Dr Dahlia Brinklow waited seven months into her foundation year before she posted a single case.
Not because the work was bad. Because she told herself she would build her skills first, get more confident, wait until she was ready. Seven months of good cases nobody saw.
She is honest about what was underneath that, and it is the same thing holding back almost every young dentist.
Sometimes they feel like their work might not be good enough to put out there, or that they lack experience compared to other dentists.
The comparison trap
Every young dentist scrolls past accounts with ten years of full-arch cases and concludes their own composite work is not worth showing. The comparison is rigged. You are measuring your first year against someone's highlight reel of a decade.
I see the same thing when I invite dentists onto this podcast. Talented clinicians, doing genuinely good work, who say no because they are "not senior enough". These are people who spent four or five years training and have spent years since treating real patients. Close to a decade inside dentistry, and they do not think they have earned the right to talk about it.
That is not humility. That is a valuation error.
Take photos anyway
Dahlia's advice strips the fear out of it, because the first audience for your work is not Instagram. It is you.
At first it's just a portfolio for yourself, so you can keep track of your work and see where you're improving. You should always take pictures of your work, because you can self-criticise. You can see what can be done better next time.
Photography is a clinical habit before it is a marketing habit. The camera catches what you missed in the moment: the margin you would tighten, the anatomy you would refine. Reviewing your own cases honestly is the fastest feedback loop a young dentist has.
And it compounds. Dahlia looks back at her foundation-year cases now and can see exactly how far she has come. That record only exists because she took the photos before she felt ready.
Put your name on it
When she did start sharing, she made one deliberate choice: every clinical post is watermarked with her name.
You want people to know that's your work you're putting out there. If a patient sees it and thinks, I like that composite bonding, they know which dentist to go to. It's really important to have your name on your posts.
Her practice reposts her cases to its own audience, and the watermark travels with them. The practice gets content. She gets recognition. The patient gets to choose the actual person whose work they admired. Nobody loses.
This is how a name gets built inside someone else's practice: visible work, clearly attributed, shared consistently.
Start before you feel ready
If you are a young dentist sitting on months of decent cases, the standard you are waiting to hit does not exist. Nobody announces that you are now senior enough. You decide.
Take the photos from your next list. Review them honestly. Share the ones that hold up, with your name on them. Your work is better than you think, and the only person who was ever going to give you permission is you.
Hear the whole conversation, including how patients started rebooking specifically to see her, in the full episode with Dr Dahlia Brinklow. And for what happens when clinical talent meets the business side of dentistry, get The $2 Dentist.
Host, Between Patients
Host of Between Patients and the fourth generation in a dental family. I sit down with private practice owners for the conversation we usually only have once the door is closed — no script, full editorial control, a real record of how they think, decide, and rebuild.
