New patients
Your first visit, from the phone call to the plan.
Every new patient here gets the same start. A full examination, a straight account of what we found, and a written plan you agreed to before anything is scheduled. This page covers what to do before you come in, what to bring, and what that first appointment involves. In pain today? Call (559) 683-4694 and say so, or read what counts as a dental emergency.
Step one
Before you arrive
Two things make the first appointment go faster: paperwork done in advance, and records already on their way.
The new patient forms cover your contact details, your dental history and a full medical history. The patient forms page explains how to get a copy today and what each section asks for. If you fill them in at home, bring them with you. If you would rather do them here, arrive about fifteen minutes early so the paperwork does not eat into your chair time.
If another dental office has seen you in the last couple of years, call them and ask that your x-rays and chart be sent over. Recent images mean fewer new ones, and they show us what your mouth looked like before whatever brought you in. That takes a few days to arrive, so it is worth doing the same week you book.
Tell us when you call if getting here is a drive. Patients come from Coarsegold, Bass Lake, Ahwahnee, North Fork and down Highway 49 from Mariposa County, and we will try to combine work into fewer, longer visits. See the communities we serve.
Step two
What to bring
None of this is busywork. Each item changes either what is safe to do or what your visit will cost you.
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Photo identification
A driver license or any current photo ID. We check it once and it stays on file.
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Your dental plan card
If you carry benefits, bring the card plus the subscriber name, date of birth and group number. A photo of the card on your phone works.
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A current medication list
Every prescription with its dose, plus supplements and anything you take occasionally. Blood thinners, bisphosphonates and drugs that dry the mouth all matter here.
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Your physician's details
Name and number, along with your previous dental office. Some treatment needs a conversation between offices first.
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Your completed forms
If you filled them in at home, bring the whole packet. A parent or legal guardian has to be present to sign for a patient under eighteen.
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Your questions, written down
People forget what they meant to ask the moment the chair goes back. A list on your phone is enough.
Step three
What the first appointment involves
Plan for longer than a routine recall visit. A new patient exam is the appointment everything after it depends on, so we do it properly.
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The history, out loud
We go through the forms and ask about the parts that need more. What hurts, what has been repaired before, what went badly somewhere else, what you want changed. If you are nervous about dental treatment, this is the moment to say so.
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The examination
Teeth, gums, bite, existing dental work and the soft tissue, including an oral cancer screening and the lymph nodes in your neck. Gum measurements are recorded rather than guessed. Here is what an exam and cleaning covers .
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Images, where they are needed
Decay between teeth, bone levels and infection at a root tip are invisible to the naked eye. How many images you need depends on your history and your risk, not on a fixed schedule. If another office sent recent x-rays, we use those.
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A cleaning, in most cases
Most new patients have their teeth cleaned the same day. Some do not, and it is fair to know why in advance. If the exam shows gum disease below the gumline, a standard cleaning is the wrong treatment for it, and we will explain what periodontal treatment involves before booking anything.
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What we found
Digital images come up on the screen while you are still in the chair. You see what we see. We sort the findings into what is urgent, what should be watched, and what is optional, and we say which is which.
After the exam
The plan, and what it costs
Nobody here works on commission. You get the findings, the options and the fee, and then you decide what happens next.
For anything beyond a small filling you get a written treatment plan listing each procedure. You get the fee for that work before treatment starts, not on a statement afterward. If a plan changes once we are underway, which happens when decay runs deeper than the image suggested, we stop and talk to you first.
Large plans do not have to be done at once. We sequence them: infection, pain and active decay first, then structural work, then anything elective. Waiting has consequences and we will tell you what they are, but the pace is yours. If a case belongs with a specialist rather than with us, we will say so and help you get there.
We do not publish a fee list, because the honest number depends on the tooth in front of us and on how much of it is left. What we can tell you is how payment works before you commit to anything. See payment and financing and how dental benefits work.
Practical
Finding us, and when we are open
The office sits on Road 426 in Oakhurst, just off Highway 41. Parking is at the building.
Thursday opens an hour earlier than the rest of the week, which is the easiest morning to get in before work. The office is closed Friday through Sunday, so a problem that starts on a Thursday evening is worth a phone call Thursday afternoon. Directions and a map are on the contact page, and you can meet the people who will be looking after you on the team page.
Before you type
What not to send us online
Ordinary email and web forms are not secure channels. They are not encrypted end to end, and they are not an appropriate place for health information. Please do not send us your medical history, a description of your symptoms, photographs of a tooth, insurance identification numbers or payment card numbers by email or through any form on this site.
Use the online form for what it is built for: your name, a phone number, and a general note about the kind of appointment you want. Everything else belongs on the phone or in the office, cancellations included, because the form is not monitored minute to minute. Request an appointment, or read the Notice of Privacy Practices and the privacy policy for how information is handled.
Keep reading
Where to go next
The detail that did not fit on this page, split into the four things new patients ask about most.
New patients are welcome.
Call during business hours and you will speak to someone who works here. If you would rather write, send an appointment request and our scheduling coordinator will call you back to agree a time.
Monday to Wednesday 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Thursday 7:30 am to 4:00 pm. For a life-threatening emergency call 911 rather than the office.