Corpus Christi Dentist Staff
Members of our staff have been hand-picked to provide you the best possible experience during your visit with us.
 
The first thing you'll notice when you walk into our office is the incredibly friendly employees at the front desk and the inviting atmosphere .  At the front desk we have Silvia, Lisa and Bea.  Silvia has been with us for 23 years, and Lisa and Bea have both been with us for over 15 years.
 
We have 4 full time hygienists, Joni, Pat Shelley and Serena, as well as 1 part time hygienist, Mary.  Joni and Pat have been with us for over 20 years.  Mary has been with us for 7 years and Shelley and Serena are the newest member of our hygiene staff.  We receive many compliments by our patients on how professional and friendly our hygiene department is.
 
Working side by side with our doctors are our Registered Dental Assistants.  We have Jennifer, Criselda, Theresa, Michael and Stacey who work with Dr. Barwise and Dr. Cable.  Jennifer has been with us for over 7 years, Criselda over 2 years and Michael, Theresa and Stacey joined us in 2011.  Working with Dr. Wanek are Irene and Isaac.  Irene has been with us for almost 20 years and Isaac was hired this year.  Connie is the RDA that works with Dr. Hill.  She has been with us for 13 years.
 
Behind the scenes, we have Christy, Debbie(Insurance Coordinator), Cathy(Office Manager/Bookkeeper) and the Administrative Assistants, Hope and Stephany.  Christy, Debbie and Cathy have both been with us for over 20 years and Hope has been with us for 5 years. 
 
As you can see, we are more than a dental office, we are a dental family.  Out of 20 dental family members, 7 have worked here over 20 years and 3 of our members have been here over 10 years.  Learn more about our dental family below!
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Christy Barwise, Manager
After Christy graduated from Midwestern State University in the Dental Hygiene program, she began working as a hygienist in a big dental clinic in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Christy moved from the Dallas/Fort Worth area to Corpus Christi to help open Apple Dental Center's doors in 1987. She has been in the dental field for 26 years and at Apple Dental Center for 23 years. She started off as a hygienist for Apple Dental Center and was promoted to a Manager shortly after. She has been married to Dr. Barwise for the past 19 years and they share two beautiful children, Kylee and Mason. And you may also recognize Christy and her smile, because it is the one we use in our commercial!
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Cathy Cassels, Office Manager
Cathy joined our dental family in June, 1989 as our Office Manager and Bookkeeper. Her patience and understanding nature allows her to handle any and all situations that may arise with professionalism and compassion. Subsequently, she has gained the respect of all Apple Dental Center employees and our patient's alike.

Cathy is married to a wonderful man, Quayle (JR), an oilfield dispatcher for Roywell Services. She has two wonderful children, Bradley Stapp, who works as a Sales Rep for Conn's in Corpus Christi and Candace Stapp, who is in the US Air Force and currently stationed at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota.

Cathy and her husband enjoy gambling and traveling!
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Debbie Escobar, Insurance Coordinator/Asst. Manager
Debbie started working for Apple Dental Center shortly after our doors opened, in January, 1988.

Debbie has worked in the dental field for over 35 years. Prior to hiring, she had experience with dental assisting, front desk as well as insurance filing. Her dental assistant experience makes her very knowledgeable with filing claims and assisting patients with any questions they may have. Debbie is also one of our Assistant Managers and part of our OSHA Committee. Her funny, bright, and positive personality makes her very valuable to our dental family and to our patient's with or without insurance.

