Cosmetic and Implant Dentist in St. Augustine
Dr. Stephanie Kinsey decided to become a dentist at age six, and more than 30 years later she still loves the work as much as she did on day one.
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Dr. Kinsey earned her dental degree in 1994, and she has kept learning ever since. Along the way, she has completed a hospital-based residency, earned three fellowships, and trained in orthodontics, occlusion, and full-arch implant surgery with the institutions that teach those disciplines to other dentists. She has brought all of that home to one practice, Palencia Dental in St. Augustine.
Here is why that matters to you. Most patients who want a smile makeover, dental implants, or relief from jaw pain end up bouncing between a cosmetic dentist, an oral surgeon, and a TMJ specialist, with no one owning the whole result. Dr. Kinsey built her career so her patients do not have to do that. She designs the smile, places the implants, and corrects the bite underneath it, and she knows your name and your history at every step.
Dr. Kinsey was six years old when she watched Hermey the Elf in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer decide he would rather fix teeth than make toys. That was all it took. She knew she wanted to be a dentist, and she didn’t wait until dental school to get started. On the playground, classmates came to her when they had a loose tooth. That early certainty has carried her through more than three decades of training in the science, craft, and art of dentistry.
Dr. Kinsey does not hand you a treatment plan in the first ten minutes. She listens first, because what you came in for is rarely the whole story. A chipped veneer is often a bite problem. Headaches are often a jaw problem. A patient who has avoided the dentist for a decade usually has a reason, and she wants to know it before she picks up an instrument.
Then she explains what she sees in plain language, shows you the options, and tells you what she would do if it were her own mouth. Patients tend to stay with her for years, and many bring their spouses, parents, and kids. That is the kind of practice she set out to build when she opened Palencia Dental in 2010, and it is the kind she runs today.
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Dr. Stephanie Kinsey, DDS
Dr. Kinsey listens first, then explains what she sees in plain language and shows you the options.
Financing available through Cherry, CareCredit, Lending Club, and Proceed.
Everything Dr. Kinsey does starts with the bite. That thread connects every service she offers, and it is why she can treat problems most dentists refer elsewhere.
A smile makeover is the clearest example. Veneers and crowns placed on an unbalanced bite will chip, wear, and eventually fail, no matter how good they look on the day they go in. Dr. Kinsey’s physiologic training lets her find a stable, comfortable jaw position first and then design the smile to fit it, so the result looks natural and lasts.
The same principle guides how she replaces missing teeth. When a patient needs dental implants, including All-on-4 full-arch restorations, she plans the surgical and restorative phases together, because an implant is only as good as the bite it has to function in. Having one doctor own both phases means nothing gets lost in the handoff.
It also explains why so many of her patients come in for more than just their teeth. Chronic headaches, jaw pain, clicking, and the cluster of symptoms grouped under TMJ disorders usually trace back to the way the teeth meet. Dr. Kinsey diagnoses the cause and treats it, most often without surgery. Her work with the airway follows naturally from there, and she treats obstructive sleep apnea and snoring with custom oral appliances so patients and their families can sleep through the night.
For teeth that need to move, she offers orthodontics for adults and teens, with Invisalign clear aligners and traditional braces. Her orthodontic training was built around jaw function, so tooth movement is planned for long-term stability and not just for straight teeth, and when a patient needs orthodontics alongside cosmetic or implant work, she coordinates it all in one plan.
With sedation, patients who have avoided the dentist for years can relax through their appointment and complete treatment in one or two comfortable visits.
A new smile also changes the face around it, and patients often notice that once their teeth look the way they want, they see the lips, skin, and jawline differently too. Dr. Kinsey has expanded the practice to address that as well, with facial rejuvenation treatments including Juvéderm, Fotona laser therapy, EMFACE, and EXION, so the smile and the face can be treated as one picture by the same doctor who understands both.
