Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

One of the benefits of having a PPO dental plan is flexibility in choosing your dentist. Many PPO plans allow you to receive benefits whether your dentist is in-network or out-of-network, although coverage can vary depending on your specific plan. That’s why it’s important to look beyond simply whether a dental office accepts your insurance. A helpful dental team can verify your benefits, explain your coverage, provide an estimate of your expected out-of-pocket costs, and submit claims on your behalf. At our Herndon dental office, we help patients understand their PPO benefits before treatment so they can make informed decisions about their dental care. 

What Having a PPO Actually Means for You

One of the advantages of a PPO dental plan is flexibility when choosing your dentist. Depending on your specific plan, you may have benefits available both in-network and out-of-network. Coverage, deductibles, annual maximums, and your estimated portion can vary, which is why understanding your individual benefits is more helpful than making assumptions based on the name of your insurance carrier alone.

At The Tooth Doc Family Dentistry, we accept and work with nearly all PPO dental plans. Our team can verify your benefits, review your coverage with you, provide an estimate of your expected out-of-pocket cost before treatment, and submit insurance claims on your behalf. Even if we are not contracted with your specific insurance carrier, you may still have benefits that can be used at our office.

Because every dental plan is different, we encourage patients to contact our office with their insurance information so we can help them better understand how their benefits may apply to their care.

The Carriers We Work With Most Often

When you call, it helps to name your specific carrier and plan rather than just asking whether we take insurance. Families at Tooth Doc most often check for:

• Aetna
• Delta Dental
• Cigna
• MetLife
• UnitedHealthcare
• United Concordia
• GEHA
• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• DentaQuest

We accept and work with nearly all PPO plans, along with Medicaid and Smiles for Children. Naming your specific carrier when you call still gets you the fastest, most exact answer about your particular plan.

Why It Matters Who Files the Claim

Some offices hand you the paperwork and expect you to sort out reimbursement yourself. That's an extra task on top of an already busy week. We verify your benefits and walk you through your estimated cost before any treatment starts. Then we file the claim on your behalf, so you aren't the one chasing your insurance company afterward. It's a small difference on paper. It's a real one when the bill actually arrives.

Let Us Help You Understand Your PPO Benefits

Dental insurance can be confusing, and you don't have to figure it out on your own. If you're considering our Herndon dental office, simply give our team a call with your insurance information. We'll verify your benefits, review how your plan may work at our office, and provide an estimate of your expected out-of-pocket costs before treatment. We work with PPO plans every day and are happy to help you understand your coverage so you can make an informed decision about your dental care.

Request an Appointment when you're ready.
Call (703) 793-0076 or reach out online, and we'll verify your PPO benefits and walk you through your estimated cost before you commit to anything, whatever carrier you have.

Our office is proud to be a provider of the Invisalign system. Invisalign offers orthodontic treatment to correct a wide range of problems, including crooked teeth, gaps between your teeth, overcrowding, and bite problems.

Invisalign offers you a way to straighten your teeth without the unsightly and uncomfortable brackets and wires involved in traditional braces. The Invisalign aligners are comfortable, clear plastic trays custom made to fit your teeth. The clear plastic trays are practically invisible when they're in place, allowing you to correct your teeth without anyone knowing you're undergoing orthodontic treatment.

Every few weeks, you switch to the next set of aligners in the series, gradually adjusting your teeth into the right position through small changes in the fit of each set of aligners. The gentle, gradual adjustments will help your teeth and gums grow accustomed to the new positions, helping to keep overall treatment times down.

Other benefits of Invisalign include:

• Gentle tooth adjustments that lead to less pain during your orthodontic treatment
• Removable aligners, which don't limit what you can eat while using Invisalign
• No need to perform adjustments, meaning fewer visits and quicker dental appointments during treatment

If you are interested in finding out if you are a good candidate for the Invisalign system, call our office today and schedule a consultation exam.
 

While our office strives to perform conservative dentistry whenever possible, sometimes an extraction is necessary. Whether it's due to excessive decay or a severe abscess, crowding of other teeth, or partially erupted or “impacted” teeth (usually wisdom teeth), our Herndon dental office staff has years of experience in safely and painlessly removing teeth.

If you need to have a tooth pulled, we will schedule an appointment for the extraction. Anesthesia will be used to ensure you feel no pain during the procedure. Once the tooth is pulled, we will provide you with information on how to properly care for the extraction site. Aftercare is very important with tooth extractions to ensure they heal well and to help you avoid dry socket and other complications.

We offer a wide range of restorative services including bridges and full and partial dentures to restore the missing tooth once the site has healed. If you are having teeth extracted in preparation for orthodontic services, be sure to ask us about Invisalign, a gentle and comfortable alternative to traditional braces.

Having a tooth pulled is never a fun experience, but with our gentle and experienced staff on the job, we can keep your discomfort to a minimum and help improve your oral health by getting problem teeth removed quickly and painlessly. Call our office today to schedule your extraction appointment.
 

Looking for a dentist who takes Medicaid can come with a worry that has nothing to do with teeth. Will the office treat you differently once they see how you're paying? It's a fair question to carry into a search, and it deserves a straight answer before you ever pick up the phone. Here's what Virginia's Medicaid dental coverage actually includes and what a visit here looks like once you walk in.

Understanding Virginia Medicaid Dental Benefits

Virginia Medicaid provides dental benefits for eligible children and adults through Cardinal Care Smiles, also commonly known as Smiles for Children. Depending on your coverage and eligibility, benefits may include preventive care such as exams and cleanings as well as treatment such as fillings and other necessary dental services.

