Today more than ever, the choice of a dentist is a decision that should be made with care. So how do you choose a dentist? Are all dentists the same?
Choosing the right dentist for you- one with experience in the care you want, extensive hands-on training, and a gentle approach that compliments your needs and wants, is critical to achieving the most successful outcome. Selecting among dentists can be a difficult and confusing process. In the end, it is a personal decision that each person must make for himself or herself. We can, however, offer some advice, which our clients have found helpful during the selection process. From discussions with our clients, we believe the most important of these tips include the following:
1. FREE Consultations
There’s no way a doctor should expect a patient to choose him or her without first visiting the office to see if the office, staff and doctor is for them. This will also give you a chance to observe patients while they are coming in and going out. An initial FREE no-obligation consultation is essential to determine if we can help you and answer any questions you may have about your condition or treatment. Dentistry is expensive, no matter where you go. You should be able to share your wants and needs and get recommendations for care without a lot of expense.
2. Post Graduate Dental Training
To perform advanced dental procedures at the highest level, technical skill, an artistic eye, and a rigorous program of post-graduate training in these procedures is needed. It may surprise you to learn that the vast majority of dental schools don’t teach any courses in advanced dentistry. Your mouth is not the place for on-the-job training. Therefore, it is crucial that the dentist that you select continually completes series of hands-on courses to ensure optimal results.
3. Professional Cosmetic Dentistry Credentials
In dentistry, as in medicine, credentials exist that indicate a higher level of education, knowledge, and expertise in particular areas of focus.
4. Integrity
Find a dentist who is honest in his/her assessment of your needs and of their ability to meet your expectations. Be wary of the doctor minimizing your recovery period and telling you just how “easy and simple” everything is going to be. It can be easy and simple, but necessary steps cannot be short cut for good results.
5. A Caring Approach & Great Communication
Find a doctor with a good chairside manner who conveys to you that they care about you as a person as well as a client. Advanced dentistry is a process, not a single operation. Find someone with whom you can talk easily. It is just as important that he/she understands what you desire as that you understand what they are describing.
6. A Sense of Perfectionism
Find a dentist who is accurate in his/her evaluation of your needs, precise in the execution of their operative plan, and meticulous in their craftsmanship. Although perfection is in the eye of the beholder, this doctor will do whatever it takes without cutting corners, not only to satisfy you, but also to meet their own personal standards of excellence.
7. An Artistic Eye
While technical skill is necessary to produce a great clinical result, it is not enough. Excellent advanced dentistry demands a highly sophisticated artistic sense. In order to achieve an optimal aesthetic result, one must have a clear vision of what is artistically possible and appropriate.
8. Extensive Experience
Before you randomly select a dentist out of the phone book or rely on your long-time family dentist to give you the smile of your dreams, think again. Great advanced dentistry is an art. The fact is, many dentists simply have not performed advanced smile designs very many times or with a regularity that leads to mastery of this art.
9. Make Sure You Review Before and After Photos of Work Actually Performed by the Dentists
You’ll want to look at before and after photos of dentistry that has actually been performed by the dentist that you are considering. But you want to confirm that you are seeing actual work of the dentist you are considering and make sure that the before photos you look at are also patients with wants similar to yours.
10. Other Things You May Want to Consider
References from other patients, a tour of the office, and asking about technology and materials used in the practice are all things you may want to look into.