Photography by: Robin Jerstad

Walking into Authentic Smiles Dental Studio would be like walking into Antone’s if Antone’s took out its bar and classed itself up a bit. Copies of the Austin Chronicle and Texas Music Magazine lay on waiting room tables; guitars hang on walls; and vintage concert posters of Austin music legends such as Stevie Ray Vaughn line the hallways.

Sitting on plush coffee-colored leather chairs, staring out the windows that reach from the floor to the second story ceiling and listening to the latest in modern rock, it is easy to forget you are in a dentist’s office. Until, of course, there is a pause in the music, and the old familiar sounds of powered toothbrushes and water suction tools can be heard.

This is certainly not your father’s dentist’s office. This is the office of Austin’s cool dentist, Dr. Shane Matt. His passion for music and cutting-edge technology is seen in every aspect of his work. There are no flimsy posters of kittens or puppies stuck to the ceilings of his exam rooms. Instead, rooms are adorned with signed posters of iconic Austin musicians such as Willie Nelson and Arc Angels, as well as several computer monitors and flat-screen televisions.

Growing up in Alexandria, La., music surrounded his life. His grandmother played Elvis on her Lincoln’s eight-track, and a few days after Jim Croce, singer of “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,” died, Matt’s father took him to see the pecan tree that Croce’s plane crashed into.

“I think that was when I first felt the connection between melodies and memories,” Matt said.

Destined to become a dentist (his grandfather was a dentist, his uncle is pediatric dentist and his mom is a dental hygienist), he received his Doctorate of Dental Surgery (DDS) from Louisiana State University Health Science Center School of Dentistry before moving to Austin in 1999.

He immediately fell in love with the Capitol City. One of his first days driving and getting familiar with Austin, he heard “The Watermelon Song,” by Poi Dog Pondering, immediately followed by a Lyle Lovett song on KSGR.

“I knew right then I would like this town,” he said.

For eight years, he and a colleague ran a dentist’s office on Bee Caves Road. A few years ago, he began looking around Austin for an office space of his own.

“Back then the mayor was talking a lot about wanting to see more people downtown, more high-rises [and more] people move back into downtown,” he said. “I crunched numbers on where people located on the map and where dentists were located, and it looked like downtown Austin was one of the most undeserved areas in Central Texas.”

He opened his new office space, Authentic Smiles Dentistry, on San Antonio Street in the AMLI Building more than two years ago. Just around the corner from Malaga, Austin City Hall, Austin Music Hall and Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue, he is in the heart of downtown Austin.

Throughout his years of practice in Austin, he has met some very famous clients and become known as the “rock ‘n’ roll” dentist. His friend and client list includes Alejandro Escovedo, Charlie Sexton, Dale Watson, the Los Lonely Boys and Carolyn Wonderland.

His relationship with Austin musicians began years ago when he worked with the Sims Foundation, an organization that provides access and financial support for mental health and addiction for Austin-area musicians.

“I got hooked up with the guys [who] were doing the Sims Foundation and started doing dentistry on musicians [who] needed help,” he said, “and that turned into those guys happen to know other guys, and those guys started to come into see me and eventually, they became good friends.”

He also works with Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, or HAAM, to provide financial assistance to musicians in need of dental care.

He is so deeply embedded in the local music scene that not only is he good friends with Escovedo and Will Sexton, but also with Ilse Haynes, who has been the door woman at Antone’s for 25 years. Not to mention photographer Todd V. Wolfson, who photographs musicians for the Austin Chronicle and other publications.

Matt performs all the routine cleanings, crown replacements and root canals of a normal dentist, but it is the cosmetic and neuromuscular aspects of his work that get him really excited.

Authentic Smiles touts itself as Austin’s most technologically advanced dentistry. It is the only dentistry in the downtown area to offer neuromuscular, cosmetic and general dentistry services under the same roof.

An old approach to dentistry focuses on just teeth, but does not see the whole problem, according to Matt. Dentistry school teaches the same basic material it taught in the 1920s and 1930s. To keep himself updated on the latest approaches, Matt attends continuing education classes in Las Vegas, and is constantly researching the latest in dentistry.

“I like to look for what new things are out there [and] what new technologies are out there that can improve the services that I provide, and improve the way a patient receives his dental care,” he said. “So I like to stay on the cutting edge and constantly look for ways to improve the care I provide.”

For those suffering from headaches and facial pains caused by TMJ, Matt attaches electrodes to the patient along the patient’s jaw and skull. After the patient bites down a few times, a computer program tracks the patient’s bite. The doctor then uses neural stimulation to relax and lengthen jaw muscles to correct bad bites.

Unlike many dentists who send restoration work into a lab, Matt does the porcelain work himself. He carves out the tooth from a block of porcelain, then layers several colors on top of the tooth to “stain and weather” it, making it look natural next to the other teeth. This cuts down on the turnaround time of a much-needed crown or veneer from weeks to a matter of hours.

Austin’s rock-n-roll dentist has no plans of leaving any time soon.

“I am here for good,” he said. “Austin is too cool a city.”

So next time you are watching live music, and the guitarist’s smile looks too good to be true, Matt might be the reason for that.

For more information about Authentic Smiles Dentistry, call 512-330-9403 or e-mail smiles@authenticsmiles.com. You may also visit the studio online at www.authenticsmiles.com or in person at 211 San Antonio St., Austin Texas 78701.