Texas Dental Hygienists' Association

Annette Smith, RDH 

Annette has been a hygienist for 24 years and is presently a full-time educator at Dallas College. She is active in her local and state ADHA component and is currently serves on the ADHA COVID-19 Return to Work Task Force. She has been a past TDHA 1st VP and a North Texas Dental Hygienist’s Association's President. Annette is passionate about advocacy and helping pass local anesthesia in Texas and has served as TDHA’s GAC Co-Chair.

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Annette has attended ADHA’s Unleashing Your Potential and the American Educator’s Association 8 weeks LEADE program. She has been published in the Journal of Dental Hygiene and RDH magazine. She is the recipient of the 2021 Oral B Texas Educator of the Year award. Annette has been married for 24 years, has 4 children. She resides in Trophy Club, Texas, and in her free time enjoys traveling, reading, running, hiking and learning new things.

Cathy Nobles, RDH, OM

Cathy recently retired from being a clinical hygienist. She loves to work out at the gym, ride bikes on the beautiful trails in Plano and work in her native yard. Her and her husband, Dave, volunteer with Central Texas Dachshund Rescue and have just found a new furever home for their 20th foster dog. Cathy has been a member of ADHA since 1999, and feels as though it is very important to belong to your professional organization in order to keep informed what is happening with licensure in dental hygiene and have a voice for change in the public health and education of patients. 

Janessa Bock, RDH

Bio coming soon.

Shawna Greer, RDH, BSDH

Shawna graduated from The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston in 2016, where she received her BSDH. She served as Vice President for her class her senior year as well as Vice President for Student’s with America’s Toothfairy club. She has served as served as a delegate with her component Greater Houston for the past three years and this year she has had the opportunity to serve as a District IX delegate and represent Texas at ADHA Annual Conference. Shawna is currently the President of the Greater Houston component. Shawna has been with her husband for 13 years and has two boys (21 and 19). She started playing the piano at 8 and the cello at 12. She continues to play the cello and is currently a member of the Kingwood Pops, where she also plays with her boys (who play the cello also). 

Connie Groves, RDH

Bio coming soon.

Alisha Hull, RDH

I have been a practicing hygienist for 13 years, and have practiced in general and pediatric dentistry.  I have been an active member in our ADHA my entire career.  I have held several positions in my local component from board member to President.  I am thrilled to serve as our Trustee and keep my local component informed on all the important on-goings at the state level.  I additionally love that being active in our organization has allowed me to meet some the best hygienists across the state that I now call friends. 

Christina Horton, RDH, BSDH

Christina has practiced as a dental hygienist since graduating from Tyler Junior College in 2005. The first 4 years of her career she worked solely in private practice until 2008 when she began working additionally in public health. In 2011, Christina began teaching at her alma mater as adjunct clinical faculty. In 2014 her 3 passions were incorporated into one position as the dental hygienist for the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler creating a program integrating oral health, medical practitioners and education. She earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Dental Hygiene from Texas Woman's University in 2015. Christina currently serves as the Chair of the East Texas component as well as the TDHA Community Chair. She has served as the SCADHA adviser for TJC since 2014. Christina has been married to her husband, Brian for 16 years and together they have a son, Lucas and a daughter, Tatum. She loves traveling, cooking, spending time at her kids' sporting events and volunteering in her community. 

An Chih "Angela" Do, RDH, MEd

Angela Do graduated in 2015 from the University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston with a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene.  She believes education is the core of the profession so she went on to get her Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction for Health Science Educators from the University of Houston in 2019.  Angela is also a member of the American Academy of Dental Hygiene and the National Association of Parliamentarians.  She currently practices and is the clinical operations manager at a private pediatric office. She served as secretary of the Greater Houston Dental Hygienists’ for three years and is currently President-Elect and Trustee for the component. Angela lives in Houston, TX with her husband, 20 month old son, and Stitch, her Pomeranian shadow.

Mercedes Mendoza, RDH, BA

Mercedes graduated with her Associate’s degree in dental hygiene from Concorde Career College in 2013. She also graduated from St. Mary’s University in 2009 with a Bachelor’ in English & Communication Arts. Mercedes’ past positions for her component have included Secretary, Trustee, Probe & Explorer Editor, and IOH Bowl-A-Thon Chair. 

Mercedes works full time at a community health clinic. She also moonlights an occasional Saturday in a private practice office. 

She loves to travel to places she has not been before, live music, and is an avid foodie. Mercedes is a San Antonio Spurs season ticket holder, she is a die hard fan.

