Samuel Labib

WEBVTT
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I'm Samuel Lebib and this is Neutral Zone.
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Hi Sand.
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Hello.
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Welcome to Neutral Zone.
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Thank you for having me.
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Thanks for having me after your Saturday morning shift.
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That's a pleasure.
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And we're in your practice in Bristol.
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We are.
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Yes.
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Yeah.
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I did, uh given the weather, I thought uh an air-conditioned premises might be a good idea.
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Very grateful.
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And people can't see if I've got four massive pastries all to myself behind it and a coffee.
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Yep, that's uh courtesy of the Bristol, uh the Bristol Loaf.
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That's one of our local bakery just around the corner here, and they do some pretty cracking stuff.
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You have to take a photo and put it in the notes or something.
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I think let's start by getting you to tell us a little bit about what's behind you because for those of you who can't see it, this is the display at the practice.
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I um I collect and build Star Wars Lego sets.
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And um my collection is a little bit on the large side, and uh there's only so many that I can store at home, and there's only so many that my wife would be happy to have on display at home.
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So uh when we redecorated the practice, it uh I brought some of my larger sets in and we created some inbuilt calendar tree to to hose house it all.
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Um, makes a really nice like talking point with patients, uh, makes them not look forward to the next visit, but then there's an added conversation for the next time they come in.
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Oh, what have you built next?
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Have you brought anything new?
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What's your new set plans?
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And it creates a nice little segue that we can start the conversation with before non-dental.
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Exactly.
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There's also off-camera, maybe I can just swing the camera to the side for a second.
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There's these beautiful photos or framed artwork of your little girls around.
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They're so gorgeous.
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They are they are pretty special.
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These are uh the um the art or some of the some of the art that they brought back from nursery uh long time ago when uh when they were much younger.
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And some of them were so nice that we really wanted to kind of remember them and celebrate them.
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So I got them printed, and we've got the originals sort of within the frames in the back just to keep them safe.
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Because, like anyone with children know, when they come back with nursery, they've always coming back with something, and some of it is of dubious origin, and some of it is as good as this.
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So we've uh we thought we'd celebrate the ones that we could.
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Definitely makes us change to like the generic smile ones.
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Absolutely.
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We do call an apple.
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Yeah, exactly.
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Yeah, well, when I when again it was one of the ideas when I um did my first big redecoration in here is that I wanted the sort of the waiting area to be as dental-free as possible.
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I mean, don't get me wrong, we've got a screen with all sorts of dental stuff running in the background, but something that patients could focus on if they were nervous, if they were worried, and it again creates a nice segue for them to have a conversation about before they came into the treatment rooms.
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Uh and it works really well.
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Yeah, it's it's chilled in here.
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Very, very loud.
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There's no patient here.
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It's still chilled when we have them in.
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We try to we try to keep it that way.
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And this so you're a practice owner, Sam?
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Yes.
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How long have you been here, this place?
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I've owned the place since 2018.
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Uh uh.
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Okay, it's a good eight years.
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Yeah.
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And before that, how long were you an associate before that?
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Uh I graduated in 2005, so yeah, 21.
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There'll be 21 years now, so it was about 11 years before I m jumped into uh ownership.
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Do you think you were just ready for a bit more of a challenge, early?
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Uh I I think I didn't quite get how challenging it was going to be.
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I think I I sort of I made the jump.
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There was a couple of incidents that happened that made me realize that I preferred to lead and make mistakes by leading rather than making mistakes by not.
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I worked for a an unnamed corporate.
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And when my second daughter arrived, she was born at the beginning of April, which is the beginning of the financial year.
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And I was an NHS workhorse.
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Like leading up to by the practice, I was very much full NHS.
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I saw the volume, volume, volume patience, and I did what needed to be done.
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And I had a target at the end of the year.
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And so when we found out when the due date was, I made it clear that I wanted to take that month, a month off for paternity leave to help my wife because we had our eldest who were still young enough to be a handful.
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So I made it clear that my tar I could still hit my target, but I would need a little bit of leeway from them, kind of leading up to the end of the year.
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What was promised and what was delivered were very different.
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And at the end of it, I just felt that I didn't want to be treated like that anymore, or I didn't want to have a working relationship like that anymore.
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And I wanted to be somewhere where I could make sure that the people I worked with didn't have that.
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And in my brain, I went, well, the sensible option would be to buy somewhere.
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Which I did, yeah.
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Do you like coming in here now in the morning?
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Feel different.
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It's it's a it's a lovely ritual.
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It is.
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So we have all the lights on here, so the sign lights and the cabinet lights on a timer.
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And I arrive just before that happens.
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And I and if if I arrive too late, I actually do just wait and stand by the door, and then all the lights come up.
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It just makes me happy.
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Oh, that's nice.
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I like that.
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Yeah, yeah.
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It's a working day.
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Um the days that I can.
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So there's a couple of days where I'm on sort of nursery and school drop off, of not nursery, school drop-off, so I can't make it.
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But yeah.
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Oh, that's nice.
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I like I love little rituals.
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I my whole life, I I everything, a lot of the stuff that I do, I do and I introduce, I like it because it has an element of ritual.
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Um, the Lego building, I you know, it's a thing of I'll get I'll get it ready, I'll put the manual down, I'll sit down, I'll spread the bags out.
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Coffee making, I love I love coffee and I love coffee making.
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Thank you.
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So um, whether it's at home with the machine or whether here it's at work, I I do a V60 brew.
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And so when it took when it's time for me to have my coffee, I I you know, everyone at the practice knows Sam's gone into the kitchen.
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Give me two minutes.
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Five minutes of just of just he's just gonna be making like some and I'll just sit and I'll just make the brew.
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Even like the gym and training, I like it because it's there's a structure and a ritual to it before you get into doing everything.
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So you're pre-warm-up and your uh prehab and all that kind of stuff.
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So um a lot of the elements of my life are based on having a little ritual association, which is why I like doing parts of dentistry as well, because again, I love quadrant dentistry.
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I'm not like I I don't I'm not a specialist in anything.
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I have interest in a couple of bits, but give me a quadrant.
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I love I love the ritual into it.
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Exactly.
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You just kind of like it's the ritual of the LA followed by the rubber dam, followed by the dismantling of what's there, followed by kind of figuring out where you're going, the problem solving, but it's just steps, and you kind of like you said, relax into each step, and it just makes it just makes the it really just a lot of uh a lot of fun.
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I've just um ordered loads of scrubs.
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I was trying on all the different styles yesterday.
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I'm still not like in these into these figs or anything.
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I'm so old school, I've had like proper old school scrubs for nearly 13 years or whatever it is.
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I was like, oh, there's a jump suit one.
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I was like, I'm gonna get a jumpsuit for Fridays.
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That will be my Friday ritual.
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I don't know why my brain thinks like that, but it's like adding something into a monotonous week, isn't it?
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It's jumping purely for yourself, isn't it?
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Again, people will just go, but it's literally something for you, and uh like I find it's just a nice reset and it's a nice build-up to whatever's coming next.
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Uh it can get very samey, samey.
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Very much.
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How much of your identity, Sam, do you think is tied to being a dentist?
