At some point in your career, you'll collaborate with an oral health therapist. If you haven’t already, it’s important to understand what they do, how they think, and the value they bring to a team.

Welcome to Fresh-Out Fridays, where we sit down with early-career dental professionals to discuss the real-life experiences that academic study doesn’t fully prepare you for.

In this episode, we speak with Jayden Hall, an Oral Health Therapist (OHT) who is four years into his career.

Jayden provides an honest look at life as an OHT—covering everything from a typical day’s activities to how he discovered his clinical niche, and how he built trust with patients who were initially uncertain about him.

He explains the collaboration between OHTs and dentists, shares insights on the CPD landscape from an OHT’s perspective, discusses the rewarding moments in the job, and emphasises the importance of finding mentorship—even informally—during those crucial early years.

This episode is a valuable resource for any early-career dentist who wants to understand their future colleagues better, enhance team dynamics, improve patient care, and how to foster effective collaboration that benefits everyone—including patients.

So grab your coffee, settle in, and let's brush up on what it takes to find your place in the team.

If you want to stay up to date with the latest developments in dentistry, check out our upcoming CPD courses at adacpd.au.

There's a moment in every new graduate's journey when you realise the textbook doesn't have all the answers. When you're faced with a complex case, a nervous patient, or an unexpected complication, you suddenly have to think for yourself.

This is Fresh-Out Fridays, where we sit down with early-career dentists who share the unfiltered truth about navigating those early-career moments that dental school didn't quite prepare you for. In this episode, we're joined by Dr Sarah Amr, who chose to return to her Western Sydney roots after graduating from the University of Sydney. Sarah opens up about the realities of private practice, building trust with diverse patient communities, and why she's passionate about bringing quality dental care to underserved areas.

We'll explore how to balance taking advice with developing your own clinical instincts, the importance of finding the right mentors, and why reflection is the secret ingredient to becoming a truly confident practitioner.

So grab your coffee, settle in, and let's brush up on what it takes to find your voice as a new dentist.

If you want to stay up to date with the latest developments in dentistry, check out our upcoming CPD courses at adacpd.au.

What motivates a student to move from the United States to Australia to pursue a career in dentistry? This is Next Gen, where we explore the diverse paths dental students take during their training.

In this episode, we’re sitting down with Caroline, a second-year dental student at the University of Sydney, to discuss the transition from international life to the Australian dental system. Following in her mother's footsteps at her alma mater, Caroline opens up about the unique challenges and "pinch me" moments of her early clinical years.

We explore the reality of shifting from simulation clinics with plastic teeth to treating real-life patients, and the unexpected nerves that come with that responsibility. Caroline shares candid insights on why "simple" skills like scaling turned out to be trickier than expected, the importance of a collaborative rather than competitive student culture, and her aspirations to take her skills to rural or public sectors after graduation.

From balancing the rigours of study with crocheting and her Cavoodle, Puddles, to dreaming of a trip to Antarctica, discover how this future dentist is keeping her cool while learning the ropes.

So grab your coffee (or an iced oat milk chai), settle in, and let’s brush up on the journey of an international dental student.

If you want to stay up to date with the latest developments in dentistry, check out our upcoming CPD courses at adacpd.au.