KK
Work
About
SureSmile
Transforming a clinician-focused website into a consumer-friendly dual-audience experience.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Rest of team
Product Manager | Support Product Designer | Copywriter | Engineering
Overview
I led design for SureSmile's first consumer-facing digital experience, redesigned the doctor-facing flows, and built a design system aligning SureSmile with its parent company Dentsply Sirona, while maintaining a unique consumer-friendly identity.
Prior to this work, the website spoke exclusively to dentists. Potential aligner customers had no educational content or clear path to finding providers. The redesigned site serves both audiences: educating consumers and guiding them to an improved Doctor Finder, while giving dentists clearer product information and a streamlined path to practice adoption.
The challenge
SureSmile's existing website spoke exclusively to dental professionals. Potential aligner customers visiting the site found no educational content, no clear information about the product, and an outdated Doctor Finder with technical issues. All consumer-facing education and selling happened in-chair at dental offices, limiting brand awareness and putting SureSmile at a competitive disadvantage.
Simultaneously, the doctor-facing flows needed redesign to improve usability and clarity for new provider acquisition.
The design challenge: transform a doctor-only website into a dual-audience experience that educates consumers and drives them toward provider discovery, while improving the doctor experience to better support practice adoption—all within a unified digital presence.
Key constraints
1
Regulatory requirements: Medical device claims required careful review and approval; copywriter owned the claims matrix and I designed within those constraints
2
Two distinct audiences: Consumers and dental professionals with different needs and mental models sharing one website
3
In-chair sales model: The actual sale must happen with the dentist, not online—the website's role was education and provider connection, not direct purchase
Discovery
Understanding the users
I synthesized insights from existing consumer and practitioner journey maps to understand the full ecosystem and inform design decisions.
Consumer journey
Potential aligner customers progress through awareness, consideration, and decision-making before finding a provider. Critical needs include:
1
Understanding what SureSmile is and how it works
2
Evaluating treatment options (aligners vs. braces vs. retainers)
3
Learning about treatable conditions and expected outcomes
4
Understanding costs and payment options
5
Finding a qualified local provider
The website's role is education and provider connection—the actual consultation and sale happen in-chair with the dentist.
Doctor journey
Dental practitioners move through a 7-stage journey from awareness through treatment delivery and patient advocacy. Key stages include:
1
Awareness and consideration (learning about SureSmile's offerings)
2
Treatment preparation (case details, ordering supplies)
3
Purchase and delivery
4
Treatment implementation and ongoing patient care
5
Patient advocacy and potential additional treatments
The practitioner journey is more complex across tools and touchpoints, but this project focused on the website portion—primarily supporting awareness, consideration, and practice acquisition.
💡 Key insight
The dual-audience challenge wasn't just about serving two different users—it was about designing for fundamentally different goals and journey complexity. Consumers needed streamlined education and provider discovery, while doctors needed comprehensive product information and practice integration guidance.
Approach
Dual-audience information architecture
I designed segmented navigation that kept each audience in their appropriate experience while allowing access to the other side. Users could switch between consumer and doctor sections through the navigation, but once in an experience, all content and CTAs were aimed at the correct audience.
This approach prevented dilution—consumers weren't confronted with practitioner jargon, and doctors weren't served oversimplified content meant for patients.
Balancing education with conversion
Each audience required a different balance between education and conversion. While conversion CTAs were prominent from the start (navigation and hero), I designed the surrounding content to support informed decision-making. Consumers could access the Doctor Finder immediately but also had pathways to progressively build confidence (What is this? How does it work? Is it right for me?). Doctors could submit leads at any point but had comprehensive credibility-building content—peer evidence, practice details, support resources—available to address evaluation criteria.
Backing up claims
Across both audiences, I prioritized a "show rather than tell" content design strategy. Rather than relying on statistics and claims alone, I designed experiences that provided visual proof: before/after transformations and video testimonials for consumers, and a filterable case library for doctors. This approach built credibility more effectively than claims-based messaging alone—helping consumers visualize their own potential results and allowing evaluating doctors to verify SureSmile's efficacy through peer work.
Design solutions
Consumer experience
I designed the consumer experience to guide potential aligner customers from awareness to finding a provider, with the Doctor Finder as the primary conversion goal. The experience prioritizes education while maintaining a clear path to action.
Doctor Finder
Prominent "Find a doctor" CTAs throughout the journey guide users to the primary conversion point. The tool allows search by address or postal code and integrates location services for convenience.
Educational content
Information organized around the decision journey: How it works (step-by-step treatment process), Treatable conditions, What's included, Treatment costs, and Wear and care guides. Content helps users understand the product without overwhelming them.
Social proof and credibility
Before/after transformation gallery showing real results with treatment timelines, and video testimonials from actual patients. These visual proof points help consumers visualize their own potential outcomes. Dentsply Sirona backing prominently featured to build trust ("1 million patients treated worldwide").
