A Cissna Park native and 1980 Parkland graduate, Peg worked as a dental hygienist for Dr. Russell Pitch in Paxton for 26 years. During 11 of them, she also worked part-time as a dental hygiene instructor at Parkland, while also raising her sons Luke, Micah, and Carter with her late husband Bud. She was also part of several mission trips caring for patients in Guatemala, India, and Ecuador. In 2007, Peg was named director of the Parkland program, where she takes pride in preparing hundreds of dental hygiene professionals as well as expanding the program’s outreach to the local community.
The Parkland College Dental Hygiene program admitted their first class of dental hygiene students in 1968. Subsequently, over 1,050 students have graduated as dental hygienists. The program accepts 36 students each fall and the cohort progresses through the five semester curriculum. Students perfect their skills in the seventeen chair Dental Hygiene Clinic under the direction of licensed dental hygiene instructors and a clinical dentist. Students rotate through the SmileHealthy Dental Center, provide oral health programs in the community, create interprofessional videos for educating other health professionals, and participate in volunteer clinics. The program is accredited through the Commission on Dental Accreditation.
https://www.parkland.edu/Main/Academics/Departments/Health-Professions/Areas-of-Study/Dental-Hygiene