Patient Info

 

Appointments

The office attempts to schedule appointments at your convenience and when time is available. Preschool children should be seen in the morning because they are fresher and we can work more slowly with them for their comfort.

School children with a lot of work to be done should be seen in the morning for the same reason. Dental appointments are an excused absence. Missing school can be kept to a minimum when regular dental care is continued.

Since appointed times are reserved exclusively for each patient we ask that you please notify our office 48 hours in advance of your scheduled appointment time if you are unable to keep your appointment. Another patient, who needs our care, could be scheduled if we have sufficient time to notify them. We realize that unexpected things can happen, but we ask for your assistance in this regard.

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Do I Stay with My Child During the Visit?

We know that most children are more comfortable when a parent is with them. Therefore, we invite you to stay with your child during any examination or restorative appointment.  We also want you to feel comfortable allowing your child to accompany our team through the dental experience if and when they are ready to do so independently.

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Patient Forms

If you are a new patient to our office, please visit our Patient Forms page to download our new patient bundle with forms that will need to be filled out when you arrive at our office. Printing them, filling them out and bringing them with you will allow us to attend to your medical needs more quickly than completing them on your arrival.  Thank you and please contact our office if you have any questions at all.

What about Finances?

Payment for professional services is due at the time dental treatment is provided. Every effort will be made to provide a treatment plan which fits your timetable and budget, and gives you the best possible care. We accept cash, personal checks, debit cards, MasterCard, Visa and Care Credit.

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Visa MasterCard

 
   For more information about Care Credit please visit www.carecredit.com  They offer 6-12 month interest free options. 

Our Office Policy Regarding Dental Insurance

If we have received all of your insurance information on the day of the appointment, we will be happy to file your claim for you. You must be familiar with your insurance benefits, as we will collect from you the estimated amount insurance is not expected to pay. 

PLEASE UNDERSTAND that we file dental insurance as a courtesy to our patients. We do not have a contract with your insurance company, only you do. We are not responsible for how your insurance company handles its claims or for what benefits they pay on a claim. We can only assist you in estimating your portion of the cost of treatment. We at no time guarantee what your insurance will or will not do with each claim. We also can not be responsible for any errors in filing your insurance. Once again, we file claims as a courtesy to you.

Fact 1 - NO INSURANCE PAYS 100% OF ALL PROCEDURES Dental insurance is meant to be an aid in receiving dental care. Many patients think that their insurance pays 90%-100% of all dental fees. This is not true! Most plans only pay between 50%-80% of the average total fee.
Some pay more, some pay less. The percentage paid is usually determined by how much you or your employer has paid for coverage, or the type of contract your employer has set up with the insurance company.

Fact 2 - BENEFITS ARE NOT DETERMINED BY OUR OFFICE You may have noticed that sometimes your dental insurer reimburses you or the dentist at a lower rate than the dentist's actual fee. Frequently, insurance companies state that the reimbursement was reduced because your dentist's fee has exceeded the usual, customary, or reasonable fee ("UCR") used by the company.

A statement such as this gives the impression that any fee greater than the amount paid by the insurance company is unreasonable, or well above what most dentists in the area charge for a certain service. This can be very misleading and simply is not accurate.

Insurance companies set their own schedules, and each company uses a different set of fees they consider allowable. These allowable fees may vary widely, because each company collects fee information from claims it processes. The insurance company then takes this data and arbitrarily chooses a level they call the "allowable" UCR Fee. Frequently, this data can be three to five years old and these "allowable" fees are set by the insurance company so they can make a net 20%-30% profit.

Unfortunately, insurance companies imply that your dentist is "overcharging", rather than say that they are "underpaying", or that their benefits are low. In general, the less expensive insurance policy will use a lower usual, customary, or reasonable (UCR) figure.

Fact 3 - DEDUCTIBLES & CO-PAYMENTS MUST BE CONSIDERED When estimating dental benefits, deductibles and percentages must be considered. To illustrate, assume the fee for service is $150.00. Assuming that the insurance company allows $150.00 as its usual and customary (UCR) fee, we can figure out what benefits will be paid. First a deductible (paid by you), on average $50, is subtracted, leaving $100.00. The plan then pays 80% for this particular procedure. The insurance company will then pay 80% of $100.00, or $80.00. Out of a $150.00 fee they will pay an estimated
$80.00 leaving a remaining portion of $70.00 (to be paid by the patient). Of course, if the UCR is less than $150.00 or your plan pays only at 50% then the insurance benefits will also be significantly less.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, please keep us informed of any insurance changes such as policy name, insurance company address, or a change of employment.

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Educational Dental Videos

Because we are committed to improving the oral healthcare knowledge of our patients, we are providing the following selection of dental videos which we hope you will find interesting and informative.  We have grouped the videos into various categories to provide quick access to the topics of greatest interest to you.

Click Here to watch our series of educational dental videos!

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Frequently Asked Questions

Click Here to view some of the most frequently asked questions patients have about dentistry and oral health issues.

Interesting Dental Websites

In addition to our own website, there are other sites on the Web that provide interesting and helpful dental information.  Because we are committed to improving the oral healthcare knowledge of our patients, we provide a selection of links to other sites you might find interesting and informative. To view these visit our Links Page or Click Here

Contact Us. We encourage you to contact us with any comments you may have. Also if you are an existing patient, feel free to leave us a review. We will be posting our reviews on our testimonial page soon. ~ Thank you

Contact Us

We encourage you to contact us with any comments you may have. Also if you are an existing patient, feel free to leave us a review. We will be posting our reviews on our testimonial page soon. ~ Thank you