Signing up for a new dentist

Our previous dentist (my cousin) recently retired almost coincidentally with our losing insurance coverage under my employment and having to switch to Carolyn's plan. The dentist who purchased my cousin's practice isn't in the group covered by our new plan. So we set out to find a new dentist. Unbeknown to us, the plan had actually assigned us to a dental office about 3 miles away from us but they had neglected to inform us of this assignment.

I called and visited several offices covered under the plan but didn't have much to go on. All were obviously acceptable to the plan and none had any black marks from state licensing. Some were in office complexes that weren't attractive or in run down strip malls. Another looked really good as it advertised "Spa Dentistry" where they can give you aromatherapy, a foot scrub, or even a massage while you're getting your teeth worked on. But it turned out they were no longer accepting new patients with this plan.

Another one that looked nice and had a great web site was staffed by members of our church but when I called the front office, they said they weren't accepting new patients covered by this plan. This time Carolyn took over, asking our friend in the church how to circumvent this restriction. He said simply, "Ask for Renee and tell her Ralph sent you." It worked.