Patient

Code of conduct

We hold ourselves to a high standard in both the clinical care that we provide and the patient service that accompanies it. We are not perfect and patient service is notably different than customer service, but for us to be successful in our endeavor, we need to establish some ground rules. As they say, respect is a two-way street.

Appointment cancellations. We ask that you give us at least 24 hours’ notice if you need to change an appointment. We track all late cancellations and appointment no-shows and reserve the right to reconsider our professional relationship with repeat offenders.

Importance of timeliness. We strive to run our schedule on time out of respect to you and the patient after you. If you are late for your appointment, we will likely reschedule you. If you are more than 10 minutes late, we treat the appointment as a no-show appointment.

We do not reschedule missed new patient appointments. If you miss your first visit with us, we will not reschedule it.

We are a multi-provider practice. When accepted as a patient, you establish a patient-provider relationship with our practice. Our practice is comprised of multiple doctors and hygienists. All of our doctors have very similar practice philosophies and clinical judgement. We spend considerable time every year making sure that our team is calibrated to provide consistent, high-quality care. If you prefer a doctor or hygienist, please inform us and we will make an effort to honor that request. Please understand that we cannot make any guarantees that we will be able to consistently accommodate such a request.

We are happy to file your insurance on your behalf. So long as your benefits carrier follows industry norms, we can take care of this paperwork for you. Our filing will accurately reflect the diagnoses established and services rendered using the American Dental Association's Current Dental Terminology (CDT). This filing will be completed on the most appropriate American Dental Association form. Our policy is to bill for any remaining balance 60 days after a second good faith effort to file with your benefits carrier or carriers.

Payment is due at the time of treatment unless otherwise arranged in advance. We have options to help you afford treatment, incuding Care Credit. For treatments that involve a laboratory bill, we require 50% down before your case goes to the laboratory. Please see our benefits & payments page for more information.

Warranties. We stand behind our work. At the end of the day, the number one cause of failure in dentistry is poor homecare, followed by not following recommendations. Help us help you by taking care of things at home and follow our recommendations. All warranty needs are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

We do not allow mistreatment of our staff. Yelling at, swearing at, hanging up on, making suggestive advances or comments towards, berating, or otherwise treating a Grand Dental team member poorly will not be tolerated and is grounds for dismissal from our practice.

Clinical photography. We routinely use clinical photography as part of patient care. Close-up, non-identifiable photographs of your teeth and mouth may be used for patient education, in marketing, and for professional presentations. Any full face photographs that could be used to identify you are protected by law and not used for any purpose without your explicit consent.

Recommended radiographs. Our office follows the 2012 guidelines from the American Dental Association (ADA) and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). We also rely on the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) for children, which were updated in 2021. If you choose to deny routine, screening images, we will ask you sign a consent. Denial of a non-screening radiograph or continued denials of recommended screening imaging are grounds for dismissal from our practice.

Referrals to specialists. We frequently use our specialist colleagues when we feel that an additional level of care is required to increase the chances of success for a variety of reasons. Specialist level care typically has a higher cost and specialist insurance participation varies widely. We will do everything we can to help you find someone, but please know that there are only so many specialists in the Des Moines area. Our office will only refer you to a board certified or board eligible specialist. Of course, you are welcome to request your records and see whomever you like of your own accord.

If you made it this far, thank you! Unclear expectations are the source of many of life's heartaches. We hope that by being forthcoming with our expectations, we can enjoy many years working together furthering your oral health.