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Additional Financing is available through |
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Insurance:
Dental insurance is intended to cover some, but not all of the cost of your dental care. Most plans include coinsurance provisions, a deductible, and certain other expenses which must be paid by the patient at the time of services. Reimbursement amounts are not, and never have been, a guideline for quality care.
We expect payment in full at time of service, but we will be happy to file most insurance claims for you with the reimbursement going directly to you. Please bring your insurance plan information with you on your first visit. We will work with you to ensure that you receive the maximum benefits to which you are entitled.
If you have any questions about your insurance plan or payment options, please call our staff at (330) 364-2011 or e-mail us at info@doctorhuff.net.
Fees and how they are set
To understand fees in dentistry, it is important first to understand the difference between goods and services. Goods are things like clothing, sinks and automobiles. Services are the human labor involved in their production, installation or alteration. The sink is the good. The plumber provides a service by installing it. Goods can be mass-produced and distributed all over the world. A service may depend upon the labor and intelligence of a single person.
The price for a good depends on its availability as much as on its quality. A pair of penny loafers produced by a factory in Taiwan sold in two different stores widely separated may be identical, but priced differently depending on the location where they are purchased. The same pair of shoes may be much more expensive if purchase in an upscale boutique under a fashionable brand name than if purchased at Wal-Mart under another name. In this case, the relative wealth of the local population determines what the price will be. On the other hand, a different brand of penny loafer may be handsewn and could be expected to be of superior quality, and yet be sold at Wal-Mart for less than the Taiwanese shoes sold at the upscale mall. Again, the price is set by "what the local market will bear". Comparison shopping makes a great deal of sense when shopping for goods.
Services are a very different story, and since dentistry is a service (and not a "good") there is a great deal of confusion in the public mind about its relative value. The value of dental services is not measured in the size of a filling, or the physical value of the gold, silver or plastic used in its production. The time it takes to perform the service is certainly a factor and so is the technical excellence of the finished product, but they are not the only factors that count. For example, a dentist may produce a perfectly made crown to correct your smile but may lack chairside mannerism. On the other hand, sometimes very "nice" dentists are very poor clinicians. Selecting a dentist should never be based on fees, but should be based on the care received for the financial investment.
A dentist has a tremendous financial investment in his or her profession,
practice, and education. Dental school costs more than $100,000.
Dental equipment is very costly, and there is a great deal done
behind the scenes to make patient appointments run smoothly that
cost a great deal of money. In fact, it has been estimated that
it costs about $45 just to sit a patient in a chair without providing
any treatment. Most practices employ several assistants, an office
manager, and at least one hygienist. These people depend on the
dentist for their living, and the dentist needs to provide a lifestyle
and living for his or her own family. Furthermore, dentists spend
several thousands of dollars a year in continuing education to sharpen
their skills. Dentists must also hire a dental laboratory to fabricate
dentures, crowns, etc., that charge varying fees depending on the
quality that the dentist demands. Therefore, dental fees reflect
the investment that the dentist has made in the practice, the practice
employees, and the patients he or she serves.
