Family Dental Care

While Smile Makeovers are our spe­cialty, as a Fam­ily Den­tist we pro­vide ALL of our patients in Char­lotte with the rou­tine check-ups and top-notch den­tal care that every per­son deserves for them­selves and their fam­i­lies. If you have miss­ing teeth and want them replaced, crooked teeth that you want straight­ened, old fill­ings that are break­ing down and not pro­tect­ing your teeth any more, or are wor­ried that your gums aren’t in the great­est health, our team here at Smiles by Payet is ded­i­cated to keep­ing you healthy.

Your teeth CAN and SHOULD last your entire life with reg­u­lar care, and our mis­sion is to help you accom­plish that. Reg­u­lar den­tal check-ups are an essen­tial part of that process, as we can catch prob­lems early on, before they become a prob­lem that hurts.

We offer a com­plete range of restora­tive options when you do have a problem:

• Amal­gam (sil­ver) fillings
• Com­pos­ite resin (tooth-colored) fillings
• Gold crowns, Porcelain-to-metal crowns, and All-Porcelain crowns and onlays, includ­ing SINGLE-VISIT All-Ceramic   restora­tions with our CEREC sys­tem.
• Porcelain-to-metal and All-Porcelain Den­tal Bridges
• Implant Restora­tions, both crowns and bridges
• Non-Surgical Peri­odon­tal Ther­apy — treat­ment of peri­odon­tal (gum) dis­ease, also called “Deep Cleanings.”
• Root canals for abscessed teeth, includ­ing retreat­ment of pre­vi­ous failed root canal-treated teeth
• Peri­odon­tal Surgery, includ­ing Gum Grafting,
• Esthetic Crown-Lengthening, also known as “Gum Lifts.”

Sil­ver fill­ings have been a great way to fix teeth for a long time, and we still offer them because they are more afford­able den­tal fill­ings than bond­ing, BUT.….… sil­ver fill­ings don’t last for­ever. Most com­monly, sil­ver fill­ings go bad because of cracks and/or cavities.

Tom is a banker near­ing retire­ment who wanted to make sure his teeth were in good shape before los­ing his den­tal insur­ance plan. It turns out that his 30+ year old sil­ver fill­ings were in bad con­di­tion — there were cracks and deep cav­i­ties under those old sil­ver fill­ings. Tom wanted to be sure that what­ever we did will last as long as he will, so we chose Porce­lain Crowns for sev­eral teeth and even a Gold Crown. As long as Tom keeps up with his rou­tine den­tal clean­ings, these crowns should last him for many many years.

While I love my work as a cos­metic den­tist, doing Smile Makeovers with porce­lain veneers and crowns, what is just as grat­i­fy­ing is my work as a fam­ily den­tist — and of course, fix­ing cav­i­ties is a big part of that. So many patients nowa­days can’t stand the sight of “those ugly silver/metal/black fill­ings,” and ask if they can be replaced with fill­ings that blend in with their teeth so they’re invisible.

“Bond­ing” is what tooth-colored fill­ings are often called, but what bond­ing really is is the process of mak­ing the tooth-colored fill­ing mate­r­ial stick to the teeth.

Many peo­ple think that their teeth will be sen­si­tive to cold after get­ting bonded fill­ings, but what I can tell you is this: bonded fill­ings should NEVER be sen­si­tive unless your bite is off or the nerve was exposed.

Bond­ing requires excel­lent tech­nique and that the teeth stay com­pletely dry dur­ing the process; I can assure you — I am REALLY  picky about doing this right! Prac­ti­cally none of our patients report that their teeth are sen­si­tive after fill­ings. We even bond in our sil­ver fill­ings with the same exact, pre­cise technique.