Her Story
About Anabel
My journey in dentistry spans close to 37 years, starting from the very bottom as a sterilization tech and working my way through administrative roles and office management before entering hygiene school. I've been a registered dental hygienist for 27 years and have had the privilege of exploring probably everything in my field and profession. I've worked for most of the major DSOs in the U.S. and spent over 5 years in academia at the University of Florida, where I started as a clinician seeing patients but my role evolved into something greater - training and assessing foreign-trained dentists from 20 different countries who needed to become skilled to sit for their boards or learn clinical protocols to become licensed in the U.S. I worked with 24 residents at a time, and it was fascinating to see them excel and achieve their dreams. During and after COVID, I became a travel hygienist, working in various states in hospital settings, overseeing and assessing patients in healthcare facilities. I even had an amazing opportunity to become a contract hygienist with the U.S. Army and worked overseas in Germany, where I treated active duty soldiers, many of them 18 and 19-year-old kids who left their families behind to fight for us. For me, being able to attend to their dental needs was top priority, and I felt so privileged to be in that position. Currently, as a hygiene coach with Dental Care Alliance, I oversee 52 hygienists across 16 offices in four regions. This role embraces all of my trajectory and experience, allowing me to uplift people every single day to be the best they can be. I'm passionate about closing the gap between medical and dental healthcare, teaching my hygienists to treat the whole patient, not just the mouth, because we're treating one human body. I hold many seminars and meetings to help both the medical and dental communities understand that we're all one team.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Anabel
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I've mentored so many dental hygienists throughout my career, and the advice that I always give them is to keep growing and always think outside the box. Keep feeding yourself with knowledge - don't stop, don't stall yourself to think you've known it all and you've reached the point. There's always something else to be learned, there's always something else to explore, and not to be afraid to do so. When I took the opportunity to go to the contract with the Army in Germany, it was a big change - I went to Germany for the next year - but I was not afraid. I felt so privileged and fortunate that I had been chosen to do that. I always tell them to keep growing in the sense of keep educating yourself, to keep learning, to always be hungry to learn more and for growth. There's always something else, something more and something else you can do. Healthcare is evolving constantly, and I know I'm gonna see the day that we start closing that gap that we have still between medical and dental.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Healthcare is evolving, and honestly, I know I'm gonna see the day that we start closing that gap that we have still between medical and dental. I'm being part of that process right now - I hold many seminars and meetings trying to help the medical community understand, and the dental community, that we're all one community, we're all one team, because we're treating one human body. When you go to the doctor, he doesn't say 'I'll speak to the body and forget about your head.' We need to embrace this into one single body. That's what I teach my hygienists - when you see a patient in front of you, treat the whole entire identity, the whole patient, don't just concentrate in the mouth. I want you to ask them about their medical history, I want you to ask them the last time they had lab work done, I want you to take care of them overall. That's what makes you a healthcare provider in reality - when you treat the whole body, not just one identity in the body. We still have a long way to go, I'll tell you that much, but those of us that have so much passion to take care of others, we keep going, we don't give up.
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