Most Americans care a great deal about the health of their teeth, since a full mouth of healthy teeth means a great smile and relatively few dental issues to worry about. In fact, most American adults visit the dentist once or twice per year for this very reason, and dentistry today ranks in the top 10 most trusted and ethical professions of all. Someone who moves to a new city or new county may want to look up local healthcare providers that they need, and that may include looking for dental offices, too. A search for the top dentist may need to be more specific than “good dentist”, though. Someone who just moved, or soon will, may find quality dental care when they enter a query such as “top cosmetic dentists in Boston MA” or “top dentist Austin TX” or even “quality dental care for children San Diego CA”. What might a patient expect from quality dental care, and what if they can’t easily visit the dentist’s office? What should they do instead?
What Quality Dental Care Entails
As mentioned earlier, quality dental care is possible when a person enters an online search if they have just moved and don’t know any local dentists by heart. It is best to enter a fairly specific query, as quality dental care may provide a variety of services for different customers. The best dental clinics may specialize in taking care of the elderly, or they may be pediatric dental clinics, which only treat patients under 18 years of age. So, someone looking for dental care may specify their home city, their ZIP code, the type of dental care they want, and/or filter for only the top rated results. A search may look like “best dentists offering dental implants Chicago IL”, for example. This may result in a list of offices, and a patient may narrow down that list by striking out offices that are too far or those that aren’t accepting new patients. The client may visit the rest in person to get a fair impression of them, and they may consult the staff working there to review their credentials. The patient may do this any number of times until they find the best possible dentist’s office, and sign up.
Quality dental care doesn’t always involve gruesome operations such as pulling out infected teeth. Most often, patients will want a thorough exam and cleaning, and they may get their X-rays taken, too. Cosmetic dentistry is also common, which is dentistry concerning the appearance and shape of teeth. This may start with tooth whitening, and specialized gels may whiten a patient’s teeth as desired. Porcelain veneers may be fitted onto the teeth for a similar effect. After all, discolored teeth are often considered ugly and may harm a person’s social prowess.
Patients may also have crowns fitted in, which are replica enamel crowns that fit over a cracked or worn down tooth to restore both its shape and function. This makes eating and speech easier and protects the tooth itself. Meanwhile, an entirely missing tooth may be replaced with a dental bridge, a replica tooth that is molded from the patient’s real teeth. A bridge will be fitted into the gap, and then held in place with covers that slip over the real teeth flanking the gap.Meanwhile, clear plastic retainers are discreet and are molded to fit a patient’s mouth, and they can help align a patient’s teeth to prevent crookedness and crowding.
Mobile Dentist Offices
Some patients may call upon mobile dental offices, and look them up online and make an appointment by phone. These mobile dental offices are repurposed RVs or large vans, which can provide basic and bare bones dental care for patients. After all, some patients are busy professionals or college students who can’t easily make the time to visit a dentist’s office, so they ask the dentist to come to them. Such offices may park at a college campus or office building parking lot, or even near the patient’s residence. Other patients arrange appointments for mobile dentist offices because they do not have reliable transport to a building for dental care. So, the dentist will come to them instead for basic dental work.