Dentistry in the United States ranks among the top 10 most trusted and ethical professions of all, and many millions of Americans visit the dentist once or twice per year for tooth cleaning, checkups, dental implant, and more. A mouth of healthy teeth makes for a great smile, and healthy teeth may suffer few, if any, major dental problems. How to find a good dentistry office nearby? If someone does not already have a regular dentist, such as if they just moved to a new city or county, they can find dental offices online with ease. Good dentistry offices may provide the right type and level of care that the patient needs, and dentistry may involve tooth replacement, tooth whitening, and much more. And what about mobile dental offices? Dentistry on the go is a very real option that not all Americans might be aware of.
Dental Care at the Office
For the most part, American dental patients are going to dental office buildings for care, and they can find these offices online if they have to. This means entering a fairly specific online search to keep the results relevant, such as “top cosmetic dentists in Boston MA” or “best rated pediatric dentists in San Diego CA”. The client might even enter their ZIP code to keep results local in a large city, and review the options. A client may strike out unsuitable options, and visit the rest in person to make a fair assessment of each one. This includes consulting the staff working there, primarily the dentists and their assistants, and reviewing their credentials. The client may consider each staff members’ educational background, work experience and skills, awards and recognition, and more. Someone looking for a pediatric dentist’s office or a family dentist may bring their child along too, and see if that youngster feels comfortable there and gets along with the staff. The family may visit any number of dental offices this way until they find a suitable one, and sign up.
What might a patient expect at a dentist’s office during a visit? Not all dental visits involve gruesome procedures such as pulling out infected teeth. For the most part, patients may undergo routine cleaning and exams, though they may also have dental implants put in. Crowns, for example, can be fitted over a cracked or worn down tooth to restore its shape and function, and also protect the tooth from further trauma. A missing tooth can be replaced with a dental bridge, a replica tooth made from a mold of the patient’s real teeth. These dental bridges can be fitted into the gap and held in place with covers that slip over the real teeth flanking the gap, hence, the name. This can restore a person’s smile and make eating and speech easier. Dentures, meanwhile, might replace all teeth in the mouth at once, common for elderly patients. Dentures can be removed from the mouth and put back in at will in most cases.
Children, meanwhile, may also have sealant put on their teeth to further protect them, and young patients may also be taught proper habits and technique for brushing their teeth. Children may even floss or use mouthwash under adult supervision.
Mobile Dental Practices
Some dental offices are on wheels, known as mobile dental offices. Why do this? Such dental offices are bare bones, since a refitted RV or large van will not have the room or weight tolerance for some equipment found in a regular dentist’s office. But in exchange, these stripped-down offices may meet a client at any location at any time (given adequate parking is available), and this is helpful for patients who can’t easily visit a regular dentist. Such patients may be very busy college students or work professionals with a full schedule who can’t easily make time to visit a regular dentist’s office. So, they call a mobile dental office and arrange for it to meet them at their location, such as a nearby parking lot or their college campus. The same might be done for a patient who has very limited, if any, transportation options. Even if these mobile offices offer only the bare basics, this may be quite adequate for patients who can’t easily visit a regular dentist.