New patients
A first visit is ninety minutes: full examination, periodontal chart, photographs, and a written plan before you leave.
Membership
Three plans, priced by how often your mouth actually needs seeing. No annual maximum, no waiting period, no deductible, no claim form and nobody outside this building deciding what you are allowed.
Individual
$39a month, or $420 a year
For an adult with healthy gums on a six-month recall.
Periodontal
$62a month, or $670 a year
For a treated periodontitis mouth needing a three or four-month interval.
Household
$105a month for two adults and up to two children
Same cover as Individual, for everyone at one address.
Prices are indicative for this demonstration site. Membership is not insurance and is not a qualified health plan.
Side by side
| Enamel membership | Typical PPO dental plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual maximum | None | Commonly $1,000 — $2,000 |
| Waiting period | None | 6 — 12 months for major work |
| Deductible | None | Commonly $50 — $150 |
| Who decides what is covered | The listed plan, agreed with you | The insurer, against their UCR schedule |
| Claim forms | None | Yes, or the practice files for you |
| Works at other practices | No | Yes |
| Covers cosmetic work | 15% off, no exclusions by category | Usually excluded entirely |
| Cost predictability | Fixed fee, fees published | Depends on UCR, coding and remaining maximum |
When insurance wins. If your employer funds a plan you already use, and you mostly need routine care, the plan is probably the better financial deal — and it travels with you if you move. We will say so at the consultation. The membership exists for people with no dental benefit at all, or with a plan whose out-of-network reimbursement is not worth the paperwork.
Questions
No, and the distinction is not cosmetic. Insurance is a contract with a third party who reimburses part of a fee, subject to an annual maximum, waiting periods, a deductible and their own view of what is customary. This is a direct agreement with this practice: you pay us, we provide the listed care, and nobody outside the building is involved in the decision.
Most PPO dental plans cap what they will pay in a calendar year, commonly between $1,000 and $2,000 — a figure that has barely moved in forty years. A single crown can exhaust a third of it. The membership plan has no cap because it is not paying claims; it is covering a defined list of preventive care and discounting the rest.
None. Cover starts the day you join. Insurance plans commonly impose six to twelve months before major work is covered, which is why people are told to sign up long before they need anything.
You can hold both, but you would be paying twice for the preventive care. If you have employer-funded PPO cover that you actually use, we will usually tell you to keep it and skip the membership. The plan is designed for people with no dental benefit, or with a plan whose out-of-network reimbursement is not worth the paperwork.
Monthly memberships stop at the end of the current month; annual memberships run to their term. Any care already used at the member rate stays at that rate — we do not claw back the discount.
It applies to all restorative, cosmetic and surgical fees performed here. It does not apply to laboratory-billed items passed through at cost, to the membership fee itself, or to treatment carried out by a specialist we refer you to, since we are not setting that fee.