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How to Bond Veneers: The Full Seat Appointment, Step by Step - PDP29104 Nov 202600:59:32

Is it a fit appointment — or a try-in? (The word you choose changes the whole visit.)

Water try-in or try-in paste — and what do you do when minimal-prep veneers just won’t stay put?

Why does the last veneer in the sequence so often refuse to seat?

And how much excess cement is still hiding after you’ve cleaned up?

The bonding appointment is where a veneer case is won or lost on the day. In this episode, Dr Tejas Patel — a cosmetic dentist who runs a boutique, veneer-focused practice in Austin, Texas, with patients flying in from across the US — walks through his complete seat protocol: the checkpoints that should be closed before the patient arrives, the try-in, cement choice, the exact bonding and tacking order, clean-up and final checks. Then the troubleshooting: why veneers won’t seat, how to remove temporaries and old veneers without damaging teeth, and when it’s fine to go back to temps. One clinician’s tried-and-tested protocol — yours may differ, and that’s the point.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Onlays Fail by Fracture — So Prevent It, and Repair It

The most common complication of a ceramic onlay or overlay isn’t debonding — it’s fracture. A systematic review of ceramic onlays found fracture was the leading cause of failure, followed by debonding and caries. Longevity was better where the preparation allowed at least 2 mm of occlusal ceramic, and risk rose further back in the mouth and with parafunction (though the wider literature on bruxism is mixed). So don’t skimp on occlusal reduction: the strength of the tooth comes from the gingival third, and sacrificing a little coronal structure to give the ceramic its ideal thickness is still far more conservative than a crown.

If a fracture does happen, and you can reach and isolate it, repair it rather than replace it. Bur-and-bond alone performs poorly: etch the exposed ceramic with hydrofluoric acid, then silane, then composite (the literature is mixed on adding a bonding agent first). Wary of HF in the mouth? A one-step etch-and-prime ceramic primer is the alternative. Then ask why it fractured — was the occlusal thickness there?


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • The checkpoints before the day — what has to be approved, scanned and verified before the patient ever sits down.
    Try-in, not fit — how framing the visit protects you and the patient when something isn’t right.
  • The bonding sequence — the order, the tack, and the trick that means you never bust a contact open with a bur.
  • Light-cure or dual-cure — which cement for porcelain, and what to judge any cement on.
  • When a veneer won’t seat — the troubleshooting checklist, and when to go back to temps.
  • Removing temps and old veneers — how to get them off without gouging a prep or fracturing a tooth.

Highlights of This Episode

00:00     TEASER
00:59     How to Bond Porcelain Veneers: The Seat Appointment
02:25     Ceramic Onlay Fracture: How to Prevent and Repair It
05:54     Why Veneer Cases Are Won or Lost on Communication
12:46     What to Check Before the Veneer Seat Appointment
17:59     Veneer Try-In vs Fit: How to Frame the Appointment
20:09     Veneer Try-In: Isolation, Tissue Control and Water Try-In
23:54     How to Choose Veneer Cement Shade With Your Patient
25:15     Veneer Bonding Step by Step: Etch, Bond, Tack and Floss
34:08     Cement Clean-Up, Radiographs and Final Checks After Veneers
39:30     Why a Veneer Won't Seat: Contacts and Insertion Sequence
43:20     Light-Cure vs Dual-Cure Cement for Porcelain Veneers
45:21     When Veneer Cases Need the Vertical Opened or Ortho First
47:22     How to Remove Veneer Temporaries Without Damaging the Prep
49:44     Common Veneer Seat Mistakes (and When to Go Back to Temps)
53:28     How to Remove Old Veneers Safely
57:39     OUTRO


From the Guest

Dr Tejas Patel runs a boutique, cosmetic-only practice in Austin, Texas, where he has practised for over 20 years. He teaches veneers through two main courses: the Veneer Blueprint Course, covering veneers from A to Z — including his bonding protocol and prep sequence — and a course on no-prep and prepless veneers.

👉  veneertraining.com — the Veneer Blueprint Course and the No Prep & Prepless Veneers Course

👉  @veneertraining on Instagram — veneer tips


References & Further Reading

Sources and further reading from this episode:

  • Abduo J, Sambrook RJ. Longevity of ceramic onlays: A systematic review. Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry, 2018;30(3):193–215. doi:10.1111/jerd.12384. Cited in the Pearl.

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: How to Temporise Veneers Step by Step FULL GUIDE – PDP214

Going deeper on partial coverage? Onlays Shmonlays — the masterclass behind this episode’s Pearl — is on demand in Protrusive Guidance, in the masterclasses section. Access it throught the Ultimate Plan.

Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #AdhesiveDentistry 


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C.

AGD Subject Code: 780 Esthetics/Cosmetic Dentistry.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To give dental practitioners a structured, start-to-finish approach to the porcelain veneer bonding appointment — from pre-appointment checkpoints and try-in through cementation, clean-up and troubleshooting.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Describe the pre-appointment checkpoints — provisional approval, laboratory design review and model verification — that underpin a predictable veneer seat appointment.
    Apply a structured try-in and bonding sequence for porcelain laminate veneers, including tissue management, insertion order, tack-curing and removal of excess cement.
  • Identify common causes of incomplete veneer seating and select an appropriate response, from contact adjustment to re-scanning or returning to provisionals.
Sleepless Nights, Failures, and Bouncing Back (Part 2) - PDP29028 Oct 202600:40:22

Do you ever take your patients home with you — replaying the day, the difficult conversation, the distal margin you wish you’d sealed a little better?

Have you ever lost a night’s sleep over a case that went wrong?

Which parts of dentistry fill you with energy — and which quietly drain you?

And are you cutting corners you know about — and paying for it in job satisfaction?

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Dr Ronit Patel — a general dentist  with more than 20 years in practice, who built a referral book in endodontics and restorative dentistry and then, by design, flipped back to mostly general dentistry. Part 1 was about taking control of your diary. This part goes further: fuel versus friction, why general practice is the toughest and most fun job in dentistry, what to do when your diary has white space, and the conversation we don’t have enough — failures, complaints and sleepless nights, and how to bounce back. It stands on its own, but Part 1 is a great companion.


Protrusive Dental Pearls: Clean It, Hand It, Check It

This episode has three pearls instead of one — one clinical, one for your team, one for your systems.

1. Clean the teeth. Endodontics is chemo-mechanical: we accept that bacteria and biofilm are there, so we debride mechanically and disinfect chemically. Restorative dentistry deserves the same respect. Before placing a composite or fitting a crown, clean the tooth — pumice is the most accessible option, with ultrasonic scaling or air abrasion as alternatives. Disclose first so you can see what’s there, then clean until it’s gone. Everyone knows they should; it’s the step most often skipped, and it shows up later as staining around the margins.

2. Hand instruments with intention. In Japan, even a receipt is handed over with care and intention. Bring that to four-handed dentistry: the right instrument, the right way round, arriving with the weight and timing your hand expects. A seamless transfer is efficiency the patient can feel.

3. Give yourself checklists. Most missed steps aren’t a knowledge problem — you know what to do, and a step still gets skipped. Give yourself and your nurse checklists and pro formas. A new step that relies on you asking every time disappears the first day you forget. Write it into the checklist, and it becomes the system.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Fuel vs friction — how to audit your whole working week and find the niche that energises you instead of draining you.
  • Keep sharpening the knife — why stagnation, not hard work, is the real burnout risk, and how to take on new skills mid-career.
  • Your day list is your revenue — the three-way test for where to niche, and why you shouldn’t panic-book the white space.
  • Bouncing back from failure — a real full-arch case that went wrong at the fit, and what actually helped.
  • The cognitive dissonance trap — the hidden reason so many dentists feel miserable, and the mentor lesson that changed how one endodontist practises.


Highlights of This Episode
00:00     TEASER
00:56     Sleepless Nights in Dentistry: Do You Take Patients Home?
03:39     How to Find Your Niche in Dentistry
06:06     Fuel vs Friction: Which Dentistry Drains You?
08:32     Referral Work vs General Practice: Why Continuity of Care Matters
10:15     Why General Dentistry Is the Toughest — and Most Fun — Job
12:04     Learning Surgical Dentistry Mid-Career
13:32     Avoiding Burnout: Keep Sharpening the Knife
15:27     Cherry-Picking Cases and Practising Authentically
18:52     Your Day List Is Your Revenue
21:35     Empty Diary Time: Why Not to Panic-Book
24:10     How to Cope With Clinical Failures and Sleepless Nights
29:27     Mentor Advice: Make the Parts Nobody Sees Beautiful
30:32     Cognitive Dissonance: Why Cutting Corners Makes Dentists Miserable
32:50     Why a Non-Judgemental Dental Community Matters
34:31     Three Dental Pearls: Clean Teeth, Four-Handed Dentistry, Checklists
38:12     OUTRO


From the Guest

Dr Ronit Patel is a general dental practitioner and associate at the White House Dental Clinic in Kew. His work spans endodontics, microscope-based restorative dentistry and, more recently, surgical dentistry, alongside general care for whole families. Inside Protrusive Guidance he records short video explanations answering members’ clinical cases.

👉  drronit.co.uk — Dr Ronit Patel


References & Further Reading

Sources and further reading from this episode:

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: “Why I Don’t Work August” — Designing a Career on Your Own Terms (Part 1) – PDP289


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #CareerDevelopment


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 0.5 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes B.

AGD Subject Code: 770 Self-Improvement.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To help dental practitioners build a sustainable, fulfilling career by recognising what energises and drains them, managing their diary and development deliberately, and recovering constructively from clinical setbacks.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Identify the clinical and non-clinical parts of their own practice that energise or drain them, and use this to guide decisions about focus, referral and further training.
  • Describe strategies for managing the emotional impact of clinical failures and complaints, including the role of peer support and mentorship.
  • Apply checklists and structured team protocols to reduce errors caused by omitted steps rather than by a lack of knowledge.
"Why I Don't Work August" — Designing a Career on Your Own Terms (Part 1) - PDP28921 Oct 202601:07:41

Is your diary running you — booked weeks ahead, no white space, drowning by Thursday?

Do you really have to specialise to get referrals?

How does an associate negotiate a month off every August — and get a yes?

And what changes when you start treating yourself as your most important instrument?

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation with Dr Ronit Patel — a Richmond GDP of 20-odd years, an associate at the White House Dental Clinic in Kew, and one of the nicest and geekiest members of the Protrusive community. He works three and a half days a week, takes Wednesdays off, and typically takes the whole of August off. This episode is how he got there: staying a generalist when specialising beckoned, buying a microscope he wasn’t allowed to see, building a referral book without social media, and — the big one — taking control of the diary.

It’s a warm, reflective conversation rather than a technique masterclass, and Ronit is refreshingly honest that it hasn’t always been smooth. Part 2 goes into fuel versus friction: what fills you, and what drains you.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Get Good, Then Get Passionate

“Follow your passion” is actually bad career advice. What most of us call passion is really interest. When you applied to dental school, you may have said you were passionate about dentistry and oral health — but you had barely scratched the surface. That wasn’t passion; that was flirting with the idea of dentistry. Then you married it, and disillusionment arrived: is this really what I signed up for?

Passion develops once you start to get good at something and you’re helping people — and dentistry has so many avenues to do both. You don’t become passionate first, then good. You become good, then passionate. So the better advice: become good at something, help people, develop a passion, and follow it through.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • The diary control sequence — four moves that turn a chaotic book into a business case: audit, price, zone, pitch.
  • Slack, rhythm and energy — why white space isn’t waste, and what time-of-day research means for when you book your hardest work.
  • The referral engine — how a handful of colleagues, not a social following, can fill a niche book.
  • Specialise or invest? — the decision filter for cutting your book, and how full it should really be.
    Scripts for the principal conversation — the exact lines for asking for a zoned diary and protected time off.

Highlights of This Episode
00:00     TEASER
00:59     How to Take Control of Your Dental Career (Without Quitting)
03:33     Dental Pearl: Why "Follow Your Passion" Is Bad Career Advice
07:57     Generalist vs Specialist: Why Stay a General Dentist?
11:26     Buying a Dental Microscope as an Associate
14:50     How to Get Endo Referrals as a Non-Specialist
21:49     Why Word of Mouth Beats Social Media for Referrals
26:59     How to Audit and Zone Your Dental Diary
29:51     Morning vs Afternoon: Decision Fatigue in Dentistry
32:22     What Is Slack in Your Diary? (And Why You Need It)
37:01     How Associates Can Negotiate Diary Control
45:50     Creating Scarcity: Building a Referral Funnel
48:30     Why Every Dentist Needs a Mentor or Coach
51:49     How to Negotiate Time Off as an Associate
57:48     Going Part-Time as a Dentist: The Real Trade-Offs
1:06:27   How Far Ahead Should Your Diary Be Booked?



From the Guest

Dr Ronit Patel is a general dental practitioner and associate at the White House Dental Clinic in Kew, where his book is now largely referrals — endodontics, restorative work under the microscope, and the tricky cases other dentists have become stuck with. Before that, he was a clinical lead for a corporate group, mentoring dentists across the South of England.

In the community: members of Protrusive Guidance will already know Ronit from his short, helpful clinical videos inside the app. No courses, books or social channels were promoted on this episode — fittingly, for a referral practice built without social media.


References & Further Reading

Books and research mentioned in this episode:

  • Kleitman N. Sleep and Wakefulness (rev. ed., 1963). The ~90-minute basic rest–activity cycle, proposed to continue through waking hours (daytime evidence is still debated).
  • Kahneman D, Sibony O, Sunstein CR. Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment (2021).
  • Pink DH. When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (2018).
  • Danziger S, Levav J, Avnaim-Pesso L. Extraneous factors in judicial decisions. PNAS, 2011;108(17):6889–6892. The parole-decisions-and-food-breaks study.
  • Newport C. Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout (2024).
  • Maltz M. Psycho-Cybernetics (1960).


Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Better Dentistry Through Compassion (Not Just Technique) – IC073


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #CareerDevelopment #BeyondDentistry


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes B.

AGD Subject Code: 550 Practice Management and Human Relations.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To help dental practitioners take deliberate control of their clinical diary and career design — using audit data, scheduling principles and professional networks — so they can sustain high-quality care, develop a clinical niche and protect their own wellbeing.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Describe how auditing an appointment book and calculating the hourly value of each appointment type can be used to zone a clinical diary and build a business case for changes to working patterns.
  • Explain how planned slack and time-of-day considerations in scheduling can protect clinician energy, decision quality and patient care.
  • Identify strategies for developing a non-specialist referral niche through professional networks, incremental skill development and case audit.
Entrepreneurship in Dentistry - Could it be Right For You? - IC08016 Oct 202601:06:26

Ever felt like being a good clinician is just the entry fee?

Have you got an idea you’ve been sitting on — and no one telling you to go for it?

Practice ownership, a side business, or staying a happy associate: how do you know which is right for you?

And when you tell a patient the fee… do you stay silent, or start talking?

This is an Interference Cast — a non-clinical episode designed purely to inspire. My guest, Dr Jawad Abbas, is a young associate who’s already building two ventures alongside his clinical work: an AI tool for radiographic analysis and treatment-plan communication, and a luxury oral-care brand. We start with the communication skills that turn patient trust into comprehensive care — then dig into what it really takes to build something of your own, and whether you even should.

We’re living through a moment where, if you can think it, you can increasingly build it. If there’s a big enough problem out there and you have a good solution for it, this episode might be the spark you needed.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Say the Fee, Then Stay Silent

When you present a treatment fee, say the number clearly — then stop talking. Don’t justify it, don’t over-explain, don’t rush to fill the gap. The pause feels endless to you, but for the patient it passes in a second or two, because they’re busy doing the mental maths: what’s in savings, what the monthly commitments look like, whether they can make it work. Give them that space.

What undermines a fee is rarely the number; it’s the delivery. Closing your eyes as you say it, your voice rising in pitch, launching straight into justification, or avoiding it altogether and letting the patient discover it at reception all signal that you’re not sure of your own fee. Remember what sits behind it — your training, and what your surgery costs to run every hour — and say it like you mean it.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Four communication habits that build trust — from asking what matters to matching your information to the decision-maker.
  • The cost of doing nothing — how to make an unconcerning problem an informed choice, without selling.
  • What a fee actually covers — the one question every associate should ask their principal.
  • The three hats — entrepreneur, manager or technician, and why so few people wear all three well.
  • From problem to prototype — five steps to test a business idea before you sink money into it.
    The decision filter — six honest questions to tell you whether building something of your own is right for you.


Highlights of This Episode
00:00     TEASER
00:59     Entrepreneurship in Dentistry: Why Now Is Different
07:14     Patient Communication: Ask What Matters to Them
10:39     How to Explain the Cost of Doing Nothing
14:19     Short-, Medium- and Long-Term Treatment Plans
16:57     Fast-Lane vs Slow-Lane Patients: Personality Types
20:09     How to Present Your Dental Fees With Confidence
24:07     How Profitable Is a UK Dental Practice?
26:29     Why Dentists Become Entrepreneurs
31:08     Associate, Principal or Entrepreneur?
36:19     The E-Myth for Dentists: Which Hat Do You Wear?
41:09     Building an AI Treatment-Planning Tool
44:06     How to Validate a Business Idea Before You Build It
49:51     Creating a Luxury Mouthwash Brand
53:24     How to Find a Business Idea — In or Out of Dentistry
58:54     Dentistry as Your Safety Net: Starting a Side Business
1:04:58   OUTRO

From the Guest

Dr Jawad Abbas graduated from the University of Manchester and is completing a diploma in restorative and aesthetic dentistry at Smile Dental Academy, while working as an associate in Ipswich and Peterborough. Alongside clinical work, he’s developing two ventures, both at prototype stage: an AI tool that flags decay and presents tiered treatment options as a communication aid, and Jawdouré, a luxury fragrance-led mouthwash brand. During foundation training he wrote for dentistry.co.uk about the anxiety of charging for treatment.

👉  @jaw.dental on Instagram — questions and messages welcome


References & Further Reading

Books, brands and episodes mentioned in this episode:

  • Gerber ME. The E-Myth Revisited. The source of the entrepreneur / manager / technician model. A dentistry edition also exists: Gerber ME, Kwong Hing A, Barrow C. The E-Myth Dentist. Michael E. Gerber Companies, 2014.
  • Erikson T. Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behaviour. The four-colour personality model discussed in the communication section.
  • Squibb S. What’s Your Dream? Penguin, 2024.
  • MAISON de SABRÉ — the luxury leather-goods brand founded in Sydney in 2017 by brothers Omar and Zane Sabré, who trained as dentists.
  • Previous Protrusive episodes: Dr Colin Campbell on consent and personality types (PDP265); Professor Avijit Banerjee on caries management (PDP269).

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: How to Find a Mentor in 5 Seconds Flat! – IC058


Tags

#InterferenceCast #CareerDevelopment #BeyondDentistry #Communication


Listen & Subscribe

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is not eligible for CPD/CE — but most of our episodes are. Find them, and earn your CPD, inside Protrusive Guidance.

You’re Probably Using Your Ultrasonic Wrong - PDP28814 Oct 202601:10:46


Beyond Scaling: How to Get More From Your Ultrasonic

Do you really need your ultrasonic on 100%? (Probably not — and it may be costing you precision.)

Which part of the tip should actually be touching the tooth — and is that why the hygienists keep complaining about blunt tips?

Could the scaler tip you already own refine your margins, find a calcified canal and cut gutta-percha like a hot knife through butter?

And if you’re in the market for a new unit, which features are actually worth paying for?

Every dentist uses an ultrasonic — but most of us use it as a perio tool and nothing more. In this episode, Dr Hussain Hassanali, a general dentist who has gone properly geeky on ultrasonics, walks through how they really remove tooth tissue and how to put them to work in restorative dentistry and endo. It’s foundational, practical, and full of things you can try at your next session. Jaz’s biggest takeaway? Stop whacking the power up to 100%.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Trim Gutta-Percha With Your Scaler Tip

You’ve just obturated a canal and need to remove the excess gutta-percha. The old ways: heat a ball burnisher in the flame until it glows red (that smell, and the GP smearing everywhere — or lifting out entirely because the sealer hasn’t set), or sink a long-neck bur into the GP while it spins and hope you don’t gouge the dentine.

Instead, take your bog-standard ultrasonic scaler tip, turn the water off, and set the power to around 10%. Sweep it across the orifice and it cuts through gutta-percha like a hot knife through butter — the water is off because here you want the heat. Then drop the power right down (around 2%) and gently compact the coronal GP, leaving roughly 1–1.5 mm of space for your restorative material to lock into the orifice. No flame, no burn risk, and a thin tip that doesn’t block your view. Try it once and you won’t go back to heated pluggers.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • The three rules of the ultrasonic — why it abrades rather than cuts, why the side of the tip beats the pointed end, and why power is a dial, not a switch.
  • A settings guide by task — where to start for enamel margins, fissures, soft dentine, endo access and gutta-percha.
  • Standard tip or specialist tip? — when the tip you already own is enough, and when diamond-coated tips earn their place.
  • Water on or water off? — the two endo jobs where the water has to go off.
  • Buying an ultrasonic — piezo versus magnetostrictive, and the one feature that changes patient comfort.

Highlights of This Episode
00:00     TEASER
00:59     Ultrasonic Scaler Tips Every Dentist Should Know
04:30     Why Ultrasonics Are Underused in General Dentistry
07:08     What Power Setting to Use When Cleaning Enamel Margins
09:28     Which Part of the Ultrasonic Tip Should You Use?
11:34     Ultrasonic Power Settings for Occlusal Fissures
13:47     Piezoelectric vs Magnetostrictive Scalers: Does It Matter?
21:37     Ultrasonics for PRRs, Fissure Sealants and Anxious Children
28:36     Selective Caries Removal With an Ultrasonic
30:42     Refining Crown and Onlay Margins With Ultrasonic Tips
39:02     Ultrasonics in Endo: Irrigant Activation and Finding Canals
45:35     How to Trim Gutta-Percha With an Ultrasonic
51:37     The Most Common Ultrasonic Mistake: Too Much Power
54:29     What to Look for When Buying an Ultrasonic Scaler
57:39     Are Ultrasonic Scalers Safe With Pacemakers?
1:00:55   Cementing Onlays With Heated Composite: Do Ultrasonic Tips Help?
01:09:01  OUTRO



From the Guest

Dr Hussein Hassanali is a dentist at Thorpe Dental Group and Implant Suite in York. He qualified from the University of Liverpool in 2009, completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry in 2020, and is particularly passionate about preventative and minimally invasive dentistry — which is what led him down the ultrasonics rabbit hole. He is happy to answer specific questions, and he’s open to building a hands-on course if there’s demand.

👉  Dr Hussein Hassanali at Thorpe Dental Group, York

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: No More Air Polishing or Prophy Paste! Revolutionary New Technique for Non Mechanical Prophylaxis – PDP284


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #EndoRestorative


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C.

AGD Subject Code: 250 Operative (Restorative) Dentistry.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To broaden dental practitioners’ use of the ultrasonic scaler beyond periodontal debridement, by explaining how ultrasonic instruments remove tooth tissue and how to apply them precisely and safely in restorative and endodontic procedures.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Describe how ultrasonic instruments remove tooth tissue by abrasion, and explain what this means for selective removal, tip orientation and power setting.
  • Apply appropriate power, water and tip choices to restorative uses of the ultrasonic, including margin finishing, fissure preparation for preventive resin restorations and selective caries removal.
  • Use ultrasonics safely in endodontics — for irrigant activation, canal location, scouting and gutta-percha trimming — and identify precautions for patients with cardiac implantable devices.
Painless Local Anaesthetic with "No-Pain Nigel" - PDP28707 Oct 202600:44:06

Would you dare promise patients a refund if they felt any pain?

Why do so many of us still skip topical — and what does that say to the patient in the chair?

How do you take the sting out of an inferior alveolar nerve block, a palatal, or a screaming hot pulp?

And when the lip is numb but the patient still feels it — what went wrong before you even picked up the handpiece?

My guest is Dr Nigel Kennedy, known to his Brighton patients as “No Pain Nigel” — a dentist who backed his injections with a money-back guarantee, and who has recently retired. Fair warning: there is no revolutionary technique or new anaesthetic agent in this episode. It is the foundations of painless anaesthesia, done properly and done every time — a great reminder of the why for experienced colleagues, and an aspirational one for younger dentists. We finish on something bigger: how to stay calm, stay well, and enjoy a long career in dentistry.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Plateaus Are Normal, Growth Compounds

Growth in dentistry is not exponential and ever-rising. Like most careers, it plateaus — and you will feel stuck, sometimes for years. That is normal. Progress comes in small increments, and one of the best things about this profession is that you learn something new every working day.

Trust the process. Keep investing in yourself and aim to be 1% better. Give each month a theme — rubber dam this month, photography the next — and the breakthroughs arrive.

A useful marker of how far you have come: early on, many of us check tomorrow’s day list so we can revise for the deep filling, the molar root canal or the denture records. Years later you walk in not knowing what is booked — even a full-mouth rehab — and think, “Okay, cool. Let’s do this.” It may not feel rapid, but it is compounding.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Topical done properly — the one preparation step that makes topical actually work, and why skipping it is a lack of empathy.
  • Tension, pressure and distraction — how to time the needle so the patient barely registers it.
  • The two-stage block — a simple sequence that takes the discomfort out of the IANB.
  • Slow down — how long a cartridge should really take, and why profound beats borderline.
  • When it’s hard to numb — the hot pulp, the palatal, and the last moment of an extraction.
  • Phrases for patients — the exact words to use before the needle, the palatal and the final pull.

