why is dental care so expensive? my teeth are awful and i am in pain, but no dentist around here is helpful?

Question

they don't take partial payments. there isn't a dental school around here, and dental insurance is a joke. I am glad other medical isn't like dentistry

Answer 1

I will never understand why dentists are expected to take partial payments.

Does your grocery store take partial payments? How 'bout your auto mechanic? Hair salon?

I"ll try to be helpful first and answer your question second. Call dentists and ask if they offer Care Credit or another financing option. This basically works the same as a credit card - you apply and then they pay for your work or at least a portion and you pay it off over time. This way a large corporation with resources to follow up (ie, pursue collections if necessary) handles your repayment. Of course if you have lousy credit, this doesn't help you. To be honest, if you are in acute pain, this problem can be resolved for around $200. Yes, that's a decent chunk of change but not so much relative to other care. I know people who pay this much to have their hair cut and colored or one trip to the mall, and they are not "rich" either.

Why do you think dentists should take payments? If you are a long time patient and you've paid payments in the past here or there, they might trust you to do so in the future. However, if yor'e someone who just comes into the practice off the street, why should I give you care without knowing if I'll be paid? You SAY you will? What if you get the treatment and then are unable or unwilling to pay? I just have to eat that cost? I'll be honest - I DO this with a few really poor folks in my area, but what if all the poor people then come to me cuz word gets out? Eventually, I will run out of money, my staff won't get paid and they'll quit and I won't be able to keep supplies in stock and will shut down. Then I'm helping NO one. My receptionist is busy with her work now...she doesn't have time to call people all day saying, "Yeah, hey, are you going to pay us this month's $100 or....?"

I'm 120,000 in debt for my dental education. This payment is $600/month. my practice cost in the rough neighborhood of half a million to purchase, to which I pay $5000 per month. Every two weeks my staff gets paid, which costs 10-15 thousand. Supplies are a few thou a month, rent is about 2K/mo. When I get done paying everything -I- owe for the office, i then get some money to take home and pay my mortgage and all the other bills I have. I haven't even gone into taxes - payroll, income, worker's comp, licensure etc etc. and also the 9 diff kinds of insurance I have to carry to stay open.

Now, most dentists are pretty well-off, but let's look at this way: While other people were enjoying their youth, I was spending most of my 20s getting that education. Living on Ramen noodles and studying my *** off for 8 years... most dentists feel there shoudl be a pay off at the end of that road.

Lastly, if you think other medical isn't like dentistry, you are fortunate enough to have not had a major hospitalization...They will bleed you dry for that stuff. OF course, if you can't pay, evntually they just write it off and because they write it off, the bills are higher for everyone who pays out of pocket or insurance, and there's an upward spiral. -I- don't like this any more than you, but our country has chosen an administration that has spent billions of dollars on half-assed foreign "adventures".... I'm no socialist, but we could probably cover yearly dental for every American with what we spend in Iraq in a WEEK.

sorry about the topic change, but that's what it comes down to...capitism is wonderful, but you get business interests controlling even the most sympathetic dentists! The gov't doesnt' care about your teeth, so you have to get insurance and THEN you're at hte mercy of ANOTHER business interest that's out to make a profit. Most European countries, Japan...heck, COSTA RICA has better health care solutions than US despite how rich our country is as a whole.

sorry to vent, but as you can see, the situation is frustrating for me as well. See if there are any non-profit clinics in your area - I've worked at one that I helped open for the last 3 years before buying my practice and it's really great.

Answer 2

If your teeth hurt then you probably have a cavity. The cheapest thing to do is have the tooth pulled completely if the dentist says you have a cavity. I don't recommend it because you should keep your teeth for life, if possible. But if you really can't afford much then do that. Call around to denists in your area, there may be an understanding one. Some dentists DO take payments.
Also visit the ada.org and look on the website for dental schools. There are many dental hygiene clinics around the country that could at least advise you what your probably may be with your teeth, and they can clean them.

