Fees and Financial Information

At Meetinghouse Dental Care, we realize each person's financial situation is unique.  We offer multiple payment options to ensure you enjoy your smile at its healthiest.  

Payment options: 

We accept cash and personal checks (social security number required for checks).

We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, and debit cards.  

We can help you with AFLAC and other pre-tax plans.  

For guests who prefer extended monthly payment arrangements, we have contracted with Care Credit to provide 6 months same as cash for all procedures over $200.  With Care Credit, there is no application fee, no down payment, no annual fee, no prepayment penalty.  Application is short and approval is granted/denied within minutes.  Apply at www.carecredit.com from home in order to facilitate a smooth check out process in our office.

You may also invest as you go!  

Complete elective dental work by spreading your appointments over several months or even years. 

(Scroll down to view list of procedures in our office, ADA codes, and our fees.) 

Meetinghouse Dental Care extends a 10% senior courtesy to all non-insured senior citizens (starting at age 65). Not to be combined with other offers.  Not valid toward products.

Meetinghouse Dental Care extends a 10% senior courtesy to all insured senior citizens who choose to pay the practice directly and accept private assignment of benefits.  Not to be combined with other offers.  Not valid toward products.

We offer uninsured guests a 5% prepayment accounting courtesy on their investment paid in full by check (with social security number) or cash prior to start of dental work for treatment plans of $1500 and above.  Not to be combined with other offers.  Not valid toward products.

We offer insured guests the same 5% prepayment accounting courtesy on any estimated private payment portion over $1500 paid to the practice in full by check (with social security number) or cash prior to the start of treatment with private assignment of benefits.   Not to be combined with other offers.  Not valid toward products.

If You Have Insurance:

If you have dental insurance, we will help you maximize benefits to which you are entitled.  We also estimate your coverage for each procedure and process your claims as a courtesy to you.  We work with ALL traditional PPO insurance plans (PPO means that the plan offers you out-of-network coverage and that you may choose any dentist you wish). You pay only your private pay portion at time of service.  Any balance will become due after claim has been processed and the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) has arrived in our office. 

We are also out-of-network providers for Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Concordia, and Delta.  These three insurance companies are slightly different in that they will pay you directly.  You pay us in full at time of service with assignment of benefits directly to you.  We are, however, still able to submit and support your claims for you.

Our fees tend to fall WITHIN the UCR (usual and customary rates).  If you are a prospective new patient and wish to call your insurance company to determine if your out-of-network plan pays at the UCR or if it pays at a fee schedule, here are three preventive codes usually covered at 100% by traditional PPO plans that pay on the UCR - as well as our fees for those codes: 

      (1) periodic exam - code 0120 - our fee $68 

      (2) professional cleaning (prophy) - code 1110 - our fee $118 

      (3) bitewing x-rays - code 0274 - our fee $85  

Tell the agent who answers your call that you are going to visit an out-of-network dentist.  Give the agent the code and our fee.  Ask at what percentage you can expect to be covered/reimbursed.  If the agent answers 100%, clarify that it will be 100% of $68 (our periodic exam fee) or 100% of $118 (our cleaning fee) or 100% of $85 (our bitewings fee).  If your plan pays at 100% for preventive, it will usually (not always, but usually) pay 80% for basic (fillings) and 50% for major (onlays, crowns, dentures).  

If you are a prospective new patient and wish to call your insurance company to determine eligibility and coverage/reimbursement for your initial new patient visit using your out-of-network dental insurance plan, proceed as follows.  

(1) Ask the agent if you are eligible for a new patient dental evaluation, code 0150, for dental education, code 1310, and for a full mouth series (FMX) of 18 x-rays, code 0210. If you are not eligible, ask when you will be eligible. Plans (even those carried by the same insurance carrier) can allow different frequencies, especially for exam code 0150. Most plans permit two exams of any kind per year, sometimes with a restriction of 6 months between them, and some (but not all) count the new patient evaluation as one of those two exams. Most plans allow for a full mouth series of x-rays every 3 years, but the frequency allowed by a few plans is every five years. Some plans pay toward the dental education component, but many do not. If you are not eligible for a full mouth series of x-rays, you can ask the agent which dentist you should contact to request transfer of your current full mouth series to our office. If your x-rays are digital, have them sent to meetinghousedental@comcast.net. If they are on traditional film, ask that they be copied onto duplicating film and mailed to YOUR address (not ours) so you can bring them with you on the day of your initial visit. You may be required to retrieve the copy on duplicating film in person from your current office. (We can not be responsible for a FMX on duplicating film that is mailed to our office.) If the full mouth series of 18 x-rays transferred to us was taken more than a year ago, we will take bitewing x-rays to update the FMX. (Bitewing code 0274; our fee $85.) If you have had a pano taken by an oral surgeon that was submitted to your dental insurance for coverage, it will have been substituted for the full mouth series in terms of eligibility. Note that we will still take the full mouth series at the new patient visit but that it will not be eligible for reimbursement. We will not substitute a pano for the FMX.    

(2) If you are eligible for the new patient evaluation and for the full mouth series of x-rays, tell the agent that your out-of-network dentist charges $120 for new patient exam code 0150 and $170 for FMX code 0210.  Ask how much your plan will reimburse. If the agent says 100%, clarify that it is 100% of our fees of $120 and $170.

Again, the new patient visit is $240 total. We submit $120 of that $240 to insurance under dental code 0150 and $120 of it to insurance under dental code 1310.

