The TechDental Podcast

Hell Yes and Get Over It. Coach Chris Barrow on Thirty Years, a Thousand Practices, and Why AI Is Not Another Bit of Kit.

Coach Chris Barrow has been inside over a thousand dental practices since 1997. He has watched digital X-rays, intraoral cameras, cloud practice management systems, and every technology wave sweep through the industry. Most of them promised transformation. Most delivered considerably less. His position on AI is different in structure, not just in scale. In this episode he explains why, and what it means for every practice owner making decisions about their business right now. What you will learn in this episode: Why AI is not another piece of kit but a quantum change in how dental businesses operate, and what that distinction actually requires of practice owners. The Y junction every practice faces: use AI to reduce headcount or use it to give your people the time and space to deliver exceptional patient experiences. Why that decision determines the kind of business you are building. The Golden Goose Practice explained: what it looks like on a Tuesday morning when the owner is not there, how the managing director and clinical director model actually works, and why equity alignment is the piece most operators miss. Why the 30-year corporate acquisition cycle is ending, who is buying practices now, and what that means for anyone still building with a multimillion-pound exit as the primary objective. The stepping stone patient journey, from a Friday night pub conversation to a signed treatment plan, and where AI changes every conversion point along the way. Why the biggest mistake practice owners make with new technology is not whether they buy it. The one question to ask before adding any new system, platform, or tool to your business. About Chris Barrow: Chris Barrow is one of the most recognised names in UK dental business coaching. He has worked with over a thousand dental practices across the UK and internationally since 1997, co-authored the E-Myth Dentist with Michael Gerber, appeared on The Island with Bear Grylls, and recently sold his coaching business to The Campbell Academy, where he has signed an eight-year service contract. He writes a daily blog, a monthly newsletter, and a regular column for Private Dentistry magazine. Connect with Chris: Website: https://www.coachbarrow.com [https://www.coachbarrow.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbarrow/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbarrow/] The Campbell Academy: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-campbell-academy [https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-campbell-academy] Connect with TechDental: Website: https://www.techdental.com [https://www.techdental.com] Email: info@techdental.com [info@techdental.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/] Subscribe to the TechDental newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939 [https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939] Full written analysis: techdental.com/insights Copyright Dr Randeep Singh Gill and RIG Enterprises Limited (Company No. 11223423) 2026

