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What you
need to know about your Dental Insurance!
Dental insurance
is a contract between your employer and a dental insurance company.
The benefits that you will receive are based on the terms of the
contract that were negotiated between your employer and the dental
insurance company and not your dental office.The goal of most dental
insurance policies is to provide only basic care for specific dental
services. The services selected are based an the cost of the policy
to your employer and the negotiated arrangements with the dental
insurance company. Because
the benefits you currently have are decided between your employer
and the insurance company, many services are not covered. The
selection of non-covered services is not based on what you need or
want, but is based strictly on the contract with the insurance
company. Unfortunately, some
of the services that you may need or want will not be covered by
your dental insurer. Our goal is to help you achieve and maintain
optimal dental care, which is not necessarily the goal of your
dental insurance company. The goal of the insurance company is to
provide only the negotiated benefits for the specifically selected
services. The reimbursement
mechanism from your dental insurance company is merely a
mathematical formula as to which benefits you will receive and the
percentage of the dentist's office fee that will be paid. Another
fact that most dental guests do not realize is that each dental
insurance plan has a dollar amount limitation each year. Once this
limit is reached, no other services will be covered by your dental
insurance company regardless how essential the service may be to
your dental health. Our
office will do everything possible to help you understand and make
the most of your dental insurance benefits. We realize that dental
insurance is complex and that it is extremely difficult to
understand how to make it work or even to work with certain dental
insurance companies. That is why we provide full assistance to
you. Our office will
complete and submit dental insurance forms to the company to achieve
the maximum reimbursement to which you are entitled and will work
diligently to make this happen as quickly as
possible. Please be aware
that some dental insurance companies take longer than others to
complete payment. If necessary, our office will contact the dental
insurance company, or we may request your help in this matter.
Many insurance companies
try to control the amount of dentistry you receive by requiring
authorization for procedures in advance. Our office will do
everything possible to help you maximize the insurance benefits to
which you are entitled. In
most cases, we can begin treatment prior to receiving an
authorization from the dental insurance company. However, guests
need to understand that in the event the dental insurance company
refuses to pay for treatment, you are responsible for all fees.
Naturally, we always provide you with the full fees in advance so
that you know the exact cost of
treatment. Like you, we
recognize that the authorization process is often time consuming and
unnecessary. Some services
are typically not covered by dental insurance companies.These
include: cosmetic dentistry, implants, occlusion or bite redesign,
and other services. Although these are important dental services
that can greatly enhance the quality of life of our guests, dental
insurance companies do not feel that they should have to pay for
these services. That is why these services are rarely included in
contracts with your
employer. Any time you have
a question about your dental insurance, please feel free to ask us.
We recognize that dental insurance is becoming more complex and more
difficult to understand everyday. This is often due to the quest by
dental insurance companies to reduce costs through continual
changes. Keep in mind that the dental insurance companies are not
concerned about coverage for optimal dental care, but provide
coverage for only a limited number of basic
services. Our office remains
dedicated to providing optimal care for every guest and working with
you to achieve that goal. We pride ourselves on helping you in any
way and in continuing to provide the quality of care to which you
have become accustomed.
Please let us know if you have any questions, it will be our
pleasure to help you. |