A bright light is shining in your face and you have your mouth hanging open for a virtual stranger while the said stranger is probing your teeth. This stranger is your dentist and for those unfortunate souls who like having their own personal space, that space is constantly violated by this dentist because the only way to inspect your teeth is to get really close. Got the heebie jeebies yet? Have you ever thought about doing a dentist background check before flashing those pearly whites? If not, you should!

A dentist background check usually starts with, pardon the pun, word of mouth. You ask your friends who they go to see and what type of chair side manner their dentist has. Your next step in the dentist background check might be a call to your insurance provider, if your insurance covers dental work. However, the insurance company may not give you more than “yeah, that dentist is in your network of coverage.” Therefore, you have to resort to other measures.

Referral lines or referral websites also help out a great deal when conducting a dentist background check. With information you receive from these referral options, you can determine your potential dentist’s office hours, insurance plans accepted, and area of specialty. Those are the minor details. For the more in depth details, you can also find out about his education – where he earned his college degree, his specialized training and even his professional affiliations and whether he or she is involved in community projects.

Education and training information are all fine and dandy, but you REALLY want to know the nitty gritty stuff! A dentist background check through various databases like civil or criminal court records might reveal lawsuits due to sexual harassment or negligence. A search into police records could disclose previous convictions, arrests and jail time. That’s not exactly something the dentist is going to advertise, now is it? If you plan for your children to see the dentist, it would be advisable to run a dentist background check through the FBI and *** offenders database. After all, you would not want a pedophile, drilling on your children’s teeth!

Perhaps the biggest resource for a dentist background check could very well be the American Dental Association (ADA). Many dentists belong to this organization, and chances are that your potential dentist does as well. The American Dental Association is the place where you can find out about your dentist’s education, training, specializations and whether or not that dentist has any outstanding complaints against him from former patients.

The final line of defense in a good dentist background check is following up with your local Better Business Bureau. It is easy and free to check online. With the Better Business Bureau, you can immediately discover if your potential dentist has any outstanding complaints about his dental office. You can also find out in the Better Business Bureau portion of the dentist background check if the complaints were resolved satisfactorily or if action is still pending on any issues.

Just remember, before sitting in that dental chair, do a dentist background check. Put your mind at ease at knowing that the dentist you finally do choose is competent, with no outstanding warrants for his arrest! After all, you should not open your mouth and say “Ahhh” to just anybody.

By: Matthew Bass

About the Author: