What Should I Look for When Choosing a Dentist?

Your oral health is important. Problems with your teeth are uncomfortable and painful, resulting in you avoiding certain foods and drinks. You may also start to avoid social occasions if you are conscious of your teeth being stained or other dental issues.

Making regular trips to the dentist is a must, and forms a part of looking after yourself well. But choosing a dentist can be a daunting task.

You need a dentist that you can talk to do, discuss your concerns with and discuss treatment, preventative and cosmetic. You also want to learn from them and feel good about visiting them, not always something we associate with the dentist.

You also want to be confident that when you get a toothache or another emergency, you know you can access dental care straightaway in familiar surroundings and dental team.

How to Find a Dentist

There are three routes to finding a great dentist;

1. Recommendations – ask trusted family and friends, co-workers, neighbours and anyone else’s opinion you trust about their dentist and who they know is a great dentist. Your physician and pharmacist can also recommend dental clinics.
2. Referral – if you are moving out of your area, your current dentist may be able to supply referrals to a dentist local to you.
3. Professional listings – you can contact your provincial or territorial regulatory authority or dental association for a list of all dentists local to your area.

Important Things to Remember

Like your relationship with your physician, good oral health depends on creating a good relationship between you, your dentist and the dental team. You may need to call or visit the new dental practice more than once before you make a final decision. This is not a decision that needs to be rushed, so don’t feel under pressure to sign on with the clinic until you are happy to do so.

You may want to consider:

• Location – is it located conveniently either to your home or work? If you have to travel to the other side of town during rush hour, you may be less likely to make the trip of a regular basis.
• Appointment availability – popular dental clinics can be booked up for months to come, with only a few spaces left for emergencies. This is a great sign of a great dentist but frustrating when you can’t get an appointment.
• Office hours – do clinic opening times work with your schedule?
• Emergency hours and after-care – unfortunately, tooth ache and other dental emergencies don’t happen on a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday basis. Ask the clinic what the out of hours’ arrangements are.
• Payment option – dental treatment can be expensive and as oral health care is not included in the Canada Health Act (CHA), you will need to pay for treatment. Some clinics run their own payment schemes or you can pay for services through insurance. You may also be eligible under Government Dental programs too.
• Treatment for children – it makes sense to have the whole family with one dentist as this makes organizing check-ups and dental treatment much easier. It is also paramount in encouraging your children to have great oral health too. Ask about registering the whole family.
• Talk through existing health issues – if you have a pre-existing medical condition, you will need to talk with your dentist about how this affects your teeth and oral health in general.
• Nervous patient? – not many people enjoy visiting the dentist but there are some people who have a deep-seated fear or phobia of the dentist. This can be such a severe problem for some people that they avoid visiting the dental at all costs. Does the clinic have procedures for working with patients who are phobic or are fearful of the dentist?

A few things about Signal Hill Dental Centre:

• We are located in the heart of SW Calgary at 5743 Signal Hill Centre SW
• Appointment Availability is quite flexible with several Dentists working in our clinic
• We also have emergency slots each day, if needed
• Extended and Weekend Hours:
  • Monday – Friday: 7:00AM – 9:00PM
  • Saturday: 8:00AM – 4:00PM
  • Sunday: 9:00AM – 4:00PM
• Direct Billing Insurance to keep finances easy for you
• Family and children dentistry available

A great dentist makes for great oral health. Feel free to make a consultation appointment with our clinic, we’d be happy to meet you!