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Rewire and Inspire | The Smile Squad #19
It's been said, and I strongly agree, that our current level of income and wealth is a by-product of our overall mindset... how we approach problems, face adversity, our habits, level of discipline, our self-image, etc.
Let's take this theory and apply it to dental health and smile appearance.
When you personally reflect on your dental health and smile appearance, what do you see? Not the literal physical description of what you see but what do you see about your historical mindset that is reflected in your teeth?
Do you see a person who:
OR on the other end of the spectrum...
Do you see a person who:
*There is a TON of nuance here and middle ground in the reflection you see here. These examples above are for demonstration purposes.
A key point here is your current dental health and smile appearance are a result of your HISTORICAL mindset. Your mindset from the past.
You can rewire that mindset.
You don't need to fix one tooth at a time. You can treat issues in a proactive instead of reactive manner. You can make better dental health decisions. You can get healthier than "your dental insurance will allow".
Unfortunately, dental insurance's influence on dental providers have been a huge factor in your programming and mindset as it relates to dental health and smile appearance.
Dental insurance yearly maximums, on average, haven't increased in 40+ years. Their coverage percentages have remained stagnant or decreased. Think about how much inflation has taken place since then...then...think about the fact that many insurance plans/companies are in the process of decreasing reimbursement levels. Does that sounds like an organization that has your best interests at heart?
Many dentists (not all) that have contracted with these dental insurance companies have fallen into the unfortunate pattern of only recommending treatment that will fall within what your insurance will "cover" for the year.
This has unfortunately led many patients to believe that they have healthy teeth when, in fact, there are many things that could help them reduce chances of tooth loss, breakage and pain in the future.
With the exception of people who have nearly perfect teeth, low decay rates, low risk of gum disease and have exquisite home care, the "dental insurance mindset" leads to grossly inadequate treatment to get people to a place of stable health and an attractive smile.
Our goal at Smile Solutions is to provide you with unbiased information about your dental health and the implications of treatment vs. non-treatment. By taking the time to understand what your goals are and then discussing how we can help you reach your goals, we can then devise a care plan COLLABORATIVELY that is within what you are able and willing to invest.
That care plan may be completed quickly or slowly. It doesn't matter. The important part is that you have a plan to reach your goals.
That's a very different approach from "what will your insurance cover?
My hope is that you recognize the benefits of this approach and trust that we care deeply for you and only make recommendations that we would make for family of our own.
If you can rewire your mindset and approach to your dental health and smile appearance, as we have, you may find that you can truly reach the goals you have for yourself and finally attain the level of dental health you've always desired.
With that, I conclude this series on dental "insurance". :)
I wish you a wonderful weekend filled with joy and look forward to seeing you soon!
Holiday Celebration
Last Friday we celebrated the Holidays as a team at Barrett's in Hunt Valley.
We had a wonderful evening of laughs, reflection and delicious food.
The team, very generously, gifted Saleha (Dr. Sal) and I tickets to Christmas Candylane at Hershey Park. We're very excited to take the kids up to Hershey for a fun night. :)
