Dr. Pooneh Najafi and our team at Bluebonnet Dental Care want to know: what do your winter plans look like? Do you have any plans for an exciting family vacation? Are you hanging out around town? Catching up on sleep? Spending time with friends? Let us know!

Please feel free to share your exciting winter plans and experiences with us here or on our Facebook page! We would like to wish all of our patients and their families a safe and fun holiday season!

At Bluebonnet Dental Care, Dr. Pooneh Najafi and her friendly staff personally promise to take excellent care of you and deliver results that contribute to a healthy and beautiful smile.

And speaking of smiling, in a poll conducted by Glamour Magazine earlier this year, people were asked, “If you had to pick between having perfect teeth, eyesight or hair, which would you choose?”

Well, 44 percent of folks out there chose teeth! In addition, the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, or AACD, conducted a study and found that 99.7 percent of those polled believed a smile is an important social asset. Respondents said straightness, whiteness, cleanliness, as well as the sincerity and sparkle of one’s smile were all important factors not only socially, but career-wise as well.

Take the next step toward a healthier, brighter smile; please contact our Fort Worth dental office and schedule an appointment. We offer convenient early morning hours, and we are open on Friday!

Please feel free to contact our Fort Worth dental office to schedule an appointment with Dr. Najafi today. We look forward to meeting you and helping you achieve optimum oral health!

Whenever you have a follow-up question for Dr. Pooneh Najafi or our team, or if you’d simply like to drop us a quick line, we’d love to hear from you! We love connecting with our patients online, whether it’s by sharing news on our blog or communicating ideas on our interactive Facebook fan page.

Please visit Bluebonnet Dental Care on the following networks:

When your child needs urgent dental treatment, Dr. Pooneh Najafi and our team at Bluebonnet Dental Care stand ready to help. Please keep our emergency number available and convenient. Here are some helpful answers to some recent patient questions.

Q: What should I do if my child’s baby tooth is knocked out?

A: Contact Bluebonnet Dental Care as soon as possible.

Q: What should I do if my child’s permanent tooth is knocked out?

A: Find the tooth and rinse it gently in milk or saliva. (Do not scrub it or clean it with soap — use just water!) If possible, replace the tooth in the socket and hold it there with clean gauze or a wash cloth. If you can’t put the tooth back in the socket, place the tooth in a clean container with milk, saliva, or water. Get to our office immediately. (Call the emergency number if it’s after hours.) The faster you act, the better your chances of saving the tooth.

Q: What if a tooth is chipped or fractured?

A: Contact Bluebonnet Dental Care immediately. Quick action can save the tooth, prevent infection and reduce the need for extensive dental treatment. Rinse the mouth with water and apply cold compresses to reduce swelling. If you can find the broken tooth fragment, bring it with you when you visit Dr. Najafi.

Q: What about a severe blow to the head or jaw fracture?

A: Go immediately to the emergency room of your local hospital. A blow to the head can be life threatening.

Q: What if my child has a toothache?

A: Call us and visit Bluebonnet Dental Care promptly. To comfort your child, rinse the mouth with water. Apply a cold compress or ice wrapped in a cloth. Do not put heat or aspirin on the sore area.

Q: Can dental injuries be prevented?

A: Of course! First, reduce oral injury in sports by wearing mouth guards. Custom mouth guards fabricated by your dentist provide the best protection. Second, always use a car seat for young children. Require seat belts for everyone else in the car. Third, child-proof your home to prevent falls, electrical injuries, and choking on small objects. Fourth, protect your child from unnecessary toothaches with regular dental visits to our office.

Contact our Fort Worth dental office to schedule an appointment with Dr. Najafi. She loves what she does and enjoys every day watching her patients grow and smile as they visit our office.

"Always great! I always have a pleasant if not fun experience when I go to Dr. Pooneh Najafi and her fantastic hygienist Lisa for my regular cleaning and check-up! Everyone there is wonderful and I feel very well taken care of."

"I would highly recommend Dr. Najafi and her staff. As someone who has had many terrible experiences at the dentist in the past, I had neglected my dental health for the past 8 years. My daughter became a patient of Dr. Najafi's and when I met the staff and realized how friendly & caring they were, I decided to become a patient myself ... This staff has done a lot towards easing my fear of the dentist. If you want a great experience - give Bluebonnet Dental a visit!"

"Great dentist with a woman's touch Dr. Najafi is not your run-of-the-mill dentist! Professional yet personable with a woman's touch. I recommend her to anyone looking for a great dentist to see for years to come. Her motto is patients for life and she means it. she is the best!"

