Dental hygiene student seeks patients

Posted 2/22/23

An Okeechobee resident taking dental hygiene classes at IRSC (Indian River State College) in Fort Pierce is seeking patients who need a good cleaning.

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Dental hygiene student seeks patients

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OKEECHOBEE — An Okeechobee resident taking dental hygiene classes at IRSC (Indian River State College) in Fort Pierce is seeking patients who need a good cleaning.

Samantha Wigginton Quinlan grew up in Okeechobee and was homeschooled by her mother Wanda Wigginton until high school.

After her graduation from Okeechobee High School in 2006, Quinlan began working as a dental assistant for a practice in Vero Beach and later for Family Dentistry. She graduated from IRSC in 2014 with an AS degree in dental assisting.

She is not working now as she concentrates on going to school full-time. The degree she is seeking this time requires about a year’s worth of prerequisites, she explained. By the time she finishes, she will have an AS degree for dental hygiene and an AA in health sciences to go along with the AS degree she already holds.

“I enjoy working with kids, and I see a lot more of them when cleaning than I did as a dental assistant,” she explained when asked why she wanted to switch careers. She also said she prefers working alone and with cleaning, she is on her own in the room. She is also more the “boss” in her little domain as well, she said, rather than being someone else’s assistant. “I am very independent and like to work by myself a lot more as opposed to being together.”

Quinlan is the first in her family to go into dentistry and is not sure what brought her to that field. “One of my friends has a sister who is a dentist, and his mom worked in the office. My mom and dad were always like, ‘Go in the medical field.’ I really didn’t want to but dentistry sounded better to me.”

There are a total of 10 students in her class. They plan to go to the state fair grounds this week where there will be a community outreach for Florida Mission of Mercy. There will be dental hygiene students there along with dentists and others in the field. They will be cleaning and filling, etc.

Her most interesting experience so far was when a patient did not want to wake up after a procedure while she was assisting a dentist. “Now that was scary,” she said.

In the dental hygiene class, you can get practice patients from a waiting list at the college, or you can provide them yourself. Quinlan wanted to let the Okeechobee community know there was an option out there to get clean teeth for less money. The cost is $50 for adults and $25 for children. If interested, you can reach Quinlan by texting 863-623-8655 or call 772-462-7524. If you call the school at that number, let them know you are calling to see Samantha Quinlan. Quinlan has clinic on Wednesdays and sees two patients at 8 a.m. or 1 p.m.

Quinlan hopes to graduate in May, but it depends on when she completes all her tasks and then takes the board. She hopes to work in Okeechobee when she finishes school. She is a part of the ADHA (American Dental Hygiene Association).

Quinlan is married with two children.

IRSC

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