Hi everyone!
We hope you all had a relaxing weekend, we'd like to begin the week with a blog post about how often you should be getting your teeth cleaned. Maria gives us the information, enjoy!
Many of you are on a 6 month routine for your dental hygiene appointment and have recently changed the frequency based on the information provided to you by your insurance company.
For example; you are notified by your employer or insurance company that your coverage has changed from 6 months to 9 month re-care.
This is not always the case. In fact, this is misguided information. This is an attempt from the insurance company to save money and cut back on paid out claims. By eliminating details in your notification you are left assuming.
Let me try to explain:
Hygiene appointments are based on units of time (each unit represents 15 minutes). Your policy coverage should indicate the maximum number of units you are entitled to every year, not necessarily on a calendar year I’ll address this issue at another time). How you want to use up these units of time is up to you not what your insurance company dictates.
In actual fact, a “re-care” (terminology mostly used in the dental industry) refers to the examination performed by the dentist and is based on a 5, 6, 9 or 12 month interval. Therefore, you can maintain your cleaning as often as necessary (as long as you do not exceed the allowed units specified in your plan) and have your recare examination at every other appointment to eliminate rejected claims due to frequency limitations.
The solution to this problem is to check with your insurance company by asking the following questions:
1. How many scaling units do I have available or what is the maximum number of scaling units?
2. What is my recall exam limitation/frequency?
Should you require assistance with this, please do not hesitate to ask our admin team.
Your dental provider’s recommendation of how often you should have your hygiene appointment is based on your needs and what is best for you, not what your dental plan covers. Most of all, take into consideration the importance of good oral health and do not let your insurance company dictate your choice of treatment.
Museum Dental