10 Benefits of Choosing Your Hometown Dentist
No matter how much we want to dismiss, deny, or roll our eyes at them, it turns out that what our mothers taught us as children at home really does apply to many situations throughout our adult lives.
“Bigger isn’t always better.”
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
“Quality over quantity.”
It may not have been exactly what Mom had in mind when issuing her universal guidance, but the same advice can be applied when it comes to choosing your family dentist. Selecting a caring, local, hometown professional, such as Graham E. Farless, DDS, to care for your family’s dental needs certainly fits the bill of “always knows best” type of input. But hey, we were also once stubborn teenagers who didn’t listen to our parents’ words of wisdom. If you’re in the Greensboro, North Carolina vicinity and in need of a good teeth cleaning or specialized dental care, check out our list of the top ten benefits of choosing your hometown dentist. Don’t worry, we won’t tell Mom that you needed facts to back up her infallible advice.
1. Lower overhead (and fewer undisclosed costs).
Speaking of universally known truths, we can all accept the idea that larger corporations incur proportionately larger monetary overhead. From pricier office space to marketing or licensing fees for that national brand name, chain dental offices need much more capital to keep the lights on and those fancy reclining chairs, well, reclining. These costs will be passed along to customers, often in the form of added-on services.
Your hometown dentist can avoid charging you an arm and a leg for that extra-fluoridated fluoride treatment or gold plated bridge and crown set through more traditional business methods such as investing in smaller office properties and putting in the extra administrative leg work on their own time. In short, your local dental office’s primary goal is to appeal to their individual customers, rather than their corporate investors which makes their patients the big winners.
2. Personal attention.
If you’ve ever visited a traditional, large name dentist, you know that one of the trade-offs for brand recognition is often less time spent with your actual dental practitioner. Due to the aforementioned focus on profitability, these mega institutions typically have to cram in a larger number of clients per individual dentist.
Now, don’t get us wrong. Every dental office has to maintain the same minimum standards for care, education, and professionalism, and aforementioned dental assistants have their own set of requirements and certifications. If you’re like us, however, and want to receive your oral advice straight from the horse’s, errr, dentist’s mouth, a local hometown dental professional who can afford to spend more time with each individual patient is the way to go.
3. And personalized care.
Personalization doesn’t stop at the quantity spent with your individual dentist; quality also comes into play. Your local dentist isn’t bound by corporate constraints that often dictate the type or timing of procedures. Minor tooth decay may be rectified with regular dental visits and cleanings and wisdom teeth won’t require removal unless they become problematic to your oral or overall health. Each individual’s oral hygiene journey looks different, and local dentists have the time and experience available to help develop a personalized plan of attack that works for your lifestyle and budget.
4. Accessible customer service.
We’ve all had that infuriating experience with outsourced customer service agents. Whether it’s someone in the corporate office miles away or a person in a generic “let me get my supervisor” outsourced bullpen scenario, when you have a billing or scheduling question it can be a frustrating process dealing with an individual who needs to get themselves up to speed with your account.
Hometown dental offices often utilize internal support staff for tasks from scheduling follow-up appointments to collecting co-payments. When you encounter an error or need to alert staff that you’re running a few minutes behind, at the hometown dentists, such as the offices of hometown dentist of Dr.. Farless, patients can rest assured that they’ll encounter an informed and familiar individual ready to assist or answer questions.
5. Improved follow up.
Following along the personalized attention theme, smaller community dental offices are also able to provide follow up services that fit your busy modern schedule. Larger, regional offices will resort to text alerts or the occasional phone call timed inevitably while you’re two hands deep in whipping up Monday meatloaf. At your hometown dentist, a caring receptionist or the doctor themselves will often want to devote the time and attention to reminding their patients about the need for an biannual cleaning or to check up on how little Johnny or Debby’s new braces are doing.
6. You can get to know your dentist.
An overwhelming sense of joy isn’t what we’d call a common reaction to an upcoming oral hygiene appointment. As anyone who has ever experienced dentophobia can tell you, trust is a must in a patient’s relationship with their dental professional. One of the most reliable ways to dispel the exaggerated image of the masked, goggled, rubber glove clad individual poking into your dental cavity is through the ability to get to know and rely on your local dentist.
Smaller, hometown offices will have the same, reliable staff on hand for your visits. As opposed to the seemingly endless rotation of new faces you’ll see in many larger offices, your local dental office has lower turnaround meaning you’ll be able to rely on the individual relationships you build during your individual visits.
7. And your dentist gets to know you.
Longevity with any primary care provider is always a plus when it comes to developing that in-depth knowledge of your medical and dental needs. A hometown dentist is much better positioned to be able to identify subtle changes to your oral health. In addition, your local dental office can also develop the familiarity needed to truly get to know your individual preferences. Have a sensitive palate? Your dental assistant will know to use extra care on those pesky annual x-rays. Are your teeth cold-sensitive? It will be marked in your chart for your visit to minimize brain freeze. Don’t worry, though: you local dental office still knows just how indecisive you are when it comes to the all-important choice between cherry or bubble gum flavored teeth cleanser.
8. You’re made to feel like family.
No, we’re not talking about family in the way that weird great Aunt Edna pinches your cheeks at holiday gatherings while exclaiming “my how you’ve grown.” We do mean, however, that you’ll have the distinct possibility of running into your dentist at the local grocery store, church, or community leadership gathering. Sure, your dentist may use the opportunity to remind you that you’re overdue for your regular cleaning, but we’re pretty sure your mouth will agree this is still a notch in the plus column for visiting a dental practice close to home.
9. You’re giving back to the community.
It seems as if every year modern life tends to draw us further from our homes when it comes to spending our hard earned dollars. By visiting a local dentist, you’ll not only receive the kind of personalized, attentive care we’ve described above, you’ll also be contributing to local business and community. Local dentists employ a full staff of dental hygienists and administrative professionals and contribute to local chambers of commerce and volunteer groups. Whether it’s shopping or professional dental services, spending your hard earned dollars closer to home pays it forward for both your family and others in your community.
10. Reviews you can trust.
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of choosing your hometown dentist is the ability to take the word of your trusted friends, colleagues, or family members into consideration when it comes to an individual office’s reputation and experience. Those great reviews on the major national chain establishment website are all well and good, but few things are as reliable as a first-hand account from local community members you know and trust.
At the offices of Dr. Farless, we let the smiles and experiences of our locally grown patients speak for themselves. From orthodontia to complex teeth and mouth restoration, our full range of services, along with the exceptional standard of care we provide, will leave you with a smile you can be proud to share with others. We invite you contact us today for an initial exam or additional information to find out the difference a hometown dentist can make.