Episodes

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. Hosted by Hieu Dong During endo simulation clinic we’re taught how to drill the ideal access cavity, instrument and irrigate till all those nasty bugs are gone and beautifully obturate the canals till everything is sealed. But w...

Hosted by Christina Potestas @christina_oralhealth I bring to you in this episode a great chat I had with Stephanie Botts @steph.polishedposture – For those unlucky ones that have yet to come across her online, Stephanie is a registered dental hygienist and specialist in office ergonomics sharing some really important advice around our posture and wellbeing as dental professionals. Based in Denver, Colorado, Stephanie has gained over 40 thousand followers on social media and continues to spread...

Rerun Series: Find your support network on social media. Picked by Christina Potestas This series of re-run episodes is a curated selection of interviews to help listeners cut through the noise of social media and start finding their support network of dentists who are actively sharing their expertise and life online. These interviews reveal more about the real person behind the Instagram profile – I hope that it opens doors to a network of potential mentors and starts what may be a guiding and...

Welcome to the Discoveries in Dental focus series. This series highlights recent dental discoveries and saves you time having to read through numerous journal articles. Hosted by Dr Haydyn Bathurst In this pilot episode, we are going to be exploring the concept of digital dentures, 3d printed dentures, and, by extension, CADCAM dentures. So the theory goes that because we now have the technology of scanners, CADCAM machines, and 3d printers. We can just get the dentures straight away without m...

Welcome to the OHT pathways focus series by Dental Head Start. Listen to a limited series of interviews with OHTs that have taken the less traditional general practice pathway and used their scope to endeavour into a unique, different and fulfilling career. Hosted by Christina Potestas In this episode, I sit down with Amielia, an Oral Health Therapist working at The Centre for Prosthodontics based in Western Australia. For the last 7 years, she has developed her role and become fundamental in ...

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. Hosted by Hieu Dong Hey dental students, exam period got you stressing? Same… In Part 2 of our series with Dr Ben Lee, he gives us an epic pep talk for our time at dental school. Dr Ben unpacks the real reason he decided to spe...

Hosted by Dr David Keir In this episode, David chats with Dr. Namita Gupta about her career journey from dental school to owning multiple dental practices and starting her tech business, Restocq. Namita discusses her early career experiences working in both regional and city practices, which helped her gain a variety of skills. She emphasizes the importance of mentors and continuing education and shares lessons learnt as a practice owner, including the value of setting processes early on and fo...

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. Hosted by Hieu Dong Direct? Indirect? Porcelain? Metal? Porcelain fused to metal? Pros you are wild! In this episode, I chat with Dr Ben Lee a prosthodontist in Sydney where we go through crowns for beginners (like me!). Dr Ben...

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. Hosted by Christina Potestas In this episode, I sit down with Rochelle Fisher, the founder of Dental Assisting and Beyond. Rochelle has over 27 years of experience as a dental assistant in the UK and Australia. Now, she dedicate...

Welcome to the OHT pathways focus series by Dental Head Start. Listen to a limited series of interviews with OHTs that have taken the less traditional general practice pathway and used their scope to endeavour into a unique, different and fulfilling career. Hosted by Christina Potestas In this episode, I chat with Mirna Yousif, an OHT who worked in supportive roles in the dental practice before graduating. She talks about how being exposed to different procedures and dentists gave her the conf...

Rerun Series: Find your support network on social media. Picked by Christina Potestas This series of re-run episodes is a curated selection of interviews to help listeners cut through the noise of social media and start finding their support network of dentists who are actively sharing their expertise and life online. These interviews reveal more about the real person behind the Instagram profile – I hope that it opens doors to a network of potential mentors and starts what may be a guiding an...

Hosted by Hieu Dong In this episode, we get a glimpse into the world of dental school and dental students in 2024. Join Nathan from Griffith Uni, Emily from UQ, Jack from USYD and Ashton from UWA as they share what a day in the life is like at their uni’s and give valuable advice for younger students. From the parties and fun to the grind and stresses of clinic, we unpack it all! If you’re a current dental student, we hope you can relate and find some encouragement from our conversation today....