Highlights of This Episode
00:00     TEASER
01:00     Painless Local Anaesthetic: The Money-Back Guarantee
03:21     Feeling Stuck in Dentistry? Why Plateaus Are Normal
06:20     How to Market Pain-Free Dentistry to Anxious Patients
08:20     How to Build a Dental Practice Patients and Staff Stay With
11:56     Can You Promise Patients Pain-Free Dentistry?
15:29     Why Topical Anaesthetic Is Non-Negotiable
16:56     How to Give a Painless Dental Infiltration
18:49     Painless Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block: The Two-Stage Technique
20:13     How Slowly Should You Give a Dental Injection?
21:22     Midroll
25:44     Lip Numb but Still Feeling It? Testing for Profound Anaesthesia
27:44     How to Numb a Hot Pulp
29:51     Painless Palatal Injections: Two Techniques
32:31     Communication vs Technique in Pain-Free Dentistry
35:52     Pain-Free Dentistry: What to Change Tomorrow
39:19     Stress, Longevity and a Fulfilled Career in Dentistry
45:41     OUTRO


From the Guest

Dr Nigel Kennedy qualified in Manchester in 1979 and owned his own practice in Brighton from 1994, selling it in stages to his associate before retiring at 71. The “No Pain Nigel” name started with a patient who told him she never felt his injections — and grew into a practice-wide promise of pain-free dentistry, backed by patient video testimonials.

Nigel is happy to hear from dentists, especially younger colleagues, who want advice. He is on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn: Nigel Kennedy


References & Further Reading

Sources and further reading from this episode:

  • Melzack R, Wall PD. Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science, 1965;150(3699):971–979. The gate control theory of pain — why firm pressure beside the injection site helps.
  • HurriCaine topical anaesthetic gel (Beutlich; 20% benzocaine) — the topical discussed in this episode.
  • The Profitable Dentist magazine (Excellence in Dentistry, USA) and Tony Gedge of the Marketing Pirates of Dentistry — the practice-marketing influences behind the “pain-free” promise.
    Dr Mike Gow (Berkeley Clinic, Glasgow) — previous Protrusive guest on dental hypnosis and anxiety. [PDP050]

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: What Every Dentist Should Know About Managing Dental Anxiety – PDP050


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #Communication #CareerDevelopment


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A.

AGD Subject Code: 340 Anesthesia and Pain Management.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To equip dental practitioners with practical, patient-centred techniques for delivering comfortable intraoral local anaesthesia and managing difficult anaesthetic scenarios, recognising the role of communication in the patient’s experience of pain.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Describe a structured approach to comfortable local anaesthetic delivery, including topical application to dried mucosa, tissue tension, pressure-based distraction and slow deposition.
    Apply strategies for difficult anaesthetic scenarios — the inferior alveolar nerve block, palatal injections and irreversible pulpitis — including staged and supplementary techniques and objective testing before treatment.
    Use rapport, honest expectation-setting and reassurance to reduce patient anxiety and perceived pain during local anaesthesia and treatment.
Thoughts Become Things - How to Be Happier in Dentistry - IC07902 Oct 202600:48:56

When a filling doesn’t go to plan, how many times do you replay it on the drive home?

Have you fallen out of love with dentistry — or just with the way you’re experiencing it right now?

Why do the habits that could help your headspace get forgotten by Wednesday?

And when did you last ask yourself: have my thoughts been serving me today?

This is an Interference Cast episode — no margins, no bonding protocols. Jaz is joined by Neo Positivity, a former Camden, New Jersey police officer turned mindset speaker, who now spends his time in dental practices in the US and the UK with one message: thoughts become things.

Neo is big energy, and not every part of his philosophy will land for everyone — it doesn’t need to. Underneath it are habits any dentist can use tomorrow: stepping back from the “what if” spiral after a treatment goes wrong, catching autopilot thinking, remembering how badly you once wanted this job, and building reminders into the day so you actually follow through. Jaz leaves with a very personal takeaway about the version of himself that shows up at home.

This episode discusses suicide in the dental profession. If you’re struggling, please talk to someone today — in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans are free and available 24/7 on 116 123; in the US, call or text 988. The Canmore Trust (thecanmoretrust.co.uk) supports dental professionals affected by suicide.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Step back from the thought — the press-conference technique for the “what if I get sued?” spiral.
  • Watch what you water — why the thoughts you rehearse most become the easiest to repeat.
  • Get home first — the step to take before you quit a job, or dentistry.
  • Reach for the cookie jar — using past wins to reset a bad day and repair a strained nurse relationship.
  • Lead the ripple — why a leader who walks out of the wellbeing session undoes it.

Highlights of This Episode

00:00     TEASER
00:57     Why Mental Wellbeing Belongs on a Dental Podcast
03:49     From Police Officer to Mindset Coach
09:12     Burnout in Dentistry: Facing the Problem Honestly
10:24     How to Stop Ruminating After a Treatment Goes Wrong
14:07     Your Thoughts Aren't Facts: The Press Conference Technique
16:10     Watering Seeds: How Repeated Thoughts Rewire Your Brain
20:03     Autopilot Thinking in the Dental Practice
22:31     Midroll
25:52     Energy, Vibe and the Patients You Attract
30:30     How to Fix a Difficult Relationship With Your Dental Nurse
33:14     The Cookie Jar: Using Past Wins to Reset Your Mood
33:54     Burnout or the Wrong Practice? Before You Quit Dentistry
39:57     Remember How Badly You Wanted to Be a Dentist
41:18     Leading by Example: Building a Positive Practice Culture
44:53     Accountability Partners and the Daily Mindset Check-In
46:51     Takeaways, Resources and Wrap-Up
50:31     OUTRO


From the Guest

Neo Positivity speaks to dental practices, conferences and teams, visiting practices and speaking at lunch breaks with his “Thoughts Become Things” message. His book, Your ATM (“Your Ability to Manifest”), is out in print and as an audiobook, and he produces short morning-huddle videos for practice teams.

👉  neopositivity.com — book Neo for your practice, and find Your ATM


References & Further Reading

Books mentioned in this episode:

  • Eckhart Tolle — The Power of Now. On living in the present moment.
  • Michael A. Singer — The Untethered Soul. On observing your thoughts rather than being carried by them.
  • David Goggins — Can’t Hurt Me. Source of the “cookie jar” idea discussed in the episode.
  • Rhonda Byrne — The Secret; and Napoleon Hill — Think and Grow Rich. The works that introduced Neo to the “thoughts become things” idea.


Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Before the Breaking Point – IC071


Tags

#InterferenceCast #BeyondDentistry #CareerDevelopment


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcome B.

AGD Subject Code: 770 Self-Improvement.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To help dental professionals recognise and interrupt negative thought patterns, and to give them simple, repeatable habits that support wellbeing for themselves and their teams.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dental professionals will be able to:

  • Describe how rumination after a clinical or workplace setback reinforces itself, and apply a step-back technique to interrupt a negative thought loop.
  • Identify practical cues and peer accountability structures that help dental professionals sustain wellbeing habits during the working day.
  • Differentiate dissatisfaction with a working environment from dissatisfaction with dentistry itself, and outline steps to take before a major career change.


How to Explain Treatment Risks and Fees Without Scaring Patients - PDP28630 Sep 202601:20:41

How do you explain everything that could go wrong with a root canal — without the patient walking out?

Why does a signed consent form protect you far less than you think?

What should you say in the exact moment after you tell a patient the fee?

And which single word is quietly sabotaging every future conversation you have about maintenance?

This is Part 2 of our communication masterclass with Dr Zak Kara, principal dentist at Smile Stories in Bournemouth, who coaches and mentors dentists on exactly these conversations. We tackle two questions sent in by the community: how to explain risks without discouraging patients from treatment, and how to present fees — including future maintenance and complications — clearly and confidently. Expect two live role-plays (a molar root canal and a lower wisdom tooth), a respectful disagreement about whether to call people patients or clients, and the fee-presentation sequence I wish I’d had years ago, when I hated every part of talking about money.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Could They Retell It at Home?

Measure a consultation by one question: was I understood? Not conversion, not uptake — understanding. The ethical approach tends to deliver the conversion anyway.

The practical test: when the patient gets home and someone asks “How was the dentist today?”, can they summarise in a few sentences exactly what the appointment was about and what they need to do next? If not, the explanation isn’t finished — however thorough it felt from your side of the chair. That clarity is a skill, and it gets built deliberately.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Six moves for explaining risk — how to make every risk proportionate, personal and paired with your plan to reduce it.
  • A root canal consent, live — plain-English wording, an honest success rate, and the analogy that makes recovery make sense.
  • Common vs rare risks — when a risk deserves a sentence and when it deserves a diagram.
  • The fee presentation sequence — seven steps from the reason to the objection, and why the pause matters most.
  • Words to ban — why fees beat prices and costs, and what to say instead of “permanent.”
  • Maintenance without the awkwardness — setting shared responsibility up front so “redo it for free” never comes up.

Highlights of This Episode
00:00     TEASER
00:48     How to Explain Risks and Fees to Dental Patients
04:10     The Biggest Lever in Dental Communication
06:53     How to Attract the Right Patients to Your Chair
14:29     What Makes a Super Associate?
19:58     How to Explain Treatment Risks Without Scaring Patients
26:22     Root Canal Consent: A Live Role-Play
33:59     Using Analogies to Explain Occlusion and TMD Risk
36:08     Wisdom Tooth Consent: Common vs Rare Risks
41:07     Why Consent Is a Process, Not a Signature
45:45     Midroll
51:34     Patients or Clients? What to Call the People You Treat
55:12     How to Present Dental Fees With Confidence
59:08     A Simple Framework for Presenting Fees
1:12:05   When to Discuss Treatment Alternatives
1:14:45   Why You Should Never Say "Permanent Crown"
1:20:15   A Communication Course for Dentists
1:20:51   OUTRO


From the Guest

Dr Zak Kara is principal dentist at Smile Stories in Bournemouth, and coaches and mentors dentists and their teams in communication. His communication course, developed with Protrusive, teaches from real consultation videos — filmed with patients’ permission — broken down play by play: what he said, why, and why he paused where he did.

Pre-order the communication course here:

👉  protrusive.co.uk/conversations


Once the course is out, you’ll also get access to a 90-day accountability group with Zak and me, and the full course in podcast format for your commute.


Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Presenting Treatment Plans the Comprehensive Way – PDP048


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #Communication


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1.25 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcome A.

AGD Subject Code: 550 Practice Management and Human Relations.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To improve how dental practitioners communicate treatment risks, fees and long-term maintenance, so that patients make informed, genuinely consensual decisions without being frightened or overwhelmed.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Explain treatment risks in proportion to the individual patient’s clinical situation, using plain language, relatable analogy and a stated plan to mitigate each risk.
  • Apply a structured sequence for presenting treatment fees that links the recommendation to the patient’s own goals and responds to objections without coercion.
  • Describe how consent is developed across multiple touchpoints, including discussion of alternatives, shared maintenance responsibilities and checks of patient understanding.
How to Talk to Patients Who Only Want One Tooth Fixed - PDP28523 Sep 202601:21:00

What do you say when a patient comes in wanting one tooth fixed, but you can see eight more heading the same way?

How do you tell a patient who has had a scale and polish every six months for twenty years that they now need something deeper without making it sound like you’re suddenly trying to sell them more dentistry?

Is there a magic sentence that makes patients say yes to comprehensive care?

And why can the patient you’ve known and liked for six years sometimes be harder to move forward with than a complete stranger?


This is Part 1 of a two-part communication series with Dr Zak Kara — co-founder of Smile Stories in Bournemouth, and the most-returning guest on this podcast. It’s also our first-ever call-in episode: the questions came in from the community as voice notes, and this episode answers two of them. Part 2 takes on the awkward stuff — discussing fees, and communicating risk without frightening people off.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Reactive or Proactive Associate?

When the diary goes quiet, what do you actually do? Wait for the practice to work some magic and fill it — or go and fill it yourself? The mentality of “the clinic supplies the patients, I just treat them” is worth a hard look. The strongest associates pull their weight: writing, school visits, social media, and simply having conversations out in public that bring people through the door.

The logic behind it runs straight into the rest of this episode. You never get to do the clinical dentistry unless your communication is good — and you never get to communicate at all unless there’s someone in the chair.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • The two ladders of readiness — clinical readiness and interpersonal readiness rise separately, and a plan gets declined when they’re badly out of step.
  • Why “I’ll think about it” usually isn’t distrust — and the co-diagnosis move that stops you hearing it so often.
  • The conversation circle — open on goals rather than symptoms, and close the visit by tying the recommendation back to the patient’s own words.
  • Words that change the meeting — inflammation score instead of bleeding score, and why one word can decide whether a patient feels blamed or informed.
  • How to present a five-figure plan — when to name the number, and what to do in the silence afterwards.
  • Chairside scripts you can use tomorrow — permission questions, spot-the-difference, and the line that flips a treatment plan into something the patient avoids rather than buys.

Highlights of This Episode
00:00     TEASER
00:51     How to Talk to Patients Who Only Want One Tooth Fixed
03:45     Protrusive Dental Pearl: Reactive or Proactive Associate?
09:27     The First Protrusive Call-In: Your Communication Questions
13:40     Why There Is No Magic Sentence for Case Acceptance
15:58     Co-Diagnosis: How to Make It the Patient's Own Idea
22:36     The Conversation Circle: Start With Goals, End With Goals
26:58     Why "Inflammation Score" Beats "Bleeding Score"
30:50     The Peak-End Rule: What Patients Actually Remember
34:46     How to Ask Permission Before You Educate a Patient
39:32     Scale and Polish vs Deep Clean: Explaining the Difference
39:41     Midroll
44:54     How to Introduce Full Mouth Rehab Without Overwhelming
48:39     The Ladder of Readiness: Where Is Your Patient?
55:02     Two Ladders: Clinical and Interpersonal Readiness
59:23     How to Pre-Qualify Patients Before They Reach Your Chair
1:11:32   How to Present a Five-Figure Treatment Plan
1:20:26   OUTRO

Communication course — waiting list: Zak has a communication course in preparation. Protrusive is supporting it with a 90-day accountability group inside the app for anyone who enrols, plus retained lifetime access to Loom School. 

The waiting list is at protrusive.co.uk/conversations.

Find Zak Kara in Instagram (@zakdentalkitchen) and Facebook (Zak Kara).



References & Further Reading

The behavioural science referenced in this episode:

  • Norton MI, Mochon D, Ariely D. The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2012;22(3):453–460. People value what they helped build — the mechanism underneath co-diagnosis.
  • Bem DJ. Self-Perception Theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 1972;6:1–62. People infer what they believe partly from observing what they themselves say and do.
  • Kahneman D, Fredrickson BL, Schreiber CA, Redelmeier DA. When more pain is preferred to less: Adding a better end. Psychological Science, 1993;4(6):401–405. The healthcare application is Redelmeier DA, Kahneman D, Patients’ memories of painful medical treatments, Pain, 1996;66(1):3–8.


Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Think Comprehensive – Communication Gems with Zak Kara – PDP010. The episode that started it all.


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #Communication


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1.25 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A.

AGD Subject Code: 550 Practice Management and Human Relations.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To improve dental professionals’ ability to communicate the need for comprehensive or more extensive treatment to patients who present with single-tooth expectations, using structured, permission-based and goal-led conversation rather than persuasion.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Describe how a patient’s readiness for comprehensive treatment can be assessed along two parallel dimensions — their understanding of their own clinical need, and the strength of the working relationship — and identify where an individual patient sits on each.

  • Apply permission-based and question-led techniques that help a patient identify disease for themselves, so that a recommendation is understood and owned rather than imposed.

  • Differentiate terminology that builds patient understanding from terminology that signals blame, burden or false certainty, and sel...
Studying Dentistry in Bulgaria / Spain / Hungary and Beyond - IC07818 Sep 202600:55:32


Ever wondered what it’s really like to study dentistry abroad?


How different is it to train in Bulgaria, Slovakia, or Valencia compared to the UK?


And what happens when it’s time to come back home — can you easily register with the GDC and start practicing?


Dr. Hugo Medd
joins Jaz for an honest and insightful conversation about taking the path less traveled — studying dentistry in Bulgaria after not securing a UK dental school place.


They dive into the realities of living and learning abroad, including language barriers, different teaching styles, and how much clinical experience international students actually get. Hugo also shares how he navigated GDC registration, what it’s like finding work after graduation, and why he has no regrets about choosing this unconventional route.

Highlight of this episode:
00:00     TEASER
01:21     Introduction
02:49     Meet Dr. Hugo Medd: A Journey to Bulgaria
06:09     Financial Considerations and Support Systems
09:56     Why Bulgaria? DMD vs BDS explained
13:13     Language Barriers and Communication Skill
17:47     Tuition Fees, Cost of Living, and Financial Realities
20:47     Navigating Post-Graduation and GDC Registration
23:23     Accredited EU Universities and Recognition Rules
25:09     Social Life, Culture, and Student Experience
28:14     Midroll
34:47     Differences in Teaching Styles Abroad
40:54     Navigating the UK Dental Job Market
43:03     Advice for New Graduates
50:24     Pursuing a Master's in Oral Surgery
54:45     Final Thoughts and Contact Information
57:11     OUTRO


Inspired to study abroad? Study Medicine Europe helps you land top dentistry and medicine placements in Europe and guides you from application to graduation.


If you enjoyed this episode, check out “The American Dental Dream – PDP002”

This episode is not eligible for CPD/CE points, but never fear, there are hundreds of hours of CPD waiting for you on the Ultimate Education Plan.


#InterferenceCast #CareerDevelopment 


No More Air Polishing or Prophy Paste! Revolutionary New Technique for Non Mechanical Prophylaxis - PDP28416 Sep 202600:59:34


Have you ever removed plaque using a scaler or ‘air-polisher’ and notice that the demineralised enamel flaked away?

Scaling and polishing is a routine part of preventive dental care — but could some of our traditional cleaning methods be doing more than we realise? A whitening specialist who works without a drill, scaler or air polisher argues that some approaches to cleaning may affect the enamel, and that hydrogen peroxide gel can remove plaque without touching the tooth surface.

Dr Wyman Chan has done nothing but tooth whitening since 2002, when he closed his general practice for a dedicated whitening centre, and he developed the chemical-polishing gel which is at the centre of this episode. He is joined by Dr Niki Shah, a UK general dentist and practice owner whose company distributes the product in the UK, and who now runs most of his hygiene this way.

In this episode, they explain which patients they believe may benefit most, walk through the full chairside protocol, and discuss the limitations of the approach and where it may not be appropriate.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Manicuring Worn Lower Incisors

Worn lower incisors sit sharp against the upper teeth, concentrating stress. Take a Sof-Lex disc and manicure them, rounding the edges from pointed to smooth. Show the patient in the mirror first and, borrowing Dr Michael Melkers’ framing, ask if you can make their teeth look a little younger. It is surface topography, changed for force management, and the patient feels it with their tongue.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • On sound enamel, prophy paste and air polishing are low-risk; on demineralised enamel hidden under plaque, the same abrasion can flake the surface.

  • Chemical polishing does not lift calculus; where calculus is present, ultrasonic or hand scaling is still required.

  • Dr. Wyman Chan offers a 3% hydrogen peroxide gel as a plaque and biofilm adjunct, not a replacement for oral hygiene instruction.

  • The strongest cases for this are anxious, paediatric, orthodontic, special-needs and geriatric patients who tolerate scraping poorly.

  • The chairside protocol runs about twelve minutes and still ends with manual agitation using a single-tufted brush.

  • No published evidence supports the product’s clinical claims yet; Dr. Wyman Chan describes studies in progress.


Highlights of This Episode
00:00     Teaser
01:21     Rethinking How We Polish Teeth
03:36     Protrusive Dental Pearl: Manicuring Worn Lower Incisors
05:23     Meet the Guests: From Whitening to Chemical Cleaning
12:10     What Is Chemical Polishing? Prophylaxis, Not Whitening
20:05     Is Traditional Polishing Damaging Teeth?
21:54     How Abrasion Harms Demineralised Enamel
25:30     The Strongest Case: Anxious Patients
29:09     Children, Adolescents and Orthodontic White Spots
29:49     Midroll
35:22     Managing Pericoronitis and Gingival Abscess
38:15     Special Needs, Geriatric and Post-Surgery Care
40:43     Where Is the Evidence? Studies in Progress
43:59     The Cost and Business Case for Chemical Polishing
50:16     The Chemical Polishing Protocol: Step by Step using Magic3
53:14     Why Manual Agitation Still Matters
57:58     How It Changed a Working Day
1:00:35   Outro

Start offering Magic3

Where to get Magic3: 

  • UK: directoralcare.com
    • Register for a free professional account. Approval unlocks the full shop, pricing, offers and their upcoming educational courses.
    • Use promo code PROMAGIC10 at checkout to receive 10% off Magic3.
  • Outside UK: Please enquire from Dr Wyman Chan's website.
    • Orders are invoiced rather than purchased directly through the website.
    • Quote promo code PROMAGIC10 when enquiring to receive 10% off your Magic3 order.

FREE Wyman Dental Retractors

With your first Magic3 order, you’ll also receive 1 Wyman Dental Retractor free.

The Wyman Dental Retractor is a multi-use, autoclavable retractor (up to 100 uses) designed for comfortable and effective soft-tissue retraction.

  • Order 1–2 Magic3: Get 1 free Wyman Dental Retractor
  • Order 3+ Magic3: Get 3 free Wyman Dental Retractors

Learn more about their other products: https://protrusive.co.uk/magic3

Want more?

New to Dr Chan’s work? Start with Trayless Whitening Technique Part 1 with Dr Wyman Chan - PDP277, on his whitening approach, sensitivity and how to let patients pick their target shade.


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes


Listen, subscribe, and earn CPD

Listen: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and inside Protrusive Guidance.

Earn CPD: This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

Compliance: GDC Development Outcome C. AGD Subject Code 490 Periodontics.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To give a mechanism- and evidence-aware view of chemical polishing as an adjunct for plaque and biofilm removal: where mechanical polishing can harm demineralised enamel, which patients the approach suits, how the chairside protocol runs, and the limits of the current evidence.

By the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  1. Describe how the abrasivity of prophylaxis pastes and air-polishing powders interacts with sound versus demineralised enamel.

  2. Identify the patient groups for whom a non-mechanical approach to plaque removal is most appropriate, and the situations, such as calculus, where it is not.

  3. Evaluate the current evidence base for a 3% hydrogen peroxide chemical-polishing protocol, and apply appropriate attribution and consent where the evidence is not established.

Full Mouth Reconstruction with Lukasz Lassmann and Riaz Yar - PDP28309 Sep 202601:29:28

Full mouth reconstruction — is the aim really the flawless before-and-after you scroll past on Instagram, or is that a trap?

How do you actually know you’re ready to step up from single teeth to a whole mouth?

And when your comprehensive treatment plan keeps getting declined — psychologically, financially — is that the patient’s problem, or yours?

This one is a “your questions answered” episode: the community sent in far more FMR questions than we could cover, and we put the best of them to two prosthodontists who literally wrote the book on it.

This is a full-mouth reconstruction deep dive with Prof Riaz Yar and Dr Łukasz Lassmann — co-authors of the new Quintessence textbook Full-Mouth Reconstruction (foreword by Jeffrey Okeson). We cover screening before you commit, knowing when you’re ready, getting big plans accepted, choosing materials, setting the bite in centric relation, sleep apnea, and the honest truth about “perfect” versus “acceptable.”


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Always Present the Best Advice

When you present a complex case, offer three tiers. Best advice — take time and money out of the equation and describe the ideal: what would truly get this patient to the right result (gum grafting, orthodontics, the lot). A compromise — a good result without the parts the patient won’t consent to or can’t fund. And the minimum — the least that still helps, with the non-negotiables named.

The most important of the three is the best advice. It’s tempting to self-censor — to decide a plan is too elaborate or too expensive and quietly leave it out. But if you never present the best option, you’ll never get to do those cases. Present the ideal option first, then offer the compromises. Don’t limit the patient — or yourself.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Screen before you plan — a green / orange / red system that sorts patients before treatment planning even starts, so you know which cases are yours.
  • How to get big plans accepted — why case acceptance is a confidence problem before it’s a skills problem, and how to present the best advice, compromise and minimum.
  • Choosing materials — why it’s the case, not the material: repairability vs aesthetics vs durability, and why erosion changes the answer.
  • Setting the bite — why centric relation is the reference position, what a night guard can do to it, and how sleep apnea changes the plan.
  • Perfect vs acceptable — defining success and failure honestly, and knowing when you’re actually ready to take a full-mouth on.


Highlights of This Episode
00:00     TEASER
00:53     Full Mouth Reconstruction: Your FMR Questions Answered
05:08     What Actually Counts as a Full Mouth Reconstruction?
10:48     Screening Patients for Full Mouth Rehab: Green, Orange, Red
18:48     Is Perfect the Goal of Every FMR? Success vs Failure
26:53     How Do You Know You're Ready for Full Mouth Dentistry?
36:23     Is the Dahl Concept a Good Segue Into Full Mouth Rehab?
38:50     Midroll
42:49     How to Get Patients to Accept Full Mouth Treatment Plans
49:34     Best Advice, Compromise, Minimum: Presenting the Options
55:04     Give Yourself Permission to Fail in Big Cases
56:14     FMR or Selective Restorations? Where's the Line on Tooth Wear?
58:49     interjection 1
1:04:52   Composite, Ceramic or Zirconia? Choosing FMR Materials
1:09:53   interjection 2
1:12:40   Centric Relation, Sleep Apnea and Setting the Bite
1:17:25   Anteriors or Posteriors First in a Full Mouth?
1:26:00   Does DTR Change How You Finish an FMR?
1:27:35   The Full-Mouth Reconstruction Book & Where to Learn More
1:30:37   OUTRO


From the Guests

Prof Riaz Yar is a specialist prosthodontist and Visiting Professor in Prosthodontics, with a 25-year focus on TMD, occlusion and full-mouth dentistry. Dr Łukasz Lassmann is a prosthodontist (DDS, PhD) whose PhD is in occlusion and the temporomandibular joint; he focuses on tooth wear, TMD and full-mouth rehab and founded Lassmann Education, whose multi-day “summer camp” FMR/occlusion course runs in Poland.