Not in the Room: Dentistry, AI Policy, and the Cost of Absence

Direct Answer: In this solo episode, Dr. Randeep Singh Gill examines why dentistry is almost entirely absent from the UK's AI health infrastructure conversation, despite NHS dentistry delivering 35 million courses of treatment in 2024/25. With UKRI committing £1.6 billion to AI between 2026 and 2030 and the NHS 10-Year Health Plan targeting world-leading AI capability, the decisions being made right now will shape what is commercially viable in dental AI for the next fifteen years. What is this episode about? The UK is designing its AI health infrastructure now. The data frameworks, clinical pathway co-pilots, and Single Patient Record architecture being built today will determine which verticals get embedded from the start and which ones get retrofitted later at significantly greater cost. Dentistry is not in that design process. This episode makes the case for why that absence matters, and what it would take to change it. In this solo episode of TechDental, Dr. Randeep Singh Gill draws on six months of involvement in the Rising Women Leaders in AI programme, a British Council International Science Partnerships Fund initiative connecting UK and Türkiye researchers, to examine what science diplomacy actually looks like in practice and why dental AI needs a credible voice in the rooms where UK health infrastructure is being designed. What you will learn: Why UKRI's £1.6 billion AI commitment and the NHS 10-Year Health Plan create a narrow window to influence UK health infrastructure design. Why dentistry, despite delivering 35 million courses of NHS treatment in 2024/25, is almost entirely absent from the UK AI policy conversation. What science diplomacy actually means in practice, beyond summits and declarations. Why the UK-Türkiye bilateral research corridor represents a live opportunity for dental AI that is currently untapped. What the cost of late inclusion in infrastructure design looks like for practices, founders, and investors. Why the people shaping dental AI's future are not sitting in dental schools. About the host: Dr. Randeep Singh Gill is a qualified dentist, founder of TechDental and DentaCFO, and a strategy adviser at the intersection of dental AI, capital, and policy. He is a UK Programme Mentor on the Rising Women Leaders in AI programme, a British Council ISPF initiative in partnership with the University of Reading, Thames Valley AI Hub, and Koç University, Türkiye. He flies to Istanbul on 2 June 2026 for the programme's closing ceremony at Is Kuleleri. Website: https://www.techdental.com [https://www.techdental.com] Email: info@techdental.com [info@techdental.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/] Programme partners: Rising Women Leaders in AI (RWLAI): British Council International Science Partnerships Fund Principal Investigator and UK Programme Lead: Dr. Selin Kudret, https://www.linkedin.com/in/drselinkudret/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/drselinkudret/] Türkiye Programme Lead: Professor Cigdem Gunduz Demir, https://www.linkedin.com/in/cigdem-gunduz-demir-0a4552/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cigdem-gunduz-demir-0a4552/] University of Reading: https://www.linkedin.com/school/university-of-reading [https://www.linkedin.com/school/university-of-reading] Thames Valley AI Hub: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thames-valley-ai-hub [https://www.linkedin.com/company/thames-valley-ai-hub] Koç University: https://www.linkedin.com/school/kocuniversity/ [https://www.linkedin.com/school/kocuniversity/] British Council: https://www.linkedin.com/company/british-council [https://www.linkedin.com/company/british-council] Listen on: Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/41pKL9b Spotify: https://bit.ly/41UsqRO YouTube: https://bit.ly/3JSfl5c Subscribe to the TechDental newsletter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939 [https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939] YOUTUBE DESCRIPTION Not in the Room: Dentistry, AI Policy, and the Cost of Absence | TechDental Solo Episode The UK is committing £1.6 billion to AI between 2026 and 2030. The NHS 10-Year Health Plan has a single ambition: to become the world's most AI-enabled health system. NHS dentistry delivered 35 million courses of treatment in 2024/25. And yet dentistry is almost entirely absent from the conversation that will determine what is commercially viable in this sector for the next fifteen years. In this solo episode, Dr. Randeep Singh Gill draws on six months of involvement in the Rising Women Leaders in AI programme, a British Council ISPF initiative connecting UK and Türkiye researchers, to examine what science diplomacy actually looks like in practice and why dental AI needs a credible voice in the rooms where UK health infrastructure is being designed. Topics covered: Why the UK's AI infrastructure design window is open now and closing Why dentistry is not represented in the UKRI and NHS 10-Year Plan conversation What science diplomacy means beyond summits and declarations Why the UK-Türkiye bilateral research corridor matters for dental AI What late inclusion in infrastructure design costs practices, founders, and investors Dr. Randeep Singh Gill is a qualified dentist, founder of TechDental and DentaCFO, and a UK Programme Mentor on the Rising Women Leaders in AI programme. He flies to Istanbul on 2 June 2026 for the programme's closing ceremony. Subscribe to the TechDental newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939 [https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939] Website: https://www.techdental.com [https://www.techdental.com] Email: info@techdental.com [info@techdental.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/] #techdental #dentalai #aiinhealthcare #nhs #ukri #healthtech #dentalbusiness #futureofdentistry #sciencediplomacy #artificialintelligence #dentalinnovation #dentalpodcast

"The Lights Are Off." A Cambridge AI Scientist on What We Are Actually Building.

