Welcome to Gilrain and Brooks, D.D.S.-
We are glad you have chosen us to be your dental office. Our whole office takes our responsibility to help you achieve and maintain good dental health seriously, and will do all we can to make your visits with us comfortable and to meet and exceed your expectations.
When you come to our office for the first time, you will be greeted with a smile by either Jo or Jenne, our two front desk secretaries. They will welcome you and let the doctor or hygienist know you are here. Hopefully, you have visited our website and arrive with paperwork already printed and filled out. They will take your information and enter it into our computer. Otherwise you will be given some new patient forms to fill out while you wait. This will include a medical and dental history form, an insurance information form, and a copy of our HIPAA policy. If you are on multiple medications, it is very helpful to bring a list so that we may make a copy.
Please bring your insurance card with you.
If you have had recent dental radiographs at another office, or if your previous dentist has other pertinent, useful information about your dental health, we will have you fill out a “Records Request Authorization” form so that we may obtain such helpful information. This is definitely one item that is more helpful if it can be done prior to your appointment. Then the results are already here when you first arrive, and there is no delay in receiving the items from the prior office.
Once all paperwork is completed, you will be escorted back to a treatment room by either a dental assistant or hygienist. If your first visit is for a comprehensive dental examination and cleaning, the hygienist will review your medical history, take your blood pressure, perform a head and neck oral cancer screening exam, and with the help of an assistant enter all of your existing dental conditions and restorations into your computer chart. The hygienist will make an assessment of your overall dental health, obtain any indicated radiographs and discuss techniques and tips that will help maintain and improve your dental health. At this point she will proceed with cleaning your teeth, using a combination of ultrasonic and hand instruments and polishing. The dentist will then review the findings, complete your examination and plan any necessary treatment appointments.
Sometimes the hygienist will detect a problem that needs attention prior to cleaning, in which case the doctor will come in to discuss the situation, and together it can be decided how to best proceed. If it’s been a long time since your last dental appointment, it may take more than a single appointment to clean your teeth and get your gums healthy. Sometimes a referral to a dental specialist is necessary.
If you are having a particular, urgent problem, your first appointment might be with the dentist, who will focus on identifying and solving your problem, before scheduling your initial exam and cleaning.
We make every effort to educate our patients about their dental needs and to provide them with the best possible care. Our staff is expert at making our patients feel comfortable and alleviating stress. We want every interaction with our office to be a positive one!