Dental Leaders Podcast

Prav Solanki & Payman Langroudi
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The Dental Leaders podcast takes you on a behind the scenes journey with emerging leaders in dentistry. Success leaves clues, and these conversations uncover the depth, detail, and backstory behind our guests. The show is hosted by dental entrepreneurs Payman Langroudi & Prav Solanki. Let the conversation flow. Find out more at https://www.dentalleaders.co.uk/

  1. 3d ago

    #368 Say Yes First — Connor Bryant & Priyam Patel

    Connor Bryant and Priyam Patel met at King's College London dental school, where Connor was already running a side hustle selling loupes out of a bag at dental shows, after a batch he'd organised for twenty classmates arrived half-faulty and the original supplier stopped answering the phone. Priyam offered to work for him for free, invested his own money instead, and the two built Bryant Dental into one of the UK's fastest-growing dental companies, known as much for its customer service as for its products. They talk through the company's maddest chapter in real detail: spotting, within six weeks of a cash crisis during Covid, that air purification could get dentists back to work, chartering a Boeing 737 to get units delivered on time, and eventually having their own lab research used to inform government policy. There's a genuinely useful account of how they built a culture around saying yes to customers before they finish complaining, why they hire people with strange outside talents rather than obvious sales experience, and what it actually looks like when two founders with opposite risk appetites keep changing each other's minds several times a day. Connor and Priyam are just as candid about where it's gone wrong: hires that took advantage of a deliberately low-oversight culture, a refractor loupe that flopped on launch because they didn't think through dentist positioning properly, and a geography decision that may have cost them scale by staying British rather than chasing the much larger, better-funded US market. They close by talking through a recent crowdfund that pulled in 1,400 interested dentists wanting to invest, and the long-term plan to list on the London Stock Exchange.   In This Episode 00:00:40 – Introduction 00:01:55 – Meeting at dental school 00:04:30 – Selling loupes as a student 00:08:40 – Origin of great customer service 00:14:30 – Becoming business partners 00:18:00 – Hiring unconventional people 00:25:00 – Pivoting to air purification 00:32:35 – Scaling and chartering a plane 00:39:35 – New products and safety wear 00:42:35 – Company culture and immeasurables 00:46:50 – Strengths, weaknesses and hiring 00:52:55 – Customers vs innovation 00:56:05 – AI and automation limits 01:02:10 – Crowdfunding and future plans 01:17:20 – Blackbox thinking   About Connor Bryant and Priyam Patel Connor Bryant and Priyam Patel are co-founders of Bryant Dental (BD), a UK company that grew from a student loupes side hustle into a manufacturer of dental loupes, safety wear and air purification equipment. The pair met at King's College London dental school, and BD has been profitable every year since launch, recently running a dentist-backed crowdfund ahead of a planned future listing on the London Stock Exchange.

  2. Nov 6

    Mind Movers #50 — Jeff Foster

    Mind Movers is back after a long break, and Rhona and Payman mark the return with Doctor Jeff Foster, an NHS GP who stumbled into men's health almost by accident, after realising male patients kept assuming he'd know the answers to questions no one in medicine was really trained to handle. Two decades on, he's co-authored national guidance on testosterone deficiency and become one of the most recognisable voices in the space. Jeff makes the case that full-body MRI scans are largely a waste of money, that blood testing from your early thirties is a far better investment, and that testosterone has been culturally hijacked into meaning something it never actually measured. Along the way, Rhona pushes him on a genuinely difficult question: the recent Cornell case and whether hormones can ever explain away a failure of consent. Jeff's answer is blunt and leaves little room for the excuse. There's also a proper back-and-forth on looks-maxing and jaw aesthetics, the strange cultural logic that paints steroid-using bodybuilders as the testosterone ideal while they quietly wreck their own fertility and bone density, and a shared frustration about how disconnected dentistry, GP medicine and mental health care still are from one another, even when a patient's symptoms are clearly sitting across all three.   In This Episode 00:00:40 – Introduction 00:01:50 – Background in medicine 00:04:35 – Common myths about men's health 00:06:55 – The gender health gap 00:08:05 – Why men avoid healthcare 00:12:55 – Full body MRIs and over-screening 00:15:00 – Blood tests and testosterone 00:17:15 – Testosterone vs TRT 00:20:30 – Fertility and male infertility 00:27:25 – Accessing treatment 00:30:20 – Testosterone, consent and masculinity 00:39:15 – Looks maxing and jaw aesthetics 00:43:05 – What TRT involves 00:45:35 – Incel culture and role models 00:57:35 – Joined-up healthcare   About Jeff Foster Jeff Foster is an NHS GP and one of the UK's leading voices on men's health, specialising in testosterone deficiency, hormone health and sexual health. He co-authored the UK's 2023 national guidance on testosterone deficiency in men, is medical director at Voy, a private men's health service, and hosts the Man Alive podcast.