Episode Title: "The Lights Are Off." A Cambridge AI Scientist on What We Are Actually Building. Direct Answer: Spencer Kelly, Cambridge computer scientist, BBC Click presenter for 20 years, and AI keynote speaker, argues that the most dangerous assumption in AI is that there is something behind the words it generates. In this episode of The TechDental Podcast, Spencer draws a precise and unsettling distinction between intelligence and consciousness, explains why AI should have been called Applied Statistics, reflects on the Spotify prediction he got spectacularly wrong, and asks whether this technology wave is genuinely different from every one that came before it. Essential listening for anyone building, deploying, or investing in AI in healthcare right now. What is this episode about? Spencer Kelly studied artificial intelligence at Cambridge University in the 1990s, before it entered mainstream academic or public discourse. For two decades he presented BBC Click, the corporation's flagship technology programme, reporting from NASA, the Large Hadron Collider, and communities across Kenya, Korea, and India. He left the BBC in March 2025 when Click ended and now delivers keynotes on AI, works as a media coach, and makes music using AI tools. His central argument is deceptively simple and commercially important. Intelligence and consciousness are not the same thing. AI has extraordinary intelligence by any useful definition of the term. It operates in novel situations, synthesises patterns across vast datasets, and produces outputs that outperform human experts across a growing range of tasks. But there is no awareness behind any of it. No judgement. No experience. Just extraordinarily sophisticated mathematics running in complete darkness. That distinction, between what AI can do and what it understands about what it is doing, is the most commercially important question anyone deploying AI in a healthcare environment can ask right now. And it is the question most AI conversations avoid entirely. What you will learn from this episode: * Why AI should have been called Applied Statistics and what that framing changes about every decision you are about to hand to it * The distinction between intelligence and consciousness that most people building AI products have never properly examined * What Spencer got spectacularly wrong about Spotify and what the logic of VC-funded disruption actually teaches you about how technology transforms industries * Whether this wave of AI is genuinely different from every previous automation cycle and why Spencer holds that question with genuine uncertainty rather than confident prediction * What 20 years of watching every technology cycle teaches you when the biggest one of all finally arrives * Why the country with the healthiest relationship with AI right now is Australia * What AI in general, not just generative AI, will do to healthcare, disease detection, and the patterns no human researcher could ever find alone Key quotes from this episode: "There is nothing behind those words. The lights are off. There is no experience. There is no judgement. There is no critical thinking. There is just nothing." — Spencer Kelly "Half of me thinks surely this is going to be the same. But then the other half thinks, this time it does feel different. Because we have always said the machines can do the dangerous, physical, heavy lifting. But we will still be making the decisions. And AI is creeping into that now." — Spencer Kelly "He looked at me like I was an idiot. Which I clearly was. I hadn't understood the power of disruption. As long as you have enough money to disrupt and end the previous model, you can do what you want." — Spencer Kelly on Daniel Ek and Spotify "AI in general is going to improve our lives, but it needs to be used by the right people for the right reasons and not just for profit." — Spencer Kelly About Spencer Kelly: Spencer Kelly is a Cambridge computer scientist, technology broadcaster, and AI keynote speaker. He presented BBC Click for 20 years, making him one of the most trusted technology communicators in the UK. He holds a degree in computer science from Cambridge University where his final year dissertation used AI genetic algorithms to optimise the London Underground route. He now delivers keynotes on AI for business audiences globally and works as a media and presentation coach. Website: https://www.spencerkelly.com [https://www.spencerkelly.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-kelly-400a512/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-kelly-400a512/] Instagram: @spenleykelly Twitter: @spenley YouTube: @spencer0kelly Outro music: The outro music for this episode is by CLAWS, a band featuring Spencer Kelly's daughter. Used with permission. This is a real-world example of human-AI co-creation: a father and daughter making music together, augmented by AI tools. Spencer discusses this in the episode. Listen to CLAWS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/1BoKFIPMePNHMtvY4CKihF [https://open.spotify.com/track/1BoKFIPMePNHMtvY4CKihF] Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7iOo3bWWnQA [https://youtu.be/7iOo3bWWnQA] About TechDental: TechDental is a strategic intelligence platform for founders, executives, operators and investors shaping the future of dentistry. Independent analysis on AI, operating models and capital strategy in UK dentistry. Website: www.techdental.com [http://www.techdental.com] Email: info@techdental.com [info@techdental.com] Host: Dr. Randeep Singh Gill LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/] Newsletter: Subscribe on LinkedIn, TechDental Analysis Subscribe and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/41pKL9b Spotify: https://bit.ly/41UsqRO YouTube: https://bit.ly/3JSfl5c TechDental publishes independent analysis on AI, operating models and capital strategy in dentistry. For leaders navigating scale or structural change: www.techdental.com [http://www.techdental.com]. Copyright Dr. Randeep Singh Gill and RIG Enterprises Limited (Company No. 11223423) 2026.

The Man Who Built the Playbook PE Uses to Buy Dental Groups. Now He's on Your Side.

