Raleigh Dental Care
Raleigh Dental Care
If Raleigh, North Carolina is an area where you’re thinking of relocating or seeking dental care, here’s some information that may be of interest to you with respect to the level of dental care you can expect to receive.
Dental Care Accessibility in Raleigh, NC
Raleigh dental care is far more accessible than it is in much of North Carolina. Raleigh is located in Wake County, NC, and Wake County is one of eight North Carolina counties that have dentist-to-patient ratios that exceed the national average. Unfortunately, North Carolina as a whole ranks 47th in the nation in terms of dentist-to-patient ratios. In spite of North Carolina’s low ranking for dental care availability, Raleigh residents have great access compared to the rest of the United States. Using 2008 census figures for Raleigh, and June 2009 figures from the North Carolina Dental Board, Raleigh’s availability of General Dentists is estimated to be about one per 1350 residents. [Information source for NC and Wake County rankings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Carolina_University_Dental_School]
Quality of Dental Care in Raleigh, NC
The prevalence of dental care options in Raleigh is influenced by the presence of the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry in nearby Chapel Hill, NC. Raleigh and all cities and counties neighboring the school have great access to dental care, thanks to the presence of a number of graduates of this school. The UNC School of Dentistry is nationally recognized as an outstanding school for both education and research. Present since 1954, the prestigious school now admits 81 students to its DDS program (doctorate of Dental Surgery) each year, 80% of whom are in-state, 20% of whom are out of state candidates. [Information source: http://www.dent.unc.edu/academic/programs/dds/faqs.cfm]
Unlike law and medical schools, U.S. schools of dentistry have no official rankings; however UNC has typically been one of the top contenders on any unofficial list. [Information source: http://www.galttech.com/research/education/best-dental-school.php] The nationwide respect for the UNC School of Dentistry lends further validation of the quality of dental care that is available in Raleigh from graduates of that school.
Types of Dental Care in Raleigh, NC
The North Carolina Dental Board has a mission to “ensure that the dental profession merit and receive the confidence of the public and that only qualified persons be permitted to practice dentistry and dental hygiene in the state of North Carolina.” It is the regulatory body for dentists practicing in Raleigh and all of North Carolina. The North Carolina Dental Society is a professional dental organization with a mission to “encourage the improvement of the oral health of the public, to promote the art and science of dentistry and encourage the maintenance of high standards of professional competence and practice, and to represent the interests of the members of the dental profession and the public which it serves.” While membership in the organization is not mandatory, the North Carolina Dental Society provides figures that give a sense of the distribution of various dental care providers in Raleigh. Raleigh members include these numbers of dental care providers in some of the most commonly used categories:
• General Practice: 142
• Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery: 11
• Endodontists: 9
• Orthodontists: 17
• Pediatrics: 8
• Periodontists: 7
In June 2009, The North Carolina Dental Board reported 264 dentists in Raleigh who were licensed to practice General Dentistry.
Emerging Trends in Dental Care in Raleigh, NC
Raleigh dental care is benefiting from the progressive thinking of one graduate of the prestigious UNC School of Dentistry in terms of convenience of a broader range of dental care services under a single roof. A general practice dentist who undergoes the appropriate training is able to provide a broader range of dental care services, sometimes referred to as Comprehensive Dentistry. Depending on the skills set and qualifications of the dentist, the range of additional expertise may be broad enough to also include Cosmetic Dentistry services.
This emerging dental care model allows the dentist who is most familiar with the patient’s dental care and potential apprehensions to provide the needed services in a familiar environment. This also helps to eliminate some of the anxiety that some patients experience when they seek outside, specialized dental care services. General dentists who provide these dental care services are quick to refer cases that are extremely complex to their appropriate dental care counterparts who are specialists in very specific dental care issues and whose skills may be necessary in those particular situations.
If you use the North Carolina Dental Society figures for Raleigh dental care providers as a rough indicator of the proportion of dental care specialists in Raleigh, then you can understand the advantage in terms of timely treatment for routine, specialized dental care services (such as wisdom tooth extraction, periodontal treatments, and orthodontics) being provided by a general practice dental care provider. Most general practice dentists do not offer this wide spectrum of services. Each Raleigh dentist’s office should be able to explain services available to you, and also provide the specific credentials of the dentist(s), including information about whether they are licensed to practice sedation dentistry.
Qualified general dentists in Raleigh are there to help extend the reach and timeliness of additional dental care services that are important to good overall dental health. With their specialized training, this unique subset of general dentists can help you get more timely dental care treatments when you need these services. Another advantage of this type of dental care provider is that there is rarely a need to have dental care records transferred from one dental care provider to another.
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