Brooke Porter DDS

Candy Buy Back 2008

This is our 8th year to pay people for candy. Sounds crazy,huh. You are thinking " Dr. Porter,Go to the store and buy your own." But, the point of the whole day is to keep kids and their parents from having candy laying around the house. I know from personal experience that if candy is in my house, I will eat it. A lot of kids have a habit of picking up candy two, three, even four times a day. This is awful for their teeth and not good for their health.

I pay each person $1 a pound for their candy and they are entered into a drawing for a WII.This year Zac Edwards was our WII winner. Way to go, Zac!

Pumpkin contests rock!

Every year I challenge the girls I work with to bring out their inner Martha Stewart and be artsy craftsy for our Annual Pumpkin contest. This year was really great! Most of our pumpkins were very detailed and the ones that weren't were creative anyway. Here are some pictures:

 

And the winner is....... MARCI!!! She made an amazing Lady bug that did not get photographed.

Marci won the grand prize (a massage and pedicure) for her intense commitment to pumpkin decorating!

Thanks for all of your votes :)

My team can make your smile shine and save your life

At the ADC (sounds like a hip teen show), we work hard to make sure all of our patients are safe.  So every two years, our entire team is CPR certified.  Everyone.  In case anything ever happens, we want to be sure our patients' safety is covered.

 

You deserve it.  Your husband deserves it.  Your wife deservers it.  Your son and daughter deserve it.

What's up with oral cancer?

I think everyone has been touched by cancer in one way or another. I have had two family members go through cancer treatments and would never want to see them do that again. So, when a screening test is put into the market place that is directly related to what I do everyday, I embrace it.

Yes, I am a little skeptical on the technology until it is proven, but once it has merit, I try my best to get it in the hands of people who will benefit from it. That is what I've done with the Vizilite screening exam. It is easy for us to use at the office. No scrapping for a biopsy, not blood test, no shots. All you do for this screening is rinse with a vinegar solution that fixes the gum tissue five cell layers deep. A special dye is attached by the rinse to make any abnormal cell GLOW. This is great because as a clinician, I cannot miss something glowing at me.

 If there is something glowing, I then rub that area with a blue dye that will mark it. I then try and rub the dye off. If it stays blue, the lesion needs to be lasered off. Simple as that. No big surgeries, no waiting until growths are large enough to disfigure the patient, no wondering if it could have been stopped sooner.

The main problem with this test is that insurance companies are not covering it yet. This puts an obstacle in a patient's mind. For some reason we are trained that insurance companies are there to protect us from unnecessary treatment. They do not. This is a $58 test that could stop a potentially fatal disease.  Insurance companies really aggravate me. We are still offering the test and my hope is I can get base line tests on 20% of my patients this year. I would love for it to be 100, but I have to start somewhere.

Let's talk dentistry

Implant dentistry is a very hot topic in dentistry right now. Patients come in and ask me if it would be better to have all of their teeth taken out and have all implanted teeth. ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! My first motto in dentistry is " Always try and use the parts God gave you". Sounds a little simple minded,  but our bodies are put together the way they are for a reason.

 Some people do have enough issues with their teeth that replacing them is the only option. Dentistry gives use at least two if not three choices for patients to think about. Although price of the restoration is always a factor, longevity of the appliance, appointment times,recovery and appearance need to be considered.

If implants are the way you choose to go and you have multiple teeth to replace, see if an implant supported bridge might work in the space. It saves several implant placements and may look more natural. If you need an entire mouth redone, implants can snap in a full denture. This looks very nice and is very stable.

If you have any questions on implants, just ask!

No one told me turning 40 would be so FUN!

This month has been really exciting! It started off with our office turning 10 years old. If anyone would have told me how blessed I would be at starting an office in Azle,Texas 10 years ago, I would have thought they were crazy. I cannot express my love for this community and the people that have crossed our path over these years. I would never live anywhere else to practice. It is fantastic!!

Next, my wonderful husband threw a surprise party to end all surprise parties. While I was shoppping with my sister,Pepper, he cleared all of the furniture out of the house and brought in caterers to have a "Winey 40th birthday party". All of the guests brought one bottle of wine to have jugded by  everyone else. People were walking around sampling different wines and filling out score cards. He also had a band playing from the corner of the yard while the party was going on. And,last but not least, he had the one and only IRON CHEF 2007 WINNER TIM LOVE from Lonesome Dove doing all of the cooking for me. I am sooooo spoiled! (My husband calls it "loved").

To top it all off, he swept me away to Napa Valley to spend 5 days (without our kids). We toured up and down the main street where most of the well known wineries are located. We ate at Ad Hoc, The Press, and THE FRENCH LAUNDRY. All of the restaurants there had their own gardens in the back, so all of the food tasted unbelievable. I am so gald I didn't go on a diet before we went because I gained at least 5 pounds while we were there. On my actual birthday, we got up at 5 am and went on a hot air balloon ride. Talk about amazing! There is nothing else in the world that can compare to that.

So, for now, I will have to come back down to earth and get in the swing of the new school year with my kiddos. I am excited about the fall and what 40 is going to bring. My hope is it is better organizational skills!

Is it just me or is everybody busy?

I'm sorry I haven't been posting lately.  We've been so busy.  When school is out in Azle, everybody wants their teeth cleaned.  (It's really pretty cool!) 

We are running three hygienist, and I'm starting to get their flow down.  I now know why retail stores like Best Buy and the Gap use the headsets to talk to one another.  It's the only way they can keep their customers happy.  

When things slow down a bit, I hope to post; I've had a couple exciting things happen at the old Azle Dental Care that I really want to share.

Keep Smiling!

Harvey Korman: Thanks for the smiles!

My husband and I loved watching The Carol Burnett Show on Saturday nights when we were kids. We both have fond memories of watching Carol, Tim, Harvey, Vicki, and Lyle with our families. Here's one of my favorite skits. Can you guess why? Harvey will be missed. Enjoy!

I want to be their dentist

This will definitely bring a smile to your face!

Laughing Babies

Why is Spring soooo busy?

Every year I think I am ready for the end of the school rush, but I never am. And, it seems that every year I plan more and more stuff to do EVERY SPRING!  My family and I just got back from a trip to New York City,(I am saying that out loud as I type just like the Pace Salsa commercial) and it was a blast!!!!! We have never been with our kiddos before and we were blessed enough to take my mother-in-law. We saw a bunch of stuff, but there is still more for us to go back and see. Here are some pictures:

This is Maddie and Gracie at a great little Italian restaurant we ate at before we saw "The Lion King".

Here we are after "The Lion King" with Simba's mom.

Here we are with Meme at the Hyatt Grand Central Station.

We took a carriage ride from Times Square to our hotel after we realized we were 10 blocks away! That is a long walk!

I hope everyone stays healthy and safe thru the end of school and that we all have a great summer. Azle Dental Care will be 10 years old on August 1st. I can't believe how time flies!

If you haven't seen the new office, come by.