How To Choose The Right Dentist

When it comes to getting the right dental care, there’s nothing as important as choosing the right dentist. The whole process is not as simple as you might think either. Most of the experts in the field suggest that getting the right dentist is a very personal undertaking that demands you first ask yourself what you will expect from this oral health professional.

So we started to ask many of the highly trained dentists, how would they choose a dentist for themselves? The following are the criteria that these dentists considered.

1. Continuing Education: Unlike what we thought, none of these dentists looked at the dental school training. They only looked at the training the dentist have received after graduating from dental school. Most dentists take about 25 hours of continuing education, and the highly qualified and trained dentists usually take upward of 100-200 hours of continuing education.

2. The type of continuing education course: So now comes the question of are all continuing educations the same? The answer was no. Many dentists take courses that do not mean much. The courses and institutions that were highly respected by our panel of dentists were courses at LVI or The Las Vegas Institute, The Pankey Institute, Dawson Center, The Hornbrook Group, The Rosenthal Institute, Nash Institute, Kois Center, OBI or Orognathic Bioesthetic International, Misch Implant Institute, Medical College of Georgia, UCLA Aesthetic Contiuum, MAP Institue, Center for Advanced Dental Education, Brock Rondeau Seminars to name a few.

3. The accolades: These are Fellowships, Diplomate, Mastership awards or board certifications that these dentists have received from different organizations. For many of these the dentists would have to go through vigorous written, oral and practical examinations in order to receive such awards. Depending on which organization they have received these, this would give an indication to the other dentists as to the training and the level of expertise these dentists would have in different fields of dentistry.

4. Years in practice: But most importantly the years they have had these special training for. For example, someone might be practicing dentistry for 20 years, but was doing the same wrong thing. Another one might be practicing for 20 years but have only started to learn these advanced principles for one year, and another dentists has been practicing for 10 years, but have been going through these vigorous and advanced training for 5 years. They all picked the latter of the three choices.

5. Before and After photos: This gives an indication of the work they can perform, make sure these are the dentist’s own work. Some dentists believe it or not, they buy before and after photos and they actually show case these as their own work on their website and in their office. Make sure they have performed cases that are similar to yours and look at the results.

6. Patient testimonials: Ask for 3-5 references. Patients who have had similar procedures done. Talk to them to see what their experience was.

7. After that you can start selecting the names of the dentists that you think you’d like to see.

A great source for finding the highly trained dentists is www.top3dentists.com. The dentists on this site have been invited to join. So unlike any other dental referral source that any one dentist can join, the dentists listed at www.top3dentists.com have been carefully evaluated to make sure they have the highest level of training the each special area of expertise. So now your job is much easier, all you need to do is to choose the one that you think you can get along with the best. Remember, you want to have a long term relationship with your dentist, so you must become a part of their family. Do they like you and do you like them so much that you would be happy to go to visit your dentist?

To find a right dentist, visit www.top3dentists.com.