When All Else Fails: Dr. Austin’s Top-7 Favorite Tips for

Free, Reduced or!Affordable Dental Care

Dr. Catrise Austin

When All Else Fails: Dr. Austin’s Top-7 Favorite Tips for Free, Reduced or

Affordable Dental Care

§  Where can one start if you really don’t have any money to pay for the products and procedures listed here? I know scouring the web, hitting the pavement and filling out paperwork to pay for your dental procedures can be exhausting, frustrating work.

§  Most frustrating of all is that you may make too much to qualify for this program but not enough to qualify for another; when trying to gain funding – or even access to funding – for dental care there can be as many ways to keep you from resources as there are resources themselves.

When All Else Fails: Dr. Austin’s Top-7 Favorite Tips for Free, Reduced or

Affordable Dental Care

§  So before you give up completely, check out my following seven favorite tips for getting the funding you need for the A-List Smile you deserve: 1.  Get creative: Most dental offices take major credit cards. BUT... most

will even give a standard discount of 5% (or more) if you pay in full with cash or check before you start the procedure. If it’s too much for your pocketbook to get all the procedures at once, spread the necessary work over time. If that doesn’t work, go discount: Costco bulk discount stores offer dental care in some locations.

2.  Seek charity: Here are a few dental charities/programs that offer qualified candidates free dental care:

§  Smiles For Success (American Association of Women Dentists) §  Give Back A Smile (American Academy of Cosmetic Dentists)

When All Else Fails: Dr. Austin’s Top-7 Favorite Tips for Free, Reduced or

Affordable Dental Care

3.  Find training: Thanks to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, you already know that dental schools offer reduced fees for dental services, but did you know that certain training hospitals in each state will have dental residency programs where readers can also get reduced fees for dental services? Services are provided by dentists who have graduated and are licensed (in most cases).

4.  Negotiate wisely: When all else fails, it doesn’t hurt to negotiate or barter with your dentist if you have a service or skill to offer! For instance, maybe you are a carpenter and your dentist needs office repairs.

When All Else Fails: Dr. Austin’s Top-7 Favorite Tips for Free, Reduced or

Affordable Dental Care

5.  “Plan” ahead: If your company doesn’t offer a dental plan, ask them to join a plan but tell them you and your co-workers will pay 100% of the premium. You’ll save by getting a group rate and have an easier time than looking for an individual plan.

6.  When All Else (Really) Fails – Clinical Trials: NIDCR sometimes seeks volunteers with specific dental, oral and craniofacial conditions to participate in research studies, also known as clinical trials. Researchers may provide study participants with limited free or low-cost dental treatment for the particular condition they are studying. To find out if there are any NIDCR clinical trials that you might fit into, visit the NIDCR web site at http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/ and click on “NIDCR Studies Seeking Patients.” For a complete list of all federally funded clinical trials, visit http://clinicaltrials.gov. If you do not have access to the Internet, you may need to visit your local library or ask a friend or family member for assistance. To see if you qualify for any clinical trials being conducted at the Bethesda, Maryland, campus, you can call the Clinical Center’s Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office at 1-800-411-1222. [Source: NIH Publication No. 07-6097]

When All Else Fails: Dr. Austin’s Top-7 Favorite Tips for Free, Reduced or

Affordable Dental Care

7.  Lay-away or pre-pay for your smile: When it comes to getting an A-List Smile, timing really IS everything. If you can plan – and budget – ahead, it might be a good idea for you to lay-away – in other words, pre-pay – for your dental procedures. That’s right; you can actually prepay for your smile by sending in payments in advance of starting the treatment. Once you’ve sent the dentist the agreed amount, they can begin the work.

§  “A beautiful smile leaves such a lasting impression!”~ Mary Mary

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Dr. Catrise Austin 119 W. 57th Street, Suite 512 New York, New York 10019 Phone (212) 262-6054 Website: http://NYCCGD.com As a New York Cosmetic Dentist (10019), we offer a variety of dental services including but not limited to: Cosmetic Dentistry :: Dental Crowns :: Dental Health :: Dental Implants :: Family Dentistry :: General Dentistry :: Porcelain Veneers :: Composite Veneers :: Restorative Dentistry :: Braces :: Smile Makeover :: Teeth Whitening :: Sedation Dentistry. As a New York Cosmetic Dentist (10019), we serve the following areas: We serve patients all over the world as well as those in the following areas: Manhattan, NY :: Harlem, NY :: MidTown, NY :: New York, NY :: Time Square :: Upper West Side :: Upper East Side.