Blog

At 1st in Smiles, you have two teeth whitening options, an in-office treatment that takes about an hour, or a convenient home whitening treatment. If you need to brighten your smile in a hurry, the office treatment is definitely the way to go. With the home treatment, you can whiten whenever it’s most convenient for you. We’ll provide you not only ...

Some symptoms of oral cancer, like a lingering pain in the mouth or difficulty swallowing, are pretty obvious. Others, though, are practically invisible. For example, you may have: Thickening of the tissue in your cheek White or red patches on gums, your tonsils, your tongue, or the lining of your mouth Loosening in your teeth These symptoms ...

If you’re like most people, you never want to learn you have cavities during your dental exam. As bad as cavities are, though, they aren’t the biggest threat to adult teeth. Gum disease is the leading cause of tooth loss for adults. Even worse, many people don’t realize they have it. Take our quiz to see if you could have gum disease. If the quiz ...

Most of us have been brushing our teeth every day since we were very young children. So we’ve figured out how to do it by now, right? Truth is, most of us could stand to improve our brushing technique. To get healthier results, check out our infographic for four tooth brushing hacks from Dr. Rick Barfield. We’re also happy to share oral hygiene tips ...

From jelly beans to chocolate bunnies to Peeps, Easter is a time when many of us indulge in candy. We would never tell you to completely skip sweet treats, but you can make the holiday easier on your teeth by making smart candy choices and by following some oral hygiene best practices. Check out this Easter candy advice from your dentist. If you have ...

If you have dental phobia, you’ll be glad to know we offer two kinds of sedation dentistry at 1st in Smiles. Both will help soothe your nerves, but oral sedation is the better choice for people with more serious cases of dental phobia. Watch this video with Dr. Rick Barfield to hear more about our two sedation options: laughing gas, received through a ...

It’s April 1, a day when many of us fall for pranks by our family and friends and even by companies like Google. There’s little harm in most April Fool’s jokes. We wish we could say the same for DIY dentistry. A quick search on the internet finds there are very few dental services at least some folks haven’t tried to do themselves at home. Some ...

Lydia knows that she could go anywhere to get her teeth cleaned, but she chooses to come to our office in Plano, TX. She appreciates the personal care and attention provided by our team every time she visits. And as you’ll hear in the video below, we’ve helped her with a variety of issues since she’s been one of our many patients. Do you think ...

Getting older has its advantages. You have more experience and more knowledge. You are better prepared for many of the twists and turns that life throws your way. You are aware of the many ways your body changes, too. You probably aren't as fast or as strong as you once were. You probably need more time to recover whether you were doing work in the yard ...

Stacey is pretty open about not being a fan of flossing and about not wearing her retainers after she had braces as a teenager. When she came to 1st In Smiles looking to improve her teeth, she had more than one thing that she wanted to do. As you will hear in the video below, there was no “dental shaming” at our office. We worked with Stacey to give ...