Sometimes, the most meaningful changes begin with a simple realization: there has to be a better way.

For Liz and Alix, that realization grew from a shared background in dental hygiene, a renewed passion for learning, and a desire to help move healthcare forward. Graduating together in 2015 from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry into an oversaturated job market, working through an ever-changing pandemic landscape, and being stretched too thin during workforce shortages, the first decade of their careers has certainly had its ups and downs.

They both have found renewed clinical passion through shared discovery: the growing body of research, emerging clinical knowledge, and evolving protocols available to dentistry and dental hygiene.

What began as a renewed friendship quickly became something more—a shared commitment to lifelong learning and a belief that healthcare professionals deserve access to current, evidence-based education that challenges conventional thinking and expands the way we care for patients.

A Journey Beyond the Familiar

Independently, Liz and Alix began traveling across the country to attend national conferences, seek out educators, explore emerging research, and build connections with professionals who shared their passion for advancing healthcare.

They returned home with new knowledge, new relationships, and new perspectives. But they also recognized a recurring challenge: accessing innovative education often required significant travel, time, and resources.

They began asking a different question.

What if this level of education, these conversations, and these connections could happen closer to home?

What if healthcare professionals in Nebraska and the surrounding communities had greater opportunities to engage with emerging research, learn from forward-thinking educators, and explore interdisciplinary approaches without always having to travel across the country to find them?

That question became the catalyst for On The Cusp™.

To build this dream, Liz and Alix attended RDH Evolution and RDH Under One Roof in 2026 to put ‘boots on the ground’ on their shared vision for easier access to education.

More Than a Professional Mission

Our commitment to advancing healthcare is not rooted in professional curiosity alone. It is personal.

As mothers, we have both experienced the frustration of seeking appropriate care for our children and encountering clinical approaches that did not reflect the evolving evidence and perspectives we had encountered through our own education.

Those experiences reinforced something we had already begun to recognize professionally: access to current information, continued education, and evolving clinical practices matter—not only for healthcare professionals, but for the patients and families who depend on them.

We believe that meaningful progress requires ongoing education, critical thinking, open dialogue, and a willingness to reevaluate established practices as knowledge advances.

We also recognize that no single discipline has all the answers. Better-informed care often begins when professionals are willing to look beyond traditional boundaries, listen to different perspectives, and consider the patient as a whole.

The Vision Behind On The Cusp™

On The Cusp™ was created to bring these ideas together in an educational experience rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and evidence-informed healthcare.

Our annual event is designed to connect healthcare professionals with current research, evolving clinical perspectives, and interdisciplinary education that encourages them to think beyond the familiar.

We aim to create opportunities for meaningful conversations across professional disciplines, challenge assumptions through thoughtful examination of the evidence, and help bridge the gap between emerging knowledge and everyday clinical practice.

Our focus extends beyond dentistry and dental hygiene to the broader connections between oral health, systemic health, and whole-person care.

We are not here to suggest that every new idea is better simply because it is new. We believe in asking questions, examining evidence, acknowledging uncertainty, and remaining open to changing our approach when the science supports it.

Because advancing healthcare is not about knowing everything. It is about remaining willing to learn.