Interested in Full Mouth Reconstruction? Check out their book: 

Full-Mouth Reconstruction (Lassmann & Yar, Quintessence Publishing, 2026; foreword by Jeffrey Okeson) — a general-practitioner workflow from screening through orthodontics, perio, preparation, and cementation. 


References & Further Reading

Sources and further reading from this episode:

  • Lassmann Ł, Yar R. Full-Mouth Reconstruction. Quintessence Publishing, 2026 (foreword by Jeffrey P. Okeson). ISBN 978-1-78698-153-0.
  • Lassmann Ł, Calamita MA, Blatz MB. The “Smile Design and Space” (SDS) concept for altering vertical dimension of occlusion and esthetic restorative material selection. J Esthet Restor Dent. 2025;37(1):56–67.
  • Loomans B, Opdam N, Attin T, et al. Severe tooth wear: European consensus statement on management guidelines. J Adhes Dent. 2017;19(2):111–119.
  • Bartlett D, Ganss C, Lussi A. Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE): a new scoring system for scientific and clinical needs. Clin Oral Investig. 2008;12(Suppl 1):S65–S68.
  • Okeson JP. Management of Temporomandibular Disorders and Occlusion. Elsevier (8th edition) 

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: https://protrusive.app/posts/free-podcast-videos-pdp225-occlusion-myths-and-red-flags-with-lukasz-lassmann


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #OcclusionTMDandSplints #OrthoRestorative

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1.5 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C.

AGD Subject Code: 610 Fixed Prosthodontics.


Daddy Dentist: Balancing Fatherhood and Dentistry - IC07702 Sep 202600:58:26

When you walk through the door after work, are you actually present or are you still running the day’s to-do list in your head?

Is there ever a “good” time to have a baby in the middle of specialist training and how do you fund it?

How do the best dentist-parents you know protect time with their kids without their careers stalling?

And can technology actually give you hours back — or is that just another thing to feel guilty about?

This is one for the dads. In this Interference Cast episode, Jaz sits down with Dr Sunny Marwaha — a dentist completing part-time specialist training in prosthodontics at Guy’s, who became a father right in the middle of it. It’s not a clinical episode. It’s an honest conversation about doing the hardest career stretch (training, buying practices, building a name) at the exact same time you’re raising young children — the sleep, the money, the guilt, and the strategies that actually help. Two dentist dads, comparing notes.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Priority management, not time management — Decide what this season of life is for, and protect it; priorities shift as the kids grow.
  • Leave the day at the door — both directions — The driveway is dad mode, the clinic is showtime; you can’t take work home or home to work.
  • Run the family like a small business — Regular family meetings and a “mind like water” system can help carry the load without living in your head.
  • Use AI to buy back time — Make use of dictated notes, auto-drafted letters, and turning papers into audio for the commute. This is leverage, not cheating.
    Specialise or self-direct? — An honest filter for whether a structured training pathway or private courses and mentorship suits you better.

Highlights of This Episode

00:00     Teaser
00:42     Daddy Dentist: Balancing Fatherhood and Dentistry
03:42     Should You Specialise or Learn Through Private Courses?
10:12      How to Time Having Kids Around Specialist Training
13:32     Paternity Leave for Dentists: What's Realistic?
16:42     Funding Specialist Training With a Young Family
20:02     Why Family Support Is a Privilege, Not a Given
22:57     Time Management vs Priority Management
23:42     The Two Moments With Your Kids That Matter Most
29:12      Protecting Sleep, Fitness and Your Mental Health
30:13     Midroll
39:03    Top Tips for Dentist Dads
41:53      Using AI to Buy Back Time for Your Family
45:53     Run Your Family Like a Small Business
53:33     How to Cut Kids' Screen Time (and Make It Stick)
59:23     Life After Specialist Training: A Shorter Week
59:57     Outro


From the Guest

Dr Sunny Marwaha is a dentist completing part-time specialist training in prosthodontics at Guy’s (King’s College London). He’s passed the MProst (Royal College of Surgeons), with his final MClinDent and GDC specialist listing still ahead. He became a dad to son Kabir midway through training; his wife Amrit is also a dentist.

👉  Follow Sunny on Instagram: @dr_marwaha


References & Further Reading

Listed for reference (mentions, not endorsements):

  • NotebookLM — Google’s AI research tool; can turn a source document (e.g. a paper) into an audio, podcast-style discussion for the commute.

  • Trello, Inkpad Notepad, and Google Calendar — The “mind like water” offload system. 

  • Loom — screen/video-message tool, mentioned as an alternative to written tooth-by-tooth reports.


Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: [Screen Times and SmartPhones for Children – Best Practices – IC061]. The screen-time reset comes up near the end of this chat; that episode goes deeper. 


Tags

#InterferenceCast #CareerDevelopment #BeyondDentistry


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1.0 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcome B.

AGD Subject Code: 770 Self-Improvement.


The Art and Science of Complete Denture Success - PDP28228 Aug 202600:55:32


Complete Dentures That Actually Work: Impressions, CR & Adaptation

You don’t have to suck at complete dentures — there’s a science to them, and an art you gather with experience.

Why do complete dentures feel so unpredictable — when a crown prep or an endo doesn’t?

What’s the number-one impression mistake dentists make — and the tissue-conditioning step most of us skip?

And when a new denture comes back painful — is it the extension, or the occlusion?

This one is a whistle-stop tour of complete dentures with Dr Leif Stromberg — a Dallas general dentist who learned removable prosthodontics directly from the legendary Earl Pound and has taught it for decades. Recently nominated for the Texas AGD’s 2026 Texas Dentist of the Year™ Award, Dr. Stromberg brings a wealth of clinical experience, leadership and mentorship to the profession.


Rather than drilling into a single appointment, Jaz put a stack of Protrusive Guidance community questions to him and covered the whole arc, from choosing the right patient to troubleshooting a painful denture at delivery. Expect breadth over depth — a lot of ground, a little from each stage — with plenty of technique, nuance and communication tips to take back to the chair.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Pick the Patient Before the Denture

You don’t have to treat everyone. Before promising anything, work out whether you can meet the patient’s expectations — because you can build the world’s best denture and they still may not adapt to it. The single strongest predictor of success is the patient’s own adaptation, not the technical quality of the prosthesis.

So read the markers of adaptation. The patient who has worn a technically poor, flimsy denture happily for years — and only needs a new one because the old one is worn out — is a home run: improve the retention and stability and they’ll do brilliantly, because their neuromuscular adaptation is already proven. The patient who has hated every set they’ve owned is the warning sign. Assess adaptation right from the first appointment; it matters more than the articulator you own.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Pick the patient, not just the denture — the markers of adaptation that predict success before you start.
  • Where the teeth actually go — Pound’s lingual control lines, and why “lingual” means stable.
  • The number-one impression mistake — coverage versus overextension, plus pre-impression tissue conditioning.
  • Records without the wobble — recording centric relation with a gothic arch tracer, and why the facebow ranks low.
  • A painful denture at delivery — how to tell overextension from occlusal overload, and what to do about each.


Highlights of This Episode


From the Guest

Dr. Stromberg teaches  the fundamentals of predictable complete dentures through a run of CE courses on Dentaltown — a five-part written series and a video series that walk through the exam, impressions, records, try-in and delivery.

👉  Stromberg’s “Keys to Complete Denture Success” CE courses on Dentaltown

Learn more at: https://www.strombergdentistry.com/articles


Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Occlusion for Complete Dentures – PDP162


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #ProsthoPerio #Communication 


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C

AGD Subject Code: 670 Removable Prosthodontics.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To give clinicians a predictable, appointment-by-appointment approach to complete dentures — patient selection and adaptation, accurate records, functional tooth position, and troubleshooting at delivery.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

1. Assess a patient’s suitability for complete dentures and their likely adaptation, and manage expectations before treatment begins.
2. Describe the sequence of clinical appointments for complete dentures and the key objective of each — impression coverage, recording centric relation and vertical dimension, and functional tooth position.
3. Differentiate the common causes of pain at denture delivery (overextension versus occlusal overload) and apply an appropriate method to identify and correct each.

Biological Dentistry vs Holistic - Trend or Future? Implementing Nutrition and Testing - PDP28126 Aug 202600:57:34

Holistic, biological, functional — is there actually a difference, or is it all just marketing?
Are root canals really dangerous — or is that just what the algorithm keeps showing your patients?
When a patient wants their sound fillings out, do you test, reassure, or drill?
And how do you bring sleep, diet and blood tests into a dental appointment without it stopping being dentistry?
This episode sits down with Dr James Goolnik (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/james-goolnik)— clinical dentist, founder of the London holistic practice Optimal Dental Health, past President of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and one of Jaz’s earliest mentors. James openly calls himself a holistic and biological dentist, which makes him the ideal person to separate the thoughtful, evidence-aware end of this world from the online extremism that gives it a bad name. Expect a balanced, honest conversation: some of it you’ll adopt tomorrow, some of it you’ll want to pressure-test — which is exactly the point.

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Dentistry Isn’t Just About Fixing Teeth

This one isn’t a clinical tip — it’s a sentiment that frames the whole episode. Dentistry isn’t just about fixing teeth; it’s about improving health. You don’t have to agree with every claim made in biological dentistry — but you will struggle to disagree that a patient’s diet, sleep, breathing, stress and inflammation all influence oral health.

So the pearl is simple: stay curious, stay open-minded — but stay critical, and never stop asking better questions.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • The holistic–biological spectrum — what each word actually means, and where thoughtful practice tips into online extremism.

  • Test or reassure? — the three-question filter for deciding whether any test earns its place before you order it.

  • Safe amalgam removal — the SMART protocol, and when a worried patient’s sound filling should be left well alone.

  • The mouth-body connection — how sleep, glucose control and systemic inflammation affect the mouth, and where to refer.

  • The balanced take on root canals and implants — whether root canals are dangerous, and titanium versus ceramic with metal-allergy testing.


Highlights of This Episode

00:00     Teaser
00:59     Holistic vs Biological Dentistry: What's the Difference?
05:49    Why Listening Beats Perfect Margins in Dentistry
10:29     Why Patients Started to Doubt Root Canal Treatment
12:09     Mercury Fillings: Should You Remove Amalgam?
14:09     The SMART Protocol for Safe Amalgam Removal
19:59     The Mouth-Body Connection: Sleep, Diabetes & Alzheimer's
24:59    How to Build Nutrition Into a Dental Practice
26:25     Midroll
34:01     Sleep Tests, Glucose Monitors and Blood Tests in Practice
38:21     Is Biological Dentistry Dangerous? The Extremist Problem
39:21     Are Root Canals Dangerous? A Balanced Take

41:51     Titanium vs Zirconia Implants and Metal Allergy Testing

46:51     When Removing a Healthy Tooth Becomes Negligent
50:56    What Diet Should Dentists Actually Follow?
53:41     How to Get Started in Holistic Dentistry
56:30    Outro



From the Guest

Dr James Goolnik is a clinical dentist and founder of Optimal Dental Health, a holistic practice in London built around integrating nutrition, sleep and whole-health screening into everyday dentistry. He is a past President of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, a member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, and the author of “Brush” (profits to Dentaid) and the “Kick Sugar” cookbook (profits to his Rewards Project charity).

👉  Optimal Dental Health — monthly practitioner newsletter, and connect with James on LinkedIn


Want the Toolkit?

We’ve turned this episode into a practical Holistic Dentistry Clinical Toolkit — with quick-reference guides for whole-body assessment, testing, patient conversations, and navigating the holistic–biological spectrum.

Download the free toolkit at www.protrusive.co.uk/biological


References & Further Reading

Sources and further reading from this episode:

  • IAOMT — Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique (SMART). The protocol for safely removing amalgam (rubber-dam isolation, adsorbent rinse, sectioning, high-volume evacuation) to minimise mercury exposure for patient and team. 
  • MELISA test. A validated blood lymphocyte-transformation test for type-IV hypersensitivity to metals including titanium and mercury — used to guide titanium-vs-ceramic implant decisions. 
  • Tests, devices & materials referenced — a home overnight sleep test, a phase-contrast microscope, a national blood-testing partner, point-of-care fingerprick analysers (CRP / HbA1c), a blood/hair/urine mercury panel, continuous glucose monitors, and Biodentine for vital-pulp therapy. 

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Implementing Sleep, Airway and Myo to Restorative Dentistry Part 1 — PDP262


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #Communication #BeyondDentistry

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1.0 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C.

AGD Subject Code: 150 Health, medicine and nutrition.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To give dentists a balanced, evidence-aware understanding of holistic and biological dentistry — what the terms mean, how to integrate whole-health thinking and appropriate testing into practice, and how to navigate patient beliefs about root canals, mercury and metal-free dentistry without abandoning the evidence base.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

1. Differentiate between holistic and biological approaches to dentistry, and articulate where evidence-based, minimally invasive care ends and unsupported claims begin.
2. Apply a structured decision filter to judge whether an additional test or intervention is justified — whether it will change treatment, provide a benchmark, or motivate the patient — while working within scope and referring appropriately.
3. Describe t...

How Not to Cry Whilst Injection Moulding - Secrets to Reduce Excess and Clean Up - PDP28019 Aug 202600:48:43

Injection moulding is meant to save you time. Too often it hands you a mouthful of flash and a cleanup that swallows the chair time you thought you were saving.

Dr Sandra Hulac is a Clinical Instructor at the Kois Center in Seattle and an Accredited Fellow of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. She uses full-mouth injection moulding to road-test occlusions and stabilise breaking-down dentitions, and she teaches the technique hands-on.

In this episode she works through where the mess actually comes from, and how design, matrix strategy, careful PTFE and a simple cleanup protocol keep a case clean from the first injection.

This episode comes with an infographic: the whole no-mess workflow on one visual guide to keep beside you during design and cleanup. Download it at protrusive.co.uk/nomess. It is the fastest way to turn this episode into something you actually use at the chair.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Most injection-moulding mess is prevented at the design stage, through thickness targets and clear lab communication, long before any cleanup.

  • The alternating matrix technique, injecting every other tooth, is the biggest single cleanup saver and cuts the PTFE you need.

  • Matrices cured in a pressure pot, with a spacer protocol, give even thickness and far fewer bubbles.

  • Thin, careful PTFE prevents distortion; bunching it interproximally creates the very excess you are trying to avoid.

  • An S-shaped motion with a Ceri-saw and several 12-plate blades clears resin while protecting the contact.

  • Good pre-treatment hygiene, using diluted hypochlorite or povidone-iodine rather than chlorhexidine, cuts bleeding and contamination.


Highlights of this episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:54 Introduction
  • 02:17 Dental Pearl: Free Injection Moulding Infographic
  • 03:17 Main Interview with Dr. Sandra Hulac
  • 4:49 Innovations in Dental Education
  • 07:26 The Mess Problem in Injection Moulding
  • 15:38 Alternating Matrix Technique
  • 18:18 Every-Other-Tooth Technique
  • 27:54 Cleanup Instruments and Techniques
  • 31:35 Handling Teflon and PTFE
  • 36:41 Patient Oral Hygiene Tips
  • 37:27 Dilution protocol:
  • 39:24 Key Principles for Minimizing Mess
  • 40:42 Matrix Fabrication and Spacer Protocol
  • 43:55 Course Information and Conclusion
  • 46:19 Outro


From the Guest


Master Full Mouth Injection Moulding in this exclusive two-day hands-on course!


📅 Dates: Feb. 26-27, 2027
📍 Location: Central London Venue (TBC)
🌐 Learn more & secure your spot: protrusive.co.uk/FMIM




Want more?

Learn to treat tooth wear with injectable composite in Injectable Composites in PDP081


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes, #BreadandButterDentistry, #AdhesiveDentistry


Listen, subscribe, and earn CPD

Listen: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and inside Protrusive Guidance.

Earn CPD: This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

Compliance: GDC Development Outcome C. AGD Subject Code 250 Operative (Restorative) Dentistry.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To enable dental professionals to minimise cleanup during injection moulding by optimising design, matrix use, PTFE application, and interproximal finishing techniques.

By the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  1. Explain how proper design and lab communication can reduce composite flash and cleanup in injection moulding.

  2. Demonstrate the alternating matrix technique and the correct use of PTFE in minimising mess.

  3. Identify and use appropriate instruments and techniques for efficient interproximal cleanup after injection moulding.
Maintain or Extract? First Permanent Molars of Poor Prognosis - PDP27912 Aug 202600:53:06

Your patient is nine years old. One first permanent molar is crumbling — the others look fine. Does it stay, or does it go?

Is that broken-down first permanent molar really down to poor brushing — or is it Molar Incisor Hypomineralisation?

When is the right time to take a first permanent molar out — and how do you read it off the X-ray?

And how do you tell a parent their child needs an adult tooth removed — without losing them?

First permanent molars of poor prognosis are one of the genuine head-scratchers of general practice — full of ifs, buts and timing. In this episode Jaz sits down with Dr Nicole Sturzenbaum, a paediatric dentist and the owner and clinical director of Toothbeary in Richmond, London, to work through the whole decision: getting the diagnosis right (molar-incisor hypomineralisation versus caries), reading the extraction window off an OPG, the restorative ladder from sealant to stainless steel crown, when to bring in the orthodontist, and how to handle the conversation with anxious parents. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer — but there is a clear way to think about it.


Protrusive Dental Pearl: Painless Polishing for Anxious Kids

The mechanical clean is what frightens children (and plenty of adults) — the scaler, the bristle brush, the gritty prophy paste. For the polishing part, a colourless plaque-dissolving foam gel does the job without any of it. It fizzes wherever there is plaque, so you can hand the child a mirror and show them exactly where to brush; it leaves the teeth satin-smooth, reduces gingival inflammation, and is painless and non-invasive.

Two caveats: it does not remove calculus — you still need a hand or ultrasonic scaler for that — and you should agitate the gel gently at the gingival margin for the full effect. It is especially useful for orthodontic and adolescent patients because it reaches the nooks around brackets, which is where post-orthodontic white-spot lesions start.

Product: Magic3 (3% hydrogen peroxide, colourless plaque indicator), by Dr Wyman Chan — protrusive.co.uk/magic3.


What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Diagnosis first — MIH or caries? The distinction changes the plan, the prognosis and the whole conversation with the family.

  • Reading the extraction window off an OPG — why chronological age tells you nothing, and what the second molar’s bifurcation tells you instead.

  • The restorative ladder — seal, composite, preformed metal crown, or plan the extraction: matching the least invasive option that will actually hold.

  • When to involve the orthodontist — essential or desirable, which teeth come out, and managing the space afterwards.

  • Getting sensitive molars numb — why MIH teeth are so hard to anaesthetise, and the comfort stack that helps.


Highlights of This Episode

  • 00:00     TEASER
  • 00:59     First Permanent Molars of Poor Prognosis in Children
  • 02:51     Painless Chemical Polishing for Kids (Protrusive Dental Pearl)
  • 04:53     Meet Dr Nicole Sturzenbaum, Paediatric Dentist
  • 11:49     MIH or Caries? Getting the Diagnosis Right
  • 15:14     What Is MIH? Causes, Grades and 'Cheese Molars'
  • 17:23     When to Extract a First Molar: Reading the OPG
  • 20:08     Sealant, Composite or Crown for MIH Molars
  • 22:32     Stainless Steel Crowns for Hypomineralised Molars
  • 25:52     Do You Need an Orthodontic Opinion Before Extraction?
  • 29:15     Talking to Parents About Removing an Adult Tooth
  • 31:56     Anaesthesia Tips for Sensitive MIH Molars
  • 36:14     Managing the Space After First Molar Extraction
  • 41:15     Balancing and Compensating Extractions Explained
  • 47:53     Early Orthodontics and Prevention at Toothbeary
  • 51:15     OUTRO


From the Guest

Dr Nicole Sturzenbaum is a paediatric dentist and the owner and clinical director of Toothbeary, a paediatric dental practice in Richmond, London. 

👉  Toothbeary — paediatric dentistry, sedation & early orthodontics, Richmond, London


References & Further Reading

  • EAPD guidance (cited on the episode). European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry policy documents on MIH (Lygidakis et al., best clinical practice guidance for clinicians dealing with children presenting with MIH) and on paediatric local analgesia (Kühnisch et al., 2017).

  • Preoperative analgesia for MIH (further reading). Vicioni-Marques, F., Paula-Silva, F. W. G., Carvalho, M. R., Queiroz, A. M., Freitas, O., Duarte, M. P. F., Manton, D. J., & Carvalho, F. K. (2022). Preemptive analgesia with ibuprofen increases anesthetic efficacy in children with severe molar: a triple-blind randomized clinical trial. Journal of applied oral science : revista FOB, 30, e20210538. https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-7757-2021-0538


Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Zirconia vs Metal Hall Crowns vs Conventional with Dr Tim Keys – PDP227


Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #OrthoRestorative


Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1.0 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C.

AGD Subject Code: 430 Pediatric Dentistry.


Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To help general dentists diagnose, assess and manage first permanent molars of poor prognosis in children — recognising molar-incisor hypomineralisation, timing extraction from radiographic development, and choosing between restoration and extraction with the wider team.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Differentiate molar-incisor hypomineralisation from caries of hygiene origin, and explain how that distinction changes management and communication.

  • Apply radiographic developmental assessment — the second molar’s bifurcation and the presence of third molars — to judge the timing of first permanent molar extraction.

  • Select an appropriate management pathway, from sealant and composite through preformed metal crown...
TRAYLESS Whitening Technique Part 2 - Tetracycline Staining and Non Vital Bleaching Scenario! - PDP27805 Aug 202601:02:43

Patient has patchy white spots after braces — do you really whiten, or will that just make the spots stand out more?

Tetracycline staining darker than your darkest shade tab — is bleaching even worth attempting, or is it veneers by default?

A single dark, root-filled central incisor — can you fix it without picking up a drill at all?

And how do you talk a patient through weeks, shades and cost so they actually consent to the slow, non-invasive route?

This is Part 2 of the trayless whitening series with Dr Wyman Chan — inventor of trayless teeth whitening and the Get2Smile system — and Dr Elvis Law, who now runs around 90% of his whitening trayless. Part 1 covered the science and the everyday protocol; this part applies it to the three cases dentists find hardest, with the costing and consent conversations that make them work.

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Treating Family and Friends

Almost every clinician has a story about a case that went wrong on a family member, a friend, or a loved one. It’s not a random fluke. When we treat someone we love, we put our guard down — we relax the checklist, skip a step, get driven by emotion, and lose our judgement.

So if you must treat family and friends, stay razor-sharp and treat them exactly as you would a stranger. Be extra vigilant, extra hot on your protocols, and take the emotion out of it. If that tooth needs a root canal, it needs a root canal — don’t bend the plan to preserve pulp vitality that was never the right call. The best pearl is not to treat loved ones at all; the real-world one is to not lose your judgement when you do.

What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • The frosted glass model — a patient-ready way to explain white spots: enamel is clear glass, dentine is a yellow sponge, and acid has turned the glass frosty.
  • A two-stage white spot protocol — remineralise and condition the gums first, then whiten trayless, and why a dirty tray would have sabotaged the result.
  • Whitening tetracycline staining — realistic timelines, why darker teeth lift faster, and how to frame it honestly against veneers.
  • The non-vital tooth without a drill — whiten every tooth to target, then paint the single dark tooth to match, and why leakage (not the bleach) causes rebound.
  • Costing and consent — charging “almost by time,” staged reviews, and matching invasiveness to the mouth in front of you.

Highlights of This Episode

  • 00:00     Teaser
  • 01:05     Trayless Whitening Part 2: Recap of Part 1
  • 03:55     Protrusive Dental Pearl: Treating Family and Friends
  • 06:55     Whitening White Spot Lesions After Orthodontics
  • 11:55     Whiten First or Restore First? Cavitated Anterior Caries
  • 18:35     The Frosted Glass Analogy: Explaining White Spots to Patients
  • 21:05     A Two-Stage White Spot Protocol: Remineralise, Then Whiten
  • 32:57     Midroll
  • 36:23     Whitening Tetracycline-Stained Teeth
  • 40:03     Costing and Consent: Bleaching vs Veneers
  • 46:23     Whitening a Non-Vital Yellow Central Incisor
  • 47:43     Why Root-Filled Teeth Rebound After Bleaching
  • 53:13     Trayless Single-Tooth Whitening Without a Drill
  • 1:00:43   How to Access Trayless Whitening and Training
  • 1:03:40   Outro

From the Guest

Dr Wyman Chan is the inventor of trayless teeth whitening and the Get2Smile system, with a PhD in the efficacy and safety of teeth whitening and a whitening clinic in London’s West End. Dr Elvis Law trained in safe dental bleaching under Dr Wyman Chan and now runs the majority of his whitening trayless.

Start Offering Trayless Whitening for Your Office

UK Dentists:

In the UK you need the Get2Smile Kit which is 6% formulation applied twice daily for 30 minutes.

Head to directoralcare.com and register for a free professional account. Approval unlocks the full shop, pricing, offers and their upcoming educational courses.

At checkout, use code: DOCSUMMER20

International Dentists wishing to offer Get2Smile, please enquire from Dr Chan's website. The international version uses 10% formulation applied for 15 minutes, twice daily.

📌 Want to learn directly from Dr Wyman Chan? Join him for Redefining Early Caries Management and Aesthetic Dentistry in Shanghai, China, on 20–21 October 2026.

Saturday 5th September London, UK CPD EVENT:

👉Join Dr Wyman Chan for an exciting event focused on redefining the management of dental plaque-induced oral diseases.

📍 Royal Asiatic Society, London NW1 2HD

The session will include a live lecture, clinical demonstration, and the opportunity to take part in practical, hands-on training. Dr Wyman Chan will be joined by Dr Niki Shah and Dr Elvis Law, who will also showcase their clinical cases.

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: MAGIC Teeth Whitening with Dr. Wyman Chan – PDP245 — Wyman’s first Protrusive episode, covering whitening myths, sensitivity, and whether in-office lights do anything at all..

Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C

AGD Subject Code: 780 Esthetics/Cosmetic Dentistry.

Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To give dental practitioners a practical, non-invasive approach to three difficult whitening presentations — post-orthodontic white spot lesions, tetracycline staining, and a discoloured non-vital tooth — together with the expectation-setting and consent conversations that make treatment succeed.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Describe how enamel demineralisation produces white spot lesions and explain, in patient-friendly terms, why a repair-then-whiten sequence addresses both the surface and the underlying tooth colour.
  • Apply a staged, non-invasive protocol to manage white spot, tetracycline and non-vital discolouration cases, selecting an appropriate route by matching invasiveness to the individual patient.
  • Articulate realistic expectations on shade, timeline and cost, and use them to obtain informed consent for an extended, reviewable whitening course.
TRAYLESS Whitening Technique Part 1 - with Dr Wyman Chan - PDP27730 Jul 202601:06:50

What if the tray is the reason your whitening results are inconsistent?

Why would a dentist who owns a whitening lab — and holds four patents on making bleaching trays — tell you to skip the tray?

Trayless whitening does not mean strips. It means the patient puts in a retractor and paints the gel directly onto the teeth, twice a day, for half an hour. No impression, no lab bill, no two-week wait, and no soft plastic reservoir quietly absorbing your peroxide.

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation with Dr Wyman Chanand Dr Elvis Law, recorded live in their central London whitening practice. Wyman has done nothing but whitening since 2002, has a PhD on the efficacy and safety of whitening processes, and — despite owning the lab that makes the trays — now does most of his cases without one. Elvis trained under him and reckons around 90% of his own cases are now trayless.

Part 1 is the mechanism, the protocol and an honest list of who it doesn’t suit. Part 2 takes it into the hard cases.
Protrusive Dental Pearl: Let the Patient Pick the Shade
Most of us ask “how white do you want to go?”, get a laugh about Hollywood white or Simon Cowell white, then hold a B1 tab against the canine and call that the destination. Try flipping it.

Under corrected light, record where the patient is now. Then hand over the whole shade guide, arranged by value, and let them choose the tab they want to reach. Photograph both.

This is the VITA Shade guide arranged by value:

B1 → A1 → B2 → D2 → A2 → C1 → C2 → D4 → A3 → D3 → B3 → A3.5 → B4 → C3 → A4 → C4

Two things change. You now know the target precisely instead of inferring it, and you can track progress against a fixed reference. Most patients land on B1 — it’s the last shade before the bleach range, and it reads natural rather than veneered. Some will point at 0M1 and that’s a different conversation, which is exactly the point.

Because whatever they choose dictates how many weeks, how much gel and how many reviews the case needs — and therefore what it should cost. A single flat whitening fee assumes every case takes the same work. They don’t. Someone starting at C4 who wants a bleach shade can get there, but it takes more gel, more time, more reviews and probably a protocol change along the way. Price that honestly.

Only you can decide what the tiers look like in your practice. But it might be worth sitting down as a team of dentists and therapists and asking: how are we delivering whitening? Two tiers? More? Based on what?

What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • Conscious bleaching — why an awake patient with an open mouth is a completely different chemical situation to a sealed tray worn overnight, and what that does to sensitivity.
  • The formulation constraint — peroxide needs acid to stay stable on the shelf, which is why pre-mixed products lean acidic and why two-component gels exist at all.
  • The full trayless protocol — wear schedule, spacing, patient positioning, review intervals and what to troubleshoot first when a case is behind.
  • Who it doesn’t suit — an honest contraindications list, including the one objection patients raise most often and the answer to it.
  • Tray hygiene as a clinical instruction — the reason results vary so much between patients using the identical gel.
  • An A3.5 to B1 case — start to finish in three weeks, with the review points and the maintenance plan.

Highlights of This Episode

  • 00:00     TEASER
  • 01:05     Trayless Teeth Whitening Explained
  • 03:40     Protrusive Dental Pearl: Let Patients Pick Their Whitening Shade
  • 06:05     Meet the Guests: A Career Built on Teeth Whitening
  • 10:27     What Is Trayless Whitening? (It's Not Whitening Strips)
  • 13:44     Why Whitening Trays Waste Your Bleaching Gel
  • 15:37     Are Whitening Strips Acidic? Gel Formulation Explained
  • 19:17     Conscious Bleaching and Whitening Sensitivity
  • 24:43     When NOT to Use Trayless Whitening
  • 29:05     The Trayless Whitening Protocol: 30 Minutes Twice a Day
  • 32:55     Midroll
  • 42:45     How to Clean Whitening Trays Properly
  • 50:02     A3.5 to B1 in Three Weeks: A Case Walkthrough
  • 56:16     Tooth Porosity and the 45-Degree Recline Rule
  • 1:02:09   Whitening Top-Ups and the Five-Year Guarantee
  • 1:06:49   How to Price Teeth Whitening and Let Patients Pick the Shade
  • 1:07:45   OUTRO
  • 1:12:56   What's Coming in Part 2

Start Offering Trayless Whitening for Your Office

UK Dentists:

In the UK you need the Get2Smile Kit which is 6% formulation applied twice daily for 30 minutes.

Head to directoralcare.com and register for a free professional account. Approval unlocks the full shop, pricing, offers and their upcoming educational courses.

At checkout, use code: DOCSUMMER20
The Trayless whitening system is called Get2Smile.
International Dentists wishing to offer Get2Smile, please enquire from Dr Chan's website. The international version uses 10% formulation applied for 15 minutes, twice daily.

📌 Want to learn directly from Dr Wyman Chan? Join him for Redefining Early Caries Management and Aesthetic Dentistry in Shanghai, China, on 20–21 October 2026.

Join Dr Wyman Chan for an exciting event focused on redefining the management of dental plaque-induced oral diseases.
The session will include a live lecture, clinical demonstration, and the opportunity to take part in practical, hands-on training. Dr Wyman Chan will be joined by Dr Niki Shah and Dr Elvis Law, who will also showcase their clinical cases.

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: MAGIC Teeth Whitening with Dr. Wyman Chan – PDP245 — Wyman’s first Protrusive episode, covering whitening myths, sensitivity, and whether in-office lights do anything at all.

Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes 

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C.

AGD Subject Code: 780 Esthetics/Cosmetic Dentis...

What Dental School Didn’t Prepare You For – PDP27622 Jul 202600:46:21

Just qualified — so why does it feel like the learning is only just beginning?

What should you actually focus on in year one: the flawless dentistry on your feed, or something far less glamorous?

How do you tell a patient their nerve might die — without it sounding like YOUR fault?

And when a patient says “just do whatever you think” — what do you say back?

This is the conversation every new dentist needs and every experienced one recognises. Our guest is Dr Emma Hutchison — a former dental nurse who trained at the University of Glasgow, and has been the face of the Protrusive Students series across her studies. We recorded in her final weeks of dental school, right on the threshold of practice, and talked through everything the syllabus skips: the safe-beginner mindset, what to learn (and what to ignore) early on, how to protect your standards under time pressure, which cases to take on, and how to talk to patients about risk, cost and consent so the words actually land. If you’re fresh out, this one hits hard. If you’re an oldie, it’s a trip down memory lane — and a reminder of how far you’ve come.

 https://youtu.be/gjJiDVP4w-4 

Watch PDP276 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Predict the Complication Before It Happens

A communication pearl for every deep restoration. When a filling sits close to the nerve — a big cavity, a crack — name the likely complication before it happens. Show the patient the images, then tell them what to expect: a twinge to cold or hot that can linger a few days, so keep taking painkillers and keep the area clean. And warn them what a red flag looks like: a severe throbbing ache keeping them up at night, or pain out of the blue without eating or drinking, means the nerve is struggling and they should call you.

Do this and, if the complication ever arrives, you look like the expert who called it — not someone something went wrong for. Skip it and reception fields the panicked calls instead. It reassures the patient, lowers your callback rate, and quietly reduces your risk profile. Obvious, easy to forget, and worth saying out loud every single time.

What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • The safe-beginner mindset — why qualifying is the driving licence, not the destination, and how the happiest dentists keep getting 1% better.
  • Just-in-time learning — study for the cases actually in your diary, not the obscure pathology you won’t meet for years.
  • Get good before you get fast — master the bread and butter, protect a little extra time early, and reflect on every procedure.
  • Clever hacks vs cutting corners — how to tell the difference, and why every shortcut quietly rewires the habit.
  • Consent that works — getting patients to own the problem, and giving a clear recommendation instead of a fifteen-item menu.

Highlights of This Episode

  • 00:00  Teaser
  • 01:05  The Things Dental School Doesn’t Prepare You For
  • 03:05  Communication Pearl: Predict the Complication Before It Happens
  • 05:35  Life as a Final-Year Dental Student on Outreach
  • 09:55  Why You’re Only a “Safe Beginner” When You Qualify
  • 13:45  Master Bread-and-Butter Dentistry Before the Fancy Stuff
  • 16:05  Just-in-Time Learning: Study for the Cases in Front of You
  • 18:05  Get Good Before You Get Fast (and Protect Your Time)
  • 19:45  Clever Hacks vs Cutting Corners: Don’t Lose Your Standards
  • 24:14  Midroll
  • 27:46  The Skills to Nail in Your First Year as a Dentist
  • 30:11  Which Cases to Take On — and Learning From Mistakes
  • 35:46  How to Explain Risk and Get Patients to Own the Problem
  • 41:26  When Patients Refuse the Ideal Treatment: Start With Their Goal
  • 44:26  Treatment Planning Without the Overwhelm: Loom & “Guess Who”
  • 47:36  Claim Your CPD & Become the Next Protrusive Student
  • 47:38  Outro

Dr Emma Hutchison came to dentistry the long way round — from a dental nursing background into dental school at the University of Glasgow, with final-year outreach on the Kintyre peninsula in Campbeltown. She has been the face of the Protrusive Students series throughout her studies, and this episode marks her crossing from student to newly qualified dentist. On behalf of the whole Protruserati: we’re proud of you, Emma.

Become the next Protrusive Student: with Emma qualifying, we’re looking for the next keen student who wants part-time work, an income while studying, and to contribute to Protrusive — or a nudge if you know one. DM the team inside the Protrusive Guidance app.

Resources & Mentions From This Episode

  • Quick & slick rubber dam — the in-app video series on quadrant isolation, for building the rubber dam habit from day one.
  • 21-Day Photography Challenge — the in-app challenge that walks you through capturing every clinical photo, including the dreaded occlusal shots, in your first three weeks.
  • Loom School — in-app training on async, Loom-video treatment planning (roughly 90 minutes of CPD across around 15 bite-sized lessons).

Access the above masterclasses and more when you subscribe to the Ultimate or Infinity plan.

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Periodontics for Beginners – PS008

#PDPMainEpisodes #CareerDevelopment #Communication 

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 0.5 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A and D.

AGD Subject Code: 770 Self-Improvement 

Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To give early-career dentists a practical framework for the transition from dental school to independent practice — how to keep developing, how to protect clinical standards under time pressure, and how to communicate risk and treatment options as part of valid consent.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Apply a “just-in-time” approach to continuing development, prioritising the competencies relevant to the cases in front of them over isolated advanced techniques.
  • Differentiate time-saving efficiencies from quality-compromising shortcuts, and describe strategies to maintain clinical standards early in practice.
  • Apply structured communication techniques to explain procedural risk, establish a patient’s treatment goal, and make a clear, defensible recommendation as part of va...
Why is Dr Tif Qureshi doing Blood Tests for his Patients? Should YOU? – PDP27515 Jul 202601:02:25

Your patient brushes well, avoids sweets — and still keeps getting decay. What if the answer isn’t in their mouth at all?

What if two inexpensive finger-prick tests told you more about a patient’s gum disease and implant prognosis than anything on the radiograph?

And here’s the uncomfortable one: if the science is this clear, is not checking starting to look like a medico-legal risk? Especially for imlpant surgery!

This is a conversation with Dr Tif Qureshi— the dentist who changed how the profession thinks about the lifelong patient, the envelope of function, and Align, Bleach, Bond. He’s gone down a new rabbit hole: metabolic health. In general practice he’s now doing blood tests — HbA1c and vitamin D — and making the case that the mouth isn’t connected to the body, it is the body. This isn’t about becoming a “biological dentist” (as you’ll hear, Tif is refreshingly blunt about the wilder end of that world). It’s about respecting the biology, screening sensibly, and helping patients where we’re genuinely placed to help.

 https://youtu.be/mt1MXLFCTp0 

Watch PDP275 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Test Yourself First

Before you even think about introducing blood tests for your patients, ask whether you’re checking your own biomarkers at a sensible interval. The deepest way to understand this topic is to learn it on yourself and your family first — run your own HbA1c, vitamin D, iron, and liver and kidney markers, and see what the data tells you.

Start quarterly, like hygienist visits, then stretch to six-monthly or annual once things look good. Getting invested in your own numbers is what makes better food and lifestyle choices actually stick — and it’s the honest starting point for ever offering this to a patient.

What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • The metabolic lens — why one disordered glucose-and-insulin system sits under so much chronic and dental disease, and why dentistry is well placed to act on it.
  • Sugar, redefined — why patients who avoid sweets still get decay, and how frequency of starchy carbs drives the problem.
  • The two biomarkers that matter most — what HbA1c and vitamin D each tell you about caries, perio and healing.
  • How to run it in practice — finger-prick logistics, what to test, and how to raise it on the medical history form.
  • The medico-legal case — why documenting these markers can protect you before implant, graft and perio work.

Highlights of This Episode

  • 00:00  Why Dentists Should Care About Blood Tests
  • 06:00  Metabolic Disease: The Root Cause Dentists Miss
  • 13:00  Why Starchy Carbs Cause Decay, Not Just Sugar
  • 15:50  HbA1c and Caries: What the SHIP Study Shows
  • 21:00  Insulin Resistance: The Hidden Driver of Gum Disease
  • 26:00  How to Talk to Patients About Diet Without Scaring Them
  • 31:00  Why Vitamin D Deserves a Place in Dentistry
  • 34:00  Vitamin D, Implant Failure and Perio Risk
  • 37:00  Blood Tests as Medico-Legal Defence
  • 42:00  What Dentists Should Test: HbA1c and Vitamin D
  • 44:00  How In-Practice Blood Testing Actually Works
  • 50:00  The Mouth Is the Body: Screening, Not Diagnosing
  • 51:00  Is This Biological Dentistry? An Honest Answer
  • 57:00  How to Learn Blood Testing for Your Practice

From the Guest

Dr Tif Qureshi qualified from King’s College London in 1992 and is a Past President of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is Founder and Clinical Director of IAS Academy, best known for pioneering Align, Bleach, Bond and Progressive Smile Design, and as a teacher of the Dahl concept. His current focus is metabolic health in general practice.

👉  IAS Academy — Align, Bleach, Bond, the Dahl concept, and blood-testing / metabolic health training

Coming soon: Join Dr. Tif in one-day metabolic health programme. He has spent years connecting the dots between what’s happening in the mouth and what’s happening in the body. The results are undeniable: better outcomes, stronger case acceptance, and a rock-solid medico-legal position.

This one-day course will change the way you practise. For good.👉Metabolic Health in Dentistry

References & Further Reading

Studies and sources referenced in this episode:

  • Song I-S, et al. Severe Periodontitis Is Associated with Insulin Resistance in Non-abdominal Obese Adults. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2016;101(11):4251–4259. Insulin resistance as an independent risk factor for severe perio in normal-weight adults.
  • Botelho J, et al. Vitamin D Deficiency and Oral Health: A Comprehensive Review. Nutrients, 2020;12(5):1471. Vitamin D across caries, periodontitis, orthodontic and surgical outcomes.
  • Schmolinsky J, Kocher T, Rathmann W, Völzke H, Pink C, Holtfreter B. Diabetes status affects long-term changes in coronal caries – The SHIP Study. Sci Rep. 2019 Oct 30;9(1):15685. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-51086-z. PMID: 31666549; PMCID: PMC6821733.

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Why do some Dentists find Dahl Distasteful? – PDP016. 

#PDPMainEpisodes #BeyondDentistry #Communication

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1.0 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C and A.

AGD Subject Code: 730 Oral Medicine, Oral Diagnosis, Oral Pathology

Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To help dental practitioners understand the link between metabolic health and oral disease, and to evaluate whether simple in-practice biomarker screening has a place in their care of patients.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Describe how disordered glucose and insulin metabolism relates to caries, periodontal disease and healing outcomes, and explain what HbA1c and vitamin D each indicate.
  • Apply a structured, non-alarmist approach to discussing diet and biomarker screening with patients, within the professional boundary of screening rather than diagnosing or prescribing.
  • Evaluate the clinical and medico-legal case for documenting relevant biomarkers before periodontal and surgical treatment, and identify when to refer to a medical colleague.


Mastering Pediatric Dentistry: Pulpotomy and Crown Techniques – PDP27408 Jul 202600:56:42

Filling, stainless steel crown, pulpotomy or extraction — how do you actually decide on a deciduous tooth?

Why is the lower first primary molar the one that always seems to flare up?

When should you reach for silver diamine fluoride instead of the drill — and when is a child’s cooperation telling you to change the plan entirely?

And how do you actually do a pulpotomy, step by step, without it blowing up under the crown?

This is a paediatric dentistry masterclass with Dr Nidhi Kotak— “The Baby Tooth Dentist,”. It’s built for the general dentist who treats children and wants clearer rules: when to fill versus crown, how to read the radiograph, silver diamine fluoride, local anaesthetic and behaviour guidance, isolation, and a full pulpotomy and stainless steel crown technique. The through-line is simple — in children you decide fast, protect the airway, and treat for predictability rather than heroics.

 https://youtu.be/3OscfwF7SIQ 

Watch PDP274 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Strategic Flexibility

You cannot be rigid when treating children. The mindset shift is to stop asking “what should be done for this child?” and start asking “what can be done for this child?” With children you have to be fast and efficient, and curveballs are constant — sometimes the parent is harder to manage than the child. So the plan has to bend.

The worked example: you planned a conventional prepped stainless steel crown, but cooperation drops mid-appointment. Rather than abandon the visit, switch to a no-prep whole-crown approach and protect the tooth anyway. It stays in the child’s best interest — and it’s far kinder to your own mental health. It’s a mindset worth carrying into all of dentistry, not just children’s.

What You’ll Take From This Episode

  • When to fill vs crown — the surface rule for baby molars, why crowns are so predictable in children, and where composites still work.
  • The “D” devil tooth — why the lower first primary molar flares up, and why mesial caries on a D is an automatic crown.
  • Pulpotomy indications — the signs that say vital pulpotomy, the ones that say extraction, and why a pulp exposure in a primary tooth is an automatic pulpotomy.
  • SDF, sedation and isolation — arresting decay without drilling, matching sedation to the child, and protecting the airway.
  • The pulpotomy technique — a full step-by-step from caries removal to cementing the stainless steel crown, including the modern medicament choice.

Highlights of This Episode

  • 00:00  TEASER
  • 00:59  Pediatric Dentistry for GDPs: The Strategic Flexibility Mindset
  • 07:24  Why GDPs Struggle Treating Children
  • 08:19  When to Fill vs When to Crown a Baby Tooth
  • 12:18  Class II vs Stainless Steel Crown: The Surface Rule
  • 13:41  Reading Pediatric Radiographs & When to Take Bitewings
  • 19:15  SDF vs Fluoride Varnish: When to Use Each
  • 22:37  Resin Infiltration (Icon) for Children’s Teeth
  • 25:15  Pulpotomy in Primary Teeth: When It’s Indicated
  • 26:19  The “D” Devil Tooth: Why Mesial Caries Means a Crown
  • 27:31  Hall Crowns and the Modified Whole Crown Technique
  • 27:48  Midroll
  • 38:39  Local Anaesthetic & Behaviour Guidance in Children
  • 40:38  Sedation Options: Oral, Nitrous & Intranasal
  • 46:22  Rubber Dam vs Isolite: Isolation for Kids
  • 48:59  How to Do a Pulpotomy: Step-by-Step Technique
  • 58:03  OUTRO

Dr Nidhi Kotak is a dual US and Canadian board-certified paediatric dentist — a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry and a Fellow of the Royal College of Dentists of Canada. 

Follow Dr. Nidhi for more paediatric dentistry tips 👉  @babytoothdentist on Instagram

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Zirconia vs Metal Hall Crowns vs Conventional with Dr Tim Keys – PDP227

#PDPMainEpisodes #EndoRestorative

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 1.0 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C 

AGD Subject Code: 430 Pediatric Dentistry.

Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To give dental practitioners a clear, decision-led approach to restorative paediatric dentistry — how to choose between filling, crowning, pulpotomy and extraction, how to manage caries conservatively, and how to carry out a pulpotomy and stainless steel crown safely.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Differentiate the presentations that indicate a direct restoration, a stainless steel crown, a vital pulpotomy, or an extraction in the primary dentition, using clinical and radiographic findings.
  • Describe minimally invasive and behaviour-management options in children — silver diamine fluoride, fluoride varnish, resin infiltration, local anaesthesia, sedation and isolation — and select them appropriately for the individual child.
  • Apply a step-by-step technique for a vital pulpotomy and stainless steel crown in a primary molar, including the current choice of medicament and cementation.


Consent in Orthodontics Should Be Individualised – PDP27303 Jul 202600:46:31

How good is your consent for orthodontics — really?

More adults are having ortho, and more GDPs are providing it. So which risks should you be discussing with every single patient — and which ones depend on the person in the chair?

When a case is heading for a big overjet or a tricky rotation, is that a conversation you have at the start, or one you scramble to explain halfway through?

And what actually makes a consent form legally valid — the signature, or everything around it?

This episode brings together two perspectives you don’t often hear in the same room. Dr Zaid Esmailis a specialist orthodontist and founder of the Online Orthodontic Academy, who mentors GDPs through fixed and aligner cases. Dr Neel Jaiswal returns for the dento-legal view — he’s a dentist and the founder of Professional Dental Indemnity (PDI). Together with Jaz, they get very specific about what individualised consent looks like in practice, and how to build a process your patients remember and a court respects.

 https://youtu.be/YvsiIiX1Q1w 

Watch PDP273 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Make Your Patient Feel Unique

It might be your 100th, 500th or 1,000th case — but for the patient in the chair, this is a significant event. Never forget that. A routine extraction is routine for you; for them it’s a big deal, and remembering that makes you a better communicator.

To make a specific risk stick, make the patient feel unique. Point to their OPG: “Your sinus here is actually really interesting,” or “Did you know your roots are unusually long?” Patients remember a risk framed as if they’re a special case far better than a generic warning. Make it personal, and the consent becomes memorable.

What You’ll Take From This Episode

The whole episode turns on one idea: generic, templated consent is no longer defensible — the skill is individualising the form to the patient in front of you. Premium members get the full breakdown; here’s the shape:

  • The layers of valid consent — consent is like an onion; a signed form and a documented conversation each cover a gap the other leaves open.
  • Individualising risk from the records — how the OPG and photos turn a generic warning (resorption, devitalisation, recession, relapse) into a patient-specific one.
  • The two-appointment consent flow — records, individualised risks, thinking time, and why you sign or initial every line.
  • The Class II Div 2 overjet trap — the case that looks like simple crowding and ends in a big overjet, and how to consent for it before you start.
  • When to treat, add an option, or refer — the GDC line on offering all options, and building alternatives into the form.

Highlights of This Episode:

  • 00:00  Teaser
  • 01:01  Consent in Orthodontics: Why It Has to Be Individualised
  • 02:59  Protrusive Dental Pearl: Make Your Patient Feel Unique
  • 07:58  What Makes Orthodontic Consent Different
  • 10:08  How Much Ortho Litigation Comes From Consent?
  • 11:53  What Makes Consent Valid and Patient-Specific
  • 12:26  Individualising Ortho Risk from the OPG
  • 13:11  Using the ClinCheck as a Consent Tool
  • 14:40  How to Structure the Consent Appointment
  • 15:30  Root Resorption, Devitalisation, Recession and Relapse
  • 19:37  Should You Initial Every Line of a Consent Form?
  • 21:50  Midroll
  • 27:11  Building a Multi-Layered Consent Process
  • 29:31  Consenting for Fees, Relapse and Retainers
  • 34:41  The Class II Div 2 Overjet Trap
  • 37:51  When Should a GDP Refer an Ortho Case?
  • 40:31  How to Learn Orthodontics with Mentorship
  • 47:01  Outro

Dr Zaid Esmail is a specialist orthodontist. He founded the Online Orthodontic Academy to teach GDPs orthodontics — assessment, diagnosis and treatment planning across fixed appliances and aligners — with one-to-one case mentorship. He’s extended a 10% discount to the community with the code PROTRUSIVE.

👉  Online Orthodontic Academy — online ortho mentorship, fixed & aligners, Level 7 Diploma

Dr Neel Jaiswal returned for the dento-legal perspective. He’s a dentist and the founder of Professional Dental Indemnity (PDI), which introduces dentists to insurance-based indemnity cover.

Request a Quote for Insurance and Get £100 off

👉  Professional Dental Indemnity (PDI) — insurance-based dental indemnity

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: Consent Is Like An Onion – Are You Consenting Your Patients Correctly? – PDP113

Tags

#PDPMainEpisodes #OrthoRestorative #Communication 

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

Listen: Subscribe to the Protrusive Dental Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

This episode is eligible for 0.5 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A

AGD Subject Code: 565 Documentation & Risk Management 

Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To help dental practitioners obtain valid, individualised consent for orthodontic treatment — identifying the risks that apply to every patient, tailoring them to the individual, and structuring a consent process that is both comprehensible to the patient and defensible in law.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Describe the elements that make orthodontic consent valid and patient-specific, including the material-risk standard and the role of reasonable alternative treatments.
  • Apply a structured, multi-layered consent process — individualising risk from the clinical records and documenting the discussion — to an individual orthodontic patient.
  • Identify the case types and clinical situations that warrant additional consent, an alternative option, or onward referral to a specialist.


Thinking About Teaching Dentistry? Here’s What You Need to Know First – IC07601 Jul 202600:43:15

Ever fancied teaching dental students part time… but no real idea how you’d actually get in?