Debbie has been married to a wonderful man, Robert, for 30 years. She has two beautiful daughters, Krystal and Brittany. For fun she and her husband love to gamble!
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Silvia Rodriguez, Front Desk Coordinator/Asst. Manager
Silvia has worked here since May, 1987. She was the face you first saw the day we opened Apple Dental Center and currently greets all our patients with the same courteous and friendly demeanor. She is also one of the few employees in our office that speaks fluent Spanish. Silvia helps out with all of our OSHA responsiblities and makes sure each new employee is properly trained. Silvia volunteered as an EMT for 26 years and is currently working with Habitat for Humanity in San Patricio County as well as a hospice volunteer for Christus Spohn during her spare time.
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Hope Quintana, Administrative Assistant
Hope has been working for Apple Dental Center since 2005 on a part-time basis as she is also pursuing her college education. Hope's responsibilities include maintaining patient records, perform bookkeeping duties, and more importantly provides office support to Dr. Barwise and our Office Manager in a variety of settings. She will also be the first employee to volunteer to assist anyone needing help.
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Stephany Montemayor, Administrative Asst
Stephany joined our office in June, 2011 as an administrative assistant to the Office Manager. She provides support in a variety of areas from providing reports, data entry, account reconciliation, billing and overflow from the office manager, Cathy. She works part time as she is also taking a full college schedule as she figures out what career path she wants to take. We are happy to have her on board and her role in our "Apple family" is very important and much appreciated!
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Beatrice "Bea" Pena, Front Desk Receptionist/Collector
Bea has worked for Apple Dental Center since October, 1997. Bea's primary job is helping our patients at walkout. She schedules their appointments, answers any questions they have, receives payments and all with a bright smile on her face. Bea has a vibrant personality and our patients are very familiar with Bea and missed her when she left recently to have her first baby, a boy. Our patients are happy to know she is back and ready to help them with their dental needs.
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Lisa Nerios, Front Desk Receptionist/Check-In
Lisa joined Apple Dental Center in 1994 as our file clerk. She quickly moved from that position to our front desk receptionist due to her friendly personality. She has developed such a personal rapport with our patients over the years that she remembers them by name the minute they walk through our doors even if they haven't been to see us in over a year. She is one of the first smiling faces you see when you walk through our doors and has been for the past 16 years.
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Joni Freeman, Registered Dental Hygienist
Joni has 28 years experience as a dental hygienist. She has 4 years in orthodontics, 2 years in periodontics and has been with Apple Dental Center since 1988. She has numerous patients that request her as their primary hygienist due to the friendly rapport she has developed with the patients over the 22 years she has worked here.
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Patricia Hampton, Registered Dental Hygienist
Pat joined our staff in February of 1988. She received her hygiene training at Del Mar College and graduated in 1985. Pat is happy to be a part of the Apple team and can honestly say that she loves her fellow employees and feels like we are all a family here. Pat enjoys the interaction with all her patients and has many "regulars" that see her everytime they come.
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Mary Layton, Registered Dental Hygienist
Mary has worked for Apple Dental Center on a part-time basis since November, 2003. Mary graduated from the hygiene program at Del Mar College in 1971. She has worked as a Dental Hygienist for 39 years with 29 of those years in Periodontics. Patients love her and we are fortunate to have her on our staff.
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Shelley Martinets, Registered Dental Hygienist
Shelley started working for us as a part-time dental hygienist in April, 2011. However, she came on full time as of September. Shelley grew up in Bay City but graduated from Tuloso-Midway High School. She then went into the excellent hygiene program at Del Mar College and graduated in March, 2010. Shelley offers a professional cleaning and as a recent graduate is very current with educating patient's with proper home care instructions. Shelley finds it very rewarding to see her patient's bright smile after she if finished! Her patient's compliment our office regularly on her gentle touch! We are honored she decided to join our staff.
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Serena Hudson, Registerd Dental Hygienist
Serena joined our "Apple Family" as a dental hygienist in August, 2011. Serena received her Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene from the University of Wyoming. She moved to Corpus Christi in August because her husband Nicholas was accepted into the pharmaceutical program at the University of Texas-Kingsville. While attending the University of Wyoming, she was accepted into the Dental Hygiene Honor Society, received Outstanding Junior Clinicial Award and the Team Player Award. She has only been with us a short time, but patient's love her vibrant personality and she already has a list of patient's that request her! Serena says that she loves meeting all the personalities and sharing her knowledge in a way that will benefit all her wonderful patients.
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Jennifer Gonzalez, Registered Dental Assistant
Jennifer joined our staff in May, 2002. She is a Registered Dental Assistant and has worked for Dr. Barwise upon hiring. Jennifer had previously worked for us prior to May, 2002, so she is a familiar face for many of Dr. Barwise's patients. We are happy to announce that she recently added a new addition to her family, a baby boy. She also has two boys in high school. Jennifer is very friendly, is always smiling, and thoroughly enjoys working with Dr. Barwise and his patients. Jennifer also speaks spanish fluently and has a member of our OSHA committee.
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Michael Highfill, Dental Assistant
Michael joined our staff in January, 2011 and works with Dr. Barwise. He made a choice to be a dental assistant and completed this process at Kaplan College. After doing his internship at Apple Dental Center and receiving numerous compliments on his friendly and cheerful demeanor, we were pleased to hire Michael as a permanent member of our dental family. Michael is a vibrant individual and loves to meet new people. He is very helpful and energetic and always wears a smile.
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Stacey Slough, Dental Assistant
Stacey grew up here in Corpus Christi and graduated from King High School. She recently graduated from Kaplan and did her internship with our office. We loved her desire to learn and help with patients and felt she would be a wonderful addition to our Apple Family.

