Karsen Springfield always had a strong interest in art and science. She was inspired to pursue dentistry by her parents, who are graduates of the UT Health Science Center College of Dentistry. Now a first-year dental student, she is sharing her perspective of the artistry in dentistry on social media.
Her father, Felix Springfield, DDS, graduated in 1991, and her mother, Adeline Prophete, DDS, MPH, graduated in 1992. “My dad was also really good at art, so I think the talent trickled down,” Springfield said. “I had a really cool biology teacher at St. Mary’s Episcopal School that I loved so much, I would go home and do the science experiments that we did in class. So, I thought, ‘I like science and art, maybe it’s dentistry,’ and it was the only thing that blends my two interests.”
Springfield, from Memphis, earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Christian Brothers University. She was attracted to UT Health Science Center College of Dentistry to remain close to home and because of the help she received from Dayna Myers, RDH, MDH, director of Admission Administration and Advising in the college.
“At CBU, I was in Beta Beta Beta Honor Society, the biological honor society. For my sophomore year and junior year, I was the pre-health chair and senior year, I was the vice president, and we did a lot of communications with different professionals in the health care field. Dayna Myers would come, and I always made sure to go to the College of Dentistry and I wanted to show interest, and Dayna helped me throughout my whole process,” she said. “I emailed other schools that I applied to and none of their admissions people ever responded to me. I thought, ‘She’s so personable.’”
Now, she is documenting her experiences in dental school on her TikTok account, “Karrrsen,” with videos practicing dental wax-ups, studying in the dental technique lab, giving informational advice about dental school and the Dental Admissions Test, and other topics including recipes and crafts. She currently has more than 32,000 followers, and her first dentistry video of using a waxing block to create carved teeth out of wax gained 15 million views.
Springfield said it is not only something that she enjoys and helps reduce stress, but it is also a way for her to extend information to others who are interested in pursuing dentistry but may not have access to advice or resources.
Read more at our UTHSC news site.