Your first visit to Pearisburg Dental Center

Before the appointment

Allow a little longer than a normal visit for the first one. Bring a photo ID, your insurance card if you have dental insurance, and a list of any medicines you take, including the ones that seem to have nothing to do with teeth. Blood thinners, bisphosphonates and some diabetes medicines all change how we plan treatment.

If you have had X-rays taken elsewhere in the last year or two, ask that office to send them. It saves taking them again.

The visit itself

• A hygienist takes any X-rays that are needed and cleans the teeth, measuring the gums as they go.
• The dentist examines every tooth, the existing work, the bite and the soft tissues, and screens for oral cancer.
• We explain what we found, in plain language, with the images on the screen beside you.
• If treatment is needed you get a written estimate before anything is scheduled, with what insurance is expected to cover and what it leaves you.

If you are nervous

Plenty of people here have put off coming for years, usually because of something that happened in a different chair a long time ago. Say so when you book and again when you sit down. We can work slowly, explain before we do rather than after, and agree on a signal for stopping. Nitrous oxide and oral sedation are both available for patients who want them.

Nobody is going to lecture you about how long it has been. You came in, which is the hard part.

Paying for it

We work with most major dental insurance plans and will file the claim for you. Call with your plan details before the visit and we will tell you what it covers here. If you do not have dental insurance, a membership in the Virginia Dental Club covers cleanings and exams outright and discounts most other work.