Dr. Vanstrom recently sat down and reviewed his fee schedule at Artistic Dentistry of Atlanta. He took random samplings of patient insurance coverage for a variety of our most common procedures that we perform while caring for the overall health of our patients. He reviewed indemnity insured patients as well and those with PPO insurance plans.
The Periodic Exam:
In our blog, “Dental Prophy vs Deep Cleaning” we discuss the different types of teeth cleanings required for the various stages of the overall health of your teeth and gums.
As part of your routine and advanced dental teeth cleaning care at Artistic Dentistry we complete a comprehensive oral examination and oral cancer examination a minimum of two times per year.
Cavities, gum recession, gum disease, bone loss, tooth loss and oral cancer can be detected early and well controlled and treated with routine periodic dental exams. At Artistic Dentistry of Atlanta we want to give every patient the opportunity to keep their teeth and gums healthy for a lifetime. Our dental examination plays a big part in making that happen for all of our patients.
Our current fee for a periodic examination is $60.00. That fee is not simply selected by throwing darts at a board. Dr. Vanstrom spends hours reviewing national averages and fee schedules from several reputable sources. He also lectures to other dental offices all across the country. When he lectures, he reviews fees with his clients in order to further confirm the fairness of all of the dental fees at Artistic Dentistry of Atlanta.
Finally, he reviews insurance estimates of benefits (EOBs). Recently he reviewed the amounts paid by a variety of dental insurance companies for our patients who had a periodic exam. Out of 40 patients, he found that $52.00 was the average amount paid by the dental insurance companies for our health examination.
If we look closer at the fee we see that the mean for our fees is actually closer to $56.00. That is because there were a few patients who comparatively had very poor insurance coverage for an exam. The low insurance coverages were as low as $22.00 and $29.00. The high insurance coverage amounts were $63.00, which was 100% full coverage of our 2014 old fees.
Remember, our current fee is $60.00. We actually just rolled back fees to our 2013 prices as a benefit to our patients. The vast majority of our patients in our insurance coverage review had nearly 100% coverage for the periodic examination at our current fee of $60.00.
We here at Artistic Dentistry of Atlanta appreciate greatly our patients who entrust us with their dental health. Dr. Vanstrom hopes that our patients appreciate in turn our efforts to continually be fair with our dental fees for all of our patients, insured and uninsured alike.
