Patient information

Short notice appointment cancellation, failed attendance or late arrival (of more than ten minutes) disrupts service for other patients and our staff. Due to our small business size and high demand for appointments at Iris Dental, the following cancellation policy applies:

• Clients are not ordinarily requested to pre-pay for dental consultations or treatment.
• Where a client cancels an appointment or does not attend, offering less than 48 hours’ notice:
  • At first occurrence: we understand that situations can happen (extreme weather, emergencies, traffic etc.) and we will NOT request a cancellation fee.
  • For second and subsequent appointments: we often request a deposit in lieu of a short notice cancellation fee. The deposit will be requested to reserve a further appointment and be attributed to your future transactions.
  • Cancellations with less than 24 hours’ notice incur a short notice cancellation fee at the discretion of management.
• Cancellation Fees are non-refundable.
• Iris Dental reserve the right to request clients who; continually cancel appointments at short notice, fail to attend, arrive late or are simply rude to source another service provider.

We exist to personally care for our patients and keeping to schedule is the only way we can continue to offer our quality service to all our patients.

Payment is required on the day of treatment. Should you wish to discuss your concerns regarding payment, our friendly staff can be available to explain your options. With extensive treatments, you will be given a personalised treatment plan, which will show you the treatment that we recommend with the expected costs.

Dental Fees:

1. Unlike Medicare, dental fees are not subsidised by the Federal Government and there is no recognised fee schedule.
2. Fees have to be set by the dentist to take account of individual costs of practice which will vary in different practices.
3. As a general rule, a dentist has to pay out approximately 70% of all fees received in the overhead costs of running the practice.
4. If this practice tries to cut these costs to lower the fees you pay, there is a danger that the quality of your treatment may be compromised.
5. The fees charged in this practice are kept as low as possible whilst providing care of the highest quality.
6. There is not comfort in providing cheap dentistry as it means a lower quality of care for patients.
7. The best way to lower you dental costs is to prevent dental decay and gum disease in the first place. Regular check-ups are a relatively inexpensive way to avoid higher costs.

Dental insurance

When you take out health insurance to cover you for dental fees, you should be aware that:

1. Each health fund determines what level of rebates it will pay, based on its own commercial requirements.
2. An important aim of some health funds is, quite appropriately, to make profits for their shareholders as well as to provide rebates for their customers.
3. The rebates payable on dental fees are unlikely, in many cases, to cover more than 60% for common dental items and may cover less than half the cost of complex and expensive procedures.
4. For some people, these rebates may be of assistance in offsetting some of the costs for more expensive procedures but some arrangements may not always represent value for money for routine dentistry for you and your family.
5. If you have a problem with your private health insurance, you should contact the fund directly. If you are unable to reach a satisfactory agreement with your fund, contact the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman, an independent body formed to help resolve complaints and provide advice and information. Before paying premiums for dental benefits, or selecting a particular benefit table, you should ensure that these costs represent value for you and your family.

HICAPS

All patients should check whether your health fund is included on the HICAPS website in order claim any dental costs.