Last Week to Use End of Year Insurance Benefits!

This is a reminder that there is only one more week to use your dental insurance or flexible spending benefits before the year is over! That means if you do not use your benefits, you LOSE them! If you need a filling, crown, or have just been waiting a while for your cleaning, make sure to give us a call ASAP! We will do our best to fit you in to best use your benefit dollars.

At the office of Dr. Edwin Porter, we accept all insurances and will file the claims for you. All the hard to understand paperwork is something that we will complete and electronically send off. Dr. Porter wants you to focus on your oral health and not how hard dental insurance can be to work with!
Email us at Wanda@DentistryinCharlotte.com or call us at 704.544.5330 to get scheduled before the end of the year. We can also get you scheduled in January to take advantage of the new year of benefits. If you have any questions about dental insurance, your treatment, or about becoming a new patient, please get in touch with us at the above information! We can't wait to hear from you!

For the Sake of Your Significant Other...Take Part in a Dental Cleaning!

Husbands and wives are likely to share the same dental habits and therefore, some of the same dental problems. At the office of Dr. Edwin S. Porter, located conveniently in the Arboretum of South Charlotte, we treat families and can even accommodate seeing everyone at the same time. Save time and a trip!

For Valentine’s Day, celebrate the love of your smile. Come in for dental work or pamper yourself with a SPA CLEANING. The spa services are no extra charge and can be for anyone! Even you men out there can enjoy a relaxing hour in the chair while having your teeth cleaned. We love to make everyone comfortable and at ease while in our office. We have the most plush leather chairs, tv’s in each room, i-Pod docks for your own music, and different sedation levels for those who request it.

Say goodbye to stinky breath for your loved one and remember to take advantage of our $50 off coupon located on our website! http://www.dentistryincharlotte.com/special-offers.php From our family to yours, Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

I'm a GRINDER?! Never Been Told You Grind?

We try to write articles that are relevant to our patients. We have had many patients lately that have never been told they grind their teeth. Other dentists have passed it off in the past as something that just happens and that nothing can be done about it. But in fact, there is a great way to protect your teeth and jaw muscles with an appliance called an occlusal guard, also known as a night guard or bite guard.

Occlusal guards are made of rigid materials with laboratory-processed acrylic. They are generally made to be worn over the biting surfaces of either the upper or lower teeth, and are easily inserted and removed by the patient. The lower guard seems to be more comfortable for most of our patients.

Occlusal guards accomplish three main functions:
- They evenly distribute bite forces to protect the teeth from stresses that can crack or wear them abnormally
- Pthey protect the temporomandibular joints (TMJs) from excessive bite stress that can produce pain and dysfunction
- Reduce the heavy forces generated by the jaw-closing muscles.

If you have fillings or crowns and have a grinding habit, you are putting your dentistry and investments at risk. You may not even know that you grind at night but Dr. Porter can tell! We take impressions at your first appointment and then get you back in a week or so to deliver the permanent guard. These are very short appointments and can be combined with a cleaning! And be careful not to just pick one up at the local big box store or drugstore because those will most likely make your grinding habits exacerbated and can cause more damage than good! Call our office to set up and appointment or have any questions answered. Insurance usually covers a good part of these appliances and we can help you break up the payments if need be.

704-544-5330 of Wanda@DentistryinCharlotte.com

Black Friday Tips from Dr. Porter's Office

Black Friday Tips

-Get some sleep after your turkey dinner! Most retailers will be opening their doors early around 2:00am or 3:00am….so you can’t sleep in until 9am the next day!
-Have a list and prioritize. Start with best deals that mean something to YOU. Hit those first and then work your way down the list.
-If you don’t want to get up, get dressed and make your way out in the cold, you have the option to shop online. Most retailers will have the same deals as they have in-stores, you just get to skip the madness. Just watch out for the shipping costs that may be a little more.
-Wait until Cyber Monday, November 29th! They will not have the same deals as Black Friday, but there may be different deals or entirely new deals that may be of interest to you.

And always remember if you get a tooth knocked out in the hub-bub of Black Friday, we can help you out! Dr. Porter accepts emergency patients and works with your insurance to get your teeth fixed. The Arboretum is close to everything in Charlotte and we can make you look and feel great.

704-544-5330 or Wanda@DentistryinCharlotte.com

Use your Dental Insurance or Lose It!

Happy Halloween weekend everyone!

The end of the year is fast approaching and some things seem to remain the same. Once again I’m talking about dental insurance. Each year our office in bombarded with calls requesting an appointment before the end of the year. Most dental benefits expire at the end of the year. It would be nice if they “rolled-over” like your cell phone minutes but we all know that is not the case. Needless to say, we hardly ever have enough available appointments to fill all the requests. I thought we were alone in this insurance battle until I read a report that touched on this topic. The statistics are interesting.

Did you Know?
It is estimated that more than 80% of people with DentalBenefits fail to use all of their benefits for that calender year
It is also estimated that more than 90% of the 80% have untreated dental needs
The bottom line is, 7 out of every 10 people needing dental treatment fail to maximize their dental benefits each year. That’s an enormous amount of unused benefits! Even more of a concern, that is a staggering number of untreated people.

Having dental insurance is an awesome benefit. If you have insurance and need treatment you need to remember, USE IT OR LOSE IT!