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. Hosted by Christina Potestas Wow, we are well within the first semester this year and whatever part of our dental school journey we might be at, I think it would be pretty safe to say it’s only going to get harder before it gets...

Hosted by Dr David Keir David and Tiffany sit down and uncover their similar experiences in their journeys to becoming the dentists they are today. Tiffany moved from New Zealand to pursue dental school in Australia and took a liking to the relaxed atmosphere that regional life gave just after graduating. After working for a few years, she took off on a hiking adventure in Nepal then learnt Spanish while travelling Central and South America. Tiffany shares the incredible experience and growth t...

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. Hosted by Christina Potestas I wanted to dedicate this episode to all my peers and of course all dental students who will be reaching what I believe to be one of the biggest milestones of dental school and that is seeing your ve...

In this episode, Hieu and Christina miraculously got a chance amongst their hectic schedules to catch up and get to know each other a little better. Like dental school, they joined the Dental Head Start team with two feet running so it was fun to chill for a sec and in fact discover that they have quite unique experiences and journeys into dental school so far; they might have also dropped a few study tips in there as well*. They also talk about how they joined the Dental Head Start team and wha...

Today we have a fascinating discussion with Dr. Raghu Chennapati about helping new graduates transition smoothly into the dental profession. Dr. Chennapati has a unique perspective, having trained as a prosthodontist in India before moving to Australia and starting his career over as a general dentist. He shares insights from his own journey of navigating a new country and healthcare system while building his skills. Through both his personal experiences and mentoring many new associates, Dr. C...

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. Hosted by Haydyn Bathurst In dental school, taking PAs in endodontics has been incredibly fiddly. It really puts patients through the ringer trying to catch that apex when you missed it the first time. How should we be taking PA...

If you’ve been a long time listener of the podcast, you may recognise some familiar voices in this episode! In this month’s Feature, Dr David Keir and Dr Graeme Pearson are back on the show to catch us up on their dental journeys and in particular, on their implant journeys. Both David and Graeme have taken different approaches to their further education in the realm of implants. Whilst Graeme took a deep dive straight after graduation, is doing a GradDip and works within a surgically focused p...

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. If you’re struggling with treatment plans and communication I have absolutely no doubt this is going to help you. We have Dr Mark Hassed joining us. Mark is a general dentist who runs courses on communication and efficiency. Spe...

Welcome to the Mental Wellbeing Series by Dental Head Start. Join us across a limited series of episodes as we delve into the world of mental health and explore strategies and tips to improve our overall well-being. Hosted by Dr Kaejenn Tchia In today’s episode I discuss the importance of mental resilience in Dentistry with Dr Kyle Stanley. We also delve into some of the factors at play that make dentists and dental professionals more likely to suffer from burnout and mental health challenges, ...

As a new grad, it’s almost the norm rather than the exception nowadays to have at least some form of digital dentistry within one’s practice. But it wasn’t always this way, and for many more seasoned dentists, the world of digital dentistry was something they had to slowly piece together over the years and learn to leverage. In this months’ feature, we explore Dr Lingaiah Dronavalli’s journey in dentistry from his early years as a new grad with huge expectations but without the tools, resources...

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. Hosted by Dr Erica Hwin It’s common practice nowadays to encourage parents to bring their children in early to familiarise themselves with the dental appointment. But beyond chair rides, gloved animals and triplex tickles, what ...

Welcome to What I Wish I Knew by Dental Head Start. This is a podcast where we learn from people that have been there, made the mistakes, learnt the lessons and have developed into the accomplished dental professionals they are today. It’s your weekly mentoring session. Hosted by Haydyn Bathurst A lot of dental students that are about to graduate haven’t gotten much experience with rotary endodontics. With us here to bust many myths regarding rotary is Associate Professor Ha of the University o...