Your Visit

Address

2980 Ray Road
Spring Lake, NC 28390

Office Hours

Monday-Thursday
8:00am-5:00pm

Phone

910-778-8485

Fax

910-436-8485

OUR PROCESS

What to Expect

You can help make the first visit to the dentist enjoyable and productive. Your child should be told of the visit and that Dr. Vissichelli and his staff will explain everything and answer questions. Watching a step-by-step guide or reading a story can help your child visualize and understand the process. Children often benefit from role-playing the visit as well. You can pretend to be the dentist while your child is the patient, gently counting and brushing their teeth. Our positive attitude, slow and gentle explanations called “Tell, Show, Do,” and honest answers will hopefully demonstrate that caring for your child is what we do best.

Your positive attitude, too, will make all the difference in how your child responds, no matter what your past dental experiences have been. This is your chance to help them “start off on the right foot” with their dental health.

Before the appointment

Before the appointment, ensure coordination of benefits for dual insurance and obtain digital x-rays if previously seen elsewhere in the past year. Request x-rays from the former dental office or fill out a records request with us. Allow time for record transfer, as it varies.

Called to the Back

A hygienist or assistant will call the child to the back and go over your child’s medical/dental history with you and may take x-rays so that the doctor is able to properly do a thorough exam. The hygienist or assistant will do a cleaning after reviewing the patient’s medical history

Call our office to schedule an appointment

Call our office at 910-778-8485 with your insurance details ready. If you have military insurance, please provide your Benefits Number. Let us know about any specific concerns or special needs your child may have. The first appointment at our office will typically include a cleaning and examination, unless the patient is not eligible for a cleaning.

Exam

Dr Vissichelli will do a comprehensive oral exam involving counting the teeth, checking for any decay, see if the patient’s bite is aligned properly, or if there are any other areas of concern. Dr V will also apply fluoride varnish at the end of a cleaning appointment. If there is any treatment recommended, Dr. V will go over the proposed treatment plan.

Check in With Front Desk

Arrive 15 minutes early and check in with the front desk. Fill out and print patient forms in advance or complete them at the office. Bring: Valid government issued IDs for all adults, insurance card, and custody paperwork (if applicable). For the first appointment one of the parents, or legal guardian with custody paperwork, must bring the child in. On the patient privacy form list other adults who can receive information or bring the child in. Ensure both parents are listed to avoid restrictions.

After your appointment stop by the prize wall to get a prize, and schedule your next visit!

Stop by the front desk and, if treatment is needed, a staff member will go over the estimated price of the treatment plan and can schedule your next appointment with you or take any payment that is due. If there is no treatment proposed it’s recommended to schedule your child’s next cleaning. If you need an early morning appointment or late afternoon appointment it’s highly recommended to schedule your appointment as soon as possible as these appointments typically fill up very quickly.

Office Policies

Scheduling Appointments

We will attempt to schedule appointments at your convenience. Most children do better in the morning when they are fresher. A parent or legal guardian must accompany children under the age of 18 to all appointments. Please let us know of any changes at least 24 hours in advance so that the appointment time can then be made available to others. We will make every effort to be on time for your child’s appointment and ask that you arrive promptly at your scheduled time. Occasionally, an emergency may occur which may cause a slight delay. No charge will be made for rescheduling your appointment, provided 24 hour notice is given so that your child’s time can be given to another patient. If an appointment is missed without prior notification, our office reserves the right to charge a missed appointment fee.

Office Visit guidelines

Parents are invited back during all appointments. This allows Dr. Vincent Vissichelli to meet you, discuss his findings and any treatment that may be necessary. We allow one parent to stay with their child during all visits. If you have more than one child being seen for an appointment on the same day you are allowed to stay in only one room. You may also bring another adult to stay with your other child. Once the appointment is finished the patient and adult must wait in the waiting room until the other appointment is finished. Any adult accompanying the patient is not allowed to walk between rooms/stand outside rooms due to patient privacy. If you want to stay with all children being seen tell the staff member you are scheduling with and they will schedule the appointments back-to-back in the same room.

Using any profanity, or wearing clothing with explicit content is not allowed.
NO video recording devices or cell phones are allowed in the clinical area.
NO food and drink are allowed in the office. To uphold our stringent standards of infection control neither food nor drink are allowed in the treatment area or waiting room area.

For Treatment Appointments
We STRONGLY recommend NO siblings be brought to any treatment appointments. If nitrous (“laughing gas”) is being used for the appointment no one that is pregnant, or might be pregnant, will be allowed in the treatment area for the safety of the unborn child. You will need to come 15 minutes prior to the scheduled appointment to sign consent forms for the treatment. If local anesthetic is used for treatment we advise younger children stay home from school while the area is numb to make sure the child does not bite on their cheek, lip, or tongue. If you have any questions/concerns about the proposed treatment or cost of treatment please call our office at least 24 hours before the appointment during business hours. Please do not wait to discuss this at the appointment time as the time reserved for this appointment is estimated for the treatment only on this day.

