Check Out The Waiting Room To Find A Dentist

posted on 29 January 2011 | posted in Health and Beauty

Finding professional services isn’t easy. There are so many doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc. that making the connection that’s right for you and your family can be a daunting task. To find a dentist can be doubly difficult because people don’t like to go to the dentist in the first place, and live in fear of the man in the white coat with the pick in his hand. With so many good dentists in the United States there’s no reason at all to feel like this, but still it’s a problem that people have to overcome. Oddly enough, maybe a look around the waiting room will put the potential dental patient at ease when they’re trying to find a dentist, or at least clue them in that they’re looking in the wrong place.

When you’re looking for that new dentist you can learn a lot by checking out the waiting room of their office. Take time to look at what’s there and how the people act and you can get an idea of just what’s going on in the ‘business end’ of the office.

First, how are the kids in the waiting room acting? Most kids are scared of the dentist and will make at least a little show of not wanting to see him or her. That’s to be expected, but sometimes how kids act can show you that you may have picked the right place. If the kids are nervous, but still in a good mood and acting like kids then it shows that their fears haven’t really taken hold. This is usually a sign that the child is comfortable with the dentist and has no bad memories of earlier visits. This is good news if you’re just a big kid and still afraid of the dentist, because if little kids aren’t terrified of them it’s a good chance he’ll be ok for big kids too.

I also like to sift through the magazines at the dentist’s office. I expect a few of them to be out of date, but if I’m only finding two-year-old issues of magazines that’s a red flag to me. Medical science is constantly advancing and I’m not sure I can trust that a dentist is good at keeping up with new techniques, etc. if they can’t even keep the magazine’s in the lobby current. You might think that’s the job of the office staff, and you’d be right, but do you want someone doing potentially painful things inside your mouth if they’re not competent enough to keep an eye on the office staff? I think not.

It’s a good idea to look at how the waiting room, and office as a whole, is decorated and appointed as well. If the lobby TV is a 25” Zenith with a couple of wire hangers for an antenna then you might be in trouble. I want all my medical professionals to be up to date on everything. If the TV is ancient and the dentist can’t even be bothered to spring for cable or a satellite dish how can I be confident that the rest of the equipment in the office is any better? Plus who wants to start a possibly stressful dental visit by watching grainy, out of date TV? Anything that starts that badly is probably just going to go down hill.

I want my new dentist’s office to be filled with relaxed people, enjoying all the little frills that we expect service providers to give us these days. I know it’s a petty thing, but when I’m trying to find a dentist I want to visit an office where I can feel comfortable, and not dwell on what’s coming when I get behind the closed doors. After all, the time you spend in the dentist’s lobby is the time you remember most after the visit, and you’re probably going to be more likely to go back if that time was at least comfortable, so do a quick check of the lobby and waiting room the next time you really want to know about a dentist.