Wheeler Pediatric Dentistry celebrates 20 years of brightening kids’ smiles

THE WOODLANDS, TX – Dr. Jon Wheeler and the entire Wheeler Pediatric team recently celebrated their 20th anniversary of business in The Woodlands. Since the early 2000s, the goals of Dr. Wheeler – or, ‘Dr. Jon’ as he is affectionately known by his patients – and his staff at Wheeler Pediatric Dentistry are simple: to provide exceptional dental care and to make parents’ lives easier.

According to Wheeler, the kids that come in for treatment end up loving going to the dentist – thus developing lifelong oral health – and their parents don’t stress when an appointment looms on their busy calendar.

It’s clear why they achieve this goal with patients daily. Wheeler and the entire team genuinely care about each patient. They skillfully provide excellent dental care in a warm, fun, welcoming, and stress-free environment. Parents are even invited into the treatment area to be engaged in the care.

Dr. Wheeler sat down with Woodlands Online to discuss the origins of his practice, some thoughts on the passing years, and where Wheeler Pediatric is headed for the future.

“I grew up in Whitehouse, Texas, the same high school as Patrick Mahomes. You might say that I’m the Patrick Mahomes of pediatric dentists – or that he’s the Jon Wheeler of quarterbacks.” Wheeler next went to college at Texas A&M then went to dental school in Dallas at Baylor College of Dentistry (which later changed names to Texas A&M College of Dentistry). He did his residency at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital and Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, then moved to Alaska with his wife for two years before coming back to Texas.

Dentistry was an early aspiration for Wheeler. “It hit me like a lightning bolt my sophomore year of college,” he said. “I had to decide on a major. My dentist was a great guy and had his name on the door so I thought he must have been an important person. I spent that Christmas break visiting every dentist in Tyler that would let me in the door.”

Wheeler pointed out that the intricacies of being a dentist for children go far beyond just the size of the teeth involved; it’s understanding the needs and fears of the young patients he sees.

“There are some technical differences between primary and adult teeth. But more importantly we have two goals for every patient. The first is, when their parents get the reminder that it’s time to go to the dentist, that there is no anxiety in their household,” he said. “If anything, we want them bugging their parents because they actually want to go to the dentist. The second is, when they leave home for good, they keep going to the dentist because nobody has given them a reason not to.”

The facilities have televisions mounted to the ceiling and kid-friendly items and activities. “But,” admitted Wheeler, “anyone can have that. What sets us apart is our culture and our attitude. We know that being a parent is very hard, and taking your kids to the dentist can be a very stressful event. We don’t want it to be. We try to make everything easy. We run on time. Everyone has past experiences that affect the way they think about the dentist. We listen and try to make things simple. When I first considered this career, I knew it would be fun to joke around with kids and their parents and make a historically difficult situation fun. But over the years I have realized that the real fun is watching these kids grow up, watching what they achieve in life. I’ve learned so much from the parents who have come in regards to raising kids, sending them off to college… the list goes on and on. I’ve been here so long that I have former patients of mine that are bringing their kids in now.”

Wheeler knows this two decades of success is mainly due to enthusiastic and contagious patient loyalty and word-of-mouth. The readily apparent love is mutual; he and his team cannot thank these referring parents enough. Each year, they host Wheelerpalooza each year at Forest Gate Park to show their appreciation. Additionally, in-office fun includes visits from Michael Crayton of Magical Balloons, cool contests like a Taylor Swift ticket drawing, and even Dr. Wheeler singing aloud while he works.

“I can’t even tell you how fun that is. We also take a lot of pride in what we can accomplish with kids with developmental delays. That’s a really big deal to us.” he said.

He thoroughly enjoys the climate – physical and communal – of The Woodlands, an ‘obvious choice’ for him and his family to work and live. “Great schools, nice people, The Woodlands has it all,” he said. “When I moved here, the mall just came into existence and Market Street was under construction. My family’s rule in those early days was, if you are going out to eat on the other side of the freeway on Friday, make sure you go early or you’ll have to wait forever. Then our favorite areas became the Mall, then Market Street, then Hughes Landing. It’s been great watching this place grow.”

Wheeler Pediatric Dentistry is located at 6707 Sterling Ridge Dr Suite F, The Woodlands, TX 77382; call them at (281) 681-9880 or check out their business directory listing at https://www.woodlandsonline.com/cdps/cditem.cfm?nid=12826.