Originally Posted: July 5, 2010 - By: Dr. Lindhorst
Summer 2010 is here and it is HOT here in Houston!!! We had a fun spring at Smiles For Kids and we are really enjoying the summer since as always it is busy, busy, busy. In the spring we did lots of new fun things… We hired a new wonderful hygienist since Rae decided she needed to take a break from working with kids and moved on to a general dental office. We will miss her dearly and we wish her luck in her new endeavors. Meantime we found Michele!!! Oh my goodness she is great! She recently graduated from the dental hygiene program and is as eager, innovative and fun as you can get. She loves working with kids and she is really, really good at it. If you have not met her yet, you will soon and I guarantee you will love her.

Around the same time we had a change in our front desk staff. Jessica left our practice, but we got Lindsay as an incredible reward! Lindsay has had few years of experience working in a pediatric dental office and she is very knowledgeable on insurance issues, treatment plans and any other questions you might have about technical and financial topics. She is cheerful and full of energy and I think you will find her very helpful when you call or when you come for your next appointment.

Everybody else is doing GREAT! Our back staff is having fun with few new things we have incorporated into our daily routines. One of the greatest things you will find our office using is ORAVERSE. Check it out here. It is the only medicine that reverses oral anesthesia and numbness of your mouth. It is a rather incredible drug that allows you to be able to eat, chew and speak normally very soon after a dental procedure. We are very excited about having it incorporated into our practice and we will be happy to answer any questions connected with it.
We are also now connected to Facebook. Please join us there to hear the latest updates and daily adventures of Smiles For Kids. You can keep up with us and all our new discoveries that way.

One more exciting piece of information is that we are looking into moving our office into a bit more comfortable, modern and accommodating space! I will not tell the secrets yet as nothing has been signed, but… we are moving just a mile or so away, right on the feeder of I-10 to an office that is about twice the size of what we have now. We are in final stages of planning and financing our new project and we will let everyone know as soon as it is in motion where and when we are moving! So for now, please keep your fingers crossed and think of us as we are moving through this grueling procedure.
As for other news from this spring… as always my husband and I with my dad in tow have done a few runs, a bike rides and a few trips :) So here is what my wonderful family has been up to. First of all I did my first full marathon in Dallas right before Christmas time. My dad has a goal of running all 4 major Texas marathons and this was another one he checked off his list. 26.2 miles of fun and games! I must say it wasn’t too bad and I enjoyed training for it with my dad and my wonderful husband. We did lots and lots of runs in the urban Houston area, but we also ran in some state parks such as Brazos Bend to train for this big day. Everyone did great!

Then we ran the Houston ½ marathon in January and finally we switched to biking in preparation for the MS-150 in April. This year the weather held up for us although we had many threats of rain and storms and it rained ALL NIGHT as we were sleeping in the tent at La Grange. But the road was clear although a bit wet and it stayed cool thanks to the overcast sky. My mom and her friend and our cute little boys met us in Austin to cheer for us and to bring us back home. Then in May we took a trip to Switzerland with the boys. We have friends who live there and they prepared a very neat tour of the Swiss Alps for us. We stayed in a little “village” called Beatenberg and hiked the beautiful mountains, rode many trains, buses, and funiculars and even took a boat ride on one of the two lovely lakes we could see in the valley below our home in the mountains. The weather was rather ugly with lots and lots of clouds and it rained or snowed every day.

BUT we managed to have a great time anyway and both Christoph and Luki did a great job hiking and hiking. Few weeks later we went to Chicago for the annual AAPD conference. At first I wasn’t too excited about Chicago, but boy was I wrong! What a great city! It was hard to stay in class when the weather was lovely and the city was calling. But I did !!! I took some great classes on pediatric oral pathology, new findings in pediatric oral pharmacology, esthetic restorations of anterior teeth and what they call “mini-clinics” which are many short presentations on various topics in pediatric dentistry. But I also got to hike the downtown of Chicago, see views of the city from Hancock Center as well as from Willis tower (former Sears tower), admire the architecture of Chicago from an architectural boat tour, hang out at Navy Pier and play in the Centennial Park. And to top off the great trip I also was able to catch up with many of my friends from pediatric dental residency that live now all over the country.

