Women In Wellness: Riddhi Gangolli Of SmileDirectClub on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Technology free time: We are surrounded by technology and distractions most of our lives. I always allocate time within the day when my mind is allowed to creatively wander.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Riddhi Gangolli BDS, MS, PhD, Sr. Director of Professional Education and Marketing for SmileDirectClub.
Riddhi Gangolli BDS, MS, PhD, is the Sr. Director of Professional Education and Marketing at SmileDirectClub and focusses on helping dentists grow their practice using the company’s unique telehealth platform. She has a broad and deep understanding of the dental field. Her experiences are rooted in oral care, biomedical research, innovation, commercialization, and healthcare marketing. With a multidisciplinary background she is a boundary-spanner driving medtech focused innovations for physicians and dentists. Gangolli earned her Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree from Padmashree Dr D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth in Maharashtra, India, holds a Master of Science in Biomaterials and Biomimetics from New York University and earned her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Temple University.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
My career goal is to bring best in class medical devices to the hands of health care providers (HCPs). I took a multidisciplinary approach to my goal using my technical and marketing expertise to develop and bring medical devices to HCPs. I am a dentist and have an MS in Biomaterials and a PhD in Engineering. I have enjoyed using my background to bring technologies and products to life as part of the R&D and marketing teams at Glidewell labs, Straumanngroup and now SmileDirectClub. SmileDirectClub has been able to provide access to care over 1.5 million people. The access has been able to push dental care into the lives of many who never considered it before due to the high cost or inconvenience. Dentists and orthodontists have always been a critical part of SmileDirectClub clear aligner therapy treatment, but we created the Partner Network in early 2020 to open our teledentistry platform to more dentists and orthodontists, giving them the opportunity to expand their current services and provide patients with the ability to get started at a SmileDirectClub-affiliated dentist’s office if they choose.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
There have been several instances that have been impressed on my mind, most of them have to do with understanding a new perspective through a journey of learning. While I was working as an Innovation scientist as Glidewell labs, my team lead was able to bring me into a broader discussion that involved product marketing. I was immediately drawn to the subject and enjoyed contributing through the many stages gates that go into a successful product launch. I am still grateful for that experience because it showed me the path to the next steps of my careers which would involve product development and management, clinical affairs and HCP marketing. My learnings from the process were to always be open to new experiences and imbibe a culture of learning and humility throughout life.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I was starting off in my career as a young professional, I had not fully internalized that owing a practice is akin to owning a small business. As the dentist, you are the executive, financial, operational, clinical and marketing lead for your practice. I was able to learn quickly through keeping an open mind and being okay with knowing what I did not know. There is no better way to learn than being neck deep in the problem. I learned to fail mindfully rather than just failing fast while breaking things.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
The doctors who use the SmileDirectClub teledentistry platform have safely and successfully treated more than 1.5 million patients. Their before & after photos speak for themselves, but we also look hard at the data. Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a great indicator of our Club Member satisfaction. We have one of the highest NPS scores in the healthcare industry. SmileDirectClub is customer-centric, and we pass that same level of care on to the doctors who are part of our Partner Network. We also found in a recent health survey that 1 in 7 people said they visit their dentist more regularly after their treatment and 4 in 10 people said they brush and floss their teeth more frequently following their treatment.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
Have a good routine: Exercise, get 6–8 hours of restful sleep and have good physical and mental wellness check-ins from time to time.
Oral Care: You get just one set of adult teeth, so take care of them. Using a water flosser, fluoridated toothpaste and an electronic/power toothbrush is a great way to ensure your pearly whites last a lifetime.
Read as a way to disconnect: I am an avid reader, I love reading different genres spanning fiction, nonfiction and biographies.
Technology free time: We are surrounded by technology and distractions most of our lives. I always allocate time within the day when my mind is allowed to creatively wander.
Work- Life balance: Spending time and deeply bonding to friends and family is very rewarding. I designate time to do this each and every day so I can lead a fulfilling life at home and at work.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Mental wellness is a very necessary issue to consider in our society, especially this last year due to COVID-19. Acknowledging the need and developing ways to address common issues would be a giant leap forward for our community.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
The top 3 things that are the most meaningful to me include:
Access to care and use of telehealth would become the next frontier in medicine/dentistry
Remote patient monitoring and connected care would be the best way to keep patients close to their doctors without disrupting their lives
Providing new solutions requires a matrixed environment and a combination of skillsets housed within diverse groups
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
As I mentioned, mental health is the dearest to me. Mental health is often stigmatized and not considered as essential in many countries. We at SmileDirectClub consider it a top priority and I am thankful for the attention we give to this topic. Just like any other medical concerns, prevention is always better than cure. No matter what demographic you belong to, having a wellness check that includes mental well-being can often be the prevention most people can incorporate in their daily lives.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
Connect with me in LinkedIn!
Thank you for these fantastic insights!
Women In Wellness: Riddhi Gangolli Of SmileDirectClub on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.