Are you the kind of person teaching would energise — or quietly drain?

Is a PGCert in dental education actually worth it, or just wishy-washy theory?

And the honest question nobody asks out loud: does it pay anything?

This is an Interference Cast — the non-clinical arm of the podcast — with Dr Rima Hussain, a general dentist who teaches restorative dentistry to undergraduates at King’s a couple of days a week. It’s a candid look at what a career in dental education actually involves: how to get in, who thrives and who burns out, what the work is really like, and the honest truth about the pay and the rewards. The bigger theme: dentistry is a career you can mould in endless directions — and for the right person, teaching is one of the most energising of them.

 https://youtu.be/DzmcM-SbD68 

Watch IC076 on YouTube

What You’ll Take From This Episode

The full self-assessment and the step-by-step route into a teaching role are in the Premium Notes. Here’s the shape of what we cover:

  • Are you built for the classroom? — the two-camp self-check (energised vs drained) that predicts whether teaching will recharge you or wear you down.
  • How to actually land a role — the ‘BDJ Jobs’ plus pick-up-the-phone route, and why “who you know” so often cuts through the application process.
  • Relatability as a strength — why being closer to a student’s level can beat decades of experience for an absolute beginner.
  • Back to basics — the “monkey see, monkey do” risk from YouTube and AI, and what the tutor’s real job becomes.
  • The honest pay-and-balance picture — why you don’t do it for the money, what you do get, and how teaching and practice keep each other fresh.

Highlights of This Episode

  • 00:00  Teaser
  • 01:08  Should You Teach Dentistry? How to Know If It’s for You
  • 04:39  How a General Dentist Gets Into Dental Education
  • 06:15  Signs You’re Suited to Teaching Dentistry
  • 08:52  Is a PGCert in Dental Education Worth It?
  • 12:07  How to Land a Clinical Teaching Post at a Dental School
  • 14:38  Why a Relatable Tutor Beats Decades of Experience
  • 16:52  How Dental Students Have Changed Since COVID
  • 19:20  Is Social Media and AI Helping or Hurting Dental Students?
  • 21:55  Midroll
  • 26:43  Why “Back to Basics” Beats Chasing Advanced Techniques
  • 29:20  How to Get a Teaching (or Associate) Job: Pick Up the Phone
  • 31:50  Why Dental Tutors Quit After Six Months
  • 36:29  The Most Rewarding Part of Teaching Dentistry
  • 38:46  Teaching, Practice and Pay: How to Avoid Burnout
  • 44:39  Outro

From the Guest

Dr Rima Hussain is a general dentist who also teaches restorative (conservative) dentistry to undergraduates at King’s College London — a route she fell into via tutoring as a teenager and has been in since 2019. Her advice for anyone curious: you’re probably already teaching in some form, so try it; the worst case is you find it isn’t for you.

👉  Reach Rima on Instagram

References & Further Reading

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Rath T. StrengthsFinder 2.0. Gallup Press, 2007. The strengths-assessment book referenced for the “Learner” theme and the idea of building your career around your natural strengths. “Learner” is one of its 34 themes; the assessment is now delivered as CliftonStrengths.
  • BDJ Jobs.The British Dental Journal jobs board where clinical tutor and academic posts are advertised, usually with short application windows.

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: 2 Years Out of Dental School – Insights for New Grads – IC066

#InterferenceCast #CareerDevelopment #BeyondDentistry

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

This episode is eligible for 0.5 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes B 

AGD Subject Code: 770 Self-Improvement 

Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To help dentists evaluate a part-time career in dental education — what the role involves, how to obtain one, and how to sustain it alongside clinical practice.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Identify the personal attributes and expectations that distinguish dentists who thrive in clinical teaching from those who do not.
  • Describe the practical routes into a dental-school teaching post, including where posts are advertised and how a direct, proactive approach can work.
  • Recognise the workload, financial and work-life-balance realities of part-time teaching, and strategies to avoid burnout while balancing teaching and practice.


Putting the ENT into dENTistry – PDP27224 Jun 202600:59:35

Sleep, Airway and Mouth Breathing: An ENT’s Guide for Dentists

Could a “normal” sleep study still be missing your patient’s airway problem?

Why do women and children with real symptoms keep scoring “mild”?

Should a mouth-breathing child see a myofunctional therapist — or an ENT first?

And which four questions screen a child for sleep problems in under a minute?

The roof of the mouth is the floor of the nose — so ENT and dentistry should be in constant dialogue. In practice, they rarely are. In this one, Dr David McIntosh— an Australian ear, nose and throat surgeon with a deep niche in sleep-disordered breathing — makes the case for why that has to change, and gives dentists practical ways to screen and refer. He is direct, analogy-rich and doesn’t mince words; expect a few positions that cut against the grain of how sleep apnoea is usually handled.

 https://youtu.be/QVEc0ocxTCc 

Watch PDP272 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: When the Numbers Mislead

Dentists love data — the AHI, the cut-offs (over 5 is mild, over 30 is severe). But take those numbers with a pinch of salt: the thresholds are arbitrary, and a single score tells you nothing about why a patient has the problem.

They don’t account for individual variability — especially in women and children, where a mild score can sit right alongside significant symptoms. Read the number with the anatomy and the phenotype — the clinical signs and the airway assessment — never instead of them.

What You’ll Take From This Episode

This conversation reframes sleep-disordered breathing from a number on a report into something you can localise and refer. 

  • A sleep study tells you IF, not WHY — sleep-disordered breathing is the whole spectrum; a normal study doesn’t mean normal breathing.
  • Phenotyping the airway — map the individual anatomical causes instead of trusting a single score.
  • Why women get missed — the gender bias built into standard adult screening tools, and what to ask instead.
  • The four-question filter for children — snore, mouth breathe, stop breathing, wake up tired: any ‘yes’ means refer.
  • Treat the cause before the function — why myofunctional therapy comes after the obstruction is cleared, not before, and how expansion and surgery are matched to the anatomy.

Highlights of This Episode

  • 00:00  Teaser
  • 01:00  Why ENT and Dentistry Should Be Talking
  • 02:51  Protrusive Dental Pearl: When Sleep Data Misleads You
  • 03:46  Meet the ENT Who Works With Dentists
  • 06:00  Sleep Physician, ENT or Dentist: Who Should Lead?
  • 07:26  Why Children and Adults Are Completely Different
  • 08:58  Sleep-Disordered Breathing Is Not the Same as Sleep Apnoea
  • 09:39  Why a Normal Sleep Study Doesn’t Mean Normal Breathing
  • 10:01  Same AHI, Different Cause: A Tale of Two Patients
  • 12:54  Why One Night’s Sleep Study Isn’t Enough
  • 13:44  Where the AHI Cut-Off Numbers Really Came From
  • 15:27  CPAP Explained: A Bridge, Not a Cure
  • 18:27  When Snoring Hides Something Serious
  • 19:10  What Phenotyping the Airway Actually Means
  • 20:27  Splint, CPAP, or Both?
  • 21:33  Why a CBCT Can Miss a Deviated Septum
  • 25:32  Is STOP-Bang Enough to Screen for Sleep Apnoea?
  • 26:06  Why the Epworth Sleepiness Scale Is a Blunt Tool
  • 26:50  Why STOP-Bang Is Biased Against Women
  • 31:17  Sleep Apnoea in Women: Mild on Paper, Severe in Life
  • 32:05  Midroll
  • 36:56  The Triad: Airway, TMD and Orthodontics
  • 37:12  The Three Most Common Causes of Night-Time Grinding
  • 39:41  The Four Questions That Screen a Child for Sleep Problems
  • 41:03  Tired vs Not Tired: The Sign That Changes Everything
  • 43:36  Should You Refer to Myofunctional Therapy Before an ENT?
  • 45:58  The Hidden Dangers of Forcing Nasal Breathing
  • 52:28  Maxillary Expansion vs Surgery: Which One Fixes It?
  • 54:51  How Dentists Can Assess Adenoids
  • 56:25  Save the Child First: The Drowning Analogy
  • 57:56  Where Dentistry and ENT Go From Here
  • 1:00:05  Outro – New-Look Premium Notes & CPD Outro

From the Guest

Dr David McIntosh is an ear, nose and throat surgeon (MBBS, FRACS, PhD) with a special interest in sleep-disordered breathing and airway obstruction. A self-described compulsive educator, he is the author of several books on Amazon — including dENTal health, on the connection between ENT and dental disease, and Snored to Death, on the lesser-recognised causes of obstructive sleep apnoea in adults.

References & Further Reading

Sources discussed in this episode:

Loved This Episode? Try Next

Airway Dentistry with Jeff Rouse – PDP229

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD

This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C

AGD Subject Code: 730 – Oral Medicine, Oral Diagnosis, Oral Pathology (Sleep medicine)

#PDPMainEpisodes #OralSurgeryandOralMedicine

Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To help dental practitioners recognise sleep-disordered breathing across the whole airway, screen adults and children appropriately, and refer at the right time and to the right clinician.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Differentiate sleep-disordered breathing from obstructive sleep apnoea, and explain why a normal sleep study does not exclude clinically significant breathing problems.
  • Apply a structured screening approach for adults and children, including recognising why standard adult tools under-detect sleep-disordered breathing in women and children.
  • Evaluate when to refer for specialist airway assessment, and articulate why addressing anatomical obstruction should precede functional (myofunctional) therapy.


Your Dental Assistant Can Make or Break You – IC07517 Jun 202600:47:32

The most important part of your surgery isn’t plugged in, mounted, or calibrated. It’s the person standing beside you.

Have you ever dreaded walking into a beautiful practice with lovely patients — purely because of who you share the surgery with?

What do you actually do, in the moment, when your assistant rolls their eyes at a request for rubber dam?

And should you be friends with your assistant at all — or does that cross a line you’ll regret?

This is an Interference Cast — a non-clinical but deeply practical episode — with Dr. Sarah Braun, a dentist in Australia and a fellow Protrusive Guidance member who DM’d to suggest this very topic. No course, no book, nothing to sell: just two clinicians comparing notes (and the odd scar) on the one relationship that quietly shapes your whole working life. It sits inside this month’s theme of the relationships that support your career.

 https://youtu.be/OyztRyPpcHM 

Watch IC075 on YouTube

What You’ll Take From This Episode

The full breakdown is in the Premium Notes; here’s the shape of the thinking that runs through the episode:

  • Engagement is the whole game — the assistant relationship sets the mood of the room, the patient’s experience, and whether good people stay.
  • Speak their language — appreciation only lands if it’s delivered in the form that particular person actually values.
  • Appreciation is a verb — specific, named praise lands far harder than a vague “good job.”
  • Let them, let me — you don’t control how someone reacts in the moment; you only control your response to it.
  • Lead the room — dentistry is a performance, and the room takes its emotional cue from whoever is leading it.

Highlights of this episode:

00:00 TEASER
01:13 Why This One Relationship Can Make or Break You
03:49 A Non-Clinical Interference Cast: What to Expect
04:47 Meet the Guest: Nine Years In, City to Country
07:01 A Week in Private Practice
09:15 How Much Does the Dentist–Assistant Relationship Matter?
11:01 Engagement at Work: The Gallup Lens
12:30 People Remember How You Made Them Feel
14:21 When the Relationship Turns Toxic
15:23 The Power Imbalance You Might Not See
18:11 The First-Day Conversation
20:52 Keeping Your Assistant Engaged
22:23 Specific Praise Beats a Vague “Good Job”
23:55 Midroll
27:37 You Can Only Control Yourself
29:34 The Eye-Roll Moment: Let Them, Let Me
31:23 Off Days vs Patterns
32:12 Appreciation, Gifting & Speaking Their Language
35:32 Run the Relationship Like It Matters
36:48 Friends With Your Assistant, or Keep Your Distance?
39:08 A Best Friend at Work: The Engagement Link
41:15 Advice for New Grads: Start With Time Management
44:26 Teaching as a Tool: Show Your Working Out
48:05 Wrap-Up & a Healthy Debate
48:37 CPD Outro & the Protrusive Vault

References & Further Reading:

Sources and further reading from this episode:

  • Chapman G. The Five Love Languages. Northfield Publishing, 1992. The five ways people give and receive appreciation — words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, receiving gifts, and physical touch — applied here to the dentist–assistant relationship.
  • Robbins M, Robbins S. The Let Them Theory. Hay House, 2024. The “let them / let me” reframe for releasing what you can’t control and owning your own response.
  • Rath T. StrengthsFinder 2.0. Gallup Press, 2007. The CliftonStrengths assessment; “Learner” is one of its talent themes, referenced in the discussion of teaching as a way to engage your assistant.
  • Gallup employee-engagement research. The Gallup Q12 engagement survey (including the validated “I have a best friend at work” item) and Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace reports. Source of the workforce-engagement framing in this episode. Exact figures vary by year — see Reviewer Note.

Want more?

If you enjoyed this episode, check out: How to Find a Mentor in 5 Seconds Flat! – IC058. 

#InterferenceCast #CareerDevelopment #Communication #BeyondDentistry

Listen, Subscribe, Earn CPD:

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A and B

AGD Subject Code: 550 Practice Management and Human Relations

Aim & Learning Outcomes:

Aim: To help dental practitioners understand and strengthen the working relationship between dentist and dental assistant — recognising its impact on team engagement, patient experience and personal job satisfaction, and building practical habits to improve it.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Explain how the working relationship between a dentist and a dental assistant affects team engagement, the patient experience, and clinician wellbeing.
  • Identify practical strategies for communicating appreciation and recognition in ways suited to the individual, and for involving an assistant according to their preferences.
  • Apply self-management and emotional-regulation approaches to leading the surgery and responding constructively to interpersonal friction.


Rotary vs Reciprocating Files Part 2 with Samuel Johnson – PDP27110 Jun 202600:51:45

Is rotary really better than reciprocating?

Can you safely skip the glide path with modern reciprocating systems?

What is the best file system for a GDP who wants predictable endodontic results?

And perhaps the biggest question of all: does the file system matter as much as we think it does?

In Part 2 of the Endo Showdown, Dr Samuel Johnson returns to tackle some of the most common questions dentists have about file systems, glide path preparation, retreatment, and endodontic workflow. From practical negotiation tips to choosing a system that works in your hands, this episode focuses on the decisions that can make endodontics simpler, safer, and more predictable.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onZMR-872HQ 

Watch PDP271 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl

Cut your gutta-percha at the level of the canal orifice and thoroughly clean the pulp chamber before placing the coronal restoration.

⚠️ Leaving gutta-percha and sealer coronally can compromise the coronal seal and promote leakage.

✅ Use isopropyl alcohol to clean resin-based sealer residue before bonding. Water is effective for cleaning bioceramic sealers.

Key Takeaways

  • Establish a glide path before shaping whenever possible.
  • D-Finders can negotiate difficult canals more predictably than traditional K-files.
  • Intermediate files such as size 12 or 12.5 can help bridge the jump from size 10 to size 15.
  • Straight-line access reduces file binding and improves shaping efficiency.
  • Avoid forcing glide path files to working length.
  • Gates Glidden drills may be unnecessarily aggressive for routine coronal flaring.
  • Consistency with one file system is often more important than chasing the latest product.
  • WaveOne Gold remains a simple and user-friendly option for many GDPs.
  • Rotary and reciprocating systems can both achieve successful outcomes when used appropriately.
  • A good glide path is often more important than the type of motion being used.
  • Hand files and Hedström files remain valuable during retreatment.
  • Mechanical GP removal near the apex increases the risk of extrusion.
  • Solvents are best reserved for residual gutta-percha rather than used at the start of retreatment.
  • Understanding motor settings, torque, and RPM improves file safety and efficiency.
  • Knowing when to refer is a sign of clinical maturity, not weakness.
  • Clear consent and expectation management reduce stress for both clinician and patient.

Highlights of this episode: 

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 01:09 Introduction
  • 02:15 Protrusive Dental Pearl: Coronal GP Removal & Pulp Chamber Clean-Up
  • 03:59 Glide Path File Protocol & Canal Negotiation
  • 06:24 Access Cavity Design & Coronal Flaring in RCT
  • 08:38 File Taper & Canal Preparation Philosophy
  • 09:54 Managing Difficult Canals in Endodontic Treatment
  • 11:48 When to Introduce the Glide Path File
  • 13:24 Using Intermediate File Sizes
  • 15:39 Useful Negotiation & Shaping Tips
  • 17:19 Choosing a File System
  • 20:19 Rotary vs Reciprocating in Clinical Practice
  • 21:29 Motor Settings & File Control
  • 21:40 XP-Endo & Specialised File Designs
  • 22:05 Endo Motor Ads
  • 24:44 XP-Endo & Specialised File Designs
  • 25:16 Retreatment Files & GP Removal
  • 26:08 Preferred Gutta-Percha Removal
  • 31:21 Recommended System for Simplicity
  • 32: 44 Building Skills Faster in Endodontics
  • 36:13 Consent & Managing Expectations
  • 41:51 Reciproc vs WaveOne Gold
  • 42:22 Preferred Retreatment Protocol
  • 43:33 Using Rotary Files in Reciprocation
  • 45:12 Curved Canals & Shaping Efficiency
  • 46:32 Can Reciproc Blue Bypass the Glide Path?
  • 49:29 Outro

Want more?

Check out the previous episode with Dr. Samuel Johnson: Working Lengths and Troubleshooting Apex Locators – PDP216

🦷 Looking for an endomotor?

Upgrade your endodontic workflow with the Woodpecker Endo Radar Pro. Head to protrusive.co.uk/endomotor and use coupon code PROTRUSIVE at checkout to claim an exclusive discount and your choice of complimentary file system.

🎁 Subscribe to Dr. Samuel Johnson’s amazing YouTube Channel: I Love The Pulp for more helpful endodontics tips and tricks. 

#PDPMainEpisodes #EndoRestorative

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C

AGD Subject Code: 070 – Endodontics

Aim: To enhance clinicians’ understanding of glide path preparation, rotary and reciprocating instrumentation, canal negotiation, retreatment strategies, and risk management in contemporary endodontic practice.

Dentists will be able to –

  • Dentists will be able to evaluate the role of glide path preparation in improving shaping efficiency and reducing procedural errors.
  • Dentists will be able to compare practical considerations when using rotary and reciprocating file systems.
  • Dentists will be able to apply safe and predictable approaches to canal negotiation, retreatment, and clinical decision-making.


Rotary vs Reciprocating Files – The Endo Showdown with Samuel Johnson Part 1 – PDP27003 Jun 202600:44:01

Rotary or reciprocating files — which should you actually be using?

Is one safer than the other? Does reciprocation really reduce file separation? Are you choosing your system because it suits the canal anatomy, or because it is simply the one you were taught?

Endodontic file systems can feel like a maze of brands, tapers, alloys, motions and marketing claims. But beneath all that noise, the real question is much more practical: what is your file doing inside the canal, and what compromise are you accepting?

In this episode, Dr Samuel Johnson returns to unpack the Endo Showdown: rotary versus reciprocating files. We cover file motion, glide paths, shaping philosophy, NiTi metallurgy, cyclic fatigue, torsional fatigue, and why no system is perfect.

 https://youtu.be/HfWDBbNgjsA 

Watch PDP270 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl

A palliative root canal can be useful for an unrestorable tooth if disinfecting the canal allows infection to heal and natural bone to recover before extraction and future implant planning.

⚠️ Do not dismiss root canal treatment purely because the tooth is not a long-term functional restoration.

✅ Where appropriate, consider whether endodontic disinfection could improve the future implant site by allowing natural bone healing.

Key Takeaways

  • The purpose of shaping is not simply to scrape canal walls; it is to create space for irrigant flow.
  • Irrigation is the most important part of root canal disinfection.
  • Rotary files move in a continuous 360-degree rotation.
  • Reciprocating files cut in one direction and reverse before excessive stress builds up.
  • Modern reciprocation is designed to cut, release and gradually progress apically.
  • File choice is not just about motion; metallurgy, taper, design and operator experience all matter.
  • NiTi hand files with strong shape memory may be problematic in curved canals because they want to straighten.
  • Martensitic heat-treated files are more flexible and can better follow canal curvature.
  • Unwinding flutes are a warning sign that a file may be close to separation.
  • Inspect files regularly during treatment, especially in curved, calcified or difficult canals.
  • A glide path is essential before introducing larger rotary or reciprocating files.
  • Without a glide path, a shaping file may create its own path, risking ledging, transportation or perforation.
  • “Grabby” files pull themselves into the canal; this can be useful in experienced hands but risky if forced.
  • Reciprocating systems can feel simpler and safer, but they are not foolproof.
  • Cyclic fatigue happens when a file repeatedly bends around a curve until microcracks form.
  • Torsional fatigue happens when part of the file binds while the motor continues to turn.

Highlights of the episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:47 Introduction
  • 02:13 Protrusive Dental Pearl: Palliative Root Canal Treatment
  • 05:30 Main Question: Rotary vs Reciprocating Files
  • 06:31 Hybrid File Motions
  • 08:19 File Choice Is More Than Motion
  • 10:26 Purpose of Shaping in Endodontics
  • 11:10 Chemo-Mechanical Preparation
  • 11:34 Rotary Motion in Root Canal Treatment
  • 11:45 Origins of Reciprocation
  • 12:21 Balanced Force Technique
  • 18:00 NiTi K-Files vs Stainless Steel K-Files
  • 22:37 Practical Advice: Inspect the File
  • 23:40 Rotary Can Also Be a One File System
  • 24:24 Reciprocation and Sense of Safety
  • 24:47 “Grabby” Files
  • 24:53 Midroll
  • 33:54 Choosing Between Rotary and Reciprocating
  • 35:20 Cyclic Fatigue
  • 37:41 Endo Radar Pro Ads
  • 40:20 Torque and RPM in Endodontics
  • 41:41 Why Reciprocation Advances
  • 42:56 Debris Extrusion in RCT
  • 43:34 Benefits of Rotary Systems
  • 44:13 Tactile Feedback in Root Canal Treatment
  • 45:21 Outro

Want more?

Check out previous episode with Dr. Samuel Johnson: Working Lengths and Troubleshooting Apex Locators – PDP216

🦷 Looking for an endomotor?

Upgrade your endodontic workflow with the Woodpecker Endo Radar Pro. Head to protrusive.co.uk/endomotor and use coupon code PROTRUSIVE at checkout to claim an exclusive discount and your choice of complimentary file system.

#PDPMainEpisodes #EndoRestorative

This episode is eligible for 0.5 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C
AGD Subject Code: 070 Endodontics

Aim: To improve dentists’ understanding of rotary and reciprocating endodontic file systems, including file motion, glide path creation, file metallurgy, fatigue mechanisms, irrigation principles, and practical steps to reduce procedural risks.

Dentists will be able to –

  • Understand the clinical differences between rotary and reciprocating file motions and how these may influence endodontic workflow
  • Recognise key risk factors for file separation, including cyclic fatigue, torsional fatigue, file distortion and inappropriate file use
  • Apply practical principles around glide path creation, irrigation, file inspection and system selection in endodontic treatment


A Practical Guide to Modern Caries Management Part 2 – Peptides, SDF, Hydroxyapatite and Xeristomia! – PDP26927 May 202600:55:45

Should we still be drilling early caries lesions?

Where do peptides, resin infiltration, fluoride varnish and SDF actually fit in modern practice?

Is hydroxyapatite toothpaste a genuine alternative to fluoride, or just another dental trend?

And when you see that suspicious grey occlusal shadow, do you seal it, explore it, or actively surveil it?

In part two of this modern caries management episode, Jaz continues the conversation with Prof. Avijit Banerjee on minimal intervention dentistry. This episode moves beyond diagnosis and communication into the practical management of early and progressing caries lesions, including peptides, SDF, hydroxyapatite toothpaste, fissure sealing, xerostomia, root caries and selective caries removal.

 https://youtu.be/dGt7FW7C4N0 

Watch PDP269 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl

Use the Contemporary Caries Management Implementation Pack as a chairside aid to turn the episode into daily clinical action.

⚠️ Learning the evidence is not enough if it never makes it into your patient conversations, risk assessment or treatment planning.

✅ Print it, laminate it, and use it to support communication, diagnosis, active surveillance and minimally invasive decision-making.

Disclaimer: This is an educational resource produced by Team Protrusive, derived from the two-part Protrusive Dental Podcast episode featuring Prof. Avijit Banerjee. Its contents were not written, reviewed, or endorsed by Prof. Banerjee; they represent Team Protrusive’s own interpretation of the material discussed. It is intended as a practical summary and is not a substitute for primary sources. We strongly encourage all clinicians to consult the latest Clinical Practice Guidelines before making treatment decisions.

Key Takeaways:

  • Peptides are designed to infiltrate early enamel lesions and create a scaffold for mineral deposition.
  • Peptide technologies still need minerals from saliva, toothpaste, mouthwash or other sources to work.
  • Fluoride supports remineralisation; it acts more like the “mortar” than the “bricks”.
  • Early E1 lesions are usually managed with prevention, fluoride, oral hygiene, diet control and biofilm control.
  • Deeper enamel lesions, such as progressing E1 or E2 lesions, may be suitable for resin infiltration or peptide infiltration.
  • SDF is better suited to cavitated lesions where arrest and stabilisation are needed.
  • In the UK, SDF is licensed for dentine sensitivity, so caries arrest is an off-label use.
  • SDF can be very useful for children, older adults, medically compromised patients and care-home patients.
  • The main downside of conventional SDF is black staining, especially on anterior teeth.
  • Hydroxyapatite toothpaste has more science behind it than charcoal-style fad toothpastes.
  • Fluoride toothpaste remains the preferred baseline recommendation when patients are happy to use fluoride.
  • A suspicious grey occlusal lesion should be assessed in the context of the patient’s overall caries risk.
  • In selected cases, a tiny exploratory opening can act like a diagnostic biopsy.
  • Sealing fissures on the same tooth being restored can be sensible when the fissure pattern is deep.
  • For severe xerostomia and root caries risk, consider high-fluoride regimes, close recalls, trays or dentures as carriers for remineralising agents.