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If you asked me 10 years ago, I would have said 60 to 70 percent.
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It was, you know, I was all guns blazing, full on.
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Now I I I like to think of myself as a as a geek who's enveloped dentistry into that.
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Realistically, from a percentage-wise, I'd hope it was no more than 30 to 40.
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Um, and I include the practice ownership part of it into that.
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I think I think you when you're a dentist, uh initially it will always be your your everything.
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I I used the thing everything.
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Such a big predominant part.
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And uh hopefully everyone just kind of is able to scale that back and I think it's inevitable, like you say, because you've it's been a goal you've been working for for like 16 to 23 years.
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It's one of those professions where you where where it is what it ends.
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Once you leave, once you leave dental school and you realise how much more there is to know.
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There's so much to do and that you there's so much you can take in that it can envelop you completely.
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Yeah, forever.
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Yeah, it's unending, isn't it?
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Yeah, oh yeah, what you want it to be.
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100%.
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Do you find kind of different skill set you've had to have being a practice owner rather than associo?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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They're very different.
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And it's one of those things that again I look back and I realise dental school did not prepare you in the slightest for ownership, for management, for anything that wasn't clinical, which I find very odd given that a certain percentage of the graduates will end up being owners of, you know.
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Well, I don't know what the percentage is, but it's a fair, you know, with the with the number of independent practitioners around.
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There's gotta be a lot.
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There's gotta be a fair few of them, but that there's very little information.
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There's not there's nothing there.
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And even when you graduate, there's it's an hearsay.
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Yeah.
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Exactly.
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This is what you need to learn.
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Here's a little bit about tax.
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Yeah it's not fun.
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You kinda need to know what's going on.
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HR, yeah.
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HR is going to be a big deal.
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Familiar side of yourself with with with everything.
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Um but yeah, like I the first two, three years of ownership was just an absolute Isn't there anything out there now where it's like a weekend course on stuff like that?
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Or not to my knowledge.
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I think you found yourself or talked yourself into a loophole there.
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Well, I think there is a need.
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There is a yeah, exactly.
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There's a need for it.
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I'm sure there are, but it's it's it it's not it's not as commonplace or as advertised as it should be.
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Yeah.
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It seems very daunting.
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It's huge, and like you know, a lot of it you learn on the fly, a lot and you make a significant number of mistakes.
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And then you kind of make the decision as to whether you invest in getting people who know a lot about it to help you while you learn.
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But I don't know anyone who's completely budgeted for that when they've bought a practice, unless unless I mean, again, I only use myself as a reference.
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Um, I probably did things not quite the right way.
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It could have been a lot easier for me.
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But yeah, I'll say the first two to three years was quite something, especially given the fact that by the time I just about settled because I bought it in the end of 2018, just about when I had my feet under the table, and I thought, okay, I think I can figure out how this is ticking on.
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COVID comes.
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Exactly.
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Yeah, that came along.
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And two little ones.
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Yeah, yeah, well, at the at the time they were quite, yeah, I suppose uh back then they were quite young.
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Um juggling, running the place, doing a little bit of remote dentistry and homeschooling at the same time was yeah, yeah.
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Again, a lot of people enjoyed the um the time you got from COVID.
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I found COVID very stressful from uh just a life point of view.
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Uh you know, disease aside, everything it came with I I found COVID a really, really rough few months between shutdown and being open back again.
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Yeah.
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It must as a practice owner, especially an independent, must have been terrifying in a way.
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That's you.
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Well, it was that, and then just you know, you've got twelve, fifteen people relying on you, try like thinking that you know that you know what's going on.
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Well, yeah, we did that as well.
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But like again, it was just that thing of figuring out what to do, and then like how you're gonna deal with patients and how you're gonna prepare to come back, and then is listening to every single terrifying webinar, and then trying to figure out where you're gonna find those respirator masks and all the just being on a webinar and the lady leading the webinar burst into tears under overwhelm.
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And it was you think, look back and think that was a weird time.
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I mean, that sounds about right.
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It's just there were times when it was just it was just I catch myself staring into space going what what just what?
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Like, you know, I can't I you couldn't formulate sentences or thoughts because it was just everything was so overwhelming.
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But since COVID and getting it all kind of your way, good move for you, feel like it was Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, yeah.
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I'm happy to take I'm happy to put my hand up and say, I've made a mistake or this was a bad decision.
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So in the running of things, when I've gone, I'd like to try this, or this is the way we're gonna go.
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If it doesn't work, you go, I've tried it.
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It doesn't work, we pivot and move on.
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Yeah.
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One thing I didn't like about being a uh like an associate as part of a corporate was that we were told this is the way your input meant it was very rare that my input had any value to it.
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And also because of the where the practice was, I was kind of pigeonholed as the NHS dentist.
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So even when I sort of felt, well, I'd like to try X, I'd like to try Y.
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Because I was the NHS dentist, there was no additional uh funding or support that I could have that would help me do that.
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So yeah, like the screens and everything.
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Just to just like you know, I I I wanted to do a bit of aligners and asked for a scanner for the practice, bearing in mind that this was like a sick surgery practice, so I wasn't it what I don't think it was an unreasonable request at the time.
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Yeah, I it was a no.
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So stuff like that, and even though like even though I don't do aligners anymore, at the time I just thought, oh well, this is something I'd like to try.
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And had I become a little bit more adept at uh using a scanner back then, I think I could have probably woven it into woven it into what I was gonna do, but it wasn't today.
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Tricky times.
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Yeah.
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So that's kind of a big turning point in your career so far that becoming a practice owner in COVID.
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Did you say any other kind of pivots or so the practice where we bought it was a fully NHS practice, it was also a paper practice.
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There was no no no text, no like, you know, it it was cash or check to pay you.
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So it was like proper old school.
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So it just got to the point where I just didn't enjoy the dentistry anymore.
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Uh it helped to like, you know, what helped kind of propel my career propel the direction I took my dentistry was the fact that it was just becoming a non-vi non-viable to keep the business that way.
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Instagram was having its heyday, and I was looking at what other people were doing, and I was just like, God, that looks really good.
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And just like you could you know, some people post and you can feel the joy that come that they've yeah they've got from what they've done.
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So um, one of the people I was following was uh Immy Nasser and Imy was at dental school with me.
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Uh he's a year, I think he graduated the year after I did.
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So I reached out and I just I just literally it was a case, it was just a message just going, You seem to be getting so much joy from what you do.
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Do you mind if I come and observe for a couple of days?
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And he was superb.
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I mean he just he's such a good soul.
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And he and he allowed me to observe.
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He even sort of started doing a little bit of mentoring and sort of asked me what I was using for photography, nothing, uh, how I was doing my composites badly, and he just kind of he started teaching me.
00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:16.960
He led you a bit.
00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:17.680
He led it, yeah.
00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:24.400
And then I started doing so, and then he sort of pointed me in different directions in terms of oh well, you know, here's a course for your photography.
00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:33.680
If you want to if you've got interest in doing rubber dam, follow upseline, for example, and it just kind of took on a life of its own.
00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:37.680
And then when the work that I was producing, I started looking at it going, It's all right.
00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:39.440
I took I like that, that's nice.
00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:40.720
I I like it.
