diff --git a/chatterbot/storage/sql_storage.py b/chatterbot/storage/sql_storage.py
index 5db3ab441..0d3cd8b1a 100644
--- a/chatterbot/storage/sql_storage.py
+++ b/chatterbot/storage/sql_storage.py
@@ -100,9 +100,7 @@ def __init__(self, **kwargs):
             "read_only", False
         )
 
-        create = self.kwargs.get("create", False)
-
-        if not self.read_only and create:
+        if not self.engine.dialect.has_table(self.engine, 'StatementTable'):
             self.create()
 
         self.Session = sessionmaker(bind=self.engine, expire_on_commit=True)