Wisconsin dentist enjoys Chickasaw Nation Medical Center environment.

This article appeared in the September 2019 edition of the Chickasaw Times

Dr. Erin Bigelow, DMD, loves caring and sharing in her new home at the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center.

It’s a thousand miles and several degrees south latitude, as the crow flies, from where Dr. Erin Bigelow grew up to her current residence in Ada, Oklahoma.

“Oklahoma wasn’t on my radar at all growing up in Wisconsin, but Ada has been really good to us,” said Dr. Bigelow, a dentist at the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center.

“With my husband, my beautiful 1-year-old child and three dogs, we’ve built a little home here.”

Despite remaining an avid Green Bay Packers “cheesehead,” she doesn’t recommend the frigid Wisconsin football season as the most opportune time to experience the northern clime of her formative years. 

It’s a good place to visit, especially in the summer,” Dr. Bigelow said, “but not at all in the winter.”

Her mother, a public health nurse, influenced her decision to pursue public health. Her personal adolescent dental work influenced her decision to pursue dentistry.
“I had a lot of orthodontics as a child, starting at a young age, so it was always an interest to me,” she said. “I also job shadowed a dentist as I went through college and from then on stuck with it.”

Dr. Bigelow enjoys working at the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center where she and other medical professionals have treated patients from as far away as California and Washington, among other distant states.

“It’s wonderful to work at a place where patients know they’re going to be taken care of. They know if they come to the Chickasaw Nation, we’re going to help them any way we can.

“That’s really rewarding and makes me proud to work here,” she said.

Dr. Bigelow said another positive work benefit is sharing knowledge with her colleagues.

“I think the best thing for me is how collaborative it is. Our office has five general dentists, two oral surgeons, an endodontist and a pediatric dentist - just a lot of minds to learn from, to collaborate with,” she said.

Dr. Bigelow began her career at CNMC in September 2013. From 2009 to 2013, she was employed as a dentist with the Federal Qualified Health Center, Family Dental Center in Columbia, Missouri.

Dr. Bigelow graduated from the University of Minnesota, College of Biological Sciences in 2005. In 2008 she earned a Certificate in Public Health from A.T. Still University, School of Health and Management in Kirksville, Missouri. In 2009 she earned her Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry Degree (DMD) from A.T Still University, Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health in Mesa, Arizona.

Husband Nicholas Jacob was recently awarded tenure at East Central University where he is a math professor.

She, her husband and baby recently returned from an extensive road trip to visit relatives in Missouri, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, all of whom were eager to meet the newest 1-year-old addition to the clan.