Sharon Brooks earned her DDS from University of Michigan Dental School in 1973, a time when women were still a rarity in the dental world. Brooks became interested in dentistry due to her poor teeth, paying for her own treatment by working summers throughout high school. She realized that she was more interested in the educational side of dentistry and decided to focus on research and teaching rather than opening her own private practice. An interest in diagnostics led Brooks to research in oral radiology, where she became a widely known expert in Cone Beam Computer Tomography (CBCT), a type of x-ray. Brooks has been widely published and served on the editorial board of several dental journals.