How to Choose a Dentist in Islamabad (Without Guessing)

Most people choose a dentist the way they choose a restaurant: proximity, a quick look at reviews, and hope. It works out fine for a scaling appointment. It works out considerably less well when you need a root canal or two years of orthodontics.

Here is a more deliberate way to do it.

1. Check the qualification against the treatment

This is the one that matters most and the one almost nobody checks.

In Pakistan, BDS is the primary dental qualification. Every dentist has one. Beyond that:

• MDS (Orthodontics) is a Master of Dental Surgery specialising in tooth movement. This is who should be planning braces and aligners.
• FCPS (Operative Dentistry and Endodontics) is the specialist fellowship covering root canals and complex restorative work.
• FCPS/MDS (Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery) covers surgical extractions and jaw surgery.

A good general dentist handles scaling, fillings, straightforward extractions and simple restorative work very well. For orthodontics and endodontics, ask who specifically will be doing the work and what their postgraduate qualification is.

If the answer is evasive, that is your answer.

2. Ask for the price in writing, before treatment

Not a range quoted over the phone. A written estimate after an examination.

A practice that will not put a number on paper before starting is a practice where the number can move. The most common complaint in Pakistani dentistry is not poor treatment, it is a bill that grew.

Ask specifically:

• Is this the total, or per visit?
• What is not included?
• What happens if the case turns out to be more complex than it looks?

3. Notice whether extraction is the first suggestion or the last

This is a useful tell. Removing a tooth is fast, cheap for the clinic and permanent. Saving one takes longer, requires more skill, and is almost always better for you over ten years.

If a dentist reaches for extraction without first testing the tooth, imaging it and discussing whether it can be restored, get a second opinion before agreeing. You cannot un-extract a tooth.

4. Read reviews for patterns, not for praise

Individual five-star reviews tell you very little. What is useful is the pattern:

• Do multiple people mention the same specific thing?
• Do they describe being explained things, or just being treated?
• Does anyone mention a price changing?
• Are there recent reviews, or did they stop two years ago?

Google now extracts themes from review text automatically, which is a faster way to see the pattern than reading fifty individual reviews.

5. Check the hygiene basics you can actually see

You do not need to be a clinician to notice:

• Instruments coming out of sealed sterilisation pouches, opened in front of you
• Fresh gloves put on after the dentist has touched anything else
• A visible autoclave rather than a vague assurance
• Clean surfaces, clean suction lines, clean floors

6. Ask what happens if something goes wrong

A crown debonds. A bracket breaks at 9pm. A filling feels high after the anaesthetic wears off.

Ask, before you commit: what is the policy, is there a cost, and how quickly can you be seen? Practices that have thought about this will answer immediately. Practices that have not will improvise.

7. Convenience is not trivial

The best dentist in the city is not much use if their only slots are at 11am on a Tuesday. Evening clinics exist precisely because most patients cannot take a working day off for a 40-minute appointment, and treatment that fits your schedule is treatment you actually complete.

A short checklist

Before your first appointment, ask:

1. Who will treat me, and what is their postgraduate qualification?
2. Will I get a written cost estimate before treatment starts?
3. Is the total fixed, or can it change?
4. If a tooth is in trouble, what is your approach to saving it?
5. What are your opening hours, and how do I reach you in an emergency?

Five questions. Any practice worth going to will answer all five without hesitating.