Merry Christmas!

Today is the last day the office will be open until after Christmas.  We will be re-opening on December 27th.  December has been busy, a lot of patients trying to get their work done before the end of the year to use up their benefits and get their work done before they have to pay their annual deductible again in January.  We also had two different patients bring us home made tamales today!  I had a couple for lunch and they were delicious! 

We love our patients!  Thank you Claudia P. and Yoli's mom :)

December Goodies

Can you believe December is here already?  We have gotten some nice gifts from other offices recently and I just wanted to share them.  One of the periodontists brought us the cookies, and another general dentist in our building brought us the poinsettia.  We have a really great dental community here in El Paso.

End of the year...time to use up those insurance benefits!

Can you believe we are halfway through November already, where has the time gone??  Only 42 days left in the year, which means it is time for those of you with dental insurance to take advantage of your plan's benefits! 

Most plans allow two cleanings per year at no charge to the patient.  You also have an annual maximum, usually from $1,000 to $2,000, depending on the plan, that your insurance will pay toward your dental care.  At the end of the year, if you haven't gotten any treatment or have only used a part of that, the rest of it is GONE!  It does NOT roll over to the next year. 

So if you have any work that you know you need to get done, now would be the perfect time to schedule to have it done.  November and December are filling up fast!  Even if you don't have anything that is bothering you, you can at least come in for your cleaning and check up!  We have an awesome full-time hygienist, Yoli, and its probably FREE to you, so why not?  Even if something isn't bothering you right now, it is best to catch problems while they are small and easy and less expensive to fix, before they do start bothering you, because by that time you have less options, and usually your out-of-pocket cost is going to be a little more.  Prevention really is the best medicine!

If you have any questions about your insurance or what benefits you have with your insurance, or what is covered with your insurance, please feel free to give us a call!  We can call your insurance company and get a breakdown of what is covered and then let you now.  915-778-4681

Happy Veteran's Day!

We appreciate our military so much, especially our own soldiers and their families here at Fort Bliss.  We DO accept TriCare and United Concordia, which is the dental insurance that the families of military members have. 

The active duty soldiers are supposed to be seen by the doctors on base, unless they get referred off-base for some reason, like if they are too busy and it is a procedure that needs to be done right away, or if it is a procedure that the Army considers cosmetic, like BRACES!  We actually have a patient in braces right now that is active duty.  She is almost done with her braces and her teeth are looking awesome! 

Again, happy Veteran's day, and thank you so much for everything you do and all the sacrifices you and your families have made!

Pictures from the Health Fair at Eastwood Middle School

We had a great time at the health fair at Eastwood Middle School!  We had a ton of people enter the raffle and the kids were all excited about looking at their teeth on computer.  We have a little intra-oral camera that doctor can use during exams, and the images from the camera show up on the computer screen.  A lot of people were surprised to learn that we are a general dental office that also does braces.  It makes it a lot for convenient for families, Mom doesn't have to drive everyone to more than one office to get all their dental work done.

Here are a few pictures of the fair, I didn't get very many good ones!

We also had a raffle with three awesome prizes.  The winners have been notified, and one of them already came in for her teeth whitening!  If you are interested in having a brighter, whiter smile, and have any questions about the whitening options we offer in the office, give us a call at 778-4681!  We'd be happy to to speak with you and let you know what is available.

November: National Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Did you November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month?  The leading cause of lung cancer is smoking cigarettes.  Smoking is also probably one of the worst things you can do for your oral health also.  Cigarettes cause a lot of damage to your teeth, gums, and your overall health.  Click HERE to learn about lung cancer and some programs the American Lung Association has to help smokers quit.

There are a lot of things we can help you with here at Green Family Dental that can help you preserve your teeth (although quitting really is the best thing you can do).  People who smoke a lot usually have a lot of problems with periodontal disease.  Our new hygienist, Yoli, can educate you on things you can do to take care of your teeth and prevent a lot of problems cause by periodontal disease.  We also offer treatment for periodontal disease here in our office.  Call us at 778-4681 for more information.

New Dental Hygienist!

We wanted to announce that we now have a full-time hygienist and we are SO excited to have her as part of our team!  We've had a part-time hygienist for the last few months, Amanda, she was great but she had gone back to school and wasn't available full-time. 

So we looked and interviewed several different hygienists and finally met Yoli and knew she was a great fit for our office.  She is an El Paso native and has worked in the dental field for over 20 years.  She has worked at a couple different offices here in El Paso, she showed up at our office one day to see if we were hiring because the office she was working at before was clear on the west side and it was a long drive for her.  We tried her out a few times, decided we liked her and hired her a couple days a week.  She impressed us so much we decided to hire her full time, and it has been awesome!

If you haven't had a cleaning in a while, you should come in, meet Yoli and let her educate you on how to take the best care of your teeth, and what treatment you can have done that can help you preserve your teeth for a lifetime. 

As always, give us a call if you have any questions!  778-4681.