00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:41.920
How can I get better at it?
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:52.079
And then it just got back into the rhythm of doing courses because you wanted to learn more rather than because you had the requisite number of hours that you had to hit at the end of the month.
00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:53.519
Yeah, really.
00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:58.480
Yeah, well, yeah, and and because I just want I want to be able to use this.
00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:14.720
And that that yeah, so between between bind the practice and that kind of three to four month period within me, it it just made just a ridiculous difference to the way I kind of control what you're doing in the job.
00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:21.279
I do the management and leadership aspect of it is still hard and I'm still learning.
00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:24.559
Don't do everything right still.
00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:27.920
Um but I'm hoping I'm getting better at it.
00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:32.240
We've got a nice stable team, had a nice stable team for a little while.
00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:43.039
Um hopefully they feel kind of safe and happy and sort of listened to and cared for, so which is why they're staying.
00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:48.960
So yeah, yeah, it was a bit that that that period in in just after COVID, early 2000s, was was huge.
00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:50.640
There's lots of things that changed then.
00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:55.920
There was the work thing, then started like the fitness journey as well at the same time.
00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:58.799
So we were remember how hot it was in in COVID.
00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:00.079
A bit like now.
00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:00.720
Yeah, exactly.
00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:05.359
So I was uh I was sat on the floor with the kids playing.
00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:10.319
And um my youngest, I I didn't have a top on.
00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:16.319
My youngest, she was like three at the time, and she just looked at me and went, Oh daddy's boobies.
00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:20.559
And it was like that innocent, didn't like nothing.
00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.200
It was just ridiculous comment.
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:27.920
But you know when something just kind of burrows in your head and just won't let go.
00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:28.880
Yeah.
00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:30.960
And that was it.
00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:34.799
And I was just like, I can't be no, no, just no.
00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:40.799
And that's when I started uh yeah, started uh just a little bit of my fitness journey as well.
00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:42.559
What sort of stuff were you?
00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:45.920
Do you get like a structured plan or do you Yeah.
00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:58.000
So initially I would just I just joined a local gym and sort of uh the PT kind of was there, gave me some tips and guidelines on on just how to do it without hurting herself, that kind of stuff.
00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:03.200
And then I got to the I I I I peaked in terms of how much I could lead myself.
00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:06.400
I got to the point where I was just like, I don't know what I'm doing.
00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:20.480
And and again, Amy were we having a chat with Amy about it, and he and he mentioned that he trains with uh Rowan uh Verma, who runs RV Fitness, who was mentioned on one of your previous uh episodes.
00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:28.160
And so I I reached out to Rowan and uh yeah, and then and and I became one of his clients and he started training me.
00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:30.960
And then and is that remote training?
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:32.160
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:34.240
So it is mainly online.
00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:54.240
He he'll um he'll do a ridiculous, like ridiculously detailed program, he'll sit, he'll find out what you do, how you do it, what your diet's like, and then he'll create a very custom sort of day-to-day training regime for you, plus sort of daily management of how you go about things and and and took it from there.
00:20:54.480 --> 00:21:00.960
Um and because Ron used to be a dentist, he knows the job pressures, he knows the kind of limitations.
00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:05.440
I wonder, because he's got I thought he was just a niche you'd fall into, but he was a dentist.
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:12.559
Yeah, yeah, no, no, he was a oh I honestly like one of the best investments I've made.
00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:38.079
And then, like again, from 2000, it's it's one of those things that I've just realized um when I was kind of planning for this was because you mentioned mentorship quite a lot and and a lot of your um previous uh guests mentioned, and I've just fully, fully embraced the fact that yeah, ask for help, find someone who's damn good at what they do, and just go, I need help.
00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:39.839
Can you help me with this?
00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:42.319
And people are so willing to help.
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:44.799
They they like yeah, they they want to.
00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:45.680
They really are.
00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:54.960
And a as much or as little as possible, like on Instagram, like I've I've reached out to you and asked, like, that thing that you did how did you yeah?
00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:59.440
And like, you know, and other people you but people are so happy to give information
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.839
Yeah, as long as it's not d sometimes it's done without a please or thanking.
00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:04.960
It kinda irks you at the end of the day.
00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:05.599
Oh, a hundred percent.
00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:06.480
Nice way of.
00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:07.839
So it's a basic manner, isn't it?
00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:08.480
Absolutely.
00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:14.319
Everyone is being so uh generous with what they know and collaborative on that.
00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.480
Yeah, like people are like positive for me.
00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:17.200
Absolutely.
00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:19.519
Like people like Rupert Monkhouse.
00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:19.839
Yeah.
00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:26.799
Celine like you the number of like you you you you write these messages and you go, I'll ask the question.
00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:28.079
Not expect too much.
00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:33.119
But then just the volume of stuff that they come back with is absolutely mind-blowing.
00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:35.279
And it's because they're passionate and they love it.
00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:43.680
Yeah, and they want to see other people who love it as much as they do, which is like crazy because I I've ended up like helping Rupert with his build it.
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:50.079
I'm one of his little little minions in his build it course, and I helped Celine on her um on her upper down course as well.
00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:50.480
Yeah.
00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:54.000
Um because they've both like done so much for me.
00:22:54.079 --> 00:23:03.039
I just kind of want to go, actually, I can like, you know, A, help them, but also like see other people and just go, this worked really well for me.
00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:06.000
And like sort of I think we all crave it a little bit as well.
00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:08.480
Like you're on your own, aren't you, to a certain extent.
00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:09.599
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:17.519
And then you meet somebody or you even a tiny thing in common, like a clamp, and then you're like, if they say, Do you want to collab?
00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:18.720
Absolutely, I'm there.
00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:19.519
Like 100%.
00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:26.799
And then you're chatting and you find something else out, and it's like this big web that's suddenly like, oh my god, they know that person, they know that person anymore.
00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:27.920
Dentistry's tiny.
00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:33.039
Dentistry is tiny, like, and uh there's a lot of people.
00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.160
No one benefits from isolating themselves.
00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:48.720
No, it like there's enough to do that all of us can be happy with what they're doing, and and and so uh isolation just does no one any benefit when it comes to stuff like that.
00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:53.519
How do you switch off Sam after like a really busy, awful day?
00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:56.400
Because we still like them, even not in NHS, don't we?
00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:59.200
Yeah, they're yeah, they're yeah.
00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:03.359
Um so I have a 40-minute journey home in the car.
00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:04.079
40, 40.
00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:04.640
40.
00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:05.599
Yeah.
00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:09.359
If it's a good day, I'll listen to a podcast.
00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:19.039
If it's a bad day, the car will be in silence, and I just need that kind of echo change nothing to be able to focus.
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:34.640
Um, I try to do it that by the time I get home, I'm able to kind of give as much as I can to my family because I used to take it home quite a lot, and it just that was never did anyone any benefit.
00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:37.759
I find that nah, I'm I'm um I'm an early riser.
00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:58.720
I find that when I go to the gym first thing in the morning, it gives me such a an endorphin high that it takes quite a lot to come down, so that by the time the day's ended, no matter how difficult it's been, there's there's joy left that I can kind of proceed with the day without it being too much.
