Question: Two days ago I went in for my regular dental cleaning, check up visit.  My dentist told me that I needed to have a deep cleaning.  I told him I would look into it and see if I can afford to have it done after speaking with my insurance company.   I called my dental insurance company that stated that without the ADA codes they could not tell me my cost for the service.  I told them it is just a deep cleaning but they said it was not enough information for them to tell me cost.  What are ADA codes and where do I get them?

Answer: You would get the ADA codes from the dentist that you are going to. There are many different types of deep cleaning codes depending on what your dentist feels would be best for you.  That is why some insurance company will not quote out a rate for dental services without knowing the ADA codes. The insurance company does not want to give you the wrong cost information. To give you an idea of codes for periodontics dental work I listed some of those codes for your review.

4210 Gingivectomy/gingivoplasty, per quad
4211 Gingivectomy/gingivoplasty, per tooth
4250 Mucogingival surgery, per quad
4260 Osseous surgery, per quad
4341 Periodontal scaling & root planing, per quad
4355 Full mouth debridement
4381 Delivery of chemotherapeutic agent
4910 Perio maintenance (following active therapy)
4999 Initial perio charting for moderate or advanced cases