By Brian P. Hall, DMD
The title of this column is something as a practicing dentist I hear all the time. Often it is said after someone’s mouth has severe damage from decay or wear, disaster would have been averted if they had just come in a year or two earlier, which I think is true.
Often when patients call the office for the first time they state that they just want to get their teeth cleaned and most of the time we schedule them for the cleaning and the new patient exam. Most patients have never had a thorough new patient exam and many exclaim that they don’t want one without even knowing what it is.
If the first time you took your car to a mechanic and he offered to thoroughly check it out and explain how best to care for it for a small fee, would you consider that valuable? If your physician offered to do a thorough workup and show you the best way to maintain a healthy lifestyle for a fee, would you consider that valuable? By the same token, a new patient exam at the dentist is a way to have your teeth and mouth thoroughly examined and care and maintenance explained specifically for your mouth.
Most good new patient exams don’t start in the operatory, they start in the consult room. In our office a patient is brought into a private office where the dentist can get to know the patient, ask the patient about their past dental experience, current problems, current maintenance regimens, current oral habits such as clenching and grinding, and about dental fears and phobias. All of these are very important questions that help us help our patients achieve better oral health. For example, if we don’t know a patient’s current cleaning habits, we can’t help them improve. If we don’t know their dental fears, we can’t help them lower their anxiety so they can get better treatment. All of these questions help us to establish a relationship and trust, that we have their best interest in mind, with our patients.
Next, we proceed to the exam room where we begin with an oral cancer screening and then examine the bite, mobility of teeth, wear and cracks in the teeth, decay in the teeth, and finish with a periodontal exam, which is a check for gum disease. On complex cases, we take study models for help with planning the case. We end the exam with some intra oral photographs with a wand camera so we can explain to the patient exactly what the problems are and to celebrate the positive things about the mouth.
On particularly complex cases, we reschedule the patient for a return visit so we can offer many good options for restoring their mouths.
Your dentist may offer a different new patient exam. However, the point is to establish a relationship and to offer the best possible treatment and care for the patient.
