He attended the University of Central Florida, where he met his wife, Gena, who was a professional ballet dancer with Southern Ballet, (she is a native of Hickory, NC). They were married and had their first child, Chris, while there. He earned his Bachelors of Science in Biology in 1988.

Dr. Small attended dental school at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, one of the top schools in the country, from 1988 to 1993. It was there he developed an interest in orthodontics and was involved in research projects in that field for three years. Their second child, Amanda, was born while he attended school there.

In 1993 Dr. Small began his residency at the University of Louisville, a program noted for its education in a wide variety of orthodontic techniques. This emphasis on clinical care prepared him to approach the correction of orthodontic problems in a variety of ways, with each treatment plan tailored to the needs of the individual patient. He earned a certificate in orthodontics and a Masters of Science in Oral Biology from U of L in 1995.

Dr. Small practiced for five years in Central Florida in a practice that dealt with complicated orthodontic problems for patients of all ages. In 2000 he and his family moved to the Hickory/Morganton area and began his current practice. Dr. Small treats patients of all ages using a variety of techniques. He is active in organized dentistry and in the education of dentists, and is a past president of the Western Piedmont Dental Society and the University of Louisville Orthodontic Alumni Association.

Dr. Small and his wife, Gena, live in the Hickory area. Their daughter, Amanda, is completing her medical residency in Pediatrics at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston, Texas. Their son, Chris, is a sound engineer in a music studio, and lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Laura. David and Gena welcomed their first grandchild, Clark David, in the Winter of 2021. In his spare time Dr. Small likes golfing, hiking, sailing, saltwater fishing, and listening to live music.

Dr. Piers pursued that goal at Hope College, a small, Christian liberal arts school in his hometown, where he triple-majored in Biology, Chemistry, and English with an emphasis on creative writing. On his first day of orientation, he met his future wife, Rachaela captain of the college soccer team who would soon lead the Flying Dutch to three MIAA championships as their Most Valuable Defensive Player. He also began training year-round for the colleges Guinness Record-holding freshmen vs. sophomores tug-of-war, The Pull. This three-hour competition would solidify his passion for working as part of a team. Dr. Piers graduated Summa Cum Laude from Hope College and was elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board, receiving the Erika Brubaker Senior Award for Proficiency in Literature (presented to the top two senior English majors).

It was while living in the islands that Dr. Piers and Rachael first fell in love with North Carolina, flying twice a year to Dr. Piers graduate school campus in Swannanoa, NCtheWarren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers.After earning his Masters of Fine Arts degree in Fiction, Dr. Piers pursued a Doctorate of Dental Surgery at the University of Colorado, where he received the International College of Dentists Leadership Award, the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Dental Student Award, and was inducted into Omicron Kappa Upsilon.

While in dental school, Dr. Piers was elected national president of theAmerican Student Dental Associationand served as the official spokesperson for its 20,000 members (90% of US dental students). In this role he met with dental leaders and US congressmen, lobbied for procedural changes, and grew further in his commitment to volunteer leadership, eventually reforming Colorado Dental Board policies to protect both dental patients and young dentists in the state of Colorado.

He also began to combine his love for both literature and science through dental journalism. His writing has since appeared in the two most-read publications in dentistry, Dental Economics and ADA News, and he is the 2015 recipient of the American Association of Dental Editors and Journalists (AADEJ) Meskin Journalism Award for excellence in dental student publications. In June 2018, he served as guest editor for the special Millennial Dentists issue of the Journal of the California Dental Association, which received the International College of Dentists Golden Pen Award for importance to the dental profession.

Orthodontics, though, has remained Dr. Piers passion. He has always been interested in the growth and development of the face and jaws, and in dental school he was recognized with the American Association of Orthodontists Award for the Demonstration of Outstanding Qualities in the Study of the Oro-Facial Complex. He was then accepted as one of six residents in the three-year University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Orthodontic Residency, widely known as one of the top orthodontic residencies in the world. Dr. Piers was further recognized with the Greg and Andrew MacArthur Brooks Fellowship in Orthodontics, a three-year fellowship at UNC awarded to a single resident per class. His research on alveolar bone modeling after tooth movement with TADs was published in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), and he graduated in 2019 with a certificate in orthodontics and a Masters of Science in Orthodontics for his clinical trial comparing customized traditional and self-ligating CAD/CAM brackets.

Dr. Piers is now a Board-Certified Orthodontist a designation held by only 30% of orthodontists. He serves as the only orthodontist on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), the most read scientific journal in dentistry, and regularly lectures to dental students across the country as an ADA Success Speaker. As an orthodontist he feels unbelievably lucky to get to combine his three passionsscience, writing, and working with peopleevery time he walks into the office.

Dr. Piers and his family love to get outside, and especially enjoy skiing, scuba diving and mountain biking. When hes not in the office creating beautiful smiles, you can find Dr. Piers hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains with his wife and two children (daughter Kai and son Koa), or grabbing their heavily repaired surfboards to make a beeline for the North Carolina coast.

Drs. Small and Piers are fortunate to be supported by a highly-trained team of professionals who are dedicated to providing our patients with individualized and compassionate care. Our goal is to make sure that every patient receives comfortable, efficient, and excellent treatment at the highest standard of care. We consider it an honor to guide our patients through the process of orthodontic treatment, and were excited to give you a first class experience from your initial phone call to the day you walk out into the world with your beautiful, healthy new smile!

Orthodontic treatment with braces or Invisalign can transform so much more than a smile but well let these Before and Afters speak for themselves. Check out the photos below to see how Drs. Small and Piers are changing lives one smile at a time!