  3. Nov 4

    #367 The Naked Soul — Esther Shirin

    Esther Shirin returns to Dental Leaders under a new name, having first appeared as Sharon Walsh in episode 278 to talk about losing her practice, her marriage and her children during a breakdown that led to alcohol addiction and homelessness. This conversation picks up from there: she's written a book about everything that happened since, and Payman says plainly that reading it changed how he thinks about his own life. Esther talks about the voice she heard, lying on a sofa in 2022 having been given little chance of seeing Christmas, asking her whether she wanted to live or die, and the years of addiction, a GDC suspension and eventual recovery that followed her choice. She's open about where that recovery actually came from: an elderly man she met on a park bench who'd known the Kray twins, a sister who took her in when she had nowhere else to go, and a faith practice built from pieces of Sufism, the Lord's Prayer and Alcoholics Anonymous rather than any one tradition. There's also a frank account of her seven-year case with the GDC, including a misdiagnosis by an expert witness she successfully challenged, and her view on why the current system leaves clinicians feeling judged by people who've never done the job. Later in the conversation, Esther discloses that she was abused as a child, and talks about only uncovering that history in therapy decades later, once addiction had stripped away the ways she'd learned to cope with it.   In This Episode 00:00:40 – Introduction 00:02:50 – The name change 00:05:25 – Choosing life 00:15:00 – Who she is now 00:19:35 – Money and gratitude 00:25:15 – People who saved her life 00:35:35 – Learning to respond, not react 00:39:35 – The GDC process 00:49:10 – Returning to dentistry 00:53:50 – Yoga and recovery 01:02:40 – A three-week gut detox 01:10:50 – Fluoride and alternative oral care 01:17:05 – Public speaking and teaching 01:21:10 – Childhood abuse and therapy 01:26:40 – The book and what's next   About Esther Shirin Esther Shirin is a dentist who first appeared on Dental Leaders as Sharon Walsh in episode 278, discussing the breakdown that led to addiction, homelessness and the loss of her practice. She has since written a memoir, The Naked Soul of a Dentist, and is now rebuilding her career after a GDC suspension, alongside work as a qualified yoga teacher and public speaker on mental health and addiction.

