Women in Dentistry- Leading, Balancing and Believing
“They’ve never seen a doctor like me, let alone one who performs surgeries.”
Tapping Into Our Strengths, Leading, Balancing and Believing.
On a Wednesday evening, after closing up their practices for the day, a few of our renowned female practice owners took to Zoom. One was seated at her kitchen table, getting ready to prepare dinner. One was settling into the passenger seat of her car, her husband at the wheel, so that she could give the call her full attention. The last, face freshly washed after a long day, her three sons and husband in the next room.
March, being International Women’s Month, was the ideal time for these women to join together in an effort to learn, share, and grow. These three women are a representation of not only the women within the AD&I network, but of so many women trying to balance it all, or at least find harmony among the many roles they take on.
They represent leaders in their discipline. Leaders in the medical community, a community that has, for all time, been male-dominated. But times...they are a-changin’.
Dentistry, one of the oldest professions, dating back to 7000 B.C. wasn’t so much as touched by a female until 1885. For over a century, women have been edging their way forward, taking more and more seats in this chosen career. Forty years ago, only 11.7% of dental school graduates were women. It was in 2018 that the shift occurred. For the first time in history, more females than males enrolled as first-year dental students in the United States.
“49% of U.S. dentists under the age of 35 are women. Though the future of dentistry is looking quite feminine, we’re not there yet. ”
This tipping point is worth noting, along with the fact that today, 49% of U.S. dentists under the age of 35 are women. Though the future of dentistry is looking quite feminine, we’re not there yet.
“You’re the dentist?” Even with over two decades as a practicing dentist, Dr. Nicole Jackson, owner of the ADI-affiliated practice in Covington, Louisiana, is accustomed to hearing this question when she greets her patients.
She’s not alone. The other participants on the call, including Dr. Sabrina Nguyen and Dr. Jumoke Adedoyin, both nodded in solidarity and understanding.
“I’m a minority in this field in that I’m young, I’m Asian and I’m petite,” says Dr. Nguyen, an ADI-affiliated practice owner in Kissimmee, Fl, who joined the network in 2019. “For many patients, this isn’t what they expect. They’ve never seen a doctor like me, let alone one who performs surgeries.”
Even twelve-year ADI veteran, Dr. Adedoyin, is well-trained in this reaction. “Patients say, ‘You’re going to take my teeth out? You’re so tiny.’ I’m not the picture. I don’t look like the doctor they were expecting.” Yet, Dr. Adedoyin shared the tool, the mental strength, she uses to combat this. “You play it off. And the longer you do this work, the better you are able to handle these situations. With a level of maturity and professionalism, you can turn that right around and let your skills speak for you. In the end, that works in your favor.”
Though the image of a dentist in a patient’s mind may skew male, it’s still no surprise that more and more women are entering dentistry. The job security, flexibility, gratification, and prestige that the profession offers are attractive. But it’s not only about what a career in dentistry offers women. It’s just as much about the attributes offered up by women to the discipline.
Though diversity of experience and thought were expected on the March 10th call, so much commonality was uncovered. Compassion. Empathy. Intuitiveness. These predominantly feminine qualities are what the dentists agreed to be key to their influence and success.
“One of the unique qualities that we, as women, bring is intuitiveness.”
Dr. Nicole Jackson
At AD&I, where the patient base consists entirely of those enduring extractions and receiving dentures or implants, a patient’s need is more than surgical. “One of the unique qualities that we, as women, bring is intuitiveness. Being empathetic and emotionally intelligent...it sets us apart from our male counterparts,” Dr. Jackson continues, “The patients feel like they are being listened to, and that, more than anything, makes such a big difference in being able to do the work we do,” Dr. Jackson says.
These doctors’ days don’t consist of a general dentist’s world of fillings and cleanings. On the contrary, these doctors are game-changers. They are life changers. And because of that, the soft skills that women are known for bringing to the table - in this case operatory - are that much more relevant.
Though both hard and soft skills are necessary - a ying is better with its complementary yang - the soft skills are what separates one doctor from another, creates a positive team culture, brings patients in the door, and keeps them coming back.
“Our patients become raving fans of us and that is what has grown the company.
