Cosmetic dentistry at our dental office, located in Southpark Charlotte NC, includes a wide range of dental treatments, such as Teeth Whitening, Deep Bleaching (TM), Porcelain (laminate) Veneers, Porcelain crowns and bridges, Dental Implants. Dr. Charles Payet has extensive training and experience in providing patients beautiful Smile Makeovers for over 10 years.
Digital Dentistry is Awesome!
Truly, the wave of the future in dentistry is DIGITAL, and not just in computers in the rooms. Digital dentistry is expanding into every aspect of modern dental care, and I love being part of it! Here’s just one example from this week: Digital Dental Impressions – NO GOO and Much Faster When you need crowns in our Charlotte dental office, most of the time we make them right here during your appointment with the CEREC CAD/CAM system. However, there are times that we still need to use a lab, and one of the main reasons for this is when we need the strongest possible materials, such as zirconia. Zirconia is a ceramic material with unbelievable strength and hardness, even when pretty thin (we’re talking 1 millimeter thin). […]
Stunning Cosmetic Dentistry in One Visit
While not an easy job, some days dentistry is one of the most rewarding jobs on the planet, and today was one of them! Cosmetic dentistry can take many forms, but when it involves multiple different procedures and materials, it can be an hugely challenging job to make it all turn out just right. In our Charlotte dentist office, we use the most modern technology and teamwork and skills to make this happen, and today was a perfect example of how it should all come together for a beautiful smile. A Broken Porcelain Crown and Space Between the 2 Front Teeth When Anya first came to us for a consultation, it seemed fairly routine - she had a 10-year old porcelain crown that had a chipped corner, and she didn't like the gap between her 2 front teeth. So I recommended some bonding on the left front tooth and having my lab make a new porcelain crown for the right front tooth. While I love our CEREC Same-Day Crown system, I felt we'd get the best result with a skilled porcelain artist, aka a lab tech. But as I got up, I noticed she seemed upset, so I asked what was wrong, and she told me of how bad the experience was the first time she got the crown done, and I realized we couldn't do that to her again. The challenge was then - make as perfectly matching a new crown as we could in ONE VISIT, plus close the space between the teeth. And if there's one thing I like, it's a challenge! Cosmetic Dentistry is about Communication So after plenty of discussion, we decided on the following plan: BOOST! One-Hour Tooth Whitening (completed [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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: […]
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 [...]
Bonding to Fix a Broken Front Tooth
If you have chipped a front tooth, often playing sports, you know how embarrassing it can be to smile. However, you may be worried that the tooth will need a porcelain veneer or dental crown to fix it, and you might be worried about the cost. The good news is, for patients of our Charlotte dentist office, there is a very affordable, conservative (meaning we don't drill the tooth away), and completely natural-looking way to fix broken front teeth with composite bonding. Fixing a Broken Front Tooth with Bonding This young lady came to us as a new patient recently, wanting to know what could be done about fixing her chipped front tooth, which she'd broken playing sports some time ago. A very attractive young lady, she was embarrassed to smile big because the chipped tooth was right in the very front. Because the broken part of the tooth wasn't small, it wouldn't be unreasonable for a dentist to suggest a very thin porcelain veneer to repair this tooth. Her teeth have a lot of character to them - a noticeable shift from darker at the gums to lighter at the edge, some whitish spots and lines, etc. - which make it very difficult to match believably with bonding. However, even a very conservative veneer would require removing more healthy enamel than necessary, and conservative tooth-colored bonding, or composite resin, is also strong and long-lasting, you just need a dentist skilled at matching all those details. Can You See The Filling? Matching a single front tooth is usually considered the greatest challenge in cosmetic dentistry, so many dentists will recommend fixing the 2 front teeth at the same time, because it's easier to make a [...]
One Dental Implant and 2 Crowns to Smile
Can a Dental Implant Look Natural in a Smile? Are you missing teeth in the front and thinking about a dental implant to replace it? If so, are you concerned that the new tooth might not look as natural as your other teeth? If so, then read on and see how terrific Tim’s smile looks with a dental implant and 2 crowns done in our Charlotte dentist office. Dental Implants Are Cosmetic Dentistry, Too When Tim first came to see us, he was worried about a front tooth that had suddenly become loose and dropped down. The tooth had a root canal and crown down nearly 35 years ago (pretty impressive!), but unfortunately, the root of the tooth itself had fractured below the bone and could not be fixed, so we ended up extracting it. Because the crowns were so old and didn’t match his other teeth, we decided to redo the one next to it so his smile would match. When doing dental crowns on front teeth or implants, it automatically becomes a cosmetic dentistry case, so we have to work with a really excellent dental laboratory to create an artistic smile, especially in a case like Tim’s. If Tim had wanted to do porcelain veneers for his whole smile, this would have been a lot easier, but he was otherwise happy with his smile. Matching Natural Teeth with Dental Crowns is Hard […]
2012 – Exciting Changes Ahead!
As our Charlotte NC dental office closed out 2011 and opens for 2012, there are some exciting changes and additions ahead, which we hope will lead to more comfortable, faster, longer-lasting, more esthetic, and even more successful outcomes for our patients of all ages. So here's a preview of the 2 biggest changes/additions: Dental Implants Of all the plans for the year, I am most excited about starting a 9-month long dental implant continuum of really intense training on all aspects of planning, placing, and restoring dental implants. From March through November, it's 216 Hours of in-depth training by world-renowned specialists. Once completed, I will be fully trained and qualified to do the following procedures: Single-tooth replacement with an implant and crown Replace 3-14 missing teeth with a dental implant-supported bridge Rebuild bone in areas that need it before an implant can be placed Do additional gum grafting in areas where needed for implant success Place multiple implants to support a "snap-in" denture Use the most modern 3-D x-rays to plan and finish the most complex cases Better One-Day Porcelain Dental Crowns and Onlays Shortly before Christmas, we received the newest and biggest software update EVER for our CEREC CAD/CAM system, which we absolutely love already. Totally redesigned to make it easier and faster to get natural-looking, all-porcelain dental crowns in just one day, we can now do multiple crowns and onlays all at once, even in different parts of the mouth. If all goes really well (fingers crossed!), will be adding a new 3D Cone Beam X-ray machine that integrates perfectly with CEREC. This combination will let us plan dental implants and crowns or bridges all together!
A New Way to Stay in Touch: Google+
Have you jumped into Google+, the newest and fastest-growing social media platform online, yet? If not, it's remarkably easy to get started, and after using it on a personal level for the last 2 months or so, I must say, it's turning into a wonderful way to stay in touch with people. There are some very noticeable differences when compared to Facebook, and FB is still the dominant player, no doubt about that, but I like it! Find this Charlotte NC Dentist All Over! And as of Monday November 7th, 2011, now we have a Google+ Business Page, too! As a bit of a techie and Web geek, I was fortunate to get an early opportunity to create one, and I'd like to share it with you: Smiles by Payet Dentistry on G+. Now, it's still pretty basic, as I'm learning how they work, and Google is still adding features on a regular basis. Of course, there are a gazillion different websites out there, and it's basically impossible to maintain a presence on all of them, but there are certainly a few that we use, if you'd like to keep in touch with us beyond our Monthly Newsletters or emails. Check us out!