YouTube Highlights:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 01:17 Introduction
  • 02:17 Pearl: Caries Management Implementation Pack
  • 05:54 What are Peptides?
  • 14:42 SDF: Silver Diamine Fluoride
  • 14:55 Early Enamel Lesion Pathway
  • 15:11 When to Consider Resin or Peptide Infiltration
  • 15:51 Best Use Case for SDF
  • 20:14 Hydroxyapatite Toothpaste
  • 21:18 Fluoride Safety and Evidence
  • 27:00 Midroll
  • 40:53 Preventive vs Therapeutic Sealants
  • 42:09 Severe Xerostomia and Root Caries
  • 44:40 Using Trays or Dentures as Carriers
  • 45:48 Tooth Mousse and CPP-ACP
  • 47:11 Artificial Saliva
  • 47:46 Why the Patient Has Dry Mouth Matters
  • 49:35 Current Position on Stepwise Excavation
  • 50:09 Selective Caries Removal
  • 51:15 Deep Caries Guidelines
  • 53:01 Materials Are Not Everything in Caries Management
  • 55:59 Further Learning Resource 
  • 56:44 Outro

Want more?

Check out part one of this modern caries management series for communication, diagnostics, triangulating data and deciding which caries detection tools are actually worth using.

🦷 Download the Contemporary Caries Management Implementation Pack
Head to protrusive.co.uk/MID to access the free implementation pack, including key communication points, diagnosis guidance, management flowcharts and evidence links.

Professor Avijit Banerjee’s recommended reading and ongoing work:

  • New textbook: A Clinical Guide to Advanced Minimum Intervention Restorative Dentistry (Banerjee A., Elsevier, 2024) — the most comprehensive single reference for modern MIOC and MID.

👉  uk.elsevierhealth.com (ISBN 978-0-443-10971-3)

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

S3 Guidelines: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13099699/ 

🦷 Interested in Proximal Resin Infiltration?

#PDPMainEpisodes #BreadandButterDentistry 

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C

AGD Subject Code: 250 Operative (Restorative) Dentistry

Aim: To improve dentists’ confidence in modern minimal intervention caries management by applying risk-based decision-making, active surveillance, appropriate use of remineralising and arresting therapies, and evidence-informed restorative strategies.

Dentists will be able ...

A Practical Guide to Modern Caries Management – MIOC and MID Part 1 – PDP26820 May 202601:01:58

If you showed the same bitewing to 10 dentists, would they all agree on whether to pick up the drill?

Why does the word monitoring mean nothing to a patient — and how does swapping it for active surveillance change everything from your notes to your indemnity to your government policy meetings?

Is it overtreatment to act on an E2 lesion — or is “watch and wait” actually the lazy answer dressed up as minimally invasive?

And what should you actually do with AI caries detection that flags shadows your eye doesn’t see?

In this episode, Professor Avijit Banerjee— Professor of Cariology & Operative Dentistry at King’s College London, Honorary Consultant at Guy’s & St Thomas’, and First Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the College of General Dentistry — sits down with Jaz for what is genuinely one of the most important caries conversations on the podcast. Part one of two.

Avijit doesn’t do soft answers. The drill-fill-bill model is broken. “Monitoring” needs to go. “Treatment planning” is antiquated terminology medics dropped twenty-five years ago. And AI in caries diagnosis? Useful — but the moment it gets things wrong, you are the one with indemnity, not the software.

What you walk away with is a framework (MIOC), a decision filter (three factors that decide whether to pick up a bur), and a vocabulary shift you can implement tomorrow. Part two covers peptides, SDF, hydroxyapatite, stepwise excavation, and managing caries in xerostomia.

 https://youtu.be/YriLo8_hXNw 

Watch PDP268 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Delete the Word “Monitor” from Your Vocabulary

Stop saying monitor. Start saying active surveillance.

⚠️ Active surveillance must not mean passive delay — document your reasoning, risk assessment, and what would trigger intervention.

✅ Explain it to patients as structured, proactive care: clinical checks, radiographs, risk review, behaviour support, and timely action if things change.

Key Takeaways

  • Minimum intervention oral care is bigger than minimally invasive dentistry.
  • MIOC is prevention-based, person-focused, susceptibility-related, and delivered by the whole oral healthcare team.
  • MID is only one part of MIOC: operative dentistry when a tooth actually needs intervention.
  • The four MIOC domains are: identify the problem, prevent lesions and control disease, provide minimally invasive operative care, then reassess.
  • A care plan is more useful than a treatment plan because it includes justification, prevention, behaviour change, and review.
  • Ask patients what matters to you, not just what’s the matter with you.
  • Cavitation, cleansability, and lesion activity should guide whether to intervene operatively.
  • A cavitated lesion that cannot be cleaned is much more likely to remain active.
  • Smooth surface lesions may sometimes be made cleansable without conventional drilling.
  • Restorations are not just about filling holes; they help recreate a cleansable tooth surface.
  • There is no single perfect caries detection technology — clinical examination and good radiographs remain fundamental.
  • If using NIRI, fluorescence, scanners, or AI, understand how the technology works and where it fails.
  • AI should support diagnosis, not replace clinical judgement.
  • For uncertain early lesions, triangulate: clinical findings, radiographs, risk, technology, and patient factors.
  • Proximal resin infiltration has a role in the right patient and situation, especially as part of a wider prevention-led strategy.

Highlights of This Episode

  • 00:00 Teaser 
  • 02:17 Protrusive Dental Pearl: Active Surveillance, Not Monitoring 
  • 09:14 Minimum Intervention Oral Care vs Minimally Invasive Dentistry 
  • 11:28 Core Principles of MIOC 
  • 11:48 Domain 1: Identify the Problem 
  • 12:46 Domain 2: Prevention of Lesions and Control of Disease 
  • 13:18 Microinvasive Care Options 
  • 14:41 Domain 3: Minimally Invasive Operative Dentistry 
  • 16:38 Why “Active Surveillance” Matters 
  • 18:24 MIOC as a Practical Framework 
  • 19:43 Applying MIOC in Patient Communication 
  • 22:38 Sustainability & Salutogenesis 
  • 29:05 When to Pick Up a Drill 
  • 30:23 Biofilm as the Engine of Caries 
  • 31:33 Purpose of a Restoration in Caries Management 
  • 36:13 Caries Detection Technologies 
  • 42:44 Watch and Wait vs Detect and Manage 
  • 01:02:52 Outro

Professor Avijit Banerjee’s recommended reading and ongoing work:

  • New textbook: A Clinical Guide to Advanced Minimum Intervention Restorative Dentistry (Banerjee A., Elsevier, 2024) — the most comprehensive single reference for modern MIOC and MID.

👉  uk.elsevierhealth.com (ISBN 978-0-443-10971-3)

🦷 Interested in Proximal Resin Infiltration?

Loved This Episode? Try this next:

Is Caries Detector Dye BS? – PDP138

#PDPMainEpisodes #BreadandButterDentistry 

Listen & Earn CPD

This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A and C

AGD Subject Code: 250 Operative Dentistry (Caries Detection and Prevention)

Aim & Learning Outcomes

Aim: To equip dental practitioners with a contemporary, evidence-informed framework for the diagnosis and non-operative or minimally invasive management of dental caries — with a particular focus on the decision-making that determines whether operative intervention is justified.

Learning Outcomes — by the end of this episode, dentists will be able to:

  • Describe the four underpinning principles and four clinical domains of Minimum Intervention Oral Care (MIOC), and articulate the difference between MIOC and ...
Realism, Mistakes and Radical Honesty in Dentistry – IC07413 May 202600:34:09

Why does dentistry on social media look so perfect?

Are those flawless before-and-after cases the reality of everyday practice—or just the highlight reel?

And why aren’t we talking more openly about the failures, frustrations, and imperfect outcomes that every dentist experiences?

In this episode, Dr Artem Mkrtichyan joins Jaz for a refreshingly honest conversation about the realities of modern dentistry. Known for his candid and relatable social media posts, Dr. Artem has built a following by sharing what many dentists think—but rarely say out loud: dentistry is hard, results aren’t always perfect, and social media often paints an unrealistic picture of the profession.

 https://youtu.be/uTKaeewgrgE 

Watch IC074 on YouTube

Key Takeaways

  • Social media has become a powerful tool for dentists to connect and share experiences.
  • Mistakes in clinical practice are common and should be openly discussed.
  • Rural practice may not always lead to higher income as expected.
  • Success in dentistry is subjective and varies for each individual.
  • Continuous learning and skill development are crucial for career growth.
  • Financial freedom in dentistry is not guaranteed and varies widely.
  • Networking and mentorship can significantly impact career progression.
  • Social media can be leveraged to attract patients and build a personal brand.

Highlights of this episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:18 Introduction
  • 02:24 Meet Dr Artem Mkrtichyan
  • 05:27 Rejections And Resilience
  • 09:03 Why Honesty Wins
  • 10:58 Rural Dentistry Reality
  • 14:58 Handling Online Criticism
  • 16:01 Associate Vs Owner Myth
  • 18:05 Midroll: Protrusive App
  • 22:48 Dentistry Money Reality
  • 26:57 Design Your Career Path
  • 28:00 Standing Out In Saturated Markets
  • 29:27 Content Marketing Strategy
  • 31:46 Veneer Minimum Ethics
  • 33:48 Final Advice And Community

If this episode resonated with you, don’t miss “I Committed Fraud – Learn from My Mistakes” – PDP248

#InterferenceCast #BeyondDentistry

This episode is not eligible for CPD/CE points, but never fear, there are hundreds of hours of CPD waiting for you on the Ultimate Education Plan.


10 Occlusion Pearls That Will Blow Your Mind – PDP26711 May 202600:54:56

Why does occlusion feel so confusing at dental school?

What if the problem is not that occlusion is too complex, but that it was taught in the wrong order?

How do you make sense of worn teeth, bite scans, shimstock, leaf gauges, provisionals and T-Scan without getting overwhelmed?

And which small ideas can genuinely change the way you diagnose, plan and restore?

In this episode, Jaz is joined by Dr. Mahmoud Ibrahim for a brilliant occlusion-focused conversation. They each bring five clinical “pearls” that helped occlusion finally click for them — from facially generated treatment planning to checking the contralateral side, muscle palpation, provisionals and digital occlusal data.

 https://youtu.be/REQ_L5NNEF4 

Watch PDP267 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl

Create a PowerPoint or Keynote library of your clinical photos so you can quickly show patients relevant examples during consultations.

⚠️ Avoid hunting through random folders chairside — it feels clunky and breaks the flow of the conversation.

✅ Build a scrollable visual library of cracks, before-and-afters, complications, direct restorations, overlays, crowns and consent examples to support clearer patient communication.

Key Takeaways

  • Occlusion becomes easier when it is placed inside the treatment planning sequence, not treated as a separate subject.
  • Facially generated treatment planning starts with where the upper teeth need to be for aesthetics.
  • Once the central incisors are planned, the rest of the occlusion becomes easier to organise.
  • Worn teeth that are still in occlusion are often in the wrong position.
  • Anterior wear may be caused by tooth position, contact time, contact force, or a combination of all three.
  • Gingival levels can reveal whether worn lower incisors have over-erupted.
  • Digital bite scans are useful, but they are not always a perfect representation of the patient’s bite.
  • Shimstock remains one of the most valuable and inexpensive tools for checking true occlusal contacts.
  • After fitting a restoration, checking the contralateral side first can reveal whether the new restoration is high.
  • Anterior guidance should be steep enough to separate the back teeth, but shallow enough to allow the lower incisors room to move.
  • Muscle palpation should assess the quality and symmetry of contraction, not just whether the muscles exist.
  • Always assess the opposing tooth before placing composite, ceramic or an indirect restoration.
  • A leaf gauge can help create a more repeatable jaw position when planning more complex occlusal cases.
  • Provisionals are essential for testing aesthetics, function, vertical dimension and occlusion before committing to final restorations.

Highlights of the Episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:56 Introduction
  • 03:36 Pearl: Build a Clinical Photo PowerPoint
  • 12:48 Pearl 1: Facially Generated Treatment Planning
  • 15:56 Pearl 2: Worn Teeth in Occlusion Are in the Wrong Position
  • 18:05 Why Tooth Position Matters
  • 18:22 Three Causes of Wear to Consider
  • 19:34 Pearl 3: Digital Bite Scans Are Not Always Accurate
  • 20:24 Why Shimstock Still Matters in Digital Dentistry
  • 24:18 Pearl 4: Check the Contralateral Side After a Restoration
  • 26:27 Pearl 5: The First Movement of Opening Is Not Pure Rotation
  • 28:27 Midroll
  • 33:10 Pearl 6: Healthy Occlusion Should Have Coordinated Muscle Contraction
  • 35:22 Why Muscle Palpation Is a Useful Data Point
  • 38:18 Practical Muscle Assessment Tip
  • 38:58 Pearl 7: Always Look at the Opposing Tooth
  • 39:33 What to Check Before an Indirect Restoration
  • 39:44 Why the Opposing Tooth Matters
  • 41:13 Pearl 8: Leaf Gauge for Finding a Repeatable Jaw Position
  • 42:43 What a Leaf Gauge Is
  • 44:33 Pearl 9: Provisionals Reduce the Fear of Complex Cases
  • 47:49 Pearl 10: T-Scan Adds Objective Occlusal Data
  • 53:16 Course Options and Learning Pathway
  • 55:59 Outro

✨Connect with Dr. Mahmoud on Instagram

📍 Want to make occlusion more practical?

  • Bulletproof is designed to take occlusion from abstract theory to real-world clinical application — covering posterior crowns, quadrant dentistry, PROPER conformative dentistry, occlusal risk assessment, shimstock, leaf gauges and daily protocols you can use straight away.
  • The next Bulletproof course takes place on 26th–27th June at London Heathrow (Radisson Blu Hotel)
  • Don’t miss it — find out more at bulletproofdentistry.com

➡️Check out more episodes on occlusion: Indirect Restorations For Guiding Teeth – PDP196

#PDPMainEpisodes #OcclusionTMDandSplints

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C

AGD Subject Code: 180 Occlusion

Aim: To help dentists improve their understanding and clinical application of occlusion by recognising key diagnostic signs, using practical occlusal assessment tools, and applying occlusal principles to restorative treatment planning.

Dentists will be able to –

  • Apply facially generated treatment planning principles when assessing occlusal and restorative cases.
  • Identify how tooth position, contact time and contact force contribute to tooth wear and restoration risk.
  • Use practical occlusal assessment methods such as shimstock, contralateral checking, muscle palpation, leaf gauges, provisionals and T-Scan data.


Posterior Composites Done Right – PDP26608 May 202600:48:53

Are we overcomplicating posterior composites?

Are those beautiful fissures and stains actually helping the patient… or just us?

Why does that “perfect” restoration suddenly need 20 minutes of occlusal adjustment after rubber dam removal?

And how can we make functional, predictable composites without burning time or stress?

In this episode, Dr. Vishaal Shah shares a refreshingly practical approach to posterior composites. From understanding the basics, to simplifying anatomy and improving efficiency, this is a grounded, clinically focused conversation on how to deliver restorations that actually serve the patient.

 https://youtu.be/tdkTxzcloN0 

Watch PDP266 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl
Match your composite anatomy to the patient’s dental age and opposing dentition before you start building.

⚠️ Overbuilding cusps in a worn dentition will create occlusal interferences and wasted adjustment time
✅ Assess space, wear, and occlusion first—then design the restoration accordingly

Key Takeaways

  • Function, efficiency, and occlusal compatibility should guide every restoration
  • Dental age (wear) is more important than chronological age when planning anatomy
  • Always assess the opposing tooth before designing cusps and fissures
  • Use the whole arch—not just the contralateral tooth—as your anatomical guide
  • Follow the central fissure line across the quadrant to orient your restoration
  • Avoid textbook anatomy in worn dentitions—adapt to what’s present
  • Large MOD composites often act as interim restorations before crowns
  • Build proximal walls first to establish contact and control final contour
  • Use composite slump (with a microbrush) to naturally form proximal curvature
  • Base layer height should match the deepest fissure level of adjacent teeth
  • Map out fissures and cusps before building to improve accuracy and speed
  • Start with the most difficult cusp first to reduce fatigue-related errors
  • Proper planning before drilling reduces occlusal errors and remakes

Highlights of the Episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 01:08 Introduction
  • 01:50 Pearl: Matching Anatomy to Dental Age
  • 05:32 Posterior Composite: Start with Basics, Not Complexity
  • 10:42 Efficient Approach to Large Restorations
  • 14:22 Efficiency vs Ideal Posterior Restorations
  • 19:25 Building Proximal Walls First
  • 20:55 Using Putty Stents for Missing Cusps
  • 23:54 Midroll
  • 27:15 Using Putty Stents for Missing Cusps
  • 27:25 Matrix System Selection
  • 28:06 No Pre-Wedging Philosophy
  • 29:06 Managing Composite Overhangs
  • 30:46 Matrix Ring Differences
  • 32:45 Interjection
  • 37:03 Matrix Ring Differences
  • 37:43 Proximal Wall Technique for Posterior Composite
  • 41:03 Base Layer Strategy in Posterior Restorations
  • 42:23 Mapping Anatomy Before Composite Build-Up
  • 43:13 Cusp Build-Up Approach
  • 45:03 Minimal Adjustment Philosophy
  • 46:43 Final Philosophy: Keep It Simple
  • 48:00 Learning Opportunities
  • 49:54 Outro

🔥 Want to level up your posterior composites?
Dr. Vishaal Shah runs hands-on courses focused on simplifying and mastering everyday restorations.
👉 Visit www.levelupdentistry.com to explore courses and upcoming training opportunities.

More about posterior restorations:
Check out more episodes on occlusion and restorative dentistry: How to Place Posterior Composites without Destroying Your Anatomy – PDP200

#PDPMainEpisodes  #BreadandButterDentistry 

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C

AGD Subject Code: 250 Operative Dentistry

Aim: To enhance clinicians’ understanding of efficient, functional posterior composite techniques with a focus on anatomy, occlusion, and practical workflow.

Dentists will be able to –

  • Assess dental age and occlusal compatibility when planning posterior composites
  • Apply simplified, efficient techniques to build functional posterior restorations
  • Select appropriate materials and matrix systems to optimise contact, contour, and outcomes


Why We Need to Take MRIs for TMJs! – PDP26506 May 202600:45:41

When is it appropriate to consider an MRI for your TMD patient?

What’s actually involved in MRI of the TMJ?

Can you use any MRI machine, or is the choice of imaging center crucial?

And who should be reporting on these scans — does it really matter? (Hint: yes, it does!)

Dr. Kevin Lotzof, a straight-talking radiologist, joins Jaz for a controversial deep dive into the role of MRI in Temporomandibular Disorders. While many experts downplay its importance, Kevin argues that TMJs are under-imaged and under-diagnosed — and that we may be missing critical pathology.

They explore the practicalities of imaging, how to set expectations with your patients, and why strong but differing views in TMD care can ultimately help you refine your own clinical approach.

 https://youtu.be/-yo_Qx4Zg5Q 

Watch PDP265 on YouTube

 Protrusive Dental Pearl: Adopt the mindset of “Find the cancer today.”
When carrying out examinations—whether soft tissue or extraoral—approach it with the intention of detecting oral or skin cancers early. This mindset helps clinicians look beyond just teeth, catch unusual or suspicious lesions, and potentially save lives.

Key Takeaways

  • TMJ is often overlooked but is crucial for overall health.
  • MRI is essential for accurate TMJ diagnosis.
  • Cone beam CT cannot replace MRI for TMD assessment.
  • Patients with headaches may have undiagnosed TMD.
  • Education on TMJ imaging is lacking among dental professionals.
  • Asymptomatic patients should still be scanned for TMJ issues.
  • The quality of imaging directly impacts diagnosis accuracy.
  • Patients often feel anxious about MRI procedures.
  • Understanding patient perspectives can improve care.
  • There is a need for better collaboration between dentists and radiologists.

Highlight of the episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:55 Intro
  • 05:20 Protrusive dental pearl
  • 06:36 Interview with Dr. Kevin Lotzof
  • 09:38 Under-Imaging and Differing Perspectives
  • 13:27 Access and MRI Centers in the UK
  • 17:51 TMJ MRI: Patient Expectations
  • 22:17 Midroll
  • 25:53 Open MRI Machines
  • 27:26 Ideal Candidates for MRI Imaging
  • 29:55 Cone Beam CT vs. MRI
  • 31:53 Screening and Asymptomatic Patients
  • 38:43 Centers with Reliable TMJ Imaging
  • 41:27 Encouragement for General Dentists
  • 46:33 Outro

Where to Get Reliable TMJ Imaging

⭐ Top Pick:

🏙️ Other London Options:

  • Spire Bushey, Circle Hendon, Cavell, Kings Oak, Circle Healthcare Center 

Learn more about TMJ radiographic imaging in PDP223: Understanding TMD Radiographic Imaging – Pano vs CBCT vs MRI

#PDPMainEpisodes #OcclusionTMDandSplints #CareerDevelopment

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A and C.

AGD Subject Code: 730 ORAL MEDICINE, ORAL DIAGNOSIS, ORAL PATHOLOGY (Imaging techniques)

Aim: To highlight the importance of MRI in the diagnosis and management of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders, ensuring safe and effective orthodontic and restorative treatment planning.

Dentists will be able to:

  1. Explain why MRI is superior to clinical examination and CBCT in diagnosing TMJ pathology.
  2. Identify the key indications for TMJ MRI, including both dental and non-dental symptoms.
  3. Recognize the limitations of poor imaging technique and reporting in TMJ diagnosis


Zirconia vs. Titanium: The Implant Debate – PDP26429 Apr 202600:47:01

Is titanium still the gold standard for implants?

Are zirconia implants just hype from biological dentistry… or something more?

Do ceramic implants really integrate as well as titanium?

And should we already be offering patients a choice?

Zirconia implants are no longer a fringe concept—they’re entering mainstream conversations. In this episode, Dr. Pav Khaira returns to break down the science, clinical decision-making, and real-world application of zirconia vs titanium implants. From corrosion and osteoimmunology to occlusion and case selection, this is a practical, evidence-led discussion for clinicians navigating modern implant options.

 https://youtu.be/-RCvf2KOdSc 

Watch PDP264 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Thriving in Challenging Times

💡 Prioritize quality sleep—it sharpens decision-making, improves mood, and reduces irritability (6–7 solid hours beats longer, disrupted sleep).

➡️ Remember, stress comes from how we respond, not the situation itself—focus on what you can control and let go of the rest.

📢 Lean on your support system and make time for reflection and gratitude—they help reframe pressure and build resilience.

Key Takeaways

  • Zirconia implants integrate just as well as titanium, with comparable clinical outcomes
  • Early healing may be slightly faster around zirconia, but long-term results are similar
  • Titanium can corrode over time, releasing particles linked to peri-implantitis
  • Zirconia does not corrode, removing this biological risk factor
  • Modern implant thinking focuses on osteoimmunology, not just osseointegration
  • Zirconia implants are often one-piece → no microgap and improved crestal bone stability
  • Surgical placement must be highly precise—zirconia is less forgiving than titanium
  • Guided osteotomy is strongly recommended for ceramic implants
  • Fracture risk in modern zirconia implants is low when manufactured correctly
  • Hot isostatic pressing significantly increases zirconia strength and reduces defects
  • Case selection is critical—limited bone or complex angulation may favour titanium
  • Zirconia implants are typically cement-retained only
  • Excess cement remains a risk factor for peri-implant disease → manage carefully
  • Zinc phosphate cement is useful due to radiopacity and bacteriostatic properties
  • Angled screw correction (titanium) is predictable only up to ~15 degrees
  • Patient preference for metal-free dentistry is a growing driver of zirconia demand

Episode Highlights

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:49 Introduction
  • 02:32 Protrusive Dental Pearl: Advice for Dentists during challenging times
  • 05:14 Basics: What Are Implants Made Of?
  • 07:13 Osseointegration: Zirconia vs Titanium
  • 08:28 Why Zirconia? Biological Rationale
  • 11:13 Clinical Advantages of Zirconia Implant
  • 14:09 Zirconia Implants Limitations in Clinical Use
  • 17:45  Case Selection: When to Use Zirconia Implant
  • 19:16 Fracture Risk: Myth vs Reality
  • 21:30 Midroll
  • 24:51 Fracture Risk: Myth vs Reality
  • 25:29 Importance of Manufacturing Zirconia Implants
  • 27:49 Weaknesses & Clinical Considerations of Zirconia Implants
  • 30:49 Occlusal Programming for Implants
  • 32:24 Screw vs Cement Retention in Implants
  • 34:07 Angle Screw Correction (titanium Context)
  • 36:20 Cement Choices for Zirconia Implants
  • 38:27 Market Share & Future Trends of Zirconia Implants
  • 40:25 Learning Resources for Zirconia Implants
  • 41:51 Medico-Legal Considerations of Zirconia Implants
  • 47:37 Training & Education Pathways for Zirconia Implants 
  • 48:25 Outro

Want to go deeper into implants?

Explore Dr. Pav Khaira’s Academy of Implant Excellence— training designed to help you truly understand the why behind implant dentistry, not just follow protocols. Hands-on options, mentorship, and advanced training available.

✨Follow Academy of Implant Excellence on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/academyofimplantexcellence

Mentioned resources from this Episode

Want more?

📢 Check out more episodes on implant complications and treatment planning

#PDPMainEpisodes

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C

AGD Subject Code: 690 Implants

Aim: To improve understanding of zirconia implants, including biological considerations, clinical indications, limitations, occlusal principles, consent, and material-related decision-making.

Dentists will be able to –

  • Describe the clinical and biological considerations when comparing zirconia and titanium implants
  • Identify key case selection factors and limitations for zirconia implant treatment
  • Apply practical principles for occlusion, cementation, consent, and risk reduction in implant dentistry


Better Dentistry Through Compassion (Not Just Technique) – IC07325 Apr 202600:52:49

Is burnout inevitable in dentistry?

