Dental hygiene faculty, students attend 2025 TDHA Conference

The 2025 TDHA Conference's theme was "Fearless Era", an empowering event filled with professional growth, networking, and celebration for dental hygienists, educators, and students.

UTHealth Houston School of Dentistry’s dental hygiene faculty and students recently shined amongst their peers at the 83rd Annual Texas Dental Hygienists’ Association Conference in San Marcos, Texas.

Both students and faculty received awards and scholarships from the TDHA during the conference, held Feb. 27 through March 1 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton San Marcos Hotel Conference Center.

Kristen Valenzuela, RDH, BSDH ’20 (right), was named the TDHA Advanced Scholarship Award recipient.

The School of Dentistry was represented by awardees from the Dental Hygiene Class of 2025, Ashley Bonilla, Nicole Eusebio Memorial Service Scholarship recipient; Victoria Boreman, Nancy Tibbits Memorial Scholarship recipient, Chairside Education Star Student Award recipient; Kyle Dinh, Aspen Dental Scholarship recipient; ; Ivan Medellin, Outstanding Student Dental Hygienist in Texas Award recipient; Julie Nguyen, Omega Seminars Jan Smith Memorial Scholarship recipient; and Mariana Santos Ochoa, Student of Compassion Award recipient.

Mariana Santos Ochoa and Tatum Vang also won third-place honors in the poster presentation competition for “Keeping It Alive: Optimal Storage Solutions for Avulsed Teeth.”

Kristen Valenzuela, RDH, BSDH ’20, Master of Science in Dental Hygiene candidate, was named the TDHA Advanced Scholarship Award recipient.

First-place honors were also shared in the TDHA School Video Competition and the DH1 Student Lip-sync Battle.

Along with garnering student accolades, faculty from the School of Dentistry were also recognized with professional honors, including Victoria Patrounova, RDH, MHA, who was named the TDHA Director of Professional Development, and Harold Henson, RDH, PhD, who was appointed to the Dental Hygiene Educators of Texas Board of Directors.