THE END IS NEAR….

Of the insurance year, that is!

Greetings from the Office of Dr. Jack Bodie!

It’s that time of year again when folks with medical and dental insurance start thinking about how they should minimize their out-of-pocket expenses and maximize insurance benefits! It’s really unbelievable how many people let the end of the year go by, leaving thousands of benefit dollars unused! And what about Health Savings Accounts too? Why not use these benefits to head off a dental problem that’s only going to get more expensive as time goes by? Here’s more…..

Dental Insurance

Dental insurance plans have relatively low annual maximums, usually $1000-1500 year. But with most plans, you’ll have to spend about twice the benefit amount. In other words, to get the $1000, you’ll have to spend $2000 to get the $1000 in benefits, due to deductibles, excluded and limited services covered, and regional fee maximums. Unused benefits are lost forever after December 31^st, with new benefits beginning January 1^st, if the plan is not eliminated or changed. But hey! Any help is good help!

Health Savings Accounts and Medical Savings Accounts

Health Savings Accounts allow you to use pre-tax money to pay for medical, dental, vision and other health related expenses not covered by insurance. Medical Savings Accounts work the same way but are usually funded by employers. MSA funds must be used by year end each year or be lost, again, forever. HSA funds are allowed to accumulate tax free from year to year.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is this: unused dental insurance benefits and MSA funds are lost forever after December 31^st. Why anyone would ever allow free money to go up in smoke is beyond me! So, if you have these benefits remaining give us a call to see how we can help. Feel free to call 972 235 4767 or email us at BodieStaff@DrJackBodie.com and please check out our website at DrJackBodie.com for more details. Don’t wait until it’s too late!

WHY I AM NOT AN INSURANCE DENTIST

Greetings from the Office of Dr. Jack Bodie!

We are asked daily if accept this insurance or that insurance. Our answer is always an emphatic “Yes, we accept any insurance that will pay us!” And we think having dental insurance is fantastic! Who wouldn’t want help paying their dental bills? So what are some of the misconceptions about dental insurance? Isn’t it like medical insurance? How much does dental insurance pay? Does dental insurance pay for all dental services? And what about “in network” plans? Some great questions for sure, so let’s explore the facts about dental insurance.

Medical vs. Dental Insurance

Unlike medical insurance, dental insurance was designed from the beginning only to pay a portion of dental expenses, and only up to a certain amount annually (usually $1000). Deductibles, exclusions, and co-pays, further reduce dental benefits to the point where coverage is sometimes only a fraction of total cost. Whereas with medical policies, usually most costs are covered and up to millions annually! Now that’s a huge difference!

Policy Restrictions

As much as you might hate to hear it, dental insurance plans are very restrictive in services covered. Paying to restore pre-existing conditions like missing teeth are never covered adequately and many routine services are just plain excluded! There’s no Obamacare in dental insurance!

Are you sure your plan is Insurance?

Believe it or not, many dental plans are not insurance at all, but are discount plans. You are required to go to a dentist that has agreed to reduce his/her fees in exchange for patients being directed by the plan to the dentist’s office. The truth with these plans is that the administrators of the plan design them so that the dentist can recoup the “discounts” by adding other fees or charging for procedures not included in the “discounted” fees. Talk about deceptive marketing!

“In Network Dental Offices”

Here’s a biggie. We have seen so many patients that think if their dentist is “in network”, they are going to save a ton of money. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, being “in network” in medicine is a big deal. Going to an “out of network” medical doctor could cost you tens of thousands of dollars! Not so in dentistry! In fact, going “in network” could cost you thousands more in future treatment, depending on the office you choose. You see, the large majority of “in network” dental offices are designing their business models to primarily extract dental benefits from your policy regardless of what is best for you as the patient. Don’t believe it? Just pick any franchise dental office and see how you get treated. Your insurance benefits will be gone in two appointments, and then they’ll tell you what really needs to be fixed. But look out now! You’ll get an inexperienced dentist with a ton of dental school debt that gets 25% of whatever he/she cranks out. And the fees are so low (in network), so much needs to be done in a hurry! If you’re lucky, it’ll last a few years before it all has to be replaced!

