Let’s start by talking about dental insurance. Dental insurance is unlike medical insurance. Dental insurance is a benefits plan that is agreed to by your employer and the insurance company. The insurance company sets forth these plans that dictate what will be covered based on what an employer decides to purchase. The insurance company also decides how much they will reimburse for each procedure and how much of each of those procedures they will cover. Dental insurance began back in the 1970’s as an extra benefit to encourage people to visit the dentist. In the early days, insurance covered up to $1,000 per person per year and there were no restrictions on how that money could be used. This made dentistry more affordable to more people. As time has passed, the insurance companies have steadily raised your premiums, but still, even today, most plans have a maximum of $1,000. Now, there are also restrictions and limitations on how you can use your dental benefits. Some plans have a “restricted network” of dentists, dentists that have agreed to accept lower fees for this plan. Most insurances still allow you to see an “out of network” dentist, but w=your benefit is lower than by seeing an “in network” dentist. Limitations can take a number of forms, most common is not replacing missing teeth that were missing before coverage began. Some also limit the frequency of certain procedures, regardless of actual need for these. Add to this that insurance is always looking to cover the least expensive option, and you ca see why we do not participate in these plans. As stated above, we do not participate in any of the insurance plans, meaning we do not sign contracts to agree to accept lower benefits. We do accept all insurance, but we strongly believe the decision for your care should be a decision made between yourself and Dr. McDowell. We customize our treatment options to your needs, we do not want an insurance company, who has never examined you, deciding what they feel is “best” (insurance talk for least expensive) for you. There a few exceptions, but most insurances will cover your visits here in our office. If you have any questions about your insurance, or would like to find out more about our office, please give our team a call at 978-343-4031.

I made the decision over 7 years ago to begin learning more, advanced techniques and to upgrade my current skills and techniques. As I began exploring my options, I was invited to attend a local meeting as an introduction to The Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies. This introductory class got me more interested in learning more about LVI. I decided to head out to the desert and take the first class- Core I. As I was sitting in the first lecture on the first day, everything that was being said was making sense to me. I always had a difficult time with what we were taught in school about how the bite should fit and work, but finally, I was truly understanding more about this! As the day continued and the lectures began moving to the “whole-body” connection, more pieces began coming into place. By the end of the 2nd day, I knew this was the path that I wanted to follow and continue this journey. I began a 7 year journey that has taken my skills and my techniques to even higher levels than I ever thought!

Over the past 7 years, I, along with my team, have improved our existing skills and learned many new ones. I now have the skills to be able to treat the most difficult cases with confidence. With this new training, we are now able to treat the problems associated with Temporo-Mandibular Joint Disorder (TMJD). These problems that we can now treat include: grinding of your teeth, clicking/popping of the jaws, headaches/migraines, sore neck/shoulders, vertigo/dizziness, tinnitus/ringing in the ears and tightness in the neck. We have also had good success treating tingling/numbness in the fingers, Fibromyalgia, Menier’s Disease, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome as well as others. All of these can be successfully treated by re-positioning the jaws to re-balance the muscles of the head and neck to relax and place in proper alignment the jaws. Before we ever do any permanent work to your teeth, we make sure we will be able to help you.

As you can see, my training has definitely expanded what we can offer! Not only can we create your perfect smile, but we can also relieve other issues that will help to improve your overall health! If you, or someone you know, could benefit from the treatments we offer, please feel free to contact us to schedule a consultation to see if we can help. Our phone number is: 978-343-4031, one of our dental team members will schedule your consultation.