I was raised in the Central Valley of California and attended The University Of The Pacific where I got my Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences. I later moved to San Francisco to attend The University Of The Pacific for my doctorate in dentistry.

As a health care professional, I firmly believe that our oral health is systemically linked. As a practitioner, I am traditionally trained but holistically minded.I treat the mouth as an organ and know that other medical issues may be contributing to or worsening the conditions in your mouth.

I am extraordinarily blessed to have a talented & empathetic staff here at Rooted Dental Wellness that is alongside me providing comprehensive dentistry. Without them, I could not fulfill our mission. We're thankful to the community for trusting us with their oral and overall health. Besides teeth, I enjoy spending quality and intentional time with my life partner, as she and I hike locally, backpack through State and National Parks, listen to vinyl & live music, enjoy (and clean up) our beautiful beaches and oceans, and cooking re-imagined plant-based family recipes. In addition to empowering others through their smiles, I strive to empower others by speaking at youth events, and exercising my body and mind via running, yoga, Peloton, and mindfulness/meditation.

Hi friends! Im Ashley, and Im the other co-clinical owner of Rooted Dental Wellness and the Dental Hygienist. Ive been working in the field since 2007, but specifically as a Registered Dental Hygienist since 2012 after graduating with my bachelors degree in Dental Hygiene from The University of Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. As I began my career in dentistry, I also went to night school to get my masters degree in Educational Leadership and Administration at Cal Poly SLO to further my interest in leadership. Since then, I have been combining my dental hygiene clinical skills with my educational background to help my patients improve their oral and systemic health alongside my additional training in Oral Myofunctional Therapy, Sleep Medicine Dentistry, and Airway-Centric Dentistry. I have been working alongside Dr. Tinoco since 2016 when he was an associate dentist in both Atascadero and Los Osos. Currently, professionally I am working on getting my Biological Dental Hygiene Accreditation in the Holistic Dental Hygiene Program through IAMOT. In this program, I will be learning more about heavy metal detoxification, biocompatibility and oral galvanism, jawbone osteonecrosis, and sleep-disordered breathing. Outside of dentistry, youll find me getting cozy at home binging on a juicy Netflix Docu-Series alongside my spouse, spending time with our dogs (all 5 of them + a chameleon), walking on the beach, writing, making art with my babe, taking long weekend road trips, or moving my body on my Peloton.

Hello! I am Michelle, and I am Dr. Ts Lead Dental Assistant (RDA) here at Rooted Dental Wellness. I started in the field of dentistry in 2007 after my Dental Assistant training at San Joaquin Valley College where I got my Associates Degree. Ive been assisting Dr. Tinoco since 2016 when he was practicing in Atascadero as an associate dentist, and I followed him along to Los Osos where he was an associate too! What feels different about working alongside Dr. T, is how I can honestly call my co-workers my family away from home. And not going to lie, its extra nice that Dr. T has his own place now with Ashley so we do not have to move around anymore! Working for a doctor that genuinely cares for his patients, and who does not treat them as just another name on the schedule day-after-day is unfortunately rare in the dental community. So I feel honored to work somewhere where we care for each patient as if they were one of our own family members. I enjoy helping patients change their perception of dentistry and helping them feel confident about their smiles. Here at Rooted Dental, you will find I am always smiling, full of energy, and have a flare of goofiness with a contagious (& loud) laugh. Oh, and it doesnt hurt our office plays good music too! Outside of the office, I enjoy working out, hiking, Target runs, traveling, Foodie Friday nights, and my # 1 favorite thing to do: spending quality family time with my husband, our son, and our Dauschund.

Hi there! My name is Candace, and Im a Clinical Dental Assistant in our Restorative and Dental Hygiene Departments. I have worked alongside Dr. Tinoco and our hygienist, Ashley, since early 2019. Ever since I was a little kid, Ive always found teeth fascinating and was intrigued by the impact our oral hygiene has on our systemic health. Ive been in customer service since 2013, and what I find refreshing working with Dr. Tinoco, is his energy, and how it majorly influences all of us to give 110% to give the best care to our patients. You can tell everyone cares so much about each other, that it reflects on how much we care about our patients. Outside of work, I enjoy spending time at Woods Humane Society volunteering, kayaking in our waters, going to music festivals, making sushi, and hanging out with my rescue cat, Pepper. Professionally, I am working on getting my RDA right now. Also, I am going to night school to get the right classes to apply for Dental Hygiene School.

