How a Paediatric Dentist Who Began with 1 Patient a Week Built One of Bengaluru’s Fastest-Growing Child-Centric Healthcare Chains

When Dr. Premila Naidu began her career, paediatric dentistry wasn’t a calling she consciously chose—it was a curiosity that slowly grew into a mission. During her postgraduate training, she became fascinated by the emotional and behavioural layers that defined a child’s experience in a dental chair. But it wasn’t until she worked in corporate clinics that she realised the truth that would shape her entrepreneurial journey: children were being treated as smaller versions of adults, with little sensitivity to their developmental needs, fears or sensory triggers.

In 2012, long before India spoke about child-centric healthcare, she took a leap of faith and launched Small Bites, one of the city’s first dedicated paediatric dental clinics. It was too early for its time. Awareness was low. Acceptance even lower. In her first few months, she saw barely one or two patients a week—many of whom walked in only because they were accompanying a parent visiting her spouse, also a dentist.

But Premila believed that paediatric dentistry could change an entire generation’s relationship with oral health. And so, she stepped out of her clinic and into the community—conducting workshops for parents, schools and neighbourhood groups. “If people don’t know why paediatric dentistry matters, how will they seek it out?” she recalls.

Slowly, the tide turned.

The Turning Point: “Children Remember How You Make Them Feel”
Premila’s clinics became known not just for their clinical expertise but for the atmosphere they created. Every child was welcomed by name. Staff members learned their favourite cartoon characters. Appointments were structured around emotional comfort, not speed. Advanced tools like laughing gas sedation, computer-assisted anaesthesia and child-friendly instruments made procedures gentler and less intimidating.

Her philosophy was simple:
“Children do not remember procedures. They remember how you made them feel.”

A Moment That Forever Changed Her Leadership
One moment reshaped her purpose entirely. An 11-year-old specially abled child was carried up a staircase by his mother to Premila’s clinic. That visual—of a parent physically lifting a child due to lack of accessibility—stayed with her.

It sparked her mission to make paediatric dental care inclusive for specially abled and neurodivergent children. Today, her clinics feature sensory-friendly design—adaptive lighting, reduced noise, and carefully curated textures. Her entire team is trained to understand sensory processing challenges and behavioural needs.

This initiative has also shaped her public advocacy. She speaks at national conferences urging India to invest more deeply in paediatric healthcare and to move beyond colourful interiors toward evidence-led, sensory-sensitive, child-centred design.

Scaling Without a Business Background
As demand grew, Premila realised something difficult: she had become the bottleneck. The founder’s instinct to do everything herself was holding the organisation back.

Letting go of hands-on clinical practice was one of the hardest decisions of her life. But that shift taught her how to build a system, a team and eventually a chain—despite having no management degree or formal business training.

Today, PNG Healthcare (her venture that now houses the brand Little Tooth) runs six paediatric-specialist clinics across Bengaluru, and continues to grow.

Community Impact at Scale
Her belief that prevention starts young led her to create the School Dental Health Programme, a three-part initiative delivered across the city’s schools:

Free dental check-ups

• Personalised oral health sessions for children
• Training for teachers to reinforce daily preventive habits
• Every month, this programme touches 1,000 children across at least five schools.

She also trains paediatric dentists on behaviour guidance, sensory-aware care and child management—multiplying impact far beyond her own clinics.

A Founder Who Breaks Stereotypes Without Trying To
Outside her clinical world, Premila is far from the stereotype of a healthcare founder. She bikes, surfs, plays golf, and weight trains with the same focus and persistence she brings to entrepreneurship. “I never set out to break norms,” she laughs. “This is simply who I am.”

Her dream?
“To retire by the beach one day. Sand,” she says, “is the most sensory thing.”

The Vision Ahead
Premila aims to reshape how India thinks about paediatric healthcare. Her vision includes:

• Greater investment in paediatric systems and technologies
• Designing healthcare spaces around emotional, sensory and behavioural needs
• Building a generation that grows up not fearing dentistry
• Making preventive care the norm, not the exception

From a near-empty clinic in 2012 to a thriving chain that has cared for over 40,000 children, Dr. Premila Naidu’s journey is both a story of grit and a blueprint for how empathy-driven entrepreneurship can reshape healthcare.