Ronni Brown, DDS, MPH, FADI is a dentist, researcher, speaker and author who bridges the gap between dentistry, public health, and substance abuse.
With more than 30 years of experience as a public health leader, clinician, published researcher, speaker, and author, Ronni Brown, DDS, MPH, FADI has built a solid reputation as “the speaker you want” to deliver high-impact, powerful, and engaging presentations on the oral effects of addiction.
Her presentations are both inspired and informed by her current position as a community health planner developing strategic action plans that raise awareness of the opioid epidemic and her years of experience treating patients whose oral health had been impacted by substance-use disorders.
Dr. Brown is the recipient of the 2025 UCSF Alumni Practitioner Award for her boundless clinical empathy, understanding, and caring across multiple domains of health care.
“Dr. Brown is a thoughtful and enthusiastic speaker.
She intersperses research with patient vignettes to provide a unique and evidence-based presentation that keeps all audience members engaged.”
Jennifer Clemens, DMD, MPH
Alumni Practitioner Award Winner — Paula Hermann for UCSF Magazine profiles Dr. Ronni Brown, DDS, MPH, Resident Alum
Uncovering Links to Meth Mouth
When Ronni Brown first looked into a patient’s mouth at the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility, the incarcerated 20-year-old needed full-mouth extractions. “Every single tooth was blackened with decay,” she recalls. In case after case, a troubling pattern emerged: the devastating oral effects of methamphetamine use, a condition sometimes referred to as “meth mouth.” Her work in correctional facilities gave Brown a front-row seat to a crisis that her peers in private practice weren’t identifying. “I realized that perhaps my colleagues didn’t know what they were seeing,” she says. This discovery led her to pursue a dental public health residency at UCSF, where her groundbreaking research on what she’d observed became an essential resource, helping dentists worldwide recognize and respond to the oral implications of substance use disorders.
Caring for the Incarcerated
For 27 years, Brown provided emergency dental services to thousands of incarcerated individuals. “From the beginning, my focus was on ensuring that every patient felt cared for and understood,” she reflects. “In a place where uncertainty and stress are constants, it was important to create a safe space where they could receive the care they needed.” Her dental suite became a state model for correctional facilities. Now, as senior community health planner with San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, Brown leads overdose prevention initiatives that build on her decades of experience working with vulnerable populations. “It is transformative work,” she says of her efforts to improve lives affected by substance use and reduce the associated stigma.
Humanizing Addiction in Dentistry
Brown has trained thousands of dental professionals internationally, equipping them with practical tools to identify substance use disorders and connect patients with resources. Her book, A State of Decay, makes her research accessible to professionals and the public. “I hope I’ve inspired the profession to understand the complexities of addiction and their role in treating it with compassion and care. I hope they see the person in the dental chair – not just a disease, but someone’s mother, father, brother, or sister.”
My Story
Meet Dr. Brown
If anyone had ever told me that I would be a dentist who worked with inmates at a medium security correctional facility, I would have told them where to go and how fast to get there!
But it is true, real, cool, rewarding, and fascinating and has been my path and career direction for more than 20 years. It has opened my eyes to the magnitude of untreated dental disease that is experienced by so many people in our communities and the impact that substance abuse has on oral health.
I still remember my very first patient on my very first day of work.
He was 20 years old and when he opened his mouth, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing; teeth that were blackened, broken and rotted. I had to tell this young adult, whose life was just starting, that he needed to have all of his teeth extracted. But as my day continued, and even as the years have passed, I have come to realize that this patient was not just an isolated incidence of misfortune but reflected the growing use of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs used by patients in all walks of life. These drugs cause irreversible damage not just to their oral cavity but also to their lives; robbing them of their family, friends, physical and mental well-being, and even their freedom.
In some ways, my work day has not changed much from that very first day.
Every single day, I see patients whose teeth have been destroyed by drugs that they have either smoked, swallowed, injected or snorted. What has changed, however, is the knowledge, communication, and treatment strategies that I have learned which allows me to provide predictable and high quality dental care to my patients.
As I speak internationally and across the country meeting dentists, hygienists, assistants and office personnel, I realize that almost every practice has patients with substance abuse disorders.
My presentations aim to provide all staff members with the skills necessary to become competent in recognizing, managing and treating these patients. I believe that if we educate ourselves about the perils of addiction then together we can treat our patients with confidence, sensitivity, and honesty.
-Dr. Ronni Brown
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