Joann Perrotta

Joann Sangiacomo has been a dentist for 35 years and owns two dental practices in Bethel, Connecticut. She began her education at St. John's University in New York before attending UConn Dental School, where she met her husband, and completed an additional year of hospital training at the University of Rochester at Strong Memorial Hospital. This training helped her gain confidence in treating medically compromised patients and handling complex cases such as traumas and surgeries. As the administrator of her practices, Sangiacomo manages patient care, staff, IT, human resources, and advertising while seeing patients for routine, cosmetic, and emergency dentistry. She has navigated challenges including a male-dominated field early in her career, corporate consolidation in dentistry, and difficult insurance reimbursements. Sangiacomo emphasizes honesty, integrity, and trust with her patients and draws on advice from a former professor that salt-of-the-earth patients in less affluent areas often prove more rewarding than those in wealthy towns. She encourages young women in dentistry to be genuine, always do the right thing, reach out to other strong women for support, and accept that it is okay not to be perfect in every role.