I love coming to this practice because the doctors, the dentists, the hygienists are always really nice and welcoming. They always accommodate you and your needs. They are always attentive of your schedule and your timing. What I really appreciate about this practice is that they are always very, again, kind and welcoming. They greet me by name every time I walk in the door.

The hygienists are always very sweet. They talk to me throughout the procedures. They tell me what they’re doing. They consider it, and if it’s something where you’re nervous about the procedure, they will help ease your nerves and keep you calm. Anytime I’ve had any cavities taken care of or even when I had my tooth pulled, an implant taken care of, they have always been aware of my pain needs. So they always tell me to let them know if my teeth start to hurt during the procedure. Their injection methods are very gentle.

They are very aware and attentive, again, of someone like me who gets really stressed on for dental procedures. They, again, talk me through it and always conscientious of what my needs are. They’ve addressed my dental anxieties through numbing the surface before they do the numbing injection. And the way that they do the numbing injection is they will kind of wiggle your gums and desensitize it basically. And so I’ve gone here enough times for so long. I’ve had a lot of procedures that it’s become more comfortable to me as time has gone on.

I think there’s just a lot of just caring on a deeper level. It’s not really not just getting you in here and right out the door again. And, like, they sit, and they will explain. Anything that I’ve got questions on, anything that I need more of an explanation, or I’m worried, even down to pain and things like that, they always go the extra mile. I always feel like invited, and I feel like people are happy to see me. I feel like I’m not just a number. I’m not just a patient. I’m a patient, you know, and they’re glad that I’m here and always willing to work with me and go above and beyond and, I mean, from the minute that I walk in the front door.

I’m a big fan of their numbing technique, which has been different from any other dental office that I’ve been to, where I don’t just walk out and I feel like I can’t eat or drink for hours and my whole face is numb. It’s not like that. It’s really quite different. And it makes it so much easier to come in and go about your day. Even if when I come in and, you know, be numbed just to have a cavity filled and go right back to work and just be able to function properly the rest of the day, it’s something that I really like about this dental office.

And I like that they always offer…they do offer blankets and movies to watch and waters. They’ve got it all. I actually just recommended the office to a friend of mine recently who did have a bad experience in the past. And the dentist was really rough and just wasn’t willing to listen to her fears and her concerns. And then she ended up having a really bad experience because of it. So I told her to come to Above the Gate. And it’s a completely different vibe here that they will sit and talk with you, and they want to hear your concerns, and they will make note of it. And I said that it will just be a very different experience than she’d had before.

I first got braces as a teenager, but then later, once I didn’t wear my retainer perfectly, I got Invisalign as an adult, which is an awesome process. They basically scan your mouth and help you design a smile that you are excited about. And then with each tray, your smile gets closer and closer to what the end result will be. And it’s a super exciting process and it worked great. With Invisalign, they’ll give you, like, a full treatment plan, basically, like, how many trays you will need to obtain the smile you want. And then they’ll give you a frequency, like, every two weeks or one month that you come in, they’ll, kind of like, check and update. And then they’ll give you your next set of trays. So, it just depends, kind of, on your smile and what you’re looking for. But with mine, it was like every two weeks they would switch my tray to the next one and it was exciting to watch the teeth change and the smile come together. The doctors actually recommended Invisalign just because you don’t have bulky metal on your teeth the whole time. But also, I think the technology is a little more updated, like, it helps you streamline the process a little more. The guesswork is taken out and, like, the technology is so advanced that it works really well pretty quickly.

My decision to get porcelain veneers, I actually made pretty young. I was 16 when I got my first set and I used to grind my teeth really bad. So a lot of my teeth were short, shorter and my gums were longer. So I had like a very gummy, short-teeth smile. It played to my confidence a lot. So when I decided to get veneers, it was life changing. My biggest worry was, like, having them look too bulky or not natural or, like, not fitting my face properly. Uhm, and Dr. Davidson really paid attention to all the little details. He was like, we tweaked a few things and worked really hard to make them look as natural as possible and fit, like, my face shape and my current jaw shape and everything. Uhm, and I love the result. For anyone wondering if it’s worth it to invest in your smile, I would say 100% yes. It’s like the biggest life changer. It’s the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning. It’s the first thing people see when they meet you. So it’s made a huge, huge difference in my self-confidence. And if you’re looking for someone to help you with your self-confidence and your smile, come to Above the Gate Dentistry.

