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It goes back to what I’ve said pretty much since we sat down. Evan and Amelia have always felt comfortable coming. They know I’m in the waiting room or sitting with them, but they also have the person that’s taking care of them. I feel when you have a great experience with something, you continue with it. It’s when you have a bad experience that gives you that trepidation. I don’t see them not taking care of their teeth, but then again, I am their mom, so I’ll make sure that they always do.

And as we know, as parents, children, not just the schedule, but it’s unpredictable. They could wake up and not feel well. That happens to all of us, but more times than not to children. I found over the years… As I said, my oldest is now 17 and my youngest is 14, so they both collectively have been coming here for 10 years.

Even though there are guidelines for every practice, whatever it is, if it’s medical or dental, Amelia or Evan may have had a conflict at school or we hit traffic. You know, calling Heather at the desk or Kristin answers. They are just like, “Don’t worry about it, get here when you can.” I have many times had to cancel outside of the window and never had an issue at all. Because they know, they’re not a parent, they’re here helping us as parents.
Not only our child gets the best care, but also that it becomes easier on us as the parent bringing them. And they also are very accommodating in either getting after-school appointments, which is important unless you don’t want to have to get your child out of school. But since I have two children, they’ll either try to have both have the exams at the same time or they’re just back to back, which is fantastic. So it’s just a one-time drive for me.

Walking in, it just doesn’t feel as though you’re coming into a medical office. You are, but there’s banter, there’s just chat. You’re not just signing in, sitting down, waiting for your name to get called, going into a chair, having a bib or an x-ray vest put on you. I remember one of the first times that I came to the office, it was a little chilly, the air conditioning was cranking, and they had blankets. And I was like, “Holy guacamole, that is really a nice touch,” because I would have been freezing the entire visit. So just that attention to detail, they just make sure that you’re not just physically comfortable, but you’re also comfortable in what they’re doing.

They explain everything. I’ve had fillings done, I know it happens to all of us, but before they do anything, they say, “Okay, this is what this instrument is. You’re going to hear this sound, and this is why.” My daughter did have to have a filling, and as a child, that is scary. Dr. Ralph worked on Amelia, and I sat there. I did not stay in the waiting room at that moment. I was so comforted as I was sitting in the chair in the same room with Amelia to hear Dr. Ralph just letting Amelia know, “Okay, two more minutes with this. It’s only going to sound like this. It’s bumpy.” So, yeah, things like they just make you feel comfortable from the very beginning.

Being a parent is the best blessing and gift I’ve ever been given. So, as a parent, especially a mother, you feel as though your children are your heart outside of your body. And when they’re going to anything, if it’s a doctor, a dentist, where they may have trepidation, you want to take that away from them and make them feel comfortable. Coming to Charlotte Family Dentistry with my children, it’s amazing. I truly just sit in the waiting room and I get to read either my phone and a magazine, talk to the girls at the desk. My kids are back there. They don’t even want me to come with them. Even when they were little, they started coming… Amelia started coming when I believe she was about 5. Granted, I don’t leave the property, and so when they’re done with their exam, the hygienist will come in, bring me back and explain everything. But just to know that you can walk in your child is that comfortable, not just leaving your side, but going to see a dentist, it says a lot.

The quality of care truly is off the charts in the sense that it’s not just about making sure that your teeth are clean and you’re following the guidelines of how often you have to have that done. They brought to light things that I wasn’t aware of when I first started coming here, as I said it was 20 years ago. I had just had my first child and I didn’t realize that during pregnancy your gums can become inflamed and then it could lead to gum disease, gingivitis. So they brought that to my attention and got me on a protocol to make sure that it didn’t get any worse because it had kind of started.

But they’re not there to push anything on you, but they really are there to say, “Hey, this is what’s going on, this is why we feel this way.” They’ll help you find a payment plan. I know they offer one here. They work with your insurance company to make sure everything gets filed through. Yeah, the care is exactly what you want and more.

Truly, it’s as though you’ve known them, really, before you even arrived. Heather and Kristen at the desk, when you walk in, you know, you’re always not only hello but start asking about the weekend and how are the kids. The banter goes back and forth. And then the minute you go back to the chair, you’re always talking with the girls or whoever you’re seeing that day. Again, they’re always asking personal questions that are appropriate to how are you. It’s not just, “Let’s get your teeth cleaned,” or, “Let’s fill that cavity.” Because as we know, coming to a dentist is not necessarily someone’s favorite cup of tea, but they really just take any edge off. If you have an edge about coming to a dentist, they’ll… You come in feeling like a member of the family and you also leave feeling that way too.

