October Newsletter- Invisalign Discounts, New financing Options, and More

	In This Issue Imagining Your Life with Invisalign: FAQ Invisalign Discount Day November 13 NEW!! New Financing Options Available Get The Benefits You’re Entitled To Kathleen M., winner of the Mariners Gift Basket The Truth About George Washington's Dentures Invisalign Discount Day November 13 If you have been considering Invisalign (invisible braces), make an appointment for a free private consultation on our special Invisalign day, November 13. We'll take impressions, answer all your questions, and work together to decide on the best fit for you. If you decide to move forward with treatment, we will match all down payments made that day - up to $400 off for each patient. If you've been thinking about straightening your teeth and are interested in the convenience of clear, removable braces, take advantage of this special event. We also offer a variety of flexible payment options for your convenience. NEW!! New Financing Options Available We are pleased to offer a variety of low and no interest financing options for your dental care. We will continue to offer a 5% discount for payment in full on the day of treatment, but are also now offering monthly payment options as well. We understand that sometimes payment up front can be difficult, and we hope that this will provide a way for our patients to continue to maintain their oral health in a way that fits into each budget. Feel free to call Val with any questions. Get The Benefits You’re Entitled To Have you ever tucked $1,500 into your sock drawer and forgotten about it? People frequently miss out on flex spending dollars and insurance benefits when they expire unused. Never again – we’ve got you covered with an automatic tracking system! Learn more; Kathleen M., winner of the Mariners Gift Basket Congratulations to Kathleen, who won the drawing for a gift basket including 2 box seat game tickets and a $50 gift card to the team store. Thanks to all who participated, and stay tuned for our next giveaway! The Truth About George Washington's Dentures We're sorry to have to break the news, but George's dentures weren't actually made of wood, as the stories would have you believe. Take a look at the old-fashioned dentures, find out what they were made of, and learn how you can avoid dentures for yourself. Don't take any wooden nickels;		Imagining Your Life with Invisalign: FAQ Thinking about joining the quarter of a million people who have chosen Invisalign to straighten their teeth, but not sure how treatment will affect your daily life? Look into it; Quick Links Visit our web site; Read our CitySearch Reviews; Read our Yelp Reviews; Affiliations ADA

Refer your Friends and Win an Instant Zoom Whitening worth $600!

We are working on building our practice and could use your help! We will award a free in-office instant teeth-whitening ($600 value) to the person who sends the most new patients our way in the month of May. If you are happy with your experience in our office and would like to recommend us to your friends, you can log in to your patient account on our website and use the convenient “refer a friend” tab. As always, your friend will receive free whitening for life (custom trays and a continuous supply of refills) and you will receive a $50 credit to your account when your friend becomes a patient. In addition, the top referrer will win the instant Zoom Whitening!

New Website Feature

We are excited about the new "Patient Login" tab we have added to our website. Each patient will now be able to register online and can log in to check scheduled appointments, look at your billing information and payment history, insurance information, etc. You can also sign up to receive appointment reminders via text message, and will now be able to confirm appointments by clicking a button in an email rather than by telephone if you wish. We hope that this feature will make your interactions with our office more convenient for you. We will also be able to send occasional email notices of special promotions you may be interested in. We recognize that scheduling appointments and handling bills takes up time and can often be inconvenient. Our hope is that this new option will address those needs in a way that will fit more easily into your busy lives. Please feel free to provide feedback after you have tried this new feature. We are always looking for ways to improve our service, and your opinion is valuable to us! To check it out, visit our website at www.theronbaker.com .

Welcome to the World, Baby!

We are delighted to announce that Shawna's baby has arrived! She will be on maternity leave for the next little while to spend some time with little Chloe. Congratulations, Shawna!

Another Reason to Smile

The winter months and the holidays are difficult for the poor and the homeless, and this year the lines at the food banks are expected to be longer than usual. To help those who are suffering in our own community, we are donating half the profits from all Zoom in-office whitening for the months of November, December, and January to Northwest Harvest, a local food bank.

