Shirley Gutkowski, RDH, BSDH, FACE practiced clinical dental hygiene in and around Madison, WI from 1986 to 2003 when she focused her energy on writing and speaking.

After graduating from Marquette University in 1999 through the degree completion program, she became very active in the Amyrdh.com e-mail community monitored by Amy Nieves, RDH, and honed her communication skills to bring new and exciting information to the hundreds of hygienists in that group. This evolved into feature articles and a monthly column in RDH magazine. In an effort to reach the public with her messages and cross over into writing for consumer publications, she wrote a series of articles on oral care for Diabetes Self-Management. This effort won her the prestigious APEX Award for writing excellence. Today she has co-authored a best-selling book with Amy Nieves, The Purple Guide: Developing Your Clinical Dental Hygiene Career which now it its second edition. She has written chapters on sealants, and temporary fillings in the textbook Essentials of Dental Hygiene