Coral Gables Dentistry, Held to a Higher Standard

A private functional and biomimetic dental practice for people who already take their health seriously, and want their dental care to reflect the same standard.

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How Our Approach Works

Coral Gables Guests Say it’s Worth the Drive

Although I live in the Gables, I will gladly take the drive south. They don’t exaggerate like other doctors saying you need more done to get money. The doctor really cares and is very personable.

— Daniela A., Coral Gables

Daniela isn’t alone. Our guests drive in from across South Florida. Others fly in from around the country. Some come from as far as Israel.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably not looking for a new dentist. You’re looking for a different kind of dentistry.

The kind that sees your mouth as part of your body, not separate from it. The kind that pays attention to how you sleep, how you breathe, what’s actually happening at the root of a problem instead of just patching what shows up on the X-ray.

If that resonates, you’re exactly who Deering Dental was built for.

Why I Built This Practice

I’m Dr. Yenile Pinto. I started Deering Dental because I was tired of the way dentistry was being practiced.

I’d watched too many patients walk out with treatment plans built around what their insurance would cover, not around what their bodies actually needed. I’d watched colleagues get praised for production numbers instead of outcomes. I’d seen perfectly savable teeth crowned because crowns are easier to bill than the careful work that would have preserved them.

The whole system rewards the dentist who finds more problems, not the one who prevents them. That’s not a conspiracy. It’s just the math.

After a few years of that, I’d had enough.

So my husband Peter and I built a practice that operates on a different premise: that your long-term health is the point, and everything else should serve that.

That mission led to the system I’m about to walk you through. The goal is simple: make dental work the exception, not the expectation.

Coral Gables Dentist Deering Dental in Palmetto Bay, near Pinecrest

The SystemicSmile Protocol™: How Care Actually Works Here

The SystemicSmile Protocol™ is the framework every guest goes through. It’s built around three pillars.

Biology

The chemistry of your mouth. Your saliva, your microbiome, your bacterial balance, the minerals available to remineralize enamel before a small spot becomes a cavity. When your biology is unhealthy, dentistry becomes a repair cycle. When it’s supported, prevention actually works.

Behavior

The daily habits that quietly drive most dental problems. The habits aren’t always obvious, and they’re rarely about brushing. Diet, hydration, snacking patterns, mouth breathing, sleep quality, stress. All of it shows up in your mouth eventually. We help you find the ones that matter for you, not generic advice.

Biomechanics

How your teeth, jaw, bite, muscles, and airway work together. If your teeth keep chipping, your jaw clicks, your bite feels off, or you grind at night, the answer usually isn’t “fix the damaged tooth.” It’s understanding the forces that caused the damage in the first place.

When you address all three together, dental care changes. You stop chasing problems one tooth at a time. You start understanding the system.

The results aren’t subtle:

86.5% fewer root canals
90% fewer crowns
Stronger, longer-lasting teeth, with less drilling
Guests who need less dental work year after year, not more

Our root canal volume dropped so far that our root canal specialist quit due to lack of work.

Most dentistry fixes damage after it shows up. Mine is built to ask why it happened.

Most dental care is reactive. A cavity gets filled. A tooth cracks, so it gets crowned. Gums bleed, so someone gives you a flossing lecture. You grind at night, so you get a night guard.

Sometimes those things are necessary. But they’re not the whole story.

If a tooth keeps breaking, I want to understand the bite forces behind it.

If your gums are inflamed, I want to look at the bacterial and systemic picture, not just hand you better floss.

If you grind at night, I want to know whether airway, sleep, stress, or jaw position is involved.

If decay keeps showing up despite your best efforts, I want to look at saliva chemistry, minerals, habits, and the oral microbiome.

Because if we only repair the damage, we leave the cause in place. And when the cause stays, dentistry becomes a cycle. That’s the cycle I built Deering Dental to interrupt.

I admire their philosophy of less is more. I want the least invasive technique to keep my teeth healthy. Dr. Pinto was focused precisely on me and provided a sound conservative plan for my care.

