New Patient: What to Expect at Morgan Heights Dental Centre

Oct 4

Your First Visit: A Clear Start to Your Dental Care

Your first appointment at a new dental office is an opportunity for us to understand more than just your teeth. We want to learn about your medical and dental history, your concerns, your previous treatment and what you would like to achieve with your oral health.

At Morgan Heights Dental Centre, we place particular emphasis on explaining what we find and helping you understand your treatment choices. Our goal is for you to leave your appointment knowing what needs attention, what can wait, what your options are and what the next steps may involve.

Before Your First Appointment

Before you arrive, we can send your new patient and medical history forms for you to complete on your phone, tablet or computer.

If you prefer, you can complete the forms on an iPad when you arrive at our office. Most patients can complete them in approximately 5–10 minutes.

Please provide an accurate list of medications and relevant medical conditions. Your health history can affect dental treatment, medications, anaesthesia and other aspects of your care.

Have Recent Dental X-Rays? Let Us Know

If you have had dental X-rays at another office recently—particularly within the past 12 months—please give us the previous dental office's contact information before your appointment. With your authorization, we may be able to request those images.

Recent X-rays may provide useful diagnostic information and can sometimes reduce the need to take new images. Whether additional X-rays are required depends on their age, quality, the areas shown and your individual dental needs.

The Canadian Dental Association recommends checking whether suitable recent radiographs are available before prescribing new ones.

What Happens at a New Patient Exam with a dental hygiene appointment?

If you have booked a new patient examination together with a dental hygiene appointment, your visit will usually begin with the dental hygienist. During this part of the appointment, we also review your dental history and update your chart with any existing treatment, such as fillings, crowns, bridges, implants or missing teeth. Recording this information helps us build an accurate picture of your current dental condition before the dentist begins the examination.

Once your records are updated and the hygiene portion of your visit is underway or completed, the dentist will perform a comprehensive examination. This allows us to assess your teeth, gums, bite and existing dental work carefully and to identify any areas that may need further attention.

Depending on your individual needs, we may use digital X-rays, an intraoral camera and other appropriate diagnostic tools to carefully evaluate your teeth, gums, bite and existing dental work.

The intraoral camera can be especially helpful for communication. Instead of simply hearing that a tooth has a problem, you may be able to see the area we are discussing on a screen. We can point out concerns such as a damaged filling, crack, wear or other visible changes and explain why we are recommending treatment.

Dental X-rays are prescribed according to individual diagnostic needs rather than automatically at every visit.

Understanding Your Treatment Plan

This is an important part of the new patient experience at Morgan Heights Dental Centre.

We believe that patients can make better decisions when they understand their dental condition and their treatment choices.

When more than one appropriate treatment is available, we take time to discuss the options with you. Depending on the situation, this may include:

The advantages and limitations of each option
Expected prognosis
Treatment costs
How long treatment may take
Which problems should be treated first
How many appointments may be required
Approximately how long each appointment will take

We can review the sequence again if needed. You should not feel that you have to remember an entire treatment plan after hearing it once.

The appropriate recommendation ultimately depends on your examination, diagnosis, health history, dental condition, preferences and other individual circumstances.

Dental Insurance and Preauthorization

If you have dental insurance, our team can assist with communication with your insurance provider and, when appropriate, submit estimates or requests for predetermination/preauthorization as a courtesy.

However, your dental office does not control your insurance plan. Insurers may limit the information they provide to a dental office, and coverage can depend on annual maximums, deductibles, frequency limitations, plan rules and other conditions.

For this reason, an insurance estimate should not be confused with a clinical treatment recommendation or a guarantee of payment.

We are happy to explain the treatment and fees so that you can make an informed decision.

What If I Have a Toothache or Urgent Problem?

You do not necessarily need to start with a complete new patient examination if your immediate priority is a painful tooth, severe sensitivity, swelling or another specific concern.

Instead, we can arrange a specific examination, which we often call a “spec exam.”

During this visit, the dentist concentrates on the problem that brought you in. Depending on the situation, only one or two X-rays and focused diagnostic tests may be needed to help determine the source of the problem.

We then explain what we find and discuss appropriate treatment options for that area.

Once the immediate problem has been addressed, if you would like to continue your care with Morgan Heights Dental Centre, we can arrange another appointment for a comprehensive new patient examination.

Ready for Your First Visit?

If you are looking for a new patient dentist in South Surrey or White Rock, Morgan Heights Dental Centre welcomes new patients. Whether you would like a comprehensive examination and cleaning or need us to focus first on a specific dental concern, we can help determine an appropriate starting point.

Contact Morgan Heights Dental Centre to arrange your first appointment or complete the New Patient Form through our website.

Clinical Sources Used for Fact-Checking

Canadian Dental Association — Control of X-Radiation in Dentistry: guidance recommends determining whether recent radiographs are available and adequate before prescribing additional images.
Canadian Dental Association — Preventive Care/Regular Dental Checkups: frequency of examinations and X-rays should be based on individual oral-health needs.
Canadian Dental Association — CDAnet: electronic systems can support predeterminations and transmission of supporting dental documentation to insurers.
Morgan Heights Dental Centre: clinic information, services, new-patient form and South Surrey location were verified against the practice website.