Meeting Patients Where They Are: One Hygienist's Journey in Mobile Dental Care
"We are their dental home. Even though we're portable, we can return to the schools multiple times... I've even heard stories where we give them the one toothbrush they have a year." These powerful words from Kendra Flowers, a dental hygienist who found her calling in mobile dental care, capture the essence of her mission to serve children with limited access to oral healthcare.
In a recent interview on The Dental Handoff podcast with Dr. Kelly Tanner, Kendra shared her non-traditional path through dentistry and her current role with Smile America Partners, a mobile dental company serving low-income children in school settings nationwide.
An Unexpected Career Path
Unlike many who dreamed of dentistry from childhood, Kendra initially wanted to be a music teacher. Growing up in a financially challenged household and working at Taco Bell, she sought a quick career path that would provide stability.
"My mom always told me to go into healthcare," she recalls. "I knew I wouldn't want to be a nurse... so I found dental and I said, well, let's try."
After completing a nine-month dental assisting program, Kendra worked in pediatric practices while completing prerequisites for dental hygiene school. She graduated in 2010—during a significant market crash that left many new dental professionals struggling to find employment.
"We had people the year before us graduate that still hadn't had jobs," she explains. "I was in a market where there were a hundred people applying within twenty minutes of a job opening."
Breaking The Corporate Stigma
Despite warnings throughout her education that "corporate is evil," Kendra found her first position with Pacific Dental Services, a DSO (Dental Service Organization) that challenged her preconceptions.
"That was eye-opening to see that there was a level of quality and there was a high standard, sometimes more so than in private practice," she notes. This experience shaped her belief in the potential of DSOs to provide quality care while serving populations that might otherwise fall through the cracks.
After working with multiple DSOs, including Heartland Dental, Kendra emphasizes that these organizations vary tremendously: "One DSO is not the same as the other." Her key advice for professionals considering any workplace: "Their mission, their vision has to align with your own values. Because if it doesn't, you will be miserable."
Finding Purpose In Mobile Dentistry
Kendra's journey took her through various roles, from clinical practice to education (which she discovered wasn't her passion) to clinical operations for a large DSO. When COVID-19 disrupted dentistry, she pivoted to Walmart Health, an integrated healthcare model, before finding her current position with Smile America Partners.
The organization's mission to serve underserved children in school settings resonated deeply with her: "When I heard what the mission was... to serve the underserved and meet them where they were at, I was sold."
What makes this work particularly meaningful is that for many children they serve, this mobile program constitutes their only dental care. "Most of these children don't have a dental home. We are their dental home," Kendra explains.
The connection became even more personal when she discovered they served the elementary school she attended as a child. "I would have been one of those kids," she reveals.
Addressing Access Barriers
While mobile dentistry sometimes faces criticism from traditional practitioners concerned about "cherry-picking" patients, Kendra challenges this perspective: "These patients aren't being seen. So we're not stealing anybody. We're serving who we need to serve."
The barriers preventing many children from receiving dental care are numerous:
Inability to find providers accepting Medicaid
Transportation challenges
Parents unable to take time off work
Lack of dental health education
Foster system complications
By bringing care directly to schools, Smile America Partners eliminates many of these obstacles. "They can just sign a permission slip, and we can see them, and they don't have to worry. We can remove those barriers to access," Kendra explains.
This model represents what she calls "privatized public health"—a business approach to addressing critical healthcare gaps, especially in states where Medicaid acceptance rates among dentists remain in the single digits.
Creating Clinical Excellence At Scale
As part of the Clinical Excellence Team, Kendra works on strategy, clinical philosophies, education, training, compliance, and quality. Her primary challenge: adapting traditional dental practices to a mobile environment with unique constraints.
"Anything that you're doing that you might do day to day in your clinic space, you got to pivot and think how does this work in this setting," she explains. One example: providing oral hygiene instruction without parent involvement, since they rarely see the parents of children they treat.
Currently operating in nineteen states—from rural West Virginia to urban centers like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City—the organization constantly adapts to varied environments and regulations. Some of their biggest challenges come from restrictive dental laws and professional opposition.
"Certain dental boards, certain associations are not fans of this," Kendra notes. "You just want to bang your head against the wall, say, 'I'm trying to provide your public good.'"
A Call To Action
Kendra's advice for dental professionals seeking to make a difference is refreshingly simple: "Just ask. The worst thing anyone will tell you is no."
Whether advocating for legislative changes, exploring non-traditional career paths, or finding ways to serve underserved populations, she encourages following your passion: "Lead with your heart and you'll be able to make a difference."
For a profession sometimes trapped in traditional practice models and restrictive regulations, Kendra's journey demonstrates how dental professionals can expand their impact by meeting patients where they are—literally and figuratively.
Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/pVkKXuNvYMY
Keywords: Mobile dentistry, school-based dental care, dental access barriers, underserved children, Medicaid dental, Smile America Partners, portable dental services, dental service organizations, dental hygiene career path