Episode Title: The Man Who Built the Playbook PE Uses to Buy Dental Groups. Now He's on Your Side. Direct Answer: James DeLuca, Founder of Precision Dental Analytics and author of Phantom EBITDA, explains why the EBITDA on a dental practice P&L almost never survives private equity scrutiny, what PE buyers are actually doing with clinical data that most founders have never seen, and why the only window to protect a dental group valuation is the pre-LOI forensic audit window. This episode of The TechDental Podcast with Dr. Randeep Singh Gill is essential listening for any UK dental founder, DSO operator, or investor navigating a dental acquisition or preparing for one. What is this episode about? Private equity is not smarter than the dental founder. They just know how to read a P&L in a way the founder has never been taught. James DeLuca spent years inside the biggest DSOs in America, building the exact playbook PE-backed buyers use to acquire, price, and extract value from dental groups. He scaled NADG from 80 to 200 locations, ran a region to 31% EBITDA, and sat in the war rooms where acquisition decisions were made. Then he switched sides. In this episode of TechDental, Dr. Randeep Singh Gill sits down with James DeLuca, Founder of Precision Dental Analytics, to explore the data asymmetry gap that costs dental founders millions at the transaction table, why the EBITDA on a clean P&L disappears under institutional scrutiny, and what the pre-LOI window actually looks like for a founder who wants to defend their valuation. This is not a surface-level conversation. It is a conversation about the structural argument underneath, what the data says, and what every dental founder building a group asset needs to understand before the moment of transaction arrives. What you will learn from this episode: * Why PE buyers look at five years of your clinical data while most founders prepare three, and what the two-year gap reveals about how your practice really operates * What a Quality of Earnings audit actually does to your EBITDA and which findings most founders never see coming * How the 2024 Cotiviti study on D2950 billing compliance exposes core buildup patterns that look clinically reasonable but fail institutional scrutiny, with direct consequences for deal value * Why your practice management system is an evidence locker that your buyer can read far more accurately than you can, and what defensible EBITDA looks like versus hollow growth * What Phantom EBITDA is, where it appears on a clean P&L, and how it becomes the mechanism through which escrow holdbacks and retrades are executed * Why pre-LOI forensic defence is not only for practices with problems, and how the lens of growth differs fundamentally from the lens of risk that a buyer applies to the same data Key quotes from this episode: "Phantom EBITDA is the money that is yours that you are going to give away at the transaction table." — James DeLuca "They're measuring the exhaust. The buyer is looking at the engine. They're pulling your whole database and looking at what each provider does, what the practice looked like before you started preparing for the sale, and whether this is sustainable income once the practice changes hands." — James DeLuca "That was $800,000 of bottom line revenue. You take that to market and multiply it by ten because you're in the institutional market. You're talking about an $8 million error that was happening in your practice. And it was just a misunderstanding." — James DeLuca Free resource for TechDental listeners: James DeLuca has made his full book, Phantom EBITDA, available free to TechDental listeners. Download here: precisiondentalanalytics.com/books/phantom-ebitda Use code TECHDENTAL at checkout for your free copy. About James DeLuca: James DeLuca is the Founder of Precision Dental Analytics and author of Phantom EBITDA. He scaled NADG from 80 to 200 locations as Regional Director, achieving 31% EBITDA. He built the operational and financial analysis playbook that PE-backed acquirers use to evaluate dental groups, then transitioned to advising sellers, helping dental founders identify and remediate the data asymmetry gaps that determine whether a valuation survives institutional due diligence. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-deluca1/ Precision Dental Analytics on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/precisiondentalanalytics Website: precisiondentalanalytics.com About TechDental: TechDental is a strategic intelligence platform for founders, executives, operators and investors shaping the future of dentistry. Independent analysis on AI, operating models and capital strategy in UK dentistry. Website: www.techdental.com Email: info@techdental.com Host: Dr. Randeep Singh Gill LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/ Newsletter: Subscribe on LinkedIn — TechDental Analysis [Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939] Subscribe and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/41pKL9b Spotify: https://bit.ly/41UsqRO YouTube: https://bit.ly/3JSfl5c TechDental publishes independent analysis on AI, operating models and capital strategy in dentistry. For leaders navigating scale or structural change: www.techdental.com. Copyright Dr. Randeep Singh Gill and RIG Enterprises Limited (Company No. 11223423) 2026.

Your Software Is the Brain of Your Business Most Dental Practices Are Running It on Life Support.