For Consultation Appointments
Before booking an appointment, provide a referral, any x-rays, and the treatment plan noted by the previous clinic. Consultations will include an exam but no treatment or cleaning, as insurance may not cover same-day procedures. Be aware of possible co-pays, despite usual coverage for exams.

Finance

Insurance, Payments and Fees

Insurance

INSURANCE – We are preferred providers with Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Delta Dental, Metlife, and United Concordia. However, we accept and will file with any insurance. Benefits are not determined by our office – Insurance companies set their own fee schedules, and each company uses a different set of fees they consider allowable. These allowable fees may vary widely because each company collects fee information from claims it processes. The insurance company then takes this data and arbitrarily chooses a level they call the “allowable” UCR Fee. Frequently, this data can be three to five years old and these “allowable” fees are set by the insurance company so they can make a net 20%-30% profit.

By law, your insurance company is required to pay each claim within 30 days of receipt. We file all insurance electronically, so your insurance company will receive each claim within days of the treatment. You are responsible for any balance on your account after 30 days, whether insurance has paid or not. If you have not paid your balance within 60 days, a finance charge of 1.5% will be added to your account each month until paid. We will be glad to send a refund to you once insurance has paid us.

There are some insurance companies that will only pay to YOU as the subscriber. If this is the case with your insurance, we expect that you pay for services in full. We will still file the claim for you as a courtesy, and you can expect a check from the insurance company to be sent to you within a few weeks.

If your child is covered under two insurances, you will need to have the coordination of benefits done BEFORE the appointment. Coordinating benefits between two insurance companies involves determining which one will be the primary payer and which will be the secondary. You will need to inform both insurance companies that you have dual coverage. They will need each other’s contact information and the subscriber’s information to coordinate benefits. Sometimes there is nothing more you need to do; other times, insurance companies will need additional information such as a custody agreement to coordinate benefits. Our office is not associated with the process of coordinating benefits outside of listing one insurance as primary and the other as secondary in our system. If the COB is not done before we file the claim, neither insurance will pay anything on the claim, and you will be responsible for any balance on the other account.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND that we are not responsible for how your insurance company handles its claims or for what benefits they pay on a claim. We can only assist you in estimating your portion of the cost of treatment. We at no time guarantee what your insurance will or will not do with each claim. We also cannot be responsible for any errors in filing your insurance. Once again, we file claims as a courtesy to you.

Payments & Fees

We accept cash, CareCredit and Visa/Mastercard.

No insurance pays 100% of all procedures. Most insurance companies will have deductibles and co-pays for any non-preventative/diagnostic procedures, and many have co-pays for preventative/diagnostic appointments as well. If you have any questions about co-pays or fees associated with any procedures, please talk to our office business staff. Payment is due at each visit for services rendered. We do not offer payment plans through our office for paying after the date of service. If you require a payment plan for treatment, CareCredit is available which offers flexible and convenient payment plans.

Urgency

Emergency Care

If you have a dental emergency and are a patient of record we have same day appointments available. We will ask you to come in immediately and will work you into the schedule as soon as possible, however there may be a wait.

Toothache: Clean the area of the affected tooth. Rinse the mouth thoroughly with warm water or use dental floss to dislodge any food that may be impacted. If the pain still exists, contact your child’s dentist. Do not place aspirin or heat on the gum or on the aching tooth. If the face is swollen, apply cold compresses and contact your dentist immediately.

Cut or Bitten Tongue, Lip or Cheek: Apply ice to injured areas to help control swelling. If there is bleeding, apply firm but gentle pressure with a gauze or cloth. If bleeding cannot If bleeding cannot be controlled by simple pressure, call a doctor or visit the hospital emergency room.

Knocked Out Permanent Tooth: If possible, find the tooth. Handle it by the crown, not by the root. You may rinse the tooth with water only. Do not clean with soap, scrub or handle the tooth unnecessarily. Inspect the tooth for fractures. If it is sound, try to reinsert it in the socket. Have the patient hold the tooth in place by biting on a gauze. If you cannot reinsert the tooth, transport the tooth in a cup containing the patient’s saliva or milk. If the patient is old enough, the tooth may also be carried in the patient’s mouth (beside the cheek). The patient must see a dentist immediately!

Knocked Out Baby Tooth: Contact your pediatric dentist during business hours. This is not usually an emergency, and in most cases, no treatment is necessary.

Chipped or Fractured Permanent Tooth: Contact your pediatric dentist immediately. Quick action can save the tooth, prevent infection, and reduce the need for extensive dental treatment. Rinse the mouth with water and apply cold compresses to reduce swelling. If possible, locate and save any broken tooth fragments and bring them with you to the dentist.

Chipped or Fractured Baby Tooth: Contact your pediatric dentist.

Possible Broken or Fractured Jaw: Keep the jaw from moving and take your child to the nearest hospital emergency room.

Same day emergency appointments for patients of record.