Of course we ate at Gino’s East, which has at least an hour wait of just standing in line outside but the pizza is worth every second of it! I’m a convert of Chicago and will recommend it to anyone who wants to visit. Especially if you are going in the beautiful spring time! And now here we are… busy in the summer time in our office. We are enjoying all of our patients and waiting for our college kids to hear their stories! We have had a few new high school graduates excited about their new college life coming up and we share their excitement and congratulate them from the bottom of our hearts! Enjoy your summer dear patients and parents and we want to hear from you soon! And Happy 4th of July!

Originally Posted: September 20, 2009 - By: Dr. Lindhorst
It is fall again at Smiles For Kids and time to update you on our fabulous summer! So first and foremost… we had the AAPD (American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry) conference this year in Hawaii… yes… you read it right! Most of our staff went to this conference and we had a great time! The actual conference was in Honolulu and we stayed at a lovely Hilton Hotel on Waikiki beach. The classes were excellent and I think everyone learned a lot about practice management, better billing systems, dental materials advancements etc. All kinds of excitement!!! We managed to go to class despite the lovely Hawaiian weather, but we also spent time at the pool, at the beach and connecting with old friends. It was so great to see my co-residents that are now all over the world and to meet pediatric dentists from everywhere. We also had some great “girl time” here and there as you can see from the pictures.

After a few days in Honolulu our “significant others” and families flew in and we all split up and went to explore Hawaii. So very, very fun! I took my family to Kauaii and the Big Island. Can’t even start telling you how amazing those places are!!! And everyone including my little boys did so well hiking, trekking and having a blast!

And then the rest of the summer was a huge blur! We saw so many of our lovely patients!!! We had fun learning of their summer adventures. We had a postcard contest where our patients sent in postcards from vacation and won prizes for best ones. Kayla White and the Fowler family won the prizes this year. Kayla sent us a postcard from Disneyworld and the Fowlers vacationed in Rockport and hang out on the beach. THANK YOU for sharing your vacation with us!

Bill, the boys and I took few quick summer trips. We went to San Diego area to hang out with friends and in San Diego Zoo and Legoland again. We also went to Galveston to the Moody Gardens for a weekend and to Lake Travis for 4th of July. Christoph went to Disneyworld and to see space shuttle launch. How cool is that??? I’m attaching a picture of that just because it is so very, very neat!!! Bill and I also took a quick weekend to trip to our favorite Napa Valley. That was our treat for our 9th wedding anniversary and we really enjoyed cooling off in the northern California summer.

I had a pleasure of doing a few short (sprint) triathlons this summer. One with a girlfriend and one with my dad. I had a great time doing one with Holly, but it was so special to do one with my dad! He worked so hard to be able to do this 300 meter swim, 16 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run all together. He had fun I think and the boys and my mom came to cheer us on. It truly was fun, fun, fun!

And here we are now, the fall is here, the weather is getting bearable! We are adjusting our gears from the crazy summer and trying to relax. We hope to see many of you at our fall Skating Party at the Dairy Ashford Roller Rink! Right before that I’m taking all my boys for a week “post summer” relaxation at the Grand Canyon. I have a dental management workshop in Scottsdale for few days, so we will work hard and play hard all in one week. We are also about to enjoy an afternoon of fun and relaxation at the Houstonian Hotel Spa. It should be a fun afternoon for all the girls. I do hope to do some fun girly time, bonding and have some fun!

