Congratulations to Tia Meyer the SDDHA's Hygienist of the Year!

Tia S. Meyer is a Registered Dental Hygienist in South Dakota with over 12 years of dental experience. She began her career in dental by obtaining her dental assisting degree at Southeast Technical Institute in Sioux Falls, SD. As her passion began to grow, so did her desire to further herself in her career. She went on to complete her Bachelor's of Science in Dental Hygiene at the University of South Dakota. After working clinically as a hygienist for a couple years, she was offered the opportunity become the Dental Hygiene Coordinator for the Neighborhood Dental locations. Shortly after, she received another opportunity to become the Clinical Director for the companies nine locations.
Tia has developed clinical protocols, training philosophies, and standard of care processes for these teams. In addition, she has developed a continuing education program that each team participates in bi weekly as well as mostly recently a new CE platform that is open to dental professionals nationwide. She could not be more proud of the patient service specialists, dental assistants, dental hygienists, managers, and doctors who are among the companies teams. They are the reason she does what she does each and everyday!
She has also had the opportunity to be a program educator at Southeast Technical College for the past couple years. She is the primary educator for the dental assisting apprenticeship program. The past two years she has worked with over 20 dedicated students to help them begin their careers as dental healthcare professionals!
Tia has served on the SDDHA Executive Board for the past 2 years. She was nominated for and served in her role as President Elect from 2018-2019 and most recently served as the boards President from 2019-2020. She is currently preparing to take over the role as Past President for the 2020-2021 year.
Tia resides with her family (Andrew, Kya (13), and Kemry (8)) in Tea, SD. Her continued perseverance and past accomplishments would not have been possible without their unending support! Another integral support system over the years has been her current employer. They welcomed her in having no dental experience and gave her every opportunity to grow while supporting her every step of the way!
If you ask Tia for any professional advice she will tell you this: "Take everyday one day at time. Do everything you do with a good heart and never expect anything in return. Never forget those who were there to support you on your journey and most importantly always have faith and be thankful to wake up to another day filled with endless opportunity!"