Team Bios Here
Meet The Team
Lisa
Dental Hygienist
Lisa earned a bachelor of science in dental hygiene at Oregon Health Sciences University and has over three decades of dental experience. She’s been with our office since 2014. As a dental hygienist, Lisa is responsible for helping to keep your teeth clean and your smile healthy. When asked what she loves most about being a dental hygienist, Lisa says it’s “seeing the difference I can make in a patient’s oral health, as well as building a personal relationship with them.” She decided to pursue a career as a dental hygienist after her high school mentor (a dentist) encouraged her to give it a try. Lisa also loves the science behind dental care. She says working at Desert Dental is a unique experience because of “our commitment to comprehensive care and educating patients on all treatment possibilities while ensuring their overall health is the utmost importance.” Lisa says after all these years in dentistry, she feels like she’s the best dental hygienist she’s ever been and the support and mindset of Desert Dental has helped her grow. When she’s not taking care of teeth, Lisa is usually involved in family activities with her three children, enjoying the outdoors, exercising, crafting, and drawing. She also leads the children’s choir at her church and participates in the adult choir.
Shawnta
Expanded Functions Dental Assistant
Shawnta attended Rogue Community College and has been working in dentistry since 2014. As an Expanded Functions Dental Assistant, Shawnta’s responsibilities include assisting the doctor and always being a team player. The best part about the work she does is getting to meet new people and helping them enjoy better oral and overall health. Even though she didn’t like the dentist growing up, Shawnta wouldn’t choose anything else for work over being a dental assistant. When you meet Shawnta, you’ll find that she’s calm, a multitasker, unique, healthy, and caring. Outside of the office, Shawnta is a busy mom to two young children. She loves spending time with them, riding bikes, being outdoors, and traveling to new places. Shawnta is a self-confessed sports fanatic who volunteers with her son’s teams.
Ashley
Lead Dental Assistant
Ashley is a graduate of Blue Mountain Community College and has been working in the dental field since 2010. She’s been a part of the Desert Dental family since 2014. She’s responsible for staying up to date with OSHA regulations, paying bills, assisting the doctor during complex cases, sterilization, lab work, and helping patients during their visits. When asked what Ashely loves best about her job, she said “helping people and watching them change how they see themselves.” She became interested in dentistry in high school while job shadowing, where she realized she loved oral surgery. She says working at Desert Dental is unique because every patient is treated like family, and we do full mouth dentistry, not single tooth dentistry. Ashley is loyal, honest, hard-working, motivated, and helpful. She was born and raised in Hermiston and is a Marine veteran where she served from 2004 to 2008. Ashley likes watching her son play sports, going to the mountains, and hunting.
Taryn
Office Administrator
Taryn has been working in dentistry since 2005 and joined the Desert Dental family in 2012. Some of her daily responsibilities include greeting patients, checking people in, handling billing and insurance, and scheduling appointments. Taryn says that working for Desert Dental is different from other offices because “total health is a priority.” She’s proud to help provide comprehensive care and showing patients how everything is related to how your function to how it looks, not just focusing on drilling away decay. When you work with Taryn, you find that she’s very loyal, hard-working, motivated, caring, curious, and detail-oriented. Taryn has three children, and she says she spends most of her spare time on the weekends traveling to her daughter’s sporting events. She loves watching football and hockey. Taryn also enjoys hiking and taking vacations with her husband when she’s not in the office. The couple also attends many local Rotary functions and helps out with fundraisers.