party About Farid Monibi  Specialist prosthodontist Farid qualified from Guy’s Hospital in 1997, where he went on to complete postgraduate training in prosthodontics.     He co-founded 76 Harley Street dental practice in 2007, which has since become one of the UK’s top specialist-led clinics. 

Life could be very different for Paul Midha if it weren’t for a trajectory-altering encounter with a patient at dental school.    The Leeds and London based-dentist admits to partying his way through university until witnessing the transformative power of cosmetic and restorative dentistry.   Paul describes how he used lockdown as an opportunity to purchase his first practice shortly after VT and shares some of the techniques he used to achieve incredible first-year growth.   He also discusses the value of mentors, the possible reasons behind a spate of new practice openings in his native Leeds, and much more.   Enjoy!  In This Episode 02.20 - Backstory 06.43 - Dental school 11.42 - VT 14.26 - Confidence 16.55 - Practice purchase 25.29 - Blackbox thinking 29.08 - Mentors 31.34 - What’s with Leeds? 33.26 - Marketing 45.26 - Recession and market conditions 49.52 - NHS Vs private dentistry 54.27 - Litigation 57.37 - Building teams 01.01.44 - From Leeds to London 01.06.30 - Fantasy dinner party 01.07.45 - Last day and legacy About Paul Midha Paul Midha is the principal dentist at VICI Dental in Leeds and also practices at Square Mile in London.   He trained in aesthetic dentistry with Chris Orr and was a finalist in two categories in the Future of Dentistry Awards 2019.   He is also an actor who starred in Disney’s Evermoor Chronicles and has featured on Britain’s Got Talent as a body-popper.

If you’ve ever feared a call from the GDC or falling foul of today’s increasingly litigious working environment, this episode is for you.   Payman sits down for a chat with medical and dental indemnity expert Gary Monaghan about the challenges of covering the profession.   Gary talks about his early experience in plastic surgery and the parallels with dentistry. He reveals how his indemnity service PDI assesses risk, discusses defensive dentistry and describes what happens when the GDC calls.   Enjoy!   02.45 - Backstory 06.40 - The surgical landscape 09.01 - The mutual model 12.34 - Dental Vs surgical indemnity 25.19 - Risk profiles and management 35.20 - A shoulder to cry on 41.55 - Call records 44.28 - Assessing risk and underwriting 48.18 - Iron-manning mutuals 53.30 - On fear 55.40 - The economic climate 57.31 - The future of PDI 59.48 - Educating clients 01.02.15 - Refusing cover and defensive dentistry 01.07.44 - Fantasy dinner party 01.10.41 - Last days and legacy About Gary Monaghan Gary Monaghan has been at the helm of several insured indemnity providers in the medical field. He is the co-founder of Professional Dental Indemnity ( PDI), specialising in cover for dental professionals. Gary has provided cover for thousands of clinicians over a career spanning more than two decades and is widely considered an innovator in the field.

This week’s short solo show explores a potentially transformational strategy you can put to work in your practice with as little as five minutes a day.   IT genius Jeff Sutherland first explored the value of a short daily team meeting in his book Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time.   Prav’s been a big fan since reading the book shortly after its publication in 2014 and has since made daily scrums (AKA huddles) a feature at his group of practices and marketing agency.    In this episode, Prav looks at the origin of scrum as a software development tool, discussing how it can be adapted to a dental setting to transform the working week and boost business growth.   Enjoy!   In This Episode 00.47 - The daily scrum - an intro 03.00 - Scrum in practice 07.52 - Scrum in dentistry 12.27 - How to scrum 26.14 - In summary   About Prav Solanki Prav Solanki is an entrepreneur and dental marketer who has purchased, developed and exited a successful group of clinics. He is the director of The Fresh dental marketing and growth agency and founder of Leadflo—an advanced lead management system for dental practices.  

Are women underrepresented in dentistry? Over half of dental graduates are female, yet only one in five podcast guests has been female.   And there is also an underrepresentation in academia, on the lecture circuit and in almost every walk of the profession.   Our new mini-series looks at the issues by revisiting some of Prav and Payman’s most insightful conversations with dentistry’s leading ladies.        Enjoy! In This Episode   01.32 - Mahrukh Khwaja 07.16 - Zainab Al-Mukhtar 09.41 - Elaine Mo 14.12 - Linda Greenwall 20.58 - Vicky Wilson 26.37 - Jenny Pinder 29.15 - Rhona Eskander 32.45 - Sofina Ahmed 35.41 - Victoria Holden 42.52 -  Lucy Patel 44.14- Uchenna Okoye

This week, Prav sits down for a heart-to-heart with his friend, colleague and implant virtuoso, Riz Syed.   Riz describes how he almost fell out of love with dentistry before discovering implants and recounts his journey through dental school and beyond to eventually becoming a leader in the field.   He talks about what it takes to build up the confidence to carry out complex cases, reveals some of his darkest clinical moments and shares candid thoughts about his upbringing, fatherhood, family life and more.       Enjoy! In This Episode 03.50 - Backstory 10.04 - Deciding on dentistry 15.20 - Dental school 19.09 - Parenting, family and fatherhood 36.03 - The journey so far 45.23 - Skills building 50.31 - Blackbox thinking 01.05.46 - Complex treatment 01.23.16 - Last days and legacy About Riz Syed Dr riz Syed graduated in 1999 and spent time working in the oral maxillo-facial surgery department of Royal London Hospital.   He gained a master’s degree in restorative dentistry from the University of California and has also completed training in advanced oral plastic surgery in Dallas, Texas.   He is a prolific surgeon, lecturer, and mentor who often teaches on behalf of Nobel Biocare.    Riz is a member of the Association of Dental Implantology, the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.