Since this is my occupation I thought I would add my two cents:
1. Determining whether you have received concientious or mediocre dental care based on an unpleasant experience after the event is sometimes not as straightforward as one might wish for or expect. Generally the work I do is not within the direct view of the person I am performing it for, and is not felt by him or her if I have give that person adequate anaesthesia (freezing). Also, some of the problems related to poor technique (over-cutting a tooth, missing a secondary canal in root-canal treatment, or leaving a sigificant gap between a crown and the supporting tooth, generally create long-term problems rather than right away, when things may feel quite normal (well, at least for a while). So, how can you get a feel for quality care?
1. If you ask a staff member privately, does she or he attend the same practice as a patient? Do they refer their family?
2. Does the dentist show you the problem directly with a mirror or intraoral video camera, show or offer to show you the "work in progress" ("....here is that area of decay now that it has been exposed, here is the partial tooth fracture, here is the abnormal tissue,etc"), then show you the completed filling or crown preparation, pointing out the details?
3. Are you offered upfront a description of all the generally-acceptable possible choices to repair a tooth, giving the range of costs, pros and cons of each choice, including estimated longevity of each option (which will vary according to the material chosen and the size of the problem) or is it "office policy" to exclude some treatment choices?
4. How is the determination made that a tooth requires root canal treatment? One common way is when the decay removal reaches the pulp ("nerve"), causing enough bleeding that the dentist cannot quickly stop it with a medicated dressing on top. This can be demonstrated with a mirror.
How about the sore tooth or generalized facial pain? Testing each tooth individually in the general area (both top and bottom) with an application of ice or a large cotton pellet drenched in refridgerent is a more reliable test than an x-ray that sometimes may not show the presence of a dead tooth.
5. Finally, two admittedly personal suggestions to help you find a concientious dentist in a community you are new to;
i) contact one or more periodontists ("gum specialists") as close to your area as you can find and ask for names of good restorative dentists. Periodontists look after the same patients for years so they see restorations being updated over time by the referring dentists and get a feel for who is doing what and how well.
ii) consider trying a dentist who does gold inlay work. You may HATE the thought of gold in your mouth ("...who do you think I am, Doc, Captain Jack Sparrow?"),or not have the finances for it, and I'm not even suggesting you have it done for ANY of your teeth, ...even though that's all I have in my mouth. Gold inlays are bloody hard to do well, take much more chairtime to create than a full porcelain crown, and for a smaller fee and are accepted by far,far fewer patients than I make bleaching trays for, for instance. What I do strongly believe is that dentists who can turn out a nice gold inlay have above-average hand skills that will show in whatever other procedure they do, and are generally idealistic about preserving as much of your tooth as they can in any given circumstance.
Hope this helps. Now, off to bed to get ready for another day of "assembling watches while people spit in my face" (metaphorically).
