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Dental Braces

Hate Your Smile? We Can Fix That

We know that a LOT of people are unhappy with something about their smile.  Whether it's crooked teeth, gaps, uneven or excessive gums, chipped and worn teeth, stains from coffee/tea/soda, broken teeth from trauma....you name it, we can fix it.  We offer so many different options to help you LOVE your smile instead of hate it. If this is the kind of dentistry you'd like, Request an Appointment Online or call us at 704-364-7069. We'll look forward to meeting you soon!

By | 2017-06-09T20:32:19-04:00 June 24th, 2014|Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Braces, Porcelain Veneers|0 Comments
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Six Month Braces Give You Straight Teeth Fast

If there’s a common theme to most of the adult patients who come see us to learn about Powerprox Six Month Braces Technique, which we’ve been using with great results for over 10 years now, it’s this: “I want a straight smile, but I really don’t want to wear braces for 2-3 years!” Patients Love Six Month Braces – Seriously Most of the time, patients don’t like to see the dentist.  However, if there’s one procedure they actually WANT to come see us for, hands-down, it is Six Month Braces.  And if there’s one thing that we LOVE to do for our patients, it’s to make that dream come true.  We had a patient in today, who started his braces on January 15th, 2014, so just barely over 3 months ago, and you can see how quickly he’s almost finished.  We anticipate finishing him in just 6-8 more weeks, so he’ll actually be done FASTER than six months.  It was fun showing him his “Before” photo today, and he’d already forgotten just how crooked those lower eye teeth were. […]

By | 2017-06-09T20:33:04-04:00 April 22nd, 2014|Cosmetic dentistry, Six-Month Braces|0 Comments
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Cosmetic Dentistry: Invisalign and a Dental Implant

In cosmetic dentistry, matching a single front crown or veneer to the natural teeth around it is considered the single most difficult cosmetic challenge there is.  And when that crown is on a dental implant, it's even harder.  This is when you want a dentist with lots of experience to put together the right plan and the right team for the best possible result.  Here at Smiles by Payet Family Dentistry, that's exactly what you'll find, and here's a perfect example of how it can be done. A Smile Makeover in Stages When Griffin first came to us in 2011, his main concern was to replace his missing front tooth.  While we could have finished his case fairly quickly with a dental bridge, or even with just the dental implant and crown, there were a couple other things about his smile that could be improved, too.  The spacing wasn't ideal, and the teeth on the left side were slanted wrong; if we'd left them as is, it would have been almost impossible to change after the implant. While a dental bridge could have fixed those concerns, Griffin wisely avoided that choice because the neighboring teeth were perfectly healthy, and there was no good reason to drill on them. The final plan for Griffin was as follows: Invisalign to straighten his teeth and fix some minor bite issues Bone grafting since there wasn't enough for the implant The dental implant Teeth Whitening Final dental crown Step 1: Invisalign and the Implant The Invisalign treatment was fairly minor and took less than 6 months.  Next we referred him to Dr. Mehul Gadhia of PerioCare Carolinas for the bone augmentation; after the necessary 3 months of healing, a [...]

By | 2017-06-09T20:33:12-04:00 March 4th, 2014|Cosmetic dentistry, Dental implant(s), Invisalign|0 Comments
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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 | 2017-06-09T20:34:12-04:00 April 29th, 2013|Dental Braces, Six-Month Braces|0 Comments
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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 | 2017-06-09T20:34:18-04:00 April 20th, 2013|Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Braces, Porcelain Veneers, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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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 | 2017-12-21T20:37:31-05:00 March 14th, 2013|Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Braces, Dental Philosophy of Care|0 Comments
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Invisalign Express = Fast Invisalign

