I paid £350 to dentist and have discovered exact same product on internet for £25
2006-07-03 04:35:37 · 13 answers · asked by Pieman 2 in Health ➔ Dental
I'm a dentist. When you come to me to get your teeth "bleached," I spend time evaluating whether the treatment is right for you, discussing the results with you and, if we proceed, making impressions of your mouth. This takes a minimum of half an hour in the office. After you are gone, we make models in the impressions and then custom adapt a thermoplastic material under vacuum to fit you and only you. This is trimmed and polished. This takes about another 30-45 minutes. Then, you come back and have 5-10 minutes of instruction when the material is dispensed.
My fee is DIRT CHEAP for this amount of time and it is based on the overhead required to operate my office. I set the fee low enough that I would lose money if I went any cheaper. I charge $300 all together for upper and lower. This includes about $50 worth of material and then $250 for the time and labor, etc. Not to mention, I'm there to help at no further charge if you have any problems with reactions to the material.
If you want to buy JUST THE CHEMICAL, I sell that at my cost, which is about $15.00 for two refill tubes. You can get the exact same stuff in the drug store or on the internet for perhaps a little less, but I can't sell it for less than I pay for it. These refill tubes are useless without the properly fitting appliance that I described above.
Insurance has nothing to do with bleaching fees as it is never a covered service. It's cosmetic. As with anything else in the free market, the seller can charge whatever the market will bear. Some dentists offer the exact service with the exact product that I use for two or three times the fee. I just can't justify that, so I don't do it. For me, anyhow, my fee is as low as it can get.
In spite of how this may sound, I am not trying to solicit business on Yahoo! I'm just telling you that the fees for bleaching are very market-sensitive and you can probably find a wide range in your own area.
2006-07-03 11:56:24 · answer #1 · answered by Picture Taker 7 · 4⤊ 2⤋
That's an excellent job on explaining the fee, Dr. Sam.
Has anyone thought about people paying $150-300 for a bottle of wine at a fine restaurant?
2006-07-04 00:47:10 · answer #2 · answered by whitecusp8 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because people will pay it. If enough people said no to paying that price, they would either lower their price, or stop offering the service.
2006-07-03 11:40:56 · answer #3 · answered by David R 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People want it so they can charge as much as they want. Also, people like to get things done for them instead of doing it themselves! Less hasstle.
2006-07-03 11:39:51 · answer #4 · answered by jessigirl00781 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Two reasons. One, you are paying for their skills and services. Two, people are vain and will pay anything if they think they will look better afterwards.
2006-07-03 11:39:55 · answer #5 · answered by psycmikev 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they can. Thanks to insurance companies, dentists and doctors can charge whatever they want because they know the insurance will pay for it.
2006-07-03 11:38:38 · answer #6 · answered by sallymarlyn 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they are greedy buggers, it pays to shop around.
2006-07-03 14:49:37 · answer #7 · answered by Rotifer 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because you were willing to pay what he asked. YOU let him get away with it.
2006-07-03 11:39:52 · answer #8 · answered by 4999_Basque 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they CAN
2006-07-03 11:38:57 · answer #9 · answered by ritabird1 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they can.
2006-07-03 11:39:03 · answer #10 · answered by happybidz2003 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