I have several teeth that have cavities.I dread going to the dentist .Is it possible for me to ask the dentist to take care of several teeth in one appointment?For example :he could take care of three teeth in one side of the mouth in a two hour appointment.Is that possible ?
I am just asking because I've noticed that everytime i go to the dentist he always takes care of only one teeth and then the next appointment is about the same teeth and so on...
2006-09-05 03:57:55 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Dental
I'm just agreeing with emmalue and Justine. You would need an initial visit to "map things out" and then the dentist would MUCH prefer to do as many teeth in one visit as possible. There are some mitigating factors, however.
Most patients have a limit on how long they can keep their mouth open for dental treatment, so I tend to save maybe 90 minutes as a maximum. I can get a lot done in 90 minutes, though.
Some dentists have been burned financially by some patients by letting them get overextended. If you take two visits to do 6 or 8 fillings and the patient leaves you with a balance owed in the $1,000 neighborhood, nobody is very happy about that. If you have had some bad history with the dentist or - quite frankly - if you were referred by someone who was lousy at paying, you might find that the dentist is hesitant to save you extra long appointments.
I've also found that some people ASK for long appointments and then cancel at the last minute or just fail to show. If anyone EVER does this to me, they will NOT get a long appointment ever again, unless they have an amazingly good reason, such as the death of a spouse or being in an auto accident while on the way to the office, for missing the appointment.
2006-09-05 05:31:33 · answer #1 · answered by Picture Taker 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is quite possible for your dentist to do more than one filling in an appt. I generally group them into quadrants (upper right, upper left, lower left, lower right) or left side and right side. As long as you, the patient, dont mind, sometimes I will do the entire mouth in one sitting. However, it will depend on how large each cavity is, and whether or not crowns or root canals are involved. Enough time should be allotted to take care of as much as possible to minimize appointments for you. Ask your dentist the next time you go in if you could get more than one done, or find a dentist who can. Good luck!
2006-09-05 04:19:40 · answer #2 · answered by dmdgirl 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Steamroller's answer is just plain wrong.
Exams are billed out each visit, but fillings are a flat rate and no additional charge is added to do them in multiple appointments.
Most dentists would prefer to work in quadrants of the mouth, doing adjacent teeth together. Unless they are very busy and don't have big openings in the schedule, I don't see why any dental office would suggest several short visits as opposed to a few longer ones.
Actuall, Steamroller, it costs the dental office more to break down a room (everything the patient touches has to be either thrown away or sterilized), clean the instruments, re-barrier....than to keep the patient in the chair and do all the fillings. Your opinion of dentists is obviously biased, but in this case, you are inaccurate. The dentist stands to make more of a profit if he/she can do multiple procedures in one visit.
2006-09-05 04:25:30 · answer #3 · answered by emmalue 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most dentists prefer to do fillings on one side of the mouth just like you want. Go ahead and ask & I'm sure they'll be happy to.
2006-09-05 04:28:47 · answer #4 · answered by justine 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a dentist but I had a serious problem with three at once...needed two root canals and three caps...done in one sitting went back to have the permanent caps put on in another sitting...now you have to understand that caps can't go on instantly in one sitting after having the canal done...so if they say they can't find someone who will...
2006-09-05 04:06:22 · answer #5 · answered by Skinny 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My dentist told me he would do 2 fillings the same day only if they were on the same side, because if they numb both sides you have a good chance of bitting your tongue or cheak and you wouldn't feel it.
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2006-09-05 04:08:04 · answer #6 · answered by kelchild 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is possible but dentists like to have you come back so they can get more money. most dentists charge a fee just for coming to the office.so in your case they could charge you for 3 visits just tell him/her you can`t come back and need it all done at the same time.
2006-09-05 04:14:12 · answer #7 · answered by steamroller98439 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