Bradley D. Harrelson, DMD

Dr. Bradley Dale Harrelson completed his Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston at the Texas Medical Center. Prior to pursuing a dental career, he received a Masters of Divinity from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary at which time he served as the youth pastor for the First Baptist Church of San Francisco, CA. Just prior to dental school in Mississippi, he served as the clinic director for the Mission First Christian Medical and Dental Clinic, a non-profit clinic in Jackson, MS. It was ministering to the physical needs of these patients through the help of volunteer dentists that he was drawn to dentistry. Dr. Harrelson was a recipient of a highly competitive Health Professions Scholarship from the United States Air Force (USAF) and received his DMD in 2007 from the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry in Jackson, Mississippi. While in dental school at the University of Mississippi, he was extremely involved in organized dentistry serving as the national president for the American Student Dental Association in 2005-2006 as a third year dental student. After dental school, he was appointed by the American Dental Association president to serve on the ADA Strategic Planning Committee and as the Air Force Liaison to the ADA’s New Dentist Committee. After dental school, he was stationed at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, DC, where he completed an AEGD-1 residency. After completion of the residency, he served four years as a general dentist at the Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota. While serving in South Dakota as Deputy Flight Commander of the 28th Medical Group Dental Clinic, he received several awards for his service among which was the Air Force-level award for Outstanding Junior Clinical Dentist of the Year in 2010 and the Air Combat Command MajCom award for Outstanding Junior Clinical Dentist of the Year in 2010. While serving as a staff oral and maxillofacial surgeon on the faculty of the Advanced Education in General Dentistry Residency Program at the 96th Medical Group at Eglin Air Force Base, he also received the Outstanding Clinical Dentist of the year in 2017 for the Air Force Materiel Command MajCom.

Over the years, he has also used his alter-ego of Dr. Juggles to educate and minister to children and adults. This began during a mission trip in his first year of dental school in which he began to use juggling to grab the attention of children and subsequently provide oral health education. Each February while at Ellsworth AFB and at Eglin AFB, he used Dr. Juggles during National Children’s Dental Health Month to provide oral health education to multiple elementary schools which was covered by Air Force Public Affairs for the Defense Media Activity Channel along with local news channels.

While being stationed in this area, Dr. Harrelson has already enjoyed investing in the community by volunteering as a leader in the Student Ministry at Crosspoint Church in Niceville and donating time to provide for the oral surgery needs of patients at the Crossroads Dental Clinic in Valparaiso. That is one of the main reasons that he is so excited about this practice because it provides a way that his family can continue to serve the community in which they were already so invested.

Shortly after arriving in the Emerald Coast in July 2016 upon receiving our orders to Eglin Air Force Base to serve as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, his family fell in love with the area and it just felt like home even though they have lived in several great communities throughout his Air Force career. Within the first year in the area, he shadowed Dr. Bryan House and stayed in touch with him throughout the past few years as Dr. House thought carefully about his future plans for the practice and the patients that he had so caringly served for 20 years. After Dr. House decided to move toward retirement in early 2021, the Harrelsons are now happy to say that the area that always felt like home for their family has really become home as they plant deep roots here in this community through this practice. Dr. Harrelson has expressed how appreciative he is to Dr. Bryan House for the type of practice and relationship with the community that he established, and Dr. Harrelson is honored to step into the big shoes that Dr. House left behind. Dr. House and Dr. Harrelson both have a very similar mentality and fun-loving, caring attitude toward the people they serve; and Dr. Harrelson promises to strive to serve the members of this community in the same devoted way that Dr. House has for the past 20 years. From one “B.H.” (Bryan House) to another “B.H.” (Bradley Harrelson), the commitment to the care of patients will not waiver! Since the previous practice was simply named Bryan N. House, DDS, P.A., there will be a name change to Blue Water Oral Surgery Center, P.A.; however, the location, the staff, and the practice philosophy will remain unchanged!

Family has always been of utmost importance to Dr. Harrelson; and if you are around him long, it is certain that you will hear stories of his wife and children and how proud he is of them. Dr. Harrelson is married to Kasey Harrelson, and they have three wonderful children.

Kasey also serves the Emerald Coast as a realtor for MVP Realty. During college, Kasey was a scholar-athlete in basketball at Louisiana State University for two years and at the Master’s College in Santa Clarita, CA, for two years. She is extremely talented and has served anywhere from Wells Fargo Financial in San Francisco and Jackson to serving as the director of children’s ministry in South Dakota to a realtor in Florida. She has been amazing in all those capacities while never ceasing to be the number one Super Fan for our children in all of their endeavors.

