Shared Responsibilities

Dental team’s responsibilities to the patient:

1. We must bring our A-game every day.
2. We must stay focused, avoid distraction, and do our best every time.
3. We must stay abreast of changes in the profession and critically evaluate all those changes. All change is not progress.
4. We must use good materials combined with our best workmanship.
5. We must be patient and take lots of time.
6. We must have a correct diagnosis followed up with good workmanship.
7. We must address the patients needs in a timely manor.
8. We must respect our patients time and try to stay on schedule.

Patients Responsibility to the dental team:

1. Work with us as much as possible by learning and using the skills of good oral hygiene.
2. Work with us by following a reasonable continuing care schedule. The standard is every 6 months. People with great home care might extend that a bit. Patients who have active disease should come every three months until the condition is stabilized.. People with chronic health problems such as heart disease or diabetes should come three times a year and brush and floss three times a day.(This also applies to smokers and people with joint replacements.
3. Try to be on time for appointments.
4. If appointments need to be changed try your best to give us two days notice. We reserve a lot of time for your care and these appointments are not easy to fill on short notice.
5. Have insurance information handy and know about your coverage. We can’t help much when it comes to knowing what you have for coverage.
6. Know how good your diet is and if it is likely to cause problems try to offset this with even better personal hygiene.
7. Take care of your children. The children don’t buy the groceries. If children’s diet might cause tooth decay then offset this with even more frequent cleaning. Children’s teeth need to be cleaned as often as their parent’s teeth. Until the child is old enough to clean his own teeth; the responsibility lies with the parent.
8. Keep an eye on your daycare as well. Carbohydrates are cheap. Too many carbs can lead to cavities. Also, there is a contagious component to tooth decay. Germs that cause tooth decay may be rare in your home but they can be passed from one child to another.