Following her own path & making a difference | Ashley S. Dosanjh, BDSc
Dental Hygienist Ashley Dosanjh is also an influencer, author, and advocate for children’s oral health. In her short career, she is already setting an example of how to tailor her career to suit her personality & passions while helping others along the way.
We’d like to introduce you to friend and fellow RDH Connect member, Ashely Dosa. Ashley does it all! She’s a hygienist, an Instagram/TikTok influencer, a published author, and an oral health advocate. In this interview, Ashley talks to us about how she intentionally carved out her career and the inspiration behind it all. She’s truly setting an example of how hygienists can tailor their careers to include all of their passions from beauty to health to fashion.
How did you start your career? Where are you now?
I wanted to be a model as a little girl, but coming from an academically inclined Punjabi family I was talked into taking up science in university, leading me to my dental hygiene career. When I was in dental hygiene school, I was given the privilege to model for SHEIN which is the largest fashion retailer in the world. I then took my modeling experience and applied it to dental hygiene, leading me to collaborate with healthcare shoe/scrub companies and eventually paved the way for me to become a dental hygiene influencer.
I advocate for the well-being of dental hygienists as the shoes I promote have ergonomically designed orthotics to assist with proper stability, ensuring that dental hygienists can be the heroes they need to be. “Beauty with a Purpose” is how I live my life. Beauty ambassadors not only have to be physically appealing but also mentally stimulating to become effective agents of transformative change in the dental hygiene world. It’s not just about the pretty scrubs that I wear. I have goodness within, and I’m determined to use my dental expertise to make a difference. Students have said that I’m a source of inspiration, and they are choosing dental hygiene because of me. As someone who is making waves on social media as a model-dental hygiene practitioner, the message I’m putting out is that in life, with discipline, and love for what we do, we can achieve all our dreams.
Tell us one unique (or unexpected) thing about your career:
I create conversations about oral health in an entertaining way on TikTok where I have over 11,000 followers. My TikTok’s provide helpful dental tips while balancing the entertainment side. I consistently make attention-grabbing videos about dental health. The most unexpected thing about my career is that I didn’t know I could make such a big impact on dental health through my educational TikTok videos. I didn’t realize dental educational videos could gain such a surprising amount of traction.
I made a few dental videos just for fun but then realized some of the videos started to go viral so that’s when I decided to make more dental-related videos. I then realized my page had become a safe space for people to ask dental questions. You’d be surprised how many people have questions about their oral health but are not able to get their questions answered due to various barriers. I often get messages that my followers are now going to the dental office after many years, or they changed their oral hygiene routine after watching my videos or made some sort of commitment to their oral hygiene. It’s encouraging to witness this success, as my goal with my dental content creation is to educate people about the importance of achieving oral health for life.
I also make dental parody videos. By getting my audience to laugh through my content, it’s likely they will engage, and this increases their chance of sharing the videos with others which helps get my message across to as many people as possible. This is important because oral health is generally an unmet healthcare need. Initially, I was nervous about posting, but now that I’ve started, I’m never going back. So many people are unaware of the knowledge we possess as dental hygienists and social media is one of the best ways to share it.
What is one piece of advice you would offer a future hygienist?
Being the new dental hygienist in a dental office is not easy. You inherit new standards, new coworkers, and new patients. All of this can be overwhelming for a new grad straight out of school because you really don’t know what to expect. Yes, you were given the skills necessary to be successful as a hygienist, but once you are out there on your own, the whole learning journey starts all over again. It takes time to adjust but you should never underestimate the value you bring to a dental office. In school you have learned the most advanced and up-to-date information which makes you incredibly valuable when you enter the dentistry field so don’t ever let anyone make you feel different!
You have the skills to provide the best quality of care for your patients, but you should also be willing to take advice from trusted colleagues to grow as a hygienist. Don’t forget that you are a highly trained healthcare professional who is capable of caring for patients and helping them preserve their teeth for a lifetime, so you need to rely on your instincts. Having confidence in what you know and your commitment to learning is going to lead to your confidence and authority in your operatory. Patients will only have as much confidence in you as you have in yourself!
Tell us one thing you are especially proud of in your career:
I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a dental science degree in June 2022. I studied at the state-of-the-art Nobel Biocare Oral Health Centre. One thing I am the proudest of is being awarded the College of Dental Hygienists of BC Gold Medal for obtaining the highest academic standing. As the head of the BDSc program, I was also the Valedictorian of my class. I posted my award and clips of my Valedictorian speech on TikTok, and one of those videos reached over 100,000 views!
Ever since receiving and posting about this award, I received hundreds of messages from students asking for advice on their university studies. My viral TikTok’s have been inspiring students to pursue their own academic goals and I’ve received countless messages from students from all around the world saying that my TikTok’s have inspired them to carry on when they’d normally have given up. Sharing my academic achievement on TikTok is the thing I am most proud of in my career. I had no idea how many people would be motivated by my educational journey.
What’s an oral health topic that is important to you that you would like to educate the public about?
I believe oral hygiene is a priority that should be emphasized more in elementary schools. Since dental decay in children is a preventable public health concern, I originally wanted to educate children on the importance of oral health in elementary schools. I then realized that a better way to advocate for good oral health in children is through a publication. I took the initiative to write a children’s book, First Selfie Smile, about a child’s first dental visit. This book helps children build genuine enthusiasm for oral hygiene and shows children that the dental office really isn’t so scary after all
My book has been published nationwide in major retail outlets including Amazon, and I am grateful to be sharing my oral health expertise with as many children as possible. My book helps support increased access to oral health information for parents and families as well as raises awareness about the importance of good oral health. I am in the process of writing a second children’s dental book and since the Canadian government has just started the Canada Dental Benefit program for families with low income, my goal is to donate my books to public dental care programs to educate children who come in for their dental services.Thank you so much Ashley for taking the time to share your journey with us. Be sure to check out her RDHC profile and support her work by following her on social media, Instagram:@ashley.dosa; TikTok: @ash.dos, and checking out her book, “First Selfie Smile.”
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