Family Dental in Sandy, UT
Taking care of your teeth means more than brushing and flossing. For complete care, it’s important to visit a dentist every six months for a regular checkup and professional cleaning. The first step in this process is to find a dentist with whom you feel comfortable and then schedule an appointment.
Busy parents know scheduling appointments for everyone in your family can take time. Finding a family dental group can mean fewer individual office visits if you know where to look.
Family Care vs. Traditional Care
Although family dental groups have been around for years, they're unique in that they provide a variety of treatments in-house, whereas many practices are built around a specialty. According to the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), the majority of dentists in North America— about 140,000— practice general dentistry. General dentists can treat your whole family and are considered your primary care dentist.
To be sure, general dentists often do have training in many specialized areas, like orthodontics, root canal therapy, and even cosmetic dentistry. What makes family dental groups appealing is how they offer more than one dedicated dentist in their practice, providing the convenience of a "one-stop" solution for all your family's dental care needs. Whether you need a pediatric dentist, someone who specializes in treating children's teeth, or an endodontist, who treats the pulp and root— you can find family dentists who provide what you need for one office.
It's also more likely you can schedule appointments for multiple family members at the same time. Although this is largely up to how individual practices schedule their patients, it's a good idea to ask up front when searching for a family dental group. This means less time waiting for back-to-back appointments or appointments on multiple days.
Finding a State-of-the-Art Practice
When it comes to providing the most efficient technology and facilities, there's little difference between a family dentist and general dentist. It's a matter of research. Be sure to ask about the procedures and equipment the office uses when considering it as your family dentist.
Today, many dental groups prefer to offer this advanced technology. Digital X-rays, which use much less radiation, are safer than traditional X-ray machines. Dentists can also perform intraoral camera exams; wherein they can magnify problem areas on a monitor using a small camera. These are just some of the services you can find across all specialties.
On the whole, advanced technology is less invasive, making an office visit more manageable and less stressful for kids and patients who are uneasy going to the dentist. When considering a family dental group, check with your insurance carrier and research treatment plans ahead of time; coverage amounts can vary.
How to Find a Family Dentist
Many dental practices advertise treatment for the whole family, but you'll need to find out whether they're a general practice or a family group. Others use "family" in their practice title, but it doesn't necessarily make them family dental groups. A quick search online is a great start, but it's better to work with organizations like the American Dental Association (ADA) Mouth Healthy site to help you find one. Specific to your needs, these organizations can narrow your search by services, distance, office visit policies, and even insurance terms.
Here are the best steps to take when looking for a family dental group:
- Consider the needs of your family. Will one member need braces while another needs a basic cleaning? Look for a group that has both a general dentist and orthodontist on site.
- Find out whether the group has a pediatric dentist on site. Some family groups treat all members but don't necessarily cater their approach to children. These dentists won't require you to switch to a new dentist when your child gets older, and the practice will already be familiar with his or her medical history.
- Work with the ADA and similar associations to find a family dental group according to your particular needs.
As always, however, keep up your family's great oral care when not at the dentist. Use mouthwashes designed to give your family 12 hours of protection against almost every germ in your mouth.