Salvatore J. Durante, DDS, FAGD

 Family Dentistry & Orthodontics

    Phone 718-486-9076      Email sdurante@earthlink.net
     326 Leonard St., Brooklyn, NY 11211
3 blocks from the Metropolitan Ave./Lorimer stop on the G & L trains       

 326 Leonard St., Brooklyn, NY 11211
3 blocks from the Metropolitan Ave./Lorimer stop on the G & L trains       

Payment Issues,
including insurance, HMOs and PPOs

I am happy to fill out insurance forms - in fact, I do most electronically, so that my patients are reimbursed more quickly.

I do not accept any insurance payments as full payment. Under many insurance plans, to do so would be illegal. Suppose I told the insurance company I charged $50 for a filling and they paid me $27, and I did not charge you the remaining $23. If the insurance company discovers that I'm willing to do the work for $27, they could well reduce their customary fee to much less, say $12. With HMOs, a dentist agrees to work for a flat fee, but it is a much reduced fee in return for a promised increase in patients walking in the door. Often the only way to make such an arrangement profitable is to rush patients in and out as quickly as possible: half-hour or even quarter-hour appointments are common, and delays in the waiting room are habitual.

Now consider that a simple filling has a minimum of 15 separate steps. Skipping or not focusing on any one of them may result in eventual failure. Many dentists working for insurance companies are hard-working and conscientious; but that doesn't give them any more minutes in the hour or hours in the day.  Hence the common back-ups in the schedule whenever a complicated procedure is required.

Every month I see patients who have gone to dentists who participate in their insurance plans, but who return because the level of care and attention is not the same as in a one-on-one relationship with one's patient.

I respect your time as well as mine. When you schedule a visit, you will not become intimately familiar with my waiting-room.

 I am proud to seek out the best in techniques,
 materials and laboratory workmanship
 for my patients.

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 Queries, comments and appointments:
For appointments, call 718-486-9076 or email sdurante@earthlink.net