Laser Dentistry – Charlotte Dentist | Cosmetic, Laser, Family Dentistry

Why Do Dentists Still Use the Drill & Shots?

If you had to name 2 reasons why people hate getting dental work done, there's no doubt that the drill and the shot would be in the top 5, if not Number 1 and 2. Even as a dentist, I completely understand this; in December 2015, I had 3 fillings done and 1 tooth extracted (separate visits), and I didn't like the sound of the drill or the zing of the shot either, nor did I like being numb for hours afterwards. So why is it that, even in the year 2016 with all of the amazing technology available to us, dentists still use the drill to work on teeth and shots that make you numb for hours? BTW - We Don't Use Novocaine Any More This is one of those little pet peeves that I'm going to mention quickly, not that I expect it to make a difference. :-) If you were born after 1980 or so, you have never ever EVER had novocaine. Not once. I don't care what you think - you haven't. How can I be so sure? Easy - it was discontinued in the early 1980's. My fellow blogging dentist Dr. Nicholas Calcaterra wrote more about the evolution of dental anesthetics in his excellent article Dental Mythbusters #4: Dentists Still Use Novocaine if you'd like to know more. But you CAN still watch the Steve Martin film if you really want some Novocaine. :-D Those Dang Nerves Aren't On the Surface It's an unfortunate fact of anatomy that the nerves that give our teeth sensitivity to temperature and pressure are deep inside the gums and bone where we can't easily reach them. Honest-to-goodness, we have to give shots of numbing anesthetic [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:28:59-04:00 February 20th, 2016|Dentistry in the News, Family dentistry, Laser Dentistry|0 Comments

Laser Cosmetic Dentistry: Fixing a Gummy Smile

As I discussed in my last post about Cosmetic Dentistry: Invisalign and a Dental Implant, you don’t always need teeth whitening or porcelain veneers to make a smile more beautiful, nor does it have super expensive, take a long time, or require drilling on your teeth. Sometimes, cosmetic dentistry can be as simple as fixing a gummy smile with laser dentistry. Gummy Smiles Don’t Need Veneers – They Need Less Gums! This is honestly one of my favorite kinds of cosmetic dental treatment, but it’s one that many dentists aren’t aware can be done so easily. I wrote about another one of our patients, who still comes in for her check-ups every 6 months like clockwork for the last 5 years), and her Cosmetic Gum Lift, back in 2009. She still can’t believe just how much of a difference it made, and this young lady now feels much the same way. […]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:33:09-04:00 March 6th, 2014|Cosmetic dentistry, Laser Dentistry|0 Comments

Do Teeth With Root Canals Need Crowns?

In "traditional" dentistry, the back teeth (premolars and molars) almost always need crowns to hold them together after a root canal, but for front teeth it all depends on how big the cavity was; since many front teeth still have a lot of healthy tooth left after the root canal, a crown is often not needed on front teeth. However, microscope-enhanced dentistry allows us to save more healthy tooth, so even some back teeth don't need crowns after a root canal. However, you need to make sure and ask your dentist, because if you need a crown and don't get it, the tooth will break and become non-fixable, which ends up being a waste of time and money. A Dental Crown Holds the Tooth Together When a Lot is Missing Very often after a root canal, there's simply not a lot of healthy tooth left over, and this is why many root-canal-treated teeth do need crowns. Here's one example of a tooth we recently fixed with a root canal and a crown. The photo on the left is how the tooth looked after all the decay was cleaned out and smoothed (90% of this was done with our Lightwalker dental laser BTW), and the photo on the right is the "After" picture, once the root canal procedure was done, and after we'd bonded in the porcelain crown made the same day. Dental Microscopes Help Avoid Dental Crowns After Root Canals On the flip side, when the tooth has not been badly destroyed by decay, or not broken or cracked, a dentist with a microscope can do the root canal procedure with only a very small hole. With such a small hole, and most of the [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:33:29-04:00 January 11th, 2014|Laser Dentistry|0 Comments