Answer 3

I'd say to get a second opinion, although it is not because I question the proposed treatment. It is only to help the parents feel more comfortable with the need. You can NOT say, "They're only baby teeth. Let them fall out." If you do that, besides subjecting the child to undescribable amount of pain and dangerous infections, you are condemning the arch for of the permanent teeth. The baby teeth serve to hold the position for the permanent teeth. As far as the dollar amount, it sounds like a lot to me for nine teeth, no matter what they need. If you are in a major metropolitan area, especially in the northeast, the family may not find much difference in fees, though. It is conceiveable that the dentist might show some consideration in the fees charged. This is amounting to $2,500 per hour in dental fees, which is pretty much the highest I've ever heard. It's true that there is a lot more involved than simply the 2 hours treatment time, but it's still a pretty good remuneration. If I am doing ONE procedure, I really don't have much flex room in the fee, because that's how I personally calculate things. If I am doing two of the same procedure, but true unit cost goes down. If I am doing 9 of the same procedure, it goes down even more. In my office, it is my practice to charge the usual fee for all procedures, unless there are special circumstances AND if I am able to complete the treatment in less time per unit than if I did it all as individual procedures. In other words, I can't charge someone $600 for 4 fillings that took me less than an hour to do. I tend to reduce the fee somewhat to more accurately reflect what I choose to earn per hour. In other words, I charge by the meter and not by the mile. The family MIGHT make some headway if they approach the dentist with this concern. "Doc, I know that it is worth saving little Johnny's teeth and I can understand how it might cost four or five hundred to do the pulp treatment and crown on one tooth, but I was wondering if you would consider giving us a bulk fee instead of an itemized fee. It's going to be very hard to afford this, but I don't want to let Johnny go without this treatment. Can you help us out?"

Answer 4

This is the most frequently asked question on this site:

"I need dental work and dentists are greedy b*stards who want money to treat me."

The dentist above is right...if you think your dentist is ripping you off and should take payments, go to 8 years of school, graduate, pass the state boards, buy a practice complete with equipment, hire a staff...

Then start giving dental care away. It's the least you can do.

Answer 5

You could try a walk in clinic. Also call around to other dentist outside of your town. There are ones that have a sliding scale. That's where you only pay a portion up front and billed for the rest, rather than making a full payment before services. Good Luck.

Answer 6

Because dental insurance can be expensive I would recommend a discount dental plan. This plan www.sterlingdentalplan.com has almost 70,000 dentists you can visit and it's pretty cheap and will help you visit the dentist more affordably. Any questions let me know, I know a ton of people who have used this plan and saved money and finally got the dental work they needed.

Answer 7

Some dentist offices take credit cards. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc know the cost of tuition before they enter that particular field. , but that is their choice. I am sure if you didn't pay up, you would be placed in a collection agency. A lot of college graduates never paid back any of their tuition. A few years back they were going after them to pay back the tuition. If this action was successful who knows.
Some men go into the military to get GI loans to help with tuition cost at a lower interest rate., scholarships and grants.
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Answer 8

I had a service call to "clean my pipes" when our sewer line was sluggish. The gentleman was here for FIFTEEN MINUTES. I mean, from the time he rang the doorbell until the time he slammed his van door on his way out of the drive was FIFTEEN MINUTES. He took one cap off a pipe and did the plumber's equivalent of opening up a tooth for root canal with a 3 foot snake. That was all it took. He charged $169.00 for this, which was his minimum charge for a service call. Let's say that was all he could make in an hour, because he has to drive from one location to the next. This money is HIS money, as he answers his own phone and handles all of his own business. He has no salaries to pay. As far as I can see it, he had to pay for gas to get to my house and that was his only variable expense involved in the call. His fixed expenses are for his equipment. In my case, he used a snake that is exactly like one I saw at Home Depot for thirty bucks. Depreciate that over a 7 year period....... Nevermind. You understand what I'm saying.

Personally, after 8 years of higher education, I'd like to have a net income close to what the man who opened up my sewer pipe makes per hour.

Answer 9

I know what you mean they make a bundle, they have to pay lab fees and rental fee's and so much others fee's if they were being payed by manitoba medical we would never notice right, my dentist is great, he lets me pay off a bill for as long as i need too, no rush:)

Answer 10

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