Blog – Page 9 – Charlotte Dentist | Cosmetic, Laser, Family Dentistry

Recent Six Month Braces Cases

Are you looking to improve your smile by straightening crooked teeth, but perhaps you really don't want to go through 2-3 years of braces? While we can definitely help with complicated cases by using InvisalignTM, the clear alternative to braces, for patients who have more limited goals, Powerprox Six Month Braces is a great option! Six Month Braces Isn't Always About Perfect Smiles Often, the patients who come to us for Six Month Braces aren't looking for a "perfect" smile, which they know would take comprehensive orthodontic treatment. They aren't looking for a perfect bite, because they can already chew just fine, don't have any pain, but they are often unhappy and lack confidence in their smile. With that in mind, there is nothing "wrong" about providing improvement, even if it falls short of "perfection," as long as we do no harm to the patient. Case #1: Severe Crowding Straightened in 9 Months LS came to us to see what we could do about the severe crowding in her smile. After a thorough exam, it was explained that she realistically needed comprehensive orthodontic care, that would probably last 18-30 months. However, she absolutely refused this option; after further discussion of pros and cons, we ultimately decided simply to treat the top teeth only, with a treatment time goal of about 9 months. We both knew in advance that the final result would be a compromise and less than ideal, but I did tell her we would make a big improvement. And as you can see, we did! [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:12-04:00 April 29th, 2013|Dental Braces, Six-Month Braces|0 Comments

Conservative Cosmetic Dentistry

When people think of "cosmetic dentistry," they usually think of things like porcelain veneers and teeth whitening; most don't think of dental braces, but really, braces ARE a form of cosmetic dentistry, and they're often a much more affordable and conservative way to give you a great smile. Dental Braces and Cosmetic Tooth Bonding for a Beautiful Smile When Ashley first came to see us a few years ago, she was very unhappy with her smile due to very crooked teeth and her "peg lateral incisors." Peg laterals are a surprisingly common occurrence; for whatever reasons, the second tooth on each side (pretty much always on the top teeth, never seen it happen on the bottom teeth) is very small, so they look like pegs. Since a beautiful smile depends on proportions as well ad tooth structure, these little teeth can really throw a smile off, even if the the teeth themselves are naturally beautiful, as Ashley's are. Because her bite was also "off" by quite a bit, and she was willing to take the time to fix that, along with the crooked teeth, we did not do Six Month Braces for Ashley, instead opting for comprehensive orthodontic treatment, which took about a 1 1/2 years. And this past week, we did some conservative cosmetic bonding to build up the pet lateral incisors to look normal-sized. Before and After Smile Photo of Braces & Bonding for a Great Smile Why Bonding Instead of Veneers? While we could have done porcelain veneers for Ashley, there were several reasons why we decided together for bonding: With bonding, we completed the treatment in just 1 visit, about 2 hours long Absolutely NO DRILLING on the teeth! Bonding costs [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:18-04:00 April 20th, 2013|Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Braces, Porcelain Veneers, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Does Your Dentist Already Know Everything?

Have you ever asked your dentist how much Continuing Education s/he takes per year? OK, maybe a different question should have been first - do you know that every state in the US requires a dentist to take a minimum number of hours of Continuing Education (CE) to keep their license in good standing, but that for most states, it's only about 15 hours per year? What do you think about that - is it enough, too much, not enough for modern dentists to stay up-to-date on current technology, materials, and techniques? Modern Dentistry is Hi-Tech and Moving Fast If you look at the world around you, it's impossible to miss how fast technology is moving ahead. The cell phone in your pocket has way more computing power than the world's first super-computer; your laptop and desktop computers can do things faster and easier than we ever dreamed; even your digital camera can now upload photos to Facebook and Twitter, save information to the Cloud, etc. In dentistry, technology is advancing just as quickly: 3D x-ray machines called cone-beams now create 3-dimensional images of your entire skull in a minute or less, with minimal radiation; CAD/CAM machines make all-porcelain crowns and even bridges in a single visit; Combining the 3D x-ray and CAD/CAM allows us to create precise surgical guides to put in dental implants EXACTLY in the right place for ideal results, as well as plan the final restorations in advance. Digital photography and simulations allow us to show you how your smile could look with porcelain veneers or teeth whitening; Some lasers treat gum disease comfortably and effectively; other lasers can actually shape teeth for fillings or crowns nearly as fast as drills, [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-12-21T20:37:31-05:00 March 14th, 2013|Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Braces, Dental Philosophy of Care|0 Comments

Visit our Google+ Local Page!

