FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions

What are universal precautions?
Universal precautions are safety procedures established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Dental Association. They are used for each and every patient to prevent the transmission of the AIDS virus and other infectious diseases. These precautions require all dental staff involved in patient care to use appropriate protective garb such as gloves, and sometimes masks and eyewear. After each patient visit, the gloves are discarded, hands are washed and a new pair of gloves is used for the next patient at our office.

Do you sterilize the instruments including the handpiece (drill) after each patient?
To insure safety of our patients, we follow specific heat sterilization procedures which are outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Dental Association. Disposable items, such as needles and saliva ejectors are not sterilized and are discarded in special containers.

How do you sterilize the instruments? Can you show me how it's done?
Dental instruments are cleaned and sterilized at very high temperatures after each time they are used on a patient. We use an autoclave (steam under pressure. The sterilization equipment is not in our treatment rooms, but if you'd like to see how and where it's done, ask one of our dental staff to show you.

How do you clean and disinfect the examining room, and how often is this done?
Before you enter the examining room, all surfaces, such as the dental chair, dental light, drawer handles and countertops have been cleaned and decontaminated. We additionally cover many parts of our equipment with disposable protective covers, which are replaced after each patient. Sharp items and anything contaminated with blood or saliva are disposed of in

Do you follow OSHA regulations?
Yes. OSHA, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has specific regulations that protect employees from injury and illness in the work place. These "safe workplace" regulations pertain to occupational settings, including dental offices with one or more employees. While the primary purpose of the regulations is to safeguard employees, these procedures also protect the patient. For example, gloves provide protection for both you and the dental team.

Is the water used during treatment safe?
To insure safety of our patients, we only use distilled water during treatment.

What do you do to clean the air in your office?
We have several ionic air purifiers with UV germicidal protection from Sharper Image strategically placed through out our dental office to purify the atmosphere for the safety of our family of patients and employees.

What precautions do you take to minimize the exposure to X-rays?
All of the necessary precautions are taken to minimize your exposure to X-rays during a typical dental diagnostic procedure. Patients always wear a lead apron to avoid unnecessary radiation to other parts of the body. We also use high speed x-ray films and advanced processing equipment to minimize the amount of exposure necessary for a diagnostic image. Not everyone needs X-rays taken on a regular basis. However, some patients may need to have X-rays taken in order to address suspected problems in their teeth or tooth structures, gums, or jaw bones.

How much radiation will I be exposed to during a full mouth x-ray?
The ionizing radiation that you receive from a full mouth dental X-ray is substantially less the radiation you receive every day in the sun. Advances in technology such as higher-speed X-ray film and measurement devices have made dental X-rays even safer today. This is not to say that any unnecessary radiation can harm the tissues in your body. X-rays can diagnose certain conditions and help a condition from becoming worse; the benefit outweighs the risk.

What about pain free dentistry?
Through out the years the profession of dentistry has come a long way in reducing the amount of discomfort during and after dental treatment. At our office we will do our best to insure a pain less experience for our patients. Always, before a needle is administered to inject anesthesia, our patients will receive a topical (or "non-injected") anesthetic that is applied to the tissues of your gums and mouth with a swab to prevent pain at the surface level. Injectable local anesthetics, such as Lidoocaine, prevent pain in a specific area of your mouth during treatment by blocking the nerves that sense or transmit pain and numbing mouth tissues. In addition, analgesics pain medications may be prescribed following certain treatments to ease any possible post-treatment discomfort.

How long does it takes to get numb?
Injectable local anesthetic usually become effective with in a few minutes. Since every person's mouth responds with different speed to local anesthetic, we will wait as long as our patients need to feel numb before starting any treatment. We take time and are never in rush during patient care.

What do you do to make my dental visit more relaxing?
We will try our best to make your visit as enjoyable as possible. Please share your feelings with us by bringing your fears out in the open. We will explain to you each step of the dental exam or procedure and the reasons for certain procedures to help relax you. We can schedule short appointments if you prefer so; or we can arrange for a break from a lengthy procedure now and then. If you are having any discomfort, you can signal your dentist to stop with a prearranged signal. Also for your relaxation our treatment rooms are equipped with TV and DVD player and we offer newly released movies and wireless headphones.

Do you offer intra-oral imaging?
We feel you have the right to see what we can see in your mouth. Thus our treatment rooms are equipped with state of the art wireless intra-oral and extra-oral cameras to show you images from your mouth on a 20" TV screen located right in front of you.

How successful are Root canal treatments?
In our office we use three dimensional root canal techniques and the latest in warm filling materials and rotary and sonic equipment in attempt to achieve more predictable results. According to ADA statistics, root canal treatment offers higher than 95% success rate.

Do you accept my insurance?
We accept most insurances except HMOS and a few others. Your insurance policy is a contract between you and your insurance company; however, we will automatically bill your insurance company for services rendered as a courtesy to you. We require deductible and co-pays to be paid at the time of service. You will be responsible for amounts the insurance company has determined as ineligible or not covered in full. At our office, we try to assist our patients as much as possible in estimating patient portion based on the information given to us by their insurance company during verification inquiry. We do not make insurance benefit determination. Only insurance company can do that. Therefore, we welcome our patients to contact their insurance company regarding their coverage and patient portions prior to their visit. If any insurance claim is not paid or only partially paid, the balance will be patient responsibility and billed to the patient. If we cannot verify eligibility prior to treatment, you are expected to pay in full at the time of service. We will be glad to submit your insurance form and direct your insurance company to make payment directly to you. For more detailed information please feel free to call us at (630) 357-2332.

What is Usual and customary fee?
Our practice is committed to providing the best treatment for our patients and we charge what is usual and customary for the quality of services we offer in our area. You are responsible for payment regardless of any insurance company's arbitrary determination of usual and customary rates.

What insurance PPO networks are you a member of?
Aetna, Blue Cross and Blue Shields, Cigna Dental, Compdent, Delta Dental Plan of Illinois, DentMax , Gaurdian, GE Principal Financial, Humana Dental, MetLife, Monex, Phoenix, Physician Organization of America ,Principal Financial Group, United Concordia, United Health Care, Well Point Dental.

How do your fees compare to other offices?
We offer premium care at very competitive and lower fees among dental offices with similar services in our neighborhood. In addition, we offer senior discount and other special offers from time to time.

How long do I have to wait to be seen?
In non emergency cases the usual wait time for an appointment may vary from 3 to 7 days. In Case of an emergency we will try to accommodate our patients as soon as possible.