Dr. Frizzle

Dr. Felicia Frizzell (Mescalero Apache) is the immediate past President of the Society of American Indian Dentists (SAID). She previously served for seven years on the SAID Board as a Member at Large and Secretary.Dr. Frizzell lives and works in her home community and loves serving her people. Her interest in dentistry was initially sprung when IHS Community Health Representatives taught children in her neighborhood playground during the free lunch program how to brush their teeth and the importance of keeping the sugar bugs away.Dr. Frizzell first left Mescalero to attend college at Stanford University, earning her Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology, and then her Masters in Health Science at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where she learned the significance of oral health impacts on overall health. While working at the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, she was in the process of applying to medical school when she attended a presentation that revealed Native Americans suffer from the highest level of oral health disparities in this country and the lack of Native American dentists. It was a chance meeting with the first Native American dentist and SAID founder, Dr. George Blue Spruce, who encouraged her to apply for a scholarship to attend a Pre-Admissions workshop at the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health that cemented her career decision to become a dentist and work to change these health disparities.Dr. Frizzell attended the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco, CA where she graduated as the first Mescalero Apache dentist. She then spent seven years on the Navajo Nation serving the community in Fort Defiance, AZ by providing a variety of dental procedures on patients of all ages and was promoted to Deputy Dental Director. To broaden her dental knowledge and skills, she spent several years in both private practice and a community health center dental clinic. Having these experiences allowed her to gift both her mother and cousin with full arch reconstruction.Dr. Frizzell’s long term vision includes applying her public health skills to reduce the high burden of oral health disease among Native populations and to increase access to restorative dental services. She commits to mentoring other Native Americans interested in oral health careers and hopes that in her lifetime to witness other Mescalero Apache tribal members become dentists to provide high quality care for their people. Dr. Frizzell and her five year old son Freddie enjoy living in the sacred mountains where they are close to family.