Insurance - Dental Assistance Program

Mead Square Smiles are preffered providers for Excellus BC/BS, Child Health Plus, MetLife, Delta Dental Network and Guardian insurance plans.  We are an out-of-network provider for many other insurance plans offered by employers in the area.  By participating with dental insurance plans, we offer you the freedom to experience affordable dental care.

We will gladly discuss any financial concerns you might have. We implement a "No Surprise" policy. You will be informed up front about the cost of your dental care. In order for us to do that, we may reserve a couple of minutes of your time just to go over the financial aspect of your treatment.

We offer the following options:

Pre-Payment Discount

This option allows you to save 7% off of your payment or co-pay. We will discount your payment by 7% if you elect to pay for your treatment before we start. This is an option that families without dental insurance especially might consider.

Interest-Free Financing

Mead Square Smiles offers interest-free financing for up to 18 months. We utilize a dental assistance program called Care Credit. All that is required to participate is a little paperwork and approval by the credit company.

Payment Per Procedure

Mead Square Smiles will accept payment per procedure. We accept major credit cards, personal checks and cash. If you elect to pay per procedure we will kindly ask for payment at the time of service. In order to keep your cost down, we do not provide monthly billing. We will give you a statement at the time of service.

We are open to talking about financial arrangements outside of the range specified above. We will take into account any financial difficulties of our clients. You have our promise that we will work with you in any way to help you select the best financial option for you.

About Dental Assistance Plans - Dental Insurance

Dental insurance plans are great. They help keep your out-of-pocket expenses low, but not in every case. We will try to explain how your dental assistance program works. Your employer may elect to provide your dental assistance plan for you through one of many insurance companies. As in every business, those insurance companies provide different levels of assistance programs, ranging from the “basic" one to the "advanced” one. Therefore, two different employers with the same dental insurance provider may have very different benefits. The majority of dental insurances have a maximum allowance within one year. This is usually in the range of $500 - $1500 per year, per person but varies depending on the plan.

Many dental assistance plans reward you for taking exceptional care of your teeth by paying 100% of preventative services fees such as an exam once or twice a year, X-rays and cleaning. The insurance company sets a maximum fee for such procedures and pays a percentage of this fee. You are responsible for the remaining amount. Here is a hypothetical example to explain how this works:

If a procedure fee set by your insurance is $100 and your insurance determines that this procedure will be 80% covered and you already paid your $50 deductible, your out-of-pocket expense for this procedure will be $20. Only this $20 is deducted from your yearly allowance.

It is important to know what your yearly allowance is. Mead Square Smiles can keep track of it for you since we submit your claim directly to your insurance company.  

Your dental assistance program determines which procedures and what percentage they cover. You will find that the coverage ranges anywhere between 0% to 100%. In case the insurance company covers 0% of the procedure, they still set up (in many instances) the maximum fee allowed for such procedure to make sure that their customers - you - are not asked to pay an unreasonable price for dental services.

This is a short description how the dental assistance program works. If you have any additional questions, ask us directly or contact your human resources department or your dental insurance company.