When Katie Benavidez watched dental hygienists cleaning her teeth as a child, she was fascinated by the scaling instruments working on her "baby teeth." That early curiosity sparked a career path that would eventually lead her to become a pioneer in dental endoscopy—a technology that allows hygienists to literally see below the gumline during treatment.

In a recent interview on The Dental Handoff podcast with Dr. Kelly Tanner, Benavidez shared her journey from dental assistant to hygienist to co-founder of PerioPrecise, a company making dental endoscopy more accessible to practices nationwide.

"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 McKune, 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.