Communication Archives - Dental Head Start

TIP #94 – Standing Your Ground with Dr Amanda Phoon Nguyen

July 21, 2022July 20, 2022Leave a Comment

All it takes is one conversation to start a movement or inspire a change.

In this episode, we wind down with Dr Amanda Phoon Nguyen and take a deep dive into aspects of our lives beyond just clinical dentistry. I think Dr Amanda is such a wonderful role model for younger dentists in terms of living to your greatest potential, chasing your passions and not worrying so much about what other people think.

We talk about all things from work-life balance (and does that even exist), managing self-doubt and imposter syndrome and standing your ground and knowing when to say no. We also discuss Dr Amanda’s role as current President for the Western Australia Women in Dentistry committee, what it means to her and their vision for the future.

So grab yourselves a cup of tea and wind down with us for this heart to heart chat.

FEATURE #71 – Mastering Your New Patient Consult with Dr Derry Rogers

April 18, 2022April 20, 2022Leave a Comment

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Dentistry is rapidly evolving and there are so many concepts which we just take for granted nowadays. It’s hard to imagine a time where composite resin wasn’t the normal, digital dentistry didn’t exist and social media wasn’t as prevalent as it is now.

But Dr Derry Rogers has been able witness all of these changes first hand. Having graduated in 1977 and practiced for over 40 odd years, Dr Rogers was there when the adhesive revolution occurred and was one of the founding fathers that helped bring cosmetic dentistry to Australia. With this wealth of knowledge, Dr Rogers continues to lecture internationally, runs courses through The DR Institute and hosts his own Online Dental Mentoring Podcast

In this episode, we dive into how Dr Rogers conducts his new patient consultations and the tips he has for new graduates to become more effective clinicians. We explore the topics of Personality Profiling, Data Collection & Photography, Diagnosis, Treatment Planning & Sequencing.

We’ve also created a Google Drive with templates and additional notes on all the concepts we discuss in today’s episode. Check it out here!
ps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qHg8SBHNkW1j5NsMjDeNx3_eDfeDrqo2?usp=sharing

TIP #66 – Managing Patient Complexities with Clin A/ Professor Dr Tony Au

November 18, 2021November 18, 2021Leave a Comment

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For us students and new grads, communication is an area that doesn’t get much attention, but can be a make or break moment when talking with patients. Do you ever wonder how you can explain concepts to patients in simple terms? What about explaining pros/cons or risks about certain procedures? How will they even trust you enough to let you do such a procedure?

In this interview with Clinical Associate professor Dr. Tony Au, we talk about all things communication. Tony is a specialist prosthodontist in Sydney who deals with complex cases AND complex patients daily. Tony provides us with his top tips on how to deal with pushy patients, how to use analogies to help patients understand concepts, and how to BED a patient. You heard that right, how to BED a patient. If that doesn’t peak your interest, I don’t know what will.

TIP #64 – How to Be the Ideal Candidate with Dr Jeff Kho

November 4, 2021November 4, 2021Leave a Comment

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So you’ve found a practice you love, a mentor you admire and an opportunity that you just don’t want to miss out on. So then how do you go about landing that position? What can you do to make sure that you’re The One?

This is Part 1 of a three part grad series I did with Dr Jeff Kho where we talk about all things surrounding graduation and job hunting, making the most of our final year and how to be the ideal candidate – so keep an eye out for Part 2 and 3. David also did a much longer feature interview with Dr Jeff early in the year where we hear his story and his experience training dental graduates and founding Australian Hands On Courses (AHC).

In this episode Dr Jeff shares his golden tips on making a stellar first impression, being ‘the purple cow’ and the art of persistence. We talk about the importance of not just communicating but properly connecting with people, and how we can get better at it in a world where at times, we can be so disconnected.

TIP #55 – Don’t Die Wondering, Ask with Dr Mark Hassed

August 12, 2021August 12, 2021Leave a Comment

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You will get the girl/boy, the job or the case acceptance if you do not simply ask.

Sounds obvious, but critically analyse your own communication and case acceptance. Are there situations where you’ve seen a patient again and again and fallen into a habit of single tooth dentistry, without offering the comprehensive solution?

Dr Mark Hassed is an expert in case acceptance and communication and this is one of hundreds of useful tips he’s shared over the years of coaching dentists via The Relaxed Dentist. He writes a weekly blog and has made his renowned course online, on-demand for your covid shutdown blues.

Don’t die wondering, Ask!

TIP#39: The Importance of Photography with Dr Karim Habib

March 25, 2021March 28, 2021Leave a Comment

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It’s one thing to produce beautiful anterior restorations, but it’s another thing entirely to display the beauty though photography.

Photography is one of the most powerful tools a dentist can have. It’s used as a patient communication tool, for diagnosis, treatment planning, lab communication, marketing and more.

Dr Karim Habib, one of the most talented cosmetic dentists in Australia, recognised the impact that photography could have on dental career and mastered this skill in the last few years to get his photography serving him and his patients in more ways than you’d think. His instagram page is one of the most followed dental accounts in Australia and on it he showcases some his best work through unique and aesthetically pleasing before and after images.

He shares with us his tip tops on how he uses dental photography in the realm of aesthetic dentistry and how he gets those amazing shots for instagram.

TIP#38: Making Decisions with Dr Michael Frazis

March 18, 2021April 10, 2021Leave a Comment

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Patients come to us for guidance. But early on in our career, making the decision between filling, inlay, onlay or crown can be a difficult call.

In this episode we chat with Dr Michael Frazis about this decision and the challanges he found with this early in his career.

Once we know what’s best, it’s crucial we communicate it well and don’t confuse our patients while also letting them make an informed decision. Dr Frazis shares the way he explains treatment in his everyday practice.

TIP#32: Discussing Price with Dr Tiv Nirmalann

January 28, 2021April 10, 2021Leave a Comment

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Most of us spend our University career providing care for free.

Then, almost over night, we’re throwing into private practice and our work has a dollar value.
How do we convey the value effectively and confidently? This is a crucial topic and one that is worth spending some time focusing on. Its a bedrock of communication.

Dr Tiv shares his views on discussing price and his own challenges early on.

Check out Dr Tiv’s coaching and mentoring page DrTiv.com to find out more about how Dr Tiv is trying to help young dentists.

TIP#26: Communication shortcuts with Dr Tiv Nirmalann

November 5, 2020November 5, 2020Leave a Comment

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Communication, just like any other skill, is a skill to be honed and learnt. Dr Tiv shares his early days of communication and the path he found to help breakthrough the barrier.

With the use of profiling, Dr Tiv gives a shortcut to understand the person you’re communicating with and a way of avoiding common mistakes.

Check out Dr Tiv’s coaching and mentoring page DrTiv.com to find out more about how Dr Tiv is trying to help young dentists.

TIP#23: CBCT in Endodontics with Dr Omar Ikram

October 14, 2020October 12, 2020Leave a Comment

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TIP#23: CBCT in Endodontics with Dr Omar Ikram @specialistendocrowsnest

Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is being used more and more in general dentistry, that 3D perspective is taking some of the guess work out of diagnosis. However, how many times have you been in that situation where you are looking for that MB2, or you’re not getting to where you think length should be, if only there was a way that we could see more of what is going on within the tooth? Well, what about using CBCT midway through our treatment? Dr Omar Ikram, opened my eyes to the appropriate uses of CBCT in Endodontics, for diagnosis of tricky cases, but also to give us that extra bit of information we need advance when we get stuck mid treatment