Okemos, Lansing, East Lansing MI
Regular dental checkups are an important element in maintaining oral health. For that reason alone it is important to have a regular dentist, to say nothing of the amount of time and stress it will save should a dental emergency arrive.
Yet those who are searching for a dentist might find the entire process overwhelming. After all, there are many elements that can influence the choice of a dentist: quality of care, cost, and flexibility, for instance, might all factor into a decision. Nevertheless, there seem to be a few universal considerations to explore before choosing a new dentist. What are some of these?
Dental needs
A general dentist is qualified to provide services to maintain oral health and to diagnose and treat any conditions that may arise. On the other hand, many also tend to have courses of treatment for which they would rather refer a patient to a specialist. It is therefore in the patient’s best interest to consider their overall dental health and to anticipate what they will need from a dentist and then investigate whether the prospective dentist offers these services. Most dentists are typically very upfront about these sorts of things and will often advertise what services they perform as well as any specialties they may have. However, since they might very well provide care they do not advertise, a conversation with the dentist might be helpful.
Such an inquiry is particularly important for those who want to find dentists for the entire family since some dentists are less comfortable treating children below a certain age.
Referrals and reviews
A patient cannot ultimately know whether they will be satisfied with a dentist’s care until after a few visits. However, a shortcut of sorts may be found by simply asking someone who their dentist is and what made that person trust themselves to that dentist’s care. Better still would be to ask several people, who each might have different insights about dental care: on the one hand, a trusted friend might be well-equipped to advise based on a patient’s dental health, personality, phobias, and the like, but someone like a doctor is also a healthcare professional and someone who – to a certain extent – depends upon the ability to speak and look healthy, so their perspective would also be valuable.
Online reviews are another route, though these should be used with caution. The general rule is that more people are moved to write a review by anger and disappointment than by deep satisfaction, so the negative reviews might obscure the fact that most of a dentist’s patients are actually very pleased with their care.
Cost
While it is never advisable to prefer “inexpensive” to “good work”, most people operate within a budget. If a dentist can provide excellent care for reasonable rates, then he or she is obviously to be preferred. It is therefore usually to a patient’s advantage to check to see if the dentist takes their insurance, especially for those in good dental health who expect that their visits will largely be concerned with routine checkups, tests, and simple procedures like fillings.
Availability, wait times, and flexibility
Dentists tend to understand that patients would prefer to avoid missing work if it can be done, and they will often have hours that begin before or conclude after typical work times. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to check the hours of operation and consider such important factors as distance from home or work.
It is also worth asking about typical wait times since lengthy wait times can be frustrating. If it can be managed, it might also be beneficial to investigate the waiting area, since a delay of even a short while can be onerous if the waiting room has uncomfortable furniture, has no WiFi, is overly hot or cold, does not have ready access to outlets for phone charging, and has no viewing or reading material.
Finally, the most cunningly made plans are often ruined by circumstances beyond one’s control, which may keep a patient from making a dental appointment. It therefore may be wise to see what the policy on missed appointments may be. Alternatively, because dental emergencies can sometimes happen, it is worth noting what a prospective dentist’s after-hours policy is and if they can offer care in emergency situations.
While the only way to know for sure whether a dentist is the right fit is to place oneself in his or her care, some of the things mentioned above might help with an educated guess.