Staff Christmas Party

We host a Christmas party for the staff every year. This year we had it at our house and everyone was able to come celebrate the end of another year with fondue. We thought it would be fun for you to see us dressed up and out of our uniforms. Merry Christmas!

The Dentist's Kid on Halloween

Daddy, I need braces...

Open House Photo Journal

Grand Opening Celebration
September 22, 2007

Thank you to everyone who attended our Open House & Family Fun Day. We believe over 500 people came to check out our new building and meet the staff! It may have been a hot day, but were just thrilled it didn't rain. If you weren't able to come, check out the fun below.


Logan was so excited when the crew started the set-up. The three bounce houses alone were more more than this three year-old could handle!


The kids had a blast dunking the doctor. Dr. Gary only suffered minor bruises from the tank - his sense of humor remained in tact.


Clay County's Stephanie Renee performed for some of her youngest fans. We booked Stephanie for this event before we'd even broken ground at our new location!


Keisha and Andi made dental DNA identification kits for parents. Hopefully no one will ever need these, but they are helpful in case of an emergency.


Natatcha Jones of Black Dog Designs came out and painted faces. Natatcha is the talented artist who painted the mural behind our kid's play boat.


Our PS3 game stations attracted lots of kids. Our office is designed for this space to be a magnet area. Waiting siblings (and moms and dads for that matter) are never bored!


Meredith from the Clay County Sheriff's Office takes a break after conducting over 40 car seat safety checks in two hours! Thanks Meredith (and your fellow officers) for your hard work in the heat!


This little guy decided to come inside for a break and found a nice comfy chair where he could watch a movie!


The doctors, staff, and helpers all paused for a photo at the end of a long fun-filled four hours.

Teething Terrors or Gingivostomatitis?

This is a posting by Julie, Dr. Gary's wife, telling her experience caring for children with these nasty mouth sores!

Gary has often told me research shows teething doesn’t cause fevers. He says these fevers in infants and toddlers are most often caused by viruses. Still, most of my friends believe teething and fevers go hand-in-hand, and there are days I wonder if there isn't some shred of truth to the old wives' tale as well... So when our 12 month old Graham developed a fever when we were on our way to a dental study club meeting in Sarasota, I quickly wrote it off as teething. I checked his mouth and didn’t see anything to cause alarm - but I didn’t see any erupting teeth either.

For three days Graham ran a fever with no other symptoms. However, when we returned home from our weekend trip, his gums flared up with blisters. I then had the unfortunate responsibility of contacting the mom of the family we stayed with in Sarasota and informing her of my son’s diagnosis: gingivostomatitis. Sadly, I learned her six month old had come down with a fever too.

Gingivostomatits is highly contagious. That’s why so many infants and toddlers get the virus. There is almost no way to avoid it. So it was a little surprising when my 3-year old Logan ran a fever. We were sure he would have been exposed by now. We were wrong.

What was this virus and why hadn’t I heard more about it? I had only learned of gingivostomatitis the month previous when a friend had called us at home concerned about blisters in her toddler’s mouth. Gary made a house-call visit and told her to prepare for a long 1-2 weeks. She was able to give her child some relief by applying Canker-Rid, a honey bee byproduct remedy available online, to the sores.

I found plenty of information online on gingivostomatitis. Our experience has been almost textbook so far.

My oldest child Logan has developed much more severe symptoms than his brother, including fever, vomiting, inflamed gums, and a swollen tongue. It has been a miserable experience for him and our family. He has literally lived on yogurt, ice cream, and Juice Plus shakes for the past few days. Gary prescribed a “miracle mouthwash” that coats and numbs his tongue and mouth hoping it will provide Logan (and Mommy) some relief and enable him to eat some solid food. I have posted a picture of his swollen gums and fuzzy tongue stained brown by all the chocolate ice cream and dried blood. We’ve been hesitant to brush very aggressively due to the pain he’s been enduring, so he looks like he has a mouthful of decay.


Graham has developed Herpetic Whitlow, blistering on his finger from where the virus spread to a torn cuticle. He had sucked on his fingers to provide comfort from the pain and transmitted the virus to his finger. The vesicles in his mouth were only present for a few days, but I know the virus is still oozing out of his finger.

I am posting our story so other parents can learn about this virus before they experience it. Plus, it may be encouraging to know the doctor’s family endures many of the same oral issues your family does. Gary had seen this before in patient’s mouths, but I doubt he had experienced it quite like what we are experiencing now with our own children. I hope you are one of the fortunate moms who thinks their child is teething and notices only a mild fever. Right now I wish it were only teething...

Key Words

Orange Park, Middleburg, Green Cove Springs, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Palatka, Florida, Argyle, Oakleaf, Fleming Island, Dentist, Dental, Dentistry, Pediatric Dentist, Kids Dentist, Children's Dentist, Dr. Gary Myers, Dr. Donnie Myers, Orthodontics, Braces.