The Vaca Cosmetic & Family Dentistry Team

Kristi is our seasoned Hygienist with over 20+ years experience in her field. She loves her profession more than ever and enjoys building personal relationships and helping her patients reach and maintain optimal dental health. Her focus is on individual oral health, which affects total body health. With each patient, she has an opportunity to help them stay healthy and avoid disease with the most up-to-date preventative care. Kristi is married to her husband, John and they have two grown children, daughter Cameron and son Jake. They recently added their son-in-law, Fielding, to the family on New Year’s Eve, 2023. Kristi is a team player, enjoys serving others in her community and through mission opportunities.

Kathryn has been part of the Vaca Cosmetic & Family Dentistry team since August 2022. She and her husband, Ryan, live in Longview with heir two dogs, Hank and Mally. In her spare time, Kathryn enjoys fishing, being outdoors, and spending time with family. She values hard work, honesty, and friendship. Her main goal as a dental hygienist is to make each of her patients feel comfortable and cared for. Kathryn loves educating her patients while placing value on their oral and overall health. She and Ryan are expecting their first child in 2024. Maybe our doctors should invest in a nursery as we have babies coming everywhere!

Alex has been a vital part of our dental team for the past 10 years and loves helping our patients achieve and maintain beautiful smiles. She has a life-long dream of one day soon, becoming a dental hygienist and is attending school to reach her dream. We are very proud of Alex. Helping her patients and educating them about oral health is her passion. Alex enjoys working out while listening to her favorite jams and watching her son play football. She has two sons that keep her young and on her toes, and enjoys every minute of it. Alex has an obsession with hot, popped popcorn and that is the way to her heart.

Laci is a Certified Sleep Coordinator and Registered Dental Assistant with over 30 years of experience in dentistry. She has been married for 34 years and has three grown sons, two beautiful daughters-in-law, a 12-year-old granddaughter plus another granddaughter due to join the family in February 2026. Those girls rule her heart. Laci enjoys time spent with her husband and family. Her hobbies include baking, embroidery, sewing and painting. Her vice in life is a Mountain Ops clean energy drink every morning in place of a cup of coffee. She says the things she loves the most about her career are helping people find an answer to their lack of sleep and being part of bringing couples back in the same bedroom again after snoring has sent them to opposite ends of the house. Laci has so much knowledge regarding sleep apnea and loves to share that with our patients to help them sleep better and become healthier.

Candy is our insurance specialist and has worked on our team for 16 years. Her oldest daughter teaches jiu-jitsu and is quite successful in mixed martial arts. Before becoming our insurance guru, Candy was a travel agent for over 20 years, which is a built-in perk for our staff. She has an extreme obsession with shoes. If you don’t see Candy at her desk, she is probably out shoe shopping!

Amy is back as our Insurance Specialist. She has worked in the dental field for over 30 years. She worked for Vaca Cosmetic & Family Dentistry for ten of those, took a four-year hiatus, and has been back in action helping our patients since. Amy has three sons, four beautiful grandchildren, and one great grand. She loves attending all of their events from baseball, to ballet, to putting worms on their fishing poles. The UPS man makes many stops at our office delivering gifts for those kiddos who have her heart. Life is good!

Ciarra is our dental treatment coordinator. She has worked in the dental field for six years as a dental assistant and has now transitioned to the administration side of the dental office. What Ciarra loves most about Vaca Cosmetic & Family Dentistry is the patient relationships and the opportunities to get to know each patient. When she isn’t keeping Dr. Vaca booked and busy, she likes to spend time with family and traveling. Ciarra and her husband are proud first-time parents to their baby girl.

I have been a dental hygienist for over six years and am passionate about helping patients take a collaborative approach to their oral health, knowing how closely it connects to overall wellness. As a former teacher and working in education, I strongly value the role of education in my work and believe patient understanding is key to long-term health. Building relationships , providing tailored patient education, and creating a positive experience for patients is one of my favorite parts of what I do.

Outside the office, I love bow hunting, duck hunting, and outdoor sports. My husband is a collegiate golfer, so I spend plenty of time on the course trying to catch up to him! Lately, our weekends are filled with building our dream home and managing our land, which has been such a rewarding adventure.

I have worked in the dental field for about 8 years now. I love caring for patients & their smiles, while also giving them a friendly and relaxing environment.

I’ve been married to my husband, Logan, for 9 years. We have two wild and crazy boys who keeps us on our toes at all times. Luke is 5 years old and Tucker is 2. We have the best time together as a family going to the deer lease, fishing at the lake, playing outside at home and finding new recipes to cook!