Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of South Charlotte.
Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Ep # 152 Saving Teeth, Easing Fears, Building Community
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Tooth pain has a way of hijacking your whole day. We sat down with Dr. Katie Kickertz, owner of Premier Endodontics of SouthPark in Charlotte, to unpack what actually happens during a root canal, why today’s techniques feel so different from the old stories, and how the right plan can save your natural tooth with less stress and faster healing.
Katie explains the specialty of endodontics in plain language, then opens the door to her tech-driven workflow: CBCT 3D imaging to see inside the tooth, surgical microscopes for precision, and modern disinfection with lasers and Odontic Clean to reach complex canal spaces. She shares practical weekend pain advice, from who to call to what over-the-counter options can safely take the edge off. We also examine cases beyond cavities—sports trauma in teens, retreatments when a prior root canal isn’t healing, and root-end surgery for stubborn infections. Success rates, numbness, and post-op soreness all get demystified, with a focus on comfort and clear expectations.
Not every ache is a tooth problem. We talk through TMJ and myofascial pain, why clenching and grinding can mimic dental issues, and how Botox and physical therapy can calm overworked jaw muscles and cut down headaches. Along the way, Katie tells the story of leaving a disappointing corporate role and building a patient-first practice from scratch, drawing on the discipline she learned as a competitive figure skater and her ongoing work with the American Association of Endodontists.
If you’ve delayed care because of fear—or you’re curious how modern endodontics protects your smile—this conversation will change how you think about root canals, jaw pain, and urgent dental care. Subscribe for more local business stories, share this episode with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help neighbors find the show.
Premier Endodontics of SouthPark
Dr. Katie Kickertz
6842 Carnegie Blvd., Ste. 200
Charlotte, NC 28211
(980) 705-8251
info@endodonticsofsouthpark.com
endodonticsofsouthpark.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Regina League:Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. My name is Regina League, and I'm here in the Charlotte area. And my favorite thing to do is to interview local business owners. And I had the pleasure today to speak with Dr. Katie Kickertz. She is the owner of Premier Endodonics of South Park. Welcome, Katie.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Hi, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Regina League:Yeah, it's uh it's a pleasure to talk to you. I I don't think I've ever had uh a guest that does what you do. What is endodonics?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Sure. So an endodontist is a dentist that specializes only in root canals. Um, so general dentists go to school for four years, and then specialists like an oral surgeon, an orthodontist, an endodontist, um, we do additional training to get certification and advancement to only specialize in one area. So endodontists are root canal specialists, meaning we do root canals, we do surgical root canals, and we redo retreat root canals.
Regina League:Retreat. What does that mean? Because I'm a gal that's had a few root canals.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:So that means um we kind of redo it and revise it and improve the root canal. If it's not healing, if there's symptoms, if it's if it can be improved. Okay, can then keep their natural juice still.
Regina League:Yeah, yeah. I I have memories of my very first need of a root canal, and the pain is intense. Speaking of which, let's say it's a Sunday and you feel that pain coming on, and you're at home and you don't open till Monday. What can you do until you can see someone for pain?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Um, so a lot of times your first resource may be like your general dentist who usually see, and sometimes they have emergency hours or a number you can call. When it's my patients that I've already seen, um typically they'll reach out to the office and I'll get alerted so that uh we can I can get on the phone with them and talk about pain management, whether it's over-the-counter medications or prescription medications, if there's swelling or something like that. And sometimes it's just reassurance of like what's normal, especially after a treatment, if it's feeling sore. Sometimes you're you just want to make sure that it's okay, that it's not 100% yet.
Regina League:And it's right very much that way.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Yeah.
Regina League:Big time. Well, um, tell us about your journey and what made you open up your no your own practice in the South Park area.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Sure. Um, so I'm originally from the Midwest. I grew up outside of Chicago, um, did most of my all my education in the Midwest. Um, I did my endodonic residency at the University of Minnesota and up in Minneapolis where I met my husband. And then I worked out in that area, you know, as in for a big corporation and a private practice, never my own boss. Um, and then when COVID happened, my husband was working from home. We thought this is an opportunity to get out of the cold. So I took a different job in like the DC area, and that was that was great. It was a nice uh move forward. Um, and then I actually got recruited to come down to Charlotte area to work um at another office that was another corporate office. And I thought it would be this dream job, and it was not at all. It was a really negative experience, but it was the experience that pushed me then say, I'm not gonna work for somebody else anymore. Um, and I had been practicing for quite a while at that point and thought, you know what, I can I can do this. So I went out and I'm just gonna start my own instead. So sometimes it's just you never know where you're gonna end up and why, but it'll work out.
Regina League:That's amazing and very brave, I should say.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Yeah, I mean it's a lot of work, but I think it was it's definitely worth it. I do not regret it.
