Dr. Simon Says ... Whatif...

Josh Bullard

Gesundheit!

It’s allergy season again!

Congestion can affect the shape of your face

People who chronically deal with airway issues due to allergies or enlarged tonsils have a very specific facial pattern due to mouth-breathing.

The shape of your face effects your teeth.

Usually, the upper jaw is very narrow, which may cause crowding of the teeth or make the lower jaw shift to one side. Often the upper and lower front teeth don’t overlap like they are supposed to, making it difficult to bite and can effect speaking.

It’s never too late or too early to improve Early orthodontic treatment in children can minimize the effects of this growth pattern. Adults can benefit by addressing where the teeth should be to provide maximum function and minimize damage.

If you or your child is a mouth-breather, give us a call for a complimentary exam.

Patricia A. Simon, DDS 1809 Skillman St., Dallas 75206

214.826.9000 · lakewoodortho.net

LakewoodOrtho

@DoctorSimonSays

Many families have those favorite family tales they like to rehash at get-togethers. For neighbor Josh Bullard and his family, it’s the time they narrowly escaped a roof collapse in Anchorage, Ak.

“That is definitely one of the most vivid memories I have as a kid,” Bullard says with a chuckle. “A lot of things I don’t remember as a kid, but that is one thing I can always recall.”

Bullard lived a number of places growing up — from Colorado to the United Kingdom. During winter 1987, Bullard was 10 years old and living in Anchorage. His mother regularly took him and his brother to church on Sunday mornings, but this particular Sunday, that was a treacherous feat.

“During the service, there was a loud cracking sound,” Bullard explains. “People started to shout and point up to the high ceiling of the church. I looked up and remember seeing cracks forming and quickly spreading outward.”

People began evacuating the church through two side exits and one back exit, he says. Bullard’s mother grabbed him and his brother and pushed them under a pew for protection as people filed out of the large auditorium.

“We were probably under there for only a few seconds, but it seemed like minutes,” Bullard says.

A man ran up and grabbed Bullard and his brother and pulled them toward the back exit, he says. Just as the trio passed through the doorway, Bullard heard a loud crashing sound, and suddenly the group was propelled forward by a strong gust of air. They slammed into a banister, which luckily held under the force of their impact, because it would have been a long fall if it hadn’t.

“Basically, not only did my brother and I almost die from the roof collapsing, but if the banister hadn›t stopped us, we would have fallen down two flights of stairs,” he says.

Bullard says he doesn’t know who the man who helped him and his brother is, but he’s grateful all the same. “If he hadn’t done what he did, who knows what would have happened,” he says. As it turned out, not one single person was hurt in the collapse.

Bullard later found out the explanation for the collapse: The roof was covered with so much snow, it couldn’t support the weight — and apparently that’s not terribly uncommon.

“I was trying to find more details about [this particular incident], so I started to Google it and found more recent stories where that had happened at churches up there,” Bullard says.

“I guess we only have to worry about tornadoes here. Or hail,” Bullard concluds.