Originally Posted: February 9, 2009 - By: Dr. Lindhorst
 
Wow what a weekend! It was so great to do some skiing. Fast and furious though… We left after work on Friday and got to our destination at 3am. Still… we managed to get ourselves ready for the slopes by 10am and skied hard for 3 days. And then we caught a 7am flight to come back and see patients most of the day today. Going behind a snow plow made me a bit uneasy this morning in the darkness, but we made it in time to the airport. I loved this trip! The snow was falling for large part of the time and it made the world magical. And all those little kids skiing impressed me to no end. I’ve been skiing since I was around 7 years old, but there were some 3 year olds just going! Fun to watch. Next time I will take my boys. I think that Christoph will do well this time. And who knows… maybe Luki can try it too! He will be over 2 next time we’ll go for New Years. We’ll see what he can do! Meantime, enjoy some pictures. I love snow and skiing!

Originally Posted: January 13, 2009 - By: Dr. Lindhorst
 
Looks like I do best with summaries of each year! Well… Happy 2009! Hope that the holiday season was great for everyone! As always we enjoyed seeing all the kids during the holidays. We love our college and high school students showing up during the holidays to tell their stories…

We have had a busy 2008-both in the practice and at home! At Smiles for Kids we are working on making our office better and better for you every day! We have done a big marketing project this year with Carrie taking a leading role in making it happen. She is the smiley blond girl that welcomes you in the office-so please tell her she is doing a grand job!

We also finally got digital X-rays! We have had the panoramic machine for a while (the one that goes around your head to tell you what your bone looks like, if you have wisdom teeth etc), but we finally installed a regular cavity detecting x-ray machine as well. It is so great for our patients since we can largely decrease the radiation for each x-ray taken, we can now share the records with other specialists, and we can show the parents and patients blown up pictures that easily let them understand cavities and problems. We are very, very excited about this new equipment in our office.

Seattle Study Club, my monthly dental meeting, has proven very valuable. Since it incorporates dentists of all specialties, it is great for learning what is going on in dentistry outside of pediatrics. We discuss many comprehensive dental problems and talk about practice management. I feel so privileged to be part of such a great group!

I also attend monthly meetings with the pediatricians in Memorial City Medical Center. What an invaluable group! We discuss many topics in children’s health such as new flu vaccinations, obesity, over-prescribing of medications, new findings in asthma research, and others. I get to share with pediatricians how dental health incorporates into a patient’s overall well being.
Now for all the fun we’ve had as a team… In March Smiles for Kids celebrated 2 years with a fun bowling party put on by Yvette. It was great to have all the spouses and the kids of the employees come play with us.

In April we had Stefanie’s baby shower and soon after that, in May Stefanie had her 2nd baby girl-Kaycee. She is completely adorable, smiley and fun. And by now she is a BIG girl of 7 months… At the end of the summer we celebrated with a BBQ at Malgosia’s house. Everyone came together for some pool time, good food and hanging out. We also celebrated Stef coming back to work after a 3 month maternity leave. And in October we had a Girls Day Out at the Houstonian hotel Spa. What a fun treat for everyone to enjoy! At the end of the afternoon we basked in the jacuzzi telling stories and laughing. And then… Martina’s daughter turned 15 and we all went to the fabulous Quinceañera. For those of you that have never been… by all means-GO!!! We partied all night and had a great time! Before we knew it… Christmas time came along and we had a fun celebration for our team at the Rainbow Lodge.

So that’s just the life of the practice! And it has not been any quieter on the home front! My boys are growing and growing like little weeds! Christoph just turned 4 and had a fabulous party at Pump It Up! Luki is 15 months now and the sweetest little man ever. We made sure that they are not bored this year! We took them on several trips. In February we drove all around Texas with some friends from Europe. It was really neat to show them how fabulous Texas is! In May we went to Washington DC for a pediatric dental conference and showed the boys a bit of US history. Christoph’s favorite was the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, Luki was just content sleeping in the stroller. In July we traveled all around southern California starting in LA, going down to San Clemente, then Legoland, San Diego and ending up back in Big Bear for the 4th of July fireworks!

