OFFICE POLICIES

OFFICE PHILOSOPHY

In this rapidly changing landscape of medical and dental health care, Dr. Brooks and Dr. Chandak have made a commitment to keep the primary emphasis on the individual child. High volume, impersonal interactions are not professionally rewarding to us. As a result, our schedule is designed to allow parental communication and patient interaction to provide a positive dental experience. For over fifteen years, we have found our approach to be very successful and rewarding, and appreciated by our community. We believe that you will appreciate the benefits and rewards of our approach.

“I feel very blessed to be a pediatric dentist. I have a lot of gratitude to many professors and mentors over the years who have helped me develop a wonderful career. Every day is exciting for me because I get to interact with children and meet special families. It is extremely rewarding to build trusting relationships and accommodate the different needs of each child in an effort to make the dental experience positive. We have a very unique opportunity and responsibility to make a positive influence in people’s lives. Our community has been very supportive of our efforts and I am extremely grateful for that support.“ – Dr. Brooks

“As a mother of three girls with very different personalities. I understand that every child needs to be treated as an individual. Having kids has also helped me understand when a parent tells me that their one-year-old “doesn’t let me brush their teeth.” Having been through experiences with my own children as far as trauma, finger habits, a pacifier habit, anxiety, loose and ectopic teeth, I am better prepared to treat your child as if they were my own. I can give you honest advice on how I would handle situations if it ‘were my child’.” – Dr. Chandak

OFFICE VISIT GUIDELINES

Parents are encouraged to accompany their children during their dental visits. Our office philosophy is built on trust and communication and we believe that an actively involved parent is very important in our effort to provide excellent dental care.
For patient privacy, we kindly ask that you refrain from cell phone use in our clinical area.
For everyone’s safety, we kindly ask that strollers remain in the waiting room if possible. We will always accommodate unique needs and requirements.
To uphold our stringent standards of infection control, neither food nor drink is allowed in the treatment area. Contamination of these products is possible.

APPOINTMENT POLICY

We are aware of school policies that make it difficult to be out of school. Medical and dental appointments are excused absences, and we will gladly provide a signed doctor’s note for missing school.

We know your schedules are busy and hectic. We will make every effort to accommodate your scheduling needs; however, we have guidelines to help our schedule run efficiently for the benefit of all parents and patients.

A parent or legal guardian must accompany any child under the age of eighteen to all appointments.
For your safety and the safety of our patients and our staff we respectfully request that no food, drinks, strollers, or cell phones be in any treatment areas.
We recommend and encourage that children six years old and younger be scheduled before noon. Children are more prepared and rested and do better in the morning for these types of procedures.
Appointments requiring dental treatment such as, fillings and extractions for children are recommended during morning hours.
For consideration of all of our patients, if you are late by 15 minutes or more, we may require rescheduling of your appointment. Please call if you are going to be late. We will always do our best to accommodate you into our schedule but if we are unable to do so we will consider it a broken appointment.

We reserve the right to charge a $42.00 missed appointment fee for broken appointments. Broken appointments affect many people. If two or more broken/missed appointments occur or two cancellations occur without 24-hour notice, our office reserves the right to not schedule any subsequent appointments.

PAYMENT POLICY

As a service to our patients, we will submit your insurance claim to your primary insurance company. Our office will provide your insurance company with all the information necessary to help you receive your maximum benefit. However, it is your responsibility to know your insurance coverage and the benefit limits of your particular policy.

There is not any direct relationship between our office and your insurance company. Your insurance benefits are determined by the type of plan chosen by you and/or your employer. As a result, we have no control over the terms of your insurance, the methods of reimbursement, or the determination of your insurance benefits. We will file your insurance, accept the assignment of benefits, and help estimate what your insurance will pay. You will be responsible for any portion of services NOT covered by your dental insurance at the time services are rendered. These fees include deductibles, co‐pay, or certain procedures not covered by your insurance company.

We must emphasize that as a health care provider our relationship is with you and not your dental insurance company. Your dental insurance is a contract between your employer and the insurance company. Most plans routinely pay between 50‐ 75% of the average total fee for a covered procedure. This percentage is determined by how much your employer has paid for coverage.

Some insurance carriers will not allow for reimbursement directly to our office. In such instances, you will be responsible for the entire cost of each visit at the time services are rendered, and the insurance company will send the reimbursement check directly to you. We will electronically file the claim for you to expedite your reimbursement.

Please be aware that the parent bringing the child to our office is legally responsible for the payment of all charges.
We accept cash, personal check, MasterCard, VISA, American Express, and Discover.
If you have any questions or special circumstances please inform our administrative staff so that we can help you.

INSURANCE FACTS

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.