Jeanne Sinkford earned her DDS from Howard Dental School in 1958. Sinkford came from a family that placed a high value on education, with her being one of four sisters that all attended college. After graduating from Howard, Sinkford taught prosthodontics at Howard and later returned to Howard as the chair of the Department of Prosthodontics. In 1975, Sinkford was appointed as the dean of Howard University's College of Dentistry, becoming the first female to serve as dean in an American dental school. As dean, she worked to ensure that Howard dental graduates were able to do a variety of procedures so that their patients would not have to seek out costly specialists that their patients would be unable to afford. Segregation meant that the African-American Dentists would mostly treat black communities. Sinkford served on several committees throughout her career, including the NIH and FDA, later she joined the Center for Equity and Diversity at the American Dental Education Association where she began to focus on helping women becomes dentists.