Choosing a Dentist in Difficult Times

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Choosing a Dentist in Difficult Times

• KaneoheFamilyDental.com

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Every day at Kaneohe Family Dental Care we are
thrilled to meet patients who are new to our
practice. These new patients come to us seeking a
Kaneohe or Kailua Dentist, most often due to the
recommendation of their friends and family. A
sign of the times is the increasing number of new
patients who find their way to our office via the
internet after reading patient reviews on Google,
Facebook, or sites such as rateadentist.com.
Sadly, a sign of our tough economic times is the
increasing number of the new patients we see who
are young adults that have, for one reason or
another, neglected regular dental care and now
are in pain and now require urgent care. The good
news is that we are usually able to relieve their
pain quickly and inexpensively, but what is next
for these patients who frequently have multiple
other dental problems ready to turn south as well?
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In Hawaii, most people who are employed have
dental insurance. However, as a rule, dental
plans are good for maintaining dental health but
are not designed to help people catch up when
they have more than a couple dental problems. All
dental plans have limitations on coverage and how
much they will pay for a patient in a given year.
Yearly benefits are commonly 600 1,000.
Thats fine if you just need cleaning,
examination, X-rays, and a filling a couple times
a year, but its a meager amount if you need more
than routine maintenance. Therefore, if you
havent been to the dentist in a while, it is
imperative that your dentist helps you carefully
prioritize your necessary dental care, offer you
practical treatment options, and provide
affordable financing. If you have postponed care
and are looking for a dentist we offer the
following recommendations.
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How to find a new dentist1. Ask your friends
and family if they have a dentist they
recommend.2. Use sources such as
Rateadentist.com, Google, and Yelp to learn what
other patients think about potential dentists.3.
Browse potential dentists websites to learn
more. If the dentist doesnt have a website move
on, they are not that interested in you.
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Your new dentist should1. LISTEN to you and
your concerns.2. Examine you carefully and
thoroughly and take a complete set of modern
digital X-rays.3. Sit down with you and
patiently describe your current problems in plain
language.4. Provide you with several practical
solutions to your problems arranged in an
understandable step-by-step worst first plan of
treatment. If necessary, treatment plans should
be broken down into of phases that could span
months or years.5. Help you understand your
dental insurance and how you can best take
advantage of it.6. Provide a clear written
estimate of your expected cost for treatment.7.
Provide financing options for your estimated
cost.8. Always be available to discuss any
concerns you might have.
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At Kaneohe Family Dental Care we are committed
and eager to help our patients regain their
dental health and appearance in a way that they
can afford. Call us if you are looking for a new
dentist in Kailua or Kaneohe, we think we know a
couple good ones. - Bruce Keller, DDS