How it works

/How it works
How it works2017-05-05T20:29:39+00:00

For any dental practice, the Smilecare Patient Payment Plan is simple to set up and simple to run. It has two principal objectives.

Firstly to encourage patients to attend regularly for consultations, examinations and periodontal care and secondly to minimise the amount of administration required within the practice.

As such, Smilecare will not only save you a considerable amount of time, it could also save you a great deal of money. 

Frequently asked questions

What's on offer?

You decide the type of scheme you want to offer your patients.

The main plans that our practices have are:

Membership/Maintenance Plan – Based on a Preventative Care Plan, you can offer various options according to frequency of examination and hygiene visits and level of cover.

Capitation – after an initial assessment of the patient, this will include not only examinations and hygiene visits but other treatment such as fillings, crowns, extractions.  It will not include items such as cosmetic and orthodontic work.  We work with you to ensure that the correct treatment is included at the correct fee.

Hygiene Plan – A patient will decide which level of cover is best for them and pay monthly for their hygiene visits.

Children’s Plan – We will work with you to ascertain what is included and at what fee to set the plan at – this plan will encourage your younger patients to remain with you through loyalty to the practice.

Orthodontic Plan – This plan will allow your patients to pay for their orthodontic treatment is monthly payments.

Alternative NHS Plan – A very effective plan when costed correctly and when you do not have the capacity to take an any more NHS patients.  Patients receive private treatment at a discounted rate which makes it an attractive alternative to the NHS.

What do I call it?

You decide how you want to ‘brand’ the scheme. We generally recommend that it is promoted under the name of your practice in order to avoid any confusion in the patient’s mind and at the same time build on the goodwill you have established. If the practice does not already have a strong brand then we can help create one with our graphic design and marketing services.

What does it cost?

You set the fee levels with our help. It is essential that fee levels are correct from the very start of the plan and our vast experience will ensure that you set the fees on a realistic value.

We feel that our administration charges are extremely competitive.  Our admin charges decrease with every 1,000 patients registered onto your plan.

Transfer of existing patients

If you already have a scheme (or schemes) in place you can quickly and easily transfer them to the Smilecare plan.

Administration

Smilecare provides all the administration and collects all the fees by direct debit from your patients. The fees are forwarded to the practice by bank transfer within 21 days of collection.

Registration

We will assist you in advising your patients and will administer all patient applications. Generally we arrange that patient application forms are sent directly to us in pre-paid envelopes, relieving the practice of a huge administrative burden. In our experience patients respond very positively to the plan and the reassurance it provides in relation to on-going care and commitment by the dentist.

When can I join?

Your practice does not need to pass any ‘tests’ to join the Smilecare plan. We do not impose any qualification criteria or minimum standards on the dentist. It is our belief that the best people to run a dental practice are those who have studied and practice dentistry and that there is a general requirement for less red tape, not more.

Other treatment

Patients requiring additional treatment, over and above regular examinations and scaling and polishing, pay on a fee per item basis. Most practices offer a discount for other treatment as a benefit of plan membership. In fact most of our practices now offer a discount on examination and hygienist fees for plan members, enabling the patient to perceive a saving from the moment of joining the scheme.

Insurance

Worldwide accident and emergency insurance is available and is provided by The Dental Insurance Partnership.

We do not insist that insurance is included in your plans.

Smilecare Limited are an Appointed Representative of The Dental Insurance Partnership Limited FRN 565072.

Interest free credit

We are able to offer an interest free credit facility to patients at competitive rates. This is an extremely powerful marketing tool for more expensive treatment plans and reflects that the practice is seeking to help the patient in every possible way.

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Marketing and training

Smilecare will provided practice branded leaflets and posters for your practice.  A member of our team will come to the practice to speak with them team about how your plan works and how to speak confidently to patients about joining the plan.

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