00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.799
Um but again, it's it's throwing yourselves into the rituals.
00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:06.240
Lego has been one of the great ones.
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:08.160
Um since you were little?
00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:10.160
A little bit when I was younger.
00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:13.119
So when I was kind of in six to eight, I had a couple of sets.
00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:21.839
I used to love building them, but like I I didn't I stopped building them like when you go when you're at uni and you think you're too cool for toys and stuff like that.
00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:23.680
Um but the geek never leaves.
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:27.119
Like, you know, you can try to bury him, but he's he's in there.
00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:32.480
And then uh when when when I gave him the opportunity to come out again, he came out, came out of swinging.
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.920
So uh I just leaned into it and I just went, it just makes me happy.
00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:37.599
So who cares?
00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:40.640
What everything does things lovely anyway.
00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:41.200
They're great.
00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:55.440
I mean, I know like for me, I I tend to stick to Star Wars just purely from a financial basis because like Lego's got so much good stuff that if I if I started getting everything I wanted, then uh it would be an absolute disaster.
00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:58.400
Uh but um no, I love it.
00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:04.400
It's it's uh it it really is calming the the the routine, the step-by-step thing.
00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:09.359
It just literally you can you can zen yourself out completely.
00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:12.640
It's it's my version of yoga or like meditation.
00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:18.480
Yeah, I think it's about meditation, but it comes in very many forms, not just like sitting in all the time.
00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:23.200
I I've tried I've tried traditional meditation and my brain just cannot cope with it.
00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:32.640
And I probably need to work a little bit more on being able to kind of silence the silence my own voices in my head and try to be able to enjoy quiet.
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:44.000
But being able to do this with my hands and just have that busyness when I've got something that I can focus on that much, stuff.
00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:46.640
It literally clears my mind completely.
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:48.319
Because again, it's it's quite tricky.
00:26:48.400 --> 00:27:00.480
Like some of the bigger sets, some of the more complex bits, if you're not paying attention to what you're doing, suddenly you're 10, 20 steps later, you realise you made the mistake, and it's a royal pain in the backside to have to go all the way back.
00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:07.599
So you need to focus, and then you find something that you really focus in and hone in on, and it just completely quietens everything down.
00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:09.200
Absolutely.
00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:12.079
What do you think you'd be if you weren't a dentist?
00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:17.920
Um I'd like to be a chef, I'd like to be a cook, I'd like to be a baker.
00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:20.240
I like food, I like making food.
00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:31.359
When um before the kids arrived, um when I was uh when I was uh the the um NHS uh associate, uh I used to cook a lot.
00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:32.960
I uh I used to bake.
00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:43.599
So we my wife and I would watch the bake off when it was back in the BBC on a like I think it was a Tuesday, and then I'd do the the challenge on my day off the following day.
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:48.640
So I'd literally go and get the ingredients and we'd spend the day in the kitchen baking it.
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:53.759
My wife and I still bake our kids' birthday cakes, so uh they're big.
00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:55.440
Oh, yeah.
00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:56.799
Nice, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:01.680
So they they set our theme, they set the theme and we we go bake off.
00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.359
Um I mean, sometimes it's it's a rod for our own back.
00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:10.160
Our daughter uh two years ago wanted the house from Encanto.
00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:13.680
And um I mean you did ask.
00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:19.359
And she literally, and that was, and you know, when you kind of try to guide children and go, you sure you don't want a cat?
00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:22.880
Or like, you know, oh no, no, she wants the house from Encanto.
00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:28.720
So it literally it was it was like a three-day job.
00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:31.200
It was it was hard work.
00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:39.599
Um it looked great in the end, um, until she got her hands on it and she, you know, like a birthday cake does, it just kind of just disappears.
00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:40.160
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:46.799
But um sign of a I love cooking, I love making like again, it's like an expression of it.
00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:53.359
Like to me, it's again, it's like probably the the Arab in me, but it's an expression of love to to to make food forever to feed.
00:28:55.039 --> 00:29:00.960
Um so to to be able to kind of lay the table and go, here you go.
00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:02.000
Pleasing, yeah.
00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:05.839
And it's that thing of going, oh no, yeah, it's not it's not good, but give me the praise.
00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:08.079
It's like idea wasn't much.
00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:10.880
Feeds the ego a little bit as well.
00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:19.519
Uh yeah, so I think I think and I quite like again uh the precision of it as well, like baking, especially, like everything needs to be fairly precise.
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:23.119
You need to measure, everything needs to be the right weight, things need to be the right temperatures.
00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:30.079
It's and you can get better and better exactly, and and there's something physical, you can see it, yeah.
00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:32.480
Yeah, and the classic boy with toy.
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:34.240
Again, I love kitchen gadgets as well.
00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:40.160
So, like, oh yeah, I need I need that to buy this to make this one thing, and I'm never gonna use it again, but I've got it.
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:43.440
In case I decide it's just like it's exactly like that.
00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:44.559
It's just like that.
00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:45.440
Stop yourself.
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:47.440
I'm uh yeah, uh yeah.
00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:49.759
My my practice manager here tells me that all the time.
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:53.279
She's like, Are you gonna use it again?
00:29:54.000 --> 00:29:56.160
Said, but I need it for this case.
00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:58.880
She's like, are you going to use it again?
00:29:59.200 --> 00:29:59.519
No.
00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:03.759
It's like, okay, so shall we think of another thing that you could use?
00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:05.920
Oh, yeah, well, there's loads of things I could use instead.
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:07.039
It's not as fun.
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:08.160
No, exactly.
00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:10.000
That thing is gonna be really cool.
00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:11.759
Yeah, definitely.
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:13.119
We're all the same, aren't we?
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:13.839
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:14.559
Yeah, magpies.
00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:16.960
We're we're we're like little gadgety magpies.
00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:18.319
Magpies, definitely.
00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:19.039
Yeah.
00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:20.960
Do you always want to be a dentist?
00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:22.799
Or you like as a little boy?
00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:25.440
I've really had to think about this.
00:30:25.839 --> 00:30:29.440
I don't remember wanting to be anything as a kid.
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:33.599
I don't remember as a like, you know, when lots of people say, I want to be an astronaut, I want to be a fireman.
00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:39.039
I I genuinely cannot think back and go, I wanted to be this as a child.
00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:41.839
I enjoyed like playing basketball.
00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:43.759
I didn't want to be a basketball player.
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:53.839
I I yeah, so dentistry only came in uh when I was in my early teens and I was kind of had I had to think about it a little bit more.
00:30:54.160 --> 00:31:01.680
And my um my dad was talking about like what are you gonna do for work experiences over the summer?
00:31:01.920 --> 00:31:04.640
He was an oil engineer, so he just went, Do you want to come?
00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:06.960
I spent a couple of days in his office.
00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:11.279
I didn't find it particularly interesting or exciting.
00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:16.319
And uh he said, Oh, well, I've got a friend who's a doctor, would you like to follow them?
00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:17.440
And I was like, Oh, maybe.
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:23.839
And then another friend who was a dentist, and that one was just like, Oh, okay, I can that's I can see myself doing that.
00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:25.200
And then a bit more hands-on.
