Next Steps – Florida Dental Access Guide

Next steps.

Now that you had your first visit, where do you go from here?

Decide if the dentist is right for you and your family. It is important to find a dentist that meet’s your needs. Remember that you can change your dentist at any time.

To help you decide if a dentist is right for you and your family, think about these questions:

Did you trust the dentist, and feel they cared about your dental health?
Did you feel that the dentist cared about you as a person?
Did you feel that you were listened to, the dentist paid attention to what you had to say and showed interest in your concerns?
Did the dentist use words that you could understand and spoke in the way that made you comfortable throughout the appointment? This is especially important if this appointment was for your child.
Did you feel that your dental health needs were addressed?
Did you feel you were treated with respect and fairly by the dentist and the office staff?
Did the dentist answer all of your questions in the way that you could understand?
When the dentist examined you/your child and talked to you about your/their dental health, was the dentist respectful of your opinions, culture, and beliefs? Is this a place you’d feel comfortable going back?
Did the office provide any assistance you asked for, such as an interpreter, translation, or alternate form of written materials?
Did the office meet your accommodation needs?
Could you contact your dentist or the office staff if you needed to ask a question?

If you answered ‘YES’ to these question, then you may have found a dental provider that’s right for your child. If you answered ‘NO’ to any of these questions, do you think the staff and the provider would make changes if your asked? If you would like to try another provider, go back to Step 4 and follow the steps to find a provider in your network.

If you had serious concerns about the dentist or you are not happy with how you and/or your child were treated, file a complaint or a grievance with the Agency of Health Care Administration or your dental administrator. You can do this by following the steps outlined in our Report Grievances and Medicaid Fraud section of the toolkit.