Tama Martello leads dental consulting push on periodontal care and team growth

Tama Martello, RDH, founder and CEO of Martello Dental Consulting, is using more than 35 years in dentistry to help practices improve hygiene systems, periodontal care, and team development. Her work now spans consulting, speaking, and mentorship for dental organizations nationwide.

Why it matters: - Tama Martello is focused on a part of dentistry that can affect both oral and overall health: periodontal diagnosis, treatment, and patient education. - Her consulting work targets mid-sized dental support organizations, where stronger systems can improve consistency, outcomes, and team performance. - Martello’s emphasis on mentorship and leadership development reflects a broader need for clearer career paths in dentistry, especially for hygienists.

What happened: - Influential Women spotlighted Tama Martello, RDH, founder and CEO of Martello Dental Consulting, in Summerville, South Carolina, on June 17, 2026. - Martello has more than 35 years of experience in dentistry and a 29-year clinical career as a licensed dental hygienist. - She started in dentistry at 16, working the front desk at her father’s dental practice. - Martello now consults with dental organizations across the United States and speaks nationally.

The details: - Martello’s background includes work as a dental assistant, licensed hygienist, anesthesia license holder, and holder of three laser certifications. - She previously served as Director of Operations and Director of Hygiene for large dental support organizations. - In one role, Martello helped grow a company from three practices to nearly 30 locations. - Martello Dental Consulting focuses on strengthening hygiene departments, improving patient outcomes, and elevating team performance. - Her work includes one-on-one coaching for hygienists and hands-on mentorship for dental teams. - Martello specializes in helping mid-sized DSOs improve periodontal diagnosis and treatment protocols. - The Academy of General Dentistry has approved Martello to provide continuing education credits for her training programs. - Martello says her approach is built on relationship-building, trust, and communication. - Martello credits much of her career foundation to her father, fellow dentists, and mentors. - Her best career advice has been to never take anything personally and to keep an open mind. - Martello encourages young women in dentistry to consider leadership, education, consulting, and organizational development, not only clinical work. - She points to DSOs as a growing source of advancement and leadership opportunities. - Martello emphasizes lifelong learning and says certifications and training create lasting professional value. - She identifies undiagnosed periodontal disease as one of the biggest problems in oral healthcare. - Martello also warns that some providers focus too narrowly on basic cleanings instead of comprehensive periodontal care. - She says oral-systemic education is essential, even as AI tools improve diagnostic capabilities. - Martello argues that many patients make treatment choices based only on insurance coverage and do not understand the limits of dental insurance. - She hopes dental care will become more integrated with medical insurance because of the connection between oral health and systemic disease. - Martello says her core professional values are passion, integrity, and excellence. - Her personal values include honesty, kindness, authenticity, and continuous growth.

Between the lines: - Martello’s message is as much about workforce development as clinical care. Better training and leadership, in her view, are part of the path to better treatment. - Her comments on insurance and periodontal care point to a larger structural problem in dentistry: patients often face financial and educational barriers before treatment begins. - The focus on DSOs suggests that scale and standardization are becoming central to how dental practices grow and improve.

What's next: - Martello will continue consulting, speaking, and mentoring dental professionals nationwide. - Her training programs are likely to remain centered on periodontal care, hygiene leadership, and patient-centered systems. - She is expected to keep pushing for broader recognition of the oral-systemic connection and more comprehensive dental education.

The bottom line: - Tama Martello is positioning dental consulting as a driver of better care, stronger teams, and more advanced career paths across the industry.