Kayla Nelson is a Dental Hygienist at Advanced Dental Concepts. She focuses on the comfort of patients while they are in the office. Outside of being the local Dental Hygienist, Nelson spends her free time in the great outdoors on the lake or on motorcycle trips.
“My parents have always had a boat or lake house so most of my free time in the summer is spent there. I love being out on the water,” said Nelson. “My boyfriend and I love motorcycles. We take a couple of trips a year where we ride and see how much ground we can cover.”
These trips are far from local. Nelson prefers to explore and sightsee.
“We’ve been out west a few times. We rode to Arizona, California, the Dakotas, and Wyoming. Two years ago, we did all of Yellowstone which was absolutely amazing,” Nelson said with a smile. “But we try to pick different places where we haven't gone. I would say Arizona and South Dakota are probably our favorites.”
While Nelson prefers moving fast on boats and motorcycles, her biggest passion is taking care of her clients.
“I had a really good childhood dentist, so I was never afraid to go to the dentist. In high school, I did vocational. My junior year I did a health career vocational. And we talked about all the different fields in healthcare and none really stuck out to me,” said Nelson. “In my senior year, I did the dental vocational and fell in love with it. I shadowed my senior year at a pediatric dental office, and they ended up hiring me as soon as I graduated. I worked with them throughout college.”
Nelson has stayed local and true to her roots. She went to Indiana University Northwest and has been working in the Region since then.
“I’ve been with Advanced Dental Concepts for two years now. I had a friend who I worked with in the past reach out to me. She was moving to Florida and said her position was opening up, so I interviewed, and here I am,” Nelson said, laughing. "My friend loved and enjoyed working for ADC., and she thought I would be a great fit to the ADC family."
She is passionate about working with children and instilling comfort in all current and future patients at Advanced Dental Concepts.
“I just had a family last week with a little girl. I want to say she was about four years old, and she loves coming to see us. She will tell her mom in the waiting room that she can come back by herself. Again, she’s four,” Nelson emphasized. “So just being able to have her feel that comfortable with us is an accomplishment!”
Nelson was impressed and delighted by the girl’s lack of anxiety. She loves to see patients who like to go to the dentist as she did in her childhood.
“My favorite part is working with children or really anxious people. It takes a lot for them to come into the office so I really try to make them comfortable with us, and get them to relax. I really try to get them to come back to us,” said Nelson.
Her passion to encourage children to take care of their teeth extends outside of the walls of Advanced Dental Concepts.
“Every February I go into the schools or preschools because February is Children's Dental Health Month. I try to go out and do as many presentations as I can to teach the kids what cavities are, how to properly brush and floss, and just to help them not be afraid of coming to the dentist,” Nelson said. “Normally I do activities with them and games and I've been doing that for quite a few years now. They absolutely love it when we come and do presentations.”
Nelson’s work at Advanced Dental Concepts centers around patients’ dental health and their comfort. She hopes that the children she works with will continue regular visits into adulthood. She inspires bravery in children to come to the dentist and uses her own bravery to traverse the open road and water.
To learn more about Advanced Dental Concepts, please visit https://www.adc4smiles.com/