One of the things that’s really important to me is a great smile. I am a professional photographer by trade. I have been for 20 years and I notice those things about people. I notice when people have a smile on their face they feel more confident and they come across more confident. And that’s just something that’s always been really important to me. I have five children. I’ve put braces on all five children. I never had those when I was younger. I had one particular tooth on the side here that was literally sideways. Always bothered me. I was always self-conscious about it. And the rest of my teeth, they weren’t really like really bad, but I knew my bite was off a little bit. And I just wanted to do this for myself. I told my husband, it’s not braces. They’re not stuck to my face. Invisalign is something I still felt I could carry off my professionalism that I needed to in my own business. But I wanted to do this for myself and I did it. And I’m so glad that I did it. It’s so interesting now to be able to look at pictures of myself from a few years ago and what a difference it did make. Even though my teeth weren’t really what you would consider super crooked, my smile looks a lot different. And I think I smile bigger because of it. I am a lot more confident in that. I’m really good about getting my teeth cleaned and I’m whitening my teeth. And that was the other thing, they have a whitening program here that I’ve become a part of. I’m faithful with that kind of stuff. These things have become really important to me.

I had a really bad experience when I was a young girl and so I knew that eventually I would want to get a dental implant. I was missing a tooth, and eating chips or anything hard surface or anything like that, it would poke me there, it was uncomfortable. I was always really cautious when I smiled and I didn’t like having to feel like… It was uncomfortable for me and I wanted to take care of that.

It probably took me a good year of coming in and talking whenever I would have my cleanings or any other dental things that were being taken care of, and I would talk to Dr. Jeff about that and he was very reassuring and let me know that it’s really not as traumatic as maybe what I had read or heard and how far they had come in the industry to be able to provide these for people and I had it done. It’s been about… It’s a little bit of a process that you have to go through, that’s standard, but I just had it placed about a month ago. It’s been great.

I remember when I came in, they gave me…they said, “This is your antibiotic, and this is your pain medicine,” and I went, “Wait a second, pain medicine? I thought this wasn’t going to hurt.” And they said, “You might have a little bit of pain the next day.” I never touched the stuff. I didn’t even notice anything about it. Waited the six weeks, came back in, and they had already done the scanning. The crown was created, came in, and it took about half an hour and they placed that. Piece of cake. One of the easier dental procedures that I’ve ever had. Easier than a root canal by a long shot.

I’ve gotten so used to it now that I don’t think about be careful when you chew because I used to…like I said, I poked myself with chips or different things like that. It’s just there. It’s part of who I am now. It’s mine. It’s my tooth. So I don’t think much about it, but it’s great to have that and to not be concerned about that anymore.

I think the whole process took about 18 months. So I came in and they measured everything. Very precise, everything’s very state of the art. They measured everything and then I would get, I believe it was like three trays at a time and I would wear those for, I think it was every two weeks was my rotation on that. Pop in a new tray, wear those faithfully and you have to be really faithful at that. It just became part of my daily routine. Because you’re changing out your trays, you know your teeth are moving because you can feel it when you’re popping in a new tray. Like I said, it took about 18 months and this tooth that was really stubborn over here remained stubborn the entire time, so much so that Jeff had to take one step up and wound up giving me some extra shots up there and just to kind of wake up the roots a little bit to get them moving and he knew how important it was to me because I kept saying that was my one spot that’s so important to me and we got that taken care of too.

I joined the dental savings plan after coming just a couple of visits and they introduced it to me. I don’t have dental insurance. I run my own business and I wanted something. What was really important to me was to have Dr. Jeff look at my mouth, tell me what things need to be taken care of, get an idea of what everything was going to cost me. But after getting all that taken care of, making sure I stayed on top of it.

By being part of this dental savings plan, I come in faithfully every six months. I get my whitening every six months. And now, in the long run, really, it’s going to save me money because I’m staying on top of a potential problem. And so I love that. I love that they’re measuring my gums and letting me know because I am aging. I’m 59 years old. I got my Invisalign when I was 55 years old. So I was a little bit older than what most people would do. But it’s so important to be able to take care of my teeth. So I plan on being here for a lot longer. I want to have my teeth while I’m here.

The dental savings plan is excellent because it’s a small fee every month. You can talk to them about that. But they’re also going to remind you when you need to come in. They’re going to remind you you need your teeth cleaned. And that’s included in the dental savings plan. I’m already paid for it. So if I’m having a rough month or whatever the case may be, it’s already covered. I’ve already done that. And it’s a piece of cake. You come in, talk to them about it, and you’re signed up within just a couple of minutes. Then they can…automatic payments out of your…every single month. And so it makes it super simple.

I’ve seen many dentists over the years as I’ve had my smile redone or implants put in and I’ve never encountered a dental practice like this one before. And again, I knew from the moment that I first had my smile consult that I wanted to stay with Above the Gate Dentistry and I didn’t need to look any further. I appreciated the way they took care of me as a person, cared about me, and really cared about how I thought my smile looked. I specifically remember them spending a lot of time with me determining the shade that we were going to use for my smile design as well as the shape of the teeth.