I saw two of my dear pediatric dental friends and it was good to talk about the “old times” of residency and the “new times” of building their offices and having beautiful kids. So if any of you are moving to southern CA… I do know some GREAT dentists to recommend!!! And barely 2 months later had we taken the boys on another plane ride, this time to Poland. Luckily for us… we just happened to avoid IKE’s visit to Houston. I hope that all of you have recovered from it already and resumed “normal” life. We enjoyed Poland a lot although it was very cold and very rainy… Not really my favorite weather, but friends and family made up for the nasty cold. I guess we are not able to sit still because just 2 months later again… we went to London for Thanksgiving to visit friends of ours! The fact that my boys still want to live with me is shocking ?, but they are not complaining! My little troopers and world travelers!

Now my husband, my dad and I are getting ready for the Houston ½ Marathon next weekend. It is exciting as always and has become a family tradition. We are starting to think about MS-150 upcoming in April too! This year we are riding on the NASA team-Team Mission Control. Both Bill and I got new bikes we are very excited about (used ones… but still new to us). Wish us luck!!! And hope to see some of you on the road or in La Grange.

I hope this brings you back to date on all the fun things that Smiles for Kids and my family has been doing. I am looking forward to your visits every few months! See you soon!!!

Originally Posted: January 24, 2007 - By: Dr. Lindhorst
 
It has almost been a year since I’ve posted on this blog! Wow… Hard to believe how fast the time has gone by! So now here we are…early 2008. Since I wrote last time much has happened…
First of all we had a whole summer of fun. At the very beginning of the summer, I enjoyed working for my dear friend; Dr. Pam Clark in Pearland while she was taking time off with her first baby. It was such a great experience to work in another pediatric dental office and to learn new things.
At the end of May we took a trip to San Antonio for the annual American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry conference. It was great to learn few new pearls of pediatric dentistry and to catch up with many pediatric dentists from all over the United States. We all worked very hard this summer and I was excited to welcome many new and wonderful patients to our office. As always in the midst of the summer rush, we took the week of July 4th off to rest a bit from the craziness. Bill, Christoph and I went to California to hike in Big Bear area and to relax with friends in San Fernando Valley.

At another point of the summer my husband and I also went to San Francisco and Napa Valley for a long weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather there and a wedding of a college friend of mine.

Overall, summer was busy, busy and for me it was a bit tiring since I was also growing a whole new baby! By the end of the summer I was barely fitting in our office with my huge tummy and my beautiful son, Lukas was born on October 13th, 2007. He is a quiet, loving, smiley and beautiful baby. So sweet! Few great pediatric dental ladies helped me in running the office while I was being a mommy. Some of you might have met them… Dr. Clark, Dr. Dube and Dr. Jetton. I can’t thank them enough for taking care of all of you and of my staff! Meantime we were adjusting at home to a life with 2 boys. Christoph has gone through the transition smoothly and has been a great big helper for me. I’m so excited about them playing together in the future! Christoph is also at school now and he is enjoying that greatly.

Professionally speaking, I have joined a great study club called Seattle Study Club, which reviews many dental topics monthly. We have had some neat orthodontic lectures and case discussions and next month we have a team building workshop for all the staff in our office. I am delighted to be invited to be part of this study club and I have enjoyed many benefits of it.

I also attended a practice management class in Las Vegas put on by the Levin Group, a leader in dental practice management. It was wonderful and I have hired the Levin Group to help me develop our practice and make it better. I hope all of you will see that and enjoy hanging out with us.

Finally the holiday season came along and we had a really good time. I loved seeing all my older patients again. What fun it is to hear about all their college majors, stories, places they’ve been to and all kinds of other fun things they tell us! We had our office holiday party at Michelangelo’s restaurant and everybody enjoyed the great food and the fun games. We even had our summer hygienists; Gina and Clarence come and enjoy the party.

Speaking of Gina, did you guys know she just had a baby??? A beautiful, healthy baby boy Hunter. We have very much enjoyed following her pregnancy and looking at the baby’s pictures. And I guess this pregnancy thing is in the water because Stefanie, our office manager and hygienist is also expecting a baby. This will be a second one for her and we are all waiting for June to find out whether it’s a boy or a girl. So do tell her CONGRATULATIONS when you see her next time!

