Finding Someone That's Being Authentic During Your Dentist Search - s post

A dentist’s role is more than just cleaning teeth and telling you to floss more. Your dentist is also the guide to handling your oral health. This plays a major role in your quality of life. And let’s not forget the fact that oral health issues can also be related to or indicators for other health conditions. However, especially if you are bringing special needs or another situation into the mix you will need to find the right fit. One of the most important qualities across the board, though, is authenticity. Why is this so, and what can you do?

The Dentist Search

Before starting your search, perhaps one of the best things you could do is put yourself in a dentist’s shoes. What is going to be your priority? Letting people knowing about your expertize? Providing insight on your background and about your staff? Maybe showing how your prices stack up? According to data from the American Dental Association, 59% of adults indicated that they forgo dental care due to cost, 22% because they are afraid of the dentist, and 19% because they cannot find a convenient location or appointment time. After all, a dental practice is a business, and as the person running the business, a dentist may feel tugged in many different directions to try and get the most clientele. The reason that we’re bringing this up is that you want to have the right mindset before starting your search.

Now, let’s move onto the actual search itself. The best way to help you figure out what dentist to use is a recommendation. Ideally, this would be someone close to you with an opinion you trust, but if this isn’t a viable option, consider asking your family doctor/pharmacist, or contact your local or state dental society. The American Dental Association offers a list of these on its website. Should you not be able to get a recommendation, the best thing to do is going to be searching for the websites of local dentists on your own. Depending on your area, this may mean a lot of things to search from, but in general, the quality of a website counts for more than you may think. After all, a dental practice is a business, and more and more businesses use their websites to make a first impression. If a website looks poor, are their priorities really in the right place? Don’t ignore your gut feelings. However, there’s another side to this coin as well. Don’t like a slick design make up for lacking information, for example. What information is this? We’ll get to that in a moment.

What Not To Miss

As we mentioned before, price, distance, and fear are the three main reasons that people stay away from the dentist, and chances are that any dentist website worth its salt will at least have a section to address at least the first two concerns on this list. However, there are a lot of different pieces and questions that you will want to have in mind during your dentist search.

• What are the dentist’s hours? This ties into distance a bit. After all, a dentist office may be open during hours that work for you, but if you have a huge commute and they aren’t open weekends, what seems convenient may suddenly be just the opposite.
• What are the dentist’s qualifications/specific areas of expertise? Depending on your oral health, you may have certain needs, and you want to make sure that your dentist is a good match.
• Does the dentist take your insurance? This may seem like an obvious question, but no one wants to be on the hook for more money than they thought. Be diligent.
• Is emergency care an option? It may pay to find if your dentist is also an emergency dentist, rather than be surprised one way or the other in a dire situation.

There are many major details that people may have on their mind during a search for a dentist, which, depending on your situation, can be mildly annoying, a major headache, or a serious issue. However, it’s easy to fall into the trap of taking everything presented as gospel without doing your new diligence. No, every dentist is not out to get your money. However, different people have different needs, and you don’t want to see a dentist who advertises themselves one way while their pros and cons may lie elsewhere. For this reason, no matter your needs, authenticity is something that no one wants to miss out on when doing their dentist search.