For nearly 25 years, Donna Guerrero never treated a patient after earning her dental hygiene degree. A single mother, she went to work for Southwestern Bell to earn employee benefits. A couple of years ago, she decided to enter the dental hygiene profession, and took seminars offered by Jane Weiner, RDH, and Joyce Turcotte, RDH, to prepare for her boards.
“My board patient was the first person I treated after 25 years,” she said. “I made a 100 on my clinical. It was very stressful, but I lived through it.”
She is currently a temporary dental hygienist for several practices in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She would like to tie her experience with special needs children into what she does as a dental professional.
Donna said, “I have had experience with special needs with one of my own kids. I am also involved in an Asperger’s disorder group. I enjoy working with special needs or children in poverty because they are sometimes not understood or overlooked by society.”
She also offers versatility as a health-care professional. After a career with Southwestern Bell in several positions, she was in clinical rotations to be a respiratory therapist when her family relocated. In addition, she still assists on a part-time basis post-op patients who have had plastic surgery.
“After hygiene school I was a single mom, so I went into the corporate world working at the phone company,” she said. “It was only to be for six months but it turned into 16 years.”
Frisco, Texas
Family Members: Husband Randy; sons Landon (27), Cameron (14), and Zachary (11); daughter-in-law Ashley
University Attended: Midwestern State University, graduated in 1983
Spare time: “Spending time with my kids who are still home and making use of the time I have left with them until they leave.”
