This local dentist grew up in Lubbock and has kept her attention on ways she can help others and lift them up.
Dr. Xochitl Anderton grew up in the shadow of Texas Tech University. Her family home in Lubbock’s Arnett-Benson neighborhood was close enough to Jones AT&T Stadium that she could tell how the Red Raider football team was doing just by the collective cheers and groans emanating from the crowd.
It seemed Texas Tech regularly threaded its way in and out of her life several decades ago, first as a student at Hutchinson Middle School and then as a proud Lubbock High School Westerner that included a stint as the school’s mascot.
Outreach efforts from the nearby university regularly made contact, and Xochitl (pronounced So-chee, an Aztec word meaning “flower”) took frequent advantage of the opportunities.
There was so much to love about what she described as the Texas Tech culture. She had even earned a full scholarship by participating in a program on campus over the course of three consecutive summers.
Texas Tech was so right for her. Until it wasn’t. At first.
“By the time I was a sophomore, I had a full scholarship to Texas Tech,” Xochitl says while soft music and softer conversations provide an ambient backdrop to her ruminations at a local coffee house. “But when I turned 18, the first thing I wanted to do was get out of Lubbock – even if I had a scholarship.”
Her decision wasn’t all that surprising. A number of Lubbock-raised youngsters decide they want to attend college somewhere else besides their hometown university. After all, they feel like they’ve seen everything the city has to offer.
But more than a few have been known to find their way back, to paraphrase an old song lyric. The length of time it takes for this realization to coalesce varies and depends solely on the person.
For Xochitl, who had chosen to flee Lubbock and begin her academic career at McMurry University in Abilene, it didn’t even take until Christmas.
“I was there one semester and realized I was not in the right place,” she said. “By Thanksgiving, I could see all those resources and opportunities at Texas Tech were what I needed.”
Xochitl wasted no time calling Texas Tech and checking if, by chance, her scholarship might still be available.
Yes, they still had the paperwork on file, and yes, she was still eligible.
She finished out that first semester at McMurry, packed up and promptly made a beeline to Lubbock, enrolling at Texas Tech in January and soaking up a 360-degree student experience that included tons of science and a little bit of time as a reporter for The University Daily student newspaper (The Daily Toreador now).
This was the late 1990s. With a handful of exceptions, she has been here ever since.
“I am just so grateful that I was able to come back and finish out here,” she said. “I was able to pick right back up where I left off as far as research.”
Xochitl had discovered her passion for research during those summers on campus years ago. Her interest accelerated through involvement with the Center for the Integration of STEM Education & Research (CISER), which was established on campus in 1992.
It was there she connected with a handful of other students, some of whom she is still in contact with today.
“I call them my research nerd group,” she says with a smile.
The center initially was funded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute grants but has since become a university-supported undergraduate research program. In the fall of 2024, Xochitl was invited to speak at the center’s research day, sharing her story and career trajectory with students who might see themselves in her.
“I hope I was able to motivate some students who have just enrolled by telling them a little bit of my story,” she said. “But more importantly, I want them to not be afraid to change course throughout their life or their career. What they pick right now may not be the one they end up with. Evolving is super important.”
At Texas Tech, Xochitl earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts & Sciences. After completing her undergraduate work, she then earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the Texas A&M College of Dentistry.
It’s an impressive array of accomplishments, particularly for a first-generation student who, even upon starting at Texas Tech, wasn’t all that sure she wanted to finish.
“There is no doubt that coming to Texas Tech opened all kinds of doors,” she said. “When I first came back with the four-year scholarship, my intent was to maybe do a couple of years and get my foot in the door for some entry-level job, like phlebotomy at the hospital or something like that.”
Like so many students, she didn’t know what she didn’t know, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, she had a bachelor’s degree and an entire playlist of options.
She started getting an idea of what might be possible every time she attended a career fair, where representatives from different fields would answer questions and provide materials about their line of work.
Xochitl also listened to other members of her research group, who saw her strengths and provided timely counsel about what she might find most professionally fulfilling. One quality universally noticed by her inner circle was an uncompromising drive to succeed.
She considered continuing her study of biology to pursue master’s and doctoral degrees and maybe having her own research lab. She even briefly entertained the idea of going into journalism. The University Daily gig had helped her meet campus decision makers and learn about interesting topics.
Eventually, her future aspirations really began formulating during her junior year.
“It just blew my mind that all these doors were open,” she said. “There were careers that I had never thought of or dreamed up. At the same time, it was scary because I didn’t know how attainable my goals would be.”
She wasn’t really energized about the idea of possibly spending a lot of solitary hours in a lab. Her personality is such that she enjoys being around other people, getting to know them and learning about them.
That prodded her to think about science-related careers that included interacting with others like physical therapy and occupational therapy.
“I have a lot of friends who knew they wanted to be a dentist from the time they got to college,” she said. “That certainly was not me. But during my time at Texas Tech, I was exposed to a great pre-dental program that exposes you to what the career is like. That is when I had the spark for what I wanted to do.”
Dental school wasn’t necessarily at the top of her list, but with support and encouragement from her research colleagues, she applied and was accepted at all three of the state’s dental schools. (Since her graduation, Texas Tech has opened the Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso.)
Xochitl maintained excellent grades throughout her undergraduate years, but she still had to pass the Dental Admission Test (DAT). As sure as she was about her abilities, she prepared for the possibility that she might not make it in dental school.
