Women In Wellness: Whitney DiFoggio of Teeth Talk Girl on the Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Get up and move! A simple walk around the block can really change the vibe of your entire day. I personally have been LOVING daily yoga and stretching for a clear mind.
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Whitney DiFoggio, a Registered Dental Hygienist and Founder of Youtube Channel, Teeth Talk Girl and TeethTalkGirl.com.
Over the past five years, Whitney has leveraged the web to share information surrounding the importance of oral health worldwide through her social media accounts and website. With over 232K subscribers and over 44 million views, Whitney’s YouTube channel, “Teeth Talk Girl,” helps educate the general public on how to keep up their oral health. In addition to her Youtube Channel, Whitney recently co-founded a company called Happy Teeth where for every item purchased, an oral health kit is donated to someone in need. Whitney graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and attended Prairie State College for Dental Hygiene.
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?
Thank you so much for having me! So, I’ve always loved both teeth and acting. It was hard for me to decide if I wanted to study theater or dentistry in college. Long story short, I chose dental hygiene school and did some acting on the side throughout college. After I graduated, I was working full-time as a dental hygienist and loving it, but I started to miss acting and that “on-camera energy” so much. I was unable to audition for most shows and film projects due to my rigorous work schedule, so I thought why not get my “entertainment energy” out on my own by making videos about teeth at home! At first, I truly thought I would just send the videos to my friends and family, but then I posted one onto YouTube and a bunch of people started watching and requesting more! It was super organic how it all came together and my audience has been growing ever since. Combining my passions of both teeth and acting/being on camera simply just makes sense and aligns with my life. Now, 6 years later, my YouTube channel (YouTube.com/TeethTalk) has also expanded into a dental health platform on my website (teethtalkgirl.com) where you can find both articles and videos about countless dental health topics (information about bad breath, oral cancer screenings, bleeding gums, teeth whitening, etc.). I am so proud of my dental health platform (Teeth Talk Girl) which provides free dental health education to the public, and I’m so happy to be sharing my story!
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?
The most interesting thing that has continually happened to me was stressing out every time something was “the biggest and most important thing I’ve ever done” because I’ve come to realize that the next “big and important thing” will ALWAYS be bigger and more important than the last thing.
For example, when I was taking my dental hygiene board exams, I remember feeling the most stressed and nervous I’ve ever felt, to the point where it made me dizzy and lightheaded. That has happened every time I do something important, such as signing a big contract, creating a big video, etc., ever since.
What I’ve learned is that there is no reason for me to feel like that. I need to understand that when I am prepared to do my best, I need to trust myself to do my best. Trusting myself was one of the hardest lessons to learn (especially because I’m an overthinker), but now that I’m slowly getting better at it, I have SO much less stress in my 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?
I would have to say my biggest mistake was thinking I could do it all. I was working full time chairside (as a clinical dental hygienist) in addition to working full time on my business, which consisted of both my YouTube videos and my oral health website. As I started expanding my business and hiring more help, I thought things would slow down and I could continue to work fulltime chairside (because I love it so much)! But I quickly learned that BURNOUT IS REAL and I could not continually juggle a million things. Trying to work three full time jobs was not healthy for me. Even though I loved it, my body was burning out. So the best thing I learned was that it’s okay to love multiple things, but it’s not okay to overwhelm yourself trying to do them all. Balance is key to a happy and healthy life.
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 goal of my work is to educate EVERYONE about the importance of dental health. Most of us were never properly educated on how to floss, for example! I, myself, didn’t learn how to use proper flossing techniques until I was in dental hygiene school. Everyday I have either my patients at work or the comments on my videos tell me how they didn’t know either. So, with my social media, I’m able to reach a large number of people each day to share awareness about the importance of dental health and proper home care techniques in caring for our mouths.
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.
1. Make sure to take time out of the day to care for yourself: whether it be a bubble bath, listening to music, or even 5 minutes of silence while you lay in bed. Self-care is really important and I would say it’s critical for a healthy life.
2. Don’t let brushing and flossing your teeth feel like a chore. My whole message on my social media is how such simple things that take less than 2 minutes can change your overall life. Gum disease is related to many conditions, such as diabetes and heart conditions. So brushing and flossing is not just for “fresh breath”: it can actually prevent gum disease, which contributes to better wellbeing.
3. Connecting with your loved ones is the most important thing in my life! Even if you are unable to physically see the people you love, scheduling a virtual hangout such as a phone call, zoom, or texting can be an immediate mood booster.
4. Get up and move! A simple walk around the block can really change the vibe of your entire day. I personally have been LOVING daily yoga and stretching for a clear mind.
5. Volunteer! Honestly, sometimes we are just “doing the motions” in life: working, eating, sleeping, repeat. However, when you add volunteering into your life, it gives you an opportunity to both serve and grow.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I think if a clear message about how dental health directly relates to your overall health went mainstream (not just on social media) then more people would know and understand this concept! So many people tell me that they had NO IDEA that gum disease directly relates to heart disease, for example. And oftentimes, when patients learn this information, they end up working harder and putting more effort into their dental home care. So, the movement would be making more mainstream media content regarding dental health (even if it were to be something like a comedy television show about a dental office) to help gain awareness and help the public start thinking more about the importance of healthy teeth.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
1. “Stop caring SO MUCH about what you look like.”
I used to spend so much time making sure I looked super-camera-ready for my videos until I realized it’s way more important to spend that extra time on other, more important, things. Time is important and use it wisely.
2. “You can’t do it all…even if you think you can.”
I’ve always been a so-called “busy girl” who tries to juggle it all, but I’ve come to the point of burnout due to working full-time clinically as a traditional dental hygienist and full-time creating “Teeth Talk Girl” dental health YouTube videos and oral health website. Now that I work part-time clinically and have help with my videos and website, I now also have time to breathe!
3. “Breathe.”
I never realized how important meditation and yoga could be until I started reading a bunch of motivational books and “boss girl” type books. Every single author in these books seems to mention something about daily yoga or meditation or even practicing some type of faith. Whichever you choose, I would suggest adding it into your daily routine.
4. “Stop perfecting everything.”
I think most dental hygienists tend to be detail-oriented and borderline perfectionists due to the type of job we do. However, when it comes to YouTube, social media, and building a brand, you have to just keep moving and be okay with things not being “perfect” at the start.
5. “Companies aren’t always nice.”
It was a huge wake up call when I realized that some companies care more about money than helping people. I’d never dealt with anything like that before so it was really hard to take in. I’ve always been lucky to work with people who all morally feel the same way I do, so going from my small private dental office group to the big corporate world of dentistry was definitely different and scary. Being mentally prepared for uncomfortable business situations is something to always keep in mind.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Mental health! Dental anxiety is a real thing. So many patients have past childhood trauma and/or fear of the dentist. Knowing that so many patients are nervous about visiting the dental office, I’m determined to help educate and care for all patients so they can comfortably receive dental care.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
My YouTube channel is YouTube.com/TeethTalk and my Instagram is @teethtalkgirl. In addition, my website is teethtalkgirl.com and I also have a facebook page (@teethtalkgirl) where I post my YouTube videos and website articles as well!
Thank you for these fantastic insights!
Women In Wellness: Whitney DiFoggio of Teeth Talk Girl 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.