I grew up in dentistry, but I didn’t grow up seeing women lead it. The dentists I knew as a kid were mostly men, my dad included. Leadership, from what I could tell, looked a lot like being busy and in control. It looked like knowing what to do, speaking with authority, and pushing through hard days without talking about how hard they were.
Dentistry, for all its strengths, can be an isolating profession. Even when you’re part of a team, you can feel like you’re carrying the weight of the practice on your own. You’re not exactly exchanging ideas with the dentist down the street. Sometimes, you just quietly decide to figure it out as you go.
That’s what I did.
I didn’t learn leadership from one big moment. I learned it in layers, watching what worked and what didn’t. Seeing what created trust, and what broke it. My dad set the tone for hard work in our practice. That stuck with me. But I learned to lead in a different way. I leaned on structure—scripts, tone, phrasing. I wasn’t the person who walked into a room and commanded attention. But I was the person who would rehearse how to explain a treatment plan, how to make a patient feel heard without over-explaining.
Those little things made a difference. And when I started seeing the shift—how people responded differently, how confidence showed up in tone, not volume—it changed how I viewed leadership and how I wanted to lead.
I learned to be intentional. When I was promoted into leadership positions early on, I was often younger than the team I was managing. I didn’t have decades of experience, but I didn’t try to fake it. I just showed up fully, listened, and owned my mistakes, which helped build trust.
I was 12 when I started my first business: Ashley’s Baby Care. My dad helped me make little laminated business cards that people could stick on their fridge. It meant I could build something. And no one ever told me I couldn’t. That belief planted something important in me. I never questioned if I would lead something, but rather when.
Today, I get to lead teams, speak to dental professionals, and help practices navigate everything from insurance breakdowns to admin handoffs to embezzlement red flags. But more than anything, I get to show up in a way I didn’t get to see growing up: as a woman leading with clarity, empathy, and presence.
We’re seeing more women enter dentistry than ever before. That’s a huge step forward, but representation doesn’t always equal leadership. We still need more women in the rooms where decisions are made. And we need to keep redefining what leadership actually looks like—not just who’s doing it, but how.
While I didn’t grow up seeing women in leadership roles in dentistry, today I get to work alongside incredible women dentists every day. Many of my earliest clients were women practice owners. These women often lead with a different kind of openness. They’re willing to ask hard questions, rethink outdated systems, and build culture with intention. That doesn’t mean male dentists can’t or don’t do those things—it just means the growing presence of women is creating space for different leadership voices to be heard.
And that’s a good thing.
Dentistry is an industry that requires trust. And for some patients, especially women, there’s a layer of comfort and safety that can come from seeing a provider who shares their lived experience. It doesn’t mean every woman wants a female dentist, just like not every patient needs a provider who looks like them. But having that choice matters. I say this as someone who grew up in a dental office, who trusted her father with her life, and who still cried when he had to numb her for a filling.
As the gender makeup of dentistry shifts, I’d love to see the rest of the profession catch up—not just in numbers, but in mindset. This isn’t just about women. It’s about the value of bringing different voices, perspectives, and experiences into the way we lead, hire, treat, and train.
The industry is changing. My hope is that our systems, expectations, and opportunities keep evolving right alongside it. I’ve learned that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is become what you didn’t see. Because that’s how the next generation will see it.
And that’s how change starts.
About the Author
Ashley Bond is the co-founder and Chief Dental Billing Officer at Wisdom, a dental billing company. She previously founded Bond Dental Billing.
Figures and Images
Ashley Bond
