Dentistry is a common field of medicine, and many millions of Americans care a great deal about the health of their teeth. That is not surprising, since a mouth of healthy teeth means a great smile and lower odds of painful or expensive tooth problems. Every year, countless adults go to their regular dentist’s office for routine cleaning and checkups, and responsible parents will find a pediatric dental office for their children. These dental services are varied, covering not only X-rays and checkups but also putting in dental implants or cosmetic dentistry, too. Good dental care is possible when a client looks up a local dental office online, and if someone moves to a new city or county, it may be quite important to find one this way. And in some cases, a patient will need dental care from a mobile dental van in particular, or a refitted RV.
Find a Proper Dental Office
When someone’s child first becomes old enough for the dentist, or if a family moves to a new city or area, it is time to look up the necessary types of dental offices online. For the whole family, a client may look up a family dentist in particular, and for children only, a pediatric dentist will be sought out. The client will enter a relevant search phrase, and may include their ZIP code or city/town name to narrow down the results list. Now, the client can strike out dental offices that aren’t accepting new patients or those that don’t accept the client’s health insurance, leaving a shorter list of names. The client may visit the rest in person to evaluate them.
Visiting in person is important, so the client gets a chance to form a clear and fair opinion of the dental office and consult the staff. A clean and professional dental office is to be desired, and the client may consult the dentists and dental assistants there to see their credentials and work history. Meanwhile, for a family dentist or a pediatric dentist, the client can bring along their child, and that youngster will form his or her own opinion on the dental office and the staff working there. If the child likes it there and gets along with the staff, that dental office may be a strong candidate. Any number of dental offices may be visited until the client finds the best option, and signs up.
But what about mobile dentists? Why would a dental office be fitted into a large van or RV at all? Some patients who need a dentist may have trouble visiting a dental office because they lack transportation, or because they are very busy. A work professional or a college student may fit this description, not having the time to visit a dentist’s office and come back. Instead, these people can look for mobile dental offices, and though these mobile offices are bare-bones, they may be sufficient for a checkup or cleaning. If that’s all the patient needs, they can find a mobile office and arrange a meeting at their convenience. The mobile dental office may visit them in a parking lot near the patient’s residence, for example, or near their workplace or at their college campus.
Cosmetic Dentistry
Checkups and X-rays are routine enough, but many Americans also want cosmetic dentistry; that is, dentistry to improve and alter the appearance of their teeth. Tooth whitening is a common form of cosmetic dentistry, and tartar buildup or tobacco use may cause tooth stains that merit whitening.
Cosmetic dentistry can also be physical. A patient may have a crown put in, a false crown that will fit over the tooth and restore its full shape and function. This improves speech and eating, and also helps prevent a cracked tooth from suffering further damage. Clear plastic retainers can be used to straighten a patient’s teeth discreetly, and dental bridges can replace an entire missing tooth. These are replica teeth that fit right into the tooth gap, held in place with covers that slip over the real teeth flanking the gap. This restores the person’s smile and makes eating and speech easier. Elderly patients, meanwhile, may get a set of dentures to replace all of their teeth at once.