All our staff had happy holidays and I think that everyone got all the gifts they had wanted ? We are now back to work and perfecting our practice to get ready for yet another summer. I hope to see many of you then, but I promise to write sooner than one year from today!

Originally Posted: May 15, 2007 - By: Dr. Lindhorst
 
Well, well, well… The holidays had come and gone! We have seen many of our wonderful patients over the holidays and we are very happy to catch up with you! It was especially nice to see many of the older kids coming back from college to hang out with us. It is always a pleasure to hear all about your plans for the future and how school is going. To our high school seniors… Good Luck in the near future finding out about your college admissions. I believe in all of you! I’m sure you will get into the right place for you!
As for our holiday season-we had a great time here at Smiles For Kids! We worked hard and played hard! Our office had all kinds of fun decorations put up by Malgosia. We had Christmas movies playing all season long. I think we know many of them by heart! On the 16th of December we had a Christmas party at my house. It was a lot of fun. The food was delicious, gifts were fun, and we even got to dance by the end of the party! You should have been there.

All of our staff had a great and safe holiday season. Everyone’s family is doing well and all got the gifts they needed. Everybody even made it through New Year’s Eve activities and is now safely back to work.


But we hit January running! I went to Ft. Worth to take a wonderful class that reviews all topics of pediatric dentistry. And yes, of course I was there during the ice storm! But I got to see some of my pediatric dental friends and it was good to catch up on some knowledge and some fun. And most of all, I took this class in preparation for a test I took on March 9th, second part of the Pediatric Dental board exam. I took the first written part 2 years ago and now it was time for the practical part. So I spent lots of time studying and finally I flew to Dallas to take the test. Talk about a stressful day! This is a very well designed oral exam that takes 2 hours of answering question on various cases of pediatric dental issues. Impressive test, but surely stressful. But that’s OK-a month later it turned out I passed! So for all of you interested in titles, I am now past all the possible exams and a Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry!
Sometime in the midst of all the studying, Martina, Yvette (my wonderful assistants) and I participated in Give Kids a Smile Day at the University of Houston Dental School. We volunteered all Saturday morning to do dental work for low income children in need. It was a lot of fun and I truly appreciated having my assistants there with me. They were wonderful as always.

In the meantime we took a little vacation and went to visit my grandma in Krakow, Poland. We took Christoph with us and it was an interesting quick trans-Atlantic trip.

I also want to tell you guys about our new panoramic digital x-ray machine. Now we can take the pictures we used to have to send you to an outside facility and make our diagnosis of dental findings complete without sending you all around town.

Now we are ready for the summer. We are hoping again to see many of our wonderful patients this year! Come out of the pools, camps, sunbathing activities and join us for an hour to catch us up on your life. We are waiting for you with excitement!

Originally Posted: November 2, 2006 - By: Dr. Lindhorst
 
Smiles For Kids has had an eventful few months! Our summer was very busy and fun. We saw many of our patients and we enjoyed hearing about their vacation plans and fun they were having in Houston. We have lots of great swimmers, travelers, and other great little and big kids in our office!
But all that summer fun had to come to an end eventually! We were still hoping for the heat to go away as well! I think we might be getting there now.
We welcomed fall this year with an open house of our remodeled office. Lots of our patients had a chance of seeing it already, but many of the pediatricians, orthodontists and friends of ours came to celebrate the end of construction with us.

Then October started and we headed out to Las Vegas for the ADA (American Dental Association) conference. We took many classes on things such as new dental materials and techniques, updates on insurances, bleaching, and sedation. We enjoyed ourselves and went to see some shows while we were at it. It was a lot of fun and we hope to share this with you in pictures! If you have any questions about our classes, we would be very glad to share this with you. Please call us or ask at your next appointment.

We are also hoping that you are gearing up for the holidays and that you are still watching your snacks! We are attaching a letter that we send to schools that give parents suggestions on what and how to eat during the holidays. Have a wonderful holiday season and don’t eat too much turkey!
And don’t forget about your checkup during the holidays!