What are Flexible Spending Benefits?

Flexible benefits provide eligible employees the right to allocate salary dollars - pretax - towards payment of family health and dental insurance premiums, as well as out-of-pocket medical, dental, vision care and child care expenses.

Pre-tax dollars are the real deal! Depending on your tax bracket, you’ll save up to 40 cents of each pre-tax dollar by not paying Federal, State and Social Security taxes. This translates into real money in your pocket. You can save on many approved dental expenses!

November is the month that most employers set up Flex plans and dental insurance so make sure to plan accordingly. If you have a some big dental needs, set aside a larger amout to cover them. Also, always go with a PPO dental insurance plan that allows you to get better care. DMO plans will usually send you to a clinic-based office that will have 10 patients or more in the office at one time. At Dr. Edwin Porter's office here in Charlotte, we appoint one person at a time to give you the best care and time you need.

Call us at 704-544-5330 or e-mail us at Wanda@Dentistryincharlotte.com to ask any questions that you may have aout how to use your benefits with our office, set them up with your employer, or how to get re-imburstment from your flex account. Remember if you do not use them by the end of the year, you lose them and you are giving the government free money that you have set aside for you!

Today is National Men Make Dinner Day!

Hey Men! Treat that special woman in your life to a great dinner tonight! Whether it's a steak for your wife, chicken noodle soup for your mom, or boiled turkey for your pooch, they will appreciate it!

What's on the menu tonight for our ladies? Wanda is asking for some baked salmon and a fabulous salad. Katie is craving chicken parmesan. And Samantha wants a juicy steak or sushi. When we asked Dr. Porter what he would be making for his wife tonight he replied that he makes dinner every night and tonight would be no different! He's a great husband to his wife and children.

Eat up ladies....Enjoy this one night a year :)

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!

Halloween Cavities?!

Halloween! Halloween Costumes! Halloween CANDY!! Halloween Cavities??!!

Halloween is next week, which means a seemingly endless supply of candy. Candy is a nightmare for your teeth. Especially since Halloween candy seems to last well past the first snowfall. Even though candy is bad for your teeth, I am not going to tell you to give it up completely. Let's be honest, who would listen to that?

The type of candy you do eat is important. Sticky candies like taffy, gummy bears and licorice are the worst for your teeth. This type of candy gets caught on tooth surfaces and in between teeth. Also, try to avoid chewing on hard candies because there is a chance for a tooth fracture or damage to a filling. Hard candies like lollipops tend to remain in the mouth for long periods of time, thus subjecting your teeth to prolonged acid attacks. Avoid gum that has sugar in it as well.

After eating a piece of candy, there are some preventative measures that can be helpful. Ideally, if you can brush your teeth right after consumption with fluoride toothpaste, this is the best. If not, make sure to brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and floss. If brushing your teeth after candy is not an option, try swishing with water. Also try chewing sugarless gum for twenty minutes and this has been proven to reduce tooth decay because it increases saliva production.

Care Credit Now being offered at 12 Months NO INTEREST!

I know you've always wanted to complete your dentistry but have always thought that it was impossible to do without paying a ton of interest! Dr. Porter has now given the go-ahead to offer Care Credit for 12 months interest free! Now you can make payments on your term and not feed the credit card companies free money! You can either sign up online via this link or you can come in our office and we can help you get signed up. It's easy and you can usually find out if you qualify in a few minutes.

Take the next step to making your mouth healthy! Cheers to dental hygiene month!

Free Sedation Dentistry

As fall is setting in, we want to celebrate Dental Hygiene Month with a bang! We are now offering FREE SEDATION for those who are completing qualifying dentistry! This is a great opportunity to get the crowns that you need done or move forward with the bridge that you've always needed. It's also great for those that are scared of the dentist. All we need to do is make sure you have a treatment plan and then do a pre-operative sedation appointment to gather your vitals and make sure that you are a candidate. Watch this video that Dr. Porter did to gather more information!

Call or e-mail today to reserve your spot! 704/544/5330 or Wanda@DentistryinCharlotte.com

Remember consultations are always FREE!!

We've got a new addition to our office...Remmington! She is Samantha's new doggie and she is cute as a button! Her big brother, Jaxson, is a Yorkie as well. Katie has two fluffy white dogs that are adorable and well behaved. Dr. Porter loves his big, big, BIG Great Dane Bella. And Wanda has a sweet kitty named George. All of our office pets have great dental hygiene like their parents... Dental health is universal! Pets need their teeth cleaned, too! Does anyone have any sweet pictures of their little furry ones?! :)

704-544-5330 or Office@DentistryinCharlotte.com