The short answer: get your records first, while someone still has them: X-rays, your chart, and the details of any crowns, bridges or implants. If you were partway through treatment, don’t wait. Then book a full exam with your new dentist and bring everything you were able to collect.
Some of our patients come to us after their dentist retired, sold the practice or simply closed, sometimes finding out only when the phone stopped being answered. It is an unsettling way to lose a dentist, especially if you had been going to the same office for years. Here is what I tell them.
First, get your dental records
Your records are the history of your mouth. They let your next dentist see what has changed instead of starting from zero. Ask for:
- Your most recent X-rays, plus any older full sets and any 3D (CBCT) scans
- Your gum measurements (periodontal charting), if they were taken
- A list of the work that was done, and when
- For implants: the implant brand, size and the parts used. This one matters. Implant parts are not interchangeable, and knowing exactly what is in your jaw makes a future repair far simpler.
Where the records usually are
When a practice is sold, the new owner usually keeps the charts. When an office closes, the old phone number often has a recorded message saying who holds them. If neither works, contact the Nevada State Board of Dental Examiners, which licenses every dentist in the state. The board says patients can call its office for help getting their records.
What Nevada law says
- Health care records must be kept for at least 5 years, and records of anyone under 23 cannot be destroyed (NRS 629.051).
- Once you ask, the records must be made available within 10 working days (20 working days if they are kept out of state). Paper copies can cost up to 60 cents a page plus postage, and X-ray copies a reasonable fee (NRS 629.061).
It is best to request your records yourself: you are the patient, the request goes straight to whoever holds them, and you end up with your own copy. If you run into trouble, we can help. Sign a records release at our front desk and we will request them too.
If you were in the middle of treatment
Some things should not wait for a new dentist to fit you in:
- A temporary crown or filling. Temporaries are made to last weeks, not months. Left too long they can break, leak or let the tooth shift so the final crown no longer fits.
- An implant waiting for its crown. If your implant was placed at another office, I can still make and fit the crown here, in our office. Bring the implant records if you can get them. More on implants here.
- Clear aligners. If you were partway through aligners with another office, we generally recommend starting over: a new scan and a new plan with Dr. Lee-Mirzayan, rather than trying to pick up someone else’s plan midway. More on Invisalign here.
- Pain, swelling or something broken. Call us. That is an emergency visit, not a new patient wait.
Choosing your next dentist
A few questions worth asking any office before you book:
- Do you take my insurance, and what will the first visit cost? (How insurance works here.)
- What happens at the first visit: a full exam, or a quick look?
- Who will I actually see each time?
- If I need something the office doesn’t do, where do you refer?
Not sure where to start? Ask the specialists. Call a few endodontists, periodontists and orthodontists and ask who they see.
What a first visit with us looks like
We set aside 60 to 90 minutes. We talk first, about why you came and what you are hoping for. Then we take a full set of records: digital X-rays, photos and a 3D scan, followed by an exam of your teeth, gums, older dental work and bite. Here is the whole first visit, step by step.
Bring any and all records you collected. Your old X-rays don’t replace a current set, but they let me see what has changed over the years, which tells me what is stable and what needs attention.
If it has been a while since your last checkup, you are not alone. Here is what to expect after years away.
Where to start
Request your records, then call us at 702-734-0776 or schedule online.
General education, and not a substitute for an exam.