Interference Cast – Protrusive Dental Podcast

There is WAY too much plastic in our profession – it’s insane. How can we do our part in Dentistry to make better choices for our environment? NOW is the time to spread positive messages for the environment to make a better world for our children and our children’s children. In this interference cast, we are joined by Dr. Mike Gow and Marcus McLeod who basically have started the journey to Net Zero Dentistry

“So even if you can do a small thing…..get involved, get active and we will make a difference. This is going to happen. So be part of it!” Dr Mike Gow

In this episode, we talked about

Check out the Net Zero Dentistry and Let’s all contribute on becoming a greener world 

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like What Every Dentist Should Know About Managing Dental Anxiety

Learn TMD and Bruxism Management as a GDP – SplintCourse launches on Monday! Register for the Big Update

Being a good learner, on a fundamental level, is the very foundation of becoming a great clinician. In this interference cast episode I host Dr. Ferhan Ahmed, a dually-qualified Dentist limited to Implants and the author of the book ‘Unstoppable’. Ferhan teaches us mindset hacks and the power of visualisation to being an unstoppable force in Dentistry!

“Always put learning before earning. Increasing your knowledge is immensely, immensely powerful, and it will never hold you back.” – Dr Ferhan Ahmed

In this episode we talked about:

Grab a copy of Dr. Ferhan’s Book: BEING UNSTOPPABLE

As promised, the books that recommended by Dr. Ferhan

If you enjoyed this episode, you will also like 6 Signs You are a Comprehensive Dentist with Dr Jaz Gulati!

Dr Jane Lelean will teach us how to implement ‘Hypnodontics’ techniques so that we can calm our patients, create a positive environment and even reduce post-operative clinical complications!

“Hypnodontics isn’t just for patients, many dentists are using it to reduce their stress levels and their anxieties too” – Dr Jane Lelean

In this episode, we discuss:

Check out The Institute of Dental Business to learn more about Hypnodontics and Hypnotherapy with Jane Lelean.

If you loved this episode, please do check out What Every Dentist Should Know About Managing Dental Anxiety with Dr. Mike Gow

It’s my sister’s wedding but the Protrusive team managed to get this out for you – and boy it is a good one! Dr Omid Azami AKA The Noobie Dentist will inspire to you adopt a growth Mindset.

“Have that mindset like ‘it’s a journey’, you’re never ‘there’ necessarily. You can always get better, and do more.” – Dr. Omid Azami

Here with me, Dr. Omid Azami, host of Noobie Dentist Podcast, who inspires and gives voices to clinicians all over the world and inspiring Dentists. In this Interference Cast, we discuss all about:

If you want to learn more, please do subscribe at  Dr. Omid Azami’s Noobie Dentist Podcast

If you liked this episode, you will definitely love and will learn a lot from the episode 10 Habits of Highly Successful (and Most Valued) Dentists 

A fun little comparison episode discussing the differences between Dentistry in the States and in the UK – in this episode I am joined by the host of Dentistry Rising podcast, Dr Bette Robin!

Dr. Bette Robin, who desired to make a massive change in her life and left clinical Dentistry some years ago and went in to Law and practice sales – she never looked back!  Join us in this light hearted discussion where we chat about:

SplintCourse update: Enrolment ends on Monday 21st June! Enroll now by clicking here to join a community of Dentists around the world who want to End Splint Confusion!

 If you enjoyed this episode, then do check out Dr. Bette Robin on her Dental Rising Podcast

You might also enjoy The American Dental Dream – PDP002 with Dr. Kristina Gauchan!

Is it possible to be a Comprehensive Dentist on the NHS? How did Dr Devang Patel rise within NHS Dentistry to provide high level, complex care to his patients?

Free Communication course by Dr Devang Patel >>>click here<<<<

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In this episode we hear Dr Devang Patel’s journey from working in a 99% NHS clinic to now carrying out complex general Dentistry at a very high level. I quizzed him on how it’s possible in a public funded system?

If you enjoyed this episode, you will like the Case Acceptance in Smile Design episode with Gurs Sehmi!

‘What on earth is Clubhouse?’ I hear you ask. Well, it’s kind of like being in a Whatsapp room with Richard Branson…and instead of typing you’re all just leaving live voicenotes. It’s like a Live Podcast and you get to contribute (sometimes). It’s also like a cult – it’s super addictive and invitation-only (at the time of publishing this).

