By George Vernon, Health and Performance Coach to dental practice owners Every winter I hear the same thing from practice owners. "I'll sort my health out in January." I understand why. From October the evenings close in. By November it's dark when the practice opens and when it closes. The diary is full because everyone wants their treatment done before Christmas. The team is tired, patients are stressed, and there's always a tin of biscuits and a box of Celebrations on rece

The Chancellor described Budget 2026 as “breathing space” for families and businesses. For the owner of a smaller dental practice, my reading is simpler: there is no cavalry coming over the hill. There was no increase in the headline rates of Income Tax, National Insurance or VAT, while Corporation Tax remains at 25%, with the small-profits rate at 19%. Full expensing also survives. Stability is welcome, but standing still after several years of rising payroll, laboratory, ma

This week, conversations across the community have started at two very different ends of the same business. At one end, owners and managers are dealing with today: recruitment gaps, quieter diaries, compliance work, difficult conversations, patient complaints and the steady accumulation of small jobs that refuse to disappear. At the other end, people are asking a much bigger question. What is this business ultimately supposed to deliver for me? It is possible to build turnove

We have recently been introduced to the term "AI slop". Just in case you have missed the point, this is a term which is attributed to Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, and is intended to describe the type of material (whether written or graphic) that is generated automatically by AI systems and is easily noticeable by its lack of human originality. Those of us who view slide shows at dental trade shows and conferences, or follow social media posts from larger companies on th

Our Campbell Clubhouse conversation explored practical uses for AI and a familiar challenge: helping busy teams adopt change. The opportunity starts with one persistent problem, a clear brief and enough time to put the solution into practice.

You are my assistant. I ask you to perform a mathematical calculation for me...... " will you multiply 723 by 256 please." You reach for a calculator..... I stop you with..... "I'm paying YOU to do that, not your calculator." Sounds pretty stupid eh? Actually, you could sit down with pen and paper, "do the math" and get the right answer eventually. It would just take longer and isn't the best use of your time. That's what the calculator is for. Saving time - period. But your

An exasperated Owner messaged me this week that a 19-year old had been offered an increase in responsibility - and responded with an AI-generated email that asked for a pay-rise as a condition of agreement. A fair request? The answer matters. Negotiating the salary for a bigger job is perfectly reasonable. So is expecting recognition for responsibilities already being carried successfully. My concern is the demand for an increase simply as the price of agreeing to try. That i

Brain fog, exhaustion and the pressure to carry on as normal. For women experiencing perimenopause and menopause, working in a busy dental practice can bring challenges that colleagues may never see. In this week’s episode of Two Reds Are Better Than One, Chris and Ashley are joined by two guests for an honest conversation about menopause, its impact on working life and what dental teams can do to offer better support. Eve Waters, Practice Manager at Newcastle Advanced Dentis

This week’s coaching conversations reveal willing teams and busy managers struggling to make space for improvement. Protected time, clear ownership and useful financial information can turn good intentions into work that gets completed, without exhausting the people responsible.

AI can produce forgettable rubbish. It can also help create work of real value. Drawing on recent client projects, I explain why the brief, the experience behind it and the judgement applied to the answer make such a difference.