About 15 minutes work for $312.50… and no happy ending.
Itemized bill (after asking me yet again, “Are you sure you don’t have a dental plan?”):
- Specific examination & diagnosis …………….. $32.50
- Single image – Intraoral Periapical …………… $16.00
- Three Surface-Acid Etched Molar …………… $264.00
That second item was simply a totally unnecessary x-ray to look at my very visible broken tooth. So, basically, 16 bucks for nothing.
And, *snort* – “diagnosis” — he wanted to give me a crown for the low, low price of only $950. We’d laughed earlier about the fact I share the same last name with the inventor of a particular dental instrument. But, as I told them, I’m not the dental heiress they thought I was, so I opted to have the stupid tooth patched by just refilling it. He told me, as I have a hairline crack in that tooth, the patch might last a day or 10 years. I said, “I feel lucky.”
So, I guess I’ll start trying to save for the inevitable down the road. However, that’s one dentist who won’t be seeing my smile again, with or without a dental plan.
UPDATE: On second thought, maybe it’s possible I’m the long, lost 5th cousin twice removed to some dental fortune. Perhaps I should ramp up the ol’ genealogy search to cash in – lol.
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I wonder what the dentist’s actual overhead is like?
Yes, I know equipment, upkeep, dental supplies, employees — it all adds up. One thing I found odd: There are two dentists sharing this one office space but they both have their own receptionists each with their own receptionist’s desk space. I’ve seen other situations like that where they share one receptionist in order to cut costs. I should have clued into that when I made the appointment.
And when he filled my tooth, he added an excess of filling material and then removed a lot of superfluous material. WTF?! My previous dentist would build it up more slowly & perhaps have to remove a little if necessary. It seems he wasted a lot of material, and guess who paid for that. No, I think I’ll be shopping around a bit for a regular dentist.
You definitely need to find a new dentist, like your old one! Seems reasonable to me.
Having run my own businesses for years, in various fields, it often seems attractive to business owners to share costs but frankly it often turns out to be a false economy. And you, the unfortunate customer, may get squeezed in the middle.
Good luck on your search, Natasha!
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