"Dr. Najafi is super nice and very Dr. Najafi is super nice and very professional. I highly recommend this Dental group!!"‎

Yes, it is, and that’s part of what makes it work. To find out if you are the right candidate for Invisalign treatment, the first thing we do is to take an impression of your teeth as they are now and digitize it. Using special software, we look at the current positioning of your teeth and compare it to the way your teeth should look.

Next we use special software to map out the exact path your teeth will take from the beginning of your treatment to the end. Based on the results, a set of custom aligners are created just for your teeth. Throughout the course of treatment, you will be required to wear these clear, removable aligners one at a time; each one moving your teeth closer and closer to their final, perfectly aligned position. The best thing about it all? Nobody around you will even know you are wearing braces!

Dr. Najafi is a certified Invisalign provider in the greater Fort Worth area. If you have questions about Invisalign, or would like to find out if you are a candidate for Invisalign treatment, please give us a call.

According to the American Dental Association, a person's smile outranked eyes, hair and body as the most important physical feature, which is why it's important for our team at Bluebonnet Dental Care to support National Smile Month this June.

Here are a few simple steps you can take to improve your oral health so that you may celebrate National Smile Month for many, many years to come:

* Brush at least twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.
* Floss every day to clean between your teeth.
* Reduce your intake of sugary foods and drinks during your treatment with Dr. Najafi.
* Visit us regularly (usually every six months apart).

If you have questions about any of these tips, we encourage you to give us a call.

Folks with big smiles may actually live longer than those who don’t, according to a March 2010 study at Michigan’s Wayne State University. Dr. Najafi has known for quite some time that positive emotion has been linked to both physical and mental health, but researchers at the university did something quite interesting: they looked at photos of 230 ball-players who began their careers in baseball prior to 1950 and studied their smile intensity (ranging from big smile, no smile or partial smile). The players' smile ratings were compared with data from deaths that occurred from 2006 through 2009. The researchers then took into account other factors that impact life longevity, including body mass index, career length and even college attendance.

The results? Researchers found that players who weren't smiling in the photos died at the average age of 72.9 years. Players with partial smiles lived to be 75. Those with big smiles, however, lived on average to be 79.9 years old.

The take-away from the new study? Smile now, smile often and you might just live longer! Have you been perfecting your smile by visiting Bluebonnet Dental Care on a regular basis? If not, give us a call!

Memorial Day weekend, a time to remember and honor the men and women lost while serving for our country. Memorial Day is also the unofficial start of summer, and for many folks in the Fort Worth, Lake Worth, and Azle communities, getting out of town for three days after being cooped up in the classroom or the office spells sweet, sweet relief.

What about you? What are you up to this Memorial Day weekend? Whether you are headed to a barbecue, a camping trip, or just hitting the great American open roads, we’d like to hear all about it!

Dr. Najafi & team wish you a happy, safe and relaxing Memorial Day weekend!

Dr. Najafi wants to know: Is dairy a major part of your diet? If not, it should be! A 2008 study from the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) has found that regular consumption of dairy products, such as milk, cheese and yogurt, can actually lower your chances of contracting periodontal disease (also known as gum disease). Results of the study also showed that adults who consume at least 55 grams of lactic acid a day are less at risk for gum disease.

Cheese is one of the healthiest snacks for your child's teeth. In addition to providing large amounts of much-needed calcium, cheese also does its part to fight cavities. Cheddar, Swiss, Mozzarella, and Monterey Jack all stimulate the body's salivary glands to clear the mouth of debris and protect them from acids that weaken them, according to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. This means cheese disrupts the development of cavities, especially when eaten as a snack or at the end of a meal. Calcium and phosphorous found in cheese reduce or prevent decreases in the plaque's ph level and work to re-mineralize the enamel of your child's teeth.

Gum disease is caused by a bacterial infection in the mouth that affects the gums and jaw. Gum disease results in a loss of teeth and bone, and has been connected to certain cases of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, respiratory disease and osteoporosis.

Eating dairy is not just healthy for building strong bones, but is essential for maintaining a strong, healthy mouth. Next time you reach for a quick snack, choose some cheese, or a glass of milk, and remember with each bite, and every sip you are preserving your teeth for a lifetime of smiles and good oral health!

For more information about which dairy foods are best for keeping your teeth healthy, please give us a call.

Vending machines are a quick way to satisfy hunger. You put in $1.50 and you get back a candy bar, bag of chips or even a soda…but that’s not all! Your Fort Worth dentist wants to remind you that vending machines not only dispense sweet treats and caffeine bursts, but they also dispense cavities!