If you are a prospective new patient, we recommend that you wait to call your insurance company to inquire about coverage for fillings and onlays UNTIL YOU HAVE A TREATMENT PLAN (even a tentative one) with tooth numbers, surfaces, and ADA dental codes.  That said, we can give you an idea regarding cost in our office. 

Every tooth has five surfaces: the surface toward the back of the mouth, the surface toward the front of the mouth, the surface next to the cheek, the surface next to the tongue, and the biting surface. A one-surface posterior filling in our office before insurance is $235. A two-surface posterior filling is $295. A three-surface posterior filling is $370. Fillings are usually addressed by dental insurance under basic, usually (but not always) covered at 80%, although your plan may have a "posterior composite covered as amalgam" clause. If an existing filling that is to be replaced represents more than 50% of the natural tooth structure, a white filling will not withstand the daily biting pressure; the white composite will flex and eventually lose its bond. The restoration needed will be an onlay or possibly a crown. An onlay, code 2643, or a crown, code 2740, is $1375 before insurance, usually addressed by dental insurance under major, usually covered at 50%.  

We can not work with HMO (DMO) plans, Medicare/Medicaid, or CHIP. 

If you have these plans, you MUST stay in network if you wish to use your benefits.

If you consult Human Resources, you may find that your place of employment currently offers or is willing to add alternative dental insurance options.  As always, our practice works with all traditional PPO plans (PPO means the plan offers you out-of-network benefits and allows you to choose any dentist you wish). We will quote estimated private pay portions, accept copays and assignment of benefits, submit and support pre-D's and claims. Again, a PPO plan refers to any plan that offers out-of-network benefits. If you DO have options, select a PPO plan that pays on the UCR (usual and customary rate) rather than on a fee schedule based on premium.  Our fees almost always fall within UCR.

As out-of-network providers for BCBS, United Concordia, and Delta, we will submit claims and predeterminations on your behalf. As out-of-network clients of these plans, BCBS, UC, and Delta, you will pay our practice in full at the time service is rendered. We will submit your claims with benefits assigned directly to you. To know what YOUR reimbursement percentages and maximums will be on an out-of-network basis for your particular plan, you can call either your Human Resource Department or your insurance carrier and inquire - or, as an established patient, you can ask us to submit a pre-D at any time for any procedure(s).  

Because we are out-of-network providers, Delta will not send us copies of your EOB's (Explanation of Benefits). Delta sends EOB's directly to you. If you need us to assist you in reimbursement matters, simply fax us or email us any EOB in question. Fax to us at 215-293-0901. E-mail to us at meetinghousedental@comcast.net.

Below find a list of procedures along with ADA codes and our fees.  

HYGIENE PROCEDURES  (Preventive category, often covered at 100%)

HYGIENE PROCEDURES  (Basic category, often covered at 80%) 

RESTORATIVE PROCEDURES  (Basic category, often covered at 80%)

RESTORATIVE PROCEDURES  (Major category, often covered at 50%)

Our Guarantee
Since 1983.

Do you wonder: “How long will this ceramic crown – or porcelain veneer – last?”  So many factors influence longevity of dental restorations that we can only estimate.  We do, however, fully support your investment in optimal dental health, and we love to exceed your expectations.  It is our pleasure to offer our patients a unique value. 

Our Part

If WE (not another dentist) find the following restorations need replacement within the time period indicated, if the tooth beneath is salvageable, and if you have done your part, returning regularly for professional hygiene therapy to care for surrounding gums and for routine evaluation of restorations (see below), we will, at no charge, for as long as we are in practice:

• Replace or credit (not reimburse) any crown, onlay, veneer, or bridge with a new crown, onlay, veneer, or bridge of the same type for up to 5 years.  
  
• Replace or credit (not reimburse) any white composite filling with white composite filling for up to 2 years. 
• The ideal filling is no more than 50% of the tooth.  If more than 50% of the tooth has become compromised within the two year time frame (due to tooth breakage, for example), a crown or onlay will be indicated.  If indicated, we will credit the full fee originally paid for the composite filling toward the new crown or onlay.  You pay only the difference.  

Exceptions 

• It is not possible to guarantee longevity of cosmetic bonding.  Impact can break bonding.  Replacement is at full fee.
• It is not possible to guarantee longevity of a root canalled tooth.  Guarantee applies only to restoration itself. 
• We cannot guarantee bridgework or partials anchored on any root canaled tooth.
  
• It is not possible to guarantee longevity of a Maryland bridge.  It is considered a temporary replacement option.  Impact can dislodge or break retainer wings.
• We cannot predict if periodontal treatment will ever be needed.  We cannot predict nerve health of any tooth.  Procedures to address such issues will be referred to the appropriate specialist and will incur a separate fee to that specialist.  If extraction is required, we may perform the procedure in our office; the procedure will incur a separate fee.

Your Part 

. . . because achieving and maintaining optimal dental health requires a partnership! 

• Visit our office a minimum of 2 times per calendar year for routine exams and professional cleanings - - 3 or 4 if we’ve diagnosed a gum condition - - so we can manage gum health, assure marginal integrity of restorations, and address problems while they are minimal.   

Note: This requirement, which allows us to monitor and maintain restorative integrity on an ongoing preventive basis, means that we are not able to extend our guarantee to non-patients who come here for mercury-safe restorative work only.  Monitoring and maintenance will - of necessity - fall to your home dentist.  Please consider this restriction before scheduling.