Our Blog

Have you ever watched to see if your child is breathing through his or her mouth? Breathing through the mouth instead of the nose may lead to trouble for youngsters. Kids who typically breathe through their mouth—most often children who suffer from allergies—experience problems getting enough oxygen into their blood, a condition that affects their weight, size, sleep, and even their performance in the classroom and daily life.

Mouth breathing as a child can also lead to sleep apnea, behavior and learning problems, delayed speech, dental and facial abnormalities, and even breathing problems as your child grows. There are a multitude of reasons for an individual to mouth breathe, such as enlarged tonsils, adenoids, and deviated nasal septum, but the cause is usually allergies.

As bad as the condition sounds, we want you to know mouth breathing is a treatable condition. Doing so, though, requires early diagnosis and treatment. Since our team at Whitley Family Dental sees our patients every six months, we may be in a position to identify the symptoms of mouth breathing.

If you suspect your child is a chronic mouth breather, please give us a call at our convenient Dallas office to schedule an appointment with Dr. Bill Whitley.

Imagine this scenario: you go to the dentist to have a cavity filled, and an hour after the procedure you have a runny nose, scratchy throat, and your arms are breaking out in blotchy, red hives. In other words, you’re in worse shape after the visit to the dentist than you were before you walked in to have the cavity fixed. If you experience any of these types of symptoms or side effects, chances are you have a latex allergy.

What is a latex allergy?

A latex allergy is a hypersensitivity to latex proteins. If you have this allergy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that you avoid direct contact with any materials that contain latex. While latex gloves are known to cause allergic reactions in people with a latex allergy, certain metals, plastics, and other materials used in dental care can also cause an adverse response.

A runny nose and itchy eyes are common allergic reactions to latex. However, Dr. Bill Whitley and our team at Whitley Family Dental want you to know it can also trigger more severe symptoms, including asthma, wheezing, and cardiovascular and gastrointestinal ailments.

A latex-safe dental environment

Many dental offices screen patients for a latex allergy. This is only beneficial, however, if you’re already aware you have a latex allergy. The best thing you can do to ease your allergies is to find a dentist who has a latex-safe environment. A latex-safe dental environment observes the following protocols:

• All patients are screened for a latex allergy.
• No personnel use latex gloves.
• All latex products are removed from the patient’s vicinity, including rubber dams and elastics.
• Work areas contaminated with latex powder are cleaned frequently.
• Signs are posted to communicate all latex allergy procedures in case of an emergency.

If a latex allergy is part of your medical history, then it’s in your best interest to find a latex-free dental environment. To learn more about latex-free dentistry, or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Bill Whitley, please give us a call at our convenient Dallas office!

If you’re like us, packing away the holiday decorations to make way for the rise and grind of the work routine can be hard to do. Just because the holidays are over doesn’t mean January can’t be an amazing month! Our motto this year is “Our future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades” and we want to share a few ways you can have a brighter 2018 too.

We probably all have a long list of to-dos to tackle as soon as we step back into the office. Getting back into the groove can take time so let yourself ease into it and only take on a few essential projects at first. We find that staying on track is easier with the help of our planners. Checking off boxes as you finish tasks can be really satisfying because you see all that you’ve accomplished during the day!

This year, we’re determined to not let anything hold us back from reaching our goals. This includes maintaining a healthy lifestyle and we hope our patients make their oral health a top priority! Trust us, your smile will thank you!

With a busy start to the year, dinner preparation can be limited. We’ve gotten into the habit of setting aside a few weekend hours to meal prep and let us tell you, it’s made all the difference! Casseroles, soups and stews are easy to freeze and thaw whenever you need a quick meal. Let us know what recipes become your go-tos! We’re always looking for new ones.

Remember to take time for yourself when things get busy. Even just 30 minutes in the morning reading the Bible or reviewing our daily devotions helps keep us focused for the rest of the day.

We can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store! This year, we hope to spend more time with family, friends and get into that reading list starting with the “Mark of the Lion” series by Francine Rivers.

What are you looking forward to most this year? We wish you a wonderful start to 2018 and hope it is your brightest year yet!

As you age, it becomes even more important to take good care of your teeth and dental health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one-fourth of adults age 65 and older have no remaining teeth. What's more, nearly one-third of older adults have untreated tooth decay.

Oral health, regardless of age, is crucial to overall good health. Ideally, we all want to keep your natural teeth, but whether you're caring for natural teeth or dentures, advancing age may put older adults at risk for a number of oral health problems, including:

• Dry mouth
• Diminished sense of taste
• Root decay
• Gum disease
• Uneven jawbone caused by tooth loss
• Denture-induced tissue inflammation
• Overgrowth of fungus in the mouth
• Attrition (loss of teeth structure by mechanical forces)
• Oral cancer

These conditions may not be diagnosed until it is too late. If you want to feel good, stay healthy, and look great throughout life, you might be surprised what a difference a healthy mouth makes.

Here are some tips for maintaining and improving your oral health as you become older:

• Brush twice a day with a toothbrush with soft bristles. You may also benefit from using an electric toothbrush.
• Clean between your teeth once a day with floss or another interdental cleaner.
• If you wear full or partial dentures, remember to clean them on a daily basis. Take your dentures out of your mouth for at least four hours every day. It’s best to remove them at night.
• Drink tap water. Since most contains fluoride, it helps prevent tooth decay no matter how old you are.
• Quit smoking. Besides putting you at greater risk for lung and other cancers, smoking increases problems with gum disease, tooth decay, and tooth loss.
• Visit Whitley Family Dental regularly for a complete dental checkup.

If you have any questions about keeping up with your oral hygiene at home, please give us a call!