YORK, Pennsylvania: Dentsply Sirona recently presented the second iteration of its Smart Integration Award to women in dentistry in a virtual award ceremony. With the award launched in 2019, Dentsply Sirona recognises visionary treatment concepts and the outstanding achievements of women in dentistry globally while creating a network of women in dentistry. This year applicants came from nearly 40 countries. 

Dentists and dental technicians worldwide submitted their ideas for integrating digital technologies into the dental laboratories and practices of the future and improving the treatment experience for patients. Ninety nominees attended the award ceremony. An international jury of Dentsply Sirona executives and renowned external experts selected them. Winners were awarded in five categories: 'Digital Clinical Workflow', 'Digital Patient Communication', 'Innovative Infection Control and Prevention', 'Management of Dental Equipment', and 'Smart Lab-Dentist Cooperation'.

The innovation categories in digital dentistry were expanded this year due to the high level of global interest. The pool of applicants was also larger: dentists and dental technicians from the USA were also able to apply for the first time. Dentsply Sirona wanted to do justice to the growing proportion of women in dental professions, promote their skills, and improve their career opportunities with the Smart Integration Award, 

Focus on digital workflow

This year's Smart Integration Award winners are Dr Shivi Gupta from San Diego, USA, and Christine Trautmann from Darmstadt, Germany. Gupta took the prize in the "Digital Patient Communication" category. In three exemplary case descriptions, the CAD/CAM expert showed how she achieves high esthetic and functional success in treatment in her practice using a completely digital workflow. It also allows her to offer patients a comfortable and efficient treatment experience and precise results.

Christine Trautmann convinced the jury in the "Smart Lab-Dentist Cooperation" category by presenting a fully digitalised ordering process between the dentist and lab.

"End-to-end digitised workflows are still a vision in this field – but a very desirable one," Trautmann said in the interview. "That's because they facilitate communication between both parties equally and give dental technicians the ability to meet individual restoration requirements even better."

Dr Terri Dolan, Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer at Dentsply Sirona, sees great potential in the Smart Integration Award: "The significant interest from women worldwide shows us how important awards like this are. They recognise achievement and boost professional confidence, helping us promote gender parity in dentistry to support the next generation of female leaders." Dolan, a dentist herself, is responsible for the Key Opinion Leader Network development program at Dentsply Sirona.

Prof. Ihsane Ben Yahya, President of World Dental Federation FDI, attended the award ceremony as a guest of honour. She is also convinced that initiatives such as the Smart Integration Award would increase the influence of women in dentistry. She said that she was confident that the previous night winners were the leaders of tomorrow. She added that the women gathered here would help lead the way to empower patients everywhere with innovative solutions and ideas that could revolutionise their industry. Supporting and empowering women in dentistry is the common goal of FDI and Dentsply Sirona.

Corporate goals: integration and equity

Beyond the Smart Integration Award, Dentsply Sirona is comprehensively committed to equal opportunities, equal rights, and sustainability. Various initiatives for women support their development in dental professions and make their achievements visible. One of these is "First to 50," a global program to promote women as speakers. It aims to connect women to professional coaches to support their professional development and empower them to become speakers. Other measures relate to improved opportunities for networking and sharing experiences at panel discussions and conferences.

Dentsply Sirona has launched Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) – interest groups to promote equity, diversity and inclusion, to achieve inclusion and equal opportunities for all employees within the company. These include the "DS Women" initiative. The goal of DS Women is to promote more women to leadership positions at Dentsply Sirona.

Equal opportunities as a pillar of sustainability

In its recent new sustainability strategy, Dentsply Sirona also makes a clear commitment to equity. Among other things, the company defines the achievement of gender parity and gender pay equality by 2025 as a milestone on the way to a "brighter world."

For Dentsply Sirona, the strategic pillar "Healthy Business" includes having fifty per cent of its board members by gender and ethnically mixed and having 60 per cent of its board committees chaired by women.