Gum Disease is the Hulk, LANAP is Chuck Norris

My friend and dentist/blogging colleague of Saginaw, MI, Dr. Alan Mead wrote an article early in 2013 in which he compared Gum Disease to the Hulk. It’s really a cool article, which I recommend you read in full, but I’ll paraphrase it here: Gum disease is caused by a combination of bad bacteria, poor dental hygiene, and an immune system gone wild. Just like mild-mannered Bruce Banner, who turns into the Hulk when he gets angry, when your immune system is trying to kill the bad bacteria but can’t (too many in the tartar and plaque), it starts going crazy and ends up damaging your own body. Yup, that’s right…..a lot of the damage that is caused by periodontal disease is actually caused by your body insanely and mindlessly trying to kill bacteria. So that’s how gum disease is like the Hulk. […]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:33:50-04:00 June 26th, 2013|LANAP - Laser Surgery for Gum Disease|0 Comments

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 Charles Payet| 2017-12-17T15:46:34-05:00 June 29th, 2011|Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Braces, Laser Dentistry, Migraine headaches|0 Comments

Drug for Osteoporosis May Help Treat Gum Disease

It's fascinating to see the kinds of studies that are being done by different universities and drug companies, because sometimes you get a rather unexpected result. In this case, researchers at the University of Michigan found that a drug made by Eli Lily, Forteo (generic name teriparatide) seems to actually help regenerate bone in jaws that was lost due to gum disease. The really cool thing is that the regenerative effect seems to continue for some time after the patient even stops taking the drug. What a wonderful additional tool this would be in our efforts to reverse bone loss and save teeth! Now, one should not take the message away that you would not need to keep seeing your dentist regularly and have the appropriate dental treatments for periodontitis, but if you're making the effort to brush and floss regularly, use antibiotic mouthwashes, and get either Scaling/Root Planing (aka "Deep Cleaning") or LANAP (aka Laser Periodontal TherapyTM), then adding yet another treatment would be even more beneficial. Read on for more details: Osteoporosis drug heals bone wounds in gum disease patients 20. October 2010 03:05 A drug marketed to grow bone in osteoporosis patients also works to heal bone wounds in gum disease patients, a University of Michigan study suggests. "This new approach for the treatment of periodontal disease could allow us to rebuild some of the bone that is lost due to periodontal disease, which until this point has been very difficult to achieve," said Jill Bashutski, clinical assistant professor at the U-M School of Dentistry and first author on the study. "Current treatments to re-grow bone around teeth affected with gum disease have limited success rates." The findings are significant because gum [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:42:49-04:00 November 13th, 2010|ANNOUNCEMENTS, Gingivitis, LANAP - Laser Surgery for Gum Disease|0 Comments

Another Fabulous LANAP Experience

Can Gum Surgery Work and Actually Be Comfortable? Well, to answer that question, let me tell you about a recent patient who found us online through my website devoted to LANAP, aka Laser Periodontal TherapyTM, which is www.LaserDentistCharlotte.com. Remarkably, he drove over 4 hours to see us from just north of Myrtle Beach, SC because he couldn't find anyone else near him (there are a few, but not that many) to provide this incredible treatment. When he came in, he related that his last dentist wanted to pull anywhere from 8-12 teeth that were thought to be hopelessly loose due to his really severe periodontal (gum) disease, but his genuine hope was that he would not need to lose any more teeth than he already had lost, which is why he was willing to drive so far. His consult was late morning on a Tuesday, and we determined that he was indeed a very good candidate for LANAP, and I was confident that we will not need to take out ANY teeth for many years to come with LANAP. Due to the length of his drive, we were able to rearrange our afternoon schedule to do the entire treatment that day (for which he and I are very grateful to our understanding patients). His treatment included the following: The Steps In LANAP Laser Gum Surgery Molds of his teeth to have our lab make nightguards for both top and bottom teeth, which will prevent his tooth-grinding from putting undue pressure on his teeth at night, and Splinting of his teeth: this means that we used bonding to "connect" all his top teeth together and then all his bottom teeth together, so no 1 tooth would [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:42:53-04:00 November 9th, 2010|LANAP - Laser Surgery for Gum Disease, Laser Dentistry, Periodontal (Gum) Disease|0 Comments

