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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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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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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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Six-Month Dental Braces Move Teeth Fast

Which is "Better:" Six Month Braces or Invisalign? Among adults, when they are considering having braces done to straighten their teeth, one of the first options that always comes to mind is InvisalignTM, because what adults usually want is for no one to actually know that they have braces!   With adult orthodontics becoming more popular and mainstream, largely thanks to marketing by Invisalign, it's not quite as critical as it used to be that the braces be invisible, but it's still preferable.  The other thing that adults want with their braces, is that they do NOT want to have them on for 2-3 years.  In fact, most of the Six Month Braces Patients that we see have had 1 or more consultations with an orthodontist already, and they just refused to be in braces that long. Why I believe Six Month Braces is the better option for adults: Now, let's keep in mind that short-term orthodontic treatment is not something new; in fact, the concepts have been around for decades.  It's just recently, though, that more classes have become available for general/family dentists, so you're hearing more about it.  Most just never learn about it from their orthodontists!  But for adults, Six Month Braces is IMO the "best" option for adults who want straight teeth.  Why?  It's simple: Six Month Braces is usually at least $1,000 less expensive than Invisalign; Six Month Braces is able to handle more difficult situations than Invisalign; and Six Month Braces works faster than Invisalign because the dentist has greater direct control, and besides, you can only move teeth that are set in bone so far with rigid clear trays; Six Month Braces may not be quite as invisible as Invisalign, [...]

By | 2017-06-09T20:42:51-04:00 November 11th, 2010|Cosmetic dentistry, Invisalign, Six-Month Braces|0 Comments
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Invisalign "proficiency requirements" or just a QUOTA?

It has been an interesting couple of weeks when it comes to Six-Month Braces and Short-Term Ortho in general in our office...... We had planned to attend InvisAlign certification in Raleigh on June 12th so we could start offering this service to our patients. Personally, I'm not that big a fan of those clear aligners at all, because they cost more (we have to pay a hefty lab fee, which is why your fee is higher than for brackets), they don't work in as many cases (quite a few limitations), and they take longer - ESPECIALLY if you lose 1 or more aligners and have to get some remade. However, so many people are interested, we figured.....why not? We can offer it for the situations in which it is a good option and offer the "invisible brackets" for everyone else. BUT THEN.... On June 1st, Align Technologies (the company that actually runs the operation) sent an email to all of it's providers in conjunction with a Press Release to the public with some major news. Since we had just signed up, we weren't even on the list of people who received the emails, so fortunately I found out about this through an online forum for dentists, and oooooooh boy, looks like they stepped in it this time! Here is the link to the Press Release: InvisAlign Makes a Huge Mistake in Doctor Relations! (BTW - that's not what they call it, it's just what most of us dentists think) Simply put, by the end of this year, an enormous percentage of dentists will allegedly no longer be "qualified" to offer InvisAlign to their patients simply because they don't do 10 cases per year. Heck, even [...]

By | 2012-02-28T05:38:00-05:00 June 14th, 2009|Cosmetic dentistry, Invisalign, Six-Month Braces|0 Comments
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