The Importance Of Your Initial Consultations
Making the commitment to start your Orthodontic treatment is a big decision. We completely understand and don’t think it’s something you should rush into. Here are some things to consider, and questions to ask your treatment coordinators and doctors during the consultation.
Finding The Right Orthodontist
Do your research on your orthodontist:
- Yelp them! Look on Yelp since this is where happy and unhappy patients go to bring awareness about anything they love or don’t love.
- Check if your orthodontists are Board Certified! Only 1 out of every 3 orthodontists is Board certified. It means they went through additional testing and extensive certification to demonstrate the judgment, skills and knowledge required for providing the highest level of patient care
- Look at the educational background and where they did their training.
- Look up their website and any other social media outlets for their practice.
- When going to the practice pay attention to how they interact with their patients.
- Ask around, ask your friends and family who they recommend and where they went? How was their experience?
Insurance
Do you have insurance benefits? Most offices will be more than happy to check your insurance coverage for you. Typically, a PPO insurance will cover anywhere from $500-$2000 of the cost if you have Orthodontics coverage.
Financial Options
Orthodontics treatment isn’t cheap but it is an investment in your smile for the rest of your life! You want this to be as convenient as possible. Look at what types of financial options are available.
- Care Credit– Health care credit card you apply for and you can use it for anything medical/dental-related. The office selects how many months interest free 12 or 18 months and you may put the full balance on the card or a selected amount. This also allows you to avoid a down payment.
- Interest-free In-house monthly payments – Most Orthodontics offices have some type of payment plan for the duration of treatment where you can make monthly payments interest free. Typically, it is handled through Orthobanc or gets automatically drafted from your checking account.
- FSA/HSA Reimbursement or monthly payments- You can use these for your Orthodontics treatment! Everyone’s FSA plan works a little differently but find out if you can use it for your monthly payments. Ask for an itemized receipt to be reimbursed if paying with a different method.
- Paid in full discount- Are you planning on paying in full? Find out if there is a paid in full discount for paying with cash/check/card.
Office visits
You will be committing to going to this office once every 4-8 weeks for the duration of your treatment, so make sure your schedule works with the office. Things to think about when scheduling consultations and during your visit:
- What days and times are they available?
- How long are your future appointments
- How punctual is the office?
- What happens if you need to reschedule? Will they be able to fit you in the same week or following week?
- How is the front office? Were they accommodating and friendly when you scheduled your consultation?
Life happens! The last thing you want is to have to cancel an appointment and not be able to get in until 4 weeks out! Make sure you know the flexibility of the office on rescheduling you. Pay attention to who you’re speaking with on the phone and who is at the front office … they will either make your life difficult or super easy when it comes to appointments! Ask yourself is this someone you will want to deal with during your orthodontic experience.