Melissa Terry, RDH

Melissa lives in Copperas Cove and has been a clinical dental hygienist for over fifteen years. She currently works three days a week in a general dental office and fills in as a guest hygienist at other offices several days a month. She graduated from Lamar Institute of Technology with an Associates of Applied Science in Dental Hygiene in 2005 and is currently completing the University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston online RDH to BSDH program. Melissa has served Central Texas Dental Hygienists’ Association as component chair from July 2019 until she became Trustee in January 2020. She has been married for 23 years to her high school sweetheart, Jeremy and has three children, two boys and one girl, two dogs, and a cat. In addition to spending free time with her family, she enjoys baking, traveling, listening to podcasts.

Layla Christensen, RDH

Layla Christensen graduated with an Associates of Applied Dental Hygiene from Blinn College, Bryan, Texas in 2001. She has been a practicing clinical hygienist in the Brazos Valley ever since. Layla started serving as secretary of the Brazos Valley Dental Hygienists’ Association in 2018. After being inspired by dental hygiene students at her alma mater, Layla completed a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene in 2019 from Texas Women’s University. She believes in life-long learning and is a member of American Academy of Dental Hygiene. 

Layla lives in College Station with her husband of 20 years and their three children. She enjoys scrapbooking, travel and the connections she makes from being a dental hygienist.

Cindie Pierce, RDH

Cindie has been practicing dental hygiene for over twenty years. She has had the opportunity to work in private practice for 23 years in four offices: in McAllen, Dripping Springs, a great group practice in Austin, and Fort Worth.
Cindie has had the opportunity to serve on the state and local levels in several areas. With positions on many councils, as well as the president position, just to list a few: membership, student affairs council, annual sessions council, governmental affairs council.

An active member in her church, she enjoys reading scriptures on Sunday's, teaching children in 1st and 2nd grades, and assisting in vacation bible school. In her free time, Cindie enjoys reading, sewing, cross stitching, and spending time with my family and friends.  Cindie has been married for over 28 years to Tim, a great husband who understands what it means to be involved in your profession. He supports Cindie's decisions to be active in her association. Together they have one daughter, Kaitlyn, who is in her senior year at Oklahoma State University, studying Animal Science. 

Mara Crow,RDH

Bio coming soon.

Kristi Dalton, RDH, MS

Kristi is a dental hygiene educator and practicing dental hygienist. She has been in dentistry since 1995 and received her dental hygiene degree from Wharton County Junior College in 2003. After years of private practice, she returned to college and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene with a minor in Business Administration from Texas Woman’s University in 2015 and a Master of Science in Health Studies in 2018. 

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Kristi served as a graduate assistant at Texas Woman’s University from 2015-2018 and a liaison for the dental hygiene dual enrollment program for TWU at Lone Star College 2015-2019. In addition to private practice, she currently is a clinical and didactic instructor at Lone Star College Dental Hygiene Department and has taught clinical dental hygiene since 2016 and DH Practice since 2017. 

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Kristi currently resides in Cypress and has two sons, Cole and Blake. She enjoys spending time with family/friends, live music, running and living a healthy lifestyle.

Jodie Hostetter, RDH

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Kayla Golden, RDH, BSDH

I grew up in Dayton, Tex but moved to East Texas in 2001. I graduated from Tyler Junior College in 2005 with my Associate of Applied Science in Dental Hygiene, then again in 2018 with my BSDH. I love working in clinical hygiene. I’ve been with my dentist since his day 1 in private practice.  The relationships I have made with my patients over the past years is priceless! Speaking of relationships, my dentist introduced me to my husband! We have been married since 2009 & live in Elysian Fields with our 2 wonderful daughters! I can’t wait to serve East Texas as their Trustee.

Karolyn McCoy, RDH

Bio coming soon.

Kathy Trilli, RDH

Bio coming soon.

Illiana Jo Farias, RDH

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics from the University of Texas-Pan American in 2004. She obtained an Associate of Applied Science in Dental Hygiene from Texas State Technical College-Harlingen in 2006.

Illiana is Past President of the Rio Grande Valley Dental Hygienist Association and has held several positions in her local component. She has been a practicing clinical hygienist for fifteen years.

Illiana lives in Mission, Tx and enjoys spending time with her husband and son. She enjoys traveling,running, cooking, and staying active trying to keep that healthy lifestyle.

