Essendon Dentist

How To Choose A Dentist In Essendon

Looking for a dentist in Essendon, or as most people prefer it nowadays, shopping for a dentist can be really tricky. Wikipedia says that Essendon had a population of 18,213 in the 2006 Census report. Certainly, dentist shopping in Essendon shouldn’t be that troublesome?

Dental patients, whether from Essendon or from any other part of the world are basically looking for the magic word whenever they ask around for a dentist: painless. The first 2 questions that really matter – “Do you know a good dentist in Essendon?” and “Was it painful when you had your teeth done by that dentist?”

What we need to understand, however, before looking for that dreamy dentist in Essendon is that we have to look at ourselves first.  Before we give the guidelines on how to look for a dentist, we have to categorize first on what type of dental patient are we.

1. Age. Perhaps we are asking our Essendon neighbors and friends who their dentists are but what we didn’t know is that they probably took their kids or their grandmother to the dentist. Each dentist has their own specialization. Operative techniques for adults and children are indeed similar but still different. Children will have a better chance of receiving the best dental care if handled by a trained Pedodontist or Pediatric Dentist, and the same goes for aged dental patients who should be handled by a dentist who is trained in Geriatric Dentistry.
2. Budget. Quite understandably, we cannot walk in to the poshest dental clinic in Essendon if we do not have the budget to back it up. But truth be told, the most expensive dentist in Essendon does not necessarily make him the best dentist in Essendon. Their dental equipment are most definitely state of the art and they are probably trained by the best dental schools on the planet but in the end, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder. On the other hand, we can not accuse our dentists of not giving us the best dental treatment there is if, say, our infected tooth was pulled out instead of Root Canal Therapy and a dental crown when clearly, we do not have the budget or our insurance policy simply do not cover it.
3. Expectations. Are we going to the dental clinic while thinking of that hit reality show “The Swan?” Or perhaps we scheduled an oral prophylaxis but also scheduled a business meeting just 1hour after  only to realize that the dentist diagnosed a periodontitis or chronic gum infection that needed a longer and immediate dental procedure.
4. Location. If the best Orthodontist in Essendon is an hour away from where you live, this is definitely going to be a problem. Orthodontic treatment is just one of the many other dental procedures that require a patient to visit the dental office on a regular basis for a certain period of time.  A good dentist is without a doubt worth the travel wherever he or she may be in Essendon but then again, we have to be prepared of the implications.
5. Pain tolerance. Most patients are already aware, whether they admit it or not, of their pain threshold. If a friend says that their dentist in Essendon is just fabulous and that they had the best dental treatment ever, we cannot really confront them after an excruciating dental experience on this referral. Pain tolerance or threshold is not our fault. Other people may be physically trained for pain but for normal Joe’s and Jane’s like us, it is not our fault and the dentists are perfectly aware of this that people do have varying pain thresholds. There are children that still manage to laugh during an injection and the story of big muscular men who scream during dental procedures is not really unheard of.

Most of us already know what they want in a dentist but a few tips and need-to-know’s when looking for a dentist wouldn’t hurt. There are more or less 15 dentists on Essendon with websites or with their names available on search engines. Is the one with the best looking website the best among of them? Probably yes and still probably no. They hired the best web graphic designer, that one’s for sure.

And this brings us back to the question, how do we look for the best dentist in Essendon? Is he or she someone who will watch our children grow? Here are a few tips, not exactly rules, but just  a few guides.

1. The dentist must be someone who can be your friend. If the dentist is someone who is high and mighty and he makes sure that you know it every second of the dental procedure, he may be the best dentist in Essendon and his dental work may be excellent but it is essential that a patient always enjoy their dental visit. A pleasant dental visit will make us always look forward to the next visit and this is vital in our oral health as a whole.
2. The dentist must be someone we can trust. This would be the tricky part. We have to rely on good old gut feeling. All dentists received training and certification so that they can practice their profession but if we can find the dentist whose main goal every morning is to promote oral health care and takes pleasure on the idea that they have contributed a lot on their patients’ welfare, that one’s a keeper. We have to know whether a dentist looks at us as a patient who needs help or as a customer who must find a way to pay his fees.