Meet the doctors.
Two dentists, one way of caring for every patient, in the Arboretum, Charlotte.
Why dentistry chose me.
“What led me to dentistry was the meeting of two things I have always loved: art and people.”
I come from a family of dentists. What stayed with me was the moment a patient walked out different: lighter, wearing the smile they had imagined. Transforming a smile is an art, but giving someone their confidence back is what makes the work matter.
Sylvana Chimenti, DMD · Founder
A longer road than the one I pictured.
I came to the United States in 2001 to learn English and go back to Brazil. Life rewrote the plan, and each chapter led me to the practice I had always wanted.
- Campos, Brazil
DDS with honors
Her first dental degree, at the Faculdade de Odontologia de Campos.
- 2001 · New York
Came to learn English
Life rewrote the plan: she met her husband and stayed.
- Fifth Avenue
The family salon
Worked at the family salon while building a family in the US.
- NYU
Dental hygienist
Graduated and practiced as a hygienist for three years.
- Chicago
DMD with honors, UIC
Left her husband and three children in New York to study dentistry.
- Bronx, NY
Residency
General Practice Residency at Saint Barnabas Hospital.
- Charlotte, NC
Elite Dental of Arboretum
The practice she had always wanted, in The Arboretum.
What every patient should feel walking out.
I want every patient to leave feeling they were treated with respect, not as a number.
Respect.
Treated as a person, never as a number.
Fear, heard.
Never dismissed. Worked through gently, at your own pace.
Excellence.
Human care and a high-level result. Both.
Mission dentistry.
Alongside private care, I am also a mission dentist. Almost every year I set aside about ten days to treat children and families in communities with little or no access to a dentist.
I see many people who have never sat in a dental chair. For them, what matters is not only the treatment, it is having, often for the first time, a few minutes of undivided attention. The gratitude that follows is immense. And it is one of the parts of this profession I am most proud of.
“Giving back what I receive.”
Sylvana Chimenti, DMD
November 2025Nepal
2024Honduras
Elite Dental came from a desire to serve my patients the way I would like to be treated in a dental office, with the utmost zeal and care by the Dentist.
Sylvana Chimenti, DMD · Founder
General dentist · Oral surgery
Ahmed K. Shujairi, DDS
Dentistry has been more than a profession for him. It has been a lifelong passion.
His journey began in Europe, with general dentistry and advanced training in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. In the United States he earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree at the UNC Adams School of Dentistry in Chapel Hill.
With more than 12 years in general dentistry and oral surgery, he looks beyond the immediate concern, at how your oral health connects to your overall health.
His career has also given him the privilege of working with U.S. government and diplomatic missions, caring for U.S. personnel and NATO members in the Middle East, and for many veterans here at home.
He believes every patient should be treated with the same attention and respect he would want for his own family, with a thoughtful plan built around each patient’s needs.
- 0+ yearsIn general dentistry and oral surgery
- UNC AdamsDoctor of Dental Surgery, Chapel Hill
- EducationOngoing courses in the U.S. and abroad
- ServiceMiddle East missions and U.S. veterans
Meet them before you commit to anything.
Book an exam. Sylvana Chimenti, DMD, and Ahmed K. Shujairi, DDS, are both accepting new patients.