Many people hate going to the dentist. Maybe some don’t because dental work isn’t generally pleasant, but Tip Dude thinks some of it is just irrational fear. Certainly, the noise a dentist’s tools make are just not very pleasant sounding, even if you can’t feel the tooth being drilled. That aside, Tip Dude personally find the business aspect of dental work even more offensive than the drilling. Drilling is necessary evil, but the dental insurance paperwork is not only bureaucratic and also could potentially increase your costs dramatically if you don’t choose an in-network provider. Here are ten tips to make your dental visit as pleasant as possible:

• Don’t Forget Your Appointment - Dentists are like doctors, mechanics, lawyers and other service professionals. They have to work all day. They can only work on one or two people at a time. If you show up late, or if you miss your appointment, the dentist is sitting around twiddling his thumbs. Even if they appreciate the break, it’s still time spent sitting idle and not making any money. So dentists get kind of mad if you can’t keep an appointment and don’t bother to cancel. So, try not to forget your appointment, and try to cancel the day before if you absolutely can’t make it.
• Figure Out Where The Dentist Is - If you’re not going to your regular dentist, or going to an office for the first time, make sure you know where it is. Print out a map, make sure parking or transportation isn’t a problem and arrive early so you can have time to sort out any other kinks like not being able to park, or getting lost in an unfamiliar area.
• Call Ahead With Insurance Information - Dental insurance is complicated. Frequently, the dentist’s office will require pre-authorization for a new patient, because they do not want to perform extensive work on someone who isn’t insured and may not be able to pay out-of-pocket fees. You should be prepared to bring your insurance card, or documentation of insurance and your Social Security Number. To make matters worse, some insurance carriers have very similar names (for example, Delta Dental of Massachusetts, and Delta Dental of New Jersey), and the claims system is far from uniform or integrated. Make sure you know the name of your dental carrier if an insurance card or document is not provided. Always discuss upfront with your dentist’s business manager whether they’re in-network or out-of-network for your carrier, and how much the procedures you are planning to have done will cost you out-of-pocket. The claims system is so cumbersome that some dentists even have specialist accounting software to help them handle the paperwork. They should be able to figure this out for you before work is done, but it might delay your being able to get timely service. If you have a dental emergency, you’re really kinda stuck.
• Be Aware Of Annual Limit - Some dental plans have a maximum amount that any patient could incur in a given year. You should find out from your carrier or ask your company’s human resource representative how you can find out how much budget you have remaining in that year. Some plans have no limit. Occasionally, a dentist’s office may give you misleading information about your plan’s limit, to maximize their billings. Don’t treat dentists with suspicion, but do be aware of that possibility for fraud.
• Discuss Payment Plans If You Are Uninsured - Dentists generally join a dental insurance plan’s network by agreeing to charge lower rates to the plan’s clients. This means, by default, ‘rack rates,’ paid by those who are not insured, are the highest rates charged by the dentist’s office. This is usually open to negotiation, though. If you are uninsured and planning to have an expensive procedure done, it might make sense to ask up front how much this procedure would cost under a major dental plan. Of course, the dentist is free not to share this proprietary information with you. But if you’re good at negotiating, you may be able to persuade your dentist to give you an in-kind discount, charging you only the price they would charge a major dental insurance carrier. It is usually not worth changing dentists just to get a 10 to 20 percent discount on your dental work, because it is better to have the work done by someone you trust than just a random dentist who is willing to do it for less money. However, if you’re really, really tight on money, it makes sense to shop around a little and negotiate aggressively. Don’t do it to the point where it annoys your dentist; he needs his paycheck too, and you do want to maintain a good, cordial and professional atmosphere.