— Susan M., Google Review

Save More of Your Natural Tooth

Biomimetic dentistry is the technical side of the conservative approach. In plain English, it means we try to preserve as much natural tooth as possible and rebuild damaged teeth in a way that mimics nature.

Instead of drilling a tooth into submission for a crown the moment it cracks, we look at whether the healthy structure can be preserved. We use bonded restorations, layered techniques, and biocompatible materials designed to behave more like natural enamel and dentin.

Think of it less like construction and more like restoration. If something valuable is damaged, you don’t destroy the whole thing just to make the repair easier. You preserve what’s still strong, rebuild what’s missing, and respect the original structure.

The goal is simple: less drilling, more tooth saved, restorations built to last.

This place is amazing. They fully believe in preserving as much of the original tooth as possible and will do whatever they can to help you keep it before drilling.

— A. Dubna, Google Review

The Second Opinion that Changed Everything

Last year a woman came in. We’ll call her Susan.

Her dentist had told her she needed three root canals and four crowns. She wasn’t in pain. She just trusted him, and he told her the damage was too far gone to fix any other way. She came to us for a second opinion before going forward.

When we sat down together and looked at the whole picture, her bite, her habits, the actual condition of each tooth, the story changed.

She didn’t need three root canals.

She didn’t need four crowns.

We were able to treat her with one biomimetic crown instead.

But here’s the part most people miss. Timing mattered.

If Susan had waited another three months, the decay would have progressed past the point where conservative treatment was still possible. Biomimetic dentistry is powerful, but it isn’t magic. There’s a window where saving the tooth is realistic. Once that window closes, the options change.

That’s why I care so much about catching things early and looking deeper.

If you’ve been quoted aggressive treatment and something about the recommendation doesn’t sit right, get a second opinion. Many of our Coral Gables guests came to us that way.

And sometimes the Wins are Bigger than Teeth

Meredith came in mostly to straighten her teeth and fix her bite with Invisalign. Here’s what she told us afterwards:

I grind my teeth really, really badly. I’ve broken at least three molars from grinding. I no longer wake up to feeling my teeth grinding or even a chewing sensation. So I’m sleeping better, not waking myself up doing that. If you can do it, do it.

— Meredith, Invisalign guest

Meredith came in for straighter teeth. She left sleeping better and grinding less. That’s the whole-body approach in plain language.

You’ll feel at home here if…

You’ll feel at home here if you’ve ever sat in a dental chair and thought something about this doesn’t feel right. If you’ve been quoted aggressive treatment elsewhere and the recommendation didn’t match how your mouth actually feels. If you’d rather understand what’s actually happening in your mouth than be handed a treatment plan to sign. If you’d rather drive twenty minutes for a dentist you trust than five minutes for a dentist you don’t.

What Your First Visit Looks Like

Your first visit is scheduled for two full hours. The first appointment isn’t a quick exam followed by a treatment plan handed off at the front desk. It’s a thorough diagnostic workup, a real conversation, and time with me long enough to actually understand what’s going on with your mouth and how it connects to your overall health.

Every new guest receives:

• A full functional and biomimetic exam covering teeth, gums, bite, soft tissues, and existing dental work

• Digital X-rays and a 3D digital health scan

• Airway evaluation

• Oral cancer screening

• A detailed risk assessment

• A personalized prevention plan to address current issues and keep new ones from forming

When indicated, we also include a take-home sleep study and salivary diagnostics to look deeper at airway and oral microbiome health.

We hold your appointment with a deposit because we set aside a real block of time for you, and assembly-line scheduling isn’t how we do things. The deposit is applied to your visit.

On Insurance and the Value of Doing it Right

We are out-of-network with all dental insurance plans and operate fee-for-service. We made that decision so treatment recommendations here are based on what’s best for your long-term health, not on what a plan happens to reimburse this year.

