Dr. Jacqueline Miller, St. Louis Area Orthodontist, Honored as MDA Dentist of the Year

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Jacqueline Miller, DDS, MS, MPH, a retired orthodontist and former Dental Director for the State of Missouri, has been named the 2024 Missouri Dental Association (MDA) Dentist of the Year Award winner. She was honored at the Association’s annual awards banquet hosted during its House of Delegates meeting at Margaritaville Lake Resort, June 21, 2025.

The Dentist of the Year Award recognizes a member dentist who has demonstrated outstanding service to the Association, to the profession of dentistry, and/or to the community in the past year.

Dr. Miller served as State Dental Director in the Office of Dental Health (ODH) for the state of Missouri from August 1, 2022, to July 31, 2024. She accomplished a great deal on behalf of the oral health of the public as well as the profession during her time in the role. She actively engaged with Missouri dentists, and with organized dentistry, and was part of a key group to create the curriculum and training processes for the Oral Preventive Assistant pilot program, a type of expanded function dental auxiliary to help provide increased access to dental care.

During her time at ODH, she was instrumental in pursuing other efforts related to workforce development. This includes partnering with high schools in Pike/Lincoln and St. Charles counties to offer dental assistant training, as well as developing a project to use teledentistry as a method for dentists to supervise hygienists and assistants in nursing homes and other under-served, high-risk populations including veterans. Her leadership and collaboration with MO HealthNet (Missouri Medicaid) was also significant to expand coverage of dental services.

As evidence of her dedication to her community, her profession and the oral health of the public, Dr. Miller went back to school to complete a Master of Public Health in 2022 from A.T. Still University, Kirksville, Mo. As Missouri State Dental Director, Dr. Miller secured a very competitive Centers for Disease Control grant, as well as numerous other grants and initiatives to promote dental health across the state of Missouri.

Currently, she is an Orthodontic Curriculum Consultant for Kansas City University, Joplin, Mo., responsible for developing and teaching orthodontic curriculum to undergraduate dental students. She provided orthodontic care in the communities of Washington, Union and Sullivan for 30 years.

Outside of past and current work, Dr. Miller regularly gives back to her community and beyond. She is a founding member of the Washington Overseas Medical and Dental Mission which has been taking place since 1992. She has been Vice President for 32 years, packing and coordinating 32 dental mission trips, and participating in country on 26 dental and construction mission trips as of 2024. She authored numerous grants funded through community organizations to fund this work.

She is active in various community efforts including Washington Rotary Club, Dental Screenings and Presentations at area schools, volunteering at the Pregnancy Assistance Center and more.

In addition to the MDA and ADA, Dr. Miller is a member of the Greater St. Louis Dental Society and American Association of Orthodontists. She is a Fellow of the International College of Dentists and American College of Dentists, as well as a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontists.

In addition to completing her MPH degree in 2022, in 1991 she graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry and in 1993, completed her Master of Science and Certificate in Orthodontics from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry.

Dr. Miller and her husband, Timothy Huber, reside in Union, Mo., and have five children.