Start Strong: Fiercely Ready

Course Description

The Confidence Conference for Hygienists & Therapists

A powerful one-day learning experience designed to help dental hygienists and dental therapists build confidence, clarity and career momentum.

Originally created to support newly qualified clinicians entering practice, Start Strong has quickly grown into one of the most honest and empowering career days for hygienists and therapists at every stage of their career.

Whether you are:

preparing to qualify
navigating your first years in practice
returning after time away
feeling stuck or burned out
or simply wanting to build greater confidence and direction in your role

This course offers practical insights, real-world strategies and honest conversations that many clinicians say they wish they had heard much earlier in their career.

Join Poppy Dunton and Deepak Simkhada, two experienced clinicians and educators with over 35 years of combined experience, for a day designed to support the whole clinician — not just clinical skills.

This is not a lecture.

It’s a confidence reset and career accelerator.

What You’ll Gain:

This isn’t just about technique — it’s about building the kind of career that lasts. Here’s what we’ll be diving into:

Clinical

• Real-world hygiene and therapy workflows that save time and boost results

• Patient communication tips that increase trust, confidence, and compliance

• Techniques to handle tricky appointments with ease

• How to confidently own your clinical space from day one

Professional

• Setting boundaries and finding your voice in team dynamics

• How to impress at interviews, smash your induction, and secure your first (or next) dream role

• What a supportive, ethical, growth-driven practice really looks like — and how to spot the red flags

• Career planning: from scale & polish to perio warriors

Financial

• How to increase your income (without burnout)

• NHS vs Private vs Mixed — what you really need to know

• Setting your worth and having confident pay conversations

• Quick budgeting tips for life after uni

Personal

• Dealing with imposter syndrome and performance pressure

• Creating balance: the truth about burnout, boundaries, and early career overwhelm

• Building confidence in the chair — even when you feel underqualified

• Finding mentors, allies, and building your dental network

Speaker For this Course

Poppy Dunton & Deepak Simkhada

Available dates

Find and choose the schedule that suits you.

Testimonial

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Attendence & Pre-questionaries

Complete attendance and pre-questionnaires.

Post-questionaries

Fill out post-questionnaires to provide feedback.

Course Feedback

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Download Course Materials

Access all course materials by filling out the necessary details.

Note: Questionnaires for course can be accessed before and after 3 days of the course

Explore Our Gallery

Every image holds a story of transformation, perseverance, and triumph, showcasing the profound impact our courses have on individuals' lives.

Course Banner Start Strong: Fiercely Ready

What people say about our courses

Success stories from our course participants, reflecting the broad spectrum of positive impacts experienced.

I’ve been on 2 courses so far - both brilliant. Both in conjunction with therapists one on direct access & one on periodontal treatment and uptake. So informative and all afterca...

Niamh

I liked everything about the course.

Anonymous

As a dental hygiene student about to graduate, this course was invaluable to me , I gained so much knowledeg and gidance throughout

Anonymous

The whole course was valuable

Anonymous

Very informative “real world” scenarios and treatment planning as per guidelines, compared to what was taught at uni. Also realistic money talk

Anonymous

It is hard to think of a specific part. The entire course was helpful and very engaging.

Anonymous

I found the whole day informative, productive and it also had a personal touch and felt like both Deepak and Poppy built relationships with every person on the course. I liked havi...

Anonymous

The most valuable part of the course for me was learning how to communicate confidently and clearly with patients in real-world scenarios.

Anonymous

It was very informative, I felt it went deeper into the questions I asked at uni and didn’t get told the answers to, which have now been answered

Anonymous

Previous Courses

Explore our past courses for the Start Strong: Fiercely Ready

London (UB7 0HJ)Sheraton Heathrow Hotel

Date: 09 Aug, 2025 to 09 Aug, 2025

Manchester (M3 5LH)The Lowry Hotel

Date: 04 Jul, 2026 to 04 Jul, 2026

About Us

About Us Perio with Deepak (PwD) is all about providing the best periodontal care to our patients and learning as well as sharing extensive knowledge from all the branches related to the practice of Periodontology with our fellow clinicians and colleagues.