Arnold Smiles (General Dentistry)

12/14/2023

Today is “National Horse Day”… making it the perfect day to share photos from our holiday party. We have the most awesome team, and planned (and executed) one of the strangest/coolest work parties in history. Lunchtime party, buffet spread from Honey Bee’s in Kirkwood, a fun game of “Rob-your-Neighbor”, followed buy some mini-horse selfies/snuggles/ and an impromptu “horse show”😂🤣😂. We had the party at my crazy house, and my mini horses and dog were SO EXCITED about all the visitors. My white horse “Lady” was begging to come in the house to play the games. So happy most of our team was able to attend. Wishing all of you Happy Holidays…. And I hope your work parties are half as strange and fun as ours was!—❤️Dr Mariscal

11/06/2022

Sneak peak of the new billboard design. I’m working on a mock up tonight. Thanks Suzy Gorman for always making us look good…. Even when we are literally bobble heads🤣😂🤣

09/02/2022

We are proud of Dr Kirthi Tata. She doesn’t just create beautiful smiles at our office… she also does amazing things with the MDA and American Dental Association! In her ”free time” she helped the American Dental Association start a podcast.

At this year's American Dental Association , a new podcast will premiere called “Dental Sound Bites,” an ADA podcast created for dentists by dentists. MDA Dr. Kirthi Tata and Graham Naasz, both UMKC School of Dentistry alums, helped the ADA develop the “Dental Sound Bites” podcast and were two of several early career dentists and dental students who helped the ADA create it. Follow link to read more and thanks Drs. Tata and Naasz for your leadership! We can't wait to listen! ada.org/publications/ada-news/2022/august/your-favorite-dental-podcasts-live

03/30/2022

Who has see the April issue of St Louis Magazine? Do the doctors on page 79 look familiar? Thank you to our peers and St Louis Magazine….but most of all thank you to our team and our patients who allow us to do what we love❤️

11/17/2021

Update: RE Delta Dental

1. I want to thank everyone who reached out to Delta Dental. We have received a “Cease and Desist” from Delta Dental’s attorney (which is why the original Delta Dental FB post was removed). We tried to make this work. However, the fight is over.

2. All dentists in our practice will be out of network with Delta Dental starting December 1, 2021. Many of you have received letters from them already. Due to fundamental disagreements with Delta Dental, I made the difficult decision to terminate Arnold Smiles’ relationship. If they change their business practices in the future, I would love for us to rejoin Delta Dental’s network.

3. What does this mean for patients with Delta Dental insurance? This is the big question. We understand that Delta Dental allows each employer to create their own plan. In the past, we have seen thousands of different Delta Dental insurance plans with many different benefits. Some employers even have more than one tier available to their employees. Most policies also have out-of-network benefits. We have been a “Premier Only” practice since 2016. We understand that almost all Delta Dental policies with Premier benefits have Out-of-Network benefits. We will be helping patients navigate their policies to see if this increases what you pay when we see you. I will do everything in my power to help you during this transition. Please let us help you explore your Out-of-Network benefits before you think about changing insurance.

4. We plan to send a letter to all patients with Delta Dental announcing our network departure and our plan moving forward. I will have more answers for people in the coming weeks. If you would like for us to review your benefits, please send us an email at the address we have set up for this project, arnoldsmilesinsurance@gmail.com, and we will contact you for additional information.

Thank you for your help and understanding as we go through this difficult process in the coming months.

Sincerely, Erin Mariscal, DDS/ Owner Arnold Smiles

12/09/2020

We are collecting toys for the Bennett Project! We have a collection box in the waiting room for anyone who would like to donate. Of course we will be filling it with some presents too🎁🎁🎁🎁

09/19/2020

We’ve been busy implementing a new feature that we hope makes your busy life just a little easier! You can now schedule appointments online for your preventative visits (cleanings/exams) and you can also schedule online for problem focused exams (tooth ache/ broken tooth). This feature is available for our existing patients and also for new patients. We will continue to book restorative treatment appointments (fillings/crowns)over the phone for now. Scheduling buttons/book now buttons have been added to our website, Facebook and Google. We always try to stay on the cutting edge of technology, and hope this feature makes your life a little easier! 🙂

09/02/2020

We’ve had a busy few months reopening and installing all of our new air quality systems. Our surgically clean air jade units have been installed in all treatment rooms, and our cascade unit that’s the size of a refrigerator has been installed in the center of the office. We have extra-oral suction units and also have fitted all of our hvac systems with the i-wave ionizers. As always, your safety and the safety of our team is our top priority!