• Learn More About The Procedure - One way to deal with anxiety resulting from an impending dentist appointment is to learn more about what you are about to encounter. It is natural to be nervous about a procedure that you have never undergone before. If you’re told that you need a root canal, what does that mean? While reading about it is never going to tell you what it feels like, it’ll give you an idea of what to expect, why the procedure is needed and what the dentist is doing when they reach for this tool or that tool. There are many websites that cover dental procedures in great detail, including the root canal treatment. Many of these informative sites are actually written by dentists who want to improve their web presence. The general consensus about root canals is that they are rarely as bad as one imagines. From Tip Dude’s experience, basically you won’t feel very much because you’ll be under anesthetic anyway. The only reason the procedure has such a bad name is because people whose root canal treatment fails or results in pain tend to talk about it a lot more than those whose treatment was successful. Root canals aside, the online resources cover topics as diverse as cracked teeth to wisdom teeth removal. So Google away!
• Mention If You Are Sensitive To Pain - Tip Dude was once told by a dentist that some dentists, especially less experienced ones, actually really hate to administer dental anesthetic. It is mostly because the process of injecting novocaine (or today, more likely lidocaine) just isn’t very pleasant for the patient nor particularly safe for the dentist. Tip Dude does not have personal experience of this, but apparently occasionally a dentist would under-dose and allow a patient to feel pain while the procedure is being performed. To ensure this doesn’t happen, you can try to mention before the procedure begins that you’re quite sensitive to pain and that they should ensure they knock out your nerve before starting to drill. Of course, a good dentist will always do this, but it doesn’t hurt to remind. Anesthesia can be more of an art than a science, and if you mention this they’ll be more careful in asking you, “Do you feel anything?” and would likely start slower, which help those of us nervous about feeling pain during the procedure.
• Use The Arm Signal - Tip Dude has heard of an arm signal that some dentists recognize. If you raise one hand while a dentist is drilling or working, the dentist would realize you are feeling pain. But not all dentists recognize that signal, so you might want to tell him or her about it and discuss it in advance, including which arm you would use. Be careful not to bang into the dentist’s assistant as you raise your arm.
• Understand The Difference Between Pain And Unbearable Pain - If the anesthetic is working properly, it’s still quite unlikely you will feeling nothing. You will feel some force, and possibly cold, because the anesthetic is really only supposed to knock out your pain receptors. Sometimes, especially if you’re nervous, it is possible to mistake those feelings for pain. If you’re getting your teeth pulled, sometimes you can still feel very slight pain from tissues around the tooth even if the nerve inside the tooth is knocked out. Tip Dude has had his tooth worked on and almost invariably the area would remain somewhat sore for some time (between a few hours and a few days) afterwards. But if while the dentist is working, you feel like screaming “OWWWW!” like someone is doing violence to you, then you should probably signal the dentist to stop working and give you more novocaine. Technically, the dentist is doing violence to a part of your body - but thanks to anesthesia, it shouldn’t feel that way. Yes, it feels a little weird to be without pain, but you’ll get used to it after a few minutes into the dental procedure.
• Thank Your Dentist - Your dentist is really doing a community service. Dentists are universally disliked, have long and irregular hours (e.g. most dental offices are open in the evenings and weekends at least once a week), dental school is expensive and the profession is fraught with risks such as random infections coming from working inside people’s mouths, and sometimes, blood. Most dentist end up having to run a small business - since there aren’t many large dental hospitals around where you could work - and one malpractice suit (even if groundless) or a few bad reviews could easily ruin a dentist. Yes, Tip Dude hates dental insurance process and paperwork, but that’s hardly the dentist’s fault. Perhaps you feel somewhat bitter because you have to pay high dental fees for the privilege of getting your teeth drilled, and maybe you’re mad because the dentist didn’t fix your cavity the first time. But, contemplate this for a minute: there are many, many more ways to make more money with perhaps a lesser service to the community than being a dentist. He could have easily been a used car salesman, a bond and energy futures trader, a dental insurance plan administrator, or just some fat cat slumlord who happen to inherit a run-down building then decides to keep running it into the ground and suck it dry. No, your dentist likely isn’t in it for the money. It’s a hard way to make money. Dentists are probably dentists because first and foremost they like to work on teeth - and most of them think the money is nice so they don’t mind working these irregular and sometimes long hours. Thank your dentist. You may even get a bigger discount next time.

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