Layla Christensen, RDH, BSDH

Layla Christensen graduated with an Associates of Applied Dental Hygiene from Blinn College, Bryan, Texas in 2001. She has been a practicing clinical hygienist in the Brazos Valley ever since. Layla started serving as secretary of the Brazos Valley Dental Hygienists’ Association in 2018. After being inspired by dental hygiene students at her alma mater, Layla completed a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene in 2019 from Texas Women’s University. She believes in life-long learning and is a member of American Academy of Dental Hygiene. 

Layla lives in College Station with her husband of 20 years and their three children. She enjoys scrapbooking, travel and the connections she makes from being a dental hygienist.

Jana Mannen, RDH

Bio coming soon.

Brittany Johnson, RDH, BS

Brittany Johnson, a Laredo native, earned a Bachelor of Science: Biology from Texas A&M International University in 2012. She obtained an Associate in Applied Science from Coastal Bend College, Beeville, Texas in 2016. Brittany served as, not only SCADHA student delegate, but was chosen to represent  ADHA 2015 Student Delegate for District IX. Currently, in addition to her full-time dental hygiene position at Sabal Dental, Brittany is serving as Vice President of Corpus Christi Dental Hygienists Association. Brittany believes dental hygiene is a dynamic profession, which allows for life-long learning. She looks forward to working with members to grow the Dental Hygiene profession and expand scope of practice. Brittany enjoys traveling, spending time with her Mother, puppy, boyfriend and family. During her time off she enjoys working out and practicing yoga.

Kassandra Bowie

Kassandra Bowie graduated from Tyler Junior College with an Associates of Applied Science in Dental Hygiene in 2002. She later received her Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene from Northern Arizona University in 2013. She has served as secretary and a delegate for the Dallas Dental Hygienists’ Association since 2018. She currently works in a private dental office in Crandall, Texas. When she is not helping people improve their smiles, she enjoys reading and spending time with her husband and three children.

Chriszelda Luna, RDH

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Leila Liberman, RDH, EdD

Leila Liberman comes to Texas from the University of Maryland, School of
Dentistry where she was a full time Dental Hygiene Clinical Instructor in the
Department of Periodontics. She has over 20 years of teaching experience. She
maintained a private practice while at the University for more than 17 years. Leila
has completed research on Arestin, Perio-Chip associated with peri-implantitis,
digital dentures, CBC oil related to gingival inflation, faculty calibration/self-
assessment, and faculty integration of digital technology in face-to-face lectures.
She also developed and taught a course in Oral Radiography at Carroll Community
College for dental assistants. Dr. Liberman has published in several peer reviewed
journals.

Leila was born and raised in Baltimore Maryland. She received her BS in Dental
Hygiene from University of Maryland Dental School in 1988, her Master’s Degree
from University Maryland University College in 2014, and her Doctorate in
Distance Education in January 2018.

Leila was involved in Special Olympics Special Smiles, Maryland since its
origin 21 years ago. She has helped the program grow from only dental screenings
to the addition of processing mouth guards, oral hygiene instruction, application of
fluoride varnish and oral health care bags for the athletes. Leila’s responsibilities

for the program are securing student volunteers, securing donations, and the set up
and running the clinic the day of the event.

While in Maryland, Leila was active in the Maryland Dental Hygienists’
Association on both state and component levels holding many leadership roles.
Leila was active with the American Association of Women Dentists, student
chapter at the University of Maryland, School of Dentistry. She has mentored
many students in the dental and dental hygiene programs.

Since 2006, Leila has chaired the outreach program, Sealant Saturday for the
Maryland Dental Hygiene Association supported by the School of Dentistry. In
this event, Leila was the sole backbone, from securing all donations, making all the
appointments for the patients and organizing the clinic the day of the event.
Dr. Liberman was the advisor to the Dental Class of 2016 International Outreach
Program. The class adopted a school for disabled children in Tanzania, Africa. She
was involved in fundraising for the children’s dental care and securing all legal
documents.

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Leila arrived in Texas in late July 2018. Her son, 25 years old, is remaining in
Maryland. Presently, Leila is employed as a clinical dental hygienist at the Central
Texas Veterans Heath Care System, Temple.

Leila’s Awards:

Kathy Lyter Community Oral Health Heroes Award
Certificate of Recognition from: The Academy of Dentistry for the Handicapped
The Maryland Dental Hygienists’ Association: Symbol of Excellence

Mandy Weems, RDH

Bio coming soon.

Jessi Jost

Bio coming soon.