In this episode of The Horton Hangout, Laura and Leanna open up about the real-life juggle of parenting, running businesses, and staying sane. They continue the banned words in dentistry conversation (spoiler: hygiene might be doing more harm than good) and share side-splitting workplace confessions — including the mystery of a pair of rogue knickers and a dentist who really should’ve chosen his words more wisely.

• 🤹‍♀️ The juggle of business and motherhood – and why empathy is everything
• ❤️ Husband appreciation voice notes (private but powerful!)
• ❌ New “banned word” alert: why saying hygiene appointment might put patients off
• ☎️ From “follow-up” to “care call” – making post-treatment contact feel positive and professional
• 🤣 More hilarious co-worker nicknames (featuring Teflon, Kit Kat and Wheelbarrow)
• 😳 Confessions of a dental nurse: the worst job ever — and the infamous “suck” story
• 🩲 A jaw-dropping tale involving a patient, a child… and a pair of knickers
• 📱 This week’s hot topic: Should WhatsApp be banned in dental practices? Laura and Leanna debate the pros, cons, and culture clash

Links you may find useful

Horton Consulting

Horton Consulting - About us

Laura Horton - Instagram

Horton - Facebook

Laura Horton - LinkedIn

Laura Horton - TikTok

Leanna Best - LinkedIn

Leanna Best - Instagram

Welcome to the debut episode of The Horton Hangout!

🎉 Laura and Leanna kick things off by sharing personal stories from their careers in dentistry, hilarious workplace nicknames, words they believe should be banned from dental practices, and insights into managing part-time roles post-maternity leave.

In this episode:

• 💬 Catching up on recent travels and time spent together in Scotland

• 🦷 Leanna’s journey into dental nursing and beyond

• 🚫 The words they recommend are banned from dental practices

• 😂 Laugh-out-loud nicknames for co-workers

• 😳 Confessions of a.. Practice Manager and TCO

• 🤱 Advice for handling flexible working requests after maternity leave

• 🧠 Why high-responsibility roles may not suit minimal part-time hours

• 🌟 Final thoughts: professional boundaries, proactive leadership, and setting the right tone in practice culture

Timestamps:

00:00 - Welcome to The Horton Hangout 00:18 - Catching up & recap 01:19 - Reflections on recent team event 03:39 – Leanna’s path into dental nursing 10:12 - Banned words’ 20:25 - Funny coworker nicknames 22:13 - Confession: Interviewee refused to leave – police were nearly called! 29:06 - Confession: TCO diary mix-up leads to mistaken identity 35:29 - Listener question: Managing part-time staff after maternity leave 42:13 – Leanna’s story: Stepping away after baby number two 43:15 - Closing thoughts & outro

Our links:

Horton Consulting website Facebook Laura's Instragram Leanna's Instagram YouTube LinkedIn TikTok

Join Laura Horton and Leanna Best for a light-hearted catch-up where dentistry talk meets real-life banter. No guests, no scripts — just honest conversations, laughs, and a few surprises. Tune in for our popular features, such as Banned Words and Confessions, where dental professionals share their funniest, most shocking, and downright gross stories for us to read aloud. Fresh, fun, and a little bit cheeky — welcome to the new Horton Hangout podcast 2.0 for the dental team and industry.

1. Understanding the dental trade
2. Publishing in modern times
3. How to win awards
4. How to best market
5. The importance of networking

In this podcast Laura had the honour to hangout with Rachel Jackson.

Rachel is the founder of Superior Smiles in Knutsford, Cheshire. Her last 17 years have been a journey of discovery, learning, upskilling, and refining in the field of dentistry. She has over 12 years’ experience as a practice manager and treatment coordinator and 3 years ago she accomplished her goal of opening a practice where the patient is at the centre of every thought process. Having worked alongside many highly skilled clinicians in high-end private practices has given her the insight, knowledge and experience to work with her team in delivering a professional, positive, and comfortable end-to-end experience for every patient. Rachel is extremely passionate about dentistry and feels privileged to work within a profession where she can make a true difference to people’s lives.

Our listeners sent in some great questions around:

• Top tips for setting up your own practice?
• If you had to do it all again….would you still set up a squat practice?
• Rachels instagram, posts and her creative ideas
• Sacrifices over the last 3 years in business
• Top tips for finding a dentist to work alongside you as a non-dentist owner
• Time management
• Dental photography

Laura and Rachel also discussed how important it has been to have clinical knowledge (of advanced procedures such as smile makeovers and rehab) in Rachel's role as a TCO, and practice owner.

Laura’s details:

horton-consulting.com

https://www.facebook.com/hortonconsulting

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurahorton/

https://www.instagram.com/laurahorton1

Rachel’s details:

https://superiorsmiles.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/superiorsmilesknutsford/

https://www.instagram.com/missrachelj/

Welcome to season four of the Horton Hangout podcast!

Holly and her business partner Chelsea have both been successfully helping dentists build their brand and follower lists for many years. Holly's agency ‘Drive' operates in a really unique way, utilising video content in a way I have not known before for social media. This year Chelsea and Holly teamed up and are now Social Drive. Their clients are the UK's leading dental clinics and clinicians.