Best Toothpaste With Braces: What Actually Matters
Braces & Aligners8 min read • By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS • Updated August 2026The short answerAny fluoride toothpaste, used properly, beats an expensive one used badly. What matters in braces is fluoride first, low abrasivity second, and technique third. Skip whitening toothpaste entirely while brackets are on, because you cannot whiten the enamel underneath a bracket and you will end up with pale squares when they come off....
Tribute Family Dentistry Voted Best Family Dentist in Frisco & Plano in Living Magazine’s 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards
Practice News & Community6 min read • By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS • Updated August 2026The short answerLiving Magazine readers voted us Best Family Dentist in Frisco and Plano for 2026. Being precise about what that is: it is a public vote, so it measures how many people liked us enough to fill in a ballot. That is a real signal about patient experience and no signal at all...
Does Laughing Gas Knock You Out? What Nitrous Oxide Actually Does
Oral Health & Conditions7 min read • By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS • Updated August 2026The short answerNo. Laughing gas does not knock you out. Nitrous oxide is a mild inhaled sedative that leaves you awake, talking, and aware of what is happening, just considerably less bothered by it. It kicks in within a few minutes, it wears off within about five minutes of breathing pure oxygen at the...
How to Clean a Night Guard (and What Ruins Them)
Preventive & Hygiene7 min read • By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS • Updated August 2026The short answerRinse it the second you take it out, brush it with a soft brush and mild soap rather than toothpaste, and let it dry completely before it goes in the case. Soak it in a denture or retainer cleaner once a week. Never use hot water, never use bleach, and never leave it...
Should You Brush Before Using Whitening Strips?
Cosmetic Dentistry6 min read • By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS • Updated August 2026The short answerBrush first, but not immediately first. Brush, then wait about thirty minutes before applying the strips. Brushing removes the plaque film that would otherwise sit between the gel and your enamel, but brushing hard right before applying makes the gums more likely to sting and can push the sensitivity up. If you are short...
A Frisco Dentist Took the Stage in New York. Here’s Why It Matters Locally.
Practice News & Community7 min read • By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS • Updated August 2026The short answerI spoke at Angel Aligner Ascend 2026 in New York about how artificial intelligence is changing clinical workflow in dentistry and orthodontics. The honest local translation: none of this replaces a clinician making a judgement, and most of it is invisible to patients. Where it shows up in a Frisco office is...
Where Our Patients Come From, and Why Location Matters
Practice News & Community5 min read • By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS • Updated August 2026The short answerWe looked at where our new patients came from over a year, and most of them live in the neighbourhoods closest to us: Tribute, Phillips Creek Ranch, and Lone Star Ranch, plus the rest of the FM 423 corridor. That is not surprising and it is worth saying out loud, because proximity...
Tooth Stains: What Actually Removes Them, and What Doesn’t
Cosmetic Dentistry8 min read • By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS • Updated August 2026The short answerThere are two completely different problems and most people are treating the wrong one. Surface stain sits on the outside of the tooth and comes off with polishing or a mildly abrasive paste. Internal discoloration is the colour of the tooth itself, and no toothpaste on earth changes it, because abrasives cannot reach it....