DENTOLOGY - The Business of Dentistry

Derek Uittenbroek joins us this week as our guest. Derek is the founder and CEO of Ignite Growth, leading healthcare marketing agency that specialises in helping business attract patients for high value treatments. In this episode Derek chats about his childhood and looks back about his time studying at King’s College London.  He also reflects on his career journey from working in banking for a short period before moving on to work with the dental profession and eventually starting Ignite Growth back in 2017. He shares more about the team at Ignite, how they work with dental practice owners to attract patients, nurture new opportunities and grow their business and shares his thoughts on future. Topics: -  Early career -  Working with the dental profession -  The Ignite Growth business: how did it start? -  How does Ignite help dental practice owners grow their business? - Have you seen a shift in patient buying requirements since 2017? - What messages do patients respond well to? - Is the clear aligner bubble like to burst, deflate or continue to be a great practice builder? - Are practices good at nurturing new opportunities?

Dr Richard Marques joins us this week as our guest. Richard is a well-known cosmetic dentist and director of ‘Dr Richard Clinics’, a private dental clinic in the Harley Street District of London W1. In this episode he talks about his early dental career and how he became the ‘go to dentist’ for celebrities.  He explains his reasons for specialising in cosmetic/restorative dental and facial aesthetics and talks about the highs and lows of building and running his own practice and his business journey to date, including how he created ‘Diamond Whites’ in 2012, a leading Invisible Aligner and Teeth Whitening brand, and the recent sale of the business to ‘Impress’, Europe’s #1 chain of orthodontic clinics, and joining them as Clinical Director. A great episode to listen to. Topics: -         Was it always going to be dentistry for you? -         Early dental career -         How did you become the ‘go to dentist’ for celebrities? -         Does treating high-profile patients bring its own challenges? -         What led you to specialise in cosmetic/restorative dental and facial aesthetics? -         What was the driver to create Diamond Whites? -         Your business journey to date through to partnering with Impress? -         The highs and lows of building and running your own practice?

Our guest this week is Dr Oliver Pierce, principal dentist and owner of Sutton Dental Practice in Hull. In this episode Oliver talks about his childhood and growing up in Hull. With both parents’ dentists, he grew up among the profession and qualified in 2012 from Charles University in Prague before returning home to complete his dental foundation and join the family practice. He reflects on the time spent working together as a family and his ambition to own his own dental practice which he successfully fulfilled in November 2020, just a few months after dental practices were allowed to re-open. He talks about the early days as a practice owner, reflects on his best and worst days in business so far and shares a few tips and advice for others thinking about buying their own practice. Topics: -         What drew you to the profession? -         Qualifying in the Czech Republic -         Joining the family business & working together -         Becoming a practice owner -         Your best and worst days in business so far? -         Key myths about owning a practice?

Hear from well-known dental marketing expert Chris Baker in this week’s episode of Dentology. Chris is the owner of Corona Dental Marketing and has years of experience in marketing and PR in the dental sector. He has worked with many dentists on their plans to expand their practices through a variety of tools including branding, online strategy, social media marketing, PR, and advertising to name just a few! In this episode Chris chats about his pathway through dentistry, how he has reached where he is today owning and running his own business and reflects on some of the challenges faced along the way. He talks about his passion for sport (namely football and cricket) and shares his thoughts on the many learnings that can be drawn from sport into business. Chris has also developed quite a knack over the years for helping dental practices win awards, so tells us more about this area of his work and shares his thoughts on what the biggest concerns are in dentistry at present. Topics: - Why dentistry? - Comparables between sport and business life - Corona Dental Marketing - Challenges faced when starting up in business. - Working with dental practices - Support to win awards - Biggest thing that worries you about dentistry at present?

