Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirat Sodhi.
Hi Kirat, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
After graduating with a 4.0 GPA from one of the best dental schools in India, I practiced general dentistry for a couple of years before I got selected for the TMD Orofacial Pain Residency at the University of Alberta, Edmonton Canada. That was a big move from home to possibly one of the coldest climates I could think of living. I had just gotten engaged with my now husband of 8 years who is from Seattle, so I decided to follow my love and moved with him to Seattle, Washington in early 2014. Thereafter, I got into the Fellowship program at The University of Washington which paved my way into the field of Orthodontics.
In the summer of 2014, I moved from the pacific northwest to the southeast corner of the US in Jacksonville, Florida, and started Fellowship in Clinical Orthodontics for 12 months. Thereafter I attended the 27-month combined residency in Orthodontics and Craniofacial Orthopedics and Masters of Science in Dentistry at Jacksonville University School of Orthodontics.
After more than three years of learning the clinical practice of Orthodontics during fellowship, residency, and master’s, I graduated as the Chief Resident from my program and was honored as an inductee into the first ever “Resident Champion Program” started by the American Association of Orthodontics in 2018. I also got inducted into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi for maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout my residency and master’s program.
We had our first baby a month before my official graduation from residency and decided to make Texas our new home for our new little family. The decision was easy! We wanted a central place that wasn’t too far to travel to the family when needed and sunny enough to not let us miss Florida too much! I started working as an Orthodontist with some big corporates all over the DFW area. There was a lot of traveling all over from Frisco up in the North to Duncanville down South and everything in between! I gained a lot of experience while providing orthodontic care for any type of malocclusion. I had patients from 7 years to 70 years and I was exposed to the knowledge of using a vast variety of treatment modalities and various appliances. I continued my education and trained myself to treat even complicated cases with aligners through Aligner Intensive Fellowship. I honed and refined my orthodontic skills with laser training and used various modalities like CBCT, iCAT 3D scanners, intraoral scanners, and 3D printing.
In March of 2021, 9 months pregnant at the time with my second baby, I took over the reins of an amazing private practice in the Las Colinas area of North Irving. Travers Orthodontics had been serving the area for 18 years under the leadership of Dr. Kim Travers and the moment we met, we knew that our treatment philosophies and the common mission of providing excellent patient care will make this transition smooth and welcomed by the community! It marked the beginning of defining orthodontics which became my 3rd baby and I have been practicing Orthodontics for kids, teens, and adults and serving families across Irving, Coppell, Grapevine, Carrollton, Farmer’s Branch, and Northwest Dallas areas with compassion, excellence, and outstanding results ever since. I practice Airway Centered Orthodontics which is not just about straightening teeth. It’s about the whole health and benefits of a perfect bite and occlusion, breathing better and sleeping better, getting to the root cause of narrow jaws and tethered tissues, diagnosing accurately using the latest technology, and then providing the highest standard of care that transforms the lives. Straight teeth and the confidence of a beautiful smile are just the added benefit! Our mission at Define Orthodontics is to “define lives through confident smiles”
Every day, I am enthusiastic about educating people on the value of orthodontics and have my own Instagram page called @Orthodontics_for_you because I believe in the power of smiles and know that they have the power to transform lives. I am also an active part of my husband’s startup “Youveda”. At Youveda our mission is to provide healthier, happier lives through the intelligence of Mother Nature by using Ayurveda- the ancient form of medicine as our vehicle and making Ayurveda simple and easy to understand, and accessible to people so they can reap the immense benefits it provides. And in return my husband Gunny Sodhi who also has an informative “the balanced being podcast” helps me at Define Orthodontics by managing customer service, marketing, and making sure we grow and excel at everything.
If I am not transforming smiles, I am spending time with my 3.5yr old son Aarav and 13-month-old daughter Amyra. My mission is to help everyone feel confident in themselves by providing them with a beautiful smile, to begin with!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I have always considered myself very hard working and I have never been the one who will consider obstacles as setbacks. In fact, for me, it’s the challenges that make the journey worth pursuing! Every obstacle has been a stepping stone to doing better, and every doubt that was raised has been something that ignited the fire to be better. Like once when someone who I looked I remember the days when I moved to Canada for my residency and knew nobody, My first time out of the house, to a city on another continent. Navigating it all has given me the confidence that I can persevere in any situation. I also consider myself blessed or “lucky” as some may say, as there have been opportunities that came my way which I never thought would present themselves. I was just smart enough to pick them up and make the best with them! The pathway to being a dentist in the US after coming from a foreign country and then owning your own practice is not for the faint-hearted. Takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears and tons of support from your family and friends!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Define Orthodontics?
At Define Orthodontics our vision is to “define lives through confident smiles”. We consider it our privilege to serve our patients and their families at the highest level possible and provide them the best service that they deserve. It all started when Dr. Kim Travers who was practicing in Las Colinas Irving for 18 years decided to pass on the baton to me to take over the care of her patients and continue the legacy of Exceptional patient care. Define Orthodontics was born on the same principles of loving, compassionate care for our patients with unmatched exceptionally beautiful results. We are a bespoke and boutique private orthodontic office and provide orthodontic services which include but are not limited to braces, clear aligners, Invisalign, In brace, etc. We cater to the orthodontic services to all age groups from kids, and teens to adults, and have patients in the practice from the age of 6 years to 86 years!
Being the specialists in our craft, I have mastered the art of moving teeth in their ideal position keeping in mind the health of surrounding gums and tissues, facial esthetics, micro esthetics of the smile, proper smile arc, and how it would change with age, so your investment in your smile remains ageless.
I focus on the overall health and have a whole-body approach to orthodontics where I routinely do CBCT – 3 D volumetric airway assessment on all patients that come to our practice to do proper diagnosis and treatment planning for every patient. I personally spend time at every appointment to make sure the quality of our service stays at the highest level. We use the latest technology at our practice including intra-oral scanners – so no goopy impressions, 3D printed appliances so no painful spacers, etc.
I am a perfectionist by nature so even the braces used at my practice are the highest quality available in the market with passive self-ligation which creates wide broad smiles and I hardly need to do any extractions in most cases, there are always exceptions where they are needed to maintain the health but I am very conservative in my treatment plans and these braces help me get the space for crowded teeth without pushing them out. These braces also help me to see the patients on a less frequent basis with longer intervals and overall shorter treatment times in general.
But most of all, I am proud of the team that works with me to provide the highest level of customer service and satisfaction and goes above and beyond to make each and every patient feel welcomed and special.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
We are a family-owned practice and we love taking care of our patients. We offer refreshments at every visit; we love celebrating birthdays and the achievements of our patients and having fun contests in our practice every month. We love serving and being part of the local community and like to give back to the community where we serve through various events and community participation and charitable donations. We are active participants of Soles4souls charity where unwanted shoes are turned into new opportunities for underserved populations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.defineorthodontics.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/defineorthodontics/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/defineorthodontics/
