Wildflower

Also happening this weekend is The Taste of Addison. Sample delicious food from over 60 of Addison’s favorite restaurants, offered a reduce price, national musical entertainment, wine tasting and carnival rides for kids, both young and young at heart!

Hope to see you there!

Dr. Solomon (back, left) and fellow volunteers.

When Dr. Gary Solomon isn’t at his Dallas Dental practice, he can frequently be found serving meals at the Dallas Stew Pot’s, Second Change Café.

The Second Chance Café serves three meals a day, seven days a week to more than 700 people per meal!  Volunteers help dish-up delicious meals prepared by kitchen staff and also help guests with beverages and seating.

If you’d like to volunteer, visit their site for information on how you can help:  http://www.thestewpot.org/volunteer.asp

Giving back to the Dallas community is important to Dr. Solomon and keeps him very busy. Other community involvements include; Dallas Women’s Attitude and Attire, Potter’s House, Texas Mission of Mercy Day of Dentistry, North Texas Food Bank, and Family Gateway, Texas Dental Association’s Dental Care program.

As a massage therapist, he’s adept at putting his clients at ease, but for himself – in the dental chair – it was another story.  He came to us with a lot of anxiety, but now looks forward to his visits, and has a habit of keeping the entire office entertained when he’s here.

If you’re not familiar with The Hopeful Smiles Program, it is an exceptional group effort of local dental professionals and Attitudes & Attire™.  The Hopeful Smiles Program provides much-needed dental care to women whose smiles have been damaged by poverty, neglect, violence, and illness.  This incredible program not only restores their smiles, it builds confidence and provides hope for a new future.

If you would like to make a difference in our community or know someone who would benefit from the incredible personal growth resources provided by The Hopeful Smiles Program and Attitudes & Attire™,  please visit their websites for more information.

The Hopeful Smiles Program

Attitudes & Attire™

The two couples became friends, and Jay encouraged them to consider opening a location here in the Dallas area.  Once back home in Dallas, Jay noticed a great location and emailed Manual.  Excited for the opportunity,  Manuel and Virny decided to bring their 30 years of experience and just this month opened a beautiful restaurant at the corner of Cedar Springs and Wellborn. With a menu of mostly organic and seasonal global cuisine, everything is homemade, and the meats come from local sources.

D Magazine recently profiled their restaurant on March 8^th 2012 and also on March 20^th 2012.

We are all excited to welcome Manuel and Virny to Dallas and wish them plenty of success!

Manuel’s Creative Cuisine
Phone: 214-520-5959
Address:  3102 Oak Lawn, #116
Dallas, TX 75219

“Today we know that periodontitis is an oral disease that is not limited to local tissue destruction.  Escalating evidence over 20 years of research suggests there are various inflammatory pathways that link periodontitis to systemic damage…”

Basically, what this means is that we dental folk suspect that when you have an infection like gingivitis or gum disease, your gums are an open window to your bloodstream for any number of supremely destructive and toxic bacteria.  The increase in the amount of scary bacteria in the blood can lead to inflammation pretty much everywhere your blood flows.  Sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it?

It’s this mild inflammation in the blood stream all through your body that increases on-going inflammation in distant organ systems, raising your risk for many of the debilitating diseases that doctors now believe are associated with chronic inflammation.  Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, pre-term and low birth-weight babies, respiratory diseases, certain forms of cancer, Alzheimer’s and other degenerative neurological conditions, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney disease, and autoimmune diseases such as lupus…  Wow.  Scary stuff.

So… What I want to know is this:  What can I do about it?

First, I have to broaden my view of “oral health”, meaning that I have to realize that my body is a complete system.  The blood that circulates through my heart goes right through my gums and my brain and my left pinky toe, as well.  Okay, since I’m a dental professional, I should have my gums covered.   Brush and floss a bazillion times a day, exams and cleanings every 3-6 months.  Done.  What else?

How about nutrition?  Stress, lack of exercise, genetic predisposition, and exposure to toxins like secondhand smoke can all contribute to chronic inflammation, but how and what we choose to eat plays a big role as well. We’ve known for a very long time that nutrition plays a major part in living with the heavy-weights like heart disease and diabetes.