Hey! My name is Michelle, and I am the Insurance and Financial Coordinator here at Rooted Dental Wellness. I have been working in the field since 2005 when I started my career as a dental assistant. Eventually, I fell in love with the front end of dental operations, patient communications, financial arrangements, and insurance coordination, and I havent left those roles since! I actually first met Dr. Tinoco when he was still attending dental school through a hygienist I worked with at the time. Little did I know, years later, that same hygienist (Ashley) and I would work together again alongside Dr. Tinoco! I have been working alongside them both since 2018, and I love every minute of what I do! My position as Insurance & Financial Coordinator allows me to at home while I raise my littles. This position gives our patients more access & privacy to their confidential insurance & financial information while keeping it out of the small intimate dental setting. I feel very lucky to have a remote position where I get to work from home and spend time with my three sons, husband, husky, and kitties! Outside of the office, you can find me at sporting events with my boys, spending time with my husband and friends at Friday game nights, hanging out outside, and DIY-ing it up crafting!

Hi! My name is Lyndsey and I am the front desk receptionist here at Rooted Dental Wellness. Ive been working alongside Dr. Tinoco since 2020. Ive always loved interacting with people and I take pride in making the patient check-in and check-out process as smooth as possible, as well as answering any questions or concerns any of our patients may have. Being a people person and someone who thrives in a multi-tasking setting, I feel like this job was made for me. However, my all-time favorite part about working here at Rooted is being a part of such an amazing, hard-working team that actually feels like family. Im so grateful to be working for a doctor that puts his heart and soul into his profession, its obvious and is shown by the way he truly cares for his patients overall health. Outside of the office, I enjoy spending my free time singing and playing music with my closest friends (primarily at bonfires on the beach.) I am thriving with my wonderful partner whether it be cooking together, watching anime, or going on a spur-of-the-moment road trip. Watching live music, spending time with family, and hanging out with my sassy bearded dragon named Lil Puff are some of my favorite things!

Hey there. Im Tracy, one of the Registered Dental Hygienists over here at Rooted Dental Wellness. I am so grateful and excited to have found this wonderful practice, and I feel truly lucky to call this my new home. Ive had a special place in my heart for dentistry from a young age, so its no surprise to me that I love to work with teeth all day! I was born and raised in Fresno, Ca, and I attended my hygiene schooling there and graduated with my degree in 2010. By some stroke of luck, work brought me here to the Central Coast and Ive called it my home for the last 10 years.

Aside from the fact that this practice has a phenomenal team I get to work with, Rooted Dental Wellness has an approach to dentistry that calls to me. Its standards and methods go beyond that of traditional dentistry and RDW continues to move forward with the ever-expanding wealth of knowledge linking oral to whole-body health.

When Im not at the office, I love spending time with my fianc, our bundle of fur babies, family, and friends. I fancy myself a collector of hobbies ranging from cooking and jigsaw puzzles to paddle boarding and yoga. I love concerts, movies, books, camping, and collecting stamps and figurines. Traveling feeds my soul and I love an opportunity to get away for a weekend. Also, there is nothing quite like a live hockey game. Go, Kings, Go!

Here at Rooted Dental Wellness, we provide a functional, structural, esthetic, biological, and holistic state of well-being to each and every patient. We believe this approach is essential to an individuals general health and quality of life. Looking in the mouth can tell us a lot about someones systemic overall health. Certain oral health conditions can be indicative of nutritional deficiencies, systemic disease, microbial/viral/fungal infections, autoimmune disorders, and even cancer. For a long time in dentistry, there has been an approach similar to playing Whac-A-Mole; treating each tooths issue individually, ignoring the environment, putting a Band-Aid on the problem, and waiting until the next issue arises, and hitting it with another Band-Aid. More times than not, there is no communication between dentists and other doctors and health care professionals about a patients treatment. A number of recent reports have clearly established the urgency for oral health to be betterintegrated into overall health. In fact, Healthy People 2020 (a project of the U.S. governmentsOffice of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion), has identified a key area of public health improvement needed to include an increased awareness of the importance of oral health to the overall health and well- being of a person. Therefore, at Rooted Dental Wellness, what sets us apart is our focus on the root cause of the issue (no pun intended), with an integrated approach to communication with your MD and other health care providers. Our practice philosophy is to treat the oral cavity as an organ because the mouth is incredibly insightful to a person's overall health. It is one of the few organs in the body with direct noninvasive access and often displays signs and symptoms about the status of one's immune system,organs, or active/chronic infections. By taking a full-body approach, oral medicine allows us to target the underlying systemic condition instead of solely treating and managing side effects.This means if you have a gum or tooth infection, we are not going to just treat the symptoms (as these are just side effects of another issue), instead, we will investigate and find treatment for the underlying infection that is causing the disease and symptoms. This helps our patients come back for their follow-up visits in better oral health, saving them the frustration and expense of ongoing dental treatment.