Who is in the room
Meet the team
Six people, and the thing each of them is the one to ask. Names are worth learning here — a child who knows who they are seeing arrives calmer than one who does not.
Left to right is not the order below — the corridor was sunny and nobody wanted to move.
Who to ask for what
- Money, Medicaid and estimates — ask Kelly.
- Sensory-friendly and special needs visits — ask for Dr Raman.
- An appointment in Spanish — ask for Marisol.
- Sedation and bigger restorative work — ask for Dr Ortiz.
The six of us
Everyone here works with children all day, every day. Nobody splits their week between a children's chair and an adult one.
Dr Amara Whitfield
DDS
Paediatric dentist, practice founder
Amara trained in paediatric dentistry after four years in general practice, and opened Bright Little in 2014 because she wanted a clinic built at a child's eye height. She takes the appointments nobody else wants to take: the child who has already had a bad day at another practice.
Keeps a drawer of finger puppets and is not embarrassed about it.
Dr Ben Ortiz
DMD, MS
Paediatric dentist
Ben looks after most of our restorative work and our sedation cases. He is the person who will sit down and draw you the actual tooth, on actual paper, before anything happens to it.
Coaches a under-9s football team and has the whistle to prove it.
Dr Priya Raman
DDS
Paediatric dentist, special needs lead
Priya leads our special needs and sensory-friendly care. She plans desensitising visits — sometimes three or four before anything clinical happens — and works with families on what a good visit looks like for their child specifically.
Has a spreadsheet of which songs calm which patients down.
Marisol Vega
RDH
Registered dental hygienist
Marisol does most of the cleanings and nearly all of the brushing coaching. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and will happily do the whole appointment in either.
Can make a toothbrush talk. Genuinely convincing voice.
Tanya Brooks
RDA
Dental assistant, sensory support
Tanya keeps the room calm. She runs our quiet room, manages the weighted blankets and headphones, and is usually the one holding the mirror so a child can watch what is happening.
Owns eleven pairs of patterned scrubs and rotates them on a schedule.
Kelly Nnamdi
Practice coordinator — insurance & Medicaid
Kelly is who you speak to about money. She checks Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, submits pre-treatment estimates, and will tell you what a visit costs before it happens rather than after.
Has never once lost a fax. A genuinely rare skill.
Training & credentials
What a paediatric dentist actually is
A paediatric dentist is a dentist who has done two or three further years of hospital-based residency after dental school, specifically in treating children — including very young children, children with medical conditions, children with additional needs, and dental trauma. It is a recognised specialty, not a preference for working with children.
A registered dental hygienist (RDH) is separately licensed and does cleanings, gum health and prevention. A registered dental assistant (RDA) is trained and certified to assist chairside and, in Ohio, to carry out certain delegated duties. When you meet someone here, their name badge says which of those they are.
Everyone clinical here holds current paediatric basic life support certification, and everyone — including the front desk — is trained in what to do if a child collapses. That is the sort of thing you should feel free to ask any practice about.
Come and meet whichever of us you get
Tell us at booking if your child has met one of us before and would rather see the same face. We will do our best to line it up.