00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:40.480
Yeah, it made them happy because again, they're they're good Arab parents and they want their son to have a good solid profession, and uh and everyone was happy with that kind of decision, and then it it kind of the path was laid.
00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:42.319
Yeah, and then you're just down it, don't you?
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:54.960
Yeah, yeah, at the moment, the moment it's not like yeah, I mean, there's there's plenty of people who've got the once they've done it, have decided that it's not the path for them, but you're so into it, and you've invested for me.
00:31:55.039 --> 00:32:04.720
I invested so much time and effort, and my parents' time and effort and and finance as well, because I was a foreign student, so the fees were ridiculous.
00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:10.000
Uh my parents are Egyptian, and we grew up in Kuwait in the Middle East.
00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:13.279
They were both oil, they were both oil engineers, so they went where the work was.
00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:18.799
So I grew up there and I came to Bristol for university.
00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:20.000
And you've never left?
00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:23.920
No, met while yeah, Bristol, Bristol has this thing.
00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:28.160
Lots of the medics and dentists just tend to stay.
00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:30.400
It's definitely got a nice vibe about it, Bristol.
00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:30.880
It's great.
00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.359
It's such a good city.
00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:37.200
It's like, you know, if you're a foodie, it's just heaven.
00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:39.759
Um really good location as well.
00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:45.680
My wife's parents are from Cornwall, so it's kind of fairly accessible as well to go back and visit.
00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:49.519
And yeah, and uh we met we met at uni and then just never left.
00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:52.640
A lovely story so far.
00:32:53.200 --> 00:32:54.640
So far, yeah, yeah.
00:32:55.279 --> 00:32:56.799
Say that sounds ominous, does that?
00:32:57.200 --> 00:32:58.000
No, no, no, no, no.
00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:00.400
That's because there's plenty more chapters.
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:05.039
How do we deal with when something's not going right at work?
00:33:05.279 --> 00:33:06.720
Sound more like failure.
00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:09.119
Still struggle a bit with it.
00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:10.160
Yeah, always.
00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:14.799
Always depends on what the reason for the failure is, if it's your fault.
00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:16.720
If it's my fault.
00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:28.160
I always say that I've just got to control how or I I I can only control my reaction to things.
00:33:28.559 --> 00:33:38.000
So if it happens, you're a big boy, fess out and just move on.
00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:39.440
It's easier said than done.
00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:40.880
Much easier said than done.
00:33:41.119 --> 00:33:52.799
But I decided to be a practice owner because I wanted that responsibility, and uh if I didn't want uh I then and the the the the counter argument to that is that you had to then accept the responsibility.
00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:53.680
So yeah.
00:33:53.920 --> 00:34:00.000
So um it never gets easier, like um but yeah, silent car journeys help.
00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:09.199
And having someone there who's able to listen to you rant about it afterward really helps.
00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:20.079
So my wife is wonderful that knowing when I just want to just like I don't need help, I just need this out.
00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:20.559
Yeah.
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:23.840
Um and here my practice manager is the same.
00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:27.760
She's absolutely just absolute gold dust.
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:39.519
Um she knows that time there are times where I just need to just verbally get it out there and there's no fixing, there's no like advice needed.
00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:50.800
It's just a good I hope I'm getting better at it, and I think as a practice owner and a leader, you just have to be able, you have to be seen to be dealing with it.
00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:56.480
Well dealing with it rather than ignoring it or shifting blame.
00:34:56.719 --> 00:35:04.320
But I'd like to think that I I I do put my hand up when things have gone wrong and go, yeah, this one was on me, I made this mistake.
00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:10.559
And what about stress patients, like tricky, trickier patients to manage?
00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:16.480
Similarly, it's a case of I can't control their reactions, I can only control my reaction to it.
00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:23.840
So when the patient comes in and says they hate it, yes, okay, yeah, that's absolutely I get that.
00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:33.039
I do everything I can from a business site and a clinical site to make it as relaxing as possible.
00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:44.400
I've invested my time and my effort into making it as comfortable a journey as possible for them, but ultimately this is a one-off scenario for patients rather than it is for us.
00:35:44.639 --> 00:35:57.360
Um, this is our day-to-day for them, it's an event, um, and an event that comes with a lot of kind of um aura around it, whether it's positive or negative for them, and you've just got to deal with it.
00:35:57.440 --> 00:35:59.599
I yeah, we just try to like again.
00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:12.320
I you know when you get a vibe from the patient from the moment you see them, you spot them that they're either they're they're tense and they're building it up, or they've had a previous appointment and you've gathered from that that the next appointment may be a little bit tricky.
00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:28.480
Yeah, I try to kind of lean into everything that I've put in around here, the Lego, the the pictures, and I kind of have it try to hone in on which of them is interested in them, and I'll direct the conversation towards that as much as possible until they've feel a little bit more comfortable.
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.000
Um is definitely one of the harder aspects of the job.
00:36:34.159 --> 00:36:40.400
Uh it's it's always people, whether it's if they drop their teeth off at the door, it would be a lot easier to do it.
00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:42.320
Life would be a lot easier, yes, admittedly.
00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:43.360
But more boring.
00:36:43.519 --> 00:36:47.199
Um yeah, it's it's just one of those things.
00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:51.280
Uh it's it's it's the profession we've chosen and we have to kind of adapt.
00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:52.400
Yeah.
00:36:55.039 --> 00:36:56.800
What do you love about our jobs?
00:36:57.119 --> 00:36:58.400
I love the detail.
00:36:58.559 --> 00:37:07.599
I love I love like like I said, like when you're doing quadrant dentistry, I love the I love the ritual of set the setup.
00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:11.760
I love getting everything as well as you can.
00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:14.400
I mean, I say just so, just so for you.
00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:16.239
It's never gonna be ideal.
00:37:16.559 --> 00:37:19.599
But I like the problem solving aspect of it as well.
00:37:19.920 --> 00:37:23.039
So I really get really sad.
00:37:23.119 --> 00:37:23.920
It's not really sad.
00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:27.920
I really get excited when it's time to matrix up because you just go.
00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:33.920
Which puzzle you know, what what part of this is going to make the puzzle fair.
00:37:34.159 --> 00:37:34.880
Yeah, yeah.
00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:50.159
So uh, like you have got the little um the little tool, uh the little what's it called, the little nail boxes, you know, the boxes with the little compartments, and you've got them laid out, and you just go, you look at the x-rays first, and you look at the thing, and you just go, I think it's gonna be like this.
00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:52.960
When you get it right, you're just like, yeah, if you'll really like it.
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:59.599
But then you're just like, well, then suddenly something doesn't quite go right, and you're like, okay, next stage of the problem, what are we gonna do?
00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:00.719
What are we gonna look at?
00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:03.280
I like I like the thinking about it, I like the kind of thinking about it.
00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:14.480
Reminds me of um there's a scene on the original Toy Story where the toy goes to be mended, and there's that guy, and he's got everything, and it's start coming down and you're loving what he's doing.
00:38:14.719 --> 00:38:17.519
It is, it's it's uh it is nice.
00:38:17.679 --> 00:38:33.199
I also like having a good relate, like having those flow state, uh like when you have those flow state treatments when you and the nurse are like completely in sync, and you kind of realize that the appointment has started and ended.