Upcoming Event: Eastwood Middle School Health Fair

Just wanted to let you guys know that our whole crew, including Dr. Greenhalgh, will be at the Eastwood Middle School Health Fair on Thursday, November 3rd, from 4-7pm.

We will have a booth with our laptop and an intra-oral camera to do free dental screenings and show you pictures of any problems you might be having with your teeth.  This would also be a great time to meet the doctor and staff and see how great everyone is!

We will also be having a raffle, with three prizes:

1.  An In-Office Teeth Whitening Procedure (value $400)
2.  Custom take-home teeth whitening trays (value $99)
3.  A free cleaning with exam and xrays (value $200)

New Schedule and Hours

We have adjusted our hours.  The new regular office hours are:

Tuesday through Friday
8:30 a.m. to 5:30pm
Except Thursdays, we will be open until 6:30 on Thursdays.

Most other dentists aren't open on Fridays, so are trying to have more convenient hours.  Who wants to go to the dentist on a Monday anyway??  ;)

There will be an occasional change in the schedule, Dr. Greenhalgh is attending a lot of continuing education classes right now, which require him to be out of town on Friday.  So for the weekends that he has a class, we will be open on Monday instead of Friday.  The next few months will be a little unpredictable, but after the end of the year things should become more regular.

Meet The Team :)

Behind every great doctor is a great team....and we believe we really have the best team!  They all work super hard and are great with our patients.  All three of them were part of the practice when Dr. Nicholson was the doctor here, and they all stayed on and were a huge help when Dr. Greenhalgh took over.

Abel - Abel is one of our dental assistants, he has been with this practice going on 9 years!  He knows all the patients, takes care of all our supply ordering, and is especially great when it comes to cosmetics.  He is really artistic and has a great eye for how things look.

Freddie - Freddie is our second dental assistant.  He has been with this practice for over 2 years.  He is the doctor's go-to guy when it comes to endodontics and root canals.  He's also been really liking the braces we've been doing in the office, he's in charge of keeping all our orthodontic cases organized and assists the doctor most of the time when our patients in braces comes in. 

Marisa - Marisa is our front desk, receptionist, insurance expert!  She is actually a dental assistant, she was working on the clinical side when she first going the practice, but got moved up to the front desk and has been there for about three years.  She is likely the person you will reach when you call the office.  She can help you figure out what portion of your treatment your insurance will cover, help you find appointment times that work best for you, and answer any of your questions about what services we offer here at Green Family Dental.

We love our staff!  One of the assistants was gone this week on vacation and we were a little worried about being short one person, but everyone else stepped up and it has been a great week. 

Meet Dr. Greenhalgh

Here's a little history on Dr. Greenhalgh,if you are new to our office or our website!

Dr. Del Greenhalgh (pronounced Green-hall, but you can just call him Dr. Green) was born and raised in the desert of southern Idaho.  After graduating high school, he began his education and Idaho State University.

After completing the first year of his undergraduate degree, he took two years off from college to serve a mission for his church in Spain.  After completing the mission, he returned to Idaho State University and finished his bachelor's of science degree in Microbiology, and he graduated with honors.

Dr. Greenhalgh went on to attend University of Florida College of Dentistry.  During dental school he was involved in research of periodontal disease, took as many orthodontic and oral surgery electives as possible, and spent many extra hours in the oral surgery clinic.  Dr. Greenhalgh also went on a dental mission trip to the Dominican Republic, where he was a Spanish translator and provided dental work for the many people that do not have access to dental care.

After graduating from the University of Florida College of Dentistry, Dr. Greenhalgh did some surgical rotations at a hospital in New York City.  He practiced in Dallas before eventually moving to El Paso, where he took over for a doctor that was retiring, Dr. Connie Nicholson.

Dr. Greenhalgh is a member of the American Dental Association, the Texas Dental Association, and local El Paso Dental Society.  He is also a certified Invisalign provider, a graduate of the Garg Dental Implant Continuum, and has received extensive training in different orthodontic techniques.  He also speaks Spanish!

Welcome!

Welcome to Green Family Dental!  We are a general dentistry office that strives to provide the most comprehensive, quality care possible for our patients.  That's why we offer try to offer as many services to our patients as possible, so you don't have to go to several different offices to get your dental care.  Like most offices, we offer cleanings, fillings, crowns and bridges.  But we also do braces, wisdom teeth extractions, dental implants and dentures in our office.

We want our office to be a place where you can bring the whole family, kids, parents, grandma and grandpa.  You don't have to take the kids to one office for their cleanings and fillings, and then go to a different office for their braces.  You don't have to go to  the oral surgeon to have a dental implant placed, and then back to a general dentist to have the crown placed over the implant.  We can do it all here at Green Family Dental. 

If you want to learn more about our office and see how we can help you have a healthy, great looking, smile, visit our website, www.greenfamilydental.com, or call us at 915-778-4681.  We'd love to meet you!