New Patient Education videos now in the office!
Oh, it feels so good to finally be able to announce this, as I’ve been working on it so hard for so many nights after my family has gone to bed, but FINALLY I have begun producing some new Patient Education videos to help explain a number of options that we offer by using pictures of many similar cases.
Over the last 4 years, I have amassed a catalog of about 38,000 digital photographs of the work that we do. You can see my Photography Blog post on the subject of Patient Communication with Digital Photography for more info on how/why we take pictures of our work, but now I’m finally able to turn a lot of those photos into various video formats to highlight problems that many patients have, often without even realizing it, and to let our patients actually see what they can expect once the treatment is completed. It’s really quite exciting! We’re not talking about “stock” photography here, of work that someone else did. EVERY SINGLE ONE of the pictures that you’ll see were taken by Dr. Payet (me), and every completed procedure was performed by Dr. Payet (me) and my Team. (Hope you don’t mind me talking about myself in the 3rd person for a moment there; I was having a Bob Dole flashback after reading some political articles. 🙂
We’ll look forward to showing you these new videos when you come in!
Don’t have any of those videos in Web format quite yet, but keep an eye on our website, Smiles by Payet Dentistry, for them to begin appearing there within the next few weeks. You’ll be able to see and understand so much more easily, I promise!
Migraine and Tension Headache Treatment
One of my favorite therapies to offer patients is the NTI-tss, also known as the Nociceptive Trigeminal Inhibition – tension suppression system. From the name, it’s easy to see why we simply call it the NTI, though. 🙂 Why is it one of my favorite therapies? For a very simple reason: it’s not often that you can literally transform someone’s life for the better in a couple weeks or months with no medications, no surgery, and at a very reasonable fee ……. but that is something that we do regularly with the NTI.
It’s such a simple-looking device, and it’s often difficult for people to understand how such a small nightguard can make such a dramatic difference, and often even more difficult to believe that a dentist can help them, even after they have been to every other kind of doctor and had every kind of test and scan imaginable.
So how does a dentist treat migraines with the NTI-tss?
The essential basis for why the NTI is so effective is this: we now know that many migraines and chronic tension headaches are triggered by either CLENCHING or GRINDING of your teeth.
“WHAT?!?!?!” might be a natural question at this point, so please feel free to express your disbelief at this time. 🙂 Don’t worry – that’s a common reaction. But think about an analogy that I often find effective with patients. Imagine that you decided to work out your biceps every day for 3-5 hours/day with a 2-3 lb. weight. Sure that’s not a lot, but for 3-5 hours per day? For weeks on end? For months on end? Maybe for YEARS on end? How do you think your biceps would feel? Ok, now imagine how all the muscles involved in opening and closing your jaws would feel if you decided to work them out for 3-5 hours every night for days, weeks, months, or years on end? Don’t you think that, in either scenario, the muscles involved would probably hurt like crazy?
I’m not going to get into all the details, as that gets extremely complicated, but if you’ll bear with me a moment and accept that this is a possibility, then wouldn’t it be logical if – by stopping or at least minimizing that clenching or grinding action — you could stop all the incredible muscle fatigue and pain, and the headaches would either go away or be greatly decreased? Well, that is just what the NTI does, and it does it far more effectively than any other type of nightguard I’ve ever prescribed for patients.
The NTI is not just a device to minimize/stop clenching and grinding, though — it can be a very effective tool in diagnosing the problem itself. In fact, it’s a critical part of the use of the NTI; we don’t just make one for you, put it in and say, “Bye – hope it works!” It’s a process – one that can take just a few days to be effective, or one that may take many months of very careful analysis and refinement to figure out precisely what the muscular problem is and how the NTI should be best adjusted for the individual.
Here’s a brief PDF video of how the markings that I see on the NTI help me determine what’s going on; also look carefully to see how different the patterns are to understand how much it varies from one person to another. And in future posts I’ll expand on this whole process more. If you’d like to ask specific questions, please comment!
Dr. Payet is now a Preferred Provider for CIGNA & Delta Premier
We’ve actually been a Preferred Provider for Delta Dental Premier for several years now, but we just received confirmation that CIGNA has now processed all the paperwork, and we are officially listed as a Preferred Provider for CIGNA as well. This is great news for the many patients who already receive care with us and who have CIGNA, but for other patients who are seeking a dentist on their list. This will provide some significant savings for anyone whose employer offers them dental insurance through CIGNA.
