May - June 2010 Newsletter
What´s New at Savon
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Quote of the month: Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855)
Congratulations to K. Perkins of Sun City West, AZ and H. Eynon of Surprise, AZ. the winners of our May and June drawings for 1 free additional year of membership.
K. Perkins and H. Eynon were the winners of our May and June drawings for 1 year of membership for free.
Congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone that entered the drawing.
Chairside Chat with Dawn Lawler:
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Lingering Effects of Dental Anesthetics
“Ugh…When is this numbness going to wear off?”
A question all too familiar in a dental office, and truth of it is, that‘s a loaded question.
The 4 most common local anesthetics used in the dental practice are bupivicaine (Marcaine), lidocaine, articaine (Septocaine), and mepivicaine (Carbocaine). Marcaine is the longest acting injectable dental anesthesia and carbocaine is the shortest acting. Lidocaine and Septocaine are probably the two most frequently used anesthetics.
Dentists will administer any one of the above anesthetics, or their derivatives to patient based on:
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- type of procedure
- length of the time it will take to complete the procedure
- health history of the patient (i.e., sensitivities to epinephrine, blood thinning medications)
- potential post operative pain occurrences
- discomfort concerns of the patient
With a combined equation of procedure, patient, anesthetics and technique (or placement of the anesthetic), a dentist can usually “guessitmate” how long it will take the numbness to wear off. If you have concerns about the effects of the local anesthetics, discuss your options with your dentist, he is more worried about hurting you, than you are.
If you have a particular topic that you would like her to discuss, please drop her an email by clicking here.
Keeping Fit with Jourdin Hendershot:
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Cleft Palate and Cleft Lip
Cleft lip or palate is birth defect that affects the upper lip and the roof of a childs mouth. This happens when the roof of the mouth does not develop normally during the mother‘s pregnancy, leaving an opening in the hard or soft palate that may go through the nasal cavity. Cleft lip or cleft palate is the most common birth defect of the head and neck. Until it is treated with surgery, a cleft palate or lip can cause problems with feeding, speech and hearing.
Symptoms for Cleft palate or lip are misaligned teeth, change in nose shape, failure to gain weight, feeding problems, flow of milk through nasal passage, poor growth, ear infections, also speech difficulties.
Surgery to close the cleft lip is often done when the child is between 6- 9 months old. Surgery may be needed later on the nose area. A cleft palate is usually closed with within the first year of life so that the Childs speech normally develops.
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If you have questions you would like to discuss with Jourdin, feel free to drop her an email by clicking here.
Southern Comfort with Auntie Que:
Shrimp and Grits With Coconut Curry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cups quick grits
- 2¾ cups water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter
Coconut Curry Sauce
- 1 small can (8.5 ounces) cream of coconut (sweetened, such as Coco Lopez),
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice, about 1 medium lime
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- dash cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Shrimp and Remaining Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1½ pounds extra large shrimp, tail on
- 1 package (10 ounces) frozen spinach
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream or whipping cream
- paprika, optional
Cook grits with water and salt, following package directions. Add a little more water if necessary. Stir butter into the hot grits. Keep warm while preparing sauce and shrimp.
Put all sauce ingredients in a blender; blend until smooth and well mixed.
Put about 1 tablespoon of the sauce into another bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil; take shrimp by tails and dip to coat with a little sauce. Place shrimp on broiler pan; broil about 6 inches from heat until cooked through, turning after a few minutes.
Meanwhile, cook spinach on stovetop or in microwave following package directions; drain.
Stir 2 tablespoons cream into remaining coconut sauce; heat through.
On each serving plate, arrange about ¼ of the spinach. Top with a large scoop of the warm grits, then arrange shrimp on and around the grits. Spoon a small amount of coconut sauce over each portion. Sprinkle lightly with paprika, if desired.
Serves 4.
To your health:
Sunburn Relief
Oops…you tried your best, but no matter how effectively you applied that sunscreen, you still got burned! Don‘t fret, according to medbroadcast.com there are 17 items you can use to cool that burn. Most of us are all too familiar with the basics, aloe vera and ibuprofen, but have you tried these? Corn starch and talcum powder, are well known to prevent chaffing and cool those sunburned areas, where the sun hardly shines.
Bathing your sunburn in cool water with baking soda, vinegar or oatmeal also works well to zap the heat of your sunburn. For those of you that appreciate the herbal remedies, witch hazel, lavender and eucalyptus are among some favorites.