The Southern Women’s Show from a Dentist’s View

Well, it's been almost 2 whole days for Smiles by Payet Dentistry here at the SWS, and it's been a blast. Admittedly, as a happily married guy, I've probably not enjoyed it as much as the women or as if I were single :-) , but it's been a blast as an exhibitor for the first time (it won't be the last for sure). We put a lot of work into our booth, so of course we'd love it if you stopped by Booth 204-206, which is right by the Fashion Stage to the left of the Main Entrance. A couple of my awesome staff, Rosie and Kay, set it up with some help from Kay's friends, Patti and Chuck. Check it out: It's a lot of fun watching people, of course, and it's been fun watching people and getting to talk to so many as they go by, or as they stop and ask questions about our Oxyfresh Fresh Breath products, the Six Month Clear Adult Braces, Laser Periodontal Therapy, or Invisalign. Since I have my camera with me, fellow professional photographers do stop to chat as we're shooting the fashion shows (it's easy to spot us with big white lenses LOL); we've also gotten to meet a number of the models after they've finished their shows, and I'm excited to say [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:43:05-04:00 September 17th, 2010|ANNOUNCEMENTS, Cosmetic dentistry, Dental Care Payment Options, Dental photography, LANAP - Laser Surgery for Gum Disease, Laser Dentistry, Periodontal (Gum) Disease, Six-Month Braces|0 Comments

Saving Teeth from Gum Disease and the Trash Can – Ain’t This Awesome?
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Saving Teeth from Gum Disease and the Trash Can – Ain’t This Awesome?

LANAP - Laser Surgery for Gum Disease, Laser Dentistry, Periodontal (Gum) Disease

Saving Teeth from Gum Disease and the Trash Can – Ain’t This Awesome?

Having practiced dentistry now for 12 years, I've seen a lot of different stuff, tried different technologies, different techniques, etc. Most of it works pretty well, some of it we discard and look for something new or better, and occasionally we scrap the new and return to the tried-and-true techniques and methods that have been around for a long time. The ultimate goal, of course, is to provide the best dentistry possible that will last the longest time, right? Because after all, I know that you want to sit in my chair as little as possible. :-) LANAP and Six-Month Braces for Healthy Gums and Straight Teeth Of all the different things we do, though, there is now 1 that is just so incredibly satisfying to provide our patients, and that is LANAP, or Laser-Assisted New Attachment Protocol, which we perform with our Periolase MVP-7 laser. First of all, it's is just pretty cool that we have a laser! (Imagine here Dr. Evil from Austin Powers putting his fingers up and saying "Laser" LOL) But what's simply AWESOME about having the Periolase is what we can do with it, and that is to treat periodontal (gum) disease more comfortably and effectively than anything else available. Because of how amazingly well the Periolase works, it is just this terrific feeling we get every time we treat a patient, or when we see patients coming back in for follow-ups, because they actually LIKE coming to see us! And I have to tell you, there aren't many things that patients WANT and LIKE coming to see us about. The other one, of course, is [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:43:10-04:00 August 19th, 2010|LANAP - Laser Surgery for Gum Disease, Laser Dentistry, Periodontal (Gum) Disease|0 Comments

Six-Month Braces if you have Gum Disease? YES!

Patients with periodontal (gum) disease often end up being very embarrassed about their smiles, because as the disease progresses and more bone is lost, the teeth start drifting. It's not uncommon to see the teeth flared out with a lot of spaces between them, or the bottom front teeth really crowded as the teeth shifted with the bone being lost. Very often, these cases are the kind that would respond very well with our Six Month Braces, but there's a little problem......if you try to move teeth with braces while there is active gum infection going on, you will only make the situation worse, with the result being even more bone loss, more gum recession, and eventually even looser teeth than before you started. While it might seem like your smile is improving during the process, once the braces came off, and the support they provided was gone, you'd suddenly realize you were closer than ever to losing your teeth entirely. So it's not uncommon that people simply become resigned to not only having gum disease, bad breath, etc., but to living with a smile that embarrasses them. Now There is a Way! As one of only 4 dental offices in the city of Charlotte (along with 1 in Salisbury and 1 in Fort Mill, SC) with the Periolase MVP-7 dental laser, with which we perform Laser Periodontal Therapy(TM), a patented procedure that treats gum disease more effectively and more comfortably than any other procedure currently available, we can actually regenerate bone and healthy gum attachment. And THAT is why it allows us to offer patients a way to not only save their teeth from gum disease and dentures, but also to give them a [...]