Dr. Rhonda Pruitt will be celebrating 20 years of service on December 19, 2025.  After overcoming a debilitating stutter and the loss of her only brother as a young girl, Dr. Pruitt would go on to build a practice that provides a much needed service to the area, thanks, in no small part, to her father.  “I’m a Daddy’s girl.”, said Pruitt.  “I wasn’t really thinking about moving back to Grambling until my father asked me if I would think about it.”

Pruitt attended dental school in New Jersey and had planned on setting up practice there, but after her father asked and she “prayed about it”, she decided to look into it.  After a brief stint in Jackson, MS, she ended up in Shreveport working for a community health center there.  I moved to Shreveport in 2000 and then around 2008 after my parents became ill, I moved to Grambling to see after them but I was still commuting back and forth to Shreveport for work.

When asked, what made her decide to set up her own practice here, she said, “I didn’t.  I I told you, everything I’ve done has been my father. So, my dad said, you ever thought about coming here and opening up a practice? I said, I never wanted to own a practice.”  She went on to explain to him that owning your own practice meant having more responsibility including overhead and having to pay employees.  It just wasn’t something she was interested in.  “Working where I was working at a community health center, if the patients didn’t show, they just didn’t show. I was on salary.” 

But her father, as always, was very persuasive.  He told her he even “looked into it” for her and asked around to see if people in the community thought a dental practice might do well here.

So, she eventually decided to just try it for a short time to see what it would be like.  The building that she currently occupies was a Family Health Clinic already but owned by someone else.  She started out renting one room, then eventually took over renting the building and then buying the building!  

When asked what does she think has contributed to her success, she said, “We see the underserved. [We] see the people who really think they can’t afford it. And we make it affordable.”

But not only does she provide dental services to the communities, she also services the prisons in the area.  “I’ve worked at every jail in North Louisiana.  I worked at the Jail at Caddo Correctional. I’m the detention center dentist. I’ve been there probably 16, 17 years.

I worked at the jail in Jonesboro. I worked at Winnfield Correctional Center, and now, I work at the Richwood Correctional Center, seeing the ISIS inmates.”

And, as if she’s not busy enough doing all that, she’s also an active supporter and sponsor of many community events such as being an active on-going title sponsor of Grambling Chamber of Commerce events, so much so that the Chamber named one of their annual awards after her, The Rhonda Pruitt Special Recognition Award.  She also sponsors the Boys and Girls Club of America and NAACP activities.  And, let’s not leave out, an on-going sponsor of many GSU Sports events, just to name a few.  

Pruitt is a proud member of the Epsilon Psi Omega chapter Alpha Kappa Alpha and a member of the Monroe Grambling chapter of Lynx.

She is definitely a valuable part of the Grambling Community and surrounding areas as well and she would like to invite all out on Friday, the 19th, at her offices on Hwy 80 to help her celebrate her 20 years of service!

Please come out and show her how much we appreciate her!