If you carry dental insurance, you don’t have to chase the paperwork. We file and submit your claims for you, and our claims specialist works to maximize the benefits your plan offers. Most guests are pleasantly surprised by how much comes back. But that’s not why they choose us. They choose us because the work holds up.

The choice here isn’t cheap versus expensive. It’s good care, tailored to your biology, versus assembly-line dentistry that treats you like a procedure on a schedule. The difference shows up over years: fewer procedures, healthier teeth, and a relationship with your dentist that doesn’t feel like a sales process.

And our work is guaranteed. Five years on fillings and crowns. Ten years on implants. If we have to redo it, we redo it on us. On the procedural side, we provide the full range of preventive, restorative, and cosmetic care: comprehensive exams, biomimetic fillings, inlays, and onlays, crowns and bridges, implant restorations, veneers, Invisalign, teeth whitening, oral cancer screening, night guards, custom oral appliances for sleep apnea, and CBCT imaging when clinically indicated. Each is delivered through the SystemicSmile lens. Second opinions on recommended root canals and crowns are something we provide regularly.

A Note before You Decide

Here’s what it comes down to.

You can keep going to dentists who treat your teeth like a series of unrelated problems. Most people do. Most people stay in the cycle.

Or you can work with someone who treats your mouth as part of your body, looks at why problems are happening before fixing what’s already broken, and tells you the truth, even when the truth means a smaller treatment plan.

That’s what I built this practice to do. And if you’ve read this far, I think you already know whether it’s the kind of care you’ve been looking for.

— Dr. Yenile Pinto

Dr. Pinto was awesome. You can really tell they care about their patients. Highly recommend this office for anyone looking for quality dental care with a personal touch.

— Marina R., Google Review

Questions Coral Gables guests ask before their first visit

How long is the drive from Coral Gables?

We sit just south of the Gables, in front of the historic Deering Estate. Take US-1 or cruise down Old Cutler Road under the canopy of banyan trees. Most of our Coral Gables guests tell us the route on Old Cutler is part of the appeal.

Do you accept dental insurance?

We are out-of-network with all dental insurance plans and operate fee-for-service. If you carry insurance, you don’t have to do the paperwork yourself. We file and submit your claims for you. Treatment recommendations here are based on what’s best for your long-term health, not on what insurance happens to cover.

What is functional dentistry, and why does it matter?

Functional dentistry treats the mouth as part of the rest of the body. Instead of looking only at the tooth that hurts, we evaluate bite, airway, sleep, oral inflammation, and the oral microbiome to understand why dental problems are showing up in the first place. The goal is fewer problems over time, not faster procedures.

Are you a holistic or natural dentist?

People use those words to describe a lot of different things. We’re a functional and biomimetic practice, which in plain terms means we use biocompatible materials, preserve natural tooth structure whenever possible, and look at how your oral health connects to your overall well-being. If “natural” or “holistic” is what you’re looking for in a dentist, this is likely what you mean.

I was told I need a root canal. Should I get a second opinion?

If something about the recommendation doesn’t sit right with you, a second opinion is reasonable. Many teeth that have been quoted for root canals can be saved with conservative biomimetic technique, depending on how deep the damage has progressed. We’ll give you an honest assessment, including telling you when a root canal is genuinely the right call.

How long is a first visit?

Two full hours. Long enough for a complete functional and biomimetic exam, imaging, airway evaluation, oral cancer screening, a detailed risk assessment, and a real conversation with Dr. Pinto. We hold the time with a deposit, which is applied to your visit.

Is this practice a fit for someone with dental anxiety?

Yes. About one in five of our new guests arrive with some degree of dental anxiety, often from a frustrating prior experience. The pace of the visit, the fact that you’re with Dr. Pinto rather than rotating between providers, and the absence of pressure tactics tend to make a noticeable difference. The care here is calm, thorough, and personal from start to finish.

Are you accepting new guests from Coral Gables?

Yes. New guest availability is intentionally limited to keep the pace of care personal, but we welcome inquiries from Coral Gables and the surrounding neighborhoods. The fastest way to start is to request a new guest visit through the link on this page.