“I was determined to be a dentist, but at the same time I also had a backup plan and a backup plan for the backup plan,” she said with a laugh.
If the dentist deal didn’t work out, she would pivot to education because Xochitl enjoys teaching and sharing her knowledge with others. As it turned out, she is a dentist who leans hard into educating patients and the public about proper oral care.
She is in many ways a trailblazer, a Hispanic woman in a field historically not overly populated by either demographic. However, she can see progress being made, pointing back to her dental school class, which was the first one to comprise more than 50% women.
“That was a pretty historic thing,” she said. “I think what made me successful is I have been blind to the lack of people like me because of our class. I’ve never really explored that, but there is definitely a need for role models for young people to see themselves.”
As her career has unspooled and her dental practice has grown, Xochitl credits Texas Tech with preparing her for the rigors of life and the propensity to give back to the community she has always, gladly, called home.
“The curriculum that I had was just right in preparing me for dental school,” she said. “But also, the social skills and the opportunities I had for being part of service organizations were important, too, especially now.”
She sees building points of connection through outreach as especially important. This happens not only through her work as a dentist, but also through being intentional about paying forward what she has learned and received.
Once she finished school, she eagerly returned to West Texas with the primary goal of being able to give back to the community that helped her become successful. This led to a position at first a dentist at the Community Health Center of Lubbock followed by a promotion to the dental director’s position.
This allowed her to forge relationships with the local dentist community and tackle the enormous need for improving access to care. Her dedication to this goal resulted in an expansion of services from one dental clinic in downtown Lubbock to five locations across the areas of greatest need over a 12-year span.
Another way she found to give back was by serving in the Army Reserves, providing dental care for stateside military members.
“I loved providing the care, but I ended up hating all the red tape that would go along with it,” she said. “It certainly gave me an appreciation for everyone in the military. It was a different environment, for sure.”
In a similar way, she has provided dental care for inmates from various county jails, including Lubbock, Harris and Tarrant counties.
Xochitl enjoys the chance to share her story with young people, and she has supported a Girl Scout troop in the neighborhood in which she grew up.
“I feel like Texas Tech has catapulted me to where I am today,” she said. “I think Texas Tech taught me not to be afraid when you have a new idea because there will always be a support group whether that’s administration, friends or professors.”
Her legacy at Texas Tech continues today. Her oldest daughter is a second-year student majoring in kinesiology. She hopes one day to be an athletic trainer. Xochitl sees this as the beginning of something new, a cohort of young people inspired and taught by her who follow in her footsteps and become Red Raiders.
For the past eight years, her dental practice has been in Post, a community located about 40 miles southeast of Lubbock. For a while, she was also practicing in Tahoka, another rural community less than 20 miles west. The Post practice became so busy that she had to focus her efforts there.
“Those patients at Tahoka come to Post now,” she said. “I think it was valuable to be there for that year and increase their knowledge of why it’s important to take care of your teeth.”
While setting up shop in a rural community might not be a top priority for many dentists upon graduation, Xochitl knew two things she wanted to do when she completed dental school in 2003. She wanted to come back to West Texas, and she wanted to work with underserved populations.
“We wrote a lot of grants,” she said with a laugh.
But there was more to it.
“Xochitl is driven by service and fulfilling objectives that she sets for herself,” said Michael Sullivan, who is the CEO at Community Health Center of Lubbock and has known her for 20 years. “She was able to grow services and access in our dental department when other dentists could not.”
Dr. Kathleen Nichols, a Lubbock dentist, saw that same drive and determination.
Xochitl, representing the Community Health Center of Lubbock, and Nichols, representing the South Plains District Dental Society, spearheaded a collaboration between the local dental community and the health center to develop strategies to increase and improve access to care for underserved in the community.
The two have remained friends and continue to lean on each other to tackle issues affecting the oral health of Americans by representing West Texas Dentists at the state and national levels through organized dentistry and the American Dental Association.
“Dr. Anderton truly embodies the concept of a servant’s heart, specifically as related to rural community dental health,” Nichols said. “Her superpower is engaging others to work toward a common goal.”
From there, Xochitl decided to launch her own practice in Post, where she could treat a different patient group – one that was geographically underserved. She purchased a building from a retiring dentist where she kept everything intact for the first few years.
However, her patient load was growing, ranging in age from six months to 97 years, and she was soon forced to confront the good problem of not having enough room for everyone.
“Today we’re in a new facility with new equipment,” she said. “I don’t believe that if you happen to live in a rural community that you shouldn’t have access to the latest and greatest of everything.”
Her dental practice isn’t only a place of care. It is also an employer of local citizens, which is important to Xochitl. From the first day, she has worked to build and instill a culture of appreciation in the office.
The day begins with a team huddle where they review everyone scheduled to come in, what procedure they’re in for, and when applicable, who referred them. Appointments begin at 8:30 a.m. and continue through 3:30 p.m. After the last patient has been seen, everything is scrubbed down in preparation for doing it all again the next day.
Through it all, Xochitl remains laser focused on each person, each task and each moment. It’s how she was prepared by Texas Tech to tackle whatever challenges came her way.
“Texas Tech just has so much to offer,” she said. “There is so much research and so many professors willing to share their stories of how they got there. You can communicate one on one with them. Texas Tech is not too big or too small. You don’t lose the personal touch, and you have all these resources.
“I think about all the doors that opened as a result of being a Texas Tech graduate, and it’s pretty amazing.”