Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, we currently accept assignment of insurance benefits for most PPO dental insurance plans.  What this means is that once you provide us with the specifics of your dental insurance plan, our staff will work on your behalf to verify your particular coverage.  Then, once you are seen in our office you would be responsible for any required estimated co-payments, which would be due at the time of service.  Later, once we receive payment from your insurance company, you may be responsible for any outstanding balances should they occur.

No, we are not currently contracted with any insurance companies.  We feel this empowers our providers to offer the best possible care to our patients without having to worry about any third-party restrictions or limitations.

We most certainly do offer emergency and same-day care if/when that is available and appropriate.

We do not currently offer payment plans aside from Care Credit.

These are all really excellent questions that are routinely part of what we review during our 1-on-1 consultation appointments with the doctors.  It’s too difficult to address online because there are so many different types of procedures we offer and thus many different expected recovery periods.

This is something that is addressed at the time of the consultation appointment and is individualized for each patient and based on the type of procedure being provided.

Only patients who are going to be sedated for their procedure will require a driver.  For patients who are eligible and interested in having their treatment on the same day as their consultation we will often advise them to come to the office with someone over the age of 18 years old in case sedation is recommended for their case.

It depends on the type of treatment required, the health of the patient, and on our scheduling availability.  But there are certainly some instances where we can offer same-day treatment.

We do not currently accept online payments.

We offer a range of fees for various dental extractions based on the dental code necessary for each procedure.  This is something that is determined and presented to each patient at the time of the consultation appointment.  Presently, our consultation fee is $138 plus any necessary radiographs (x-rays) that may be required.

We do not currently offer Orthognathic surgery services.

Yes, we have 2 convenient locations: one in west Buckhead and the other in Dunwoody.  Our primary location is located off of I-75 near the West Paces Ferry exit, in the Northwest Medical Center building located at 3280 Howell Mill Rd NW; our newest location in Dunwoody is located at 4700 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd at the corner of Chamblee Dunwoody and Peeler roads.

We do not offer dental cleanings.

We do not currently offer surgical treatment for temporomandibular joint disorders.

Since each case and every patient is different it’s very difficult to answer this question.  For most of the procedures we offer, sedation is NOT mandatory.  There are, however, several procedures whereby sedation is heavily encouraged and perhaps some whereby it really is necessary to achieve an optimal result.  These are the kind of questions we like to discuss with patients during their consultation appointment.

Obviously, this varies for each procedure, and we offer a wide variety of treatments that range in duration from just a few minutes to all-day appointments.  However, the vast majority of our patients are in and out of the office in under 90 minutes on the day of their surgery.

Patient-specific questions will be reviewed with the doctor at the time of your consultation appointment.  With that said, we typically advise patients to take their regularly-scheduled medications on the day of surgery UNLESS they are specifically advised against doing so.

It just so happens that it is true that pineapple juice contains an anti-inflammatory enzyme called Bromelin, which decreases the cells in the blood (cytokines) that help to cause inflammation.  There are some studies that suggest it is beneficial to drink pineapple juice prior to wisdom tooth surgery, but you would need to consume so much more than just a day prior to surgery.  If this strategy is of interest to you (or your child) there are easier ways to achieve the same result without having to consume so much sugar.  We would be happy to discuss this with you at the time of your consultation.

We use the same types of medications that are used by other anesthesia providers for routine procedures such as endoscopies and colonoscopies.  For specific questions pertaining to particular medications, we encourage you to discuss these with your doctor at the time of your consultation appointment.

Nitrous Oxide (or “laughing gas” as it’s more commonly referred to) is technically classified as a pain-reducing and anti-anxiety medication.  It is very useful for patients who wish to stay AWAKE during their surgery.  It does not make you go to sleep and it does not have any delayed after effects.  So, you can drive yourself to and from the office, and you can eat prior to your appointment if you elect to have Nitrous Oxide during your surgery.  (Note: all surgical patients will need to have local anesthesia injections.)

We put a lot of effort into our consultation appointments, and we find that they are essential to providing top-tier care to our patients.  We use this one-on-one time with the patient and doctor to both share and deduce a great deal of pertinent information that is critical to achieve ideal outcomes.  As such, we do bill for our consultation appointments, and we would be happy to disclose these fees to you when you call to schedule your consultation appointment.

Our consultation fee does not include fees for necessary radiographs (x-rays).  If you have current radiographs from your dentist that can be sent to us, then oftentimes we can utilize those and we will not need to bill you for any radiographs.  Other times, new and/or different radiographs are required and fees will apply.  Our staff will be happy to explain these fees to you upon request.

We feel that both of our providers are superbly well trained and they both provide technically excellent and compassionate patient care.  Our surgeons do, however, have slightly different interests and areas of particular expertise.  Therefore, there are some instances where our staff may direct you towards one surgeon or the other based on your specific needs.  If you have a preference for a particular doctor, we are always happy to do our best to accommodate that request.

We prefer to review these types of questions with parents and family members at the time of the patient’s consultation appointment.  In general, though, we do not have family members in the operating suites at the time of our surgical procedures.  We like to think of our operatories as “mini operating rooms”, and thus we adopt many of the same policies and procedures that are employed in the hospital setting in an effort to enhance patient care and treatment outcomes.

We pretty much always encourage our patients to head straight home and begin eating after our surgical procedures.  Dietary recommendations vary, but typically patients will begin with soft, spoonable foods and advance their diet as directed when they are comfortable.

We advise patients to abstain from smoking both BEFORE and AFTER surgery.  Longer is always better, but usually 1 week before and 1 week after surgery is sufficient for most procedures that we offer.