Growing up, Dr. Priya Uppal hated going to the dentist.
“I was a really anxious patient,” she says. “Every time I went, I was expecting pain, expecting to be told I’m not doing something right, just expecting to feel bad while I was there.”
Now, Priya uses her past experiences as a reminder of the environment she seeks to eliminate as leader of the Incredible Smiles dentistry team in Boulder.
Priya began her role at Incredible Smiles a year and a half ago after meeting its founder, Dr. Lori Kemmet, by chance and covering for her while she was on vacation. The two bonded over a shared desire to provide patients with extremely personalized care that not only improves their smiles but also their well-being and confidence. Approaching their work as artistry and treating someone’s smile as a larger part of total body health is paramount. With a primary focus on cosmetic dentistry and neuromuscular dentistry, Priya typically sees one patient at a time, getting to know them, why they’ve come to her and what they’re trying to accomplish. This is a vastly different method compared to the corporate dentistry world that can center on meeting quotas and cutting costs, often at the expense of patients.
“We custom craft a smile for someone based on their facial appearance and based on their personality,” Priya says. “Characteristics like whether it's masculine or feminine really play into how a smile is designed. When you take all of those things into consideration, that's when you can really do something spectacular. You're giving them not only a beautiful smile but also one that suits them and doesn't look artificial.”
Recently, Priya designed veneers for a man who was extremely self-conscious about his smile. When she saw him for a follow-up appointment, he described how his wife notices how much more he smiles and how he holds it just a little bit longer if someone tells a joke. Seeing that transformation from within and how a change in appearance can make someone feel, Priya says, is what drives her to continue giving dedicated attention to each of her patients.
Neuromuscular dentistry procedures focus on overall jaw function. Another patient Priya currently treats was experiencing TMJ issues and temporarily relieving her associated pain with routine Botox injections. Priya later discovered that the root cause of the pain was an unstable bite that Invisalign would likely fix. In the six months since starting the teeth straightening, the patient hasn’t experienced pain and hasn’t needed Botox.
“I wanted to give her the type of function that she can maintain over her lifetime,” Priya explains.
Having candid conversations with patients from the first complimentary consultation is what sets Incredible Smiles apart. It allows Priya and her team of five to fully understand what the patient needs and how to achieve their goals. Their practice is so widely regarded that it’s not only patients in Boulder or Denver who make appointments — clients will drive in from Wyoming and fly in from states as far as Florida. Priya says she sees patients of all ages, from teenagers to people in their 80s and 90s. She’s also noticing longtime clients bringing in their children because many cosmetic dental concerns are genetic. Rave referrals are usually how the practice acquires new patients.
“We devote all of our time and energy into one person at a time,” Priya says. “I always wanted to be in an environment where I could provide really high-quality cosmetic care because that is my passion. Seeing the difference in someone’s confidence when you give them a smile that they're proud of is what I love.”
TESTIMONIAL:
"I’ve had veneers for the past 25 years. I had an unexpected gum surgery that required me to redo my upper veneers. My face has also changed (aged) over the 25 years, so I needed a refresh. I was apprehensive about being able to achieve a better result than what I already had. I went for a consultation with Dr. Uppal. She was honest about my potential results, and at the end of the day, she completely over-delivered. She meticulously took her time with my temporaries to make sure the end result was the absolute best it could be. She is truly a master at her craft, a scholar, an artist and a sculptor all in one. And she has an incredible team to back her up. The camaraderie of the staff is palpable. Lastly, Dr. Uppal has a lovely chair-side demeanor, and she is confident. I felt calm and safe through the many appointments needed to accomplish our result. She is simply the best." — Deborah Knorr