How to Choose the Best Dentist in Fairfield County

If you’re looking for a dentist in Westport or the surrounding area, we hope you’ll choose our practice, but once you take into consideration dental insurance and office hours, sometimes your first choice for a dentist isn’t the one you’re able to see. Whether you see us for your dental care or another provider, we still want you to choose one of the best in the area. Here are some tips to help you choose the best dentist in Fairfield County.

Believe it or not, word-of-mouth recommendations are still the most powerful form of advertising for dentists. No matter how much we invest in marketing, nothing has the weight of a referral from a friend or family member. Ask people you know about their dentists. Do they recommend them? How long have they been seeing them? Is the office modern and clean? Is the staff welcoming? You’ll get candid answers from friends and family, which makes personal recommendations a great place to start when looking for a dentist you can trust.

Online reviews are another tool to help you find the best dentist near you, but it’s important to be savvy about how you read them. For example, if you need dental implants, search reviews for that term to find patients who’ve gotten dental implants from the dentist you’re researching. It’s also important to weigh recent reviews more heavily than older ones—if a patient mentions an unfriendly receptionist nearly a decade ago, it’s unlikely that they’re still working at the practice!

Once you’ve narrowed down your choices based on recommendations and reviews, it’s time to visit the websites of the dentists you’re considering to make sure they’re a good fit for what you need. Here are some things to consider:

• Dental insurance – If you have dental insurance, you’ll want to make sure your plan is accepted. Also keep in mind that the difference in cost between in network coverage and out of network coverage often is negligible (financially) depending on the type of work that is required, despite what  insurance companies may tell you (in network coverage costs them less). Navigating insurance is confusing. If this is important to you, be certain that the dental office you choose will be able to summarize your out of pocket costs for you. We recommend using insurance coverage (in or out of network) as one of the factors in choosing a dentist, not the only one. Familiarize yourself with your dental plan and then call the office you're considering to get further information. It's not a bad idea to visit an office prior to making an appointment to be sure you will be comfortable there, and that your priorities (regarding your dental needs) match theirs. For procedures like dental implants or cosmetic dentistry, you may also want to see if financing is available.
• Services offered – Not all dentists offer all services, so if you’re considering something like Invisalign or you know you need gum disease treatment, check that the dentists you’re considering provide these services to save yourself the trouble of having to find a specialist later.
• Practice hours – Make sure the practice you choose has office hours that work with your schedule. Our office is open late on Mondays and opens early on other days for our patients’ convenience, but some practices limit their hours from 9 to 5. If you need extensive dental work, having to take time off of your job regularly may become a problem.
• Technology – Like any other medical specialty, technology advances rapidly in dentistry, so it’s important to look for a dentist that uses state-of-the-art equipment for the best possible care.

Finding the best dentist for your needs can take a bit of time and research, but when you find a dentist you like, you may end up seeing them for decades, so your work will pay off! If you’d like to schedule an appointment with Dr. Roisman, contact us today at 203-227-6338.