Basic Dental Insurance Information

If you are lucky enough to have dental insurance there are several things you should know. The average person though is not informed enough about the basics of their insurance.

There are several basic facts your need to know:

·        Your insurance plan is a contract between your employer (unless it is strictly a personal plan) and the insurance company

·        Dental insurance isn’t true insurance. It was invented 50 years ago to help insurance companies sell their other plans. Unlike renters/owner, auto, and health which pay out when you have a problem, dental insurance is preventive in nature

·        Most plans have not changed in the last 50 years and you still just get about a $1000.00 a year. Taking into account just basic inflation plans worth $1000.00 fifty years ago should be worth over $7500.00 today

Unless you work for an insurance company, you probably do not spend a lot of your time studying all the terminology that dental insurance companies use to describe the treatments and services they cover. If it seems pretty confusing, here are some of the most commonly used dental insurance terms and what they mean.

Basic Insurance Terms

Annual Maximum–The maximum amount your policy will pay per year for dental care.

Co-payment– An amount that you the patient pays at the time of service.

Covered Services– A list of all the treatments, services, and procedures the insurance policy will cover under your contract arranged between the insurance company and your employer

Deductible– A dollar amount that you must pay out of pocket each year before the insurance company will pay for any treatments or procedures

Limitations/Exclusions– A list of all the procedures a dental insurance policy does not cover

·         Coverage may limit the timing or frequency of a specific treatment or procedure (only covering a certain number within a calendar year), or may exclude some treatments entirely. Knowing the limitations and exclusions of a policy is very important.

Member/Insured/Covered Person/Beneficiary/Enrollee– Someone who is eligible to receive benefits under a dental insurance plan

Provider– Any oral health specialist who provides treatment

Waiting Period– A specified amount of time that the patient must be enrolled with an insurance plan before it will pay for certain treatments.

From Dr. Paul's Cookbook:

Slow Cooker Pepper Steak

INGREDIENTS:

3 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 2-inch strips

Garlic powder to taste

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cube beef bouillon

1/2 cup hot water

1-tablespoon cornstarch

3/4 cup chopped onion

2 large green, red or orange peppers, roughly chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes (optional)

8 ounces pea pods (optional)

5 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoon white sugar

5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1-teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sprinkle strips of sirloin with garlic powder to taste. In a large skillet over medium

Heat, heat the vegetable oil and brown the seasoned beef strips. Transfer to a slow

cooker.

2. Mix bouillon cube with hot water until dissolved, then mix in cornstarch until

dissolved. Pour into the slow cooker with meat. Stir in onion, green peppers, stewed

tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, and salt.

3. Cover, and cook on High for 3 to 4 hours or on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

Hey Doc, Just pull em all!

I’m sure we have all thought about doing this at one point or another. Skipping the hum drum of having to brush and floss daily?  NOT TRUE, not true at all!

Teeth should only be removed when they are not restorable. Sometimes someone needs to have a tooth removed as it is infected and financially they cannot afford restoring it with something like a root canal.  As teeth are removed, we lose bone in that area over time.  The bone is what helps keep a denture or partial denture in place. 

Instead of having to brush and floss your teeth, you will have to keep cleaning out the sticky/gooey unavoidable denture paste, as well as dealing with them falling out while you talk/eat or deal with food getting stuck under them.  The worst part of having denturesis that you don’t chew as well, taste your food as well or speak as well.

Even if we can just save one tooth in each quadrant in our mouth, you would be better off as a partial would have something to hang on to. Pulling that first tooth can create a domino effect. People think it wasn’t bad to have that one out and heck we can do it again. Pretty soon, it affects everything you do, smile, eat, and talk

Saving your teeth is always the best option, it truly is your smile then.

Learn more about your smile at LevineDental.com or at facebook.com/LevineDentalAssoc

Whitening for a Wish

“Whitening For A Wish” on May 8, 2013, to benefit the Make- A -Wish Foundation. “We would like to grant as many wishes as we can,” says Dr Levine. The office will be offering Zoom Whitening, Take home Whitening, and refills on take home whitening  materials  at a reduced cost, with 100% of the proceeds going to Make-A-Wish Wisconsin. Cash donations will also be accepted. The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants special wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions. In 2012, the Wisconsin chapter was able to grant over 300 magical wishes.

“With the summer wedding season kicking off, Dr Levine  said, our office felt this was a perfect time to offer our friends the opportunity to have a whiter smile for the summer and help the children.” The “Whitening For A Wish” fundraiser, is by appointment only and  will be held at Levine Dental Associates, 8860 N. 60^th St Milwaukee, WI. 53223 on August 17th, 2013.

Join us for this special event, Whitening for a Wish:

• Appointments are between 7am and pm on Saturday August 17th, 2013
• A donation of $450 for in-office Zoom whitening treatment
• A $200 donation for at-home whitening treatment kit
• 100% of our proceeds will benefit Make-A-Wish Wisconsin

Space is limited. Call our office at 414-355-0213 to reserve your spot!