Just how outrageous is dental “insurance?” Check this out!

As a practicing dentist for almost 11 years now, in a practice that does accept assignment of dental insurance benefits, I have seen almost every conceivable attempt by dental insurance companies to hold up payment, deny payment, or anything they can do to keep the money that should rightfully help pay for your dental care.  But this one took the cake for me, and I have to share.  Which insurance company?  Metlife.  Seriously……..they said there was not enough missing tooth structure due to decay or fracture on these teeth, and therefore they don’t need crowns.  Are they CRAZY!!!!!?!?!?!?!?

Amazing - a dental insurance company said these broken and decayed teeth don't need crowns. Can you believe it?

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New page on www.SmilesbyPayet.com – Dental photography

In our office, as I’ve demonstrated many times before, we use the power of digital dental photography to improve patient understanding of what’s going on in their mouths.  Truly, as the 2 sayings go:

• Seeing is Believing, and
• A Picture is worth 1000 words.

I’ve added a new page to our website along these lines, and I hope you’ll enjoy it:  Smiles by Payet Dental Photography
It’s still a work in progress, so please bear with me – more to come!

Are Amalgam/Mercury/Silver Fillings Safe?

While silver/amalgam fillings are not requested very often in our practice, as most prefer to have fillings that blend in with their natural teeth, they are something that we do when situations warrant, as I discussed in an earlier post.

However, when it comes to the general topic of silver fillings, there are a lot of misconceptions, myths, and outright falsehoods out there.  There are groups that CLAIM to have proof of a vast conspiracy by dentists to poison our population by using silver fillings (these are probably the same groups who believe that fluoride is a Russion attempt at mind-control of US citizens so they can take us over – hasn’t happened yet, and the conspiracy has been around for decades.); these groups CLAIM to have scientific proof that the mercury in silver fillings is poison that will lead to an absolutely amazing range of diseases, and that the simple removal of those amalgam fillings will almost magically cure those diseases.  And it gets even wilder than that, but unless you’re specifically looking for a good laugh at how crazy these conspiracy theories get, I won’t bore you with all of them.

Let me be perfectly clear about my stance on this issue:

To date, there is absolutely NO, repeat NO CREDIBLE EVIDENCE that the small amounts of mercury present in amalgam/silver fillings causes any disease or disorder whatsoever.

I hope that was clear enough.  🙂

If silver fillings were as bad as the conspiracy theorists claim, then pretty much the whole world would be crazy, as amalgam fillings have been placed by the billions over the last 100+ years.  My parents, for example, would have been beset by a myriad of illnesses, as both of them had a mouthful of silver fillings for many decades, and only recently have they been replaced as they’ve slowly worn out.  Any strange illnesses in either of them?  Nope.  Nothing changed after they were taken out 1-by-1 either.

As a rather interesting side note: during my dental school years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, I did a 2-month summer exchange at the dental school in Munich, Germany.  While there, I was approached by several professors to proof-read some studies that they had translated prior to publishing them in English-language dental journals.  Please bear in mind that Germany has pretty much banned amalgam fillings for many years, so it’s not like they are fans of the material.  These professors had carried out a study that attempted to find a link between the presence of amalgam filings and a wide range of diseases and disorders; the study had lasted 5-6 years.  And what were the results?  Simply this:

They were unable to find any positive evidence of a connection between the amalgam fillings and ANY of the list of diseases and disorders that they had listed.  Not one.

Kind of interesting coming from professors in a country that has practically banned the material for as long as they have, don’t you think?

Smiles by Payet Dentistry – Welcome!

Welcome to the Dental Blog for Smiles by Payet Dentistry, the office of Dr. Charles Payet, where our goal is to provide Beautiful Smiles and Lifetime Care.  This blog will keep you up-to-date on happenings in our office, about our Team, new technologies that we’re adding, articles about how dental care (or the lack of it) impacts your daily life.  Here’s a little video to introduce you to me……

As of May 20th, Smiles by Payet Dentistry is moving to a brand-new dental office on Park Rd., just a couple miles and less than 10 minutes from our old office near the SouthPark Mall, in beautiful Charlotte, NC. We are very excited about the move, as we will have more rooms available, we’ll be hiring more great team members to care for you promptly and with great customer service.  Want to read what many of our current patients have to say about us?  Read our Google reviews!

We offer a unique combination of services that allow us to treat the entire family, from kids up to retirement and beyond:

LANAP: comfortable and truly effective treatment for gum disease with the Periolase

Dr. Payet now offers Six (6) Month Braces for amazing Smile Makeovers in Charlotte, NC.

Dental care for the whole family is affordable with the Quality Dental Plan.

To make an appointment, you can Request an Appointment Online or call us at 704-364-7069.

We’ll look forward to meeting you soon!