Useful Information

Welcome to the Dept. of Dentistry!  We will do our best to answer your dental needs. Whether you are being seen for the first time or have been here before, this information might be useful to you. To help us in providing your dental care, please

• Bring an updated medical report to each dental visit: Any new medications, allergies, medical disorders, hospitalizations, surgeries, etc.
• If you are being seen for the first time or are referred to us by a dentist for a specific problem, it is helpful to have your most recent dental X rays forwarded to us by your previous dentist. You can have him/her forward it to us at this link: dentistry_x-rays@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu  Written dental notes are helpful too, particularly if a referring dentist wants us to address a particular problem. Any X rays you can get us may reduce or eliminate our need to take new X rays.

Our waiting room space is rather small, so please be courteous to other patients by trying to limit family members where possible.  As you know, COVID considerations make normal waiting room operation different than usual.

Pre registration is necessary, and it takes some time.  Please try to arrive 15 min prior to your actual appointment time to take care of the registration process in a timely manner.  Be sure to bring all pertinent medical and dental insurance information so as to avoid confusion or problems with insurance billing.  We currently participate in the following commercial dental insurance plans:  United Concordia, Anthem Dental, Delta Dental.  Bear in mind, however, that different dental insurance plans vary according to the services covered, the percentage of coverage of each service, and even the maximum insurance co payment allowed in a calendar year.  For any uncovered or partially covered procedures, it is the responsibility of the patient to pay for those services.  Full payment or co-payment is expected for each procedure at each appointment as it is completed.  Dentistry does not participate in any payment plans per se.  Medicare does not cover dental procedures except in very select circumstances and procedures.  Children’s Medicaid plans typically cover only select dental procedures under the age of 21.  Adult Medicaid plans also provide select coverage, but we are currently only seeing adult Medicaid patients for medically necessary dental care as referrals from UVA physicians and clinics.

If you have any questions about insurance or billing, please contact your dental insurance plan provider or University Physicians Group (434-297-5416 or 800-868-6600), which is the billing and collection agency for our department.

For any emergency dental needs, call (434-924-1774) during daytime hours.  During weekend and weeknight hours, the dentist on call can be reached through the page operator at (800-924-0000).

Our cancellation and broken appointment policy is such that 2 or more broken appointments (define broken appointments as no shows or cancellations under 24hrs) is a basis for inactivation. There will be extenuating circumstances that might create exceptions, and the current problem of COVID creates even more exceptions, but we do not want broken appointments to prevent other patients who want and need dental care from having access to our clinic.