Questions
The ones we are actually asked, answered properly.
If your question is not here, call. We would rather spend five minutes on the phone than have you guess from a website.
Group 01
Fees, insurance and the membership plan
We are fee-for-service and are not contracted with any insurance network. If you have a PPO plan you can still claim: we give you a coded itemised receipt after every visit and you submit it for out-of-network reimbursement, which typically pays a percentage of the plan’s allowed fee. We cannot tell you what your plan will reimburse, because that is a contract between you and your insurer.
Network contracts set the fee, and to a large extent they set the time. A veneer case with a design phase and a trial smile does not fit inside a reimbursement schedule built around volume. Being out of network is what lets us schedule two hours for an appointment that a contracted practice would schedule for forty minutes.
It is not insurance. There is no annual maximum, no waiting period, no deductible, no claim form and no third party deciding what is covered. It is a direct agreement with this practice: a fixed annual fee covers your preventive care and gives you a discount on everything else. It also does not pay for treatment elsewhere, which insurance does.
Usual, Customary and Reasonable is the fee level an insurer decides is normal for your ZIP code. Reimbursement is calculated against that number, not against what your dentist charges. Two practices with identical fees can produce different out-of-pocket costs depending on how a plan sets its UCR, which is one of the reasons we quote our fees directly instead of estimating your reimbursement.
Yes. We offer interest-free in-house staging on plans over $2,500 across the treatment period, and we work with third-party healthcare lenders for longer terms. Rates and approval are set by the lender, not by us.
Group 02
Treatment
We will not tell you any procedure is painless. Local anaesthetic makes most restorative and surgical treatment comfortable at the time; afterwards, some procedures are sore for a few days and we will tell you which, for how long, and what to take. If you are anxious, say so at booking — it changes how we schedule you, not just what we offer.
Ninety minutes. That covers a full examination, a periodontal chart, photographs, any radiographs indicated, and a conversation about what you actually want. You leave with a written plan rather than a verbal estimate.
We hold slots each weekday for existing patients in pain and see them the same day wherever possible. For new patients we will find the earliest appointment available and, if we cannot help quickly enough, we will tell you who can.
Nitrous oxide is available at any appointment. Oral sedation requires a medical review, an escort and a clear day afterwards. IV sedation is referred to a dentist anaesthetist. Candidacy depends on your medical history, medications and airway, and is assessed individually — it is never confirmed over the phone.
We can tell you what the published follow-up literature reports for a given restoration and what we see in our own recall data, and we will. We will not give you a guarantee, and we will not call anything permanent. What we do commit to is a written maintenance schedule and honest advice about what shortens the life of any restoration.
Group 03
The practice
Kierland Boulevard, Scottsdale, with covered garage parking on level two of the building and validated for the length of your appointment. The lift opens onto our floor.
We see family members of existing patients from around age seven for examinations and preventive care. Younger children, and anything requiring behavioural management or general anaesthetic, we refer to a paediatric specialist.
Yes. Sign a release at your first visit and we will request your radiographs and notes. Recent radiographs mean fewer new ones.
Scottsdale water is hard, and the mineral content contributes to visible surface staining and to calculus that shows up sooner. It does not cause gum disease — plaque bacteria do — but it is why many patients here get a bigger visible improvement from a hygiene visit than from a whitening kit.
Still not answered?
Call the practice on (480) 555-0142, or email [email protected]. Nobody will put you through a script.