Not sure about the treatment you’ve been told you need?

Getting a second opinion on dental work is normal. People do it for a crown, a root canal, an implant, or a treatment plan that felt bigger than they expected. It doesn’t offend us, and it shouldn’t offend anyone.

We’re Tsang Family Dentistry, on Marshall Road in Abbotsford. A family practice since 1983. Dr Daniel Tsang has practised here since 2009, the second generation after his father, Dr Gratio Tsang, who started it.

When a second opinion makes sense

Whenever the treatment you’ve been offered is big, expensive, hard to undo, or simply doesn’t sit right with you. A crown, a root canal, an extraction, an implant, or a plan with a lot of items on it. Asking isn’t a sign of distrust. It’s what a careful patient does.

What a second opinion visit involves

A second opinion here is a proper examination, not a quick look or a chat about someone else’s notes. We can’t give you an honest professional opinion without examining you and seeing current x-rays, so that’s what the visit is. If you have recent x-rays from the other office, bring them or have them sent. If they show what we need, we won’t take new ones.

Then we sit down with you and go through what we see. We’ll tell you whether we’d suggest the same treatment, something different, or waiting and watching. We’ll explain why, with the pictures in front of you.

Sometimes we agree with the plan you were given, and we’ll say so.

What to bring

• The written treatment plan from the other office, ideally with the procedure codes. Those codes tell us exactly what was proposed, not just “a crown”.
• Recent x-rays. You can ask the other office to send them, or we can request them with your permission. You don’t have to explain why.
• Any photos the other office took, and your insurance details if an estimate was sent to your plan.
• Your questions. Write them down. The good ones are usually: what happens if I wait, what are the alternatives, and what does each one cost.

What we won’t do

• We won’t run down another dentist. Reasonable dentists can disagree, and you deserve the reasoning, not a verdict on someone else.
• We won’t pressure you. You leave with the information and you make the decision in your own time.
• We won’t treat a second opinion as a sales visit. If you’d like to have any treatment here, that’s your choice to raise.

Questions people bring us

• Do I really need a crown? Sometimes yes, sometimes a filling or waiting is reasonable. It depends on how much tooth is left and where the crack or decay sits. We’ll show you.
• Do I really need a root canal? It depends on whether the nerve is dying or already dead, and the x-ray and a couple of simple tests usually tell us. We’ll explain what yours show.
• Do I need all of this at once? Often no. We’ll sort the plan into three groups: what needs doing now, what can be scheduled over the next few months, and what is worth watching. Most plans have something in each.

The fee

A second opinion visit is billed as a specific examination at the BC fee guide rate, the same examination any dentist would bill for looking at one problem properly. Most dental plans cover it. The front desk can check your plan and tell you the amount before you book. If new x-rays are needed, those are billed at the fee guide rate too, and we’ll tell you before we take them.

In BC most offices bill close to the provincial fee guide, so when two quotes are far apart it’s usually because the plans differ, not the price of the same work. We’ll show you where.

We’re enrolled in the Canadian Dental Care Plan, and we have team members who speak English, Punjabi, Hindi, Korean, Lao and Thai.

Book a second opinion

Call (604) 853-1388. During office hours a real person answers. Or send us a note below and we’ll phone you.