Ask the Coder (423)

All diagnosis made for the patient should be noted in the chart, the ICD-9-CM codes do not need to be billed on the ADA2006 claim form.

ICD-9-CM: 523.40 Chronic periodontitis, unspecified The code for generalized marginal pappillary severe gingivitis would depend on if the gingivitis was Acute or Chronic and if it was plaque induced or non-plaque induced your options would range from 523.00 to 523.11/ in order to give the correct code this needs to be more specific. Bone grafts (more)

This is really at the carriers discretion, the way the code reads D1110 is for removal of plaque, calculus and stains from the tooth structures in the permanent and transitional dentition. It is intended to control local irritational factors. An ultrasonic cleaning will by defination do the same as a prophylaxis, however, it is not (more)

Simple extractions D7140 are usually not covered by the medical carrier uless it is due to trauma, injury, or there are more than 7 consecutive teeth in a row. If this is the case you would use CPT code 41899 and send a short narrative along with the claim explaining the circumstances.

CPT codes are only used when submitting claims to medical carriers on CMS 1500 forms, you do not use CPT codes for dental claims submitted to dental carriers on ADA2006 forms.

The best ICD-9-CM code for generalized, gross decay is either 521.03 dental caries extending into pulp as gross caries are usually classified as extending into pulp. However, if the dentist does not make mention of the carries extending into the pulp a better code is 521.09 other dental caries or 521.00 dental caries, unspecified as (more)

In the Preventive section of the CDT manual, a new procedure code was added for topical application of fluoride D1208. The nomenclature was revised for D1206 to indicate topical application of fluoride varnish. Two codes, D1203 and D1204 were deleted. Simply put D1206 is for a varnish while D1208 is for fluoride. The appropriate code (more)

The ADCA will be coming out with an orthodontic specific course and credentials late 2013.

It would depend on the dental software you are utilizing as to how payments are posted and how claims are regenerated, you will probably benefit from contacting your software vendor and having them give you a course on how the software works.