Updated: 3/3/2020
Have you ever found yourself in a dental emergency but you couldn’t get into your dentist quickly enough? Here’s my story about what happened to me.
A Chipped Tooth: How a Dental Clinic Helped Me
Every Thanksgiving, I look forward to eating Grandmother’s famous fried turkey. It’s won the prize for juiciest fried turkey every year at the county fair for the last three years in a row. Needless to say, I ate a lot of it this last Thanksgiving. However, while I was eating my turkey, a bone must have broken off and I bit into it. When that happened a piece of my tooth broke off. It was very painful and I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew that most dental offices would be packed the Monday after Thanksgiving so I started looking for a dental clinic that had several dentists in the office.
I began to wonder if dental clinics were more prevalent than I had realized. We live about 15 miles outside of a pretty large area and most of the dental offices around there are smaller practices with one dentist in each office. I was able to make an appointment early the next week at a dental clinic and was able to the see a dentist that helped me out. Because the service that I received at their office was so good, I asked them why I didn’t see more of the larger dental offices like their office around. The dentist said it was probably due to the size of the area I live in. He said that you typically see larger dental offices in more metropolitan areas. The larger dental offices are able to see a higher volume of people, so due to supply and demand, you usually only find those in larger areas.
I learned from going to the clinic that there are a number of benefits from having work done at a larger office. The first thing is that it’s typically much easier to get an appointment. More dentists mean more openings. Also, larger dental clinics often take a number of the dental discount plans that assist in keeping the out-of-pocket cost at a minimum. My family recently purchased the Careington 500 plan and it was extremely helpful for the dental issue that I was seen about. Also, something that will be important for our family is the option of setting up a payment plan to pay for the work a little over time.
What to Look for in a Dental Clinic
As you are selecting a dental clinic, make sure:
- The dentist is board and state certified. Check their website for their credentials.
- You like the customer service in the office. Call the office and talk to the receptionist. The customer service skills of the receptions tend to tell you a lot about the overall service of the dental clinic.
Going to a dental clinic can be a real help if you need to see a dentist quickly or if you are looking for a place that takes several payment plans and options. The benefits of a large dental office like the one I went to are great in comparison to the painful prices and poor appointment availability sometimes found at private practices. Check out the dental clinics near you and you may be pleasantly surprised!
It would not be fun to get a chipped tooth while eating some turkey. That is something that I would want to go see a dentist as well for. If a dental clinic can help me out quickly then that would be great to have.
Great post! A regular visit to a dentist is really necessary. I must say you have described each and every aspect as well as the various benefits of dental clinic really well. Thank you very much. A chipped tooth can be taken care of only through dental services.
I remember my ant fainted, fell and broke her 2 front teeth. She got it fixed in about a day or two and it was actually done pretty quickly. Its nice to have good and fast service but boy do I dont like going there lol.