Regina League:Well, the neat thing I've noticed in being a patient at Dennis, you know, when you have a newer practice, the technology that you have is so updated. What you know, talk talk to us about your technology.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Yeah, so in my specialty of endodonics, um, we are we use a lot of technology to begin with. We do CBCT imaging, which is a 3D area scan that we look at, you know, only a small portion of teeth. So we're getting to see the inside of the tooth and helps us to diagnose and treatment plan the best options on how to address an issue. We also use microscopes. So I have a microscope in every room, and I use a microscope every day, all day, um to see inside of this tiny tooth that I'm removing the nerve tissue from.
Regina League:Um in my practice, what do you mean the microscope comes up to your mouth?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:No, so it actually so it's it's mounts like above like where you're sitting as a patient, and then I can zoom in. So I can just look through my microscope and it looks down at your tooth, and then I can um zoom in pretty heavily, and then I have a camera attached to it so I can take some pictures if I need to. Sometimes like a tooth has a crack in it, so we have to um you know say we can't fix the tooth, and that affects the prognosis. So I can take an image of it and then pull it up on my screen and show my patient, hey, this is what we found, you know. Um, so it really helps with documentation and being able to treatment plan the best. And then in my office, um I have some more advanced technology for um cleaning the tooth better. So I use a laser that helps to really disinfect really well, and it's really good on surgical procedures because it's less pain when healing, it makes the treatment a lot more efficient. Um, and then I also have a brand new technology called Odni Clean that helps to really disinfect the tooth a lot better using just sterile water. So that's a really new addition when the last month that we've added to the practice to help get better results for our patients.
Regina League:Do in your field, do you guys have continuing ed or things? How do you stay up to date on what that is?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Yeah, that's a great question. So, you know, but the state dictates that you know dentists need to do a certain amount of continuing education hours. Um, myself, I am really involved in my endodonic association, which is called the American Association of Endodonists, um, and I'm on the continuing education committee, strangely enough. So um we help to filter out and provide education to endodontists throughout the country and the world. Um, and so that's an easy way to get a lot more information from just your field as well.
Regina League:So yeah, it keeps you connected too. For sure.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:You know, a group of people that yeah, it's really cool because then you get to meet people from other areas, and now I have a whole resource of other practice owners that, you know, what are you guys doing? What have you found that works? And it can be simple as like clinical stuff, like how do we fix this problem when we're doing a root canal, or as far as like how do I manage my team, or I'm struggling with how to find a good team member. So a lot of the business stuff too.
Regina League:What's a age ranges?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Do you oh gosh? Um, there's some endodonts who who do see younger children. Unfortunately, there are kids who need root canals in my practice. I don't do nitrous oxide or like laughing gas. Um, so typically we try to see 16 and up, but I think I had a 96-year-old this week. So I mean it's all ages. So yeah.
Regina League:Oh dear, she must have been in a lot of pain. Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:It it's a huge age range. I mean, there's so many reasons you could end up needing a root canal, unfortunately. So it's not just like a certain age is the the high risk people.
Regina League:Gotcha. Well, your website is absolutely beautiful. And I I noticed when I was reading a little bit about you, you know, your goal was to create an environment that was warm and welcoming and comfortable. And that is so well conveyed on your website. Uh, I can just tell, you know, there's a nice touch there. Walk us through your services, other than you know, what you obviously have pointed out, you do root canals, but you also do some other things.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Yeah, um, we we see a lot of emergencies. So sometimes when you like that's a big part of it, and maybe it's not necessarily root canal is the final answer, but like sometimes I'm the person that can help get the patient out of pain. So we see a lot of like swelling, pain, trauma too. So that's one like sports trauma, like teenagers falling and hitting their front teeth, and like that has a major impact on their well-being and ability to function, too. So um we see that trauma as well, but it's really a lot of straightforward root canals, getting people a lot of pain that have infections or a lot of inflammation and sensitivity, um, redoing the root canals, like we mentioned, and then I do um root canal surgery, which is a little bit more invasive, but still done right here in the office, where um we if we have more aggressive infections that need to be addressed further than a retreatment, then a lot of times that's an option too.
Regina League:Um referrals from dentists, or how does it work?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:That's primarily how it works. So most of the time you go in for you have pain and your dentist says, Oh no, you need a root canal, you need to see the specialists. Um, so that's how a lot of patients find me. A lot of patients will find me from like reviews that they've read, or maybe um in network with their insurance, which is super helpful for a lot of patients. Yeah, or it could be just the neighborhood, you know. Um, but we do accept self-referrals too. Sometimes patients like have had pain before and they know that this is a root canal pain, so they're like, I'm just gonna go, I'm gonna call, and you know, we we get them in.
Regina League:Yeah, you have great reviews. Congratulations.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Thank you so much. It's a lot with the team, it's really good, and we really try to focus on being patient and kind with everybody because do a lot of times when when you call and the patient's in pain, we're not the most lovely people when we're in pain. So it's a lot you have to have a lot of empathy and patience.
