Have you been thinking that it is time to find yourself a new dentist? Maybe the reason for this change is because you are unhappy with your current dentist so you now know the questions to ask when finding a dentist. Perhaps your current dentist no longer takes your insurance and you are looking for a dentist that does. Perhaps you have moved across town or even across the country and now you find yourself needing to start completely over. Don’t worry, those reasons are completely normal and that is when you find yourself needing to look for a new and great dentist. Keep reading as Swartout Dental explains exactly how to find a great dentist for you.
Ask Anyone You Know
Do you know anyone in your area that you could ask a recommendation to? This will help you know who is a good dental practice to go to. In the same thought process, if someone that you know has had a negative experience in your area, they also can shed light on who not to see. Although this all will not make your final decision to you, it’s always great to have a recommendation from a trusted source.
Look Online at Your Options
It’s time to make your official list. You can look at who anyone you know recommended, and if you don’t know anyone in the area, that’s perfectly okay. Jump online and see what dental practices there are close to your home. You also can type in close to your work too if you believe you will be there for the long term and you can plan on going on your lunch break or on your way to work instead.
Find Reviews of Each Practice
One of the best things that you can do is to look up reviews on each of the companies you wrote down on your list. These reviews can be found online on their Facebook page, on Google, or on their Yelp page. This will give you an insight into who people are liking and who they are not liking. Make sure to write down on your notepad that has each of the different dental practices what the overall people were saying about each dental practice. Both the positives and negatives.
Look Up Additional Information
You can always look up more information on the dental practice online. Whether this is on their website or Googling the dental practice name in general. This will help you to learn what they are all about and what they specialize in. It’s important if you have surgery you know will need to take place in the upcoming months or years that you find a dentist that can also do it so that you don’t need to start the process over again and start searching.
Find Out About Insurance
If you have insurance it’s a good idea to find out if the dental practice takes this. The last thing that you want is to finish your appointment and find out the dental practice doesn’t take yours and suddenly you need to pay. It’s important to find out exactly about the insurance before you show up so that you know exactly how much it will be charging you and what anything extra you are thinking about will cost. We recommend reading this article.
Call and Ask Them Questions
What lingering questions do you have? Probably quite a few. That is why it’s a good idea to write them down and call and ask them questions. You can ask them about their business, ask them about the process, ask them about insurance or other lingering questions, and ask them about the overall experience. Again, make sure to write down the answers so that you get your questions answered.
Find Out When You Can Next Get In
If you are in need of an appointment, the last thing that you want to do is wait for weeks and weeks. That is why it’s important to find out when they can get you in next. This will allow you to understand who has availability and who doesn’t. Although a dental practice may seem wonderful, if they can’t see you for a month and you are due for a cleaning, it may be a good idea to see another dental practice.
Learn About Their Hours and Location
If you work long hours, it’s a good idea to learn the hours and see if they would be able to see you on non-normal business hours. This will give you a better chance of seeing them. As well, you don’t want to be driving across town just to see the dentist. Make sure that the dental practice is either by you or by your work.
Stop By For a Visit
In order to make your final decision, it may mean that you need to stop by for a visit. Call and schedule an appointment so that you can meet the staff and get an overall feeling of the dental practice. This really can give you a gut feeling and help you in making your overall final decision.
As you can see, there are quite a few steps in making the final decision for a good dentist for you. If you go through these steps, you are much less likely to be unhappy with your decision and much more likely to find a dental practice that you are happy with and one that you feel comfortable in each time you go. You want your dentist to be one that you can have for years to come, so make sure that you keep this in mind when you start your search. We hope that this article helped and you are on your way to a great dentist.
For more advice on choosing a dentist, check out https://www.wikihow.com/Choose-a-Dentist.