Why do so many high-achieving dentists still feel unfulfilled?

Are we too harsh on ourselves without even realising it?

And what if the way we speak to ourselves is the real problem?

In this episode, Jaz sits down with Dr Aditi Bhalla—a Prosthodontist and Integrative Psychotherapist, with over 15 years in dentistry and extensive training in mental health, mindfulness, and movement—to explore compassion-focused dentistry. They unpack burnout, perfectionism, fear-driven practice, and how understanding your mind could be the key to a sustainable, fulfilling career.

 https://youtu.be/pNsW6AiWsWQ 

Watch IC073 on Youtube

Key Takeaways

  • Burnout often stems from perfectionism, shame, and constant self-criticism
  • Many dentists tie their self-worth entirely to clinical performance
  • Childhood experiences can shape how we respond to stress and pressure
  • High-functioning anxiety is common but often goes unnoticed
  • NHS-style time pressure and fear of complaints drive chronic stress
  • Decision fatigue in dentistry significantly impacts performance and wellbeing
  • Social media amplifies comparison and feelings of inadequacy
  • There is a growing gap between expectations and real-world dentistry
  • Compassion requires courage, wisdom, and commitment—not weakness
  • Dentists are good at caring for patients but neglect self-care
  • Accepting positive feedback is as important as improving weaknesses
  • Emotional awareness is the first step to managing stress effectively
  • A “compassion toolkit” helps regulate emotions in real-time clinical scenarios
  • Sustainable dentistry requires prevention of burnout, not just coping strategies
  • Team culture improves when you recognise the human behind the role
  • Compassionate leadership still requires clear boundaries and accountability

Highlights of this episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:51 Introduction
  • 07:50 What “Therapy” Means
  • 11:43 Role of Childhood & Trauma
  • 13:10 Therapists Need Therapy Too
  • 14:40 Breakdown & Burnout in Dentistry
  • 16:50 Causes of Burnout in Dentistry
  • 19:50 Clinical Stress Factors
  • 20:50 Decision Fatigue in Dentistry
  • 23:35 Burnout in Modern Dentistry – Why More Now?
  • 27:38 Midroll
  • 30:59 Burnout in Modern Dentistry – Why More Now?
  • 31:11 What is Compassion?
  • 32:11 Lack of Self-Compassion in Dentistry
  • 33:11 Three Directions of Compassion in Dentistry
  • 35:11 Compassion Focused Dentistry (CFD)
  • 39:11 Nervous System Awareness
  • 41:31 Applying Compassion in DailyDental Practice
  • 43:01 Compassion = Emotional Intelligence + Mindfulness
  • 43:41 Compassion “Kit Bag”
  • 45:11 Compassion in the Team
  • 46:41 Creating a Compassionate Practice
  • 51:51 Getting Started with Compassion
  • 54:12 Outro

💡 Want to improve your wellbeing and prevent burnout?
Dr Aditi Bhalla runs free workshops and resources via the Dental Wellbeing Hub. You can also explore her work and sign up through her website: draditibhalla.com

  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/draditibhalla/
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/draditibhalla
  • Dental Wellbeing Hub Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dentalwellbeinghub

#InterferenceCast #BeyondDentistry

Want more?
Check out the episode with Marco Maiolino on perfectionism in dentistry – Stop Being a Perfectionist – it’s OK to Fail – PDP184

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes B and D

AGD Subject Code: 770 Self-improvement

Aim: To explore the principles of compassion-focused dentistry and how emotional awareness, self-compassion, and team dynamics can improve clinician wellbeing and reduce burnout.

Dentists will be able to –

  1. Recognise the role of emotional awareness and self-compassion in managing clinical stress
  2. Identify key contributors to burnout in modern dental practice
  3. Apply practical strategies to foster a compassionate and sustainable workplace


How Balancing Nutrition and Exercise Can Extend Your Dental Career – IC07222 Apr 202600:37:52

Are you sacrificing your health for your patients?

Are your neck and back quietly dictating how long you can practise?

Do you skip workouts because you “don’t have time”?

And what if your career ended—not by choice, but because your body gave up first?

In this episode, Jaz is joined by Fraser Smith, a sports scientist and nutrition expert, to break down what dentists actually need to do to stay healthy, pain-free, and practising for longer. From EMS training and realistic exercise routines to nutrition and injury prevention, this is a practical guide to protecting your most important asset—your health.

 https://youtu.be/kQu7rDlzT8k 

Watch IC072 on Youtube

Key Takeaways

  • Health is a key pillar of career longevity in dentistry
  • Many dentists sacrifice exercise and sleep during high-stress periods
  • Short, consistent workouts are more sustainable than long, infrequent sessions
  • EMS can be a useful time-efficient adjunct but should not replace a full training programme
  • Strength, endurance, and mobility are all essential components of fitness
  • Most dentists should start with small, manageable exercise habits and build gradually
  • Deadlifts are beneficial but require proper technique and guidance
  • Reformer Pilates is a practical option for improving posture and mobility
  • Stretching provides short-term relief but must be combined with strengthening
  • Most musculoskeletal pain in dentists is due to repetitive strain and weakness
  • Movement and gradual strengthening are key to managing and preventing pain
  • Ignoring early pain increases the risk of chronic, persistent symptoms
  • Nutrition should be balanced and sustainable rather than extreme
  • Protein intake is often insufficient in active individuals
  • Supplements can support performance but should not replace a good diet
  • Long-term success depends on prioritising health as part of professional responsibility

Highlights of this episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:53 Introduction
  • 05:40 What is EMS Training?
  • 07:45 Get to know Fraser Smith
  • 09:35 What’s the ideal health routine for Dentists?
  • 11:56 Deadlifts for Dentists
  • 15:01 Stretching & Posture Tips for Dentists
  • 18:35 Midroll
  • 21:56 Stretching & Posture Tips for Dentists
  • 25:41 Balanced Nutrition
  • 28:23 Protein Intake Suggestions
  • 30:51 Back Pain Management
  • 39:09 Outro

💡For tailored support with strength, posture, and long-term health,  check out Vive Fitness 

Want more?

Check out episodes on health and longevity in dentistry: My Neck, My Back (Fix Your Posture While Removing Plaque!) – PDP220

#InterferenceCast #BeyondDentistry

This episode is not eligible for CPD/CE points, but never fear, there are hundreds of hours of CPD waiting for you on the Ultimate Education Plan, including Premium clinical walkthroughs and Masterclasses.


Before the Breaking Point – Mental Health and Suicide Prevention in Dentistry – IC07115 Apr 202600:43:57

(This episode discusses suicide prevention and mental health. It does not include graphic details, but please listen with care. If this topic feels close to home, consider pausing and reaching out to someone you trust or a mental health professional.)

Why does dentistry have such high levels of stress and burnout?

Why do so many clinicians feel isolated despite working in busy practices?

What are the early warning signs that a colleague might be struggling?

And what can you actually do — practically — if someone is in crisis?

In this powerful and deeply important episode, Professor John Gibson shares his personal story and the mission behind the Canmore Trust. The conversation explores suicide prevention in dentistry, how to recognise warning signs, and the simple but life-saving actions every clinician should know.

 https://youtu.be/F8uWxhn3B8k 

Watch IC071 on YouTube

Key Takeaways

  • Dentistry has a well-recognised issue with stress, burnout, and suicide risk
  • Suicide is always multifactorial — never caused by a single event
  • Toxic culture, including harassment and unrealistic expectations, contributes to distress
  • Social media comparison can amplify feelings of inadequacy and isolation
  • Dentistry is uniquely demanding — both intellectually and technically
  • Mental health stigma prevents open conversations within the profession
  • Neurodivergence is increasingly relevant and often underdiagnosed
  • Perfectionism is a key risk trait linked to suicidal thinking
  • Working below your moral standards creates significant psychological stress
  • Warning signs include changes in temperament, withdrawal, and isolation
  • Asking directly about suicide does not increase risk — it can save lives
  • Use the “double bounce” approach: ask the question twice if needed
  • If someone says yes, act immediately — hospital or emergency services
  • You are not responsible for managing the crisis alone
  • Early support includes sharing concerns and involving a trusted person
  • GP support can be transformative and should not be delayed

Highlight of this episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:51 Intro
  • 04:16 John Gibson Introduction
  • 07:15 Understanding the Scale of Suicide in Dentistry
  • 09:59 Why Suicide Happens in Dentistry
  • 11:13 Key Risk Factors of Suicide in Dentistry
  • 12:09 Social Media and Comparison
  • 12:52 Isolation
  • 13:04 Difficulty of Dentistry
  • 14:03 Mental Health Stigma
  • 15:22 Neurodiversity
  • 18:18 Perfectionism and Moral Conflict in Dentistry
  • 21:44 Recognising Warning Signs of Suicide
  • 21:46 Midroll
  • 25:07 Recognising Warning Signs of Suicide
  • 26:21 How to Approach a Suicidal Colleague
  • 28:49 Double Bounce Technique
  • 30:44 If the Answer is YES
  • 33:36 Support and Resources for Dentists
  • 34:12 Key Suicide Prevention Steps
  • 37:40 Creating a Supportive Workplace
  • 39:18 Reflective Space
  • 40:00 Daily Positivity Practice
  • 42:46 Canmore Trust Podcast
  • 42:59 Outro

Learn more about mental health in Dentistry:

Check out more episodes on mental health, burnout, and wellbeing in dentistry.

PDP185 – Mental Health in Dentistry

IC040 – Overcoming Adversities

💙 Support and resources
If this episode resonated with you or someone you know, explore the Canmore Trust for practical support and guidance:
👉 thecanmoretrust.co.uk

👉 The Canmore Trust Podcast

They also offer helpful resources and podcasts focused on suicide prevention and mental well-being for healthcare professionals.

➡️General Dental Council – Mental Health and Well Being in Dentistry: A Rapid Evidence Assessment

#InterferenceCast #Communication #BeyondDentistry

This episode is eligible for 0.5 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance.

This episode meets GDC Outcomes B

AGD Subject Code: 770 Self Improvement (Mental Health / Stress Management)

Aim: To enhance clinicians’ understanding of suicide risk within dentistry, including contributing factors, warning signs, and practical approaches to supporting colleagues, fostering open conversations, and creating a mentally healthy workplace.

Dentists will be able to –

  • Recognise the multifactorial nature of suicide in dentistry and identify key contributing risk factors such as toxic culture, isolation, and stigma.
  • Identify behavioural and emotional warning signs of suicide in dental professionals and apply appropriate communication strategies, including direct questioning and empathetic support.
  • Implement practical steps to support colleagues in crisis and contribute to a workplace culture that prioritises mental health and wellbeing.


Implementing Sleep, Airway and Myo to Restorative Dentistry Part 2 – PDP26308 Apr 202601:20:59

You’ve spotted the signs—wear, scalloping, fragmentation, maybe even a low AHI—but what does that really mean?

When the data doesn’t match the symptoms, how do you move forward?

And how do you integrate airway into full mouth rehab without compromising function, stability, or predictability?

In this episode, Jaz is joined by Dr. Aston Parmar to explore the real-world application of airway dentistry. They discuss how to help patients own their problem, why sleep testing matters, and how airway influences diagnosis, treatment planning, and long-term outcomes.

 https://youtu.be/-zVV1FAT0NI 

Watch PDP263 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl

Nasal Breathing and Simple Screening

  • Nasal airflow can be a major limiting factor in sleep quality.
  • Simple test: flare nostrils → if breathing improves, nasal resistance may be present.
  • Nasal dilators can be a cheap, low-risk intervention for selected patients.
  • Not all patients need mandibular advancement — sometimes the issue is nasal.
  • Second pearl: test snoring improvement by advancing the mandible.
  • If forward positioning reduces snoring sound → mandibular advancement may help.

Key Takeaways

  • Patients must own their problem before accepting treatment
  • Airway dentistry is about risk reduction, not cure
  • Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) has limitations—context and patterns matter more than raw scores
  • Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) is common but underdiagnosed
  • Sleep fragmentation can exist even with low AHI scores
  • Myofunctional therapy improves compliance and outcomes
  • Multi-night sleep testing provides more accurate insights
  • Collaboration with ENT specialists improves diagnostic accuracy
  • Airway is the bookend of full mouth rehab (start and end)
  • Dentistry should be airway-sympathetic, not just tooth-focused
  • Mandibular advancement devices are effective but require careful titration
  • Morning occlusal guides help reduce bite changes from appliances
  • Not all patients need the same pathway—risk stratification is key
  • Predictability in dentistry depends on understanding the whole system
  • The environment (airway, function, biology) matters more than the teeth

Highlights of this episode:

  • 00:00 – Introduction to Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome
  • 02:08 – Pearl: Nasal Breathing and Simple Screening
  • 07:43 – Recap: Myofunctional Therapy and Indications
  • 08:30 – Role of Myofunctional Therapy in Treatment Planning
  • 09:40 – Patient Communication and Case Acceptance
  • 23:20 – Sleep-Disordered Breathing Spectrum
  • 23:50 – Apnea vs Hypopnea and Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) Limitations
  • 30:00 – Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS)
  • 35:43 – Management of UARS
  • 37:00 – Mandibular Advancement Devices (MAD)
  • 39:00 – Maxillary Expansion and Surgical Options
  • 41:00 – Treatment Pathway and ENT Involvement
  • 44:00 – Risk Assessment in Full Mouth Rehab
  • 59:30 – Airway-Sympathetic Dentistry
  • 01:02:00 – Treatment Philosophy and Case Selection
  • 01:07:00 – Airway as Bookends of Treatment
  • 01:09:00 – Managing Side Effects of MAD
  • 01:12:00 – Career Insight and Final Reflections

Want to learn more?

Watch part 1 of this episode: PDP262 – Implementing Sleep, Airway and Myo to Restorative Dentistry Part 1

Also, check out Stop Blaming Bruxism with Dr. Sandra Hulac – PDP142

🦷Master Airway Dentistry in Practice
Join Dr. Aston Parmar’s course on 8th May in Cardiff

  • Learn how to screen, test, and manage airway patients
  • Understand real-world workflows and patient communication
  • Build confidence in integrating airway into your practice

👉 Book via: www.dentalsleep.co.uk

🦷 Ergonomics Day – Dentistry Without Back Pain!

Join us Saturday, 13th June, Heathrow with Dr. Anikó Ball, world-leading ergonomics expert! Learn proper posture, positioning, and techniques to prevent back problems while practicing dentistry.

💺 Hands-on workshop with a mobile dental chair
📸 Live camera demo on a big screen
💻 Can’t attend in person? Join online with live stream & replay

🎟 Early bird tickets even include a full event video!

👉 Grab your spot now!

#PDPMainEpisodes #CareerDevelopment #OrthoRestorative

This episode is eligible for 1.25 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcome C

AGD Subject Code: 730 – Oral Medicine, Oral Diagnosis, Oral Pathology

Aim

To provide dentists with a practical understanding of airway-focused dentistry, including sleep assessment, risk-based treatment planning, and the integration of airway considerations into full mouth rehabilitation.

Dentists will be able to:

  1. Recognize the limitations of AHI and the importance of sleep fragmentation in diagnosis.
  2. Understand the role of myofunctional therapy in improving airway function and treatment outcomes.
  3. Apply a risk-based approach when integrating airway considerations into restorative and occlusal treatment planning.


Implementing Sleep, Airway and Myo to Restorative Dentistry Part 1 – PDP26201 Apr 202601:08:54

What do you actually do once you’ve screened a patient for airway or sleep-disordered breathing?

You suspect sleep apnea—but since we can’t diagnose it as dentists, how does that influence the care you provide?

What do you do with that information, and who should you be working with to help your patient?

And what if you want to implement airway into your practice—but you’re not in the right environment to do so?

In this episode, Dr. Aston Parmar joins Jaz to break down how to implement airway in everyday dentistry. Together, they explore what happens after screening, how it influences treatment planning, and how dentists can work with other professionals to deliver better care.

 https://youtu.be/wGbgbW8muUI 

Watch PDP262 on YouTube

 Protrusive Dental Pearl

Use the Mallampati Score as a quick chairside airway screen: have the patient open wide and stick out their tongue. Grade 1 = low risk; higher grades indicate greater Sleep-Disordered Breathing risk. 

⚠️ In TMD patients, limited opening can give falsely high scores. 

✅ Always interpret alongside history and full exam.

Key Takeaways

  • Airway management is often overlooked in dental education.
  • Sleep testing can significantly improve patient outcomes.
  • Dentists should focus on airway health to enhance sleep quality.
  • Collaboration with orthodontists can benefit patient care.
  • Myofunctional therapy is crucial for both children and adults.
  • Early intervention before age six is vital for nasal breathing.
  • Tongue function plays a significant role in dental health.
  • Breathing patterns can affect orthodontic stability.
  • The Malampati score is a key indicator of sleep disorder risk.
  • Upper airway resistance syndrome can be difficult to diagnose.
  • Collaboration with myofunctional therapists enhances patient outcomes.
  • Understanding airway health is essential for total body health.
  • Inspiring the next generation of dental professionals is important.

Highlights of this episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:51 Introduction
  • 04:03 Protrusive Dental Pearl: Mallampati Score
  • 05:37 Meet Dr. Aston Parmar
  • 09:51 Journey into Dentistry
  • 17:10 Implementing Training in Practice
  • 22:41 First Exposure to Airway Concept
  • 30:18 South Wales Dental Sleep Clinic Model
  • 30:21 Midroll
  • 33:42 South Wales Dental Sleep Clinic Model
  • 41:17 Myofunctional Therapy Explained
  • 48: 51 Orthodontic Stability and Neutral Zone
  • 54:52 Quickfire Screening Red Flags
  • 01:02:55 Sleep Apnea Basics
  • 01:04:23 Upper Area Resistance Syndrome (UARS)
  • 01:08:53 Outro

Want more? Check out Airway Dentistry with Jeff Rouse – PDP229

🦷 Ergonomics Day – Dentistry Without Back Pain!

Join us Saturday, 13th June, Heathrow with Dr. Anikó Ball, world-leading ergonomics expert! Learn proper posture, positioning, and techniques to prevent back problems while practicing dentistry.

💺 Hands-on workshop with a mobile dental chair
📸 Live camera demo on a big screen
💻 Can’t attend in person? Join online with live stream & replay

🎟 Early bird tickets even include a full event video!

👉 Grab your spot now!

#PDPMainEpisodes #CareerDevelopment #OrthoRestorative

This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcome C

AGD Subject Code: 730 – Oral Medicine, Oral Diagnosis, Oral Pathology

Aim: To provide a practical, data-driven framework for identifying airway-related risks, understanding myofunctional therapy, and integrating sleep screening into routine dental assessment.

Dentists will be able to –

  1. Recognize key airway and sleep-related risk factors during routine dental examinations.

2. Understand the role of myofunctional therapy in improving airway function and orthodontic stability.

3. Apply simple chairside screening methods to identify patients who may require further airway assessment.


I Tested an AI Receptionist… Here’s What Dentists Should Know – IC07026 Mar 202600:44:10

Are AI receptionists here to take over your practice?

How do they actually work, and what can they do—or not do—for your team?

Could they make life easier for staff without replacing humans, or are they just a gimmick?

In this episode, award-winning dentist and marketing expert Dr. Grant McAree joins Jaz to break down AI receptionists. Together, they explore what an AI receptionist really is, how it integrates with your practice, and the compliance and legal considerations every dentist should know.

They also dive into the bigger picture—who these systems are really for, how patient interactions are managed, and a live demonstration of an AI receptionist in action that shows exactly what it can—and can’t—do for your practice.

 https://youtu.be/Jx-0jOZG3lE 

Watch IC070 on YouTube

Key Takeaways:

  • AI receptionists are evolving to provide better patient interactions.
  • Data insights reveal significant gaps in patient communication.
  • The technology is designed to assist, not replace human receptionists.
  • AI can help streamline appointment bookings and patient inquiries.
  • Understanding patient needs is crucial for effective AI responses.
  • Customization of AI responses is essential for different practices.
  • The future of AI in dentistry looks promising but requires careful implementation.
  • AI should not be seen as a replacement but as a tool for efficiency.
  • Compliance and data storage are critical in patient interactions.
  • The integration of AI can lead to improved patient experiences.

YouTube Highlights:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 05:06 Meet Dr. Grant McAree
  • 07:32 Grant’s Journey to AI
  • 11:03 AI Gold Rush and Inequality
  • 11:56 Interjection
  • 14:01 AI Gold Rush and Inequality
  • 15:59 Compliance and Legal Risks
  • 18:42 What an AI Receptionist Does
  • 20:54 Midroll
  • 24:16 What an AI Receptionist Does
  • 26:51 Comparing AI to Human Receptionists
  • 32:47 Leads Data and Compliance
  • 36:38 Future Adoption and Risks
  • 42:46 Additional Features and Learning More
  • 43:30 Jaz Call to AI Receptionist
  • 46:01 Outro

Unlock the future of patient consultations! 🎯

Join my free course and learn how to use smart glasses + flamingo camera to give patients a live guided tour of their mouth—showing cracks, stains, and all the details in real time.

✅ Step-by-step setup

✅ Compatible with all loupes

✅ Tips to maximize patient trust and conversion

✅ PDF guides and tutorials included

DM me FLAMINGO on Instagram or Click Here to enroll before I start charging! Don’t miss out on this wow-factor technology.

Check out RoboReception—an AI receptionist and lead tracker that captures interactions and streamlines practice workflow.

If you want to dive deeper into AI, check out Practical AI for Dentistry – Save Time, Achieve More

#InterferenceCast #BeyondDentistry

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A

AGD Subject Code: 550 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RELATIONS

Aim

To understand the role, capabilities, compliance requirements, and practical integration of AI reception systems in dental practices.

Dentists will be able to –

  1. Identify key functions and limitations of AI reception systems in dentistry.
  2. Understand compliance and legal risks associated with AI in both NHS and private settings.
  3. Recognize practical strategies for integrating AI to support staff without replacing them.


Am I Naughty If? Accountant Version! Expense Claiming for Dentists – PDP26124 Mar 202600:52:00

Can you claim parking expenses as a dentist?

What about a coffee machine for your practice—could that really be deductible?

Or investing in a MSc in Implantology—does that count as a tax write-off?

In this episode, chartered accountant Sebastian Stracey joins Jaz to answer all those “am I naughty if I claim this?” questions that dentists and associates always wonder about. Together, they cover what’s truly deductible, what isn’t, and some surprising exceptions you might not expect.

They also dive into the bigger picture—how principals and associates really compare in terms of income, stress, and responsibility—and Seb shares insights that might change the way you view your career path.

 https://youtu.be/BW_TZ5iZ-B8 

Watch PDP261 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl

Check out our free Financial Resilience Webinar Replay on Protrusive Guidance, where Dr. Sunny Sadana and I discuss associate contracts, case acceptance, investing, and fee setting.

Key Takeaways:

  • Dentists often forget to claim mobile phone bills as expenses.
  • Home office usage can be claimed, especially for associates.
  • Keeping detailed mileage logs is crucial for claiming travel expenses.
  • Laundry and cleaning expenses for scrubs can be claimed.
  • Communication with your accountant is key to maximizing claims.
  • Continuing education expenses can be gray areas but may be allowable.
  • Gathering evidence for claims is essential to justify them to HMRC.
  • Specialization programs can be claimed if they build on existing knowledge.
  • Fixed fee services for accountants are beneficial for associates.
  • Always discuss your situation with your accountant to ensure compliance. Many new dentists struggle financially during their training.
  • Understanding tax obligations is crucial for financial stability.
  • VAT regulations can be complex, especially for cosmetic treatments.
  • It’s important to save for tax throughout the year, not just at the end.
  • Common misconceptions about tax deductions can lead to financial pitfalls.
  • Dentists should engage in financial education early in their careers.
  • Expense claims can be tricky, especially for gifts and personal items.
  • The distinction between personal and business expenses is vital for tax purposes.
  • Associates and principals have different financial realities in dentistry.
  • Communication and education about finances are essential for dental professionals.

Highlight of this episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:42 Introduction
  • 02:06 Pearl: Free Financial Resilience Webinar Replay
  • 04:45 Meet Sebastian Stracey
  • 06:56 Common Missed Expenses
  • 13:57 Home Internet Claims
  • 16:49 Asking Accountants Questions
  • 19:07 Claiming Masters Courses
  • 26:31 Specialist Training Costs
  • 27:30 Midroll
  • 30:41 Specialist Training Costs
  • 33:28 Saving for Tax Bills
  • 36:36 VAT on Cosmetic Work
  • 40:06 “Am I Naughty If?” Questions
  • 49:10 Wild Expense Attempts
  • 50:11 Ways Dentists Can Learn More About Tax and Finance
  • 51:56 Associate vs Principal Numbers
  • 53:39 Outro

Get expert financial guidance for individuals and businesses with Humphrey & Co—your trusted partners in taxes, planning, and business success

Learn strategies for career security, smart investing, and building wealth—watch Personal Finances for Dentists (IC068)

#PDPMainEpisodes #BeyondDentistry

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcomes B.

AGD Subject Code: 550 – Practice Management and Human Resources

Aim: To outline common allowable and non-allowable expense claims for dentists and highlight the importance of documentation, communication with accountants, and financial planning.

Dentists will be able to –

  1. Identify commonly missed claimable expenses in dental practice.
  2. Recognize expenses that are not allowable under tax rules.
  3. Understand the importance of documentation and communication with accountants when claiming expenses.


How this Doctor is Using AI to Audit his Communication and Conversion! – IC06917 Mar 202600:43:03

Can AI really help you communicate better with patients?

What if you could audit your own consultations and discover which words, pauses, and stories increase treatment acceptance?

Dr. David Amador joins Jaz for a fascinating episode exploring how AI can transform the way we interact with patients. From auditing conversations to radiographic interpretation, they break down practical applications that improve both communication and patient care.

