First Orthodontist Visit Help

[gymnbomb]

DS’s dentist says it is time to visit the orthodontist. I have gotten recommendations from the dentist and some friends and have made appointments at 2 places for initial consultations. What do I need to ask at those appointments other than how much all this is going to cost? Obviously cost is one consideration but we won’t go with a sub-par doctor to save a few hundred dollars — what I am less sure about is how to decide if they are a good doctor and the right fit!


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[jgenie]

Here’s a thread from when we were looking for an orthodontist. It came down to a referral from a friend for us. We interviewed three orthodontists from recommendations from our local neighborhood message board and a recommendation from a friend. We went with the friend’s orthodontist since they had two successful treatments (child and parent) andwere happy with the process and outcomes.

[Tenasparkl]

If any of them want to do an x-ray as part of your consultation, make sure you can get it to show the others so you don't need to repeat it.

They'll go over cost and a treatment plan. It might not be the same at each place. I was surprised by how different the plans were.

[gymnbomb]

Thanks! That gave me a lot of good tips.

One of our options is about 10 minutes away and recommended by the kids dentist, it is right next door to dentist and part of a group with about 6 locations and only does appointments at that location 3 days a week. I will ask their policy about going to other locations if needed, I know our dentist is happy to see the kids at her other location if the scheduling works better for us. We do have one friend who has seen one of those orthodontists before and liked him.

The other option is an independent office about 20 minutes away. It was recommended by a friend whose 3 kids have all gone there. I also asked 2 co-workers who have family members that are dentists for their recommendations. One didn’t know specific people in our part of the state but said they would generally not recommend the places that have lots of offices all over the place. The other specifically recommended this one out of a list of 3 options I had asked about.

We will see both in the next 4-6 weeks (option 1 told us they are usually scheduling 6 weeks out for after school time slots, they could have gotten us in sooner at a less desirable time) and see what they have to say. Both said they would get electronic copies of DS’s recent x-rays from his dentist.


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[MSWR0319]

I'm sure this is listed in the post linked above, but since I didn't reread it I wanted to mention that ease of appointments is one things that we looked at. The one orthodontist was 25 minutes away and couldn't get us in after school. So he'd have been missing a decent amount of school. The other option was 5 minutes away max. If we can't get an after school appointment, we can at least schedule during lunch or study hall to try and reduce time missed from class.

[carolinamama]

We went through this last year with my kids. We met with 3 different orthodontists based on recommendations from our pediatric dentist. One main consideration for me was location - primarily distance to their school. That criteria ruled out one so we were down to two. Both are independent orthodontists, only have one office and work with a consistent and stable staff. We had consultations with both and chose the one we liked best. She discussed a more detailed plan for the post braces period for DS2 whereas the other almost blew me off when I asked about a cemented retainer behind his top front teeth. DS2 had a gap between those teeth and our ped dentist reported that she sees lots of those pop back open since kids aren’t the best at wearing retainers and felt it was an important step. We’ve been happy and I highly recommend an office close to your school. Ours is about 5 minutes, which makes a huge difference when someone needs a broken bracket fixed in the middle of the day. I’ve checked out DS2 at lunchtime and had him back before he missed any class. Obviously you want the best ortho but if all other things are equal, proximity to school is helpful. You may also want to ask about ease in scheduling unexpected appointments. We’ve only had 2 for simple broken brackets but we’ve gotten in next day and the office staff is nice about it. She met DS’s classmate on the weekend because she has a painful broken wire.

[gymnbomb]

Thanks! I don’t think there are any fewer than 10 minutes away (we live 2 minutes from school) but there are several in the 10-20 minute range. A couple of those are different offices of the same practice. One mentioned on their website that they schedule longer appointments during the school day so that after school appointments are available for the more frequent shorter appointments. This one was also able to get us in 2 weeks sooner than the other for an after school consult. But they are 10 minutes further away.


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[NCGrandma]

Thanks! I don’t think there are any fewer than 10 minutes away (we live 2 minutes from school) but there are several in the 10-20 minute range. A couple of those are different offices of the same practice. One mentioned on their website that they schedule longer appointments during the school day so that after school appointments are available for the more frequent shorter appointments. This one was also able to get us in 2 weeks sooner than the other for an after school consult. But they are 10 minutes further away.


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Re: practices/providers that rotate among several office locations: when my family first moved to that area, we were very surprised by how many health care providers were scheduled in offices across the state. Not sure if this is true of the DGDs' current orthodontist or dentist, but it's definitely true of most of the medical specialists (both peds and adult) and even more so of the X-ray and imaging centers.


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[gymnbomb]

Re: practices/providers that rotate among several office locations: when my family first moved to that area, we were very surprised by how many health care providers were scheduled in offices across the state. Not sure if this is true of the DGDs' current orthodontist or dentist, but it's definitely true of most of the medical specialists (both peds and adult) and even more so of the X-ray and imaging centers.


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Yes, we have noticed this a lot too! The kids dentist has 3 locations, my OB’s office had 3 locations, and our primary care providers have several locations (some doctors work at multiple locations, some just at one). I mean the state isn’t that big… But people here really seem to think that if something is 20 minutes away that is super far!


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[Dayzy]

Our dentist suggested 2 places but then we asked around and one of them was a popular choice. We went for a consult and I was impressed that their hours don't start until 11 and go until 6 daily. The staff had programmed in the school calendars to help find appointments on days off or early dismissals. Besides that. they said they always leave some time open daily for emergencies. We called once with a problem and they got my daughter in 2 hours later.