Fees, Insurance & Membership Plan | Meridian Dental Studio

Standard fee schedule · January 2026

What things cost here before any insurance is applied.

Procedure	ADA code	Standard	Member
Comprehensive new patient exam	D0150	$145	Included
Full digital X-ray series	D0210	$189	Included
Routine cleaning, adult	D1110	$132	Included
Routine cleaning, child	D1120	$98	Included
Scaling & root planing, per quadrant	D4341	$325	$260
Periodontal maintenance	D4910	$178	$142
Composite filling, one surface	D2391	$228	$182
Composite filling, three surfaces	D2393	$348	$278
Same-day ceramic crown	D2740	$1,340	$1,072
Porcelain veneer, per tooth	D2962	$1,450–1,850	−20%
Root canal, molar	D3330	$1,285	$1,028
Extraction, simple	D7140	$265	$212
Extraction, surgical	D7210	$425	$340
Implant, placement only	D6010	$2,300	$1,840
Implant crown & abutment	D6058 + D6057	$1,850	$1,480
Invisalign, full case	D8090	$4,200–6,800	−20%
In-office whitening	D9975	$395	$316
Custom night guard	D9944	$625	$500
Emergency exam & focused X-ray	D0140 + D0220	$95	$95

Fees effective January 2026 and reviewed annually. Ranges reflect genuine clinical variation, not negotiation — a ten-unit veneer case costs more per tooth than four because of laboratory time. Your written estimate always states a single number, not a range.

Insurance

We file it. You don't chase it.

We verify your specific benefits before your appointment rather than after, so the estimate you get on day one is the number you actually pay. If a claim is denied we appeal it ourselves.

In-network plans

We are contracted with these carriers, which means our fees for you are the discounted network rates.

Delta Dental PPODelta Dental PremierCigna MetLifeAetnaGuardian United ConcordiaBCBS of ArizonaPrincipal Ameritas

Out-of-network? Still come in. We file the claim on your behalf and the carrier reimburses you directly. Most PPO plans pay a similar percentage either way; the difference is usually smaller than people expect, and we will calculate yours before you commit.

We do not participate in dental HMO or DMO plans, and Medicaid/AHCCCS adult dental is not accepted.

Use it or lose it

Most plans have an annual maximum between $1,000 and $2,000 that resets on 1 January and does not roll over. If you have unused benefit and outstanding treatment, we will tell you in November rather than let it expire quietly.

Pre-authorisation

For anything over about $800 we submit a pre-treatment estimate and wait for the carrier's written response before starting. It adds two to three weeks and removes essentially all of the risk of a surprise.

Ask for Tom

Tom Larsen handles insurance and billing and has done for six years. Call him with your member ID before you book and he will tell you what your plan covers, in plain numbers.

(480) 555-0142

No insurance?

The Meridian Membership.

Not insurance — a direct agreement between you and this practice. No deductible, no annual maximum, no waiting period, no pre-authorisation, no claim forms, and nobody in an office in another state deciding whether you may have a crown.

Child · under 14

$19/ month

or $209 a year

Two cleanings & exams
X-rays and fluoride
Sealants included
20% off other treatment

Adult · most popular

$29/ month

or $319 a year

Two cleanings & exams
Full X-rays once a year
Emergency exam included
20% off other treatment

Join

Periodontal

$45/ month

or $495 a year

Three or four maintenance visits
Full X-rays once a year
Emergency exam included
20% off other treatment

Household

−15% per extra person

from the second member on

Applies to anyone at your address
Mix child and adult plans
One monthly payment
Cancel any time

The membership plan is not dental insurance. It is a discount agreement with this practice. It has no cash value, cannot be combined with insurance benefits, is not transferable, and covers only treatment performed at Meridian Dental Studio. Membership runs for twelve months from the join date and can be cancelled at any time — unused preventive visits are not refunded, but nothing is charged after cancellation.

Paying over time

Financing that isn't a trap.

Deferred-interest plans charge you every month of back-interest if you miss the payoff window by a day. We will point that out before you sign, which is more than the brochure does.

CareCredit

Six, twelve, eighteen or twenty-four months at 0% on approved credit. Read the terms: these are deferred-interest promotions, so if any balance remains at the end of the term, interest is charged retroactively from day one. Pay it off inside the window and it genuinely costs nothing.

Up to 24 monthsDeferred interest — read terms

Cherry

Soft credit check that does not affect your score, decision in about sixty seconds from your phone, and no retroactive interest on the 0% plans.

Soft check · no score impact

FSA & HSA

Dental treatment is an eligible expense. We take FSA and HSA cards directly and provide itemised receipts with codes.

Cards accepted

In-house payment plan

For treatment over $2,000, split across three payments at no interest and no credit check. Ask Renee.

3 payments · 0%

Sequencing across years

Where treatment can safely wait, we stage it across two calendar years so you use two annual maximums instead of one.

Often saves $1,500+

Money questions

Asked more than anything else.

When do I pay?

Your estimated portion is due on the day of treatment. If the insurance pays more than we estimated, you get a refund — automatically, not on request. If it pays less, we absorb the first $50 of the difference because the estimate was ours to get right.

Is the membership plan better than buying insurance?

For most healthy adults who mainly need cleanings, yes — an individual dental policy typically costs $30 to $60 a month, imposes a waiting period of six to twelve months on major work, and caps out around $1,500 a year. If you know you need several thousand dollars of treatment and can wait out the waiting periods, insurance may still win. We will do the arithmetic with you honestly, including when the answer is "buy the policy".

Why is the same crown cheaper down the road?

Sometimes it genuinely is, and sometimes the quote excludes the build-up, the abutment, or the ceramist. Ask any practice for the full itemised list of codes rather than a single headline number, then compare like with like. If someone local beats us properly on an identical spec, we would rather tell you to take it than pretend otherwise.

Do you offer a discount for paying up front?

Five per cent on treatment plans over $3,000 paid in full before we start. It is not a large discount and we would rather you kept the flexibility, but it is there if the cash flow suits you.

Prices before you sit down.