Patient Information
What to Bring:
For your first visit, please bring the following:
• Your insurance card, if you have dental insurance
• The referral your dentist gave you, and any X-rays if you have them
• A list of medications you take and medical conditions you have
Financial Options:
We are happy to accept cash, check, or all major credit cards.
We work with most insurance companies, and we are preferred providers for Aetna, Cigna, Guardian, Delta, DeltaCare, Humana, Assurant, DenteMax, and Solstice. We will also help submit insurance claims to companies we are out of network with and they typically still cover a significant portion of the treatment costs. We are out of network but still submit to: MetLife, United Concordia, Blue Cross, and others.
Instructions:
BEFORE ENDODONTIC TREATMENT:
Please take all medications as you normally do on the day of treatment. If you can abstain from taking any type of pain medication on the day of the initial consultation, our diagnosis will be more likely to be accurate. All other types of medications should be taken as usual.
Eat a normal meal before your appointment. If treatment is performed, you will not be able to eat right away.
If your physician has instructed you to take antibiotics before a dental procedure, please take them as directed. If you are uncertain or if you do not have the necessary antibiotics, please call before your appointment and let us know.
After Endodontic Treatment:
There is likely to be mild discomfort after endodontic treatment. To minimize discomfort, we generally recommend that you take 600 mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours. If that proves insufficient, two regular strength Tylenol may be taken every 6 hours in addition to the ibuprofen. If you are not sure if your health permits you to take those medications at those doses, please call us or your physician and ask. If your pain is not being managed with over the counter medications, please let us know.
Prescription pain medications and antibiotics are rarely needed, but if you have been prescribed a medication, take it as directed.
Your temporary filling needs two hours to set. Do not eat during this period. If you feel that the entire filling has come out before you are able to have a permanent restoration placed, please call the office.
After endodontic treatment, you need to return to your regular dentist within one month for placement of a final restoration.
After Endodontic Surgery:
1. Do not lift your lip—this could tear your sutures and cause a delay in healing.
2. Bleeding: A small amount of bleeding is normal for several hours after surgery. A very small amount of blood will turn a large volume of saliva red. If heavy or continuous bleeding occurs, please call. You may need to lay a towel on your pillow while resting.
3. Pain: If pain medications have been prescribed, they are best taken before the numbness wears off. Because you have had surgery, some post-operative discomfort may be present, even with your prescription. Do not take pain mediations on an empty stomach.
4. Antibiotics: If you have been given a prescription for antibiotics, take all the tablets as prescribed. Start today.
5. Swelling or bruising may occur after endodontic surgery and may continue for several days. If fever develops or if the swelling becomes severe, please call the office.
6. Eating: Do not drink alcohol while taking pain medications. It is important that you receive proper nourishment and rest while healing. Unless otherwise instructed, it is usually more comfortable to limit the diet to cold soft food for the first day. It is also very important to stay hydrated. Do not miss meals, and remember to drink fluids.
7. Oral hygiene: Continue to brush and floss the other areas of your mouth as normal. The day after surgery, you may gently rinse using warm salt water. Do not initiate rinsing until 24 hours after surgery. Once the area is no longer hurting, you may brush and floss, but if what you are doing is hurting, stop doing it.
8. Sutures: Sutures will need to be removed at the post-operative check appointment.
