Five Points, Raleigh
Larkspur is a dentist-owned, single-location practice in a white brick building on Fairview Road that was a portrait photographer's studio for fifty years. Maren Ellery bought it for the north light. Two general dentists, a dental ceramist with a bench inside, a hygienist and a treatment coordinator: nine people, one smile at a time.
The building and the light
The building went up in 1958 as a portrait photography studio, which is why it has a band of north-facing clerestory windows along the roofline: photographers wanted even light that did not change through the day. So does anyone choosing the colour of a tooth. Maren walked past it for years and bought it in 2016 when the photographer retired.
Inside, the conversion kept the white walls and the concrete floor and added walnut, three consultation rooms with tall mirrors, a reception hung like a small gallery, and, in 2018, a ceramics bench with a kiln through the door behind the desk. The front window shows a chair, a lamp and a mirror, so that from the street it is unmistakably a dental studio and not a shop.
There is parking beside the building and on Fairview Road, and the Five Points shops are a short walk. Directions are on the contact page.
The bench
Most veneers are made in a laboratory the patient never sees, by a technician who has never seen the patient, from a shade written on a form under a clinic lamp. Anders Lund set up the bench here in 2018 so that neither of those things is true at Larkspur. He sits in on the shade appointment at the window, layers the porcelain by hand in powders, fires it in the kiln behind reception, and adjusts a trial or a final veneer while you wait.
It is a slower way to make a veneer and the reason the surface has the translucency of enamel rather than a flat white. You will meet him. Most people have never met the person who made their teeth.
The people
Dentists first, then the ceramist, then the two people who keep the work healthy and the plan honest. Every person here is part of this fictional studio.
General dentist, founder
Maren opened Larkspur in 2016 in a portrait studio she had walked past for years, because it had the light she wanted for shade work. A UNC Adams School of Dentistry graduate in practice since 2004, she plans every veneer case here and still fits every trial smile herself. She is the one who will tell you that bonding will do.
General dentist
Theo joined in 2021 and does most of the bonding, whitening and aligner planning, and shares the veneer work with Maren. He is slow with a composite in the best way: a bonded edge from Theo is shaped and polished until it disappears, which is why he is the first person a chipped tooth sees.
Dental ceramist
Anders set up the bench and kiln inside the studio in 2018 after twenty years in commercial dental laboratories. He layers every porcelain veneer made here by hand, sits in on the shade appointment at the window, and adjusts the trial smile on the spot rather than by courier. You will meet him.
Dental hygienist
Keisha has kept the hygiene side of the studio since 2017. Cosmetic work only lasts on healthy gums, so she sees every veneer and bonding patient before treatment and on the maintenance visits afterwards, and she is candid about what she finds.
Treatment coordinator
Priya writes the tooth-by-tooth plan at the end of every consultation, with the fee for the whole smile, what is included, and the financing options, and hands it over before you leave. She answers the request form within one business day and is the voice on the phone.
Both dentists are general dentists who do cosmetic work. Cosmetic dentistry is not a recognised specialty, and nobody here claims one. Orthodontic cases beyond mild to moderate crowding and all implant surgery are referred to people who do only that.
How the work is done
The plan is made in wax and fitted as a trial smile you wear for about a week. Changes are made to the mock-up, not to your teeth. Nothing irreversible happens until you have worn it and said yes.
Shade chosen at the window in daylight with Anders in the room, against your skin and your other teeth. Porcelain layered and fired in this building, adjusted here while you wait.
Who is and is not a candidate, before any benefit is described. Whitening, bonding or aligners first when they will do the job. A written plan, tooth by tooth, handed over at the consultation.
If this sounds like the studio you were looking for, book a consultation, or call (919) 555-0137 and Priya will tell you plainly whether it is worth your time.