Katie Vogel remembers when she decided to be a Dentist, “This girl I mentored in college was always quick to avert her eyes and had a tight, closed-lipped smile. She later confided that the kids at school would bully and call her names because of her teeth. That’s when I learned how much teeth can hold power over someone’s self-confidence, self-esteem, and mental health. She inspired me to help bridge that socioeconomic divide and help change a smile.” Katie enjoys transforming people’s smiles and the way they see the dentist. With her patient’s trust, Katie and her team at Bothell Clinic can provide whole-person care that includes education on oral hygiene and nutrition and share available resources that can also improve a patient’s health outcome like transportation, food security, and housing.
Katie has seen the transformative power a healthy smile can make. “My job [as a dentist] enables people to have a chance to finally move on to a new chapter in their life” Katie states. Some of the most rewarding moments as a Dentist for her are when her patients are able to eat solid foods for the first time in years or when they can land a job with the help of their new smile. Katie’s 10 years of creating healthy smiles wouldn’t be possible without her clinic’s interprofessional team. For Katie, “collaborating with our fellow healthcare professionals allows our patients to feel truly taken care of.”
Katie’s passion for creating healthier smiles may have started in college but her love for science began much earlier as a child when her mother (also a healthcare provider) presented to her elementary school about preventative care. Now that she has children of her own, Katie has started passing on her family’s passion for creating a healthier community to the next generation.
Learn more about Katie and her work as a Dentist in the video below.