So many people seem to have trouble with finding a good dentist so we thought we’d write an article giving you as much information as we can about the question you ought to ask and how to go about finding the best dentist in your area.
Our top tips to finding a good dentist are:
- Ask your friends and family
- Search on Google
- Ask your existing dentist
- Visit a review or aggregator website
- Ask your pharmacist, doctor or other local healthcare professional
Ask your friends and family
Asking friends and family is probably the best method to find a local dentist. You can usually trust friends and family to give you an honest appraisal and feedback about the services they have received from their dentist, here are some suggested questions you could ask your friends and family:
- What treatment did they have?
- Were they happy with the result?
- Did they experience any pain?
- Were any problems dealt with efficiently and effectively?
- Did the dentist run to time or keep them waiting?
- Was the reception team friendly and approachable?
- Do they offer out of hours emergency services?
- Do they offer convenient appointments, early mornings, late nights or weekends?
Searching on Google for a dentist
As with many things nowadays, 3.5 billion people per day make some form of search query on Google… It’s the way we find many things in today’s modern and connected world. The simplest thing to type is ” dentist <<location>>”, for example ” Dentist Exeter” .
When you find a dental practice that you think you may be interested in this is what you should look out for:
- Watch out for patient testimonials and reviews, particularly look for high number of reviews on Google.
- That the practice offer a low risk way to visit them in the first place? Many modern practices offer free or low-cost initial consultations.
- If the website regularly updated? A website which is old and hasn’t been updated for a while could indicate that the practice is and focused on investing in modern technology and looking forwards. A frequently updated website indicates that your dentist is looking to hand out as much relevant information as possible to help you in your quest for dental perfection.
- Does the website display registration numbers of all of the dental professionals? All dental professionals in the UK must be registered with the General Dental Council and their registration numbers displayed.
Asking your existing dentist
If you’re looking for a brand-new dentist then it might not be a good idea to ask your existing one, however if you are looking for someone to help with a specific treatment, for example teeth whitening and if your existing dentist doesn’t offer this service then they will be often more than happy to refer to another dental practice which can help. You would then visit this new dentist for your chosen treatment and then return back to your initial dentist once treatment is complete.
Visit a review of aggregator website
Aggregator websites in other industries are extremely popular, ‘compare the market.com’ is one of the most well-known. As yet this type of aggregator website is not particularly prevalent in dentistry however review websites are gaining momentum.
Google particularly is extremely good at collating reviews, so it’s worth taking a look through the dental practice you are thinking of visiting and seeing how many reviews they actually have.
Ask another professional
You will often find that health professionals in the local area will work together as a team to ensure you stay fit and healthy. Many dentists are in regular touch with local general practitioners if patients have particular allergies or problems which they feel may not have a dental cause. Similarly, patients may also visit a general practitioner who may then feel that symptoms may indicate a dental problem, headaches are a classic example of this.
Summary
Finding a good dentist will inevitably be a combination of all the above techniques, search on Google, ask friends and family and then once you have found the dentist ask them the range of questions in order to discover if they are right for you. Be honest, be open and don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you need.
Good luck…