They also discuss how storytelling, patient trust, and ethical use of AI all come together to boost treatment acceptance — showing that AI isn’t here to replace us, but to make us better.

 https://youtu.be/L38Hhu855Ro 

Watch IC069 on YouTube

Key Takeaways

  • AI is transforming the way dental practices operate.
  • Storytelling is crucial for effective patient communication.
  • Building a strong team culture enhances practice success.
  • Data security is paramount when using AI tools.
  • Continuous training is essential for team development.
  • Patient engagement strategies can improve treatment acceptance.
  • AI tools can streamline administrative tasks and improve efficiency.
  • Understanding patient needs leads to better care outcomes.
  • Effective marketing requires a solid online presence and SEO.
  • Networking with other professionals can provide valuable insights.

Highlight of the episode

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:34 Intro
  • 02:23 Dr. Amador’s Background and Practice
  • 08:14 Using AI for Decision Support
  • 10:26 Leveraging AI for Communication and Training
  • 15:57 Using AI for Patient Care and Diagnosis
  • 21:37 Midroll 1
  • 24:58 Using AI for Patient Care and Diagnosis
  • 26:11 Leveraging AI for Dental Practice Efficiency
  • 27:35 Midroll 2
  • 30:20 Leveraging AI for Dental Practice Efficiency
  • 32:44 Training and Scaling with AI Tools
  • 33:45 Creating SOPs and Playbooks
  • 36:53 Enhancing Patient Communication with Personalized Videos
  • 40:36 Training and Data-Driven Growth
  • 44:52 Outro

AI isn’t the future — it’s your next teammate.

Imagine: while you focus on patient care, AI records your consults, summarizes them, audits your communication, and helps interpret radiographs.

Plaud.ai makes note-taking automatic. Overjet makes diagnostics and patient communication crystal clear.

Check out Midtown Dental Studio — where cutting-edge technology meets genuine care. 

If you found this episode valuable, don’t miss PS015: Communicating Fees, Treatment Plans, and More

#InterferenceCast #CareerDevelopment #Communication

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A and B

AGD Subject Code: 550 – Practice Management and Human Relations

Aim: To explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to audit communication, enhance storytelling, and improve patient conversion while maintaining patient-centered care.

Dentists will be able to –

  1. Explain how AI tools can support communication, diagnosis, and patient understanding in dentistry.
  2. Demonstrate how storytelling and patient-centered communication influence treatment acceptance.
  3. Evaluate the ethical, professional, and practical considerations of integrating AI into dental practice.


Practical AI for Dentistry – Save Time, Achieve More – PDP26010 Mar 202601:07:15

What is a prompt, and how do AI models actually work?

Which AI tools should you be using in dentistry?

Is it safe to put patient details into AI—and how can it help you save time and reduce stress?

In this episode, Dr. Daz Kasperek joins to make AI in dentistry tangible, even if you’ve never used it before. Together, we cover the basics: from getting started with prompts and AI models to understanding ethical considerations and practical ways AI can streamline your workflow.

They also explore the bigger picture—how AI can improve efficiency, enhance patient communication, and give clinicians more time to enjoy life outside the clinic.

 https://youtu.be/cmin0h7GNyE 

Watch PDP260 on YouTube

 Protrusive Dental Pearl: A free AI tool called Dental Disrupt Smile Simulator lets you upload a smile photo and instantly generate a realistic smile makeover simulation for patient discussions. It runs as a custom GPT inside ChatGPT, created by Dr. Jason Lipscomb

Key Takeaways:

  • AI is revolutionizing the field of dentistry, particularly in diagnosis.
  • Prompt engineering is crucial for effective AI interactions.
  • Personalization of AI tools can significantly improve their utility.
  • AI can automate administrative tasks, potentially reducing the need for receptionists.
  • AI can enhance communication between dentists and patients.
  • The integration of AI in dentistry is still in its early stages.
  • AI can provide personalized recommendations for patient care.
  • Voice transcription is a more efficient way to interact with AI.
  • The future of dentistry will heavily rely on AI technologies. AI is revolutionizing image creation in dentistry.
  • Choosing the right AI model is crucial for effective use.
  • Patient confidentiality must be prioritized when using AI.
  • AI can transform administrative roles in dentistry.
  • AI can assist in personalized education and training.
  • The human connection in healthcare cannot be replaced by AI.
  • Job roles will evolve rather than disappear due to AI.
  • AI’s limitations highlight the importance of clinician expertise.

Episode Highlights:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 01:08 Introduction
  • 03:05 Protrusive Dental Pearl – Smile Simulator
  • 06:39 Meet Dr Daz Kasperek
  • 07:16 AI Adoption and Inequality
  • 16:58 Better Prompting with RCT (Role, Context, Task)
  • 21:56 AI and Administrative Work in Dentistry
  • 30:42 AI Notes in Practice
  • 35:05 Midroll
  • 38:26 AI Notes in Practice
  • 38:49 Smile Simulator Demo
  • 41:57 Choosing Your AI Stack
  • 49:01 Patient Confidentiality and Data Safety
  • 54:38 AI in Dentistry – What It Will Replace
  • 01:01:56 What AI Cannot Replace
  • 01:04:53 Endo AI Research and Thesis
  • 01:07:10 Contact and Resources
  • 01:08:17 Outro

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t miss “NEVER Write Notes Again! How I Use AI for Awesome and Efficient Dental Records – PDP181.”

#PDPMainEpisodes #CareerDevelopment 

This episode is eligible for 1 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A and C.

AGD Subject Code: 550 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RELATIONS

Aim: To provide dental professionals with a foundational understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) in dentistry, including its practical applications, limitations, and ethical considerations, to improve efficiency, patient communication, and clinical workflow.

Dentists will be able to:

  1. Explain what AI is and the difference between an AI model and a prompt.
  2. Identify key AI platforms and tools relevant to dentistry and personal use.
  3. Apply AI safely in clinical practice while maintaining patient confidentiality.


3 Secrets of STUNNING Resin Veneers Revealed! – PDP25903 Mar 202600:55:31

Are you struggling to get your resin work looking flawless?

Wondering how to polish your composites so they shine like a pro?

Curious about practical tips you can implement immediately to level up your smile makeovers?

In this episode, Dr. Charles Brandon shares three game-changing secrets for mastering composite resin. From practical techniques you can apply right away to a conceptual tip that will completely transform the way you polish, Charles leaves no stone unturned.

Get ready for an episode packed with actionable advice, insider knowledge, and inspiration from a dentist whose resin work is truly next-level. Whether you’re refining your layering skills or aiming for that perfect finish, this episode is a must-listen.

 https://youtu.be/dBlN_rbHnTI 

Watch PDP259 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Level up your resin veneers with the Perio Bur (code and more info here)— a long diamond bur for the slow-speed 1:1 handpiece that gives unmatched control, crisp shaping, and beautiful texture. If you use only one bur for finishing composite, make it this one.

Check out this video of Perio bur in Action on a Real Resin Veneer Case → protrusive.co.uk/periobur

Key Takeaways

  • The significance of patient communication and understanding their needs is highlighted.
  • Mistakes are seen as learning opportunities that contribute to growth in practice.
  • The role of mentorship in navigating challenges in aesthetic dentistry is discussed.
  • Aesthetic communication is crucial for patient satisfaction.
  • Patients are visually aided, not verbally aided.
  • Effective layering techniques can enhance composite work.
  • Practice on typodont models to build skills.
  • The polish is secondary to proper placement and finishing.
  • Understanding composite materials is key to success.
  • Start with two shades for layering to minimize complexity.
  • Courses should cover the entire process, not just techniques.
  • Self-teaching is a valuable way to improve skills.
  • Investing in oneself is essential for growth in dentistry.

YouTube Highlights:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 01:10 Introduction
  • 02:05 Protrusive Dental Pearl – Using a Perio Bur
  • 05:56 Dr. Charles Brandon’s Journey in Dentistry
  • 11:42 Challenges and Reflections in Aesthetic Dentistry
  • 19:08 Perfect Smile Secret #1: Build from the Bottom Up
  • 26:08 Managing Temporaries During a Trial Smile
  • 26:48 Midroll
  • 30:09 Managing Temporaries During a Trial Smile
  • 35:17 Freehand vs. Stent-Based Systems
  • 39:19 Perfect Smile Secret #2: More Than Polish
  • 44:23 Perfect Smile Secret #3: It’s Not the Composite
  • 48:19 Practice and Continuous Learning
  • 53:20 Course Offerings and Final Thoughts
  • 56:00 Outro

Level Up Your Skills

Practice at home with a simple AliExpress setup (~$200) including a 1:5 & 1:1 handpiece plus micromotor.

Take it further with Dr. Charles Brandon’s composite veneer Masterclass and master the full process from design to finish.

If you enjoyed this episode, check out Minimal Preparation Veneers – PDP219.

#PDPMainEpisodes #AdhesiveDentistry #CareerDevelopment

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcomes  C.

AGD Subject Code: 780 ESTHETICS/COSMETIC DENTISTRY

Aim: To equip dentists with practical techniques, workflows, and mindset strategies for delivering high-quality aesthetic dentistry using composite veneers, from patient communication and trial smiles to layering, polishing, and continuous skill development.

Dentists will be able to –

  1. Explain the importance of patient communication, trial smiles, and expectation management in aesthetic dentistry.
  2. Demonstrate a stepwise workflow for additive composite veneers, including mock-ups, trial duration, and handling of temporaries.
  3. Apply layering, finishing, and polishing techniques effectively using minimal composite shades to achieve predictable aesthetic outcomes.

Cost:
Access to this CE activity is included with an active Protrusive Guidance membership. Current membership pricing is available at www.protrusive.app.

Cancellation & Refund Policy:
Memberships may be cancelled at any time. Access to CE activities remains active until the end of the current billing cycle. Subscription charges are non-refundable once processed. Full details are available at www.protrusive.app.


Personal Finances for Dentists – Career Security, Investing & Your Rich Life – IC06824 Feb 202600:47:02

Are you a high-earning dentist… living paycheck to paycheck?

Do you ever feel financially stretched – despite earning well?

Are you trapped in dentistry’s “golden handcuffs”?

And what would your life look like if you worked because you wanted to… not because you had to?

In this rare solo episode, Jaz steps away from occlusion and restorative dentistry to talk about something just as important: personal finances and career security for dentists.

After going deep down the money rabbit hole — reading books like Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Simple Path to Wealth, and I Will Teach You To Be Rich — Jaz shares how his upbringing, early career decisions, and financial education shaped his beliefs about wealth, freedom, and dentistry.

This isn’t financial advice.
It’s a mindset shift.

And for many dentists, it might be the most important episode you hear this year.

 https://youtu.be/4OXruGIdb_g 

Watch IC068 on YouTube

Your day list reflects your earning power.

The work you do each day quietly sets the limits of what you can earn.

Exams and single-surface composites create one kind of ceiling; comprehensive cases, ortho, rehab, sedation, and complex restorative work create another.

Upskilling changes that ceiling and gives you far more control over your financial future.

Want more mindset shifts like this?
AskJaz — your on-demand dental brain — is built into the Protrusive App.

Key Takeaways

  • High income does not guarantee financial security.
  • Dentistry can become “golden handcuffs” without asset building.
  • Invest in yourself early — skill drives earning power.
  • Lifestyle creep quietly erodes freedom.
  • Financial independence means practicing because you want to.
  • Define your rich life and align spending accordingly.

Highlights of This Episode:

00:00 Why talk about money on a dental podcast?
04:12 Perspective and gratitude as dentists
10:45 The 45% paycheck-to-paycheck poll
16:20 Associates vs principals — the reality
22:34 Lifestyle creep explained
27:18 Golden handcuffs in dentistry
31:10 Growing up with financial scarcity
40:02 Investing in yourself early in your career
47:55 Index funds and financial resilience
55:20 The 20% happiness illusion
01:02:18 Defining your rich life
01:08:42 Action steps and reflection

#PersonalFinances 

This episode isnot eligible for CPD/CE points, but never fear, there are hundreds of hours of CPD waiting for you on the Ultimate Education Plan.

If you enjoyed this episode, check out IC022 – Income for Dentists and Jaz’s Top 10 Financial Literacy books inside Protrusive Guidance.


Hypnotherapy Meets Dentistry – Transforming Patient Behaviour – PDP25817 Feb 202600:31:54

Have you ever wondered how hypnotherapy can help your dental patients?

Can it really reduce anxiety, manage chronic pain, or even stop habits like cheek biting?

How can dentists integrate hypnotherapy into their care without stepping outside their scope of practice?

In this episode, Jaz and Dr. Rita Pais break down how hypnotherapy works, who can benefit, and practical ways dentists can incorporate it into patient care.

They also discuss real patient examples, from dental phobia to awake bruxism, showing how a minimally invasive talking therapy can make a real difference in improving habits, reducing stress, and enhancing overall patient outcomes.

 https://youtu.be/ONnC_nP0iBQ 

Watch PDP258 on YouTube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: How to Get Patients to Happily Accept a Mouth Prop – Use confident, directive communication paired with a simple analogy and a swallowing expectation to dramatically improve patient acceptance of mouth props.

Key Takeaways

  • Hypnotherapy combines hypnosis with therapeutic techniques for health outcomes.
  • Cognitive Behavioral Hypnotherapy (CBH) enhances treatment effectiveness.
  • Patients must be willing to try hypnotherapy for it to work.
  • Chronic pain management can benefit from relaxation techniques in hypnotherapy.
  • Hypnotherapy can address dental phobias and habits like nail-biting.
  • Awareness of habits is crucial for effective hypnotherapy.
  • Finding a qualified hypnotherapist is essential for successful treatment.
  • Science-based approaches in hypnotherapy are preferred by practitioners.
  • Success stories in hypnotherapy can be very rewarding for practitioners.
  • Hypnotherapy can be delivered online or in person, making it accessible.

Youtube Highlights

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:59 Introduction
  • 02:13 Protrusive dental pearl: How to Get Patients to Happily Accept a Mouth Prop
  • 05:35 Dr. Rita Pais: Journey into Hypnotherapy
  • 06:32 Hypnotherapy and Its Applications
  • 08:39 Understanding Hypnotherapy and Pain
  • 11:59 How Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy Works
  • 15:35 Midroll
  • 18:56 How Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy Works
  • 20:41 Dental Indications for Hypnotherapy
  • 24:41 Finding a Trusted Hypnotherapist
  • 26:50 Mock Hypnotherapy Session: Patient Journey
  • 30:51 Final Thoughts and Resources
  • 32:28 Outro

For dentists looking to refer patients, The Hypnotherapy Directory is one available resource, though it lists all types of hypnotherapy.

For patients or colleagues interested in hypnotherapy referrals or collaboration, check out: Rita Pais Hypnotherapy

If you loved this episode, make sure to watch Hypnotize Your Patients with 3 Quick Techniques – IC015

This episode is eligible for 0.5 CE credit (Self-instruction) via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcomes A and C.

AGD Subject Code: 340 ANESTHESIA AND PAIN MANAGEMENT (Anxiolysis)

Aim: To provide dentists with a practical overview of hypnotherapy applications in dentistry, including cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy (CBH), patient selection, and habit/pain management.

Dentists will be able to –

  1. Distinguish between hypnosis and hypnotherapy.
  2. Explain how cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy integrates CBT and hypnosis.
  3. Identify dental indications for hypnotherapy, including phobias, pain, and habits.

Cost:
Access to this CE activity is included with an active Protrusive Guidance membership. Current membership pricing is available at www.protrusive.app.

Cancellation & Refund Policy:
Memberships may be cancelled at any time. Access to CE activities remains active until the end of the current billing cycle. Subscription charges are non-refundable once processed. Full details are available at www.protrusive.app.


Should Associates Have Their Own Website? – IC06710 Feb 202600:55:58

After watching this episode, you’ll understand exactly why owning your website matters. And here’s the good news: as a Protrusive community member, you can get 50% off your professional dental website – built specifically for associates who want to stand out.

👉 Claim your exclusive discount: protrusive.co.uk/website

Do you really need your own website as an associate, or is a strong Instagram profile enough? 

How do you build trust with patients before they even meet you? 

And how can you ensure you are visible to the patients who are now using AI tools like ChatGPT to find their next dentist? 

 https://youtu.be/7StOMRLqFuI 

Watch IC067 on YouTube

In this episode, digital marketing expert Rick O’Neill joins Jaz to discuss the evolving landscape of dental marketing. Together, they explore the “Zero Moment of Truth” and the 7–11–4 rule, explaining why a website is the only digital asset you truly own in a world of “rented” social media space. 

They also dive into the future of search, covering how to optimize your presence for both Google and AI, and why authentic video content is the ultimate tool for bridging the “belief gap” with prospective patients.

Key Takeaways:

  • Having a purpose beyond profit is crucial for success.
  • The ‘I do, we do, they do’ model is effective for team growth.
  • Patient behavior has evolved; they research extensively before choosing a provider.
  • A personal website is essential for establishing credibility and trust.
  • Visual content, including professional photography, enhances personal branding.
  • Search engine optimization is vital for attracting local patients.
  • Social proof, such as patient testimonials, is more impactful than before-and-after photos alone.
  • Messaging is key; it should resonate with the target audience’s pain points.
  • Dentists have a responsibility to educate the public about their services.
  • Investing in digital marketing can yield measurable returns.

Highlights of this episode:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:47 Introduction
  • 05:43 Introducing Rick O’Neill: Expert in Digital Presence
  • 06:43 Insights from Richard Branson
  • 10:15 Entry Into Marketing and Dentistry
  • 13:25 Digital Assets for Associates and Practices
  • 20:26 Key Elements of an Effective Associate Website
  • 26:01 Search Optimization: Making Your Website Discoverable
  • 26:48 Midroll
  • 30:09 Search Optimization: Making Your Website Discoverable
  • 32:40 Dentist’s Role in Content Creation
  • 34:19 Importance of Social Proof in Dental Marketing
  • 45:02 Building a Personal Brand with a Website
  • 48:43 The Future of AI in Dental Marketing
  • 52:35 Digital Solutions for Associates and Clinics
  • 57:04 Resources for Principals and Associates
  • 57:41 Outro

🎉 Special Community Offer: 50% Off!
If you’re nodding along thinking “I need to get serious about my digital presence,” here’s your opportunity.

Protrusive community members get 50% off a professionally designed dental website

👉 Head over to: protrusive.co.uk/website
Activate your 50% discount and get your professional, patient-facing website up and running.

Check out my website to see what a modern associate website can look like.

Want more on building your dental brand? Don’t miss PDP037: Personal Branding for Dentists – Logos and Websites with Shaz Memon

#InterferenceCast #CareerDevelopment #Communication

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcomes B and C.

AGD Subject Code: 550 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RELATIONS

Aim: To understand the role of personal and practice websites in modern dentistry and how associates and principals can use digital tools to build trust, credibility, and patient engagement.

Dentists will be able to –

  1. Explain why a personal website is valuable for dentists and associates.
  2. Identify the key elements that make an associate website effective.
  3. Describe strategies to use digital assets, SEO, and content for patient trust and conversion.


2 Years Out of Dental School – Insights for New Grads – IC06606 Feb 202600:37:03

Did Triman ever buy his own camera setup?

Has he figured out which niche or specialty he wants to pursue?

Are molar endodontics and surgical extractions still his fear procedures?

And how’s he getting on with those tricky fee discussions and private patient conversations?

Dr Triman Ahluwalia returns for another catch-up — one year after stepping into his first associate position. In this episode, Jaz follows Triman’s journey from new graduate to confident young clinician, exploring what’s changed and what lessons he’s learned along the way.

From building confidence in complex procedures to improving communication and investing in the right tools, this episode is packed with insights every fresh grad and early-career dentist can relate to.

 https://youtu.be/gJNUM6JSLfE 

Watch IC066 on YouTube

Takeaways

  • Investing in photography can enhance documentation and patient engagement.
  • Confidence in discussing costs with patients improves with experience.
  • Mentorship is vital for growth and learning in dentistry.
  • Building a strong portfolio is essential for career development.
  • Choosing the right educational path depends on personal learning styles.
  • Communication with patients should focus on care rather than costs.
  • Dentistry offers diverse pathways for specialization and growth.

Highlights:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:30 Introduction
  • 03:18 Patient Demographics and Practice Insights
  • 06:04 Investing in Photography Equipment
  • 10:13  Handling Complex Procedures and Referrals
  • 13:20 Choosing the Right Courses for Career Growth
  • 17:21 Communicating Costs and Building Confidence
  • 18:32 Midroll
  • 21:53 Communicating Costs and Building Confidence
  • 27:31 Learning from Senior Colleagues and Mentorship
  • 31:50 Building and Improving Your Dental Portfolio
  • 33:56 Final Reflections and Advice for Young Dentists
  • 38:41 Outro

🎙️ Connect with Dr. Triman Ahluwalia:

Instagram: @drtriman

LinkedIn: Dr Triman Ahluwalia

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t miss Triman’s earlier appearance — I Interviewed a New Grad 7 Months Apart – First Year of Practice (IC052)

#InterferenceCast #Communication #CareerDevelopment
This episode isnot eligible for CPD/CE points, but never fear, there are hundreds of hours of CPD waiting for you on the Ultimate Education Plan, including Premium Clinical Walkthroughs and Masterclasses.


5 Highly Effective Back Pain Prevention Pearls for Dentists – Why Lifting Your Elbow is Destroying Your Back – PDP25703 Feb 202600:57:39

What if you finally reach the peak of your career—only to have your body shut it down?

Why are so many dentists forced to cancel clinics, not because of burnout or skill, but because of crippling back pain?

And what if this “expected hazard of dentistry” didn’t actually have to be inevitable?

In this episode, Dr. Aniko Ball joins Jaz to challenge the long-held belief that chronic pain is just part of being a dentist. As an expert in dental ergonomics and the Alexander Technique, she reveals why so many clinicians are unknowingly damaging their bodies every single day—and how simple, overlooked changes can completely transform career longevity.

The mission for this episode was simple: deliver five genuinely life-changing, immediately actionable tips to protect your neck, back, and future. No fluff. No theory for theory’s sake. Just practical changes you can implement straight away—starting from your very next clinic session.

If your health matters to you as much as your dentistry, this is an unmissable episode.

 https://youtu.be/u7hEOPpEsGA 

Watch PDP27 on Youtube

Protrusive Dental Pearl: Cut toxic noise, protect time for your health, and optimize the small habits you repeat daily. You only rotate ~10–13 meals—upgrade those, move a little more, sleep a little better. Small, consistent upgrades compound into an unrecognisable year.

Key Takeaways:

  • Back pain in dentistry is not inevitable—it is largely the result of cumulative postural habits.
  • Most dental pain comes from holding positions the body was never designed to hold, not from single traumatic events.
  • Lifting the elbow or shoulder for prolonged periods activates movement muscles, guaranteeing shoulder and upper back pain.
  • A finger rest must be used on the non-dominant hand holding the mirror, not just the dominant hand.
  • Hovering the mirror is equivalent to holding the arm raised against gravity.
  • The spine is not designed for sustained bending or twisting, even slightly.
  • Staying vertical is critical—move the patient and the chair, not your spine.
  • Traditional loupes often force neck flexion; refractive loupes or microscopes allow upright posture and straight-ahead vision.
  • Stool height matters: hips slightly higher than knees, feet flat, heels fully released into the floor.
  • If leg weight isn’t given to the floor, the lower back absorbs the load instead.
  • Habits outside the clinic—especially looking down at a mobile phone—train the same harmful postural patterns used in dentistry.
  • Postural change feels strange at first because bad habits feel comfortable, even when they are damaging.
  • Real change requires habit interruption, repetition, and support over several weeks.
  • Your body is your most important instrument—protecting it protects your career.

Highlights:

  • 00:00 Teaser
  • 00:52 Introduction
  • 03:36 Pearl – Optimizing Small Habits
  • 07:06 Interview with Dr. Aniko Ball: Her Journey on Ergonomics and Dentistry
  • 10:00 Challenging Misconceptions in Dentistry
  • 17:42 Common Mistakes and Practical Tips for Better Posture
  • 28:29 Importance of Refractive Loupes and Microscopes
  • 29:53 Midroll
  • 33:14 Importance of Refractive Loupes and Microscopes
  • 34:18 Communicating with Patients for Better Ergonomics
  • 38:06 The Science of Habit Change and Neuromuscular Training
  • 42:40 Optimizing Dental Stool Height for Better Ergonomics
  • 47:14 The Impact of Mobile Phone Usage on Posture
  • 50:53 Key Posture and Ergonomic Takeaways
  • 53:35 Full-Day Ergonomics Workshop
  • 59:13 Outro

🚨 This episode is the introduction.
The real transformation happens in the room.

📍 Join Dr. Aniko Ball for a full-day, full-demonstration workshop and learn how to make your body—and your back—unbreakable.

📅 Saturday 13th of June — save the date.

🔗 protrusive.dental/unbreakable

If this episode resonated with you, My Neck, My Back (Fix Your Posture While Removing Plaque!) – PDP220 is the perfect next watch.

#PDPMainEpisodes ##BeyondDentistry #CareerDevelopment

This episode is eligible for 0.75 CE credit (Self-instruction) via the quiz on Protrusive Guidance. 

This episode meets GDC Outcomes C.

AGD Subject Code: 130 ELECTIVES 

Aim: To help dentists reduce cumulative musculoskeletal trauma by understanding how posture, habits, and equipment choices directly affect spinal, shoulder, and long-term career health.

Dentists will be able to –

  1. Identify common postural habits in dentistry that lead to cumulative trauma and chronic pain.
  2. Apply practical ergonomic principles to reduce strain on the spine, shoulders, hips, and neck.
  3. Modify daily habits, including non-clinical activities, to support long-term musculoskeletal health.

Cost:
Access to this CE activity is included with an active Protrusive Guidance membership. Current membership pricing is available at www.protrusive.app.

Cancellation & Refund Policy:
Memberships may be cancelled at any time. Access to CE activities remains active until the end of the current billing cycle. Subscription charges are non-refundable once processed. Full details are available at www.protrusive.app.


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