How To Choose A
Richmond VA Cosmetic Dentist
Hi, I’m Dr. Charles Martin, and what I’m going to answer for you today is this question: How Do You Choose A Cosmetic Dentist?
You know, choosing a cosmetic dentist is not something for the faint of heart so to speak, from this standpoint–choose the wrong one
and you could spend a lot of money and not get the result you want, no one wants that.
So how do you know who you should pick? There are really three “E’s” Expertise, Experience, Excellence and Commitment to it. And there is an “L”, Likeability, and a “T” which is Trust.
Let’s take expertise first. How do you know the dentist you want to pick or are thinking about picking has the expertise you need? Well, first of all they are going to show you pictures of cases and they will show you before pictures and after pictures. They should have video testimonials from patients. They should have endorsements from and recommendations from other dentists. There should be written testimonials from patients and ideally the dentist you pick is either training a lot or teaching other dentists a lot.
You know, I have a whole cadre of dentists I teach across the country in advance dentistry and how to run their practices for having a cosmetic and implant practice.
The next thing is, does the dentist you want to pick offer all of the services that you need. Are they offering all the different component parts. For many cosmetically oriented patients, they need more than just cosmetic dentistry. They need someone who also provides sedation dentistry, someone that provides implant dentistry. It’s also important to know that the dentist you pick has experience and training in those areas if that is part of what you may need.
They also need to be able to provide you all the services that will be required for you to get what you need. Because otherwise, you’ll be going all around town to a bunch of different offices to get everything done. For some people that’s a big deal, for other people it’s not. I suggest you find someone who meets the criteria that you are comfortable with.
The next one is someone that you can like. Someone that you like the way they look,the way they talk, they seem to have similar values to you. You are going to be working closely with your dentist afterall. When you are working with a dentist, you are very close to them. So it would be someone that you can like and that, in all reality, if you like them, they are probably going to like you.
This next thing is about experience. Experience can be wonderful–and how much experience does a dentist need? The answer is it depends. How talented is the dentist? How much training does the dentist have? And you have to be careful about someone who has just a lot of experience that are twenty-five 1 year experiences for example. I make that, not as a joke, but it has a dose and truth of reality at the same time.
So, what cases is the dentist accustomed to doing? I’ve been doing difficult cases, challenging cosmetic, implant sedation type of cases since 1983. So this is something that we’ve done for a long time. I’ve coached dentists from across the country of how to handle complex cosmetic and implant cases.
You need someone who is accustomed to designing smiles because a smile design is a very important part of being a cosmetic dentist. A word about fees by the way, and that is this, you should expect to pay fees greater than general dentistry. It requires more training, expertise, talent. It requires additional equipment. It requires staffing that is different because you are going to be needing a higher level of care.
Again, if you need someone, let us know and we can help you find somebody. Our practice enjoys having patients fly in from out of state, even other countries to have their work done.
The next thing is finding a dentist that you can trust. You know, who can you trust? That is always a difficult question to answer. You really need someone that you can rely on who has your best interests at heart. If the dentist spends a great deal of time getting to know who you are, what your needs are, and learning all about your unique situation–in other words they do a full and complete, what we call a “Complete Dental Physical”– then you know you have got a dentist who will work with you to insure you get the treatment that you need.
They need to be passionate about what they do. They need to enjoy being a cosmetic dentist–doing the things that help you look better and feel better, and actually live a longer life.
Do they stand behind what they do? It’s something we’ve learned a long time ago. Most folks are pretty reasonable. They want to know that if they spend the money, they are going to get the results they paid for. That’s what we provide for patients.
So, choosing well is a big decision. Choose poorly, and you made a poor investment. Choose correctly, and you’ve made an investment that is going to help you possibly for your entire life. Dentistry does wear out just like everything else, but you can look better, feel better, live a longer healthier life by choosing the right cosmetic dentist.
I hope this has helped you. Thank you for your time.
Whether you are looking for a Richmond VA dentist, a VA cosmetic dentist or a general dentist we can help. To schedule your complimentary cosmetic consultation call our office at 804-320-6800. Not ready for an appointment but would like more information, just click the icon on the right to request your free report and we’ll send it right over!