Insurance Company Knows Best?

Here’s another big one that is a serious issue for some patients. It’s amazing to me that patients actually think that their insurance company knows what’s best for them. Yet when we submit a claim for a necessary non-covered procedure, patients often think it’s an unapproved procedure! Whew! Come on folks! Insurance companies are in business to make money! They could care less about your teeth! We tell our patients “If you do what your insurance thinks is best, you won’t get the best!”

So, what’s the bottom line? Well, we think the most important issue with our patients is the relationship. That’s why we spend a great deal of time getting to know our patients before we talk about teeth. It’s why we ask our patients what’s important to them. It’s about our patients, not us. Dental insurance is great! We wish all our patients had help with their dental expenses. But what really is most important is the dentistry you get and integrity of the dentist that is delivering the services! 

The Bottom Line

So, if you think the value of the dentistry you get is what’s most important, you’ll want to check us out! Dentistry that looks good, feels great, lasts a long time, and is personally guaranteed by a dentist you can trust, this is our specialty! Call 972 235 4767 or go to DrJackBodie.com for an appointment today!

Sincerely,

Dr. Jack Bodie and Staff

Finding the right dentist seems to be a difficult thing for many patients these days. Our office is continuously contacted by patients that have either been to dentist after dentist, or haven’t been to a dentist at all for many years. Let’s look at some of the possible reasons why.

The “dentist hopper” is probably the hardest to figure out, but here are a few suggestions. You could say some people are just hard to please, and some are, but I think generally that’s a cop out. Another reason could be the cost of dentistry. Good dentistry is not cheap. It is very clear to me that people very often shop dentists only to find out the truth in the end: You can have good dentistry or cheap dentistry, but not both! It also just could be that many patients are just looking for someone they can trust, and for whatever reason, can’t find that person. My guess is that many dentists won’t take the time to take a real interest in their patients and truly listen to what their patients want.

The “dental fugitive” or “anti-dentite”, as Jerry Seinfeld put it, is a little easier to understand. Most of these people have had bad experiences in the dental office. Some have had many appointments of extensive dental treatment and have just given up. Some have had extensive dental treatment proposed, and can’t get through the emotional and/or financial barriers that seem to exist. And, I guess, some just don’t care. The good news is that there are solutions to all these obstacles, except for those not willing to make the effort!

At our office, you will find on your very first visit that we care about more than your smile. We know that developing lasting relationships with our patients results in the best outcomes for our patients. We will listen to what you want, and do everything possible to assist you in achieving your dental goals. Our experienced staff is fully equipped to provide your dental treatment comfortably with multiple financing options. We offer sedation dentistry for fearful patients or patients that would just like to complete most of their dentistry in two or three appointments.

If you are having trouble finding “The Right Dentist”, we think you might like what we have to offer. We can get you in quickly and you won’t have to wait when you get here. You’ll find a caring staff that will treat you like royalty and give you as much time as you want to discuss treatment options or just visit with you to make you more comfortable. We have some great deals for new patients and a beautiful new, high-tech office we’d love you to see. We are conveniently located one block east of the Central Expressway/Campbell Road intersection. Check us out at DrJackBodie.com, call 972-235-4767, or e-mail us at BodieStaff@DrJackBodie.com for an appointment today.

Best Regards,

Dr. Jack Bodie

Think oral health and overall health are related?? Check out this recent article from the American Heart Association! Give us a call at 972-235-4767 or visit drjackbodie.com to find out how we can make sure you are taking care of both ORAL and OVERALL health!!

