Every day at Kaneohe Family Dental Care we are thrilled to meet patients who are new to our practice. These new patients come to us seeking a Kaneohe or Kailua Dentist, most often due to the recommendation of their friends and family. A sign of the times is the increasing number of new patients who...

1. CHOOSING A DENTIST IN
DIFFICULT TIMES
KaneoheFamilyDental.com

2. Every day at Kaneohe Family Dental Care we are
thrilled to meet patients who are new to our practice.
These new patients come to us seeking a Kaneohe
or Kailua Dentist, most often due to the
recommendation of their friends and family. A sign of
the times is the increasing number of new patients
who find their way to our office via the internet after
reading patient reviews on Google, Facebook, or sites
such as rateadentist.com. Sadly, a sign of our tough
economic times is the increasing number of the new
patients we see who are young adults that have, for
one reason or another, neglected regular dental care
and now are in pain and now require urgent care. The
good news is that we are usually able to relieve their
pain quickly and inexpensively, but what is next for
these patients who frequently have multiple other
dental problems ready to turn south as well?

3. In Hawaii, most people who are employed have dental
insurance. However, as a rule, dental plans are good for
maintaining dental health but are not designed to help
people catch up when they have more than a couple
dental problems. All dental plans have limitations on
coverage and how much they will pay for a patient in a
given year. Yearly benefits are commonly $600 – $1,000.
That’s fine if you just need cleaning, examination, X-rays,
and a filling a couple times a year, but it’s a meager
amount if you need more than routine maintenance.
Therefore, if you haven’t been to the dentist in a while, it is
imperative that your dentist helps you carefully prioritize
your necessary dental care, offer you practical treatment
options, and provide affordable financing. If you have
postponed care and are looking for a dentist we offer the
following recommendations.

4. How to find a new dentist:
1. Ask your friends and family if they have a dentist they
recommend.
2. Use sources such as Rateadentist.com, Google, and Yelp
to learn what other patients think about potential dentists.
3. Browse potential dentists’ websites to learn more. If the
dentist doesn’t have a website move on, they are not that
interested in you.

5. Your new dentist should:
1. LISTEN to you and your concerns.
2. Examine you carefully and thoroughly and take a complete set
of modern digital X-rays.
3. Sit down with you and patiently describe your current
problems in plain language.
4. Provide you with several practical solutions to your problems
arranged in an understandable step-by-step “worst first” plan of
treatment. If necessary, treatment plans should be broken down
into of phases that could span months or years.
5. Help you understand your dental insurance and how you can
best take advantage of it.
6. Provide a clear written estimate of your expected cost for
treatment.
7. Provide financing options for your estimated cost.
8. Always be available to discuss any concerns you might have.

6. At Kaneohe Family Dental Care we are committed and
eager to help our patients regain their dental health
and appearance in a way that they can afford. Call us if
you are looking for a new dentist in Kailua or Kaneohe,
we think we know a couple good ones.
- Bruce Keller, DDS