Every time you chow down on that chocolate bar the bacteria in your mouth have a party feasting on the sugar. The sugar quickly turns into acid; that’s right, ACID!!! The acid sits on your teeth and eats away at the tooth’s natural enamel (the stuff that protects your tooth from decay). When this enamel is eaten away by the acid on your tooth, you get a cavity! Brushing your teeth after eating a sugary treat can help prevent cavities; but before you indulge, remind yourself: “can’t brush? Hold the sugar!”

When choosing a snack, consider these nutritional options that will not only satisfy your hunger and that “sweet tooth,” but won’t cause acid build up resulting in cavities:

• Fresh Fruits (berries, oranges, melon, pears, etc)
• Raw Vegetables (broccoli, celery, carrots, etc)
• Bread
• Pretzels (low salt)
• Milk (low or non-fat)
• Cheese (low or non-fat)
• Nuts and seeds (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc)
• Sliced meat

If you would like more advice about how you can prevent cavities, give us a call, or ask during your next appointment.

We hope you are not a part of the 51 percent of Americans who don’t floss every day. And we definitely hope you're not part of the 10 percent who never floss at all. Dr. Najafi and our staff at Bluebonnet Dental Care will always tell you that proper flossing is just as important for your dental health as brushing regularly. Flossing, you see, cleans food and plaque that builds up between teeth and below the gumline, key areas that brushing simply cannot reach.

Flossing 3-to-5 minutes each day is recommended, but even 60 seconds of flossing has a great benefit over not flossing at all. Also, make sure to always brush your teeth after you floss, and to rinse with water or mouthwash. When you begin flossing you may experience gum pain or bleeding, but with daily flossing and brushing this should stop within a week or so.

Lastly, has it been at least six months since your last checkup? If the answer is yes, we encourage you to schedule an appointment!

A whiter smile is one just one dentist visit away! ZOOM!® Smile Whitening brightens and whitens your teeth in just one hour. The treatment is safe, simple, and relaxing! Plus, Zoom! is championed by dentists and patients as a pain-free process.

While Zoom!® Smile Whitening is a great way to enhance the appearance of your smile, it's not always for everyone. Those with deep, dark stains that remain unaffected by whitening treatments and patients with regular tooth sensitivity may not be good candidates. Find out more about Zoom!® Smile Whitening at our web site; and when you are ready to have a whiter, brighter smile contact Bluebonnet Dental Care for an evaluation!

We are living in an age with a renewed commitment to conservation, and are frequently reminded to recycle, reduce and reuse. Earth Day is today, April 22nd, and we thought this would be a great time to discuss everything that Bluebonnet Dental Care does to conserve our natural resources and the environment.

Did you know that we offer patients account access 24 hours a day, seven days a week? We offer convenient and secure online services with our patient login system. You can view all of your account information, and even receive appointment reminders through email or text messages. Since this information is submitted electronically, we eliminate the use of large amounts of paper and printing materials.

Dr. Najafi and our team would love to hear how you minimize your impact on the environment. Leave us a comment below or you can also visit our Facebook page and post something on our wall.

Happy Earth Day!

Visiting Bluebonnet Dental Care regularly will not only help keep your teeth and mouth healthy, but will also help keep the rest of your body healthy. The fact is, every hour of every day in the U.S., someone dies of oral cancer, which is the sixth-most common diagnosed form of the disease. The five-year survival rate is only 50 percent, and oral cancer is one of the few cancers whose survival rate has not improved. Since April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, we would like to take this opportunity to remind all of our patients about the importance of maintaining good oral hygiene.

As a dentist, Dr. Najafi is specifically trained to diagnose, treat, and prevent oral health problems. Please let us now if you have any questions about your oral health during your next appointment. Take care of your teeth!

From your very first visit to Bluebonnet Dental Care in Fort Worth, TX, Dr. Najafi and team strive to provide superior treatment in a pleasant, friendly atmosphere. We thought we’d ask you, our wonderful patients: Have you been especially impressed by Dr. Najafi's work? Did our team go out of their way to make your day? Are you in love with your new smile?

Whether you’ve just come in for a consultation or your family has been visiting our office for years, we’d love to hear your feedback. Leave a review for us on Google Places, or post your feedback on our Facebook page!

Thank you,
The team at Bluebonnet Dental Care

Thank you for taking the time to visit our blog. Please check back often for weekly updates on fun and exciting events happening at our office, important and interesting information about the dental industry, and the latest news about our practice.

Feel free to leave a comment or question for our doctor and staff – we hope this will be a valuable resource for our patients, their families, and friends!