Most of us have, at one time or another, used Yelp! or some other social media review site to research a place of business, such as a restaurant. Using a review site to find a great restaurant may be ideal. If it turns out the reviewers were a bunch of compulsive liars, worse case scenerio is you end up hugging the toilet for a few hours.

On the other hand, if you’re searching for something as important as a doctor or a dentist, you might want to think twice before trusting Joe Schmo’s review. Call me crazy, but when it comes to choosing a health professional who will be injecting my mouth with lidocaine and drilling for oil, I want to know more about the business than whether the receptionist was friendly.

That’s where DoctorBase comes in. Doctorbase is different than your typical social media network site. For one, each review posted on DB is verified. DB makes sure that only reviews with useful and pertinent information are posted. Secondly, when searching for a dentist you can also filter the results by procedure or insurance company. Third, DB posts "reviews across the web" for each dentist, which is a summary of all reviews that could be found for that particular dentist. All in all, DB makes sure that the reviews posted answer some pertinent questions that will help you decide on the right dentist for you.

So, what type of information should you be looking for when searching for a dentist? For starters:

• What sort of technology is the office using? Did you know that on average it can take a dental office more than 10 years to adopt a new technology? While one dental office may be using state of the art equipment, another office is using the same equipment as when they opened in 1984; technology that was bigger, louder and way less efficient. What does this mean for you? It could mean that while your best buddy who is having the same procedure as you is only making one visit to the dreaded D, you will be making three. Three times the cash and three times the pain. It seems sort of worth it to ask about the technology, doesn’t it?
• How many times has the dentist performed the specific procedure he claims to be specialized in. I’m quite certain this information wasn’t disclosed in the "he was so friendly and his office was adorable" review.
  

Positive reviews aren’t the only ones that should be ashamed of themselves. Negative reviews can be just as inadequate. A common reason for a ‘one star’ review is that someone was "upsold on an unneccessary procedure". The fact is, in the majority of cases, this is simply untrue. Insurance guidelines dictate that dentists justify all submitted charges via a photograph. Basically, dentists have to plead their case to the almighty insurance Gods and hope they are granted their wish of reimbursement. Keep in mind, as evil as it sounds, insurance companies reserve the right to say "yay" or "nay" to covering any procedure they wish. Fair, isn’t it? The problem is, your average reviewer doesn’t know this and you can find a number of dental forums where this is a major complaint.

So what have we learned? A typical dental review on a social media site leaves out crucial information needed to determine whether a dentist is favorable or not. Remember, don’t be fooled by the rave reviews of dentists being friendly and funny and having offices that smell like freshly picked roses. Go deep and go for the good stuff. Your mouth will thank you for it.