Diagnosis of dental disease and/or decay and the associated recommended treatment is something that lends itself to differing opinions. The same is true in medicine. It is especially confusing to patients when they see two different doctors and receive two remarkably different treatment plans. What’s going on here?
At Smile Hilliard, our philosophy is a PROACTIVE one. We believe in fixing small problems before they become big ones. Toothaches and infections are no fun, and it is our goal to do everything we can to avoid them with our patients. Therefore, our doctors treat small cavities with composite fillings. We treat obviously defective old silver fillings before they break or hurt. Other dentists may “watch” these things. They prefer to be REACTIVE. In our opinion, “watching” invariably leads to more extensive and expensive treatment later, along with the possibility of pain, swelling, infection, etc. We are also experienced in utilizing your insurance to get the maximum benefits possible from your insurance company to minimize your out-of-pocket costs. Many reactive dentists are hugely influenced by the insurance companies. They may shy away from recommending needed treatment if they feel they may have trouble getting the insurance company to pay towards it.
The fact of the matter is today’s technology allows for very conservative, early intervention types of treatments with very high success rates. In fact, the success rates are much higher with a given treatment earlier in the disease process. Waiting for broken teeth and/or pain as an indicator to do treatment lowers the success rate of all procedures and just plain isn’t very smart. Would you “watch” something on your mammogram? If you had a melanoma (cancer spot) on your nose, how big would you let it get before you had it removed? “Watching” small defects is an antiquated philosophy.
We hope this helps patients understand our thoughts on treatment planning and how we are at Smile Hilliard. In short, our philosophy of being proactive rather than reactive allows us to take very good care of our patients and holds down costs as well. We would prefer to provide you with a small, white filling for a few hundred dollars now versus a root canal and crown for a few thousand dollars later…wouldn’t you? We stand behind the treatment we recommend for you with confidence and hope you will choose to be proactive rather than reactive as well!
If you have a dental concern, we are here to help! We love the opportunity to help catch and address minor issues before they become major ones. Give us a call at 614-534-0257 to schedule an appointment today!
