#360 Was It Worth It — Bizhan Shokouhi

<p>Bizhan Shokouhi didn't set out to be an oral surgeon, or even to specialise at all. He joins Payman as a specialist oral surgeon and implantologist working across private practice and Guy's Hospital, and teaching on the Bristol MSc in Implants, having spent his first year qualified convinced he'd end up a restorative dentist.</p><p>He talks openly about the one thing he tells every trainee before they touch an implant, which has nothing to do with surgery and everything to do with communication, and about a denture case that took twenty-odd visits over eighteen months before he admitted defeat and referred it on. There's a genuinely reflective stretch on ambition too: Bizhan's own answer to whether he'd want his own practice is a flat no, and his reasoning, built around contentment rather than potential, runs against almost everything you'd expect from someone this good at his job.</p><p>Along the way, there's proper technical detail on soft tissue management, bone grafting, and why the first five minutes of a surgery matter more than anything that happens with a suture. And by the end, Payman more or less names the episode for him: was it worth it?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>In This Episode</strong></p><p>00:00:50 – Introduction</p><p>00:01:35 – A typical working week</p><p>00:04:20 – Becoming excellent</p><p>00:09:28 – Work-life balance</p><p>00:14:36 – Getting into implantology</p><p>00:21:00 – Communicating with patients</p><p>00:30:39 – Digital planning and AI</p><p>00:36:52 – Robots and the future</p><p>00:54:52 – Blackbox thinking</p><p>01:02:48 – Soft tissue lessons</p><p>01:05:11 – Building an Instagram following</p><p>01:12:04 – Mentors in implantology</p><p>01:14:44 – Why no practice of his own</p><p>01:19:59 – Best lecture: Martin Kelleher</p><p>01:22:36 – Fantasy dinner party</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>About Bizhan Shokouhi</strong></p><p>Bizhan Shokouhi is a specialist oral surgeon and implantologist working in private practice and at Guy's Hospital, and a tutor on the Bristol MSc in Implants. He is known for his educational Instagram content on oral surgery and soft tissue management, and previously trained in restorative dentistry and maxillofacial surgery before specialising.</p>