Until now, InvisalignTM has always been the clear alternative to braces with brackets, for patients who need complete orthodontic treatment.  If you only wanted to move a few teeth on just the top or bottom, it was impractical and too expensive; but not any longer.  If you're looking for an Invisalign dentist in Charlotte, then read on. What is InvisalignTM Express? Invisalign has just announced the release of their new system of clear aligners for very limited cases, where even Six Month Braces might be less practical, and it's called Invisalign Express, and we are really excited to offer this affordable and fast option at our Charlotte dentist office. The biggest advantage of this new system is that it is much less expensive, because we can treat just a few teeth. Before, we pretty much had to do Invisalign for the whole mouth, or at least we had to charge that much because that's the way Invisalign charged us.   How Does Invisalign Express Work? That's the easy part - it's exactly the same way regular Invisalign works!  Here's how it happens: Schedule a Complimentary Consultation for Braces (since we offer several options, we'll be sure to recommend the best one for you) If you choose either Invisalign Express 5 or Express 10, we take molds of your teeth and send them off About 4-6 weeks later, you get your first set of practically invisible aligners We see you about every 4 weeks (after 2 sets of aligners) to make sure everything is progressing You're done in just 10-20 weeks! Of course, not everyone is a good candidate for this, but the good news is that we offer several other options to help you get a straight, [...]

By | 2017-06-09T20:35:09-04:00 March 4th, 2012|Dental Braces, Invisalign|0 Comments
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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!       

By | 2017-06-09T20:35:14-04:00 November 20th, 2011|ANNOUNCEMENTS, Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Braces|0 Comments
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Our Convenient Dental Office

Have you ever gone to the dentist for a problem, only to learn that you were going to have to see 1 or even several specialists to get all your treatment done?  It's a bit irritating and inconvenient, isn't it?  Even having to make appointments at the dentist and the orthodontist to get a cleaning and then braces means multiple trips, the doctors are (hopefully) communicating to make sure your treatment runs smoothly, etc.  Certainly, this can be done very successfully, and I'm fortunate to work with some great specialists myself, but it's still a bit inconvenient, don't you think? Specialist-Level Dentistry in Charlotte NC Dental Office Just to be perfectly clear (gotta comply with state regulations, of course): I am a "General" dentist.  What does that mean, really?  Well, it means that I am allowed to perform pretty much every dental procedure of which I'm capable, unlike a dental specialist, at least in North Carolina, where regulations limit them to the area of their specialty.  The catch is this: if I offer a procedure usually done by a specialist, i.e. an orthodontist, endodontist, periodontist, etc., I have to make sure I can do it as well as that specialist can do it. Of course, that requires that I really know my stuff! Now, given that I am a serious dental geek, there are several reasons I offer and perform a wide variety of procedures: I absolutely love learning and getting better at what I do; I like having total control over the outcome; Patients appreciate convenience and getting everything done in 1 place. How Many Services Do We Offer? Now, if you browse our website, you can read all this, but let me summarize [...]

By | 2017-12-17T15:46:34-05:00 June 29th, 2011|Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Braces, Laser Dentistry, Migraine headaches|0 Comments
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Can a “Regular” Dentist Do Braces? YES!

Rather recently, there have been some efforts by the American Association of Orthodontists to promote the specialty of orthodontics by - unfortunately IMO - "putting down" the ability of general dentists to straighten teeth, whether with InvisalignTM, conventional braces, or any other means.  In fact, on their website, they imply that it is a "myth" that general dentists can straighten teeth as well as an orthodontist. Experience & Training Are Important Is it true that orthodontists have 2-3 years of additional training after dental school, whereas we general or "family" dentists don't?  Yup!  Definitely true.  Another important question to ask, however, is this," Just how hard is it really to make teeth straight with braces?" Well, in my not-so-humble-opinion, with some good training, it's not all that hard compared to many of the other things we general dentists do!  And when you add to that the fact that I've been doing braces for about 7 years, along with the training in comprehensive reconstructive dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, and a few other things, I think I can safely say I have both the experience and training necessary to give YOU a great result. Six Month Braces Patient of Dr. Payet I present to you the Before-and-After photos of a young lady, 17 years old to be exact, who recently completed her orthodontic treatment in our office.  Yes - my patient, my pictures.  :-D You can click on the image to see it enlarged. This young lady was referred to me by a current patient, and she is embarking on career in modeling and acting.  We had discussed that ideal orthodontic treatment for her would last 18 months or so, but that would have majorly interfered with some [...]

By | 2017-06-09T20:35:34-04:00 March 14th, 2011|Dental Braces, Invisalign, Six-Month Braces|0 Comments
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