How To Find a Top Cosmetic Dentist, Part 2

This article explains the steps you need to take in order to find a top cosmetic dentist.

Did you know that not all “cosmetic dentists” have received training as such? Many consumers are shocked to hear this, seemingly because they assume that any licensed healthcare professional claiming to be a specialist in some well-known field must have gone through a post-graduate training for that specialization credential. While this is legally required for other dental specializations such as endodontics, implant dentistry, periodontics, and orthodontics, there is no set post-graduate educational route for the area of cosmetic dentistry. Because this field is still relatively new in dentistry, there is not as much regulation and oversight. This may change in the future as current cosmetic dentistry training programs and voluntary certification boards reach some agreement about what should be the minimum requirements for general dentists wanting to take on this designation.

Until that point is reached, however, it is important as a consumer to take a series of important steps when choosing a top quality cosmetic dentist in NYC. Here are the recommended steps for consumers seeking cosmetic dental work:

1) Look up voluntary training programs for cosmetic dentistry, certification boards, and cosmetic dentistry conferences and symposia. Then search for members of those credentialing agencies in your area. Since there are several different organizations offering some kind of training or certification in cosmetic dentistry, it is probably impossible to find each one of them (even using the internet). Therefore, there could still be some very skilled and highly trained cosmetic dentists in New York that won’t be listed as members of the organizations that you find online. Obviously, if the field were regulated like the other specialty fields there would only be one board issuing one set of cosmetic dentistry credentials.

2) Search for cosmetic dentists on Yelp and Google Maps.

This kind of search will show cosmetic dentists who may or may not have any training as such. However, with Yelp you can read consumer reviews and get a good idea of a dentist’s “chair-side” manners, the efficiency of his staff, and how pleased former patients are with the results of his work. A cosmetic dentist who comes across as “salesy” to potential clients, and then delivers flawed cosmetic work, would likely have some reviews on Yelp from angry clients. If you are able to find any cosmetic dentists on Yelp who have fixed the cosmetic dentistry mistakes made by poorly trained cosmetic dentists, you are on the right track. With Google Maps, you can do a location search to find cosmetic dentists within a certain distance from your home or workplace. This can be a good way of finding a cosmetic dentist in New York, where you might be overwhelmed by the sheer number of cosmetic dentists to choose from.

3) The final step is to choose two or three different dental offices to visit. You should be able to schedule a free consultation and tour of a cosmetic dentistry office before making any major financial commitments. This way, you’ll be able to get a feel for the staff, find out about the dentist’s personality and style of working with clients, and be able to make both a logical and intuitive decision about which dentist’s office to choose. You may even schedule a cleaning before going through a cosmetic procedure; just to be sure you are treated as well as a paying client as a prospective client.