A Dentist Question

[Judy Judy Judy]

My regular dentist retired and I am seeing a new man that has taken over , whenever I go to the dentist, every single thing that I have done has to be done in seperate visits, I had two teeth filled, he did one in one appointment and one in another, why I don't know, I have insurance and still with both fillings it cost me over 100.00 a piece out of pocket

Today I went to the dentist for a cleaning and he said my teeth needed a deep cleaning to the tune of 185.00 ( my part) for the first cleaning and 145.00 ( my part ) for the second cleaning...WHAT
I took the basic cleaning, which my insurance covered and the assistant did and it took 10 minutes if that.

I wanted one of the teeth that he had filed in an earlier visit to be smoothed out because it was very rough and I had to make another appointment , after I was already sitting in the dentist chair, so I went out to the waiting room and two minutes later they call me back..what... it took all of 5 minutes and we were done.

My question is : is this normal for a dentist office to have to have an appointment for every single thing you have done, even if they're not even busy?

 

[C.Ann]

If he's getting a co-pay every time, that's why he's scheduling everything separately..

Personally I would find a new dentist.. I've had doctors like that in the past and I ditched them..

 

[Kirby]

I don't know but I think that you are being scammed. I've had more than one tooth filled at a time. They were on the same side of my mouth though. My dentist tries to do as much as he can in one visit.

 

[okeydokey]

He's trying to get as much out of you as he can.

 

[rascalmom]

Unless you are part of a capitation type insurance plan, the dental copays are paid by procedure, not by appointment.

Sounds like an inexperienced scheduling person to me - dh will always fit things in on a visit to help it be more convenient for the patient.

For fillings though - if they are on different sides of the mouth, it is preferred to do them in different appointments so that you aren't numb on both sides at the same time. People tend to bite their tongues!

 

[lisajl]

It sounds like our new dentist! Our old dentist was great, dry sense of humor, really nice...this new one, not so much. He bought our doctors practice.
My Dh got ticked off at the receptionist the last time he was there.
We always wait to see what our insurance pays before we pay them.
There was never any problem with it, until now.( Last year when he took over I had to prepay for something..they still have $90 of ours). So, the receptionist says you owe $xxx.xx today...my Dh goes into a tirade due to her attitude. I guess she was rude and he said, "Now I see why everyone I know is leaving this office!" Umm..yeah. Then we get a letter a week ago telling us he is putting in a coffee bar along with changing how they schedule appts., and a few other new things that will end up costing us more.
yea, we are looking for a new dentist!

 

[mfd25wife]

Run, run far and fast! He sounds terrible.

 

[SorcererDonald16]

For fillings though - if they are on different sides of the mouth, it is preferred to do them in different appointments so that you aren't numb on both sides at the same time. People tend to bite their tongues!

That's how my dentist works too. He'll only work on one side of the mouth at a time if there are multiple issues.

That dentist sounds money hungry though, based on the deep cleaning business alone. I'd probably look for another dentist. It's a pain when your longtime dentist retires, moves, etc. Happened to me years ago and I went through 2 dentists before finding a third that actually knew what he was doing. I had one try to tell me a filling I had was actually a cavity and that I "must've been mistaken" as to where the filling was, even though you could clearly see the filling. Another wanted to give me a root canal for a tooth that just had a tiny cavity in it. The third one actually had a clue, so I've stuck with him.

I can about it all now, but at the time...