DDSRank Announces 2021 Dental Scholarship Winner
Charity Smith, winner of the 2021 DDSRank Dental Scholarship
Top dental SEO company DDSRank is pleased to announce Charity Smith as the winner of The 2021 DDSRank Dental Scholarship. The scholarship program, which was started to help students dedicated to a career in dentistry afford an education, is being awarded for the seventh time.
Smith, who submitted the top entry, is a sophomore at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Washington. She admits her educational journey has had its challenges: “Right out of high school I was homeless and working full time in customer service trying to make ends meet. I saved for 4 years to afford tuition to a dental assisting school, and upon completion graduated at the top of my class.” She’s currently a dental assistant at Light Dental Studios in Lacey, Washington. Charity’s goal is to one day be a dentist. “My passion for dentistry stems from my first visit as a child where my dentist told me I was the best patient he had ever had, although I am now sure he told that to every kid.”
The 2021 DDSRank Scholarship entrants responded to the question, How do you think use of the internet will reshape – or is already reshaping – the field of dentistry?
“As always, choosing a winner from the number of outstanding entries was difficult,” said Brock Bradford, DDSRank’s COO. “Charity’s essay captured our attention with its description of her dental office’s creative use of social media.”
Charity praises Light Dental Studios as a forward-thinking company that involves the employees in the decisions
and processes to improve and grow. “One of our most recent projects has been trying to promote our services and
provide patient education via the internet,” says Smith. While most dental offices are working to do the same, Light Dental Studios made a concrete investment in producing social media content. Smith explains, “In current times, apps such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc., are where most people are spending their time consuming media. Light Dental Studios has now built an in-office media studio and continues to release weekly content.” In this studio, they produce everything from quirky TikTok clips and instructional Instagram images to full-blown programs featuring local business owners and their stories, called Sound People: Inspiring Stories of the South Puget Sound.
According to Charity, making these personalized videos helps potential patients determine who they would be more comfortable seeing for dental care. “If you had to pick between a dentist you know nothing about, or a dentist who has a video on their website talking about themselves, their values, passions, and beliefs, it’s likely you would pick the person who you now know more personally. By providing media content you are helping to build bonds with patients and doing so without them even needing to be in the office.”
In addition, the internet “is also a great way to increase patient education through videos online.” And Charity emphasizes, “Not all dental content has to be serious and educational either. By recreating fun viral trends in a dental office, we can help a patient relate, and associate dentistry as a positive experience.”
The internet offers many other practical benefits. Charity points out that in addition to allowing patients to schedule their appointments online, it also has other tangible benefits: “The internet has provided companies like Dentrix the ability to create paperless charting programs, lessening the burden of environmental waste and allowing for faster more efficient work in the dental office.” As she notes, “Any processes that we can make easier behind the desks of the office will reflect positively, leaving more time to focus on the patient and their needs.”
DDSRank is honored to support the education of outstanding, dedicated dental students like Charity Smith. Congratulations!
DDSRank’s purpose is to help dental professionals succeed in building their practices using SEO and dental marketing. The establishment of the dental scholarship program was a natural extension of that mission – by helping an aspiring dentist afford the education needed to build their own practice. For more information on the award, visit the scholarship page.