Jessica J. Brisbois, DDS
“I get to work next to dentists who have been working for over 30 years — what a blessing it is to feed off of all the lessons they have learned.”
Jessica J. Brisbois, DDS, is making a difference in the dental field in big ways, like when she stood behind the microphone at the 2019 AGD House of Delegates to represent the younger generation of dentists and spoke about how a tiered membership model might appeal to these new dentists.
She’s making a difference in small, everyday moments, like when patients who normally avoid the dentist tell her they’ll be returning for future treatment. Or the Halloween when she received an email from a patient’s mother with a photo of her 6-year-old daughter dressed up as “Dr. Jessie” for her costume.
Brisbois was nominated by Dennis Charnesky, DDS, MAGD, 2019–20 regional director of Region 9, who admires her work as editor of the Michigan AGD newsletter, “The MAGD Explorer,” along with her ability to “balance a new family along with service to the profession,” he said. Brisbois and her husband have two young children, and she credits dentistry with affording her a “beautiful work-life balance.”
“I feel so lucky to have a rewarding career that I am passionate about and have fun with, which I truly believe makes me a better mom,” she said.
Brisbois became Michigan AGD’s editor in 2016, and she counts her work improving the newsletter’s user experience among her biggest accomplishments.
“I have transformed the newsletter from a PDF that used to be a ‘pinch and zoom’ read to a mobile- and desktopfriendly interactive interface that is sent out via email,” Brisbois said.
Among her other points of pride are her Distinguished Service Award honors from the Michigan AGD in 2018 and 2020. She also became the first female associate dentist at Toupin Dental in Novi, Michigan, where she has been a patient since childhood.
“It was, and still is, my dream job,” she said. “I have a lot of pride in building my own patient base alongside three amazing dentists who are 30 years my senior.”
She cites those seasoned colleagues when asked what advice she would give to other young dentists.
“Find someone to learn from, and find someone to teach,” Brisbois said. “I get to work next to dentists who have been working for over 30 years — what a blessing it is to feed off of all the lessons they have learned. But the most fun part of my job is not being their clone, but taking the knowledge they have and applying it to the dentist I am today, and, most importantly, will be tomorrow.”