Why do dentists jack their costs so high?

Question

Before you flame, lets be reasonable here. We live in a society where you can get contacts and/or glasses cut in an hour or less. Where your eyes can be lasik'd for $750. Bones can be put into a sling and cast for $250. I recently had a surgery to fuse a disc in my neck which, after insurance, I paid a total of $75. $75!

These are teeth. Crowns, root canals, fillings, plates... ceramic and plastic. This is not a complicated process, folks. Yet since the pain can be worse than having a vertebrae fused, dentists know you will pay whatever it costs. It truly is ridiculous what they charge. And dental "insurance"...isnt.

It sometimes can cost less to fix your car than to get a root canal. Cheaper to fly to Las Vegas from NY than to get a crown put on. And forget serious dental issues. I can get an XRay of my back for damn near nothing, but $80 for XRays of my teeth?? Comeon...Yeah. They "care".

Maybe I should train as a dentist? So if I wanted to pay less at the gas pump, maybe I should just start my own oil company... geez..

Cost of equipment and staff should not have any bearing on the cost of procedure since other medical procedures have to pay often times MORE employees and equipment. Its costs far more to run a hosptial than a dental office. As an aside - hospitals will BILL you, but dentists wont even touch you unless you pay up. All the while knowing good and well that you are hurting terribly.

At this point, Im convinced that socialized healthcare is the answer. Odd that we care enough to socialize our education system, but not enough to provide medical care to everyone. In November Im voting for any democrat that will talk serious healthcare reform.

Answer 1

come to england it a hell of alot cheaper, but just remember dentist train for 5 years to get where they are,,
if u find it such a problem maybe u should re train as a dentist

Answer 2

Contacts are made a million at the time. You go to the shelf and pick the correction that you need. Eyeglasses are not much different. (By the way... My brother is an optometrist and all of my patients complain to me about his prices.) Lasik surgery is so easy, you could probably train a monkey to do it if you had the equipment. THIS is a real case of just charging what the market will bear. Any ophthamologist would admit this. It's the equipment and liability issues that drive the cost up.

I beg to differ with you when you say these are not complicated processes. Each and every time you have anything done to your teeth - short of cleaning them - something must be fabricated that is 100% totally customized for you and your tooth alone.

I won't get into an argument defending my fees, but I will argue with your logic. How can you possibly say that salaries and equipment expense should have no bearing on fees? WHO is supposed to pay for those things, which are absolutely required to deliver your care? If we do not deliver a certain standard of care, you would be the first one to turn around and sue for malpractice, so we need all of these things and these people to be sure that we do everything right to keep you happy.

You are right that dental insurance is not any good. It's a money-making scam for the insurance companies and there is no debate about that. It is not "true" insurance the way medical insurance is. Or used to be.

To compare dental care to education is a lark. If dental care "measured up" to our education system, nobody would have any teeth left at all. "No tooth left behind" would take on a whole new meaning.

If you think socialized dental care is the answer, stick around here a few days and read all of the questions from the UK from people who can not get adequate dental care without going to Eastern Europe or without waiting for 45 days with a toothache.

The last time I had a sewer line cleaned, the guy was in and out of my driveway in less than 15 minutes. His bill was $169.00.

Call me the next time you get a toothache.

Answer 3

Socialized Dentistry would not mean we would have quality Dentistry. That is not the answer. Dental Insurance reform is what we need. Many insurance plans allow you to "spend" $1000.00 -$2000.00 per year on dental treatment. This is known as your maximum benefit allowable. That amount has not increased since the 1960's...Do you think the rent, salary, liability expenses, supplies, etc. has not increased for your Dentist sinced the sixties? A Root Canal and Crown on a molar tooth in the zip code I live in would cost you about $2000.00. If you had an insurance plan that covered these procedures and paid the usual 80% , you would reach your maximum benefit allowable with one tooth and you would still pay a lot out of pocket. Many of the patients with these type of benefits would choose to do the Root Canal one year and leave a temporary filling covering the occlussal surface until the next year and then do the crown. They risk recontamination of the Root Canal or worse fracturing a fragile tooth and having to have it extracted, both of these can lead to more pain and money. Then if the tooth is o.k.,next year they do the Crown over their Root Canal and maybe a Filling on another tooth then again they are maxed out early in the next year. They better hope they have a good year, free of Dental emergencies.

Group insurance is certainly better than an Individual plan for the patient. Most Individual plans end up covering about 25% of the Dentists fees and have all kinds of limitations and exclusions and a patient can end up paying for everything and still be left to pay the premium of his nearly useless Dental Insurance. Once a person retires they lose any group coverage they had, what then?

Insurance companies also drive up the cost of Dentistry. Patients want to choose a Dentist that is in their Insurance network so Dentist enroll to get the patients. The Dentist then has agreed to accept a lower fee from those patients for the same quality Dentistry as his cash paying patients. It takes the same supplies, time etc. but he is going to lose money by treating those patients. Then there is the cost of filing insurance claims. If the claim gets there on the first submission (that doesn't happen too often) it is going to take 4 weeks or longer for the Dentist to get paid. But often a claim has to be resubmitted more than once and then it is sent to review by some Dentist hired by the Insurance to deny your claim and they request more x-rays, notes to justify your treatment etc. I have seen claims take six months to get paid. Do you think the credit card the Dentists used to buy your Dental materials used during your Root Canal has not charged interest in the meantime.

We need Insurance reform.