Abbie spent only one year in Niceville due to military moves but it was quite a senior year as she was selected as the Female Athlete of the Year by Northwest Florida Daily News after leading her cross country team and track team to gold medals in the State Championships for each sport. Abbie went on to the University of Florida where she ran for the Gators throughout college on a track scholarship and was on the SEC Academic Honor Roll throughout each year of college. She graduated from UF in 2021, and then completed a Masters of Education through UF while student-teaching in Tampa, Florida. In 2019, she was selected by the All Sports Association as the Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year and was recognized at the annual fundraising banquet at the Emerald Coast Convention Center. She has also received multiple awards at The Letterman Awards for University of Florida Athletes the past few years. Her DMR (Distance Medley Relay) Team of which she is the 800-meter leg has medaled in the SEC Championship for the past two years and received a 6th place medal this year at the national NCAA championship this year.  Abbie now serves on the track and field coaching staff at the world-renowned premier sports boarding school IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL (www.imgacademy.com).  She is an assistant coach for distance and cross country.  She also works as an Executive Assistant for the clothing company Yellow The Label (www.yllwthelabel.com).  

Logan graduated from Niceville High School where he established himself as a force to be reckoned with on the soccer pitch. In 2019-2020, Logan led the Niceville Eagles Men Soccer team in goals with 28 including a penalty kick that sealed the Regional Semi-finals in double overtime and a hat-trick (3 goals in one game) in the State 6A Championship resulting in Niceville Men’s Soccer first State Champion Title. After that impressive season, Logan was selected as the team’s Most Valuable Player and to the All-American Team. He was also selected as the Northwest Florida Daily News Player of the Year in 2020. This year he served as the Captain of the Niceville Men’s Soccer team and helped invigorate what was supposed to be a ‘rebuilding year’ and led a team that lost 9 senior starters and began the year with a losing record to the State Championship just missing defending their title by one goal scored within the final two minutes of play. Logan is now part of the University of Tulsa Men’s Soccer Team in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Colby is a senior at Niceville High School. He is also an impressive part of  member of the Niceville Men’s Soccer team and served as the of the Niceville Men’s Soccer Team.  He plans to pursue aeronautical engineering and is weighing his options for potential colleges at this time.  It is obvious that we spend a lot of our time around the track or the soccer field but all three children are excellent students and contribute to the area also through service opportunities through their involvement in the Crosspoint Student Ministry.

The Harrelsons are committed to the communities of the Emerald Coast and look forward to serving it and its members for many years to come!

WHY IS THERE A DOLPHIN HIDDEN IN OUR LOGO??

You may have noticed that within the tooth/implant logo, there is a dolphin hidden in the wave that is rolling out of the tooth. Why is there a dolphin hidden in our logo? From the very first day of my family’s arrival in this area of the Emerald Coast we saw beautiful dolphins frolicking in the bay as we crossed the Rocky Bayou Bridge and later the Tom’s Bayou Bridge with our realtor. Every time we go out on the bay or to Crab Island or into the Gulf in a boat, we love to see the energetic dolphins playing in the crystal-clear, blue waters around and below us. It was one of the things that made us fall in love with this area and desire to plant our lives here and I must say, seeing dolphins play in the waters around us just never gets old! It is one of those great things that reminds us that we are blessed to live every day in an area where people come to vacation!!

Something is reassuring and peaceful about their playful antics. They seem to happily grin while leading carefree lives. It is known that dolphins, like humans, are intelligent, and possess a strong sense of community. They are brave as well, as dolphins don’t turn tail when threatened by predators like sharks. They fight back! For centuries, many ancient cultures gave dolphins a special place in their legends, myth, and folklore. To this day, seafaring cultures continue to value dolphins as a symbol of protection. Sailors of many nations consider a dolphin to be lucky, or a good omen. Often, this was for practical reasons, as pods of dolphins frequent shipping lanes and coastal areas where humans dwell. For the earliest seafarers, a dolphin would have been a welcome sight and sign that dry land wasn’t far away. Old sea dogs knew that dolphins following a ship was a good omen, as their boat was sure to reach harbor safely.

So, through the years, dolphins have been long considered good-hearted, cheerful, kind-hearted, socially-supportive protectors; and that is what we strive to be for you at Blue Water Oral Surgery Center! May this always be a place where you will feel cared about just as you would around your own caring, loving family and where you will know that your health and well-being will always be protected by us! We look forward to taking care of you!