FAQ.

An appointment is not needed, but it is best to call ahead of time, especially if you are coming from out-of-town. If you are wanting your denture back the same day, you will need to drop your it off in the morning before 9am.

Yes! We are always accepting new patients.

We allow for some child appointments. The child needs to be at least seven years old and cooperative in the dental chair.

Our doctors are general dentists. We do some oral surgery procedures, such as surgical extractions that may become more complicated than a simple extraction, but we are not oral surgeons.

We will gladly file your primary dental insurance at no extra charge. We are currently contracted with Delta Dental (PPO), Essex, Connection Dental, Guardian Dental Guard Preferred, MetLife and United Concordia. If you have insurance other than these, it does not mean we do not take your insurance. We will still file your primary insurance as long as it is not a discount plan, Medicare or Medicaid. Please remember that your estimated co-pay and deductible are due the day of service. Sorry for any inconvenience, but we do not file secondary insurance.

Often, after your dental insurance has paid or denied all claims for you and/or your family members, you will receive a statement for the balance on your account. We can only estimate what your insurance company will pay and we cannot guarantee they will pay all that we have estimated. All insurance companies have different policies and procedures and we cannot possibly know all of the details for each one. We will do our best to estimate your out-of-pocket cost on the day of your visit, but many times insurance companies do not end up paying all that we estimated for their share.

There are several common reasons for an insurance company not to pay all of what we estimated:

• Many insurance companies will only pay for silver (amalgam) fillings, so if you receive any white or tooth colored (composite) fillings on your teeth, they will make you pay the difference in cost between amalgam fillings and composite fillings.
• “Missing Tooth” clause: This means your insurance will not pay to replace teeth that were missing before you had that dental insurance. Dentures, partials and bridges are denied many times because of this. However, if you have had the previous denture, partial or bridge for more than five years, they will often pay to replace those. Sometimes we will need to resubmit the claim and explain that your previous appliance is more than five years old.
• Your deductible: Sometimes insurance companies apply your deductible to services that it usually does not apply to, such as x-rays.
• Your yearly maximum: Most insurance plans have a yearly maximum (typically around $1,000) that they will pay. This usually runs on a calendar year and will renew on January 1. Patients are responsible for any amount over their annual maximum.

Our Account Manager, Sheri, will be happy to answer any questions you have about your statement. She can print out a copy of your account and give you a breakdown of all charges and payments. This does take a few minutes to prepare, so sometimes we will ask that you leave a message and she will call you back as soon as possible.

Although we do not take in-house payments, we do have financing (with approved credit) from Care Credit. If you qualify, you can make payments to Care Credit directly, often interest-free. But, we do not offer in-house financing. We do accept all major credit/debit cards or personal check (no starter or comp checks please).
You can apply for Care Credit online at: www.carecredit.com

Sometimes if it is just the teeth or acrylic (the pink part) of the partial that is broken, we can repair it as we would a denture. But if the metal framework of your partial is broken, you will most likely need to see the doctor and we will have to send it to an outside lab for repair. The best thing to do if you have a broken partial is bring it to us in the morning before 9am and let us take a look at it to see what can be done. Impressions are sometimes needed to repair a partial and additional fees may apply.

You have two options when considering dentures:

1. You can get all of your teeth extracted and wait six to eight weeks for healing and then get your dentures. This way usually eliminates the need for a reline.
2. We can do what is called Immediate Dentures. Most patients go with this second option, as people generally don’t want to go without teeth. We understand this and, in most cases, we accommodate.

Yes! We do same-day denture repairs if you bring them to us in the morning before 9am. It is $100 for denture repairs, including cracks or if they are completely broken in two. If you need several teeth replaced in your denture, it is $100 for the first tooth and $75 for each additional tooth. If you have any questions about our repair services, please call.

For Immediate Dentures, we usually begin by extracting the back teeth and allowing a few weeks for you to heal. Then we take impressions for your new denture(s). Our lab will set the new denture teeth in wax before the actual denture is made. Then we do what is called a wax try-in. You will try in the wax denture(s) and the doctor will check your bite with the new back teeth. If you and the doctor are pleased with the wax model, we will process your new denture(s) and schedule you to have the remaining teeth extracted. At that next appointment, we will extract all the remaining teeth and immediately place the denture in the mouth. The pressure from your new denture will act as a bandage for your extractions.

You will be asked to follow some very important post operative instructions and return to the office in a few days. By this time, you may have some sore areas from your new denture. This is perfectly normal and either the doctor or one of our expanded functions dental assistants will adjust your denture(s) for better comfort.

You will need to have a reline after you have healed, but if you have your teeth extracted in our office, the price of the Immediate Dentures includes a free reline.

Northside Dental Clinic is located at 2105 W. Kearney, Suite A, in the Kearney Street Professional Park, about half a mile west of Kansas Expressway. We are right across the street from St. John’s Urgent Care Clinic and just east of Ed V. Williams Elementary School.

James River Dental is located at 4205 Nature Center Way. It can be a little confusing to find this office the first time, as they have recently done construction at the Glenstone and James River Freeway (JRF) intersection. If you are going south on Glenstone, stay in the left lane as you cross over JRF. You will then see a brown sign for the Springfield Nature Center; this is where you need to turn left (If you keep following the road to the right, it will become Republic Road, which means you have gone too far.)

Our James River Dental is on the road to the Nature Center. The closest bus stop to that office is approximately one mile north, at the Wal Mart Supercenter on Independence Street.

For our Northside office, the city bus stops across the street, in front of St. John’s Urgent Care Clinic.