Because benefits can differ based on age, eligibility, and the type of treatment needed, you don't need to sort through the details yourself before making an appointment. Give our office a call with your information, and our team can help verify your dental benefits and explain what may be covered before your visit.

Good Care Doesn't Depend on How You Pay for It

Some people expect a Medicaid-accepting office to feel rushed, or to treat Medicaid patients as a lower priority than everyone else. That's not how we see it here. Dr. Ahmad's whole approach is built around explaining every step and never pushing treatment a patient doesn't need, and that doesn't change based on which card is on file. Families on Medicaid and Smiles for Children get the same unhurried exam and the same plain-language explanation as anyone else. We'll explain any recommended treatment and answer your questions so you understand your options before moving forward.

What to Bring to Your First Visit

A little preparation makes the first appointment faster. Bring a photo ID, your Medicaid or Smiles for Children card, and any referral paperwork if your plan requires one. If your child is the patient, bring their Medicaid card along with your own ID as the parent or guardian. None of this needs to be perfect. Not sure what you need? Call us before your appointment and our team will let you know what information to have ready.

Call Us Before Your Visit and We'll Help You Check

Medicaid dental coverage can vary depending on your age, eligibility, and specific benefits, and you shouldn't have to figure all of that out on your own. If you're looking for a Medicaid dentist in the Herndon, Reston, or Sterling area, give our office a call. Our team can check your coverage, help you understand your dental benefits, and let you know what to expect before you schedule your visit.

It's a question we handle regularly, so don't hesitate to call, even if you're not sure exactly what type of Medicaid dental coverage you have. We'll help you figure it out.

You're Welcome Here However You Pay

If you have Virginia Medicaid or Smiles for Children and aren't sure about your dental benefits, give our Herndon office a call. Our team will be happy to check your coverage and help you get started. We keep Saturday hours, we see the whole family, and Medicaid and Smiles for Children patients are simply patients here, not a separate tier of care.

Request an Appointment when you're ready.
Call (703) 793-0076 to confirm your specific Medicaid or Smiles for Children plan before you come in. We're glad to check for you.

Starting your child off right with the dentist is important. We recommend your child's first “well-baby” dental exam as soon as their first tooth grows in or no later than one year of age. Starting dental visits at a young age not only helps prevent dental caries in baby teeth but also teaches your child that a trip to the dentist is nothing to be afraid of.

Cavities in toddlers are becoming more prevalent, and it's important to treat these cavities, even in baby teeth. Untreated cavities can not only lead to pain, discomfort, and swelling, but baby teeth also serve important functions in ensuring your child's permanent teeth grow in properly.

If a baby tooth is lost early and the space is not maintained, permanent teeth can grow in improperly, resulting in crowded teeth, uneven gaps, and crooked teeth. Once the permanent teeth come in, the only way to fix these problems is through orthodontic treatment.

Many adults with a fear of dentists developed this fear as children. Keeping a positive attitude about the dentist, talking about good dental health with your kids, and creating a friendly relationship between your children and our dental staff will all help keep the chances of fear of the dentist from following them into adulthood. Dr. Ahmad also uses the "tell, show, do" method when performing dental procedures, helping your child to understand what is happening and allay their fear of the unknown.

If your child has their first tooth or is a year old and has not yet seen the dentist, call today to schedule their first visit.
 

We know you lead a busy life, and we want to make scheduling your trips to the dentist as easy as possible. We offer a wide range of appointments, including times not usually offered by most dentists, such as Saturday appointments!

Our normal hours of operation are as follows:

• Monday 9 AM - 6 PM
• Tuesday 9 AM - 3 PM
• Wednesday 9 AM - 6 PM
• Thursday 10 AM - 3 PM
• Friday Closed
• Saturday 9 AM - 3 PM

Keep in mind that Saturday appointments fill up quickly, so plan ahead and schedule in advance to ensure you get the date and time that works best for you.

If you are experiencing a dental emergency, contact us as soon as possible. We keep a block of same-day appointments available for emergencies so you can be seen without delay. If it is late in the day or after hours, we can schedule you for the next day and offer other assistance to keep you comfortable in the meantime. If you are experiencing a life-threatening emergency, please contact 911.

Call our Herndon dental office today for an appointment that works with your schedule.
 

At our Herndon dental office, we understand that many patients experience some level of dental anxiety. You are not alone! Millions of people have the same fears you do.

Our team is both caring and compassionate. We work with our patients at a comfortable pace and let them know that they are always in charge of their appointments so that treatment does not feel quite so stressful. However, we understand that sometimes comfort and compassion are not enough. That is why Dr. Imaney Ahmad decided to offer sedation dentistry for those patients who have trouble relaxing while in the dental chair.

Dr. Ahmad offers two types of sedation dentistry:

Nitrous oxide – Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas as it is sometimes called, is our mildest form of sedation and is safe for most patients – even children! Nitrous oxide is inhaled through a mask. Dr. Ahmad can control the level of sedation throughout the appointment. It enters and leaves your system quickly without residual grogginess. You will be able to drive a few minutes after your treatment.

Conscious sedation – Oral conscious sedation is our stronger form of sedation and provides relaxation without needles. We administer medication approximately one hour prior to your scheduled treatment. Once the sedative takes effect, you will feel dreamy and relaxed. You will still be able to respond to our questions and will remain conscious, however you will need someone to take you home after treatment because you will be unable to drive.