Zoom Whitening is great for a busy schedule because it's done in one appointment and the results last for months. The holiday months are a great time for teeth whitening. Make your smile your best accessory for all your holiday parties, and give someone else a reason to smile at the same time. Call our office at (206)343-8774 today for more information or to make an appointment.

Dental Insurance Myths

An interesting article about dental insurance came to my attention in this month's issue of Dental Economics magazine. As a follow up to a reader's recent comment on another blog post about yearly benefit maximums, I thought I'd post the article here for your perusal.

MythBusters: dental insurance
October 30, 2008
by Mark Murphy, DDS

The TV show "MythBusters" typically tests a popular myth that has become urban legend or folklore. Sometimes they bust the myth, and other times they prove it true. They design experiments, manufacture props, and use all kinds of scientific applications to simulate the reality needed to confirm or deny the myth.
I want to be perfectly clear before taking on the dental insurance goose that laid a golden egg. I am not opposed to dental insurance as a concept or as it is applied. However, I will challenge its limitations, language, and the dependence upon it that compromises our ability to do our best. Access to care is of the utmost importance in our world today, and we should do all that we can to improve it. I am just not convinced that what we have is working as well as it could.

"Dental insurance ... it's not really insurance at all." Insurance is defined as a third party taking the risk of a catastrophic loss. My wallet does not have $1,200 in it, and that is the annual limit of most dental insurance reimbursement. While we can agree that there is nothing "catastrophic" about $1,200, CareCredit and other third-party financing companies could help us with those out-of-pocket costs. It is a lot of money, to be sure, but it lacks the catastrophe that insurance was designed to protect us against. If you lost your home to fire, totaled your car, or had major medical surgery that required hospitalization, that would be catastrophic.

"If other insurances worked like this, we would revolt." If you totaled your new car and the insurance adjuster offered a $1,200 to $1,500 total settlement, you would call the state insurance agency, the Better Business Bureau, and your lawyer to complain. We have expectations of coverage for catastrophic losses that would be severely unmet. However, that is exactly how most dental insurance works.

"Call it what it really is: a maintenance plan." If your car insurance only covered oil changes twice a year, annual tire rotation and wiper blades, and a tune-up every three years, it would be useful to have, but it is not insurance. Dental insurance helps us keep our mouths in good health, but if something bad should happen that required an expensive fix, we are out of luck.

"If dental insurance kept up with inflation, it would cover $7,500." Depending on whether you start with $1,200 or $1,500 and use 3% to 5% inflation rates, dental insurance should cover $5,000 to $9,000 by now. Can you imagine answering a patient's often-asked question, "Will my insurance cover that?" with, "It will cover the first $7,500 ... and then we can use another $7,500 next year"? Wow, that would improve treatment plan acceptance.

"Our reliance on this entitlement has compromised recommending necessary care for patients." Not everyone or every time, but more often than not, dental insurance clouds the treatment planning process and makes it more difficult for us to do our best for our patients. The easiest way to achieve the coveted million-dollar practice is to treatment plan one crown and two cleanings a year on 1,000 patients. It does not require developing strong health-care advocacy relationships or comprehensive examination and treatment planning. You don't even need good communication skills or education. You simply have to point at a broken-down tooth and answer "Yes" to the "Does my insurance cover this?" question. It is an easy sell.
On the other hand, not many of us set out on this journey with the vision that we could do "one tooth at a time" or "insurance dependent" dentistry and find real meaning and fulfillment. We want to do and be our best. Choosing comprehensive care takes time and commitment.
At Pankey, I learned the people and financial skills that could support developing the practice style that would allow me to do my best stuff for and with people I like. But the siren's song of dental insurance sounds oh so sweet and smooth. That road travels easier than the rest. It is the path of least resistance. When we invented this reimbursement method and left it unchanged for 40 years, we chose the least resistant path. Maybe it is time for some of us to take the path less traveled. It may make all the difference for us and for our patients.
Freedom of choice is our greatest individual power.

Murphy, Mark. “Mythbusters: dental insurance.” Dental Economics 98.10. 112.

Whoopi Goldberg on the Importance of Regular Dental Care.