  4. Oct 28

    #366 You Choose The Label — Rana Al-Falaki

    Rana Al-Falaki opens by telling Payman what she's still struggling with, even now: the gap between how put-together she looks from the outside and how much she still has to fight to let people see the rest of it. She joins him as a specialist periodontist and laser research pioneer who built two award-winning practices, sold them, and then rebuilt her entire career as a performance coach after her body forced the issue. The backstory is a lot. Her mother died of breast cancer when Rana was 24, a death she now ties directly to a lifetime of people-pleasing and swallowed stress. In her mid-twenties she moved in with a man who became physically and emotionally abusive, a relationship she couldn't find the strength to leave for years. By her late thirties, buried under a GDC complaint, a divorce and the demands of running two practices, her body gave out: a diagnosis of POTS, a condition that had already left other sufferers unable to walk, arrived at almost the same time as a quiet choice about which label she was going to wear. There's real clinical substance threaded through all of it too. Rana explains how she talked her way into becoming one of the first periodontists in the UK using erbium lasers for bone regeneration, entirely on instinct and with no studies to back her up, and how she eventually got the research published against a field she describes as deeply resistant to new ideas. She's just as direct about what it actually takes to build a referral practice patients and dentists both trust, and why building Breathe, a free wellbeing platform for the dental profession, became personal after a friend who introduced her to lasers died from an infection that followed a drinking spiral after his own GDC complaint.   In This Episode 00:00:50 – Introduction 00:02:40 – What she still struggles with 00:05:00 – Spirituality and belief 00:15:00 – Why she became a dentist 00:21:30 – Losing her mother 00:34:30 – Grief, addiction and abuse 00:43:00 – Pitfalls of high performers 00:50:40 – Burnout and chronic illness 00:57:30 – Getting into lasers 01:12:20 – Building a referral practice 01:17:40 – Marriage and divorce 01:24:45 – The Nail It coaching system 01:32:40 – Launching Breathe 01:35:55 – Blackbox thinking 01:41:25 – Favourite lectures 01:46:15 – Fantasy dinner party   About Rana Al-Falaki Rana Al-Falaki is a specialist periodontist and laser research pioneer who built and later sold two award-winning periodontal practices in London. She is now a leadership and performance coach, the creator of the Nail It coaching system, and co-founder of Breathe, a free wellbeing platform for the dental profession.

  5. Oct 21

    #365 Zero Bone Loss — Raid Ali

    Raid Ali arrived in Cardiff in 1998 because a friend told him it was cheaper than London, and never really left. He joins Payman as a specialist implantologist and founder of Restore Dental Group, a five-practice business built from the three practices he and two business partners bought from their old boss, having qualified in Baghdad in 1996 and sat his exams in the UK with no family connection to dentistry at all. He talks openly about ranking fourteenth in the whole of Iraq in his final school exams during wartime, about teaching himself English from scratch after arriving (he remembers struggling just to buy bread), and about the early advice from Chris Barrow that changed how he ran his business: stick to dentistry, delegate everything else. There's a genuinely candid account of his own clinical mistakes too, including an implant placed without enough restorative space, and six stressful months defending a legal claim over a mentee's work he wasn't even liable for. Raid also gets into the detail that's shaped his implant career: why he still refers every zygomatic case elsewhere despite being trained to do them, the French physiologist whose PRF technique changed how he thinks about healing, and why he now considers soft tissue, not implant design, the single most important factor in long-term success.   In This Episode 00:00:50 – Introduction 00:01:50 – Arriving in Cardiff 00:03:50 – Growing up in Baghdad 00:13:45 – Choosing dentistry 00:19:30 – Moving to the UK 00:21:00 – Sitting the exams 00:25:35 – First impressions of UK dentistry 00:28:35 – Buying his first practice 00:35:40 – Getting into implants 00:38:55 – Mentors who changed his thinking 00:50:00 – Advice for new implantologists 01:04:00 – Growing to five practices 01:12:35 – Blackbox thinking 01:24:35 – What grinds his gears 01:38:40 – Fantasy dinner party   About Raid Ali Raid Ali is a specialist implantologist and founder of Restore Dental Group, a five-practice business based in Cardiff. Originally from Baghdad, he qualified in Iraq before moving to the UK in 1998, and now sits on the board of the Association of Dental Implantology, teaches an 18-day implant diploma, and co-founded the Iraqi Dental Community.

