Financing and flexible payment options
Paying for dental care can cause as much anxiety as the dentistry itself. We promise to be straightforward and demystify the process. Dental care is a critical component of your overall wellness, and you should never have to sacrifice your health for lack of dental financing. If budgetary concerns are keeping you from visiting a dentist, we offer several solutions that enable you to get the excellent dental care you need, when you need it.
Interest-free dental procedure financing
Our dental office participates with CareCredit Healthcare Financing, a service that provides personal lines of credit to cover your dental treatments. If approved for no-interest financing, you to receive the dental care you need now and then pay for it at low monthly payments, with no interest added for 6 to 24 months, depending on your credit score.
If you’re interested in obtaining dentistry financing, we can help you fill out the application forms at your first appointment, or you can apply online today and know you’re covered before you visit our office.
Working together as equals
We’ve set up our dental practice to offer the services you want and need without requiring unnecessary strain by putting your interest before ours. Thanks to our meticulous training, state- of-the-art equipment, and careful diagnoses, and laboratory expertise, we’re able to plan each patient’s treatment to prevent excessive procedures and expenses.
That means you’ll spend less time in the dentist’s chair and save money as we approach your treatment in carefully structured stages. You’ll get the beautiful smile you want in a shorter amount of time, and done right the first time.
Care chosen by you on your terms
Best of all, our fee-based services allow you to get the exact, specific treatment that is best for your mouth—without relying on insurance providers to determine the care you need. If you need cosmetic dentistry services but are concerned about the cost, please contact us today to learn more or schedule an initial consultation with Dr. Dag Zapatero. Our dental practice serves the Tidewater region of Virginia, North Carolina, and surrounding communities. We accept all major credit cards, including Discover Card, Master Card, and Visa.
Dental Insurance
Considering Dental Insurance? It May Not Be Worth It, according to Rachel Podnos, JD, CFP, a fee-only financial planner with Wealth Care LLC.
1. It’s not a good deal if you don’t use it.
The majority of people who pay premiums for dental insurance far underutilize it. The average person doesn’t require regular dental services beyond two cleanings per year, and the national average cost for a cleaning alone is around $90. Dental policy premiums can range from $150 to $600 per year, with an average of approximately $360. If you go to the dentist only twice a year for cleanings, you will likely save money by simply paying for the cleanings out of pocket.
You might wonder, isn’t this just like health insurance, in which I’m also paying premiums but seeing a doctor only for annual checkups? Well, with health insurance and auto insurance and homeowners insurance, you are paying premiums to insure yourself against the high cost of catastrophe. If catastrophe strikes and you do incur significant medical bills, you pay only your deductible and a small fraction of the expenses above that amount; your insurance pays the rest. But that’s not how dental insurance works — which leads us to the second reason dental insurance may not be worth it:
2. It may only be a marginally good deal if you do use it.
With dental insurance, you pay a yearly premium — say, $360 — which gets you a maximum dollar amount of coverage of $1000 to $2,000 per coverage year.
You may have a deductible to pay before coverage kicks in. After you’ve met it, your insurance pays a percentage of your dental costs; you pay the remainder, called coinsurance. The coverage stops entirely when the insurance company’s payout reaches that maximum benefit amount. Beyond that, you’ll pay 100% of your costs out of pocket. And the two annual cleanings often “included” in a plan count toward your max.
In addition to your benefit is limited to a maximum of about $1,000 to $2,000, you’ll be trading away the potential to pick your dentist of choice (and location) and perhaps negotiating a price, all for the benefit of saving a few hundred dollars. Even for routine dental issues, many of the best dental practices don’t accept insurance at all. By signing up for this coverage, you may be limiting your care to dentists you won’t like.
Considering all this, while it is possible that having dental insurance could save you money, it is also totally possible that you would be better off paying for your care out of pocket. Take a good look at the benefits of dental insurance policies and do some rough math to decide whether it will likely be a good deal for you, rather than just assuming it is a good idea because it is insurance.
As a courtesy to our patients, we will electronically file your insurance and help you maximize your benefits. Although we can not guarantee what procedures your insurance company will decide to cover, we will be your advocate and submit all supporting documentation in a timely manner. Jennifer has a very reliable track record and can answer your insurance questions and concerns