Balancing the rigors of a career alongside personal life can be challenging enough. For dentists who own their own practices, the unpredictability of entrepreneurship must be navigated while also caring for patients and developing clinical skills. Adding another professional pursuit to the complexities of owning and operating a dental office could seem daunting to many, but it’s daily life for Dr. Jaleena Jessop, DDS. One day she’ll be caring for patients at her office in Salt Lake City, and the next day she’ll be a few miles down the road in her other office, developing the same products she uses to treat her patients as chief clinical officer for Ultradent Products—the first woman in Ultradent’s C-suite.
Dr. Jessop in Ultradent Products’ in-house dental clinic.
With a passion for service, desire to build relationships, and love of artistic flair, dentistry was a natural fit for Dr. Jessop. While she knew she wanted to pursue health care, she wasn’t initially drawn to dentistry, despite being surrounded by it from an early age. Her father is a dentist, and a prominent one at that.
“I probably pushed dentistry out of my mind because that was all I knew,” she said. “Maybe I was being a young teenage kid, just trying to rebel against everything, trying to find a new path. But, ultimately, it was the right path for me.”
Splitting her time between the world of product developer and end-user has sharpened Dr. Jessop’s abilities in both arenas.
“When you’re involved with the products from start to finish, you understand the chemistries better, you understand the ‘why’ behind a result more than you would just reading the directions,” Dr. Jessop said. “I know from the other clinicians that I work with [on Ultradent’s clinical team], they all say it makes them better doctors and better hygienists and better assistants. The more we understand the products we use day to day, we can’t help but become better clinicians.”
Dr. Jessop’s influence is visible throughout Ultradent’s catalog, and one of the company’s newest product releases even gets its name derived from her nickname, “Dr. J”: J-Temp temporary resin. In collaboration with the research and development team, Dr. Jessop helped develop J-Temp over roughly a decade prior to its release in early 2023. With multiple indications for use, Dr. Jessop was inspired to create J-Temp temporary resin by seeing a void in products available as well as a need to upgrade what is considered industry standard.
“I just kept noticing there were all these things that I wish could be faster or which could be better, or trying to find if there was an application for any of the products that we currently had that would work in other situations,” Dr. Jessop said. “And, finally, I’m just like, ‘This is crazy.’ I shouldn’t need dozens of different products for these things I might occasionally use.”
A desire to innovate drives Dr. Jessop in both her role as a dentist and as a C-suite executive. This makes sense, as she’s been involved in innovation her entire life. Her dentist father happens to be Dr. Dan Fischer, world-renowned clinician and educator, as well as the founder and CEO Emeritus of Ultradent. To add to that, her husband, Neil Jessop, is the Sr. Vice President of R&D for Ultradent.
“This is my husband’s and my romantic life,” she said. “We lay there in bed and discuss what could be the next product. It’s terribly romantic, but yeah, that’s pretty much how it goes.”
