Your First Visit
Initial Exam Appointment
This initial complimentary appointment will allow us to examine your bite, the alignment of your teeth, the growth of your jaws, facial appearance, and your overall oral health. Suggestions will be made on the potential types of treatment available, along with the approximate length of treatment and cost.
At this appointment:
- You will receive a tour of our office and meet our staff.
- You will view a short movie describing diagnostic records and how we examine you.
- We will review your medical and dental history form with you, which should be filled out prior to your arrival to our office.
- We will address your chief concerns, examine your mouth, and determine the best time to start orthodontic treatment.
If dental or skeletal development is not appropriate to start treatment at this time we will observe your child periodically every four to six months, at no charge, to determine the most opportune time to start orthodontic therapy.
Orthodontic Diagnostic Records
When it is determined that a patient is ready to start orthodontic treatment a separate appointment will be necessary to obtain diagnostic records. This includes photos of the teeth and facial portraits, impressions for study models, panoramic and cephalometric x-rays, and an updated health history. This appointment will take approximately 30 minutes and the fee will be $325.00.
Consultation
After Dr. Krowicki has evaluated your records, he will discuss with you your customized treatment plan, including the fee for your treatment and how long it will take. The fee for the consultation is included in the records fee.
Payment and Financial Policies
A beautiful healthy smile is a life long investment in your oral health and self esteem. The cost of treatment depends on the severity of the patient’s problem. You will be able to discuss fees and payment options before treatment begins, and we will work with you to make orthodontics affordable. We offer the following options to allow you to afford this investment.
- If payment is made in full we offer a financial courtesy discount.
- After an initial down payment the balance will be paid in monthly installments with no interest or service charges as long as your account is current.
- We accept Visa and MasterCard.
- We can help you to make payments from your flexible and medical savings accounts at work.
- Capital One Financing is also available.
Insurance
If you have insurance we will help you determine the coverage you have available. We will gladly help you in filing your claims and handling your insurance questions. Orthodontic coverage differs from dental insurance in that there is usually a lifetime maximum benefit of a predetermined amount for orthodontic treatment. The benefit is paid at some predetermined schedule until the maximum has been received.
All reimbursements from the insurance company are assigned to you and do not reflect your financial obligation to our office. The primary financial relationship is with our patients or their parents and not with their insurance companies. Our professional services are rendered and charged directly to the patient or parent. The patient or parents are therefore responsible for payment of all fees incurred through our office.
Prior to submission of the insurance claims, you will need to provide us with the correct insurance information, which can be found on your dental insurance card or through your employee personnel representative at your place of employment. All orthodontic insurance benefits are not the same, so it is important to obtain this information to allow you to know how much you are going to be paid before treatment commences. If you require proof of payment of a professional fee for reimbursement purposes, your cancelled check, cash receipt, or a statement from our office should be adequate.
If verification of continuing treatment is required, we will submit the forms for you; if forms are sent to you by the insurance company please fill them out and return them immediately to our office so payment to you will be timely and not be delayed.
Remember that insurance payments are made to you according to the specific contract you have with the insurance company. We can not assume that our charges and fees will be covered by your insurance company if we render the necessary services. Please feel free to call us if you have any questions about your insurance or our insurance policy.
Confirmation Calls
We have an automated phone system that will remind you of your appointment time. If you are being observed by the doctor the call system will remind you that it is time to schedule your re-evaluation appointment. These are courtesy calls to confirm the time of the scheduled appointment that you made with our office.
Like with all technology, sometimes these systems fail. If you do not receive your call do not assume your appointment has been changed or cancelled. Any appointment changes will be communicated to you in person by one of our staff members.
Regular Appointments
The appointment to place your appliance (braces, Herbst, expander, etc.) can take from one to two hours. You will then be seen at regular intervals from 4 to 10 weeks apart for adjustments which take 10 to 40 minutes each. Our regular office hours are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 8:30 am until 6:00 pm and Thursday from 7:00 am until 2:00pm.
Patients are seen by appointment only. We pride ourselves on being an on-time office and do not feel our patients should wait. In order for us to accomplish this we ask that you extend the same courtesy to us and be on time for your appointment. If you can not keep an appointment and you must cancel please notify us immediately. Because most appointments are made 4 – 10 weeks in advance, rescheduling missed or cancelled appointments may require you to come in during school hours in order to accommodate you in a timely manner.
Please notify us in advance if something is loose or broken or if you have an emergency, even if it happened on the day of your appointment, so we can be certain that enough time is available to treat the emergency without a reappointment.
We schedule long appointments in the morning and short appointments after-school. Patients will tolerate the longer appointments early in the day since they are not tired and are fresher in the beginning of the day. These appointments are demanding on the orthodontist’s concentration and clinical skills and we are also less tired and fresher in the earlier part of the day.
For you convenience we offer early morning hours starting at 7:00 am on Thursdays and evening hours to 6:00 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays.
