For your convenience prior to visiting our office, please Click here to print the New Patient Health History Form, complete the information and bring it with you to your first visit.

Office Hours

Monday-Friday: 8am - 5pm
Saturday: 8am - 3pm

Children with Special Needs

With hospital staff privileges at Lucille Packard Children Hospital and EI Camino Hospital, Dr. Maria performs dental treatment under general anesthesia in the hospital for those children who are medically compromised or fearful. Dr. Maria also offers in-office intravenous sedation or general anesthesia for young, healthy children who may have limited ability to cooperate.

What About Finances?

Our Office Policy Regarding Dental Insurance

If we have received all of your insurance information on the day of the appointment, we will be happy to file your claim for you. You must be familiar with your insurance benefits, as we will collect from you the estimated amount insurance is not expected to pay. By law your insurance company is required to pay each claim within 30 days of receipt. We file all insurance electronically so your insurance company will receive each claim within days of the treatment. You are responsible for any balance on your account after 30 days, whether insurance has paid or not. If you have not paid your balance within 60 days a finance charge of 1.5% will be added to your account each month until paid. We will be glad to send a refund to you once insurance has paid us.

FACTS ABOUT YOUR DENTAL INSURANCE

In an effort to help you understand your insurance policy and maximize your insurance benefits, we would to share some facts about dental insurance with you.

Fact 1 - Dental insurance is a contract between you, your employer and the insurance company. We are not a party to that contract. We will file your dental insurance claim as a courtesy to our patients. We are not responsible for how your insurance company handles its claims or for what benefits they pay on the claim. We can only assist you in estimating your portion of the cost of treatment, we at no time guarantee what your insurance will or will not do with each claim.

Fact 2 - NO INSURANCE PAYS 100% OF ALL PROCEDURES
Dental insurance is meant to be an aid in receiving dental care. Many patients think that their insurance pays 90%-100% of all dental fees. This is not true! Most plans only pay between 50%-80% of the average total fee. Some pay more, some pay less. The percentage paid is usually determined by how much you or your employer has paid for coverage or the type of contract your employer has set up with the insurance company.

Fact 3 - BENEFITS ARE NOT DETERMINED BY OUR OFFICE
You may have noticed that sometimes your dental insurer reimburses you or the dentist at a lower rate than the dentist's actual fee. Frequently, insurance companies state that the reimbursement was reduced because your dentist's fee has exceeded the usual, customary, or reasonable fee ("UCR") used by the company.

A statement such as this gives the impression that any fee greater than the amount paid by the insurance company is unreasonable or well above what most dentists in the area charge for a certain service. This can be very misleading and simply is not accurate.

Insurance companies set their own schedules and each company uses a different set of fees they consider allowable. These allowable fees may vary widely because each company collects fee information from claims it processes. The insurance company then takes this data and arbitrarily chooses a level they call the "allowable" UCR Fee. Frequently this data can be three to five years old and these "allowable" fees are set by the insurance company so they can make a net 20%-30% profit.

Unfortunately, insurance companies imply that your dentist is "overcharging" rather than say that they are "underpaying" or that their benefits are low. In general, the less expensive insurance policy will use a lower usual, customary, or reasonable (UCR) figure.

Fact 4 - DEDUCTIBLES & CO-PAYMENTS MUST BE CONSIDERED
When estimating dental benefits, deductibles and percentages must be considered. To illustrate, assume the fee for service is $150.00. Assuming that the insurance company allows $150.00 as its usual and customary (UCR) fee, we can figure out what benefits will be paid. First a deductible (paid by you), on average $50, is subtracted, leaving $100.00. The plan then pays 80% for this particular procedure. The insurance company will then pay 80% of $100.00, or $80.00. Out of a $150.00 fee they will pay an estimated $80.00 leaving a remaining portion of $70.00 (to be paid by the patient). Of course, if the UCR is less than $150.00 or your plan pays only at 50% then the insurance benefits will also be significantly less.

Fact 5 - Insurance companies will not release the exact amount they will pay for a procedure until the treatment is completed and the claim is submitted. They will only state the percentage of their fee schedule that they will cover. We will make every effort to assure you receive maximum benefits. We will file your insurance at no charge. In order to provide this service, we will need your updated insurance information before each appointment. We cannot be responsible for any errors in filing your insurance if you fail to give us your updated and correct information. Once again, we file claims as a courtesy to you.

Please do not hesitate to ask questions about our financial policy. We want you to be comfortable in dealing with these matters. If you have any questions regarding your insurance, we ask that you contact your insurance regarding the specifics and details of your plan.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, please keep us informed of any insurance changes such as policy name, insurance company address, or a change of employment.

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