Finding an Evening Dentist

Many dental clinics operate during the usual office hours of 9am to 5pm. This is understandable. Most people aren’t in a situation where they can see a dentist during the day. The patient might be an employee who also works during typical office hours, and is, therefore, unable to take time off. Finding a dental-clinic that has operating evening hours is a plus.

Since there’s demand for this type of service, there are dental clinics that do offer additional services at night. The question though is how to find these dentists, given that having operational evening hours isn’t yet the status quo. There are some basic tricks you can use in finding an evening dentist.

How to find an evening dentist?

One fairly straightforward thing you can do is ask around in your familial and social circles, if anyone can recommend a good evening dentist. This would be an ideal first step for a number of reasons. This strategy means that you’re seeking out information from people that you trust and who are credible. If someone you know mentions a particular dentist, you can ask for further information regarding dental experience. Also, if you start with the people close to you, there’s a better chance that a recommended dentist will be someone you can conveniently visit. There’s a good chance that the clinic will be nearby, especially if you’re asking for information from people who live near you. So if you learn the name of a dentist or two, it shouldn’t be too hard for you to visit their clinics and check them out.

Unfortunately, even after asking around, you might not be able to find an evening dentist. Consider the option of checking out any nearby universities. Does the school have a program for dentists? If it does, find out if they have a teaching facility or hospital, where dental students undergo their training. If you’re fortunate enough to have something like this near you, there’s a chance that it will offer evening services. This happens because the dental students may be on-call throughout the day and evening as part of their training. However, you will need to check in advance if the dental school has restrictions on the patients that they see in the evening. For instance, they might only allow patients with serious or emergency conditions.

Finally, you can carry out your search online. This can begin with a quick keyword search for evening dentists in your area. In a more traditional way, you can also take your search offline. Take a look at some hard copies of dental directories or publications from the local or national dental association.

Although evening dentists still aren’t the norm, finding the right one for you isn’t at all as difficult as it may seem.