Est. 2009 · Five Points, Raleigh
The dentist you stop dreading, for the whole house
Two dentists, four hygienists, and one rule: nothing happens in your mouth until you know what it is, what it costs, and why we would do it. Cleanings for the six-year-old, veneers for you, one waiting room.
New patients seen within 9 days on average. Tooth cracked or throbbing today? Call before 2 p.m. and we hold two same-day relief slots.
- 16 years in the same Raleigh office
- 0.7 ppm city fluoride, tested weekly
- Written plan before any drill runs
- Sat. hygiene two Saturdays a month
A first visit that moves slowly on purpose
Most people who call us have not sat in a dental chair in three or four years. So the first appointment is mostly listening, measuring, and photographing — not fixing. Nobody is talked into anything on day one.
The sit-down
Coffee, no bib yet. What hurts, what you hate about your smile, what happened the last time you went to a dentist, and what your budget actually is.
15 minutesThe record
Digital X-rays, an intraoral scan, and close-up camera photos of every tooth on the screen beside you. You see what we see, in the same second we see it.
25 minutesThe numbers
Six-point gum probing, AAP staging, oral cancer screening, bite and clench check. This is where we catch the grinding nobody has mentioned to you before.
20 minutesThe plan on paper
Two printed options — the essential work and the full plan — each with your insurance estimate written in ink, plus what happens if you wait six months.
30 minutes
Dr. helen voss and dr. ray okafor, and why they do not rush
Helen bought this practice in 2009 after seven years of hospital-based restorative work, and she still does every implant restoration and veneer case herself. Ray joined in 2017, handles most of the family side, and is the one children ask for by name — he does about 40 kids' cleanings a week and keeps a drawer of Wake County school mascot stickers for August.
Between them they place roughly 130 implant crowns and finish about 55 aligner cases a year. Both are general dentists — we are not orthodontists or periodontists, and when a case belongs with one, we say so and hand you the name and the phone number the same day.
- DDS UNC Adams School of Dentistry, both dentists
- AACD Dr. Voss, Accredited Member candidate, cosmetic case documentation
- CE 62 hours logged last year, well past the NC Board's requirement
- N₂O Nitrous analgesia and oral conscious sedation available in-office
Six kinds of appointments, honest ranges
Ranges below are what Raleigh patients pay here before insurance, based on our 2024 ledger. Your written estimate comes from your own X-rays, not from this list.
Cleanings & exams
Adult prophy, bitewings, fluoride varnish, sealants for the kids, and periodontal maintenance if your gums have been through scaling before. Recall every 3, 4, or 6 months depending on your staging — not one blanket rule.
$95–$310Fillings & crowns
Tooth-colored composite, and metal-free zirconia or e.max crowns milled from a scan. Old amalgam replaced only when it is failing — we will not talk you into swapping fillings that are still sound.
$210–$1,480Invisalign
Scan, printed setup you approve before trays are ordered, then visits every 8 weeks. Most adult cases here run 9–15 months. Retainers and one refinement round are included in the case fee.
$3,900–$5,600Teeth whitening
In-office session plus custom take-home trays, VITA shade recorded before and after. We treat sensitivity first — whitening a cracked or eroded tooth is how people end up miserable for a week.
$275–$620Porcelain veneers
Diagnostic wax-up and a trial smile you wear home for a weekend before a single tooth is touched. Six to ten units is typical. Gum recontouring included when the case needs it.
$1,250–$1,950 per toothDental implants
CBCT-planned, guided placement with a printed surgical guide, then the crown three to four months later. Single tooth to full-arch. Socket grafting the day of extraction so you keep the bone.
$3,400–$5,200 per tooth
City water or a well? it changes what your kids need.
Raleigh Water pulls from Falls Lake, treats at the E.M. Johnson plant, doses fluoride to a target of 0.7 ppm, and files fluoride reports weekly with the NC Public Water Supply Section. If your house is on that line, your children are already getting the right amount — supplements on top of it can cause faint white mottling on adult teeth.
Families out past the city line in Wake, Johnston, and Franklin counties are usually on private wells, where fluoride can be near zero or unusually high. We ask for a well test result before we prescribe anything, and we will tell you which number to look for on the report.
- Ask us in August Custom-fitted sports mouthguards run $145 and take one 20-minute visit — book before the first WCPSS practice week.
- Spring pollen, fake toothache Oak and pine season sends us patients certain an upper molar is dying. Often it is sinus pressure. We X-ray before anyone touches a nerve.
- November benefits Unused dental insurance resets January 1. We start calling patients with remaining benefit in early October.
What people say once the numbness wears off
★★★★★“I had avoided dentists for eleven years. Dr. Voss went through the photos with me for twenty minutes and never once made me feel stupid about it. Four appointments later I'm caught up.”
★★★★★“My son is seven and asks when we go back. Dr. Okafor let him hold the little camera and look at his own molars on the screen. That's the whole trick, apparently.”
★★★★★“Trial smile weekend sold me. I wore the mock-up to a wedding, decided the front two were a shade too bright, and they changed it before anything was permanent.”
When to come, and what it costs to walk in
- Monday – Thursday7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Friday7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
- 1st & 3rd Saturday8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (hygiene)
- SundayClosed · urgent calls returned
Insurance & paying for it
In-network with Delta Dental, MetLife, Cigna, BCBS of NC, Aetna, and Guardian; we file for every other plan as an out-of-network courtesy. No insurance? Our in-house plan is $348 a year and covers two cleanings, exams, X-rays, and 20% off treatment. Cases over $1,200 split into monthly payments through third-party financing with a same-day answer.
The questions we answer eight times a week
I have not been in years and I am embarrassed. What actually happens?
You talk, we look, we photograph, and you leave with a plan. No cleaning is forced onto the first visit if your gums are inflamed — that would hurt. There is no lecture. Roughly one in three of our new patients hasn't been seen in over three years.
My tooth is throbbing right now. Can you see me today?
Call (919) 555-0152 before 2 p.m. and we will usually get you in the same afternoon — we hold two slots daily for spontaneous pain, swelling, a lost crown, or a fractured tooth. If your face is swelling toward your eye or your breathing feels tight, go to the ER first and call us after.
Are veneers or whitening the right call for me?
Whitening first, almost always — it is cheaper, reversible, and often enough. Veneers make sense when shape, chips, or old bonding are the problem, not just color. We show you a wax-up and a trial smile before committing, and we will tell you plainly if the honest answer is aligners instead.
How long does an implant really take start to finish?
Plan on four to six months. Extraction and graft if needed, healing, CBCT-guided placement, then three to four months of integration before the final crown. You are never without a tooth in a visible spot — a temporary bridges the gap.
Do you treat children, and at what age do we start?
First visit around age one, mostly a lap exam and a talk with you. Real cleanings begin around three. We see kids and parents back to back so you make one trip, and Dr. Okafor handles most family appointments.
My jaw aches and I wake with headaches. Is that dental?
Often, yes. We check wear facets, muscle tenderness, and your bite. Most people get a custom occlusal guard around $520; some do better with masseter Botox for clenching, which we offer here. We measure before recommending either.
Bring us the tooth you have been ignoring
One phone call, one honest look, one written plan. We are five minutes from Five Points with free lot parking behind the building, and new patients are usually seen within nine days.
Request an appointment
Send a note and our front desk will reach out to schedule.
Prefer to talk? Call (919) 555-0152