After graduating in 1994, Sanjay Sethi quickly made a name as a leader in aesthetic dentistry. So, when brother Nik graduating almost two decades later in 2009, expectations were high.

In this week’s episode, Payman gets the brothers together for a frank conversation on their early years; how each followed their own unique career path; the highs and lows of working together, and much more. 

Enjoy!

“I think really we've been, on balance, really good because we have our own strengths. And yeah, there'll always be some differences we'll have along the way, and I'm not going to deny that. But on par, it's sorted out on the day and we just move on. We have a laugh. We have a great time together!”

• Sanjay Sethi

In This Episode

01.08 - Backstory07.54 - On excellence09.54 - Influence and associations19.02 - Heroes20.27 - Sharing work23.55 - Square Mile25.38 - Expectation, motivation and inspiration35.51 - Buying in38.55 - Friends vs colleagues40.40 - Dark times and COVID41.20 - Pricing46.53 - Teaching and lightbulb moments50.00 - Clinical mistakes54.30 - New practise57.44 - On family58.46 - Digital dentistry01.06.51 - Predictions01.17.52 - AEsethiX01.20.28 - Last days and legacies

Since launching the show way back in June 2019, we’ve had the privilege of chatting with some of dentistry’s most inspirational figures. 

In this week’s new-of-year special, we look back on some of the best answers to Prav’s final questions on legacy and advice for the next generation.

Kicking off with the legendary, late Anoop Mani we’ll hear words of wisdom from the dental leaders who’ve made the show possible over the past year.

Enjoy!

Where were you when Boris cancelled Christmas in 2020? Right here, catching up on dentistry’s finest podcast. 

In this end-of-year special, Prav and Payman take look back on the annus horribilis that was 2020.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, and it isn’t long before our dental royals are round to talking shop, with conversations on management, hiring, firing, working with ninjas and much more. 

Enjoy! 

“I guess that thing our parents told us about people will always need teeth.”

• Payman Langroudi

In This Episode

00.34 - Cancelling Christmas09.32 - Bust and boom 14.23 - Lockdown lessons18.48 - Family values24.41 - Ninjas31.55 - Hiring45.05 - Firing52.29 - The third home54.38 - Shining examples59.58 - Wrapping up

This week’s guest is one of dentistry’s few true household names. Uchenna Okoye has found success as a cosmetic dentist and clinical director of London Smiling dental group.

But she is perhaps best known as the dental consultant on Channel Four’s Ten Years Younger program.

Uchenna tells us how it all started and we get round to discussing race and gender in dentistry, non-nonsense management and much more.

Enjoy! 

“I don't understand the jealousy and all that nonsense. There's enough teeth for everybody.” 

• Uchenna Okoye

In This Episode

01.12 - Backstory05.19 - Race and gender24.01 - Cosmetic dentistry26.44 - TV and PR32.21 - Fitting in36.21- Patient journey43.21 - Training50.31 - Motherhood55.34 - Day in the life58.52 - Being strict01.04.38 - Being a brand01.14.25 - Last day and legacy

About Dr Uchenna Okoye

Cosmetic dentist Dr Uchenna Okoye graduated from Guy’s Hospital, London.

She is perhaps best known for her role on Channel Four’s Ten Years Younger makeover programme and is a frequent contributor to radio and TV.

Uchenna is the clinical director of London Smiling Dental Group. She is a member of the American and British Academies of Cosmetic Dentistry (BACD) and former BACD board member.

Less than two years into his career, this week’s guest was on his way to being one of dentistry’s finest.

But Tom Youngs had other callings.

At age 28, he left dentistry to pursue ski instruction and life as an unpaid intern in tech startups.

Tom now works as a website analyst while developing his own online sustainable beauty business. He shares his story, regrets, wins and words of wisdom for anyone who’s ever wondered if there is life after dentistry.   

“I kind of was like, okay, I'd like to go onto the next thing.” 

• Tom Youngs

In This Episode

03.31 - Two degrees07.48 - Into VT and ‘underground’ dentistry13.38 - Aspiration and achievement19.29 - The move from clinical37.52 - Time for reflection42.22 - Entrepreneurialism48.39 - Regrets53.53 - A day in the life57.20 - Last day and legacy

About Tom Youngs

Former biomedical scientist Tom Youngs spent two years in dentistry before moving into tech entrepreneurship.

He now works in eCommerce and is developing  Vyable Beauty - an online sustainable beauty products retailer.

He runs a successful YouTube channel and writes a monthly newsletter at www.tomyoungs.co.

If anyone was born to be a dentist, it’s this week’s guest. Avi Sachdev is a surgeon with Croydon’s Gentle Dental Group, which he co-owns and runs with dad Kam, brother Mish and other family members. The eight-clinic group is the very definition of a family-owned business. 

Avi lets us in on what working with family, talks us through life under lockdown and shares ideas about how UK dentistry could benefit from a more unified approach.

Enjoy!

“Always use Enlighten.”

• Avi Sachdev

In This Episode

29.00 - Family business11.52 - Running the group16.42 - Avi in lockdown21.40 - New whys24.20 - Acquisitions28.06 - Family, roles and recruitment31.54 - Advice to associates37.49 - Clinical tips41.25 - CEREC43.34 - Blackbox thinking54.18 - Croydon Dental Seminars57.14 - In an ideal world01.05.20 - No-fear mentality01.07.40 - Avi’s plans01.13.34 - Last day and posterity

About Avi Sachdev

Avi Sachdev graduated from King’s College London and gained his MFDS from the Royal College of Surgeon in Edinburgh.

