Protrusive Dental Podcast

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 SilentWhen 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 EpisodeFour 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 Episode00:00     TEASER00:59     Entrepreneurship in Dentistry: Why Now Is Different07:14     Patient Communication: Ask What Matters to Them10:39     How to Explain the Cost of Doing Nothing14:19     Short-, Medium- and Long-Term Treatment Plans16:57     Fast-Lane vs Slow-Lane Patients: Personality Types20:09     How to Present Your Dental Fees With Confidence24:07     How Profitable Is a UK Dental Practice?26:29     Why Dentists Become Entrepreneurs31:08     Associate, Principal or Entrepreneur?36:19     The E-Myth for Dentists: Which Hat Do You Wear?41:09     Building an AI Treatment-Planning Tool44:06     How to Validate a Business Idea Before You Build It49:51     Creating a Luxury Mouthwash Brand53:24     How to Find a Business Idea — In or Out of Dentistry58:54     Dentistry as Your Safety Net: Starting a Side Business1:04:58   OUTROFrom the GuestDr 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 welcomeReferences & Further ReadingBooks, 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! – IC058Tags#InterferenceCast #CareerDevelopment #BeyondDentistry #CommunicationListen & SubscribeListen: 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.

Beyond Scaling: How to Get More From Your UltrasonicDo 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 TipYou’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 EpisodeThe 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 Episode00:00     TEASER00:59     Ultrasonic Scaler Tips Every Dentist Should Know04:30     Why Ultrasonics Are Underused in General Dentistry07:08     What Power Setting to Use When Cleaning Enamel Margins09:28     Which Part of the Ultrasonic Tip Should You Use?11:34     Ultrasonic Power Settings for Occlusal Fissures13:47     Piezoelectric vs Magnetostrictive Scalers: Does It Matter?21:37     Ultrasonics for PRRs, Fissure Sealants and Anxious Children28:36     Selective Caries Removal With an Ultrasonic30:42     Refining Crown and Onlay Margins With Ultrasonic Tips39:02     Ultrasonics in Endo: Irrigant Activation and Finding Canals45:35     How to Trim Gutta-Percha With an Ultrasonic51:37     The Most Common Ultrasonic Mistake: Too Much Power54:29     What to Look for When Buying an Ultrasonic Scaler57:39     Are Ultrasonic Scalers Safe With Pacemakers?1:00:55   Cementing Onlays With Heated Composite: Do Ultrasonic Tips Help?01:09:01  OUTROFrom the GuestDr 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, YorkWant more?If you enjoyed this episode, check out: No More Air Polishing or Prophy Paste! Revolutionary New Technique for Non Mechanical Prophylaxis – PDP284Tags#PDPMainEpisodes #EndoRestorativeListen, Subscribe, Earn CPDListen: 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 OutcomesAim: 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.

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 CompoundsGrowth 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 EpisodeTopical 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 Episode00:00     TEASER01:00     Painless Local Anaesthetic: The Money-Back Guarantee03:21     Feeling Stuck in Dentistry? Why Plateaus Are Normal06:20     How to Market Pain-Free Dentistry to Anxious Patients08:20     How to Build a Dental Practice Patients and Staff Stay With11:56     Can You Promise Patients Pain-Free Dentistry?15:29     Why Topical Anaesthetic Is Non-Negotiable16:56     How to Give a Painless Dental Infiltration18:49     Painless Inferior Alveolar Nerve Block: The Two-Stage Technique20:13     How Slowly Should You Give a Dental Injection?21:22     Midroll25:44     Lip Numb but Still Feeling It? Testing for Profound Anaesthesia27:44     How to Numb a Hot Pulp29:51     Painless Palatal Injections: Two Techniques32:31     Communication vs Technique in Pain-Free Dentistry35:52     Pain-Free Dentistry: What to Change Tomorrow39:19     Stress, Longevity and a Fulfilled Career in Dentistry45:41     OUTROFrom the GuestDr 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 KennedyReferences & Further ReadingSources 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 – PDP050Tags#PDPMainEpisodes #Communication #CareerDevelopmentListen, Subscribe, Earn CPDListen: 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 OutcomesAim: 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.

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 EpisodeStep 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 Episode00:00     TEASER00:57     Why Mental Wellbeing Belongs on a Dental Podcast03:49     From Police Officer to Mindset Coach09:12     Burnout in Dentistry: Facing the Problem Honestly10:24     How to Stop Ruminating After a Treatment Goes Wrong14:07     Your Thoughts Aren't Facts: The Press Conference Technique16:10     Watering Seeds: How Repeated Thoughts Rewire Your Brain20:03     Autopilot Thinking in the Dental Practice22:31     Midroll25:52     Energy, Vibe and the Patients You Attract30:30     How to Fix a Difficult Relationship With Your Dental Nurse33:14     The Cookie Jar: Using Past Wins to Reset Your Mood33:54     Burnout or the Wrong Practice? Before You Quit Dentistry39:57     Remember How Badly You Wanted to Be a Dentist41:18     Leading by Example: Building a Positive Practice Culture44:53     Accountability Partners and the Daily Mindset Check-In46:51     Takeaways, Resources and Wrap-Up50:31     OUTROFrom the GuestNeo 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 ATMReferences & Further ReadingBooks 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 – IC071Tags#InterferenceCast #BeyondDentistry #CareerDevelopmentListen, Subscribe, Earn CPDListen: 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 OutcomesAim: 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 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 EpisodeSix 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 Episode00:00     TEASER00:48     How to Explain Risks and Fees to Dental Patients04:10     The Biggest Lever in Dental Communication06:53     How to Attract the Right Patients to Your Chair14:29     What Makes a Super Associate?19:58     How to Explain Treatment Risks Without Scaring Patients26:22     Root Canal Consent: A Live Role-Play33:59     Using Analogies to Explain Occlusion and TMD Risk36:08     Wisdom Tooth Consent: Common vs Rare Risks41:07     Why Consent Is a Process, Not a Signature45:45     Midroll51:34     Patients or Clients? What to Call the People You Treat55:12     How to Present Dental Fees With Confidence59:08     A Simple Framework for Presenting Fees1:12:05   When to Discuss Treatment Alternatives1:14:45   Why You Should Never Say "Permanent Crown"1:20:15   A Communication Course for Dentists1:20:51   OUTROFrom the GuestDr 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/conversationsOnce 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 – PDP048Tags#PDPMainEpisodes #CommunicationListen, Subscribe, Earn CPDListen: 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 OutcomesAim: 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.