  6. Oct 14

    #364 Beyond the Tools — Jameel Gardee

    Jameel Gardee joins Payman to reflect on more than three decades in dentistry, from qualifying in Glasgow to undertaking advanced restorative training at Boston University and building a private practice centred on digital dentistry. He looks back on the people and experiences that shaped his career, why American dentistry changed his outlook, and how his approach to restorative treatment has evolved. The conversation also explores the pressures facing younger dentists, the value of mentorship and why becoming an excellent clinician takes more than technical ability. Much of the discussion centres on the shift from analogue to digital dentistry. Jameel breaks down the workflows behind modern smile design, from facial scanning and treatment planning to guided preparations, 3D printing and restorative materials. But there's a distinction he keeps coming back to: owning the latest technology means very little if you don't know how to bring it all together. The conversation also takes a more personal turn as Jameel reflects on difficult patients, clinical mistakes and the emotional weight of complaints. With AI and robotics changing the profession, he considers what the next generation of dentists will need to learn and why human connection may become more valuable than ever. Expect honest reflections on clinical excellence, digital workflows, patient trust, innovation, mentorship and the changing relationship between technology and the people delivering care. In This Episode 00:00:50 – From Glasgow to Boston 00:05:05 – American dentistry and clinical philosophy 00:09:05 – Mentorship and younger dentists 00:21:25 – Funding further education 00:24:35 – Private practice and patient trust 00:31:20 – Empowering the dental team 00:34:05 – Discovering digital dentistry 00:38:00 – Workflows over equipment 00:41:25 – The digital first visit 00:44:25 – Facially driven treatment planning 00:51:30 – Mock-ups and smile design 00:53:50 – Guided restorative dentistry 00:57:45 – 3D printing and zirconia 01:04:25 – Research versus clinical experience 01:10:00 – Technology and patient communication 01:16:10 – Robotics and the future 01:21:40 – Blackbox thinking 01:29:15 – Learning and clinical development 01:31:20 – Fantasy dinner party 01:35:45 – Life outside dentistry About Jameel Gardee Jameel Gardee is a Glasgow-based dentist and educator known for his work in digital dentistry, aesthetic restorations and smile design. After qualifying from the University of Glasgow in 1995, he undertook advanced restorative and aesthetic training at Boston University. He has since built a career combining private clinical practice with digital education, helping dentists and their teams adopt modern treatment planning and restorative workflows. Through his work with Avant Garde Dentistry, he continues to champion the use of technology to make complex dentistry more predictable and accessible.

  7. Oct 7

    #363 The Dentown Special

    Dental Leaders goes live from Dentown for a special compilation episode bringing together seven voices from across dentistry, design, technology, entrepreneurship and beyond. Across a series of conversations with Payman, Galip Gürel explores the move from pioneering veneer techniques to developing robotic tooth preparation, and why precision matters more than speed. Nazariy Mykhaylyuk reflects on microscope dentistry, perfectionism and continuing to practise and run businesses in Kyiv during wartime. Millie Morrison discusses finding her place in orthodontics, the responsibility of mentorship and overcoming the feeling that she needed to stay in her original clinical lane. Pouyan Mehdizadeh looks beyond conventional clinic design to the complete patient experience, exploring how architecture, branding, scent, sound, lighting and temperature can shape the way a space feels. Sahil Patel takes the conversation far outside the surgery with the story of climbing Everest, from the six-week commitment and extreme conditions to summit fever and the reality that reaching the top is only halfway home. Victoria Sampson shares the less glamorous reality behind building a fast-growing business, fundraising, clinical dentistry and trying not to burn out. Finally, Dentown founder Mehy Lo Presti joins Payman at the end of the event to reflect on two years of planning, building a world-class speaker line-up and his determination to create a different kind of dental event. Expect robotics, clinical excellence, mentorship, design, Everest, entrepreneurship, burnout and a behind-the-scenes look at the ideas shaping dentistry's next chapter. In This Episode00:00:50 - Galip Gürel00:19:10 - Nazariy Mykhaylyuk00:21:20 - Millie Morrison00:35:10 - Pouyan Mehdizadeh00:49:35 - Sahil Patel01:01:20 - Victoria Sampson01:12:25 - Mehy Lo Presti About the Speakers Galip Gürel is an internationally renowned aesthetic dentist and educator whose work has helped shape modern veneer dentistry. At Dentown, he discusses his move into dental robotics and the development of technology designed to bring greater precision and automation to tooth preparation. Nazariy Mykhaylyuk is known internationally for microscope-enhanced dentistry and advanced digital workflows. Based in Kyiv, he continues to practise, teach and run his businesses while living through the realities of war in Ukraine. Millie Morrison is a general dentist with a major clinical and educational focus on orthodontics. Alongside treating patients, she mentors other dentists in treatment planning, biomechanics and building confidence in their own clinical decision-making. Pouyan Mehdizadeh is an architect, creative director and experience designer whose work spans healthcare projects internationally. His approach extends beyond interiors to consider every element of how patients experience a healthcare brand and physical space. Sahil Patel is an accomplished cosmetic dentist and mountaineer who recently summited Mount Everest. His conversation explores the preparation, risk, psychology and extraordinary logistics behind taking on the world's highest mountain. Victoria Sampson is a dentist, researcher and entrepreneur known for her work around saliva diagnostics and the oral microbiome. She discusses building her testing business, fundraising, maintaining clinical practice and managing the intense workload that comes with pursuing several ambitions at once. Mehy Lo Presti is the founder of Dentown. After two years of planning, he brought together leading clinicians and thinkers for an event designed to challenge the traditional dental conference format through education, experience and community.