00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:43.679
You've exchanged maybe about two words that are related to dentistry, and you're suddenly done, and you're just like, Well, that was that was cool.
00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:46.000
And the nurse has enjoyed that appointment.
00:38:46.159 --> 00:38:51.039
Yeah, but I really can tell they're and they're proud that they know what to give you for.
00:38:51.519 --> 00:39:04.719
Yeah, yeah, because you know that there's some jobs that find that they find really like you know, like like every job, there's other jobs that bits that just need to be done that are not fun, and there's no there's no there's no like investment of themselves in.
00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:05.039
Yeah.
00:39:05.199 --> 00:39:16.400
But then when you've got nurses who have basically completely zoned into how you work, and the ones that are like the ones who are like quite like, okay, why did you use that now?
00:39:16.559 --> 00:39:17.920
So what about this one?
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:22.079
Do you think and there's times like I've there's been times when they've gone.
00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:28.559
I've looked at it uh uh for example, if it's been a last tooth and arch one, and they've gone, oh do you want the spring?
00:39:28.719 --> 00:39:30.000
I'm like, yeah, I don't know.
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:45.679
And it just it just makes me really happy that you've kind of suddenly like when you you bring something new in, you say like you've added another step, or you've gone and done something that weekend and you've changed it up slightly, and they're like, Hang on.
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:46.559
Yeah, what's this?
00:39:46.960 --> 00:39:47.519
What's this?
00:39:47.679 --> 00:39:48.000
Yeah.
00:39:48.320 --> 00:40:12.320
Mine, mine, uh I went through a period now, like again, during my kind of flip from NHS workhorse to what I am now of going on a course, and then both nurse and manager will be terrified of what's gonna be delivered, what's gonna be delivered on Monday, and then it would just be like mask it or they're like, right, we're gonna be doing it like this now, and they're like okay.
00:40:14.639 --> 00:40:16.239
I think that is one of the best bits.
00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:19.280
If you enjoy it, it must be one of the best bits for everyone.
00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:20.079
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:20.719 --> 00:40:32.400
I think they again the nurses can clock on really well as to what procedures you like and don't like, and what which ones make you comfortable and which ones you're kind of you're not as as relaxed with, and they get they can feel it.
00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:34.320
And uh I mean I'm very lucky.
00:40:34.400 --> 00:40:44.800
I work with a few nurses who all kind of have tuned in to oh, he's got this coming up, he's gonna be happy for the rest of the day, or right, make sure he's got his coffee time because this is coming up after this one.
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:47.760
So um are you really organized, Sam?
00:40:47.840 --> 00:40:48.960
You I think you seem it's a good idea.
00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:49.519
Try to be.
00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:55.760
I try to be, and I think I end up being I like having everything ready.
00:40:55.920 --> 00:41:01.679
Yeah, I like having everything ready for like to me, it's kind of like, have I prepared enough for this?
00:41:01.760 --> 00:41:07.760
And if I've done my prep and things don't go right, it it is what it is.
00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:19.920
But if I haven't prepped, if I haven't got that thing ready, if I haven't got myself sorted, I get really annoyed with myself, which is why I kind of like arrive, I like I like early starts.
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:20.159
Yeah.
00:41:20.400 --> 00:41:28.400
Because I just go, right, I've got enough time now to do everything I need to do before the first patient comes in through the door.
00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:53.840
But on a normal kind of clinical day, before the first patient comes in and sees me, I like I like to have done my training, done at least half of my steps, done any paper admin, and I'll sit like the the manager and I will normally have a a meeting before rather than during the middle of the day, just to set up for the rest of the day or the week.
00:41:54.239 --> 00:42:02.639
Um and then I like having a little bit of time of just everything has been done, you can have ten minutes to yourself now.
00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:04.559
If I can get all of that in.
00:42:05.280 --> 00:42:05.920
Days on Twitter.
00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:07.519
The days on to a winner.
00:42:07.599 --> 00:42:07.679
Yeah.
00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:09.280
And that's why I get up at 5 a.m.
00:42:09.920 --> 00:42:13.519
So this next question are you type type A, I think you are very much.
00:42:13.679 --> 00:42:15.760
Yeah, I I I there's nothing B about me.
00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:16.960
I I I wish I was.
00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:19.280
I wish I was a little bit more relaxed about certain things.
00:42:19.519 --> 00:42:25.679
I wish I didn't feel like I have to be there ten minutes early for everything, but I am.
00:42:26.320 --> 00:42:29.360
Is there anything that gives you the ick about dentistry?
00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:35.679
About that's that's really tricky.
00:42:35.760 --> 00:42:36.639
I don't know.
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:40.719
Um if you can't think of anything we can edit it out anyway.
00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:42.079
I can't actually.
00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:43.519
I'm I'm sure there is.
00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:44.719
I I'm sure something will come up.
00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:46.239
Yeah, yeah, I will.
00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:46.880
Long list.
00:42:47.280 --> 00:42:50.079
Yeah, I did not, I did not no, not really.
00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:54.719
I think everyone everyone tries to do their best.
00:42:55.760 --> 00:43:02.880
I mean, I can be really controversial and say the NHS, but that's just because I lived it for 20 odd years.
00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:09.440
It's a system that's the system that yeah, you know what, actually that damn system that gives me the ick.
00:43:09.599 --> 00:43:09.760
Yeah.
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:17.920
To be able like not to be able to have a straightforward and easy way to do anything.
00:43:18.239 --> 00:43:26.480
For everything to have to have layer after layer after layer of bureaucracy so that you can justify doing it, to me, is mad.
00:43:27.119 --> 00:43:36.960
Um the system is being beaten up by every new political party that's coming up.
00:43:37.119 --> 00:43:43.920
They're flogging a dead horse to the point where it's just so dangerous, isn't it?
00:43:44.239 --> 00:43:48.719
It's it's just unworkable and they're trying to pin it on dentists.
00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:50.880
Yeah.
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:57.119
I was in the NHS eight years after graduation, so I know the system.
00:43:58.159 --> 00:44:01.760
When we transitioned from an Just to private here.
00:44:02.880 --> 00:44:05.119
I wasn't a decision I wanted to make, but it was just as a business.
00:44:05.199 --> 00:44:05.920
It was just non-violent.
00:44:06.079 --> 00:44:14.239
It got to the point where I looked at the figures and the accountant looked at the figures and said, if you carry on like this, you will be out of business in a year.
00:44:14.400 --> 00:44:23.440
So we made the decision and we planned it, we prepped it, we set dates, we got the staff ready, we said, This is going to happen.
00:44:23.760 --> 00:44:26.000
Here are all the questions that you've got to answer.
00:44:26.159 --> 00:44:38.719
And I said to the team, especially instead of the front of the house team, I said, as soon as patients become annoyed with you, as soon as it becomes more than just an admin job, you come and talk to you transfer them across.
00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:43.519
I'm not letting you said to them with anger that you weren't anymore.
00:44:43.679 --> 00:44:43.920
Yeah.
00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:44.239
Yeah.
00:44:44.400 --> 00:44:48.880
And I just said, You you're not, you're, you're, you've not made the decision, I've made the decision.
