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Word of Mouth

Choosing a Dentist and How to be a Good Patient

Modified from "How to Save Your Teeth and Your Money" -  A consumer’s guide to better less costly Dental Care - Melvin Denholtz
Published by Van Nostrand Reinhold Copany London, Toronto, Melbourne

ISBN 0-442-22080  -4 cloth  -2 paper

Choosing a Dentist

Give your dentist a cross if he/she does not:

(if score 6 or more crosses, consider changing dentists)

  • Run an efficient office with pleasant long serving staff
  • Drape you with a lead apron when taking an X-ray
  • Dentist and nurse wear gloves, mask and protective glasses
  • You are required to wear protective eye glasses
  • Stress the importance of diet flossing and fluoride.
  • Insist on radiographs ever 2 or 3 years
  • Constantly check your bite
  • Constantly refer to your x-rays
  • Check for food packing or overhanging fillings that deter flossing and suggest replacement where food packing or overhanging fillings.
  • Suggest the interceptive removal of impacted wisdom teeth
  • Discuss treatment choices, their costs and the advantages and any downside.
  • Ask you about your dental and medical history plus your history of accidents - sporting and motor vehicle.
  • Speak about you saving your teeth rather than having dentures.
  • Suggest you have missing teeth replaced with implants in preference to bridges.
  • See dentures as an undesirable destination
  • Have the home phone number listed in White Pages.
  • Your dentist charges unusually high or unusually low fees (1/2 point)
  • Your dentist is a member of the ADA
  • Your dentist does not use a gimmick (financial or dental) to attract patients.
  • Your dentist is opposed to advertising because it is not in the patients’ interests, albeit beneficial to dentists.

How to be a good dental patient

  • Keep your appointments or give one working day notice for cancellations.
  • Pay your account on time or upon commencement of major treatment.
  • If you cannot keep your appointment, send a needy friend.
  • Follow the advice offered. Don’t argue.
  • Don’t refuse radiographs.
  • Floss your teeth before your appointment.
  • Avoid garlic or alcohol before the appointment.
  • Never arrive late.
  • Never book an event immediately after an appointment.
  • Don’t arrive with more than 2 other humans at a time.
  • Don’t bag the last dentist.
  • Don’t ask for a falsified account.
  • Don’t smother the face in lipstick, perfume or aftershave or make-up.
  • Participate in the free (expensive) recall program
  • Have major dentistry in the mornings not at weary day’s end
  • Offer thanks and gratitude for the effort of the dentist and his staff
  • Reverse the 3/11 rule. ( If the dentist satisfies a patient, the patient will tell 3 people, but if the patient is not cared for, they will tell 11 people.
  • Turn off the mobile phone before hopping in the chair.
  • Don’t wear your very best clothes.
  • Always have a normal meal prior to your appointment.
  • Place quality, honesty and integrity of the dentist before cost.
  • Always take the best option and if you cannot afford it now, ask for the best holding pattern until you can afford it. Remember cheap dentistry is the most expensive!
  • Be prepared to borrow money to fund urgent requirements rather than say "just pull it out, mate"
  • If the dentist is more concerned about your teeth than you are, reconsider your own attitude and priorities.

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