Love them, or loathe them, dentists are an essential part of our lives.
While some people avoid going to dentist altogether, there is growing evidence that going to the dentist is not just important for your teeth, but has an impact on your overall health.
In this article, we discuss how to find a great dentist.
While there are many aspects to being a great dentist, they can nevertheless be sorted into two broad categories – the dentistry, and the patient experience.
While these elements are intertwined, identifying the pros and cons of each goes a long way to identifying a great dentist.
At a surface level, quantifying the patient experience doesn’t require too much thinking. Just ask yourself the following - how do you feel when you visit the dentist?
However, there are a range of other components that also inform the patient experience. This includes how easy is it to book an appointment, how friendly are the staff, does the practice run on time, how well do they explain things to me, what is the general vibe of the place, does it feel like they enjoy what they do?
To get a sense of what the patient experience is for a practice you’re considering visiting, ask friends and family for recommendations, and/or read reviews about the practice. Google reviews provide a good source of direct patient feedback.
Given that most of us are not dentists, trying to determine the quality of the dentistry at a practice is not easy, but that doesn’t mean it’s important. Even though most of what dentists do is beyond our understanding, this doesn’t mean that all dentists are the same in terms of their dentistry.
All of us remember from school, that some teachers were better than others. The same is true with every profession, including dentistry.
And the impact of the dentists’ dental skills can be significant, impacting areas such as the functionality of your bite, how your smile looks, the durability of treatments offered, and even the level of pain during or after your visit.
One other factor in looking at the dentistry offered by a dental practice is the range of services they offer, from the most basic cleaning and fillings, to a broad array of functional and cosmetic services. The practice website should give an indication of the services they offer. In some instances, you may need to go to a dental specialist to get the treatment you need.
As you are pondering the level of dentistry provided by different dentists, you’ll be please to know there are some safeguards in place. The Dental Board of Australia handles registrations and complaints about dentists, and fortunately are in a position to assess whether the dentistry done by a dentist was up to scratch or not.
Visiting the Dental Board website will allow you to check if a dentist is registered and whether there have been complaints against them.
In addition to the above, websites such as www.AustraliastopDentists.com.au endeavour to identify good dentists in Australia. And of course, this website (www.dentist.com.au) shows you the number of dentists in a given area, the services that they offer, along with biographies of the practice and practitioners – all designed to help you decide which dentist to choose.
However, once you’ve done your research, the bottom line is you’ll only know who a great dentists until you’ve tried it out for yourself.
If you’re looking for dental services then choosing a good dentist is essential for a great experience and high-quality dental skills. As discussed in this article, you have a number of tools (and websites) at your disposal to better inform your choice.