My favourite thing about Clubhouse is that sometimes you’re not in the right state or environment to be on video – this audio-only platform has gained a lot of popularity!

I have seem some great Rooms (like a Whatsapp group) within Dentistry where a lot of knowledge bombs have been dropped. There is something beautiful about Live content that is difficult to get a replay for – the FOMO factor is real!

In this Interference Cast I am joined by Kevin Rose who helps drive better conversations in Dentistry.

TLDR: I think Dentistry has a home in Clubhouse – we can learn and share great content (live podcast, right?) – we can also use it to change public perceptions of Dentistry.

It’s probably not going to land you many patients in your chair, if that’s why you’re on it. You need to see a bigger picture!

Think of this episode as a love letter to the Protruserati. We share the same struggles, and this episode could easily have been called the 6 STRUGGLES of a Comprehensive Dentist.

Here they are:

Dentistry was either mis-sold to me, or I was just naive. When I was a Dental student I read a young dentist magazine. It had a segment dedicated to interviews with DF1 Dentists who had finished their first year in practice.

‘What do you love most about being a Dentist?,’ was one of the questions. One answer caught my eye: ‘I love that I do not take my work home with me.’

I loved that! But after almost 8 years out of dental school, I can tell you (and my wife can testify!) that I find it impossible to be a comprehensive Dentist and NOT bring my work home with me.

Treatment planning, organising photos, letters to patients, clinchecks and the list is endless – it will be a longer list for practice owners!

It takes a lot of emotional energy to see new patients. There is a difference between the 15 minute new patient exam and the 45 minutes or 1 hour new patient exam.

The longer appointments to learn what the patients goals are and help find the right solutions can be extremely challenging and require intense focus, and dare I say, showmanship.

As my principal (Hap Gill) once taught me, we are in show business.

The classic sign of this is that your Nurse is always nagging you that ‘you talk too much’.

You just want to make the patient’s experience as valuable as possible!

Controversial. I know. If I could double your income but simplify your Dentistry and limit you to single tooth dentistry – you would probably say no. THAT speaks volumes.
You do it for the bigger picture and for passion.
Yes the comprehensive Dentist MIGHT gross more, but the amount of money you spend on equipment and courses can be eye-watering. That, and your hourly rate from all the work you do it home is ever-diminishing.

I never know what is the right way to handle this. I just smile and say ‘I love my job so much, that sometimes I care more about a patient’s mouth than they do!’ To clarify, I am suggesting I care more than the patient (not more than any previous Dentist – we should never throw our colleagues under the bus).

6. If someone ever stole your laptop, they would be so dissapointed

Admit it. Your phone and laptop is full of forum screenshots, lecture photos, teeth, abscesses, shade matching photos (heaven forbid) and the odd bitewing for good measure!

If you enjoyed this episode, you will also like 12 Rules for Dentistry with David Bretton!

I want to talk about maximising your learning potential from all the courses that you attend, but particularly the online ones.

I was inspired from listening to a book called Limitless by Jim Kwik (check it out if you’re in to maximising your potential and the human mind). It had so many gems in there which I thought would be so useful for Dentists to learn when we’re attending courses so they have more impact on us.

More importantly, now that with COVID-19, a lot of the education is going online. You now commonly hear the phrase “I’m webinared out” – we are attending too many webinars and are itching for in-person courses again.

Over lockdown it was definitely the case, you could fill your whole day with webinars during lockdown. That just gave us digital fatigue.

I want to refresh and recap on what are the ways that you can maximise your learning while you’re on dental courses, but particularly on the online courses, so you don’t feel “webinared out” or “digital fatigue”.

We can apply this to any online education – in fact, as a Dentist you probably already subscribe to membership only platforms for dental education. However, like many of us in our busy lives, you may be guilty of not giving these platforms enough time to gain from them.

It is so important to make time to actually watch that content and actually immerse yourself in that content. I like to call this ‘protected time’.

Time is scarce. This is why when you do find time to watch these videos on the online platforms or actually attend these webinars, your time is so valuable. You really have to maximise what you gain for every single course that you do, and every single video that you watch, and every minute that you invest in them.

This is why I want to share the FAST protocol to maximise your learning, inspired by Jim Kwik and Limitless.

F = Forget

A = Action

S = State

T = Teach

F stands for forget, which sounds crazy. Let’s imagine you’re doing a course on veneers – maybe a webinar or an online course on veneers. The way to maximise how much you learn from that particular course is to forget everything you know about veneers. One of my favourite quotes is from someone called Malcolm Forbes, and it’s “the role of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one”.