Regina League:Yeah, I'm one of those that wants every drug you can give me. Um yeah, me and dentistry have had a history. So I see on your website Botox for TMJ.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:How does that work? Um, yeah, well, a lot of times tooth pain might not be tooth in origin, and it can be more what we call myofascial, meaning it's like the muscles of your jaw. So uh Botox can really help with that, or injectables for that matter. Um, along with, you know, if we need to talk with a TMJ specialist, that's another specialty, or doing physical therapy. Um, it can help to to really alleviate a lot of chronic pain and headaches too, because it's all interconnected and can radiate. So I do a decent number of uh Botox for TMJ and myofacial pain that is kind of it's not a cure, all of course, but it really does help a lot of patients. And like I I have do it on myself sometimes too, and when I'm very stressed and overworking my jaw muscles, it definitely helps.
Regina League:Yeah, I'm a grinder, so I'm sure you know the um clinching too.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:So yeah, yeah, exactly. Yep, it's like you're going to the gym and overworking that muscle and it's just sore.
Regina League:Yeah, so I'm sure you run into some patients that are there's just many misconceptions about your line of work. Do you have any you can share or want to talk about?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:For sure. Yeah, a lot of misconceptions about you know safety and pain, especially, like root canals are highly successful. I mean, each patient situation is a little bit different. Um, but you know, we have over 90% success rate for regular root canals. So that's nothing is as good as keeping your own tooth 100%. So we want to we want to keep that as long as possible. And if sometimes you need a root canal to do that. Um, a lot of times it's like scary fears of like pain and it's gonna be terrible. And you know, you found something on the internet, or your uncle has told you something from like 50 years ago and how bad it was. And it's really, you know, it going to the dentist, no one is usually thrilled about that. But you know, we get you profoundly numb, we take care of it so you can start feeling better. And some soreness is pretty reasonable afterwards. Um, but you know, it it most of the patients leave and say, like that was I can't believe that was it. That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. A lot of it's kind of overcoming the obstacle in your mind, and we try to just explain everything we're doing step by step so they know how long it's going to take, what process we're in, how's it going, so that you don't get in your head too much and and worry unnecessarily.
Regina League:I think the Novicaine or whatever it's called has come a long way since I had my first one many, maybe God, I hate to tell you, probably 35 years ago. And you're right. Now it's like, oh, whatn't so yeah.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:And I will say, end it on us, we we deal with people in extreme pain, so we're really good at getting you know. Yeah, a lot of extra techniques to do it.
Regina League:Yeah. Well, now you've got your own practice, you've been, you know, through a journey of working for others. What are you most proud of now?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:I think that's just it is starting it from scratch. You know, I didn't buy somebody else's established practice. I built everything up and put a lot of work into it, and I'm really thankful to have a lot of support and great people around the Charlotte area, like the patients, the referring doctors. Like it's been wonderful working with all of them. But even, you know, my the builder who helped me in designing it and in getting everything executed, it's like they've become really great friends and colleagues that I can refer people to use as well. So I'm definitely most proud of starting something from scratch and just being able to enjoy my work.
Regina League:Yeah, and rightfully so. So I noticed on your bio you were a figure skater. My goodness. Which makes sense if you're up there where all the snow and ice is. But uh, how did you get into that and what did you do?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Yeah, um, so like I grew up in, I was born in the 80s, so I loved watching figure skating on TV. And I uh, you know, would beg my mom to go skating. And eventually she took me in like an outdoor lagoon, and I had so much fun that I begged to like let me take lessons, and I just kind of evolved from there and it became kind of like m my whole world for most of my childhood. Um, I would go away summers to train. I was a very competitive figure skater, and it taught you a lot of discipline and organizational skills that then translate into life and career, of course. Um, but you know, I really enjoyed it. I love the daily practicing of it and uh I'm still involved in it as well as an official. So I judge figure skating as a volunteer, so it's cool to be able to still be involved in it and not have to have to do the training.
Regina League:Yeah, do you go skating anywhere near Charlotte?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Um, there I there's a couple of rinks. There's one in Pineville and one in Indian Trails that are they're good. So um I usually try to find like one of the most obscure times where not that many people are there, so I can like you know, skate a little more and do your stuff, have more freedom to spread out and go faster, basically.
Regina League:Who was your favorite skater back in the day?
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Oh, my original favorite skater would be like uh Katarina Vitt, you know, the German champion uh from the 80s, but also like Michelle Kwan, the classic, you know, just beautiful, beautiful skating skills and lines.
Regina League:Yeah, you know what? It's very artistic. I can see how beautiful that and fun that would be in those cute little costumes they get to wear every year. Exactly. Well, Katie, it's been so fun. Tell our listeners how they can find you.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Yeah, so I'm located in South Park, um, off of Fairview, um, off of Carnegie Boulevard specifically. So uh we're open Monday through Thursday um and some Fridays to see patients as well. So uh my website's endodonicsofsouthpark.com. Um, and our phone number is 980-423-1272.
Regina League:Wonderful. It has been a pleasure. Congratulations. I mean, uh, it just looks like a wonderful practice. If I ever need you, uh I ever have another one, I'm coming to you.
Dr. Katie Kickertz:Sounds good.
Regina League:I'm here for you. Have a wonderful day. Thank you, Kate. Thank you.
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