Of course, I don’t want to miss this opportunity to plug our Smiles by Payet In-House Discount Program, which is a program that we created for our patients with no dental insurance, or who perhaps have dental insurance but it’s a HMO or other plan that won’t allow them to see us, but they value the service and quality we provide and want to keep us as their dentist. Follow the link to our website for more details, or call and talk with Rosie Bonnett, our Front Desk/Patient Care Coordinator, and she can help you get signed up.
Valentine’s Day Whitening Specials!!
Quick Announcement! Check out our website, http://www.SmilesbyPayet.com, to see our new Whitening Specials for Valentine’s Day. Don’t forget that special day is coming up, and you want to look your best.
$100 off our regular Custom Whitening Trays (Normally $350, now $250)
OR
$250 off our amazing Deep Bleaching™ process! (Normally $1195, now $945)
JANUARY 20TH 2009 – CLOSED FOR SNOW
Just in case anyone has tried calling the office or hasn’t seen our website www.SmilesbyPayet.com for updates, our office is closed today due to the snow and icy roads. We are making every effort to contact everyone today, and we anticipate being open again tomorrow, January 21st 2009, so we’ll be working to reschedule everyone promptly.
We do apologize for the inconvenience; as my team members and I all live fairly far from the office, we felt it was too dangerous to make it in. Fortunately, it seems many patients feel the same way, so everything will work out fine. 😉
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UPDATE: As usual, the forecast for horrible driving conditions due to multiple inches of snow in Charlotte fell apart. Ah well, at least now we can be sure that we’ll be open on Wednesday for patient care as usual.
A new page at SmilesbyPayet.com
As we keep our main practice website current and applicable, we’ve recently added a new page that you will find useful: a Helpful Links page.
This page (along with our Blogroll) will have a variety of links to other websites, to helpful articles, and more.
In the near future, you will find a subset of this page help you find dentists around the USA and even around the world, whom Dr. Payet personally knows and recommends. While we are always sorry to see patients leave, in a town as transient as Charlotte, we know that many of our patients leave town for new relationships, for new jobs, to care for family, for retirement…..but we’ll do our best to ensure that you find an excellent dentist to continue your care or to help you maintain your current dental health. Even if you’re out of town on vacation and something unexpected happens, you may well find yourself as well-cared for as if you were seeing Dr. Payet and his Team right here at home.
Sleep Apnea, Snoring, and Dentistry
There is a rapidly growing area of dentistry concerned with treating sleep apnea and snoring. There’s an important reason for this, too….people who snore and/or experience sleep apnea on a regular basis are at SIGNIFICANTLY higher risk of certain health issues. I am going to relate a very personal story that I hope will help drive the point home, as well as give you a link to a website that will provide you with FAR more detail than I can provide in this blog.
THE STORY:
My dad turned 63 in March ’08. Up until that time, he had always been a very healthy individual with no particular health problems. He regularly traveled the world for his job and had been doing so for many years; he and my mom enjoyed an active life, involved with their church and the arts. The only problem that had plagued him for a couple years was a nagging cough that simply would not resolve, no matter what he took. Not just a nagging little cough, but a deep, powerful, and often painful cough that would sap his energy, leaving him drained.
(To interject a bit of dental history: I’d been telling my dad for a number of years that he clearly has a history of grinding his teeth, and coupled with the fact that he had always been an EXTREMELY LOUD SNORER (to the point my mom often kicked him out of bed or slept in another room herself), I’d also recommended he get a sleep study done. With his travel and work schedule, though, it had just never quite worked out.)
Well, in early 2008 he’d finally had enough of the cough and went to see a pulmonologist. During a routine visit to see how well a certain medication was working, they noted that his heart rate was at an alarming 140 beats per minute!! Naturally, they immediately sent him to the hospital! He ended up staying for several days for evaluation.
It ended up taking many months of testing, trying several medications, and undergoing several procedures for his heart and to drain some disgusting and nasty fluid, before they finally got things under control. One of the most crucial tests of all, though, was a sleep study. Remarkably, his sleep apnea was SO BAD that the doctors woke him up halfway through the night to put him on a CPAP machine.
Long story short: the doctors determined that his sleep apnea was one of the largest contributing factors to his heart problems, which had led to the lung problems. Since he started using a CPAP machine to help him breathe at night, he is a different man. Dad says that he now wakes up and feels amazingly well; he actually feels like he slept well! He no longer has the rapid heartbeat; his lungs are no longer filling with awful fluids; he sleeps well; my Mom sleeps well; and he’s healthy again!
If you know that you snore loudly; if you’re a man and your neck size is 16.5 or greater; if you often wake yourself up with “snorts” at night; if you always wake up and feel you’ve slept poorly no matter how many hours you were in bed……..these are some of the risk factors/warning signs that should tell you to see your doctor and your dentist.