Stacey chose to become a dental assistant because she loves being able to help people. Everyone in her family pursued the nursing career and she just really wanted to do something different, so she chose dental assisting. Our patients compliment Stacey stating that she is very sweet, gentle, and soft spoken and she tries to be as thorough as possible while explaining procedures or treatment plans to patients.

In Stacey's free time, she loves to do boogie boarding at the beach. Her free time is very limited though because Stacey also has a passion for modeling and has been doing that since she was 13 years old. Between working at Apple and modeling, there is not much free time for Stacey!
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Criselda Leija, Registered Dental Assistant
Criselda was hired by Apple Dental Center in August, 2008. She started working for us immediately upon graduation from Kaplan College. She has proven herself to be an efficient, hard working and self-motivating employee that also speaks Spanish but not fluently. Criselda works with Dr. Cable and his patients are comforted with her cheerful personality. She gets along well with her fellow employees and has been an asset to our staff.
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Theresa Guzman, Registered Dental Assistant
Theresa has been in the dental field since 2007, when she graduated from Kaplan College. She worked for Apple Dental Center right after she graduated from Kaplan and has recently returned to work for us again.

Theresa graduated from Robstown High School and decided to attend Kaplan college as a dental assistant because she wanted a career that would allow her to work with people. Dr. Cable's patients compliment Theresa most about her concern for their well being and her contagious laugh. She gets along well with her fellow employees and is always wanting to lend a hand.

Theresa originally thought she would like a career in cosmetology and received her license after taking high school courses. She also enjoys karoeke and spending time with her family and friends. We are fortunate that her paths led her back to her Apple family!
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Irene Vasquez, Registered Dental Assistant
Irene, a graduate of Del Mar College, has worked for Apple Dental Center and with Dr. Wanek since December, 1992. Irene is professional and very knowledgeable about her job and speaks fluent Spanish. She has been with us for so long, that she is very familiar with all of Dr. Wanek's patients and needs. Her pleasant personality and familiarity makes our patients very comfortable when they come in to see Dr. Wanek. We are so glad that she is a part of our dental family and she equally enjoys working here.
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Isaias "Isaac" Velasco, Dental Assistant
Isaac is a recent graduate of Kaplan and did his internship here at Apple Dental Center. He graduated from Robstown High School and attended Texas A&M-Kingsville for his basic cources before going to Kaplan to pursue his career in the dental field. Isaac said he chose to be in the dental field when he was 13 years old. He had braces and would go once a month for an adjustment and enjoyed the atmosphere. His goal is to eventually become a Dental Hygienist. Isaac has a funny, charming, and outgoing personality and the patients actually find their visits to Apple Dental Center enjoyable after meeting him. Isaac said he is most satisfied at the end of the day when he goes home knowing he has helped somebody with their smile!
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Connie Herrera, Registered Dental Assistant
Connie was hired to work for Dr. Barwise in September, 1997, shortly after graduating from Del Mar College, and was promoted several years ago to the Head Assistant position for Dr. Hill. Connie is enthusiastic and friendly which brings Dr. Hill's patients comfort. They love her professional yet personal demeanor. Connie is the first one to help her fellow employees out and walks through the office every day with a "good morning" greeting for all. We are fortunate to have Connie as a member of our dental family for the past 13 years.