But is there such a thing as an anti-inflammatory diet?  Can we help balance our body’s pH balance and tame internal inflammation in our blood, lymph, and organs by paying attention to how and what we eat?

Many doctors and nutrition experts say, “Yep.”  In a nutshell, an anti-inflammatory diet, or “clean eating,” means increasing fresh vegetables and fruits, decreasing trans fats and unhealthy saturated fat; reducing/eliminating processed or refined foods, high sugar foods, and fast food; choosing lean sources of protein and whole grains; increasing dietary fiber and water, and including spices such as ginger, curry, and turmeric, which have excellent inflammation reducing properties.   It’s “abundantly enjoying whole foods” – that is, foods as close to their natural state as you can get them.

Sounds like a major pantry/refrigerator-overhaul, doesn’t it?  You can do it that way, certainly, but for me, it was baby steps.  I started by (sadly) eliminating sugar from my daily diet, buying whole-grain breads and pastas, and making sure to read labels on everything – staying away from artificial ingredients, preservatives, and chemically charged foods.  As I made the transition from traditional American pre-packaged, processed preservatives, it became easier to choose the healthier option – and I found that I honestly didn’t want that box of Cap’n Crunch ‘cause my steel cut oatmeal with honey and fresh fruit just tasted so much better (and kept me full and physically feeling great).

For more information on the concept of an anti-inflammatory diet, check out Dr. Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet website. Also, read about the 5 steps to eating clean on livestrong.com  and find amazing recipes for dinner tonight on the Clean Eating Magazine website!

We welcome your feedback on this topic and invite you to post your thoughts and questions.

Bon Appétit!
Lori

The Dallas Kosher Chili Cook-Off is an annual community event, now in its 19^th year. All the proceeds from the event will benefit local charities and children’s programs. In the past 19 years, over 35 non-for-profit organizations have been helped through the proceeds generated by the Dallas Kosher Chili Cook-off!

If you didn’t make this year, be sure to mark your calendars for next year!

Currently a whopping 45% of all adults snore on a regular basis, and that number increases with age, and weight can even contribute to snoring.

There are many things that can cause snoring, and make people more susceptible to snoring such as:

• Narrow airways
• Allergies
• Alcohol consumption
• Gender (Men are 3 times more likely to snore than women)
• Sleeping positions (You are more likely to snore if you sleep on your back)

Snoring can be completely harmless, unless it is linked to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which disrupts the healthy sleeping pattern and is well known for its harmful effects on your health.  OSA is a very harmful sleeping disorder linked with snoring that can contribute to very serious health issues such as:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Stroke
• Hypertension

80-90% of all OSA sufferers go undiagnosed

OSA causes the afflicted person to breathe very lightly, or stop breathing at all!  This is horrible to one’s health because it can make blood oxygen levels plummet to dangerous levels.  About 4-9% of men are diagnosed with this ailment and 2-4% of women are reported to have this sleeping disorder.

What Are the Symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

The most common obstructive sleep apnea symptoms include:

• daytime sleepiness or fatigue
• dry mouth or sore throat upon awakening
• headaches in the morning
• trouble concentrating, forgetfulness, depression, or irritability
• night sweats
• snoring
• sudden awakenings with a sensation of gasping or choking
• difficulty getting up in the mornings

Our facility and staff is well experienced diagnosing and treating Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

If you or a loved one exhibits any of the symptoms of OSA, call us today for an appointment at 972-931-1777

Dr. Gary Solomon

We want to invite you to join us in the MS Walk in Addison to raise as much money as we can to fund research to stop this terrible disease.

As an added incentive, we’re holding a contest!  The top 6 fundraisers for my sister Wendy’s team (The Gladiators) will receive 2 tickets each to the Studio Movie Grill!

Join us and  The Gladiators team in their effort to create a world free of MS – you can register to join us as we walk, or make a donation to help drive breakthrough research and vital programs provided by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Raising awareness of this disease is important and personal for me, several of my family member, friends, and patients live with multiple sclerosis. I hope to see you at the walk and we are all thankful for your support in this worthwhile event.

Dr. Gary Solomon