I can be pretty indecisive and I felt like Dr. Tuttle and other members of the staff gave me some really good input and feedback on what would fit me, what would fit my face, and what would lead to a nice smile that would suit me. And that was really, really valuable. Everyone in the staff was very genuine in the process and that means a lot to me. I like my health care providers to be genuine and personable and they are both of those things.

My initial reason for coming to Above the Gate was to have my smile done. And again, after my first visit here, I knew that I was going to have my smile design here but I also knew that I wanted them to become my primary dentist. I felt like I knew I didn’t need to go anywhere else. I didn’t want to go anywhere else. And so not only have they completed my smile design, I’ve also had crowns done. They’ve taken care of my aftercare for my implants, cavities, emergency types of things that have come up as well. And I would recommend them for all of your dental needs, all of your dental care.

Initially, I came to Above the Gate to have my smile redone or for the smile design. But also, in addition to that, I also needed four crowns and implants. And so my initial consultation with Dr. Tuttle also included talking about the additional dental care that I needed. And we talked about that, or Dr. Tuttle talks about that in phases. And I knew and he helped explain to me how the phases would work and also, like, helping me understand too that this wasn’t going to necessarily be a process that would happen within six months. I mean, we were looking at, like, a long-term plan and what it would look like from the smile design to the future implants I needed and then also to the crowns that would be added later.

My experience working with Above the Gate for my smile design and also my crowns is that they are very perfectionistic and they want your smile to look good. They want you to feel comfortable and they want to make sure that everything fits, so to speak. And so there’s a lot of time and attention put into making sure that everything fits correctly and that your bite is going to be perfect when you leave.
Working with Above the Gate and specifically Dr. Tuttle for my smile design and also my crowns, I appreciate that Dr. Tuttle is very detail-oriented, everything from the shape of my teeth, the shade of my teeth, making sure also that my crowns match the shade of everything else. And just I appreciate how detail-oriented they are and making sure that everything fits and also just making sure too that I am happy with my smile.

The reason I sought out a smile design is I knocked out my front teeth when I was about 9 years old. I have gone through probably about three or four sets of front teeth. Sometimes they’ve been bonded, other times they hadn’t been. And I was looking for a dentist, a cosmetic dentist, who could give me a smile that I would have for many, many, many years to come.

Essentially, I felt like I was investing in my last set of teeth. I know that sounds really weird. But, yeah, essentially I knew that I was going to invest in my final set of implants and crowns, and I wanted to make sure that my smile looked great. And I also wanted to make sure that I had my smile completed or done by a dentist with a good reputation, somebody who had great examples, and also had a really good chair-side manner, that was really important to me. And I also had a recommendation, and that’s how I found Above the Gate. It was from a dental assistant who recommended I come, and I knew from my first smile design consultation that this is where I wanted to have my smile done.

The first time I came in to meet with Dr. Tuttle for my smile design was actually pretty emotional because he did a mock-up of what my smile would look like after it was complete. And I actually got tears because I never thought that my smile could look that way. And Dr. Tuttle said, “Let me just give you a minute,” and just let me sit with the mirror and look at my smile. And that just really touched my heart. It was just very personable, and I never thought my smile could look that good. And so I’m just super appreciative of that.

With my Invisalign, I had buck teeth before. I don’t have them anymore. They had to change my smile along the way, and they did it wonderfully. They did a great job with it, I think. Overall, the experience using Invisalign through this dentist’s office was fabulous. They always told me exactly what to expect. I knew when it was going to be a little bit hurtful because it had been so tight. I knew when it was time to always change my trays. They just did a wonderful job. It’s so easy to get a good smile with Invisalign, and with the care of the doctors here especially. I was 71 on my last birthday. I was 68 when I first got Invisalign. It’s never too late.

I’ve come here ever since Dr. Davidson bought the practice. And I’ve lived in this area since 1990. We moved up here. And I went Above The Gate when it really was just Above The Gate and ever since. He bought the practice and I got to know him as a person, as a friend. And then Dr. Tuttle came in, and since then just a great place to come. They are so professional. They’re incredible. I know one time I had an abscess tooth. It was late on a Friday night. And I gave them a call thinking, well, by Monday morning, someone will call me back, 8 o’clock the next morning, Dr. Tuttle called me. And he said, “Terri, are you okay?” I said, “Sure. Well, what are you calling me for?” He said, “Well, you called and left a message that you had a problem.” And I said, “Wow, that’s really terrific.” And he had me in Monday morning, and he had a prescription already on a local pharmacy. He just took care of me. My experience is fabulous. I’ve had my son go here. Both my daughters have gone here throughout their life. I think the only time they’ve ever gone anywhere else is if they had a different dental insurance company. My son doesn’t come here anymore because he moved to England. But my daughters still come here. They both got Invaslines through this office. And they’re just amazing people to work with.