How to choose a dentist

Factual Questions
1

I have to pick a dentist from a list on my insurance company’s website. After narrowing them down based on distance from my house, I’m left with a dozen or more to choose from. There are enough other dentists between my town and the choices I’m given that asking friends for recommendations seems doomed to futility — everyone I know surely goes to someone closer.

Is there an Angie’s List or Yelp for dentists? Is there anything I can do other than throw a dart at the computer screen (which, now that I think about it, wouldn’t do much good anyway)?

2

Yelp is the Yelp for dentists. Just throw the name of the closest dentist in there and see what comes up. My dentist has 116 reviews and 4.5 stars. You should be able to get a sense of whether the dentist is worth seeing.

3

If you regularly have dental cleanings/check-ups every 6 months, you are likely to spend less than a few minutes a year with your dentist. However the dental hygienist that cleans your teeth, will spend about an hour +/- each year.

If my dental hygienist left to go to another office, I’d follow her in a heartbeat, and leave my dentist behind.

4

Thanks, Spoiler. I didn’t know that.

Omar, I agree completely, but hygienists aren’t listed on the insurance company’s web page.

5

The good news is that people frequently discuss the quality of the hygienist in the dentist’s Yelp reviews – also the office décor, the receptionist, the wait times, and every other aspect of the experience.

6

You might change the search to see which ones are closer to your place of work (assuming you do) rather than home. Most visits are during the work day and having my dentist only 5 minutes away mean I can be there and back within my lunch hour.

ETA: an office near your work might also be popular with your coworkers so you have a ready pool of people to ask for how they’d recommend.

7

I chose my dentist because she has evening hours twice a week till 7 or 8 pm, so I can go after work.

I need routine stuff done 4 times a year…and I ain’t gonna waste a half day of lost work/vacation time each time.

8

I avoid dental practices that hype cosmetic work. Bleaching, veneers etc. They have the big box ads in the yellow pages.

I much rather see a dentist that focuses on the basics. Cleaning, checkups, etc. I don’t want a sales pitch to make my teeth whiter.

I use a large practice. There’s 4 dentists, and at least 8 hygienists. Up to date. I got a dental implant done there. Had several crowns.

13

My process is very rigorous for selecting a dentist:

  1. See who is in my insurance’s network.
  2. Find which one is the shortest distance from my office (I usually go for things like dental/optometrist/GP visits mid-day during the work week.)
  3. Select that person.