Your Dental Assistant Can Make or Break You – IC075

Your Dental Assistant Can Make or Break You – IC075

June 17, 2026 · 49 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the critical role of dental assistants in shaping the surgical experience and professional relationships in dentistry.

The most important part of your surgery isn’t plugged in, mounted, or calibrated. It’s the person standing beside you. Have you ever dreaded walking into a beautiful practice with lovely patients — purely because of who you share the surgery with? What do you actually do, in the moment, when your assistant rolls their eyes at a request for rubber dam? And should you be friends with your assistant at all — or does that cross a line you’ll regret? This is an Interference Cast — a non-clinical but deeply practical episode — with Dr. Sarah Braun , a dentist in Australia and a fellow Protrusive Guidance member who DM’d to suggest this very topic. No course, no book, nothing to sell: just two clinicians comparing notes (and the odd scar) on the one relationship that quietly shapes your whole working life. It sits inside this month’s theme of the relationships that support your career. https://youtu.be/OyztRyPpcHM Watch IC075 on YouTube What You’ll Take From This Episode The full breakdown is in the Premium Notes; here’s the shape of the thinking that runs through the episode: Engagement is the whole game — the assistant relationship sets the mood of the room, the patient’s experience…

People in this episode

Host: Jaz Gulati

Guest: Dr. Sarah Braun

Topics covered

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Protrusive Guidance

Places: Australia

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