00:44:49.039 --> 00:44:50.079
Send them to me.
00:44:51.519 --> 00:44:57.599
And we sent out the letters, I think it was like sort of mid-January 2024.
00:44:58.079 --> 00:45:05.280
And between January 24 and end of Feb, I don't think I've cried as much.
00:45:05.519 --> 00:45:06.079
Really?
00:45:06.320 --> 00:45:06.880
Yeah.
00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:12.960
People are so possessive of the NHS and they think that you are You've let them down.
00:45:13.119 --> 00:45:20.960
You've let They think that you're basically a department of the NHS rather than an independent contractor who has a contract with the NHS.
00:45:23.039 --> 00:45:29.519
The the emails, phone calls, face-to-face stuff that some of them are saying.
00:45:29.599 --> 00:45:34.079
I've just like, I don't know any walk of life where you'd have to take that.
00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:43.360
You feel entitled enough to something that you would say that to someone else.
00:45:43.679 --> 00:45:50.239
I'd honestly, I you know, there was a couple of sessions when I went to like, you know, it was a day of that, and then I'd go to the gym and I'd cry.
00:45:50.960 --> 00:45:53.280
Like they I they were really worried about me for a while.
00:45:53.519 --> 00:45:55.679
But and I got home and I cried.
00:45:57.119 --> 00:46:00.239
Thankfully, it's it's it's it is what it is.
00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:08.960
But it was it was some I was absolut I had no preparation as I knew it was gonna be we've seen the pic, we heard the stories.
00:46:10.320 --> 00:46:15.440
I I never thought, like I never in my wildest dreams thought it was gonna be that bad.
00:46:15.679 --> 00:46:16.960
Yeah, that is tough.
00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:22.719
It was hard, it was it was like it was really you'd been here a little bit, so so I'd been here.
00:46:22.800 --> 00:46:25.039
Well, I'd been here for what was it?
00:46:25.199 --> 00:46:27.840
So we did it in 24, so it was six years.
00:46:28.159 --> 00:46:29.760
So you know the people ringing.
00:46:29.840 --> 00:46:30.000
Yeah.
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:31.360
Wow, that's even harder.
00:46:31.599 --> 00:46:36.880
I mean, i i it was it was a busy NHS practice, so we had a a a huge volume of patients.
00:46:36.960 --> 00:46:40.000
So yeah, it's just it was it was not a fun time.
00:46:40.320 --> 00:46:45.840
It'd be very interesting to see where we're at with the system in another decade or whether it's still there.
00:46:46.079 --> 00:46:52.239
Um until until one of the parties is willing to fall on their sword and do it for the better good.
00:46:53.280 --> 00:47:01.840
It they're just gonna literally be, it's just gonna be basically putting it's a very interesting thing, the UK media, isn't it?
00:47:01.920 --> 00:47:02.159
Really?
00:47:02.320 --> 00:47:06.559
Like how things get portrayed to the general public, especially with healthcare.
00:47:07.039 --> 00:47:07.920
Oh, god, yeah.
00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:29.679
The the language and the stats and everything, the way it's kind of told and twisted is uh I think they've put the NHS, the the the the the requirements of the NHS has become more uh it's got this halo around it that anyone seemed to be wanting to make any major changes to it is basically attacking the moral fibre of the country.
00:47:29.760 --> 00:47:39.360
And it's just like it served its purpose really well, and if we want it to continue serving its purpose, it has to be changed.
00:47:39.599 --> 00:47:40.239
Yeah.
00:47:40.559 --> 00:47:49.679
And everyone you talk to who's worked in it, like you're like us, or you know, I've got thinking of so many different people, especially in medicine and dentistry.
00:47:50.239 --> 00:47:57.920
Anyone who leaves is reluctant to leave because they want to do the best and they feel morally obliged to as well.
00:47:58.719 --> 00:48:03.760
So it's it's not so much not about the moral of the professional is what I want to say.
00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:04.800
My wife's a GP.
00:48:04.880 --> 00:48:05.119
Is she?
00:48:05.360 --> 00:48:07.920
So I hear the GP side of it.
00:48:08.079 --> 00:48:08.400
Yeah.
00:48:08.559 --> 00:48:11.360
Uh, you know, she works probably twice.
00:48:11.760 --> 00:48:15.920
Like she she does she works for three days, one two of which is in a GP surgery.
00:48:16.159 --> 00:48:18.960
She does five days' worth of work in those two days.
00:48:19.599 --> 00:48:24.719
Like, you know, she's at home logging in, doing this, that, and the other.
00:48:24.800 --> 00:48:33.440
She comes home having rushed home to make sure the kids have been picked up after certain days to and is back on like back online the next day.
00:48:33.519 --> 00:48:34.079
She's still online.
00:48:34.559 --> 00:48:53.199
Like it's it's and anyone who leaves is because yes, we're often financially better off for going private and more balanced and everything, but you'll I think everyone going into these healthcare professions, it's it's a long haul hog to the case.
00:48:53.440 --> 00:48:55.519
No one no one in the UK does it for that.
00:48:55.760 --> 00:48:57.679
Like no one goes into healthcare in the UK for the money.
00:48:57.920 --> 00:48:59.360
No, okay, not in the UK.
00:48:59.599 --> 00:49:01.760
Uh you know, the system isn't the person.
00:49:02.000 --> 00:49:02.480
Yeah.
00:49:02.719 --> 00:49:08.800
And and it's a TNG leave because you can't do the best for the person in your care.
00:49:09.119 --> 00:49:09.840
And for yourself.
00:49:09.920 --> 00:49:10.079
Yeah.
00:49:10.320 --> 00:49:22.639
We've lost, like, when when the practice was an NHS practice, I lost three nurses because of RSI and because of they just the workload was just too much.
00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:27.679
When you were seeing You should do have dispatches on the wall.
00:49:27.840 --> 00:49:28.320
They should have seen.
00:49:28.559 --> 00:49:28.639
Yeah.
00:49:28.880 --> 00:49:41.360
When you're seeing for when we're seeing, when we're tired because you've seen 30, 40 patients in a day, the nurses are just like the volume of work and the volume of stuff that they've got to do.
00:49:42.400 --> 00:49:43.679
It's exactly it's mental.
00:49:43.760 --> 00:49:44.320
It's mad.
00:49:44.559 --> 00:49:48.400
And again, like we lost, which like I I just said, yeah, absolutely.
00:49:48.559 --> 00:49:49.760
Go go and have a break.
00:49:49.920 --> 00:49:56.559
Go go have a job where the the requirements of your body are not mental.
00:49:56.639 --> 00:49:58.639
I can't, I can't help you at the moment.
00:49:58.880 --> 00:50:02.559
Yeah, it's such a massive problem and shame.
00:50:03.440 --> 00:50:06.159
Um let's let's round it up in something positive.
00:50:06.239 --> 00:50:06.400
Yeah.
00:50:06.639 --> 00:50:15.280
Go back to um if you went back, obviously, before I ask you that actually, let's touch on Instagram because it's been such a positive for you.
00:50:15.440 --> 00:50:16.400
Well, yeah.
00:50:22.320 --> 00:50:24.559
Not unachievable, but a bit daunting.