Answer 4

I agree the cost is crazy anymore and many people go without care since , especially the people who do not have free dental care from the goverment or the ones who can afford insurance. The medical supplies are CRAZY; it is not right and the companies who sell the supplies should be ashamed. Some of the things they buy cost less by going to your near by drug store. I do work for a dental surgeon and just one tool he had to buy was 75,000 dollars. The other is the liability insurance they have to have because our coutry has became so SUE HAPPY. It is totally out of control. One little thing goes wrong that is natural to happen people want to sue. When I was young things were done right in the office and if you ended up with a scar from stitches, well that is apart of life that is the way the body heals. So some of it is the American peoples fault. Do shop around because I have noticed some are better price than others, plus today they do offer things for people without insurance like Care Credit, or Capital ONE Health care financing.
Actually medical expenses are MUCH higher and more out of control the difference is medical insurance is much different than dental insurance,if you have it. It only covers so much per year and does not pay 100% except for cleanings etc. But the insurance is MUCH cheaper than medical insurance. Do you know if you do not get medical insurance from your employer (which is paying a good share of your bill) will cost you from 300 to 600.00 a MONTH ! Your employer is covering the extra cost.
I do know where I work, to do a full xray it cost us 35.00; that just the cost for the film and the chemicals that are $$$ for us to buy, this does not even reflect the cost of the machine and repairs that has to be done. The medical field has many other things they do that can make up for their cost. No different than a HUGE dept. store can afford to take some losses vs a small family own store. They have many other things to sell to make up the loss. Plus it would blow your mind of the boxes and boxes we have stored from people who NEVER paid.

Answer 5

Hmmm..you pose an interesting question. It is unfair to compare how much you paid for medical costs post insurnace and dental costs with no insurance. Do you really think that without your medical insurance that your neck surgery would have only cost you $75..come on...lets be realistic here.

Another statement you made: "Crowns, root canals, fillings, plates... ceramic and plastic. This is not a complicated process, folks" If these are such uncomplicated procedures, than why don't you read a book, train yourself, then complete your own dental work at home. DIY! I am guessing that does not sound like a legitimate option, now, does it?

Dentists went to school for MANY years in order to master a practice of completeing dental work. I went to school for four years to be a dental hygienist and I would not even want to consider diving into the complexities of removing decay, creating a perfect filling or making the margins of a crown and occlusion perfect. If this sounds like something you would like to do instead of paying a trained professional to complete if for you, good luck.

Dental materials are very expensive, college is very expensive, rent is very expensive, hiring employees are very expensive, sterilizing instruments is very expensive...all this adds up. Is the dentist supposed to eat the costs of running a business and go into debt so you can have a free filling...probably not. I am sorry you feel this way, but unfortunately, life is expensive.

I paid $350 to get my car aligned and tires sealed and rotated. Am I upset at the auto dealership becuase they charged me $350 for 30 minutes of work...no, because I am simply happy that I can rely on a trained professional to provide these services for me.

Remember to brush and floss!

Answer 6

I paid 2000 for two crowns and two root canals plus some composite, the crowns cost the dentist nothing since I work at the lab they were made.they get all the mark up and pay the labs very little puting all the cost on the lab.they have lobyist so they can have a monopoly. they spend 8 years in college plus another 4 working under a lead dentist not to mention the cost of equipment, the building, and pay the staff. hope that tells ya something.

Answer 7

Forgetting the inflammatory nature of your question for a moment - your logic is completely flawed.

Most dentists are in small or private practice. How many physicians do you see in private practice today? Most of them have been forced to team up with other medical professionals in Group Health or other clinic-type settings. They share equipment and refer out specialty procedures to cut costs.

Not a complicated process? Really? Maybe you could just run down to Walmart and pick a crown off the shelf. After all, does it need to fit exactly? Maybe the margins are a bit off, but why worry about recurrent decay?

Comparing the cost of intricate health care procedures with airline ticket costs (which is an entire study in advanced mathematics), auto mechanics, or mass-manufactured contact lenses is just silly.

Sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder about dentists in particular. Do you feel the same way about brain surgeons or oncologists? Maybe they should give away their services also.

Yes, the vast majority of dentists DO care. They'd have to! It can be thankless work with people like you quesitoning their ethics all the time. Believe me, there are plenty of easier ways to earn a good living.

You have the nerve to ask responders to "be reasonable", yet you obviously are not.

Answer 8

ok first of all i'm no dentist but u need to grow up n realize there are less dentist than doctors they hav to pay for equipment n stuff n anastesia watever just like eye doctors ya know if u would try to find an insurance company that can help u mite b a little happier dont just look for 1 n if u cant then go to the emergency room they can help they can give u a form to fill out if not then call around there r some cheaper rates but remember they r a smaller business thats y

Answer 9

Brush your teeth and take good care of them cause the expense to repair may be high. The dentist has to pay for his office, staff,medical supplies (which can go through the roof) and at the same time they are not exempt from the high cost that other charge. Add in the cost of living and I'm sure you're find most dentist to be fair..... To answer your next question ... NO... I'm not a dentist.

Answer 10

C'mon, medical procedures cost much more than dental; it is just that insurance cover them better. I think we should wonder why dental insurance doesn't cover well.
I think that doctors and hospitals jack up their costs unreasonably high; dentist are ok.

PS- for the record: I am not a dentist, nor is anybody in my family.

Answer 11

Because society has an obsession with beauty. Nobody wants ugly teeth. And with all the commercials we see about whitening products and invisible braces, how our teeth look is just one more thing that is burned into our minds ... along with how our clothes look and whether or not we are too fat. Dentists aren't stupid, they know that most people will pay the price to be beautiful.