As the world's largest manufacturer of dental products and technologies for dentists and dental technicians, Dentsply Sirona is strongly committed to the advancement and needs of women in dentistry. Choose to challenge: The motto of this year's International Women's Day underlines the importance of equal rights for women and men in an ever-changing world. A challenged world is an alert world, and from challenge comes change. Each year, Dentsply Sirona supports various programs and events that encourage women's professional development and celebrate women's achievements.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme highlights the importance of collective action and shared ownership for driving gender parity. Under the hashtag #ChooseToChallenge, this year's campaign highlights how individual and collective efforts can contribute to positive change and empower women in society. International Women's Day on March 8 is an opportunity for Dentsply Sirona to both demonstrate and further strengthen its own commitment to gender equality in the dental world. The various internal and external programs and events that support women in their career development range from female speaker development programs, competitions for visionary treatment concepts and outstanding achievements in research to networking opportunities and the exchange of experiences at panel discussions and conferences.
“We want to support women in dentistry by more thoroughly understanding their needs and advancing their skills, and thereby making dentistry even better,” explains Lisa Yankie, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer and Communications at Dentsply Sirona. “Additionally, we want to support their professional development and encourage and acknowledge their outstanding achievements in research and development, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and education. These efforts align with our overall purpose to empower dental professionals all over the world to provide millions of patients with better dental care and make people smile.”
Smart Integration Award 2021
The Dentsply Sirona Smart Integration Award for innovative women in digital dentistry plays a special role among these programs. The award recognizes inventive ideas as well as successful and visionary treatment concepts from women in dentistry. This includes new concepts or stories of how female dentists inspire their patients in therapy and diagnosis or how they envision optimally connected and efficient workflows in the practice and dental laboratory of tomorrow. It is also a reflection of the company's commitment to incorporating the skills and expertise of
women into product development more than ever before. The award was created by Dentsply Sirona and presented to the winners for the first time in November 2019. In total, 24 female award winners were recognized for their unique success stories in making workflows at treatment units more efficient and convenient. The application phase of the second Dentsply Sirona Smart Integration Award for interested female dentists begins on April 12. This year, not only dentists but female dental technicians are invited to apply for the award to present their best dentist-laboratory cooperation.
“The initiation of the Smart Integration Award is an expression of how we accept the challenge, embrace change, and move forward together,” says Susanne Schmidinger, Vice President Global Brand Marketing & Clinical Affairs Equipment and Instruments at Dentsply Sirona. “The dental profession is becoming increasingly female. We therefore work together with female and male dentists in the development of products. It is important to engage in dialog and listen to all customers’ needs in detail. This is the only way we can continue to offer high-quality solutions in the future. Only when the different perspectives in the dental profession become transparent is it possible to further develop the technological solutions offered.”
Dr. Cécile Gütermann, winner of the Smart Integration Award 2019, Zurich, Switzerland: “We really liked the concept of the Smart Integration Award. It's great that such publicity is being created for the many successful women in our field. After all, it is still the case that some women tend to be more reserved and are often not used to presenting their achievements. Against this background, it's even better that the success stories of female dentists from all over the world are visible through the award and that women are motivated to show what they can do.”
Female Speaker Development Program
Another program successfully implemented by Dentsply Sirona to promote women in dentistry is the Female Speaker Development Program. The program was launched in March 2020 by Dentsply Sirona Implants. The goal is to offer personal development for female dentists, specialists, and dental assistants and promote them as speakers, whether they are experienced or new to speaking. This promotion includes strategy, script, and style. In the first round, which was held virtually because of the pandemic, ten women had the opportunity to work with a speaker coach, Elisabeth Bachman, and further develop their material and overall confidence. Six of them committed to conducting a webinar series by women for Dentsply Sirona. These webinars had 1,403 views of the recordings after the live presentations and there was a significant increase in the percentage of women among the attendees. “Many women like to see someone who looks like them speaking, and we would like to be the leaders in creating gender parity across the industry,” says Lisa Thoms, DDS, MSD, FACP, Sr. Manager, Dentsply Sirona Implants. Since January 2021, the Female Speaker Development Program is in its second round. There was already a waiting list from the first round! This time, the program also covers the areas of imaging, pediatrics, dental assisting, and orthodontics.
Dr. Tara Aghaloo, Assistant Dean for Clinical Research, UCLA School of Dentistry, participant of the first Female Speaker Development program, summarizes: "One of the things I wanted to get from this program was to build my confidence. It has really helped a lot to get these new techniques. The second objective was to become aware of where I should be speaking, and then take action. We have definitely increased the number of women speaking at these industry events. I truly thank you for that. I feel very lucky to have been part of the group."
Dentsply Sirona Women
Within Dentsply Sirona, there are numerous Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), groups of interest to support employee diversity and inclusion, sponsored by the company itself. DS Women launched in October 2020 is one of them. It has gained over 500 members from 30 nations. The mission of DS Women, led by Tiffany Readinger, Dentsply Sirona Women Global Chairperson, is to empower all women to excel to their fullest potentials. It does so by creating a forum of support and growth through enabling channels of advocacy, talent development, and resource sharing. The group is inclusive of all gender identities and its defined goal is to see more females in senior level roles, owning practices, and taking center stage. “Building a diverse organization starts with creating a culture that celebrates people’s unique experiences and challenges,” says Melanie Jenkins, Senior Global Manager Diversity & Inclusion and Early Career Programs and member of Dentsply Sirona Women ERG. “Providing a space for women to discuss equality, celebrate their achievements, and propel awareness is key to building a more inclusive workplace where women’s voices are heard, valued, and engaged.”
The new application period for the Dentsply Sirona Smart Integration Award 2021 begins April 12. Get more info and pre-register here: www.dentsplysirona.com/smart-integration-award
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