00:50:24.880 --> 00:50:31.039
No, I joined Instagram because as a social, like I just, it was just I had Facebook.
00:50:31.199 --> 00:50:39.920
I was I was an old Facebook, like, you know, I was I was one of those older population who just had Facebook, and people were like, Instagram's the new cool thing to go on.
00:50:40.079 --> 00:50:45.360
And then you just realized that actually I did it for the social media purposes rather than for dentistry.
00:50:45.599 --> 00:50:49.519
Then I and then sort of I realized that actually there's a lot of stuff there.
00:50:49.599 --> 00:50:50.639
There's a lot of stuff on there.
00:50:50.800 --> 00:50:57.760
And then you started sort of following people, and it is what you make of it, it is what you want it to be.
00:50:58.079 --> 00:51:05.199
So I admire people who do before and after shorts because they've got the the sort of confidence to do it.
00:51:05.440 --> 00:51:15.199
But I love the people who show me the process, I love the people who show me the step, I love the people who go, here's an error, and here's why I did.
00:51:15.760 --> 00:51:17.519
That that speaks to me.
00:51:17.599 --> 00:51:17.920
Yeah.
00:51:18.159 --> 00:51:21.119
Like just it's kind of like a Me too.
00:51:21.519 --> 00:51:28.159
It's like a it's like a sort of a dental diary of going, here's a really tricky case.
00:51:28.320 --> 00:51:29.599
Here's why I found it tricky.
00:51:29.679 --> 00:51:32.400
Because also you can turn around and go, Does anyone have any ideas?
00:51:32.559 --> 00:51:32.719
Yeah.
00:51:32.880 --> 00:51:41.039
And you've got a wealth of people who who can or like um for some reason I forgot to do this step and then it put me back five.
00:51:41.119 --> 00:51:45.760
And now, like, if you do that wear case, never forget this or everything.
00:51:46.079 --> 00:51:51.920
Like they stick with you, certain things, and you I think we all absorb way more tips than you realise on it.
00:51:52.079 --> 00:51:52.719
Yeah, 100%.
00:51:53.519 --> 00:52:01.039
But like and then and like you said, I I I I had no shame in in messaging people and going, I loved this.
00:52:01.280 --> 00:52:03.119
Um what what how did you manage that?
00:52:03.199 --> 00:52:05.280
Or yeah, can you just explain that bit?
00:52:05.519 --> 00:52:07.840
And again, what the hell is that blue stuff?
00:52:07.920 --> 00:52:12.800
Or well, for me, uh like I said for me specifically, it was Carrie's detector.
00:52:12.960 --> 00:52:13.360
Uh yeah.
00:52:13.599 --> 00:52:17.440
It like honestly, life-changing, isn't it?
00:52:17.840 --> 00:52:24.320
Mine, like when you when then when you because then you look at it and you just go, now I use it, and I just go, what was I thinking before?
00:52:24.559 --> 00:52:24.880
Where are we?
00:52:25.199 --> 00:52:26.000
How what the how?
00:52:26.480 --> 00:52:27.360
Like, yeah.
00:52:27.599 --> 00:52:28.719
And it's so easy.
00:52:29.280 --> 00:52:30.000
Yeah, definitely.
00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:32.559
Those bottles last forever.
00:52:32.800 --> 00:52:33.199
They do.
00:52:33.519 --> 00:52:34.000
Forever.
00:52:34.239 --> 00:52:34.559
They do.
00:52:34.639 --> 00:52:35.280
It's so cheap.
00:52:35.920 --> 00:52:36.800
I love about it.
00:52:36.880 --> 00:52:40.719
What I was gonna say is like the people who've written the papers or the books are on there.
00:52:41.199 --> 00:52:48.000
You message them and they reply you're like, well, this person's like here, and they've just replied to some stupid questions.
00:52:48.239 --> 00:52:48.400
Exactly.
00:52:48.480 --> 00:52:53.599
It's a it's a nice leveler, like in the sense that it's it's it's leveling so much more accessible.
00:52:53.920 --> 00:52:54.880
It's what you make of it.
00:52:55.039 --> 00:53:15.199
Again, you can it you can like I know some people find it difficult in the sense that they kind of judge themselves after seeing other other people's cases, and other people are on there as kind of slightly more negative in the sense that they kind of they're there to kind of point fault and stuff.
00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:15.519
Yeah, yeah.
00:53:15.679 --> 00:53:16.639
It is what you make of it.
00:53:16.719 --> 00:53:18.559
I I enjoy it as a platform.
00:53:18.639 --> 00:53:24.079
I it it I I get a little bit of it, I get information from it, it makes me laugh.
00:53:24.400 --> 00:53:25.599
Who doesn't like a meme?
00:53:26.239 --> 00:53:27.599
Um dental.
00:53:27.920 --> 00:53:28.400
Exactly.
00:53:28.639 --> 00:53:37.039
Yeah, and again, and without it, I like I said, wouldn't have reached out to Amy, wouldn't have reached out to Rowan, wouldn't have reached out to Chris Barrow.
00:53:38.800 --> 00:53:43.679
Ruby, but I find it if it it's it's made my life better.
00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:45.039
Yeah, nice.
00:53:45.280 --> 00:53:55.280
And then final question: what if you went all the way back to starting dental school or graduating, what advice would you give to someone there or do you wish you'd been given?
00:53:55.760 --> 00:53:57.519
CPD is not a tick box.
00:53:58.320 --> 00:53:58.960
That's a good one.
00:53:59.199 --> 00:54:00.079
Just that.
00:54:00.400 --> 00:54:03.039
Just it's it's not a burden.
00:54:04.480 --> 00:54:07.039
Start doing the courses straight away.
00:54:07.519 --> 00:54:08.559
Strategic CPD.
00:54:08.880 --> 00:54:08.960
Yeah.
00:54:09.280 --> 00:54:15.679
Yeah, like you know, it's not you don't don't don't do the online webinars, skip to the end, and that's the graph.
00:54:15.920 --> 00:54:19.360
Like again, I just I I I did waste a lot of time.
00:54:19.599 --> 00:54:23.199
Um don't pigeon yourself, don't pigeonhole yourself.
00:54:23.440 --> 00:54:26.159
You're not an you know, you're not an NHS work course.
00:54:26.320 --> 00:54:31.360
You know, don't don't put yourself in a category and accept that that's that's your lot for life.
00:54:31.599 --> 00:54:32.400
Yes, yeah.
00:54:32.719 --> 00:54:35.039
And ask for help.
00:54:35.519 --> 00:54:37.199
Reach out earlier.
00:54:37.440 --> 00:54:44.800
It doesn't mean that you're rubbish at anything, it does people won't look at you uh in any less way.
00:54:44.880 --> 00:54:47.199
It'll just make you better sooner.
00:54:47.519 --> 00:54:49.119
Yeah, yeah, agreed.
00:54:49.360 --> 00:54:49.920
Lovely.
00:54:50.079 --> 00:54:51.199
Thank you so much, Samson.
00:54:51.519 --> 00:54:51.679
Thank you.
00:54:52.000 --> 00:54:52.960
Thank you so much for having me.
00:54:53.119 --> 00:54:54.320
Really appreciate it.