Doctor experience
I designed a filterable case library showcasing real treatment outcomes with before/after comparisons, treatment timelines, and specific treatments for various malocclusion conditions. The library pairs the 75% no-refinement statistic with browsable proof, allowing evaluating doctors to verify SureSmile's efficacy through peer work rather than claims alone.
Case library
Filterable library showcasing real treatment outcomes with before/after comparisons, treatment timelines, and specific treatments for various malocclusion conditions. Pairs the 75% no-refinement statistic with browsable proof, allowing evaluating doctors to verify SureSmile's efficacy through peer work rather than claims alone.
Lead gen form
Strategically placed throughout the doctor experience (similar to the Doctor Finder CTAs on the consumer side), the form captures practice information that the SureSmile sales team can follow up on. Trust-building content is woven throughout the form to keep users moving forward and build confidence as they complete each step.
Concepts explored
I designed a concept to extend the Doctor Finder by giving participating dentists individual profile pages. Customers could view practice details (treatments offered, office amenities, financing options, etc.) and request appointments directly. This created a unique selling opportunity for dentists to market their practice while helping consumers make more informed choices. Not launched due to other priorities.
Design system
I built a comprehensive system that aligned SureSmile with its parent company Dentsply Sirona while maintaining distinct tones for each audience. Consumer-facing components were optimized for approachability and clarity, while doctor-facing components used a more professional presentation. This dual approach maintained visual consistency while ensuring both audiences felt the brand was designed for them.
Outcomes
The redesigned SureSmile website launched 2025 Q2 and delivered significant improvements in user engagement and lead generation.
70%
Increase in unique pages visited after homepage
Improved information architecture and content strategy drove deeper engagement.
6x
Increase in doctor leads
New doctor acquisition funnel successfully converted evaluating providers.
30%
Increase in unique visitors reaching Doctor Finder
Consumer journey effectively guided potential patients to find providers.
10%
Drop in bounce rate
Better targeted content and user experience kept visitors engaged.
Launch deliverables
1
First consumer-facing digital experience with educational content and improved Doctor Finder
2
Redesigned doctor-facing flows with improved usability and clarity
3
Comprehensive design system aligning SureSmile with Dentsply Sirona brand
Back to all work
All work represents professional projects. Sensitive information and proprietary details have been omitted to respect confidentiality agreements.
© Kelsey Kohlman 2026. All rights reserved.
Kelsey Kohlman
Work
About
Get in touch
SureSmile
Transforming a clinician-focused website into a consumer-friendly dual-audience experience.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Rest of team
Product Manager | Support Product Designer | Copywriter | Engineering
Overview
I led design for SureSmile's first consumer-facing digital experience, redesigned the doctor-facing flows, and built a design system aligning SureSmile with its parent company Dentsply Sirona, while maintaining a unique consumer-friendly identity.
Prior to this work, the website spoke exclusively to dentists. Potential aligner customers had no educational content or clear path to finding providers. The redesigned site serves both audiences: educating consumers and guiding them to an improved Doctor Finder, while giving dentists clearer product information and a streamlined path to practice adoption.
The challenge
SureSmile's existing website spoke exclusively to dental professionals. Potential aligner customers visiting the site found no educational content, no clear information about the product, and an outdated Doctor Finder with technical issues. All consumer-facing education and selling happened in-chair at dental offices, limiting brand awareness and putting SureSmile at a competitive disadvantage.
Simultaneously, the doctor-facing flows needed redesign to improve usability and clarity for new provider acquisition.
The design challenge: transform a doctor-only website into a dual-audience experience that educates consumers and drives them toward provider discovery, while improving the doctor experience to better support practice adoption—all within a unified digital presence.
Key constraints
1
Regulatory requirements: Medical device claims required careful review and approval; copywriter owned the claims matrix and I designed within those constraints
2
Two distinct audiences: Consumers and dental professionals with different needs and mental models sharing one website
3
In-chair sales model: The actual sale must happen with the dentist, not online—the website's role was education and provider connection, not direct purchase
Discovery
Understanding the users
I synthesized insights from existing consumer and practitioner journey maps to understand the full ecosystem and inform design decisions.
Consumer journey
Potential aligner customers progress through awareness, consideration, and decision-making before finding a provider. Critical needs include:
1
Understanding what SureSmile is and how it works
2
Evaluating treatment options (aligners vs. braces vs. retainers)
3
Learning about treatable conditions and expected outcomes
4
Understanding costs and payment options
5
Finding a qualified local provider
The website's role is education and provider connection—the actual consultation and sale happen in-chair with the dentist.
