How fees work
Insurance, paying yourself and the estimate, in the order patients ask.
Insurance we work with
Which dental plans we are in network with depends on the plan, and we tell you for yours before your first visit. For a plan we are in network with, we file the claim. For one we are out of network with, you pay at the visit and we give you the receipt to send in. Gum treatment is billed in stages, and a plan may cover each stage differently.
PPO and indemnity plans: we tell you if we are in network
Medicaid and CHIP: ask us before your first visit
Medicare and Medicare Advantage: ask your plan what it covers for dental care
If you pay yourself
If you have no dental plan, you pay at the visit, one stage of treatment at a time. You will know the fee for each stage in writing before we start it. Financing is offered by third-party lenders. Approval and terms are set by the lender.
Paid at the visit, stage by stage
The fee for each stage in writing first
Third-party financing, set by the lender
Receipts for reimbursement
After each visit we give you an itemized receipt with the procedure codes. If your plan reimburses care from a dentist outside its network, you send it the receipt. What the plan pays is the plan's decision.
Itemized, every visit
Procedure codes on the receipt
An estimate in advance
You can ask for a written estimate before any treatment. If you are paying without insurance, we give you a written estimate in advance, when you schedule or whenever you ask. It lists each step we expect and the fee for each. If Dr. Villanueva changes the plan after he sees what he finds, you get a new estimate before we go on.
In writing, before treatment
Each step and its fee
A new one if the plan changes
Checking your benefits
Give us your plan's name and member number by phone, not by message or form, and we call the plan for your dental benefits before the visit. Benefit checks are estimates; the plan makes the final decision when it receives the claim.
Give plan details by phone
We call your plan before the visit
What the first visit includes
About an hour with Dr. Villanueva: a talk about what you have noticed, measurements of the space between your gums and teeth, X-rays only if he needs them, and a written estimate before any treatment. Fill in your health history on our private patient portal, not by email or in the contact form.
Open the patient portalA talk, then measurements
X-rays only if needed
Health history on the portal
The practice replaces these answers with its own.
Questions about a fee?
Ask before you come. Jasmin can explain how your plan treats gum care and implants.