A dental care clinic is a place where you can get your oral health needs met under one roof. They offer more availability in scheduling, a more personal relationship with your dentist and lower costs.
Some dental clinics are connected to dental schools, and they provide services under the supervision of faculty Dentist Robina and student doctors. This helps make treatment affordable for patients, while also making a valuable contribution to the education of future dentists.
Having All Your Needs Met Under One Roof
A dental care clinic offers a convenient way to get all your needs met under one roof. You’ll find a general dentist as well as specialists available to help with most dental issues, which can save you time and money.
Having all your dental needs met under one roof also means you don’t have to drive from specialist to specialist, and your oral health history can be stored in one place. This simplifies your paperwork and makes it easier to access your information when you need it most.
If you want a more personal relationship with your dentist, going to a dental clinic might be the best option for you and your family. These kinds of clinics tend to be lower cost or free, and they often offer more open schedules than private practices. They also might support dental research or serve as a community offering to help local communities in need. Ask your doctor what specific procedures they offer and their financing options to determine if this is the right fit for you and your family.
More Availability in Scheduling
There are plenty of reasons to choose a dental care clinic over a traditional dentist’s office. For starters, they often have more available appointment times and are open for a longer time than their conventional counterparts. Additionally, they may offer a wider variety of services that are more likely to address your dental needs and your financial ability to pay for them.
In addition to the more usual suspects like teeth cleanings and checkups, dental care clinics also have a number of other interesting things to offer patients – including the new fangled “teeth” whitening technology. Some of them even provide free or low-cost dental care and may have a medical and dental team of their own to boot. In fact, they have been well regarded for many years by hospitals, health plans, public health organizations and elected officials. To learn more about what they have to offer, give them a call or stop by their offices to see for yourself.
A More Personal Relationship with Your Dentist
Creating and maintaining a dentist-patient relationship is a challenge. It takes time, practice and patience to develop relationships with patients and build trust.
Dentists can increase their patient’s confidence in their skills and expertise by demonstrating that their treatments are safe, effective, and in the patient’s best interests. In addition, they can alleviate patients’ anxiety about dental procedures by using different forms of verbal and non-verbal communication.
The dentist-patient relationship is a two-way street, and both parties must contribute to the relationship for it to be successful (Epstein 2003). This includes accommodating individual needs, understanding budgetary requirements, and valuing culture and language differences.
For example, research suggests that dentists who are open and honest about their own personal lives can help reduce the stress of visiting the office. It also shows that dentists who respect the privacy of their patients are more likely to be able to form effective relationships and provide better dental care.
Lower Cost
Dental care is often the last thing many low-income families want to consider, but it can be an essential part of healthy living. Getting a cleaning, checkup or dental X-ray once a year is recommended, and getting a referral for more specialized care when needed can help prevent serious problems from developing.
Fortunately, there are also several ways to find reduced-cost or free dental care. Typically, these services are provided by non-profit, income-based clinics or volunteer dentists and dental centers.
Some of these clinics offer sliding fee scale discounts to those who can prove their annual income through tax returns or two recent pay stubs. These programs are available in all 50 states and can be a great way to get dental care when you might otherwise have trouble affording it.
The Max Robinson Center is a community dental clinic that serves patients in need and those who face barriers to accessing care. It accepts DC Medicaid, Chartered Medicaid & Alliance, and United Healthcare Medicaid & Alliance as forms of payment.