Your First Visit

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Complimentary Consultation

At your first visit to our office, diagnostic records are made to determine the best course of treatment. Complete diagnostic records typically include a medical/dental history, clinical examination, plaster study models of the teeth, photos of the patient's face and teeth, and X-rays. This information is used to develop a custom treatment plan for each patient. These records are also helpful in tracking the progress of treatment as the teeth move under orthodontic care.

After the doctor has evaluated your records, we discuss your treatment with you in detail, including the cost for your particular case.

Regular Appointments

Most people seeking orthodontic treatment have other important obligations during the day, usually involved with work or school. When active orthodontic treatment begins, each patient is seen every few weeks, and some of these appointments will conflict with work or school schedules. Once treatment is under way, we have designed our treatment techniques to save you time by seeing you every 4 to 6 weeks. We have devoted considerable time and effort in designing our schedule system. Here is what we want to do:

We want to see you on time for your appointment.
We want to have adequate time during each appointment to do the necessary procedure.
We wish to answer your questions and update your treatment progress. In addition, we will work with you to schedule around your school or work hours as much as possible. As you can imagine, a well-organized schedule requires considerable structure tempered with flexibility.

Because of the varied schedules our patients present with, it is virtually impossible to schedule all of your appointments before and after school or work time. Therefore, most of your appointments will be made during school or work time. Some appointments are blissfully short. During your treatment there are times when the adjustments are completed quickly even though they may be quite technical. We have tried to design treatment methods that limit your inconvenience.

Because the schedule is carefully crafted, your late arrival can pose a problem. In fairness to the other scheduled patients, we may not be able to squeeze you into the schedule and therefore we may find it necessary to reschedule your appointment if you are late.

We realize that once in a while unforeseen circumstances arise which necessitate a change in appointments or cause you to overlook an appointment. We will always do our best to reschedule your appointment as soon as possible in these situations. Needless to say, missed appointments, or numerous appointment changes, will inevitably result in an extension of your treatment time.

We schedule appointments on weekdays during regular office hours. We reserve a special time for you at each appointment so in these rare instances you cannot keep an appointment, please give us as much time as possible.

Orthodontic Fees

Our fees reflect the quality of treatment we provide. To assist your efforts to educate yourself and to help you make a decision regarding some orthodontic and/or orthopedic treatment, we feel that you deserve to know what you are paying for. Here are some of the factors that determine fees for orthodontic services in Missouri:

Education and Techniques:
Dr. Taeger is a highly qualified orthodontist who is committed to serving his patients with great care, gentleness, and expertise. See the Meet Dr. Taeger page for more information.
Individualized Treatment Plans:
No two patients have exactly the same problem. Some orthodontic problems are very minor in nature, and some are quite severe. So it is important that each patient be treated according to his or her individual needs. Just as treatment differs from patient to patient, orthodontic fees will also differ from one patient to another. In our office, the treatment plan for each patient is tailored specifically for his or her individual needs.
Sterilization:
All instruments used in treatment are, of course, fully sterilized in our modern state-of-the-art facility. Our office complies with all state and federal OSHA regulations.
Quality Materials Used
The quality of the braces and wires used differ just like the difference in quality between other items you purchase. We use only the highest quality orthodontic materials, so you can always be assured that the materials used are always the very best available in the world.
No Re-Use of Braces Wires
You can also be assured that all braces and wires used in our office are new and have not been previously used in someone else's mouth. It is common practice in many orthodontic offices today to utilize previously used and reconditioned braces and wires. We feel that each patient deserves the best and so in our office we DO NOT re-use the same brackets/wires on two different patients.

Our Financial Policy

In an effort to keep orthodontic fees down while maintaining the highest level of professional care, we have established our FINANCIAL POLICY as follows:

To fit the needs of our patients, a financial arrangement can be made to extend the payment over the length of treatment following an appropriate down payment.
For your convenience, we accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover, and offer the availability of Care Credit for those who wish to extend their payments over a longer period of time.
In cases of serious delinquency, we reserve the right to suspend, or even discontinue, treatment, although we will make every effort to accommodate our patients with temporary difficulties.

Our Insurance Policy

If you have insurance, we will help you determine the coverage you have available. For your convenience, we will accept payments from the insurance company assigned to us by the insured. Such payments will be credited to your account. The balance not covered by insurance will be arranged for you to be paid as listed above.

Please be aware that our primary financial relationship is with our patients or their families, and not with their respective insurance companies. Professional care is provided to you, our patient, and not to your insurance company. Thus, the insurance company is responsible to the patient and the patient is responsible to our office. We will help in every way we can in filing your claim and handling insurance questions from our office and your behalf.

There are many different agreements between insurance carriers and their subscribers, and each contract provides a different benefit. However, orthodontic insurance generally differs from regular dental insurance in that each insured individual has a lifetime maximum benefit for orthodontic services. This benefit is paid as a percentage of the orthodontic fee (diagnostic records, initial fee, monthly payments, etc.) until the maximum has been reached. Charges for lost or broken appliances are usually not covered by orthodontic insurance.

If you would like our office to submit claims prior to treatment, we ask that you provide us with the name, address, and telephone number of your insurance carrier, as well as group number and social security number of the insured.

We cannot render services on the assumption that our charges will be paid by an insurance carrier.

If your company requires verification of continuing treatment, you may send them a copy of your canceled checks or cash receipts. If your insurance carrier provides a form for verification of continuing treatment, we will be glad to complete the signature portion.

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