05/08/2020

Update: We are tentatively planning to reopen for routine care Monday May 18th. It looks like we will have the equipment and PPE we need by then. We will continue to monitor the Covid-19 situation and advisories for dentists. In Jefferson County we were allowed to open this week. We chose not to because we didn’t have our new filtration system yet and because we are so close to St Louis County we felt we should wait. I will post more details as we get closer to opening about all the cool stuff we are doing and new streamlined protocols. We are excited to get back in the office and serve our patients.... and I just wanted to share that we are getting close!!!!!

05/01/2020

My professional essay was published this morning. I wrote this Monday morning just to collect my thoughts and share what I’m going through as a dentist and business owner. Thanks to my dear friend and amazing hygienist Christina Lindberg for encouraging me to submit it for publication❤️
https://www.smerconish.com/news/2020/5/1/a-dentists-covid-19-dilemma

In the post-COVID world business owners are grappling with the new normal, but few have as many unknowns as dentists.  Our profession is among the few that cannot be done while everyone is wearing a mask, leaving both providers and patients vulnerable to a virus we still know little about.

04/24/2020

Covid 19 Update:
I want to take a moment to let everyone know what our plan is for reopening. The American Dental Association has given some guidance on resuming routine dental care. Ultimately they are leaving it up to each doctor’s professional judgement on how to return to the new normal.
They have recommended things like temperature checks and social distancing in the waiting room. In my professional opinion this is not enough. We have invested in a “surgically clean air” filtration system for the office that is due to arrive sometime in May. In addition we have invested in extra-oral suctions to capture aerosol as it’s produced that will be positioned next to treatment chairs.
I hope that our patients trust us and understand why we are not rushing to reopen routine care. Our goal is always to provide the highest level of treatment in a safe and caring environment. Our team is like family to me and we decided together this is what we want to do. I want them safe. My family all comes to the office for dental care. I want them safe. I feel like our patients are like family, and I hope you understand that your safety comes first.
We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new equipment and of course we are anxious to return to patient care. It’s what we do! We are still providing emergency care for anyone with urgent needs.
Unfortunately I don’t have a firm date for when we will reopen, but just know that we are working on it. A tremendous amount of time has been put into learning about this and we have made a significant financial investment in new equipment.
As equipment starts to arrive we will slowly start reopening. I am hopeful we can be back to our new normal by June 1 or before. Thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
Erin Mariscal, DDS/Arnold Smiles

03/20/2020

We remain open seeing dental emergencies only, by appointment, to help reduce the burden on our emergency rooms. We have donated all extra masks and gloves from our office to a local medical practice. Our phones are being answered during normal hours if you need anything!

03/17/2020

03/16/2020

Our fridge is stocked with all kinds of goodies for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow! 🎩 Who else is having an office potluck this week to celebrate St. Paddy's? 🍀

03/16/2020

To Our Valued Patients:
Our priority at Arnold Smiles is to provide an experience that promotes the health of our patients and employees. As a professional health care provider, we are monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely. The safety of our patient is our top priority.
We want you to feel confident when visiting our practice. We have enhanced our cleaning procedures and have encouraged our employees to take additional safety precautions with our patients and within our office.

1. We recommend any patient experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to stay home:
• If a patient has had a fever or experienced flu-like or upper respiratory symptoms in the last 14 days or been in contact with anyone suspected of COVID-19 exposure, we kindly request that you call our office to reschedule your appointment.
• To minimize the number of people in our office, we respectfully request that you do not bring siblings, friends, or relatives to your appointment

2. We will continue to maintain a clean and safe environment and comply with OSHA and CDC infection control guidelines. We have standard protocols in place to disinfect all surfaces and patient contact areas with hospital level disinfectants on a daily basis. We sterilize or safely dispose of all instruments and products used during patient care. We utilize personal protective equipment (e.g. masks, gloves) to keep you and our team members safe
• We have temporarily removed items that pose a risk of cross-contamination (e.g. magazines, children’s toys, etc.) from our waiting room
• The waiting room will be thoroughly disinfected regularly by a member of the Arnold Smiles team

3. We support a healthy work environment for our employees and patients
• Staff members have been directed to say home if they are running a fever, exhibiting symptoms, or have an ill family member. We will be taking every team members’ temperature prior to their shift starting.
• To monitor patients, we will be taking their temperature upon arrival for their appointment. We will ask anyone with a temperature over 99.6 to reschedule.

We will continue to monitor this situation closely by staying in contact with the CDC, health organizations, and other medical experts.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in this matter. Together, we can help keep the spread of this virus at bay.
Thank you,
Your Team at Arnold Smiles