Can You Trust Your Dentist? 6 Ways To Know For Sure
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Drilling, scraping, tugging—the dental experience can put patients on edge, causing them to neglect essential dental care until major health concerns arise.
To help you feel more comfortable with a professional before going through with a service, we asked PR experts and business leaders how you can be sure of a professional’s abilities. From looking through reviews to visiting the office, there are several great tips to help feel more confident and trusting in a professional's abilities before trusting them to do a job.
Here are six tips to help you feel more comfortable in a professional’s ability:
- Who Will Actually Do The Work?
- Ask Important Questions
- Tap Into The Wisdom Of The Crowds
- Do They Offer Channels Of Communications?
- Visit The Office
- Review Their Certifications And Training
Ask Important Questions
Most dentists are just doing the best they can within the constraints of their time, education, and abilities. But dentistry has changed more in the past twenty years than it did in the previous two hundred! Last century, dentistry was fairly simple—the best way to be sure of a good outcome was to get a personal recommendation from someone with a long-term professional relationship with a particular dentist. But the modern dentist has to be a microsurgeon, chemist, materials scientist, radiologist, microbiologist, insurance expert, and financial counselor, all in one. The three most important questions to ask yourself in order of importance are:
- Do they care?
- Are they well educated?
- Do they consider your health as a whole?
Paul Springs, Dr. Mondshine and Associates
Tap Into The Wisdom Of The Crowds
Googling a person and/or business always comes first. So do it! Often, in Google maps, their clinic will have a bunch of Google Reviews. These are certainly worth a read. Similarly, whenever applicable, check the dentist's ZocDoc ratings and reviews. This should give you a fuller overview of the quality of their work. Finally, tap into the wisdom of the crowds. Use Facebook Groups, ask your friends or even less close acquaintances, and hear their opinion too. Combining all of the above methods, you should get at least a decent overview of the dentist and how trustworthy he/she may be.
Do They Offer Channels Of Communications?
The dentist-patient relationship is extremely important. It’s one of the most intimate doctor-patient relationships. As dentists, we have the opportunity to enter an intimate space that not even their friends and family enter. Sometimes there's a painful personal story behind their smile, or they’ve had a negative experience that has caused them to be fearful. Trust is everything when it comes to dentistry, so one thing to consider is if they offer a way to connect with them directly to ask questions via IG or Facebook lives. People buy from people and brands that they like and connect with. I use this strategy on a weekly basis (every Wednesday at 10 PM EST) to give my audience to talk to me live and get to know me.
Dr. Catrise Austin, VIP Smiles Dentistry
Visit The Office
Go visit the office and ask for an office tour prior to your appointment. If you would like to actually observe procedures at the dentist, ask them if they will allow that or ask for some videos of procedures he or she has done where he is actually doing the work. Talk to the dentist, ask detailed questions about what you can expect, what the procedure/treatment will consist of, etc. My advice is that if the dentist is unwilling to educate you, talk about their experience, speak to the process and what is involved, he or she isn’t right for you.
Mitchell A. Josephs, Palm Beach Dentist
Review Their Certifications And Training
Look for a dentist who has completed additional advanced training, including certification through national, state, and local organizations, or leadership in professional organizations that prove they are committed to staying abreast of the latest dental and technological developments. Additionally, what are their training procedures? Just as with other doctors, dentists may have attended accredited dental schools and then completed clinical internships with dental specialists for additional training. Credentials, such as dental or master's degrees and certifications, signify the dentist's dedication to post-graduate education.
Chris Weber, Reviews for a Smile
Who Will Actually Do The Work?
We’ve come to know quite a few dentists through our work of offering dental SEO services. The question most dentists ask of our company when assessing our services is, “Who will actually do the work?” This is a great question to ask of dentists as well. Sometimes, the small dental practice has the same dentist performing the work. Other times, a larger dental practice may have dentists that rotate between practices, leaving a patient subject to variability. There’s certainly consistency with primary dentists. But when variability is a consideration, it’s hard to trust your dentist because you may get a different dentist each time you visit the practice.
