Available For Emergencies
Are you searching for the “dentist near me” In South Gate, CA, and surrounding communities? You have many family dentists to choose from. How can you know which one is best for you, and for the people you love most? Good question! As dental care professionals, we know exactly what’s important to patients!
At Reza Dental Care, everyone on our team wants you to have the best dental visits possible, so we will go the extra mile to make sure that your appointments are productive and comfortable, and that you leave feeling well cared for.
Of course, we hope you’ll choose our dental office, but regardless of your decision, we want to provide you with some guidelines for making your selection.
1. Get Dentist Referrals from People You Know
Ask your family members, coworkers, and friends about their dentists. Tell them about any fears or hesitation you have about going to the dentist and ask how their dentists handle these.
If you’re worried about anxiety, find out if the dental clinic they go to offers anxiety-reducing medications during oral treatments. If you’re nervous about pain, ask if the dentistry they are recommending has different methods for making dental visits as pain-free as possible.
If you don’t have dental insurance, ask about any in-house dental insurance programs they might have or any discounts they might offer for self-paying patients.
Once you’ve gotten a list together, check out each dentist’s reviews on Google or Facebook. You can find out professional information on each dentist on healthgrades.com.
Narrow your list down to the top three dentists you like. Call each dentist’s office and request a consultation appointment (telehealth or in person) so that you can meet the dentist and ask any specific questions you have.
2. Dentistry Credentials Matter
You want a dentist who knows what they are doing. When a dentist is certified by a national and/or state board, this means that they have the knowledge, the expertise, and the experience to perform their job well.
That’s always good news for you.It’s also important to check to see if the doctor you want has had any disciplinary action taken against them or has had malpractice suits filed against them.
3. Look for Experience in Specialty Areas
If your teeth and gums are healthy, you don’t necessarily need a dentist who has specialized training in areas beyond general dentistry. However, if you have specific dental conditions or needs, then you want a dentist who has experience dealing with those.
Dental specialties include orofacial pain, pediatric dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery, periodontics, endodontics, orthodontics, and others.
The dental care you choose may not have more than one or two specialties, but they should have a referral network for other dentists with different specialties, if needed.
4. Find Out if the Dentist Offers Telehealth Visits
Some oral care must be done in person at your dentist’s office. It’s impossible to do a cleaning or to fill a cavity over Zoom or FaceTime.
However, some on-going conditions and treatments can be addressed using telehealth. When you’re looking for the best dentist near you, this should be one of the options they offer to make seeing the dentist easier for you.
5. Good Communication is Key
We’ve all had experiences with medical professionals where we either felt we weren’t being heard or we felt like we were both on different planets. That’s the kind of communication you want to avoid when you’re choosing the best dentist near you.
Communicating with your dentist should be a smooth, give-and-take process that leaves both you and them assured that what needed to be said and heard was. You will be able to gauge the quality of communication when you have your consultation appointment with each dentist.
6. Look at Reviews Patients Have Posted
Patient reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook can be another good way to assess which dentist nearby is your best choice. Do not assume that reviews listed on the dentist’s website are actual reviews unless the link to the original social media review is included.
Look at the dates on the reviews and make sure they were posted within the six months to a year. It’s important to remember that no matter how good the dentist is, there will always be a few people who just can’t leave a positive review. That’s why you should make sure their overall rating is high.
7. Make Sure the Dentist Takes Your Insurance
One of the questions you need to ask when you are choosing the best local dentist is whether the dental office you are considering accept your dental insurance. If they don’t, then you’ll be responsible for the full cost of all treatments.
If the dentists do accept your dental insurance, then you need to make sure that you know what costs you will be responsible for when you have oral care treatments. The staff should be able to help you with this.
Good questions to ask your future dentist:
- Do they take my insurance? What does that coverage entail?
- Do they have special pricing for patients who have no insurance?
- How much time do they spend with patients during appointments? What type of treatment does the dentist provide and what is their success rate for each procedure?
- What kind of dental technology does the dental office use?
- Are they a member of the American Dental Association?
- What type of payment options do I have available to me at this office?
- Does the office offer any kind of payment plans?
- How many days per year does the dentist take off work for personal time and how is coverage covered during that time?
- Does the dentist have a dental emergency on-call policy?
- Are the office hours compatible with your schedule?
- How long does it take to get an appointment?
- Does the dentist see children as well?
Reza Dental Care is Here to Help You
We know that choosing the best dentist nearby can be a daunting and exhausting process, even if you’ve followed the tips we’ve given you. Let Reza Dental Care help you if you still have questions or you are still undecided.
You can contact us online or you can call 323-457-8787 and we will be happy to answer your questions so you are in a better position to make a final decision on the best dentist near you. We work hard to be that for all our patients, and we hope that you will let us work hard for you, too.