Dr. Jumoke Adedoyin
“It’s about the soft skills or what I call the superpowers,” Dr. Adedoyin says. “Our patients become raving fans of us and that is what has grown the company. These skills are also what make us better leaders today,...We have empathy. We have compassion. We are able to read body language. It’s such a big deal as you lead people.”
The soft skill toolkit remains open throughout the workday. The “woman’s touch” as Dr. Nguyen dubs it, is a must in treating patients as much as serving as a practice leader. As the practice owner and boss, Dr. Nguyen makes a concerted effort to create an environment where she “runs side by side” with her team, instead of in front of them. It’s a culture of empowerment and positivity, a culture that all three dentists embrace.
Dr. Jackson currently leads an all-female practice, including a female lab manager. “We are all in sync with each other...not that a male wouldn’t be welcome, but we are in tune with each others’ ebbs and flows and it works well,” says Dr. Jackson.
The practice culture that these female dentists have created isn’t lost on the patients. They see it, they feel it. It seems to waft in the air and become a permanent fixture. “When a patient walks in, the best compliment I receive is, ‘Your whole staff really enjoys working with one another,’” Dr. Nguyen says. Dr. Jackson concurs, sharing that the most recurring feedback she receives from patients is how she and her staff “work like a well-oiled machine.”
As of 2019, 42% of businesses are women-owned and of these female business owners, one in three are mothers.
For many women, having a well-oiled machine in the workplace often goes hand in hand with a dysfunctioning machine in their personal lives. It’s an association that many women struggle with, the balancing act that is life. As of 2019, 42% of businesses are women-owned and of these female business owners, one in three are mothers. Even though more and more women are taking the entrepreneur reins, they remain the primary caregiver.
Dr. Adedoyin, a dentist for twenty years, is a business owner and mother of three. She doesn’t stop there, though. She is also a life coach. She has become a voice, an influencer, and a mentor for other female dentists, including Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Jackson, who both noted her impact upon them while on the call.
Dr. Adedoyin declares that “this culture that says we have to be it all” needs to shift. “As we take on more breadwinner roles,” she says, “we are going to have to leave some roles behind. We seem to drag along this culture and mindset that we are the home keeper. Yes, we are, but at the same time, if I am out there bringing home the bacon, then maybe I don’t need to be cooking the bacon as well.”
Though it’s hard to juggle it all, the flexibility of being an entrepreneur, particularly at AD&I has its benefits. The model itself is almost designed for the modern woman’s lifestyle.
Dr. Jackson went into dentistry for the freedom it offered, the ability to have a say in how she wanted to shape her life. A few years back, at a speaking engagement, a friend introduced her to the audience as the “busiest woman I know”. Though coming from a good place, this description delivered quite a blow. Soon after, when a serious medical condition landed Dr. Jackson in the hospital, that was the breaking point causing her to reexamine her career and acknowledge the absence of the freedom it promised.
Running a private practice, serving as a member on six boards, participating in civic organizations, a sorority, and her children’s numerous activities, she recalls, “There wasn’t a moment to sit down.” That was when she joined the AD&I network.
“I will tell you I have a completely different lifestyle now since I’ve become part of the Affordable family. I go to work. I come home. I feel liberated.” She insists, “You can have that work-life balance. You can.”
Though for a while Dr. Jackson lacked that balanced life, she was never without autonomy. That remained constant throughout her career. Autonomy, for Dr. Nguyen, however, was a first.
Since graduating dental school in 2016, Dr. Nguyen has exclusively worked in corporate dentistry, where the “corporate-run, not doctor-led” culture was constant. Until she stepped into AD&I. “Here you get to run your schedule the way you want to. You can build your team and office the way you want to. You get so much say here. You're acknowledged. You’re heard. And someone is always here to support you,” Dr. Nguyen says.
As for the hopes and dreams they have for women in dentistry, Dr. Nguyen summed it up in a word. “More.” More female leaders, more mentorship, more championing fellow women, a more diverse representation of what a dentist is and can be. And a more accurate look into ourselves, sans any self-limiting beliefs that society or history has put upon us.
Support swirled on this Zoom call. There was harmony, understanding, and a bond among this triad of women. They recognized. They empathized. They heard one another.
They were women.