 Dr. Brightwell was born and raised in Jacinto City, Texas, a suburb eight miles east of downtown Houston. Her family has lived in the Jacinto City/Galena Park area for three generations. She graduated from Galena Park High School as an honor graduate and still has life long friends and patients from her high school days in the band and other clubs and activities. She continues to live in the area and enjoys being a part of her community. People have known her and her family for years and describe her as â€Å“ the only dentist in town. â€Å“ Dr. Brightwell attended the University of Texas at Austin where she was on the Dean’s List. In early recognition of her abilities and desires to be a dentist, she was accepted into the University of Texas at Houston Dental School after only two years of undergraduate college. Dr. Brightwell has been practicing family dentistry in the Jacinto City/Galena Park area since her graduation in 1977. She has several times been named as aTexas Monthly Top Dentist. Continuing education in dentistry has long been a priority with Dr. Brightwell. Through the Academy of General Dentistry she has earned her Fellowship (FAGD) in 1990 and her Mastership (MAGD) in 1997. These two awards represent over 1000 hours of dental continuing education. She attends local and state dental conventions and continuing education courses to enhance her professional knowledge. Dr. Brightwell’s enthusiasm for community service and dentistry extends to her activities with the Greater Houston Dental Society and the Texas Dental Association. Here in Houston she has served on the Board of Directors and has chaired three committees: the Legislative Action Committee and the Dental Health Committee. She is now chairman of the Peer Review Committee that mediates problems between patients and their dentists. On a state level, Dr. Brightwell has served for almost 20 years in the Texas Dental Association's House of Delegates. Dr. Brightwell volunteers her time in the local community with the Galena Park Independent School District. She has served for several years on the Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC). While her son Travis attended GPHS she was very active in the Band Booster Club serving as an officer for three years. She is a current member of the North Channel Area Chamber of Commerce. Previously Dr. Brightwell has been active in the Galena Park/Jacinto City Rotary Club having served as President in 1999-2000 and she is a Paul Harris Fellow. In 2002 Dr. Brightwell was recognized by the North Channel Women's Coalition for her dental contributions to victims of domestic abuse. The Galena Park Area of Council of PTAs conferred an Honorary Texas Life Membership Award upon Dr. Brightwell in 2010. This is one of the highest honors presented to an individual for outstanding contribution to the well-being of children and youth. Her newest interest is with the Women's Storybook Project of Texas, a non-profit, interfaith program that connects children with their incarcerated mothers through literature. Volunteers travel to Texas female prisons to record offenders as they read stories to their children. The mothers also recored short messages. The tapes and the new books are mailed to the children to treasure as they hear their mothers read to them. Dr. Brightwell continues to enjoy and relish her career choice because she believes she makes a difference in people's lives and really feels good when her formerly fearful patients no longer â€Å“hate the dentist.Ã...Genderfemale
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