I’d never worn braces before. And as I got into my 50s, I had one tooth that would start, it started to overlap one of my larger teeth. And I really didn’t, I knew it always overlapped but it didn’t really bother me because there’s nobody’s perfect, everybody’s got something wrong with them. But then it really started to encroach, and so in photographs, I look like Billy Bob teeth, I look like I had one tooth missing. Dr. Ma did say and I’m sure he’s good at this, when I came in and I said can you fix that tooth, he said well I can fix it in a week and I’m like hell, he said well I can do the veneers. And I’m like I’ve had these teeth since I was six years old, I want to keep my own teeth. And so we set up a plan, it was a very easy process, I didn’t have to go years with it because it was just that one tooth. It was easy, I mean, you know, when you’ve got braces on and you want to eat a pizza you got to go immediately and brush your teeth. The Clear Correct allows you to pull them out, you know put them in your little case, you can brush your teeth after you have anything and then put them back in. So the simplicity of that was wonderful to be able to remove them. Well I like it. I mean, when people take pictures of me I look like I’ve got more teeth there instead of three.

Probably the painless part of it, you know, the fact that I came in. I’ve been with this practice for about 25 years. So I’ve been with prior dentists before Dr. Ma. But it’s just coming in and reassuring you that it’s not gonna be painful. You know, we’re gonna make this right, we’re gonna do it right, we’re gonna do it thoroughly. And, you know, just that soft, calm touch and voice gives you that feeling of peace.

I come from a large family of five children. We always went to the dentist twice a year. My father was a fireman, my mother didn’t work, so it wasn’t an easy fix. My mother had to save for that. So, the dentist I went to was an elderly man. We grew up in the country, so we were on well water. The only fluoride that we ever received was swish at school, the beginning of school. So when he drilled into my soft teeth, he didn’t use Novocain. Trusting this Charlotte Family Dentistry to be a painless situation means all the world to me.

Well, I think the first thing, you walk into the door, you’ve got a wonderful, happy, helpful staff. If you have to change an appointment, no problem. They’re very quick to get you in if you’ve got a problem. And I just like these people. They’re very nice.

Secondly, Dr. Ma and Dr. Ralph have recently moved to a beautiful new facility. I came yesterday to get my teeth cleaned. When they put me in the chair, there was a window from ceiling to floor with beautiful trees outside. I felt like I was in a tree house.

The dental hygienists are wonderful, very gentle, very informative. If you’ve got a problem with a particular area of your mouth, they’ll make suggestions as to what you should do, all about your dental health, which I love. The best part is Dr. Ma and Dr. Ralph. They’re wonderful technicians. They’re very thorough, very friendly. That’s what I like. I don’t look at them as just my doctors, but my friends. And they’re just good men. They’re good people.

I think the only thing I would say, if you or a family member or a friend is in need of dental care, this practice, Charlotte Family Dentistry, is a place that you can trust. It’s a place that I believe you would be pleased with. They care. You can trust them. And I believe that you’d be very happy with the end result.

I think the reality about care today is that the technology just continues to move forward. So, whether it was for my veneers, the technology was clearly improved. And then, if I could, you know, as I was getting my crown done most recently, the technology has advanced in just an unbelievable way. The old days of taking multiple molds and other ways of really finding out how that crown is going to fit on your tooth, it’s now done with, I think it’s 3D technology. I mean, it’s very current, it’s easy, and it doesn’t take very long at all. I came in, we knew I had to get the crown on number 13 taken care of. The initial work was done, and then I came back, and I don’t think I was here even 20 minutes. So, I don’t think there’s any question that this dental practice does invest in its technology, and it does make the experience better.

I think the first thing that’s really, really important to say here is whether it’s Dr. Ma or Dr. Ralph, they’re both very calm, they’re very caring people. You can hear that in their voice, you can feel it in their interactions with you, candidly, you can just tell when they’re looking inside your mouth. So, there’s an automatic feeling of ease, there’s a feeling of this is going to be just fine. When it came time to replace my veneers, what I felt best about is that not only did I know him because I had been to him, but I also knew that he had given me lots of options to think about, and then he was very definitive about, in a good way, about the way that he would go. That if it was him, this is what he would hope that would be done. There was never any doubt in my mind that that’s indeed what I was going to go do, and I think, as you can see, it’s all in great shape.

I had had, I don’t know whether they were called veneers or not when I was younger, and there was a business trip I took to New York and actually, I bit down on a fork. And when I did that, I basically took a cosmetic job that had been done in the past, and let’s just say that something had to be done pretty fast.

When I came in here again, Dr. Ma was the person who was working on cosmetic dentistry and he reviewed all of the options with me. I knew what I could do, and candidly I did exactly as he recommended. Now that was probably a good 10 years ago. I still have them. They’re my forefront teeth. You can see everything is healthy and everything is good. I’m just so thankful that I was here to have that done. With regular care here, they just remain to be very, very healthy inside my mouth.

When you think of your dentist like you would a doctor or any special person you may go to for care, if you don’t trust that person, then you’re always going to have this feeling in your mind that perhaps you didn’t make the best choice. So for me, I know that if I need to have a tooth taken care of or if I have a cavity that I have that needs to be taken care of, I just trust them 100%. And for me, you walk into the office and that is how it feels. You’re greeted at the window with a smile, you’re greeted most times by name. It’s just a very comfortable, trusting, friendly place.