Dr. Kinsey earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver in 1994. Rather than going straight into practice, she chose a General Practice Residency at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, the primary teaching affiliate of Rush Medical College of Rush University. A hospital residency is optional for general dentists, and most skip it. It meant a year of treating medically complex patients alongside physicians, and it shaped how she approaches every patient since. She was licensed in Illinois in 1995 and has been licensed by the Florida Board of Dentistry since bringing her practice to Florida.
Dental school teaches the fundamentals. The bite-first approach described above came from what Dr. Kinsey pursued afterward, and she has kept pursuing it for 30 years.
Cosmetic and physiologic dentistry. Dr. Kinsey completed clinical training at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies (LVI Global), the leading postgraduate institution for cosmetic and neuromuscular dentistry, beginning with Core I: Advanced Functional Restorative Dentistry in 2007. She is an LVI Fellow. In 2015, she was named a Fellow of the International Association of Physiologic Aesthetics (FIAPA), the organization founded by LVI’s founder, Dr. William Dickerson, to recognize dentists who have demonstrated mastery of physiologic-based aesthetic dentistry.
Her treatment-planning training goes back further. In 1998, she completed the Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry Advanced Education Forum’s hands-on course in Comprehensive Diagnosis and Treatment Planning, Phase II: Clinical Application.
Dental implants and All-on-4. Dr. Kinsey earned Fellowship in the American Dental Implant Association by fulfilling its eligibility requirements and passing its examination. In 2016, she completed Dr. Anthony Sclar’s Comprehensive All-on-4 Full Arch Immediate Function Course at the Sclar Center for Advanced Implant Dentistry Learning in South Miami, a surgical program built on evidence-based and case-based learning.
TMJ, occlusion, and orthodontics. Between 2011 and 2015, Dr. Kinsey completed a series of programs through Straight Wire Orthodontic Studies and the Center for Occlusal Studies under Dr. Jay Gerber: the Essentials of Orthodontics Program (2011 to 2012), a TMD/Occlusion Mini-Residency (December 2014 to March 2015), and orthodontic and TMD continuing education (2015). This is why she can treat a bad bite as the cause of jaw pain and headaches, not just the symptom. She also serves on the Board of Regents of the International College of Craniomandibular Orthopedics (ICCMO).
| Year | Credential | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) | University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver |
| 1994 to 1995 | General Practice Residency | Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Chicago (Rush University teaching affiliate) |
| 1995 | Dental License, State of Illinois | Illinois Department of Professional Regulation |
| 1998 | Comprehensive Diagnosis and Treatment Planning, Phase II | Restorative and Aesthetic Dentistry Advanced Education Forum |
| 2007 | Core I: Advanced Functional Restorative Dentistry | Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies |
| 2010 | Founded Palencia Dental, St. Augustine | Licensed by the Florida Board of Dentistry |
| 2011 to 2012 | Essentials of Orthodontics Program | Straight Wire Orthodontic Studies |
| 2014 to 2015 | TMD/Occlusion Mini-Residency | Center for Occlusal Studies |
| 2015 | Orthodontic and TMD continuing education | Straight Wire Orthodontic Studies |
| 2015 | Fellow (FIAPA) | International Association of Physiologic Aesthetics |
| 2016 | Comprehensive All-on-4 Full Arch Immediate Function Course | Sclar Center for Advanced Implant Dentistry Learning |
| Fellowship | American Dental Implant Association |
Dr. Kinsey maintains active involvement with the organizations that set standards in her fields:
Book a Consultation
Dr. Stephanie Kinsey, DDS
Dr. Kinsey listens first, then explains what she sees in plain language and shows you the options.
Financing available through Cherry, CareCredit, Lending Club, and Proceed.
If you have put off dental care or were told your dental needs are too complex, Dr. Kinsey is here to help. Located at 159 Palencia Village Drive, Suite 107-109, St. Augustine, FL 32095, she proudly serves patients from Palencia to Jacksonville and beyond. Contact us by phone or text at 904-826-4343, or schedule your consultation online today.