He went on to complete a master’s degree with the University of Kent. He is a surgeon at Gentle Dental, a family-owned group of eight clinics based in Croydon.

You’d never know that this week’s guest was a man without a plan when he first arrived on UK shores from native Italy some 11 years ago.

Since then, Dr Alfonso Rao has launched an expanding group of clinics and a dental training academy while also building a name as one of the Southwest’s foremost implant dentists.

And he’s achieved all of this before the age of 40, seemingly without ruffling a single feather.

We probe Alfonso on the secrets of his success, life in the UK, work-life balance and much more.

Enjoy!   

“I don't really often like to be told what to do. If someone tells me and explains to me and I see the reason I'm fine. But if someone says, “you have to do that because it is the way you have to do it,” I'm not too good following.” - Alfonso Rao 

In This Episode

01.19 - Backstory08.27 - Italy vs the UK11.28 - Practice ownership, expansion and work-life balance19.48 - Teaching 24.37 - The plan29.00 - Associates32.03 - On mistakes37.09 - Out of the clinic40.11 - Thinking of Italy43.37 - USPs45.08 - Exit strategy46.21 - Last day on earth

About Alfonso Rao

Alfonso Rao graduated from the University of Chieti in 2007 and spent time in practice in Italy before moving to the UK.

He opened a series of clinics in Bristol and Portishead which he later consolidated under the Apollonia Group brand.

He also founded the Delta Training Academy - a leading dental and implantology training centre.

Alfonso is a member of the British Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry and the Association of Dental Implantology.

He is also a key opinion leader and brand ambassador for Strauman, Geitlich, NSK and several other dental technology brands.

In the business of buying and selling practices, this week’s guest is the dental leader.

Back in 2000, Andy Acton co-acquired Frank Taylor & Associates (FTA), which he went on to grow into the UK’s leading name in dental practice acquisition, valuation, development and sales.

Andy takes us through the business’ early years, explains how COVID has effected the market and dispenses an encyclopedia’s-worth of wisdom on purchasing and growing practices.

Enjoy!

“The craziest situation I've ever had...is somebody bought a practice and - I kid you not - he went and changed his name by deed poll to the name of the person he bought the practice from.”

Andy Acton    

In This Episode

00.55 - Buying the business08.32 - The competition14.11 - Selling for free17.10 - Deregulation20.45 - Signs and scenarios27.42 - Deferred income33.06 - COVID and acquisitions40.43 - Then, now, growth48.31 - Darkest day in business52.16 - Squats, small practices ambition01.02.14 - Super associates01.04.23 - Owning a practice01.06.03 - Last day on earth

About Andy Acton

Entrepreneur Andy Acton is a director of the FTA group of companies providing business services for dentistry.

The group now incorporates FTA Finance, FTA Wealth and Management, FTA Law, FTA recruitment and FTA media.

Andy is also a popular public speaker on leadership, management and practice development.

Reader’s around orthodontics will be familiar with this week’s guest and author of one of the best blogs around.

Kevin O’Brien’s Orthodontic Blog is an exploration of orthodontic issues and debunking of some of the bad science, 

These subjects are just a small part of today’s discussion. The professor emeritus in orthodontics and former dean of the University of Manchester talks us through his student days in the city. We also chat about the limitations of orthodontic training, the state of play in the UK Vs the rest of the world, and much more.

Enjoy! 

In This Episode

01.36 - Backstory08.05 - UK Vs the US11.06 - Deanery, teaching and academia21.29 - GDC27.13 - GDPs and ortho34.02 - Aligner science and new treatments41.42 - On limitations44.26 - The blog55.02 - Ortho for cosmetics and health01.00.35 - The future of orthodontics01.05.19 - A quick plug01.05.34 - Last day on earth

When you look at trials of surgery, for example, it is not necessarily always the technique that comes up with the best results. It's the skill and the care of the surgeon. And that's the same with orthodontics.

• Prof. Kevin O’Brien

About Kevin O’Brien

Prof. Kevin O’Brien is a former Dean and current professor emeritus in orthodontics at Manchester University.

He is also a former chair of the General Dental Council and the author of Kevin O’Brien’s Orthodontic Blog - an ‘occasionally irregular’ exploration of evidence-based orthodontics.   

In one of our most packed episodes to date, we catch up with Love Teeth’s Kunal ‘Dr K’ Patel.

Kunal lets us in on his early days as an angry young man, his unusual entry to dentistry via training in the Czech Republic and how a seemingly routine job interview at his Cheam practice changed everything. 

And it’s an unplanned double-bill as Kunal’s wife and co-entrepreneur Lucy Patel sets the record straight.

Enjoy!

We're like Pinky and the Brain. We wake up and say, "What's the plan today?" And he goes, "Take over the world."

• Lucy Patel

In This Episode

01.31 - Early years

06.50 - Reality Czech

13.53 - Back in the UK

17.56 - Purchasing a practice

22.07 - Making friends and influencing

26.26 - Love Teeth and being seen

35.46 - Building value

42.14 - Wedding Smiles

46.02 - On marketing

48.07 - Love at first sight

01.08.48 - Finding fame

01.18.34 - Lucy enters the fray

01.20.42 - Love at first sight - Lucy’s version

01.27.24 - Team happiness

01.32.05 - Future plans

01.36.40 - The Love Teeth experience

01.42.14 - Family life

01.49.44 - The question

About Lucy and Kunal

Kunal Patel is the owner of Love Teeth dental clinic is Cheam Surrey. He is an Invisalign Diamond provider and a FastBraces Senior Master Affiliate. He also runs the successful Wedding Smiles brand.  

Lucy Patel is a dental nurse, aesthetic therapist and manager at Love Teeth.