[Spotlight] Why the RAF Could Be the Best Kept Secret for Dentists

What happens when you swap five-a-side football at lunchtime for fish and chips and Coronation Street?

In this spotlight episode of Just4Dentists, Dr Ruth Baidoo shares a key moment from her conversation with Dr Oliver Hinton, principal dentist at King Street Dental and former RAF dentist.

In this clip, Oli reflects on:

• The culture shock of walking into his first civilian practice after almost a decade in the RAF — and how different the two worlds really are
• How he invested in himself clinically to build the confidence needed to have commercial conversations with patients for the first time
• Why despite all of it, he would still wholeheartedly recommend the RAF pathway to anyone considering a career in dentistry

🎧 Listen to the full episode on the Just4Dentists feed for the complete conversation, including the financial expert panel with Martin Febery and Andrew Brown.

Have a question or want tailored expert advice? 

📩 Email info@j4d.co.uk or visit www.j4d.co.uk

💬 Join the Just4Dentists Facebook community to continue the conversation: https://www.facebook.com/just4dentists

Presented by Dr Ruth Baidoo 

Produced by Your Podcast Producer Ltd for the Just4Dentists team

Additional Information:

Dr Ruth Baidoo: https://dr-ruth-dentist.com/

Dr Oli Hinton: https://www.olihintondental.com/about

King Street Dental: https://www.kingstreetdent.co.uk/

Just4Dentists: www.j4d.co.uk

Your Podcast Producer: www.yourpodcastproducer.com

Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute formal financial or legal advice. Every dentist’s career pathway and financial situation is unique; therefore, you should not rely on this content as a substitute for professional advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The value of investments can go down as well as up, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Transcript

Dr Ruth Baidoo 0:00

Hi, I'm Dr. Ruth Baidoo, and welcome to Just 4Dentists. Every fortnight I spotlight a moment from one of my recent conversations, something that's really stood out for me and I think it's worth spending a little bit more time on. In the latest episode of the podcast, I sat down with Dr. Oli Hinton about his experience training and working as a dentist in the RAF. Oli shared some powerful insights into military life, the structure and the support that comes with it, and the financial and professional adjustments that come when you step back into civilian practice. Here's a short moment from that conversation.

Dr Oliver Hinton 0:31

Yeah, it was it was something I spoke to quite a few people about. It was probably the one thing that any of us that have left the military would think about quite a lot. You know, how are we going to deal with the commercial side of dentistry and um, you know, the sales aspect, dealing with the figures and speaking to patients about money, because we just hadn't had to have any any of those conversations really. Yeah, I think investment really, like I definitely spent a bit of time doing some courses, get myself up to speed from a clinical point of view to give me the confidence uh to be able to discuss things with patients. But ultimately, you know, it it wasn't too bad in the end. I think we we tend to adapt quite quickly. Uh I suppose, again, it's going back to the foundation of the communication skills, which is probably one of the most important things within dentistry to be able to just transfer that into a different environment. But it was a culture shock. I remember, you know, I went from playing maybe five-of-side football five times a week at lunch times, um, you know, probably gym and fitness classes at least once once a day during that period as well. And I remember walking into the first practice, I had a and they were all sat around having a fish and chips watching Coronation Street at lunchtime, and I thought, okay, this is a bit different. Um, and people in that room had been in that room for sort of 25, 30 years. So it was very different. Whereas in the military environment, it's more transitional. So you tend to have shorter-term relationships within the the single workplaces most of the time. So uh it was different, but um, yeah, in a good way, just a different environment and to use the skill set really.

Dr Ruth Baidoo 2:03

So, did you have a financial plan when you left the RAF? And also just out of interest, is there any like financial advice that you get when you're in the military or not necessarily?

Dr Oliver Hinton 2:11

Uh to some extent, there's there's always a very good, uh supported process when you leave the military. So it's more relevant to some of my colleagues who may not have had a professional trade that was easily transferable to civilian life. They've done a very specific job that they potentially couldn't do outside. So they need to, I don't know, set up their own business or um work within another company. So they need to gain a new skill set. But uh I use that time to improve my knowledge on, you know, things like ethical sales and understanding payment systems and trying to uh, I think, um, you know, make sure that I was in a better place to sort out my own finances. Because, like I say, I went from a salaried position, a set amount in every month, a set amount of outgoings every month. And it was very simple and straightforward. I had never had to think about that. And from that point to this, it's extremely more complicated, you know, from being self-employed to then moving to a limited company, um, now having a couple of you know different companies set up and all the tax implications and pensions and all sorts of things, it's just way, way more complicated. So um, I suppose I uh I would I could have done better with that, and I probably still could. I could still learn a lot more to improve on that side of things. So it's very different.

Dr Ruth Baidoo 3:24

So I remember when I was a student, we had someone from the RAF come to talk to us in maybe our first or second week of dental school, and they were trying to get people to sign up and at least pique interest. I don't think anybody in my years signed up, to be fair. But now, with you having gone down the route of that route and pathway, is it something that you would recommend and advocate to people who are considering a career in dentistry?

Dr Oliver Hinton 3:47

Yeah, definitely. And I think there's going to be a growing need for it. I suppose during my time in the military, it was all about um actually reducing numbers. Um, and perhaps we might be entering a period where that's more opportunities are going to come. I definitely advocate it for me. It was a great foundation for my career. Um, I really enjoyed it. I think that you still get lots of good opportunities. I think that the the benefits package, if you like, the salaries are extremely competitive, as I've mentioned, in in comparison to what you would have to do clinically to achieve that same level of income within Civ Street. And um, I say the the environment is is more structured, um, can be more comfortable a lot of the time to be able to, you know, do some really nice, nice dentistry for patients and not have too many um aspects of some of the stresses that you get working in general practice. So, yeah, I would definitely recommend that to many people.

Dr Ruth Baidoo 4:42

So, if that gave you something to think about, you can hear the full conversation with Oli on the main Just4Dentists feed, where we explore his journey and much more in detail. You'll also hear from our financial experts who use Oli's experience as a starting point to break down what dentists should consider if they're thinking about a similar career move. And if you'd like to continue the conversation, you can definitely join us at our Just4Dentists Facebook community, where dentists are sharing experiences and asking honest questions about career and finances. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode of Just4Dentists.