Today we’d like to introduce you to Kajal Joshi.
Kajal, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
While in high school, I took one summer to visit my aunt and help her at her dental office. Before then, I had always known that I wanted a career in healthcare where I can help people. After exploring different fields, I completed my undergraduate education in nutrition and public health, which only solidified my resolve to pursue dentistry. What attracted me to this profession (that others consider to be gross), is the untapped potential. Dentistry has evolved quickly in recent years and the media and public perceptions have not yet caught up. We are no longer here to torture people, but instead our focus is now on education of what we call the “mouth body connection.” This is one of the biggest reasons why I choose to continue my education by specializing in pediatric dentistry. My goal is to help children of all ages and abilities have a fun dental experience, start healthy habits which include proper age-appropriate brushing and flossing techniques along with good diets that will put them on the path of great oral health and general well-being.
After practicing for a few years, I found this opportunity to make a bigger difference by combining my skills as a dentist and a business owner. Once we started, I was busy with many different projects to help make this my dream practice. I wanted more than DPD to be known as another bread and butter dental office, therefore the biggest changes initially made were to help make our practice feel more like home. We created out DPD home in hopes to become a dental home for all of our DPD family members. We then set out to start educating parents about the many benefits of dental health and how that can prevent medical concerns. With my background in public health, our team’s extensive knowledge in pediatrics, and our ability to accommodate all special circumstances, we are working on helping make this dream of our come true on child and one family at a time.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I must admit, school was easier for me. By taken college level courses in high school, I was able to graduate college in just 3 years (essentially creating my own accelerated program). Dental school seemed like it would be tough, and boy was it, but it also allowed me to do many extracurricular like continue my passion for dancing and participate in the honors program. Real life has given me many ups and downs, but it has all been worth it. There were many struggles at the beginning of my career. At that time, I had decided to practice in different clinical settings in order to get a wide variety of experiences and develop my own personal practice philosophy. It was a big learning curve realizing that in business even if you are right that does not mean you are right. I learned a lot and from that, was able to take on this new project of my own practice. That lead to many more triumphs and road bumps. I don’t think many people understand how hard it is to be a small business owner unless they do it. It is like having a baby, there is so much time and attention needed at all times of the day and night. At the beginning, we had many that had not been educated properly on the importance of pediatric dentistry and the many benefits of their child seeing a specialist. We had a lot of cleaning up to do with the office and all the materials that has been accumulating in forgotten corners and drawers. Countless hours went into researching in order to redecorate the whole office to make it more kid friendly. We tried many different options that could help us mask that unique “dental office smell” and make it smell like home without having an overpowering smell that can irritate some of our sensitive special needs patients. We had a lot of equipment issues that caused significant costs with repairs and replacements. On top of all of that going on at the same time, we had issues with our partners and vendors. It took a lot of time, including many late evenings, and effort to get our patients the best that they deserve. The whole process took over a year but we are happy to be in a better, and more stable place now where the struggles come less often and more of your typical garden variety hiccups.
Please tell us about DuPage Pediatric Dentistry.
We are DuPage Pediatric Dentistry, also known as DPD Smiles. We help each of our DPD rock stars having a rockin’ smile that they are proud of. DPD provides individualized care that meets the specific needs of your child. We focus on prevention and make sure our patients understand good oral health. Our mission is to help your child develop the right habits early on to improve their dental and overall health. We treat your child like our own.
Our specialty is pediatric dentistry, which includes children starting at the age of 1 all the way to 18 or beyond. We are also the only specialty to have detailed training and knowledge into the special needs spectrum from sensory issues to autism to cerebral palsy and everything in between. We understand that each child is unique, they are not just a little adult, and thus need more individualized attention.
What is special about DPD Smiles? It could be the fun, thrills, and laughs our rock star patients have with us, it could be our friendly team welcoming you with smiles every day, or it could be the fact that many parents rave about how we explain health in a way that finally makes sense.
What we are most proud of is offering excellent dental care, great experiences, and beautiful smiles for all of our patients. When we say we treat your child like our own, we really mean it. We go above and beyond for each family. We offer insurance verifications to help get parents the most accurate estimates possible. Often times, we educate parents on things about their policy they were not even aware of. We have many parents call us to help select a new plan for them so that they can continue to be a part of our DPD family with all the benefits that come with us. We spend extra time getting to know each new DPD rock star in order to create a personalized care plan for them. We understand that there is a lot we can teach parents, and sometimes that is too much to take in at once, therefore we have created a way for this information to constantly available to parents. We are constantly taking feedback and looking to improve the DPD experience for our DPD families.
We stand out as Dr. Joshi is the only Preventist your child needs. She does not just look at your child’s teeth, but she looks at how to prevent dental and medical problems by advising your family on how to best prevent dental and medical concerns for your child.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One time around the time I was 5 or 6, my family and I were driving in the car and I was trying to convince my parents to take us out somewhere to eat. My dad agreed to go somewhere close if we could find something we could all agree on. Of course at that time, I wanted to go to Chuck-E-Cheese, but had no idea where it was or if we were even close by. So I started looking around and when our car stopped at a red light, I found a Checkers in sight. I started pleading to go there when my dad offered a deal. If I could spell the name before we the light turned green, we could go there. Unfortunately, I tried my best but could not finish spelling out Checkers and we ended up eating elsewhere. This is a fond memory of mine because it taught me valuable lessons. Opportunities come and go, those who are quick while get them first. Or as they say, the early bird will get the work. I also learned that hard work is necessary to get what you want. Learning this at an early age has helped motivate me to be the person I am now.
Contact Info:
- Address: 493 Duane St
Suite 201
Glen Ellyn IL 60137 - Website: www.dpdsmiles.com
- Phone: 6304697696
- Email: info@dpdsmiles.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dpdsmiles
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dpdsmiles
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dupage-pediatric-dentistry-glen-ellyn
- Other: https://plus.google.com/+DuPagePediatricDentistryDPDGlenEllyn
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