Celebrating International Women’s Month and Leading Ladies in Dentistry

March is International Women’s Month and the perfect opportunity to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It’s a time when we can pause and have real conversations about the progress being made toward gender parity and the mountains we still face to reach equality. 

My hope is that this episode will celebrate the fearless women in dentistry while diving into an authentic conversation with my friend Dr. Cua of Perch Dentistry. We jumped on a Zoom call to discuss her story, journey into dentistry and the highs and lows she’s experienced being a female entrepreneur and practice owner. 

Denise Cua was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and received a BS in Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. She graduated in 2014 with a DMD degree from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston, MA. Moved to Dallas, TX in 2015 and started working for a DSO until opening a practice with her husband/business partner Dr. Shivam Patel. Last stop was Cedar Park, TX, a suburb north of Austin, where they began a dental startup, Perch Dentistry, in 2019.

We covered all-the-things chatting about Dr. Cua’s favorite hobby, her journey from biology into dentistry, how Dr. Shivam Patel (her husband and business partner) first met, the Enneagram, how to work with your spouse, International Women’s Month, Lucy Hobbs Project, gender biases she’s experienced and how she handles those situations. One of my biggest takeaways was a quote from Dr. Cua who said, 

“The question I ask myself is, what will serve me more in this situation?”

While sharing her approach to responding to mistreatment, she said, “Before something comes out of my mouth. I also ask myself the question, what’s more important? Is it better for me to use my energy fighting back for what he did or is it better for me to respond professionally and save my energy for someone who respects me? I am very careful where I use my energy”. 

Dr. Cua, I cannot thank you enough for taking this time to share your story and heart with us on The Story Project. If you’d like to stay in touch with Dr. Cua follow her at: @perch_dentistry  @dcua 

Cheers to celebrating all the ladies this month and continuing to have conversations that move us toward equality and wholeness!