EPISODE TITLE: YOUR SOFTWARE IS THE BRAIN OF YOUR BUSINESS. MOST DENTAL PRACTICES ARE RUNNING IT ON LIFE SUPPORT. | PARDEEP BAHRA | TECHDENTAL PODCAST Direct Answer: Pardeep Bahra, Software Consultant at Henry Schein ONE and one of the most data-rich observers of dental technology decision-making in the UK, argues that the commercial divide opening up between UK dental practices is not a technology problem. It is a framing problem. The practices treating their practice management system as a cost to manage are asking the wrong question entirely. The ones asking how to leverage it to generate measurable returns are building a structurally different business. Drawing on hundreds of direct conversations with UK practice owners at the exact point of the cloud migration decision, Pardeep demonstrates that the disruption objection is a myth, the security objection dissolves under examination, and the practices that have not moved to cloud are not standing still. They are already behind the AI capability frontier, because cloud is not the innovation any more. It is the prerequisite for everything that comes next. What is this episode about? Cloud software has been available to UK dental practices for over a decade. Most independent practices are still running on locally hosted legacy systems. The conventional explanation is that migration is too disruptive, too expensive, or too risky. Pardeep Bahra has heard every version of that argument, hundreds of times, at the exact moment of decision. His assessment is direct: none of those objections hold up under scrutiny, and the practices making them are systematically underestimating the invisible cost of staying still. In this episode of TechDental, Dr. Randeep Singh Gill sits down with Pardeep Bahra, Software Consultant at Henry Schein ONE, to examine the cloud migration decision from the frontline. This is not a product conversation. It is a systems and strategy conversation about the infrastructure decision that will define the next decade of UK dentistry, and why the gap between cloud-native and legacy practices is widening at an exponential rate. What you will learn from this episode: * Why the cost conversation is the wrong frame, and what the right question actually is for a practice owner evaluating cloud migration * The single objection to migration Pardeep has never once found convincing across hundreds of conversations * How a five-surgery practice added 50 appointments in one month with no additional training, using a feature already in the system * Why cloud infrastructure is the prerequisite for AI capability, and what legacy practices are locked out of as a result * The valuation and transactability argument most practice owners have not heard before they go to market * Why the data security case for cloud is stronger than the case for local server storage, and how most practices are already paying for cloud backup without knowing it * What the practices that have not moved will look like commercially and operationally in three years Key quotes from this episode: "If you are not on cloud today, you are already ten years behind. And in two years time if you are still not on cloud, it is going to feel like twenty." — Pardeep Bahra "The successful practices look at this tool and say it costs three hundred pounds a month. How am I going to leverage this so it makes me an extra five thousand pounds a month?" — Pardeep Bahra "This software is the brain of your business. You need to continue to push. You cannot stay stagnant. You cannot be complacent." — Pardeep Bahra Key timestamps: 00:00 Introduction and Pardeep's background 03:32 Why a massive storm is coming to the dental industry 04:08 Cloud versus AI: where the market is heading 05:01 How disruptive is migration really? The honest answer 06:16 The real-world objections Pardeep hears most 08:28 The Blockbuster argument: complacency is not neutral 09:00 Data security, GDPR, and why cloud is more secure than local servers 10:42 What does a practice look like in three years if they do not move? 13:35 The migration process step by step: what actually happens 15:06 Is resistance to migration ever rational? 17:29 What the practices that commit have in common 20:43 The first thing practices notice after migrating 22:11 The API ecosystem and what cloud unlocks 24:36 Is the integration promise being realised or is it theoretical? 26:20 AI adoption anxiety and what Pardeep saw in the influencer space 27:45 The ten-year divide: what Randeep believes is coming 29:18 Lightning Round 30:57 Where to connect with Pardeep About Pardeep Bahra: Pardeep Bahra is a Software Consultant at Henry Schein ONE, specialising in dental software migration and cloud infrastructure for UK dental practices. He has had hundreds of direct conversations with UK practice owners at the exact point of deciding whether to move from legacy systems to cloud-native infrastructure, making him one of the most data-rich frontline observers of how the dental profession thinks about technology change. Prior to his role at Henry Schein ONE, Pardeep built his cloud expertise through a career spanning digital marketing with global brands, business development, and cloud certification, with a particular focus on how cloud architecture creates commercial leverage in complex operational environments. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pardeepbahra/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/pardeepbahra/] Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dentally [https://www.linkedin.com/company/dentally] Email: Pardeep.bahra@henryscheinone.com [Pardeep.bahra@henryscheinone.com] WhatsApp: +44 7436 477846 About TechDental: TechDental is the UK's leading strategic intelligence platform and podcast at the intersection of dental AI, capital, and the business of dentistry. Independent analysis. Institutional thinking. Hosted by Dr. Randeep Singh Gill, dentist, founder, and AI strategy speaker. Website: www.techdental.com [http://www.techdental.com] Email: info@techdental.com [info@techdental.com] Host LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandeep/] Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939 [https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7320560217455271939] Subscribe and follow: Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/41pKL9b Spotify: https://bit.ly/41UsqRO YouTube: https://bit.ly/3JSfl5c TechDental publishes independent analysis on AI, operating models and capital strategy in dentistry. For leaders navigating scale or structural change: www.techdental.com [http://www.techdental.com]. Copyright Dr. Randeep Singh Gill and RIG Enterprises Limited (Company No. 11223423) 2026.