The Associate that Bought an iTero (How to Make your Own Luck) – PDP062

Sometimes associates moan that they can't improve their Dentistry or provide better outcomes because their principal/corporate will not buy them that fancy composite/instrument/air abrasion unit/orange floss (okay maybe not the last one!). Here's a tip: buy it yourself! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQKiaZgHbk4 Need to Read it? Check out the Full Episode Transcript below! I'm not saying you should go crazy and buy ALL your materials - thats the role of the practice - but if after having a good conversation with your principal about investing in the new gear and it is not bought for you....there are some major advantages of buying it yourself. In this episode I am joined by Dr Rosh Panju who, as an associate, bought his own intra-oral scanner (iTero) - that speaks volumes about his mindset. In a nutshell, this episode is about making your own luck. For those asking about where to buy the 'associate box' to transport kit between practices, here it is: https://amzn.to/3v1li3S If you enjoyed this episode, you will like the episode on Emotional Intelligence with Richard Porter - check it out! Click below for full episode transcript: Opening Snippet: But you okay went out and you bought your own Itero right? So I just want to let that sink in guys okay and I'm not saying that for you to show off in any way, Rosh, nothing like that okay? I just really value your mindset. Jaz’s Introduction:Welcome, Protruserati to episode 62 of the Protrusive Dental Podcast. In this episode we’re going to explore some very big themes about as an associate, how can you make yourself indispensable to practice? And what we can learn from Dr Rosh Panju, who is a friend of mine, who is known for many reasons, good reasons but he bought an itero scanner. Now these things aren’t cheap. So what goes inside the mindset of an associate who goes out to buy his scanner versus the associate who refuses to even buy a flowable composite for example.And the associates that are missing out on using the best techniques for their patients just because my principal won’t buy this for me and therefore they’re not living up to their true potential. They’re perhaps not doing the dentistry to the level they want to be and they’re blaming it on the materials that they don’t have because of the principal that won’t buy it for them but then guess what, sometimes you have to make your own luck.So part of the Protrusive Dental Pearl I want to give you is A) make yourself indispensable to your dental team. If you're an associate listening to this, how are you indispensable to your team? Do you help out with team training? Do you boost team morale? Are you really helpful in collecting reviews for your practice? Because nowadays we can’t be leeches but it works the same way as a principal, are you providing value for your associate?So I think there should be a synergetic relationship between an associate principal and we’re going to cover some of those themes today in this episode. The second Protrusive Dental Pearl, oh my goodness you’re getting two is when I used to work between three different practices I found it really difficult, a real challenge to transport my camera, transport my loops, transport all the composite and stuff that I actually bought a lot of instruments over the years. How do I transport that around?So I’m going to show you one way that I did it. I was using like this big black parrot box. It wasn’t actually parrot brand but I’m going to show you an example, there’ll probably be a video now playing in the background as I’m speaking here but essentially it’s a big box that you could buy heavy duty and you get these like cut out foam areas that you just have to sit down one day and do the hard work and design the measurements yourself. So that you can slot your camera in perfectly.Because what you don’t want to do as an associate is have to dismantle your camera every time you’re moving from one practice the next p...