I’ll talk more about treatments and how dentists can help in the future, but for now, here’s a link you should follow to learn a lot more — QUITE LITERALLY, THIS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE, AS IT HAS MY DAD’S. DON’T TAKE A CHANCE:
Six-Month Braces – Great Results — FAST
We just finished up this case today — doesn’t need much explanation, just that it took about 6 months and the patient was thrilled. 🙂
A dental patient of Dr. Charles Payet in Charlotte, NC, who's thrilled with her smile after 6-Month Braces.
What hides under old silver fillings?
As I’ve mentioned, there are 2 basic “philosophies” of dental care, although I didn’t really spell them out. They are (approximately, please understand!):
1) Watch and wait until it it actually hurts or breaks,
OR
2) Diagnose and recommend treatment BEFORE it actually hurts or breaks.
As a general rule, at Smiles by Payet Dentistry, we follow the second philosophy. The key to remember, though, is that it is ALWAYS up to YOU to decide when to actually proceed with treatment. I’ll show you what I see by digital photography and x-rays, give you my recommendations, and then it’s up to you to decide what to do about them. We understand that the treatment has to fit into your life – your budget, your schedule, your priorities. I give you my word — I will NEVER pressure you into doing any treatment. I MAY make some very strong recommendations and urge you to proceed with treatment so that you avoid pain, loss of teeth, or other complication, but it’s still your decision, and we promise to respect that.
One of the tricky parts of dentistry is this: we can’t see through old fillings and crowns and bridges, not even with digital x-rays, digital photography, not even with the Zeiss PICO dental microscope that I use. We can only see things AROUND them. And quite honestly, as much as I believe silver amalgam fillings are a perfectly acceptable treatment, I also believe that they hide a multitude of evils. I already showed you the cracks that are often associated with big, old silver fillings, especially in patients who grind their teeth. What I didn’t show you, though, is how much decay (cavity) can be hidden from us by old silver fillings. They may not hurt, but it is not uncommon for there to be so much decay under them that a root canal becomes necessary when it’s all removed — and often times it can not be seen on x-rays! This makes it frustrating for patients, can’t understand why we recommend replacing a filling with a new filling or a crown.
So along with examples of the beautiful dentistry that we provide, I’ll also regularly show you the problems we often encounter when treating teeth, which should help you, the patient, better understand the WHYs of our recommendations.
A perfect example: This lady had these fillings for many years, probably over 20. The molar had just recently started bothering her a little with sensitivity to cold and sweets, but nothing serious. The main reason she wanted them replaced was for appearance, though — the greyish color really showed through on the front of the teeth. You’ll see that they don’t actually look all that bad to an untrained eye. After seeing thousands and thousands of them, though, I had some idea of what to expect……..but even I didn’t expect the problem to be so extensive.
Oh YUCK! See all that black crud? That’s decay — mushy, soft, and definitely NOT healthy. And this is fairly normal to find under 20+ year old fillings, to tell the truth.
Just some food for thought: maybe your dentist has recommended some treatment, perhaps to replace those silver fillings that have been there for 20-30 years, and maybe they’re not even bothering you, so you think, “Nah, I’ll just wait, doc. Thanks but no thanks right now.” Consider this: another 6 months, and this lady probably would have needed at least 1 root canal, maybe even 2. Not only would that have required more time, possible a lot of discomfort, but probably would have added another $1500-2000 in treatment costs.
Do you really want to wait?
Another Porcelain Veneer Smile Makeover
Porcelain veneers are one of the most requested cosmetic dental procedures in dentistry, and they can make a dramatic difference. Here’s another case that we did a number of years ago. Craig wasn’t happy with either the color or the shape of his teeth, he’d tried whitening before with little success (this was back before we offered Deep Bleaching), and he also just didn’t have the patience to do touch-up whitening on any kind of regular basis. So veneers became the logical choice. In 1 fell swoop we gave him a dazzling white smile and changed the shape of his teeth to a less angled, less square, more flowing line of a smile from the sharply angled, very square with fang-like eye-teeth smile that he never liked.
Before photo of Craig, who chose 8 Porcelain Veneers by cosmetic dentist Dr. Charles Payet in Charlotte, NC.
After photo of Craig, who chose 8 Porcelain Veneers by cosmetic dentist Dr. Charles Payet in Charlotte, NC
For more examples of what cosmetic dentistry can do, don’t forget to visit our website: Smiles by Payet Dentistry
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