The next time you catch yourself a little too much sun, check out Medbroadcast.com and try some of these amazing home remedies that really work!
The above health material is provided as an information service. It should not be used for diagnostic purposes nor is it intended to take the place of the important relationship between you and your doctor.
A question from a member:
Question:
Why does the fee schedule say the price of my crown is one thing, but the doctor charged me more? Aren‘t the doctors supposed to charge according to the schedule?
Savon's Answer:
Yes, all Savon Preferred Providers are contracted to the Savon Fee Schedule. Sometimes, especially with crown and bridge work, dental offices bundle the crown and the lab fees into one price, which would make your crown appear higher than what the fee schedule allows. All of our fee schedules have sub codes (which appear as a letter a,b,c, or d) next to any procedure where the crown, bridge, denture, or partial have allowable lab fees that can be charged by the dentist. These fees vary depending on what type of restoration you are having done. We recommend that you verify with the dental office what type of crown, bridge, denture, partial, etc. you are having done and what is the lab charges on top of that. For any reason the math still doesn‘t add up, do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care Team for assistance.
News You Can Use: News From Inside Your Dental Plan
Attention Seniors 65 Years And Older!
Savon Dental Plan offers Single and Double Senior Plans to all members 65 years and older. Seniors can enjoy all the same great benefits of Savon‘s Basic Plan at a lower annual membership rate that makes it a bit easier on your pocketbook! If you are a current member who is approaching renewal of your membership plan and would like to convert your plan to a Senior Plan, call our Customer Care Team and they would be happy to make the transition for you.
Please keep in mind that seniors must be over the age of 65 for a single plan, or both parties must be over 65 for a double plan. The Senior Plan is only valid for the Basic Plan and does not replace coverage for those that require the Plus Plan.
Fun Facts
Random Facts to SIZZLE Your Brain With!
- Phobophobia is the fear of fear.
- The Supreme Court ruled on the difference between fruits and vegetables in 1893.
- The can opener was invented about 50 years after the can.
- Logizomechanophobia is the fear of computers.
- Lifesavers candy has a hole in the middle primarily because of a machine malfunction, but the manufacturers thought it was a good idea, so they kept it that way.
- Paul Revere never said "The British are coming" because, at that point in history, everyone in America was still British.
- The average person says 5,000 words in one day.
- One toad can eat 10,000 insects in one summer.
- "Rats live on no evil star" is the same forward as backward.
- The book Gadsby has over 50,000 words, and none of them have the letter E.
Come back for more in next months issue!
Dental Talk - a member blog forum
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Come blog with us! Dental Talk with Savon is a fun forum to post your interesting topics! Your comments are welcome, it‘s free to use and no membership is required.
Some of the topics include;
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These are just a few of the topics. Our blog site contains many other interesting topics. Please join us!!
Insurance Insight - An Indepth Look At Medical Insurance - Part I
Contrary To Popular Belief...Putting Medical Insurance Myths To Rest
“Carriers are always looking for ways to get out of paying claims!”
A carrier cannot legally deny any claim unless it is fraudulent or not within the scope of the policy to pay. For instance:
(1) it is related to a preexisting condition that the carrier had already indicated it would not cover (patient has a rider or waiver)
(2) either the patient or the provider committed fraud (50% of all medical fraud is committed by providers)
- a: doctor writes down an incorrect diagnosis in order to get a claim paid
- b: doctor agrees to take cash and not put the claim through the insurance then does
- c; patient lies about how long he has had symptoms because they started before he obtained insurance and he waited to seek medical attention
- d: patient lied on application and carrier discovered it later when they got records
(3) it is not a covered or eligible expense to start with (i.e., naturopathy, elective surgery ), maternity on a plan that has no maternity, etc.
(4) service wasn‘t provided by an in-network provider, so benefits are reduced
Over 96% of all unpaid claims are unpaid legally and within the guidelines of the policy; there are no “hidden” restrictions; every carrier has a page entitled LIMITS AND EXCLUSIONS and that is where the so-called “fine print” would be (i.e., no coverage for over the counter products, spa memberships, weight loss programs, hot tubs, vitamins, self-inflicted injuries or acts of war, injuries that would otherwise by covered by Workman‘s Comp, etc.). The fact that an applicant may not read the basics of the plan brochure before or even after he buys is not the carrier‘s fault, though prudent points of a policy should be pointed out by the agent. Not two policies are alike and no one should assume they are.
Read Part 2 of this article in July‘s newsletter!!!
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