Finding a Dentist: The Ultimate Guide to Finding an Awesome Dentist
With a lot of dentists to choose from, it’s not always easy to find the one you like. Some are almost always full, so you need to wait for weeks in order to get an appointment. The ones who are close by are not gentle enough for your needs. Others might be sloppy, consequently leaving you with more problems than you came with.
Most of us have been searching for that perfect dentist for a long period of time, some choosing more badly than others. However, thanks to this experience, we have made a list of tips for you to make the process of finding the right dentist a lot less painful. (1)
Making a list
Being organized is the key to finding perfect health services in any field, especially when it comes to dental care. You can start by making a list of your own preferences and having a clear mind about what you expect from your dentist. This list should be organized by priority, so having sterile equipment and the dentist’s chair being yellow-colored don’t have the same weight of importance.
Next, you should make a list of offices to check, organized by location. You want your dentist to be as close to you as possible. Start by asking yourself: How can I find the best dentist near me? Furthermore, you can make a list of recommendations. Compare these two lists and start calling to make appointments. If the first one fails to meet your needs, having a list to go through next time will make your life a lot easier.
Know who you can trust
Unfortunately, even though all healthcare workers take the Hippocratic Oath, we have witnessed cases where it has been broken. Some dentists rely on their experts’ power to manipulate patients into agreeing on treatments that they don’t need in order to take more money. In the worst case scenario, they can even cause you more problems. This is why you should always check the problem with several dentists and decide on what you should do after you’ve heard more than one opinion.
When checking for recommendations, try paying more attention to those who’ve visited the dentist in question for similar reasons as you. They will know best what you need and who to recommend for this particular intervention. It’s a lot easier to do a regular checkup than to operate wisdom teeth, so keep in mind that you should always search for the best doctor in regard to the specific problem. (2)
Keep yourself informed
If you wish to get the most out of every visit to the dentist’s office, then you have to arm yourself with knowledge. Once you understand the language, all information will stick to you much easier. It’s also important to know which doctor you visit for which kind of problem. Here is a basic vocabulary that you should definitely know:
- For getting misaligned teeth in line, you visit the orthodontist
- In case of complex procedures and surgeries, you should consult maxillofacial surgeons
- Periodontists are specialized for gum diseases and
- Prosthodontists specialize for replacing broken or missing teeth
You should also be familiar with the meaning of certain words, such as abrasion, erosion, gingivitis and plaque. Positions that dentists use to describe the location of the teeth are periodontal, occlusal, molar, maxillary, lingual etc. You can find many of these terms and study them in a dental terminology glossary to make sure you understand what your dentist’s doing.
Investigate the market
Finally, we need to mention money, as it can be an important issue. In order to know whether your chosen dentist is overpriced, you need to do a bit of market research before you get down to business. If you want to know whether you are getting the right treatment for the money, try talking to people who visit the dentist often and can give you a reference point. Good dentists will be quite pricy since studying dental care costs a lot, so those who put a lot of effort in their studies will surely value their work more.
On the other hand, risking it with a cheap dentist might do you more harm than good. Every hour of bad dentist work needs three more hours of good dentist work to fix. Paying more money for one visit to a good dentist might not seem like the best option, but it’s all the same if you pay just as much in three visits to a bad dentist. Keep in mind that this is your smile and you should keep it beautiful by putting a bit effort into finding the dentist that will help you with it.