This week’s episode is something a bit different and sees Chris and Andy chat to Milad Shadrooh at our first-ever ‘Dentology Live’ event.  It was a fantastic evening, and we were delighted that so many guests were able to share the evening with us. In this episode, recorded live at a prestigious venue in London, Milad talks about his background and early years in dentistry, his journey through dental school and his time spent running a successful practice, having been the principal of Chequers Dental Surgery in Hampshire since 2010. And of course, we couldn’t not talk to Milad about his most public side…the Singing Dentist!  He tells us more about his ambition to make dentistry fun and chats about the various parodies he has created which promote oral health in an entertaining way and the many amazing opportunities this role has given him. This is a great episode, with a brilliant and entertaining guest - enjoy! Topics: - What do we need to know about you from your early years to understand the person you have become? - Tell us about your dental career to date. - What was your pathway from VT (as it was then) through to ownership? - Is the cost of owning a dental practice worth it? - What’s your highest and lowest point in business? - Tell us about your most public side – the Singing Dentist - Were you born an entertainer? - Was 'Shape of You' (3.6m views) the tipping point when the Singing Dentist took off? -  What were you looking to achieve as the Singing Dentist? -  As a business owner have you been able to take any learnings from football/sport and use these in your practice? -  What is the one activity you do that makes you the happiest?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris chat to Dr Shaadi Manouchehri, director of the London School of Facial Aesthetics, clinical lead of Smart Dental and Aesthetics clinic in the heart of London and ‘Social Media Queen’. Shaadi talks about her work and tells us how she successfully splits her time between clinical days working as an associate, developing her facial aesthetics business, building/maintaining her social media profile, hosting her podcast, ‘Teeth & Tales’ and if that isn’t enough, also completing a Post-Grad Diploma in clear aligner therapy. Phew….Shaadi certainly has a full-on schedule! This is a great episode to learn more about Dr Shaadi and the advice she would give to others just starting out on their dental career journey. Topics: - Your early years - Did you enjoy dental school? - What advice would you give to the next generation of dentists? - How do you successfully split your time? - Does your environment influence your style of working? - How much time do you spend planning & creating your social media content? - Your podcast ‘Teeth & Tales’

Welcome back to our guest this week, Bhavin Bhatt, founder of the Aligner Alchemy Academy. In this special episode Bhavin tells us about his ongoing support for Wells on Wheels, a Water Wheel Charity Project offering Water Wheels to ease the burden of women walking 1-2 miles a day carrying water on their heads and shares with us the amazing experience he and his family had when they spent their break over Christmas and New Year delivering water wheels to a remote village in India on behalf of the charity. This episode is our opportunity to hear their story, learn more about the challenges/struggles they faced along the way travelling to the remote village and to hear their thoughts on the whole life-changing experience. A truly great episode that is well worth a listen. Topics: - Being an ambassador for Wells on Wheels - Your support for the charity - Why did you feel the need to make a personal delivery? - How hard was it to get to the remote village? - Were you concerned about your safety at any point? - How did your children feel about the experience?

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris chat to Mehy Lo Presti, specialist restorative dentist based in London and co-founder of Sustainable Clinics, an organisation that helps clinics adapt to a more sustainable practice. In this episode Mehy talks about his early days in dentistry in Madrid and the reasons behind his move to the UK to continue with his studies and build on his dental career. He tells us about his role and work at Sustainable Clinics helping practices take steps in the right direction and shares more details about Global Dental Collective taking place in London on 28th April - a unique event that will bring together dental professionals from around the world to discuss and debate topics and attend a party with a ‘secret theme’! Topics: - How you got into dentistry? - Your experience at dental school in Madrid? - Why did you move to the UK? - Global Dental Collective: what’s it all about? - How does Sustainable Clinics help clinics?

This week our guest on the Dentology Podcast is award-winning cosmetic dentist Dr Simon Chard. Simon is well known across the sector as an international speaker and lecturer. He co-owns the highly successful Rothley Lodge Dental Practice with this wife Dr Meghan Chard and is President of the BACD and co-founder of PARLA, the eco-friendly toothpaste brand. He was also voted Dentistry’s Person of the Year 2022! In this episode Simon chats about his early years in dentistry and talks about what it’s like to work alongside his wife and parents. He talks about PARLA, his environmentally friendly toothpaste tabs, and shares the inspiration and reasons behind the business. He also chats about what it was like appearing on Dragons Den, his involvement in the BACD and his plans for the future. A great episode – so listen now. Topics: - Your early years - Did you always have a flair for business? - At what point did you feel that focus was the way forward? - Working in practice with your parents and wife - Dragons Den - The inspiration for PARLA - Your role in the BACD

This week in the Dentology Podcast Andy and Chris chat to award-winning business consultant Jayne Sproson. In this episode Jayne talks about her dental career, reflects on the years she spent running her own practice alongside her husband and how that practice is now considered a blueprint for the many modern practices of today having been one of the first dental practices in the UK to incorporate aesthetics. She chats about the highs and lows of her business career, reflects on some of the challenges faced along the way and explains the reasons behind her decision to sell her practice and move into a consultancy role. She also talks about her work today running the Jayne Sproson Consultancyand how she is now working as a ‘C level brand strategist’ sharing her expertise with an increasing number of dental practices looking to convert from the NHS to deliver purely private dentistry. Topics: - Your upbringing/background - Your dental career - Running a dental practice: integrating aesthetics, challenges faced - Selling your practice & your change of career - Your high and low points in business? - What is a C level brand strategist? - Tell us more about the Jayne Sproson Consultancy