Dr. Clark L. Jones

Phoenix Office:
4025 W. Bell Road
Suite 5
Phoenix, AZ 85053

Tel: 602-938-6709
Fax: 602-439-8485

Anthem Office:
3655 W. Anthem Way
Suite A-117
Anthem, AZ 85086

Tel: 623-551-9700

Exam Appointment

At the first orthodontic visit, (which is no charge) Dr. Jones will thoroughly examine the patient’s malocclusion and a set of 4 digital pictures will be taken (which you will receive a printed copy of when you leave). If you have a panoramic x-ray or a full mouth set of x-rays that your general dentist has taken, we would encourage you to bring them with you at this visit.

During this appointment, Dr. Jones will review the patient’s history and may ask you questions regarding your concerns or your general dentist’s concerns. Dr. Jones will evaluate the patient’s malocclusion and will suggest one of three options:

1. If the patient may need braces at sometime, but is too young at this point, he will suggest that we place the patient on our observation-guidance program to be seen every 6-9 months at no charge.
   
   
2. If the patient is ready to get started with braces, he will suggest you have Full Orthodontic Records (taken at an outside lab) and return to our office for a consultation and treatment planning appointment after the records have been thoroughly diagnosed.
   
   
3. He may recommend that orthodontic treatment would not be the best option or he may recommend no treatment would be needed at this time.

If he does recommend braces, he will discuss with you his preliminary findings and you will be given an approximate fee based on the appliances or braces that will be used, the difficulty of the treatment and the approximate treatment time.

Full Orthodontic Records

These records, which are taken at an outside lab, (approximately 4 miles from our office) consist of plaster study models of the teeth, photos of the patient’s face and teeth, and several x-rays that are different from what your general dentist has taken and a computer aided diagnostic work-up.

Once these records are taken and processed, they are sent back to our office for Dr. Jones to formulate an individualized custom treatment plan for the patient. These records are also necessary in tracking the progress of treatment as the teeth move during orthodontic care.

Consultation

After Dr. Jones has evaluated the records and formulated the individualized custom treatment plan for the patient, this appointment will involve discussing the treatment plan in detail. This will include the specific appliances that will be used during the orthodontic treatment, finalizing the fee and financial arrangements and setting up appointments to have the appliances placed.

Regular appointments

The appointment(s) when your appliances (braces, expanders, etc.) are initially placed usually takes from one to two hours. You’ll then see us at regular intervals 6-12 weeks apart (depending on your appliances and treatment plan) for an adjustment, which usually takes 20-40 minutes.

Our regular office hours are Monday-Thursday 7am-4:30pm and Friday 7-noon. Patients are seen Monday through Thursday and by appointment only. We make every effort to be on time for our patients and ask that you extend the same courtesy to us. If you cannot keep an appointment, please notify us immediately.

Please cancel only in an emergency. Since most appointments are made 6-12 weeks in advance, it can be difficult to reschedule. We realize most of our patients/parents have work or school and we ask for your understanding regarding our scheduling system as every appointment cannot be scheduled before or after school.

The schools understand this concept and accept our “school excuses” as excused absences.

Payment and Office Policies

Cost

The cost of treatment depends on a lot of factors. The severity of the patient’s malocclusion, the appliance or appliances that are being used, the difficulty of the proposed treatment plan and the approximate length of treatment time. You will be able to discuss fees and payment options at your first appointment if you choose.

We offer payment plans to suit different budgets including plans that offer no interest or finance charge. We also accept assignment from most insurance companies and we file the necessary paperwork to the insurance company.

We work very hard to make orthodontics affordable for everyone.

Fees

In an effort to keep orthodontic fees down while maintaining the highest level of professional care, we have established this financial policy:

• If full payment is made on or before the onset of treatment, we will offer a fee discount. (If you have insurance, we will offer a discount for payment of your portion of the fee that will not be covered by insurance).
  
  
• In order to accommodate your individual needs, financial arrangements can be made to extend your payments over a period of months, and most plans are set up with no interest or finance charge.

For your convenience, along with cash and checks, we accept payment by VISA, MASTERCARD and DISCOVER. We accept a phone payments charged to a credit or debit card. We can even arrange to have your credit or debit card charged automatically on a specific day of the month.

• In cases of serious delinquency, treatment will be discontinued. We make every effort to accommodate patients with temporary difficulties as long as we are kept well informed.

Insurance

If you have insurance, we will help you determine the coverage you have available. We ask that you assign your insurance benefit to us and this way your insurance will pay us directly. The balance will be arranged for you to pay (see above). Professional care is provided to you, our patient, and not the insurance company.

Thus, the insurance company is responsible to the patient and the patient is responsible to the doctor. We will help in every way we can in filing your claim and handling insurance questions from our office in your behalf.