The A stands for action, and it can also be interpreted as active learning. For me, it’s definitely the case that I learn better when I’m taking notes. One thing that Jim Kwik teaches is that we do not learn from consuming. We learn from creating. When I’m creating notes, or when I’m creating mind maps, and some people like typing manually on their iPads or on their laptops, basically almost transcribing what the lecturer is saying… you gain so much more from that process! So note taking or whatever you need to do (whatever creative way that you learn), it’s so important to have that rather than just consuming blindly or consuming blankly, you need to be able to create and that way you will learn more.

The other thing that comes with active learning is that multitasking is an absolute myth. We can’t multitask effectively. For example, have you ever been on a course and maybe you’re sat in the front row with all good intentions…but what happens is that you get a text message from your practice manager or patient emails you and now your attention is completely somewhere else. And now you’re dealing with a staffing issue or a patient issue. Of course then you leave the the course to make a phone call. You’re now dealing with the patient or the staffing issue. You’re absent from the course. It’s basically that you’re trying to juggle a few things at the same time, and it’s just not going to work. You’re not going to maximise your learning potential.

You have to focus intensely on that course in front of you and forget everything else. Forget the distractions. As humans, we can’t process a negative. Because we can’t process a negative, if something pops up in your mind or you get an email. You can’t just be like “okay, I’m not gonna think about this..”. The best way to handle that situation is make a note of it somewhere or make a to do list, focusing on that task at hand, and then move on from it.

The S is super important for all realms, but particularly online. And the S stands for state. That means your environment, your emotional state, and also physical state (what is your posture like as you read this?). Are you doing an online course or webinar, in your PJs, lying down in bed, sideways? It’s not going to make sense compared to working in a home-office, far away from the kids (as far as you can be!). Your posture is important. If you’re slouching on the laptop, your physiology has an effect on your mind.

How about your emotional state? The courses where I have learned the most from have been the ones where I’ve been really excited. So I remember when I saw Jason Smithson’s 2-day course about onlays and veneers – I was so excited about that. I was also really excited for Michael Melker’s course in Stockholm. It is therefore no surprise that those two courses had a massive impact on me in terms of how much I took away.

Jim Kwik says that your ability to retain information long term is governed by a formula:

Longterm Information Retention = Knowledge x Emotion.

The knowledge that you gain that day is multiplied by your emotional state. If you’re actually excited to be somewhere and genuinely excited to learn that content, then you will learn so much more.

You must tap into your mind and create a sense of excitement and eagerness and be keen and you will learn so much more, you will retain that information, because of your emotional state is being multiplied by that knowledge for better retention.

The last part of the FAST protocol is T, which stands for teach. Now, what I don’t mean is you do one online course or webinar and suddenly you start running your own bespoke courses! That’s not what I mean at all. What I mean is that if you attend a course, or an online course, with the intention of passing on that knowledge that you learned to a colleague, then you will learn so much more because “when you teach, you get to learn it twice”. I’m a firm believer that the best students make the best teachers and vice versa. I think when you when you’re able to teach something and pass on information that you’ve gained from a lecturer on to someone else, or apply it to a clinical case, that will really amplify your learning.

So there we have it, some things to consider about how to maximise your learning from attending courses using the FAST protocol.

Forget what you know already. Be active, be in the correct state. That’s your environment, that’s your emotional state. Consider teaching someone something you learn because that way you get to learn it twice.

If you found this useful, please do share it with a colleague!

If you enjoyed this episode, you will also like How to Win at Life and Succeed in Dentistry.

Dental Recruitment is Changing!

Would you rather work in a lavish dental clinic with all the bells and whistles, but with a high turnover of nurses and lacking a culture or ethos…OR, work in a ‘mediocre’ clinic with happy staff and a thriving culture?

What makes an awesome dental practice, and how can associates and therapists find them? Where are they hiding? Are they as rare as a ‘good associate’? What is that even about?

In the latest episode I chat with Andy Saunders and Simon Tucker about how dental recruitment has evolved – it is a purpose built episode if you are looking for a new opportunity or even if you are a principal looking to hire the right team member.

We discuss:

If you like the new face of dental recruitment (or finally, just a face!) and want Andy and Openwide to help you, reach out to Andy!