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.

Welcome Back, Jasmine!

You may notice a familiar face on your next visit to our office. We were pleased to welcome Jasmine back to our team when she returned to Seattle and hope you'll take the opportunity to drop in and say hi!