Hi everyone - just wanted to announce our newly designed Google+ Local page (aka Google Maps, Google+ Business Page, or a bunch of other things it's been called LOL) is "live!" Not that it was ever "down," but with some recent changes by Google (AGAIN!), it was looking a little funny. You can click on the image here or on the link below - both will take you to the new Local page. https://plus.google.com/b/111572925148043014798/111572925148043014798/about Would You Please Give Us a Review? It would be great if you would give us a +1, Share the page, send an email to your friends who might need a dentist, or anything like that. The more the merrier! And let us know what you think about the new Cover image, ok? Sincerely, Dr. Charles Payet

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:29-04:00 March 10th, 2013|ANNOUNCEMENTS|0 Comments

Cavities Don’t Always Hurt

One of the most frustrating things that dentists have to deal with on an every day basis is this very simple question: "But Dr. Payet, how can I have a cavity when nothing hurts?!" And you know what? The very simple fact is this: Cavities don't always hurt - at least, not until they are REALLY bad, in which case you've waited too long! When Do Dental Cavities Hurt? I think there is 1 other disease that is a good comparison when answering this question, so ponder this for a moment: When does high blood pressure hurt? Not until the heart attack usually. That's the problem we face with cavities.....they usually don't hurt until it's gotten really bad. Just like with high blood pressure and heart attacks. In dental terms, "really bad" typically means something like teeth being really loose, infected nerves, bleeding gums, broken teeth, etc. And "really bad" in dental terms also usually means "really expensive." And PLEASE trust me when I tell you - the huge majority of dentists do NOT want you to wait until things are really bad and really expensive! This Deep Tooth Cavity Wasn't Hurting Here's an example from today - a patient who's been coming to us for about 2 years, but who has an extremely busy work schedule and unpredictable work hours. When she was in for a cleaning, we had some open time and managed to get a couple fillings done.....and boy were they deep! We originally planned these almost 2 years ago, and they were a lot smaller then. Don't Wait Until the Cavity Hurts So what's the point? Just this: if your dentist tells you that there are cavities, please don't [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:34-04:00 February 26th, 2013|Cavities|0 Comments

Cosmetic Tooth Bonding to Close Spaces Between Teeth

Before the 2008 Economic Recession, we used to do a fair amount of Cosmetic Dentistry at our Charlotte NC dentist office, especially with porcelain veneers. Since then, however, the number of people willing to pay the high fees for 8-20 veneers has dropped a lot, and many people now also prefer Six Month Braces instead, as they’re more affordable and there’s no drilling on the teeth. Still, there are times a patient may want something super quickly, or perhaps they need something changed about the shape and color of their teeth that braces can’t do. Fortunately, there’s another option! How to Close Spaces Between Teeth in ONE VISIT We recently had a young lady come to our office unhappy about her smile, because she had a decent-sized gap between her front teeth, and also what are called “peg laterals,” which means that the lateral incisors (second out from the middle) were just undersized. She wanted to know what her options were, so we went over all of them: […]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:39-04:00 February 20th, 2013|Cosmetic dentistry, Porcelain Veneers|0 Comments

Dental Myth: Knee on the Chest to Pull a Tooth?

In all my years of being a dentist in Charlotte, NC, I’ve heard a lot of interesting stories from patients about bad experiences. No doubt, the large majority of them are true, but there are a few dental myths out there that always give us in the profession a good chuckle. One of my personal favorites is this one. Dentists NEVER Put Their Knee On Your Chest Dentists have a bad reputation but most really don’t want to hurt anyone. As is portrayed by Steve Martin in The Little Shop of Horrors, and as seen in this photo I took of a ceramic piece in Italy many years ago, dentists really have a bad reputation. From talking with many of my colleagues, though, I promise that most of us can’t stand hurting anyone and go out of our way to make sure you’re ok. […]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:42-04:00 February 18th, 2013|ANNOUNCEMENTS, Emergency dental visit|0 Comments