Middle-aged tooth loss linked to increased coronary heart disease risk
American Heart Association
NEW ORLEANS, March 21, 2018 -- Losing two or more teeth in middle age is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention | Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions 2018, a premier global exchange of the latest advances in population based cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians.
Studies have shown that dental health problems, such as periodontal disease and tooth loss, are related to inflammation, diabetes, smoking and consuming less healthy diets, according to study author Lu Qi, M.D., Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at Tulane University in New Orleans.
"Previous research has also found that dental health issues are associated with elevated risk of cardiovascular disease," Qi said. "However, most of that research looked at cumulative tooth loss over a lifetime, which often includes teeth lost in childhood due to cavities, trauma and orthodontics. Tooth loss in middle age is more likely related to inflammation, but it hasn't been clear how this later-in-life tooth loss might influence cardiovascular disease risk."
In a collaborative research effort between Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Qi and colleagues analyzed the impact of tooth loss in large studies of adults, aged 45 to 69 years, in which participants had reported on the numbers of natural teeth they had, then in a follow-up questionnaire, reported recent tooth loss. Adults in this analysis didn't have cardiovascular disease when the studies began. The researchers prospectively studied the occurrence of tooth loss during an eight-year period and followed an incidence of cardiovascular disease among people with no tooth loss, one tooth lost and two or more teeth lost over 12-18 years.
They found:
?    Among the adults with 25 to 32 natural teeth at the study's start, those who lost two or more teeth had a 23 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease, compared to those with no tooth loss.
?    The increased risk occurred regardless of reported diet quality, physical activity, body weight and other cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
?    There wasn't a notable increase in cardiovascular disease risk among those who reported losing one tooth during the study period.
?    Cardiovascular disease risk among all the participants (regardless of the number of natural teeth at the study's start) increased 16 percent among those losing two or more teeth during the study period, compared to those who didn't lose any teeth.
?    Adults with less than 17 natural teeth, versus 25 to 32, at the study's start, were 25 percent more likely to have cardiovascular disease.
"In addition to other established associations between dental health and risk of disease, our findings suggest that middle-aged adults who have lost two or more teeth in recent past could be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease," Qi said. "That's regardless of the number of natural teeth a person has as a middle-aged adult, or whether they have traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as poor diet or high blood pressure."
Armed with the knowledge that tooth loss in middle age can signal elevated cardiovascular disease risk, adults can take steps to reduce the increased risk early on, he said.
A limitation of the study was that participants self-reported tooth loss, which could lead to misclassification in the study, according to Qi.

Less Drilling Feels Great!!!

This phrase may seem a little dubious to some of you but the message is something you may want to know more about. Especially if you don’t like having your teeth drilled!

There has been a great deal of discussion, research and controversy in dental circles over the last few decades regarding the conservation of natural tooth structure during the performance of many routine dental procedures such as fillings, crowns, veneers and other restorative procedures. The dentistry taught in most dental schools during the 1970’s, 1980’s and even the 1990’s was generally amputational, meaning that much natural tooth structure had to be sacrificed to restore teeth to their natural shape and function. This type of dentistry often resulted in complications such as root canal therapy and even tooth loss, due to its aggressive nature.

 
With the advent of adhesive dentistry in recent years, new techniques have been developed that focus on conserving natural tooth structure and using materials that more closely resemble natural teeth in appearance and function. This type of dentistry has recently been described as Biomimetic Dentistry. This type of dentistry has many advantages over conventional dentistry including less sensitivity following treatment, longer lasting restorations, lower incidence of root canal therapy and less chance of tooth loss.

So what’s the downside to Biomimetic Dentistry? Well, none for the patient, except fees may be slightly higher. You see these minimally invasive procedures are actually more difficult for the dentist, require training and knowledge, and may require more expensive materials. However, the value of what you are getting is immeasurably better. And really, what kind of dentistry do you want anyway?

If you are interested in knowing more about Biomimetic Dentistry or have questions about the many benefits of minimally invasive dentistry, call us at 972 235 4767 or email us at BodieStaff@DrJackBodie.com for an appointment. You can also get more info by visiting our website at DrJackBodie.com.