Meet Dr. Crawford

Linda A. Crawford, DDS, MS, P.C., Diplomate, American Board of Orthodontists

Download Dr. Crawford's CV [PDF]

Mission Statement:

“My staff and I take pride in doing our best every day for every patient.”

Dr. Crawford, a native Texan, has been serving the Park Cities and surrounding communities since 1993. Her life’s goal is to do her best every day in every situation and remain eternally thankful for the gifts of her talent and her practice family.

Dr. Crawford received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1991 from Baylor College of Dentistry. Her Specialist's Certificate in Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics was also received from Baylor’s world renowned Orthodontics program in 1993. Dr. Crawford’s Masters in Science degree in Craniofacial Biology was awarded from Baylor University in 1993. Then in 2001, Dr. Crawford completed the extensive examinations that earned her Diplomate Status with the American Board of Orthodontics, an honor shared by only approximately 2000 orthodontists world wide. Dr. Crawford has been an INVISALIGN® CERTIFIED PROVIDER since 1999. She also has a passion for understanding how airway obstruction and improper muscle attachments affect the developing face and influences the development of malocclusion.

Her original Preston Center practice was founded by her teacher and mentor, Dr. Tom Matthews, in 1956. When asked what she feels have been the strongest contributing factors in the continued growth and success of her practice as well as her truly blessed reputation, she states it is because she gives her best to her patients on a daily basis and treats them with the same level and standard of care she gives members of her own family.

She adds that her success has been built one patient at a time with individualized treatment plans that combine traditional, time-tested approaches with high tech diagnostic and treatment techniques to create each individual’s beautiful smile. Dr. Crawford cares for children and adults alike, with her youngest patient being three years of age and her eldest having been 93 to date.

Her commitment stretches from the meticulous attention given to every smile she has the honor of brightening, to sharing her personal time, monetary resources and connections with each charity she is involved in. Dr. Crawford is dedicated to her staff by leading by example in every aspect of her practice.

Dr. Crawford also enjoys all aspects of art, reading, music and ballroom dancing. She is the proud mother of two grown sons and shares her home with two beloved Chihuahuas.

Dr. Crawford’s Life Bio

My name is Dr. Linda Crawford and I am an orthodontist in the heart of Dallas.

My mission and life goal is to do my best every day in every situation and remain eternally thankful for the gifts of my talent and my practice family.

Let me begin by saying dentistry has truly always been a part of my life. I am proud to say that I am a Native Texan. At the time of my birth, my dad was a mechanic in the Air Force so I was born at the Amarillo Air Force base infirmary. Recently, in a sweet note, my dad teasingly reminded me that “my birth was the best fifteen dollars he had ever spent.” My first dentist in Amarillo happened to have been my father’s dentist in the Air Force.

Throughout my youth my family was regarded as poor and blue collar. My father, the son of a Swedish immigrant, grew up in the streets of Detroit and had a 9th grade education. My Mom was a high school graduate from Claude, Texas, a small farming and ranching community. Both of them knew what it was like to struggle through hard times and fight for what was important.

After leaving the Air Force, my dad worked at the Portland Cement factory and went to school at night. My mother was a homemaker with a debilitating illness. Growing up in this environment taught me to be self-sufficient and self-reliant at a young age. As the eldest of three children, my parents will attest that I have always had a ‘first born’ temperament.

My childhood memories include growing and later eating the vegetables in our backyard garden, helping my dad roof the house, paint, wallpaper and carpet the houses we lived in, overhauling two cars—engine pulling and all, mowing the yard, learning how to clean the house and ironing. I started learning how to cook from the time I was tall enough to reach the stove on a step stool and helped care for my brother and sister as my mother lived with the crippling pain of rheumatoid disease.

I regarded all of this as normal and truly enjoyed it all. Fun for my family as a child was jumping through the sprinkler in our bathing suits, playing with my dad as he carried the kids around on his big ‘cement factory’ biceps, climbing trees, playing in our neighborhood park and watching my Uncle Tony at the stock car races on Friday nights. Uncle Tony really wasn’t a blood relative but he was my father’s best Air Force buddy and lifelong best friend. We always thought Tony was the ‘richest man in town’ because he owned the Mobil station in Amarillo. I feel my childhood without privilege is the main reason I was able to survive some of the struggles in life that came later. My upbringing also taught me to appreciate every random act of kindness.

I watched my father study at night to educate himself, and although today he is officially “retired” he remains one of the leading jet engine forensic specialists in the world. My mother has struggled with her health for my entire life. I don’t remember a day that she has not had to deal with pain. I learned from watching my parents that life is what you make of it. They taught me by example that we are owed nothing by society but the world can be ours if we remain dedicated to our dreams.

My parents report that I began talking about the “decay germ” from the time I visited our family dentist as a small child. Believe it or not, my first dentist as a child in Amarillo was my father’s dentist in the Air Force, later our dentist in Amarillo, and, as destiny would have it, was also one of my teachers in dental school here in Dallas. My family moved to Dallas in the late 1960’s. In high school, I knew I wanted to work in the medical field but really didn’t know exactly what I wanted to ultimately become. I never dreamt I could be a doctor as no one in my family had been formally educated. I never even thought that a four year university was an option due to the limited family finances. I believe in my heart that my talent and my profession are gifts from God, a result of good professional mentoring and a lot of hard work. I am a person of strong faith and have always felt that life unfolds the way it is supposed to if you always do your best.

To help me decide what field of medicine I wanted to pursue I enrolled in the ‘health occupations’ program as a senior in high school. Science has always “made sense” to me. The human body, life and healing have seemed amazing and miraculous for as long as I can remember. I have always loved art and, as my parents will testify, my strong personality and unwillingness to give up made me an excellent problem solver. Although I never really thought of myself as a “really smart” person, I have felt like nothing was impossible if you dedicate yourself and look past the obstacles that appear to be blocking your goals.

One day I came home from school and my mother informed me that she had found a job for me with a young dentist who was willing to train me as his dental assistant. I was grateful for the opportunity and fell in love with the field. Dr. Michael Jones, my first employer and mentor, later encouraged me to go on to dental hygiene school. For eleven years between school and having my first son I remained employed with Dr. Jones and to this day, more than 35 years later, we have remained friends and professional colleagues.

In the early 1980’s while working for an orthodontist in Longview, Texas, I found my passion for orthodontics. When it was time for us to move back to Dallas, my employer recommended I apply to dental school, he wrote me a letter of recommendation and after completing the prerequisite courses I was ultimately accepted to dental school. Having made excellent grades in my undergraduate work and my years of experience in the dental field to that point, I was accepted to dental school without a Bachelor’s degree. The journey began that led to achieving my Doctor’s degree in dentistry, my Masters degree in crainiofacial biology and Specialist's Certification in orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics.

I give credit to my mentors and family for helping me achieve my current profession and will be ever grateful for their support. Orthodontics is the ultimate combination of my love of art and science. Words cannot express the personal joy brought into my life by helping others on a daily basis.

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