Episode Details

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 Cigdem Kipel

Dentists rely on private courses and seminars to fill the gaps in their knowledge and skill set beyond the bare basics taught at dental school. 

These gaps are not small. Most experienced dentists report that the vast majority of treatments they perform (for example CEREC, orthodontics, implants, photography, digital dentistry) or skills they rely upon for success (for example leadership, communication, management) were not learned in dental school; they were learned almost exclusively through private CPD taken after graduation. 

Fortunately, there are many CPD options on the table and additionally, they’re offered across increasingly flexible platforms; in person, online, interactive workshops, live demonstrations and more. 

However most dentists have an ad-hoc approach to CPD with little consideration given to mapping out their education plans over their career. With the average cost of CPD annually in the thousands (or 10’s of thousands), Dr Kalyan Voruganti shares with us a more strategic approach to selecting and maximising CPD choices over time.

Dr Kalyan Voruganti

Kalyan qualified in 2005 with Merit from Cardiff University in the UK, as one of the top ten students in his year. Not long after graduating, he did further study and gained the prestigious Member of the Faculty of Dental Surgery (MFDS) in 2006 from the Royal College of surgeons of Edinburgh. With a thirst for learning, he has also completed a 2 year orthodontic diploma (with Dr Derek Mahony in 2017) which focuses on early interceptive orthodontics. This tries to prevent problems and treat them early. He has been placing Dental implants for almost 10 years and often mentors colleagues and graduate dentists to plan out their own cases. He has also worked in Liverpool Dental hospital and in Community specifically treating highly anxious patients His focus is making his patients’ dental experience as pleasant as possible and communicating very clearly to ensure patients understand their treatment.

He is actively involved in Dental associations as well as multiple Dental forums. Training younger Dentists is something Kalyan really enjoys. He has