Why doesn't Dr. Orsi let my insurance pay him?

Dr. Orsi works for you, not your dental company. Although we will give you all the documentation you need to get reimbursed from your dental third-party (your insurance company), what they are willing to reimburse you is based on your policy. We want you to have dental care based on what is in your best interest for your health, not limited to the whims of your annual benefits. Our priority is making sure you have the appropriate care, helping you make the most of your dental benefits is secondary.

Most dental benefits are like limited gift cards that only pay for selected treatment one tooth at a time. Many times the best treatment options are not covered benefits even though they are clearly what are best (for instance, implants). In order to break out of the "one-tooth" paradigm it is best to think of your health first then decide how your benefits will help you afford the care that you have decided is best for you.

Why doesn't my insurance pay for all preventive care?

Good question! Third parties will often pay to extract all your teeth but not to have them cleaned every three months to save them. It is not uncommon for third parties (your insurance companies) to pay to have good teeth cut down on both sides of a missing tooth for a bridge rather than save the existing teeth and place an implant in the missing space. Your dental benefits may pay for some preventive measures but not all. The question to ask is:

Based on your individual needs, what is best for you? This is best determined with a comprehensive examination and a long-term plan for preventive dental health with options explored and discussed.

Why does a comprehensive examination take so long?

In order to give you the best answers to your questions and concerns, we like to do this from a position of having gathered all the necessary information. The better informed you are before you make decisions, the better decisions you make. The better informed we are about both you and your concerns, the better advice we can give you on making better decisions for your health. Many times the questions asked are not best answered with a simple response. For example, patients who ask about bleaching are not only concerned about whiter teeth, but are really more concerned about having an attractive smile. Dr. Orsi will try to make you aware of how the question you ask impacts the other questions that are merely implied.

My other dentist did not take all these photographs and models. Why take all these pictures and models if I am not that concerned about the way my teeth look?

Excellent digital photographs can help you in many ways you may not be thinking about. Documenting how your teeth, gums, and oral tissue look today may help with the detection and early treatment of oral cancer in the future. Intra-oral photographs could actually save your life! Also many chronic problems can be recognized and acted upon as a result of analyzing models and/or following a series of photographs. Treating a patient who is happy with their smile now but is wearing their teeth out with a splint for $1000 is more cost effective then waiting until that same person is unhappy with their teeth a decade later when a $60,000 rehabilitation would be necessary to restore their mouth back to the way it was. Photographs and models may save you significant future costs and prevent future problems.