A Caring Practice For All Your Child's Dental Needs
Facility
We are proud to provide a state-of-the-art facility for the highest quality dental care available. It is one of our top priorities to protect the well-being of our valued children. For this reason, our office meets and surpasses all OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and CDC (Center for Disease Control) standards. We are confident that your child will feel right at home in our office as we welcome all children as if they were family.
Press arrow button to view interior pictures of our kid friendly office.
Appointments
If you would like to make an appointment, please contact our office by phone at 727-384-9393 or email at dryoungman@tampabay.rr.com. The office attempts to schedule appointments at your convenience and when time is available. Young children up to 6-7 years of age should be seen in the morning because they are fresher and we can work more slowly with the child for their comfort. We attempt to reserve our after school appointments for Middle and High school patients. Some procedures are scheduled only in the mornings no matter the age of the patient. Being a pediatric office it is impossible for us to schedule all students after school hours. All schools will excuse a student for dental appointments and we have forms to be presented to the school if your child misses classes so they will have an excused abscense.
Financial
Payment is expected for services at the time they are rendered. Payment may be made by Cash, Check, Mastercard, Visa, American Express or Discover.
Cancellations
If you are unable to keep an appointment, we ask that you kindly provide us with at least 24 hours advance notice. We ask for this advance notice so that we can offer this appointment to another patient. A fee will charged if a patient does not show up for an appointment without sufficient notice.
Dental Insurance
We accept most insurance as payment for services. There are some dental insurers we do not deal with and our office manager can inform you of those we do not accept for payment. If your insurance offers out-of-network benefits and allows you to choose your own dentist we will accept as payment the benefits allowed in your plan for our services.
About Dental Insurance
Many parents are under the impression that because they have dental insurance the insurance carrier will pay all of the fees incurred at their dentist's office. In some cases the parents HRS individual will tell them that they will not have to pay any fees to the dentist. In many cases this is not accurate. Most plans have an annual deductible that has to be satisfied on a yearly basis. Most plans pay 100% of preventative services, 80% of routine restorative procedures and 50% of procedures not covered under routine procedures.
Some companies will not pay for procedures that we recommend for treatment even though these procedures are the most up to date and accepted forms of treatment; they will pay for a lesser procedure instead. In these cases you will be expected to pay for the difference not covered by the insurance carrier as we will not alter what we feel is the best treatment for your child to comply with the insurance carrier.
We obtain pre-estimates for all procedures other than preventative care. Even though the insurance carrier quotes their payment on the pre-estimate, when we submit the claim for the services rendered the actual payment may be less than what was quoted in the pre-estimate. If this is the case it is your responsibility to pay for the outstanding balance.
If you have dental insurance we are anxious to help you receive your maximum allowable benefits. We ask that you read your policy to be sure that you are fully aware of any limitations of the benefits provided.
Usual and Customary
You may receive a notice from your carrier stating that our fees are above usual and customary for our area, you need to know the following.
The fees charged for services rendered to those who are insured are our usual and customary fees charged to all patients for similar services. Most insurance companies have their own fee schedule that is usually less than our usual and customary fees. Their fee schedule is based on an average practioner, in an average office with an average staff. We sincerely believe that our office operates far above those guidelines. When we inquire as to how they determine their reimbusement schedule they refuse to provide us with the information needed.
You should be aware that we have no control over what your insurance carrier will pay for services or what services they will cover. That is determined by the scale of coverage you have contracted with either through your employer or personally.
Some insurance companies restrict the type of service they will pay for, such as x-rays once a year, fluoride one a year. Some will only pay for amalgam fillings instead of composite fillings. There is no scientific basis for these decisions, just a way for the insurance carrier to avoid paying less in claims. We will not compromise our treatment for your child to please the insurance company. If your carrier will not cover our recommended procedures than it will be your responsibility to take care of any balance not paid by the insurance company.
There are some companies who delay payment by months, deny treatment, ask for resubmission of claims which are valid and reimburse our office or the patient less than they said they would. Because of these problems with certain insurance carriers we will not accept payment for fees from them and our office manager will inform you of those companies we will not accept payment for fees from.
By law insurance companies must pay submitted claims within 30 days of receipt of such claims. We have found that in most cases insurance companies settle claims faster when sent directly to the patient as opposed to our office. If we do not receive payment from your insurance company after 30 days of submission of a claim it will be your responsibility to settle any outstanding balances.
Because your insurance policy is a legal agreement between you and your insurance company patients/parents are directly responsible for all charges. Realistically and legally, your insurance company reimburses you for dental expenses. As a courtesy service to you, our patient, we complete forms pertaining to your claims and send them promptly to you or your insurance company. This often involves detailed paper work, writing letters to insurance consultants, and making long distance telephone calls. We are happy to do this because we realize how important it is to you.
It is our goal to help you obtain the insurance coverage to which you are entitled. Please remember it is the insurance company that dictates your coverage, not our dental office.
We require insurance deductibles and/or co-payments to be paid at the time of treatment.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing our practice for your child's dental care.
