Question:
My husband lost a filling in a front tooth while on vacation. He found a
dentist to see him right away and the dentist said my husband needed a root
canal. When my husband asked the dentist to do something temporarily until he
was able to see his own dentist, he was told he'd wind up in a lot of pain if
he didn't do it right away. My husband agreed and the dentist then spent about
1 1/2 hours working on him. The bill was $912.00 and they would not take his
dental insurance, so my husband paid for it with a credit card. Could some
caring dentists out there tell me if this was a fair charge? We've had lots of
dental work, including root canals and crowns and never had a bill this large.
Is there anything I could do after the fact? This seems like a gigantic
rip-off. By the way, I've been calling the office for a week and only reached
someone there once. I asked for a summary of the charges, but she couldn't find
my husband's file and said she'd call back. She has not called back and again I
get no answer at the office. Just a machine and no response to my messages.
Anyone out there have a suggestion?
Answer:
If it was just the rootcanal treatment, then I think I'm in the wrong
area.
Mistake one: Get emergency only treatment next time and ask how much
it will cost beforehand. Wait until you get home for anything else.
Nope. Even some uncaring dentists will tell you this is way-high for a
one canal tooth. But it was the dentist's charge and that is perfectly
legal and ethical - except the part about not telling your husband
first.
Compare with, "You can get this for less elsewhere, but my treatment
is deemed the best. I will charge you $912 for this."
Yeh. Go to a trusted dentist and get an x-ray of the tooth. If it is
not perfectly perfect, then you have some course of action. If it is
perfectly perfect, then you are somewhat the wiser. That can be worth
something.
Others, please be advised . . . .
By the way, for a one-rooted tooth, this is outrageouly overpriced.
You could have some recourse if this fee IS NOT his standard fee. I
suspect it is not. I suspect this is the fee for "pigeons on vacation
getting and maybe-not-even-needing root-canals."
Undoing it, legally, is costly. On your own, in a different city, its
tough. You could complain to your credit card company and threaten not
to pay. That's worth a shot, but it requires some resolve.
I got an idea for a new business. General Motors has the NorthStar
system. You press a button in your car that has the icon of the tooth
with the lightning bolt going through it. It e-mails several dentists
who promptly respond back to you.
Alternatively, it sends an emergency message to sci.med.dentistry and
we advise you before the fact.
Now if I can only sell this to General Motors.
If so , my mistake. My problem is may be I don't read everything. Patient
had an emergency...It is also upto a patient to refuse treatment and refuse
to pay as well. If they had charged the bill, they can always dispute it.
What I usually find is there is always another side of story. That is why I
find it hard to critic based on one side. Humans have tendency to withheld
information and just give info that suits their needs. I am not accusing
this person who posted here but just talking in general.
As far as $912.00, I still do not know exactly what the doctor did. Is he
billing for emergency visit, x-rays plus endo, plus post, plus a temp. crown
? It was an anterior tooth wasn't it?
I am not sure. Money does play a big role, but it is a fact that when a
patient is in the chair and it is a borderline case: It may need an amalgam,
a onlay, a endo and amalgam, an endo and onlay, an endo , post and crown, an
extraction, a bridge.... there are vatriables and we try to tell the most
common but sometimes there are surprises that we did not anticipate and fees
change.
The reason we have a problem in dentistry becuase in spite of it being a
health field, people still go shopping for our services... they would not do
it if it was their right hand or their eye or tongue would they?
If it was their life, they would say, do what ever you want...but for a
tooth..it is expendible expense. They have other obligations such as new
sneakers, vacation etc.
