Dr. Isabel Rambob

President, American Association of Women Dentists

For more than 25 years, Dr. Isabel Rambob has worked around the edges of systems to ensure everyone has access to quality dental care regardless of their ability to pay. She saw firsthand the impact on patients when finances are not a factor when she worked with a grant through the Ryan White Act for HIV patients. Patients didn’t have to choose whether or not to have treatment. Later, while working at the University of Maryland, Dr. Rambob was the first dental director for Healthcare for the Homeless Maryland, ensuring comprehensive care for people suffering from homelessness in Baltimore. She also provided free dental care to homeless veterans referred to the dental school from the VA, and she started a grant-funded clerkship for dental school seniors to provide care to victims of domestic violence. The Domestic Violence Survivor clerkship has helped nearly 300 survivors get dental care because cost was removed as a barrier.

Her experience caring for domestic abuse survivors made her realize how many challenges women face outside of career, furthering her longstanding passion to empower women. As the president of American Association of Women Dentists (AAWD) , Dr. Rambob advocates for reducing bias, adjusting what pregnancy and family responsibility mean for women in the workplace, and empowering disenfranchised populations with an equitable environment to provide care and develop careers. And its sister organization Smiles for Success Foundation was formed to help women transitioning from welfare to work with no-cost oral health care, self-confidence and additional support.

Influenced by interprofessional practice inclusive of nursing, social work, medicine and pharmacy, Dr. Rambob teaches dentistry as a service for all patients. She is the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry assistant dean for student affairs and clinical associate professor in the Department of Restorative Sciences, where she is planting the seeds that women can aim higher and that all students can have rewarding careers that include care for underserved populations.

Outside of education, she works towards an industry with “the freedom to provide appropriate treatment plans without forcing patients to choose between what they can or cannot afford.” She helps nonprofit organizations find dentists who will volunteer their service to treat people in need, from homeless to those who are incarcerated and those who have survived abuse.

We as organized dentistry have to do a better job of rebranding,” she says. “Reduce stigma, elevate the importance of oral health, speak to our health colleagues, educate others, and advocate for increased access to care.