  8. Sep 30

    #362 The Girl That Survived — Kathryn Bell

    Kathryn Bell was seventeen, six months into a school exchange trip to Kentucky, when a minor car crash jolted loose a brain tumour nobody knew was there. She joins Payman as a general dentist at Colosseum Dental in Chippenham and the group's key opinion leader for facial aesthetics, having spent over two decades qualified after a start to adult life that involved an emergency craniotomy, a coma, meningitis and hydrocephalus, largely without her parents in the room. She talks with real clarity about survivor's guilt, about repeating a year at school rather than falling behind her friends, and about the internal motivation that got her through GCSEs with headaches nobody could explain, years before anyone found the tumour causing them. There's a second, quieter story running alongside it too: a burnout so complete she couldn't get out of bed most mornings on the NHS, and the daughter whose birth, entirely by coincidence, pulled her out of it just in time. Kathryn also gets specific about the actual craft of facial aesthetics: polynucleotides, why subtlety beats a dramatic result every time, and the patient with suspected body dysmorphia who brought her own fifty-times magnifying mirror to a review appointment.   In This Episode 00:00:45 – Introduction 00:01:45 – The brain tumour story 00:17:40 – Survivor's guilt 00:20:25 – Choosing dentistry 00:22:45 – Losing time at school 00:28:30 – Master's in aesthetic medicine 00:31:05 – Social media and dysmorphia 00:33:00 – Introducing facial aesthetics 00:40:00 – Skin treatments vs injectables 00:45:30 – A facial aesthetics mistake 00:56:20 – Women in dentistry 01:02:50 – A career mistake 01:09:55 – Burnout on the NHS 01:14:30 – Best lecture: Callum Youngson 01:19:35 – Fantasy dinner party   About Kathryn Bell Kathryn Bell is a general dentist at Colosseum Dental in Chippenham and the group's key opinion leader for facial aesthetics across its 80 practices. She holds an MSc in Aesthetic Medicine, researching how social media shapes aesthetic patients' self-perception, and survived a brain haemorrhage and tumour removal at the age of seventeen.

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About

The Dental Leaders podcast takes you on a behind the scenes journey with emerging leaders in dentistry. Success leaves clues, and these conversations uncover the depth, detail, and backstory behind our guests. The show is hosted by dental entrepreneurs Payman Langroudi & Prav Solanki. Let the conversation flow. Find out more at https://www.dentalleaders.co.uk/

Information

  • Creator
    Prav Solanki & Payman Langroudi
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    420
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Prav Solanki & Payman Langroudi
  • Show Website
    Dental Leaders Podcast

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