(Founder)J. Kyle House, D.D.S.received his D.D.S. degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and served as a General Dentist in the US Army. While stationed in Giessen, Germany, he was given the opportunity to treat children and discovered that pediatrics was clearly his favorite field. He attended his Pediatric Dental Residency at Madigan Army Medical Center, Fort Lewis, Washington and the University of Washington. After leaving the Army, he spent five years as the Director of Pediatric Oral Medicine at Scott & White Hospital Systems in Temple, Texas. Dr. House completed his Pediatric Dental Board Certification in April 1996. In 1999, he moved to Oregon to open his private practice in Hood River, which has expanded to five clinics (three in Oregon and two in Washington).
Dr. House's main concern is advocacy and access to care for children. He has served on numerous local, state, regional and national organizations that work to improve children's access to dental care, and has testified on behalf of children on a national level, providing medical information to lawmakers. In addition, Dr. House is a Consultant to the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry and has assisted in providing their Oral Clinical Exams since 2006.
Dr. House enjoys being an active part of the community and spending time with his wife, Jill, and his three daughters. His latest project is developing a vineyard and learning about winemaking and viniculture. He likes being outdoors and loves to cook, creating imaginative breakfasts, and like a true Texan can explain the critical differences between grilling and barbecue.
You may have noticed that sometimes your dental insurer reimburses you or the dentist at a lower rate than the dentist 's actual fee. Frequently, insurance companies state that the reimbursement was reduced because your dentist 's fee has exceeded the usual, customary, or reasonable fee ('UCR') used by the company.
A statement such as this gives the impression that any fee greater than the amount paid by the insurance company is unreasonable or well above what most dentists in the area charge for a certain service. This can be very misleading and simply is not accurate.
Insurance companies set their own schedules and each company uses a different set of fees they consider allowable. These allowable fees may vary widely because each company collects fee information from claims it processes. The insurance company then takes this data and arbitrarily chooses a level they call the 'allowable' UCR Fee. Frequently this data can be three to five years old and these 'allowable' fees are set by the insurance company so they can make a net 20%-30% profit.
Unfortunately, insurance companies imply that your dentist is 'overcharging' rather than say that they are 'underpaying' or that their benefits are low. In general, the less expensive insurance policy will use a lower usual, customary, or reasonable (UCR) figure.