Office Hours   /   Appointments   /   Financial Guidelines
Facts About Insurance

Office Hours

Appointments in our practice are important to both of our doctors, their team members, and the families making those reservations. Morning appointments are specifically arranged for pre-schoolers and those children with special needs. Our devoted pediatric team and Dr. Casey realize that younger children tire more easily in the afternoons, therefore they have adjusted their schedules to assure moms and young patients that these needs are met on each and every appointment.

We make every attempt to see our patients on time throughout the day. On occasion, an emergency may arise that keeps us from doing this. Rest assured, we respect each patient’s and their parents’ time, and therefore hope that you family will also respect ours. You can do this by showing up a few minutes early or on time for all appointments, which helps us with our on-time record. Our comfortable reception room lends comfort to parents who need a quiet moment or two and children who enjoy the area designed specifically for them. Waiting has never been a problem, but in most cases is a reprieve from the hectic outside world.

Broken and changed appointments are a loss to three people: the patient who missed the valuable time, the patient who could have used the reserved time, and the doctor who was fully staffed and prepared for the visit. We realize that occasionally situations may arise causing an appointment disappointment, but giving the office a 48 hour notification of the need to change an appointment allows our team sufficient time to schedule another patient should a change be necessary.

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Financial Guidelines

All professional service fees are due at the time of service. For our patients’ conveniences, in addition to our cash or check services, we are happy to offer Visa, MasterCard, or Discover as other methods of making payment at the time of the service. We are also happy to let our patients know that we work with a Financial Partner, CARE CREDIT. This allows patients to have up to 6 months non-interest payments on extended treatment plans on approval. Patients can now enjoy a healthy and attractive smile while making smaller monthly payments over an extended period of time. Care Credit makes quality dentistry now affordable for all family budgets. Our goal is to help patients keep their natural teeth for a lifetime of comfort, health, function, and esthetics.

Fees and Financial Options will always be discussed with patients and parents of patients before treatment begins. As a courtesy to patients with dental benefit plans, we are happy to electronically file your claim form on the day services are rendered if your plan allows out of network benefits. Your benefits will go directly to you. We are providers of ALL dental care but do NOT participate with dental plans that require us to lower our fees or to alter the level of services rendered. We explain alternative, cheaper treatments, but have made a commitment to our profession of dentistry and to our patients to deliver only the level of care that we feel is in our patients’ best interest, and not what may or may not be covered on the employee benefit plan their employer chose for them. Insurance companies are in business to save money by offering a lower service fee. We are in business to save your family’s natural teeth for a lifetime. We are proud of our stand on this issue.

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Facts About Insurance

Dental Insurance is meant to be a partial reimbursement for basic care (basic preventive and basic restorative). Most adults and many children need more than basic dentistry. Fees are often determined by the plan chosen by the employer or the employee. And something IMPORTANT the average dental patient doesn’t know: thirty years ago the maximum allowable benefit per year per patient was $1000. In 1975, dental crowns were approximately $200-$300. Due to rising costs of dental laboratories, dental materials and technology some thirty years later, crowns are more than three times that fee in most areas. The bad news is the maximum allowable insurance benefit per year per person on most plans is still $1000. If you are not happy with your plan, talk to your employer’s Human Resources Director.

Benefits are not determined by a dental practice. You will notice that oftentimes your fees are reimbursed at a lower rate than the dental practice’s fee. Insurance companies set their own fees based on zip codes, fees sent in by offices over the past twenty years (some dental practice forgetting to update their fees to the insurance companies when they had a fee increase), and something called the UNC (usual, normal, and customary). A less expensive benefit plan has a lower UNC than a more expensive plan often used by executives in the same company.

We are happy that our patients who have a benefit plan have part of their basic dental care covered and we are happy to file your claim forms as a courtesy to those patients. If, however, there is a problem with delayed payments for settlement, please keep our office staff informed of any changes in your benefit company for our database in filing the claims.

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