Doctor journey
Dental practitioners move through a 7-stage journey from awareness through treatment delivery and patient advocacy. Key stages include:
1
Awareness and consideration (learning about SureSmile's offerings)
2
Treatment preparation (case details, ordering supplies)
3
Purchase and delivery
4
Treatment implementation and ongoing patient care
5
Patient advocacy and potential additional treatments
The practitioner journey is more complex across tools and touchpoints, but this project focused on the website portion—primarily supporting awareness, consideration, and practice acquisition.
💡 Key insight
The dual-audience challenge wasn't just about serving two different users—it was about designing for fundamentally different goals and journey complexity. Consumers needed streamlined education and provider discovery, while doctors needed comprehensive product information and practice integration guidance.
Approach
Dual-audience information architecture
I designed segmented navigation that kept each audience in their appropriate experience while allowing access to the other side. Users could switch between consumer and doctor sections through the navigation, but once in an experience, all content and CTAs were aimed at the correct audience.
This approach prevented dilution—consumers weren't confronted with practitioner jargon, and doctors weren't served oversimplified content meant for patients.
Balancing education with conversion
Each audience required a different balance between education and conversion. While conversion CTAs were prominent from the start (navigation and hero), I designed the surrounding content to support informed decision-making. Consumers could access the Doctor Finder immediately but also had pathways to progressively build confidence (What is this? How does it work? Is it right for me?). Doctors could submit leads at any point but had comprehensive credibility-building content—peer evidence, practice details, support resources—available to address evaluation criteria.
Backing up claims
Across both audiences, I prioritized a "show rather than tell" content design strategy. Rather than relying on statistics and claims alone, I designed experiences that provided visual proof: before/after transformations and video testimonials for consumers, and a filterable case library for doctors. This approach built credibility more effectively than claims-based messaging alone—helping consumers visualize their own potential results and allowing evaluating doctors to verify SureSmile's efficacy through peer work.
Design solutions
Consumer experience
I designed the consumer experience to guide potential aligner customers from awareness to finding a provider, with the Doctor Finder as the primary conversion goal. The experience prioritizes education while maintaining a clear path to action.
Doctor Finder
Prominent "Find a doctor" CTAs throughout the journey guide users to the primary conversion point. The tool allows search by address or postal code and integrates location services for convenience.
Educational content
Information organized around the decision journey: How it works (step-by-step treatment process), Treatable conditions, What's included, Treatment costs, and Wear and care guides. Content helps users understand the product without overwhelming them.
Social proof and credibility
Before/after transformation gallery showing real results with treatment timelines, and video testimonials from actual patients. These visual proof points help consumers visualize their own potential outcomes. Dentsply Sirona backing prominently featured to build trust ("1 million patients treated worldwide").
Doctor experience
I designed the doctor-facing experience to support practice acquisition through credibility-building content and strategic conversion paths.
Case library
Filterable library showcasing real treatment outcomes with before/after comparisons, treatment timelines, and specific treatments for various malocclusion conditions. Pairs the 75% no-refinement statistic with browsable proof, allowing evaluating doctors to verify SureSmile's efficacy through peer work rather than claims alone.
Lead gen form
Strategically placed throughout the doctor experience, the form captures practice information that the SureSmile sales team can follow up on. Trust-building content is woven throughout the form to keep users moving forward and build confidence as they complete each step.
Concepts explored
I designed a concept to extend the Doctor Finder by giving participating dentists individual profile pages. Customers could view practice details (treatments offered, office amenities, financing options, etc.) and request appointments directly. This created a unique selling opportunity for dentists to market their practice while helping consumers make more informed choices. Not launched due to other priorities.
Design system
I built a comprehensive system that aligned SureSmile with its parent company Dentsply Sirona while maintaining distinct tones for each audience. Consumer-facing components were optimized for approachability and clarity, while doctor-facing components used a more professional presentation. This dual approach maintained visual consistency while ensuring both audiences felt the brand was designed for them.
Outcomes
The redesigned SureSmile website launched 2025 Q2 and delivered significant improvements in user engagement and lead generation.
70%
Increase in unique pages visited after homepage
Improved information architecture and content strategy drove deeper engagement.
6x
Increase in doctor leads
New doctor acquisition funnel successfully converted evaluating providers.
30%
Increase in unique visitors reaching Doctor Finder
Consumer journey effectively guided potential patients to find providers.
10%
Drop in bounce rate
Better targeted content and user experience kept visitors engaged.
Launch deliverables
1
First consumer-facing digital experience with educational content and improved Doctor Finder
2
Redesigned doctor-facing flows with improved usability and clarity
3
Comprehensive design system aligning SureSmile with Dentsply Sirona brand
Back to all work
All work represents professional projects. Sensitive information and proprietary details have been omitted to respect confidentiality agreements.
© Kelsey Kohlman 2026. All rights reserved.
Overview
Challenge
Discovery
Approach
Design solutions
Outcomes