subject: An Entire Family Dentist [print this page] Choosing a dentist for yourself or for one person in your family may not seem like a difficult task. You make an appointment, go to the appointment, assess the appointment, and either continue with services or look for someone else. But finding a professional to serve your entire family is a totally different feat, but if you consider that at the very least each person in your family is going to need two appointments each year, you begin to realize that the average family of five is at the dental professional almost once a month sans any emergencies. It especially behooves a large family to have one family dentist.
A convenient location is a must. Whether convenient means close to work, close to home, or close to school is relative to the individual, and staying within a radius that will allow you to make your appointments without missing an entire day of work or school. Once you have narrowed your choices down to a certain area in your city, then you need to consider your dental insurance. You, of course, should only consider dental offices that are in network, but the investigation does not end there. You need to inquire as to whether the health professional is taking new patients, and if so, is taking patients of all ages.
Once you have reached this point in your quest, talk with the front desk of the office about the ease of making regular appointments; if you can double up on appointments, you can save a lot of time, but even if the front office is willing to make multiple appointments, the professional team beyond the desk may not be apt to handle multiple appointments simultaneously, which is a clear sign that the front desk and the dental staff do not communicate well, and since all your correspondence will be with the front desk without consultation with the dental expert, it is important to know that the person who takes your appointment information will be communicating your needs effectively to the doctor.
If you have children under the age of eight, you may want to stick with a pediatric specialist for awhile. Even though a family dentist is qualified to deal with the issues that pertain to young children, a pediatric specialist is trained to deal with antsy, impatient, scared kids. If you can find a professional dentist that is patient, kind, and thorough with all ages in your family, you have stumbled upon a rarity, and if the office can take all of your family member's regularly scheduled preventative appointments on one day, you have saved yourself many subsequent days of missing work and school. Who says you cannot buy time?
by: Andrew Stratton
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