YOUR STORY MATTERS HERE: Brittaney Lucas

By Jenny Monahan

Dental hygienist. Teacher. Mom. Missionary. The common thread connecting these various roles for Brittaney Lucas is being open to God’s call in her life.

“I always wanted to be an archaeologist or a gym teacher,” Lucas explained. Her parents encouraged Lucas to consider a career as a dental hygienist because it would allow her the flexibility to raise children and to always be able to find work. Lucas joked that oral hygiene also combines her two original professional interests: digging and health.

Lucas earned a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene from West Liberty State University. After 16 years of experience that spans both pediatric dentistry and general practice, Lucas said she has lately started to realize a passion for the educational aspect of her profession.

“I love being with kids in their classrooms and seeing how excited they get, especially with younger elementary-age students,” Lucas explained.

These experiences sparked her passion to the extent that Lucas recently went through substitute-teacher training with the Seneca Valley School District so that she could substitute in local schools. She continues to work as a hygienist for Dr. Kraig McKee , D.D.S., of Wexford Pediatric Dental Association, but has reserved one day a week to pursue substitute-teaching opportunities.

The love—and talent—for working with young children has spilled into Lucas’s personal life as well. She has been teaching Bible lessons twice a month to kids in the MOPS program for four- to six-year-olds and said one of the best parts of that experience is witnessing the kids’ learning.

“When you see what you’re teaching start to sink in, or when parents tell you that they see a change, that their kids did something at home that shows they’re learning, that is the best,” Lucas said.

As a dental hygienist currently specializing in pediatrics, Lucas especially enjoys that no day is exactly like another.

“Every day is different and every child is different,” Lucas explained. “I get to provide a safe environment. We see lots of kids with special needs. Some of them have been displaced from their homes. I often pray over them while I am working, and it’s a special opportunity to give them the love, attention, and TLC they deserve.”

The most challenging this about her role as a hygienist, Lucas said, is a lack of education that leads to kids coming to the practice with rampant tooth decay or infection.

“Sometimes the parents don’t understand that children’s teeth are needed for proper nutrition, proper articulation of speech, and proper development of adult teeth,” Lucas said, “and that infections left untreated can be life-threatening.”

A significant part of Lucas’s work is to educate parents and children about the importance of proper oral hygiene and nutrition. Because Dr. McKee is one of the only dentists who accepts their insurance, Lucas said some parents drive hours to receive dental care for their children and she sometimes only sees them when damage has already occurred.

Lucas’s faith informs her work, even when she is not directly teaching preschool Bible lessons at Dutilh.

“I love that when I’m struck by seeing kids come in with special needs, or physical disabilities, or suffering because of the loss of a parent, I am able to pray over them to ask God to be with them,” Lucas said.

Lucas was recently able to share her faith in a new way as part of a mission team alongside her father and other members of his church—Grace Community Church in Winchester, VA—who traveled to Guinea-Bissau, Africa, in January.

Though Lucas initially prepared to share a talk over the radio about dental hygiene, the trip was not a medical mission. Instead, her role was to provide manual labor and to evangelize. Her radio broadcast ended up being about the missionaries’ VBS program. Lucas did, however, personally distribute 200 toothbrushes collected by Dutilh Church. She left another 200 with the village’s pastor and leader for future distribution to the people of Guinea-Bissau.

Her day-to-day work involved teaching the VBS program and helping to build a school in the village of Kitaa. Lucas was part of the team that whitewashed and painted walls, poured 72 square feet of concrete, and prepared the ground for the second half of the school’s concrete floor by digging out manganass plants.

Manganass removal is backbreaking work, Lucas said.

“Physical labor was a way to sweat out my devotion!” Lucas said, and digging up the plants was her preferred work. “We also took the story of Christ to around 300 kids, teaching VBS during six of the ten days of the trip.” The VBS program involved daily skits, Bible stories, and games. Lucas said she got to lead parachute games, which the children loved.

Lucas said the mission trip was personally transformative as she witnessed miracles of prayer and healing during her time in Guinea-Bissau.

“Since I’ve gotten back, I feel a different kind of peace,” Lucas said. “I have found a whole new level in my relationship with God, remembering that God is with me every step of the way. It has given me a more peaceful and calm mindset.”

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Lucas and her husband, Ian, have been part of Dutilh Church for the past eight years. Along with their daughters Maggie and Abbie, they have immersed themselves into this faith community.

“Dutilh is our second home,” Lucas explained. “About three years ago, we started feeling that tap on the shoulder to be more involved. And when you start to get involved, you want to stay involved. We have built friendships and relationships here.”

In addition to volunteering with MOPS, Lucas is part of the Young Adult Small Group, helps with the flea market, chairs the church’s leadership board, and recently took over the Christmas tree gift program benefitting victims of domestic abuse in the local community.

The best thing about Dutilh, Lucas said, is “the church family, definitely! I love that I can see the difference these people—this church—make in the community through things like the Christmas tree outreach for VOICe. I’m so grateful that when I asked for a few toothbrushes to take to Africa, I ended up with 400! We have such a compassionate and generous church family.”

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Lucas said it is important for her to never stop growing and learning. She sets her alarm early to allow time for reading the Bible or a devotion, journaling, and spending time with God. “To start my day with prayer and praising God—it’s like putting on my armor for the day,” she explained. “I am a work in progress!”

If you or someone you know in the Dutilh family has an interesting story or profession, send us your ideas! We would love to help tell the story. Email: communications@dutilhumc.org.