Doc, My Toe Fell Off – But I Didn’t Do Anything Since It Didn’t Hurt

I'd like to start off this post with a short story written by my friend and colleague, Dr. Alan Mead, on his blog Mead Family Dental. I have a friend who told me about something that happened to him recently. “So I was jogging the other day and one of my toes fell off. It was weird. I wasn’t even jogging on gravel or anything. Smooth blacktop. Anyway, I’m jogging along and then BOOM, my big toe falls off.” I said, “my gosh, that’s terrible! What did the doctor say?” “I didn’t go to the doctor. It didn’t really hurt much. Only when I walked on it just the right way. I just avoided walking on it.” At this point, you're probably thinking, "No way would I ever do that! If my toe fell off, I'd be at the doctor's office so fast, your head would spin!" But you know what? We dentists hear this story almost every day, except substitute the word "tooth" for "toe," and we hear, "Well, since it didn't hurt, I didn't do anything about it." Just Because a Broken Tooth Doesn't Hurt, Doesn't Mean It's Not a Problem I'll be honest - even after almost 15 years of doing dentistry, I don't "get" why people think broken teeth aren't anything to worry about. Maybe someone can explain it to me, but I just don't get it! If any other part of your body broke in half, even if it didn't hurt right away, you'd be worried, wouldn't you? Imagine your arm suddenly breaking and hanging there, even if it didn't hurt, wouldn't you be worried that something bad could be going on? [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:45-04:00 February 13th, 2013|Broken tooth, Emergency dental visit|0 Comments

Dr. Payet Hobnobs with Dental Elites

As part of my commitment to the highest-quality Continuing Education, I do take a lot of advanced CE courses. Because I'm fairly picky about the courses I choose, the courses I attend also are often the same ones that the most well-known names in dentistry attend. It's a lot of fun, and I'm fortunate to count a number of world-renowned dental lecturers as both friends and mentors. However, except at big dental conventions, it's not often that you get a whole bunch of world leaders in the dental field together in one place, but that's just what happened to me this weekend! Combined Powerprox Six Month Braces and Inman Aligner Course The weekend of Feb. 7-9, in Santa Ana, CA, I attended a 2-day refresher course on Powerprox Six Month Braces and a 1-day Certification course for the Inman Aligner. Getting the year started off with 22 hours of orthodontic continuing education seemed like a good idea, but I had no idea just HOW good an idea it would be! In the picture below, you can see me with the following world-renowned lecturers and authors (from left to right): Dr. Tif Qureshi - immediate past President of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and Director of the Inman Aligner Training Institute, author of many articles, opinion leader in Europe on numerous issues. Dr. Pascal Magne - professor at the University of Southern California Dental School and, together with his lab technician brother Michel, author of some of THE definitive textbooks on the porcelains we use today, as well as on conservative dentistry; member of one of the most exclusive and advanced dental study clubs in the world. Me :-) (OK, I'm kind of well-known in [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:47-04:00 February 10th, 2013|ANNOUNCEMENTS, Cosmetic dentistry|0 Comments

Why Dentists Tell You Different Things

If you've ever been to more than 1 dentist in a short period of time, for whatever reason, you've probably been a little surprised that one told you there were several problems, one didn't say a thing, and maybe the third suggested something entirely different. This question has been discussed in several major news articles over the last couple decades, but usually with a major hidden bias or agenda that the public never gets to see, but which has a big influence on how the issue is presented. At our Charlotte NC dentist office, this is something we encounter on a regular basis, so why not address it head-on? Dentists Are People, Too In simple terms.........dentists are like everyone else! And like people in every other field, that means there is a huge variety from which you may choose, such as: Some are experienced but don't stay up-to-date; others push the envelope of cutting-edge techniques Some are young and driven to be the best; others don't have a clue Some love technology and buy every new gadget that comes out - others don't know how to use email Some are passionate about always learning more; others struggle to reach the minimum requirements to maintain their license. Some understand research and base their recommendations on solid science, others are quacks and couldn't read a research paper to save their life Some dentists are more "aggressive" and some more "conservative" You get the idea, right? This is no different than in any job - some people really want to be the best, others couldn't care less, and then everyone in between Look at your co-workers, and you can probably figure out how to apply this list to them. There Is [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:50-04:00 January 21st, 2013|Dental Philosophy of Care, Family dentistry|0 Comments