I recently encountered an unusually money-minded dentist,
and I am set on warning you about her and her practice, which is in New York
State.
She was recommended
to me by an old retired dentist, and she charged $400 for all first visits. I
didn’t know that; a member of my family had made the appointment. And had I
known about the $400 for a first visit, I would have avoided her like the
plague. Later, when I told a top-notch dentist in New Jersey, Dr. Jones, he was
positively flabbergasted that she would do something like that.
Why the $400? I
figure it was because she wanted only rich patients, those could readily afford
excessively high fees. People willing and able to pay $400 right off the bat
Also, I suspect
that she wanted patients to succumb to the “sunk-cost” fallacy. If you’ve
already spent $400, you might as well continue your treatments—because of all
the money you’ve already spent. If you spent $400 having a car fixed, most
people would agree to spend more – because of all the money they have spent already. Why waste
it?
Now, for $400, she
and her hygienist didn’t do much. The hygienist cleaned just my top teeth; she
said she would clean the bottom ones on a subsequent visit. The work she had to
do, she told me, was so extensive, I would need an anesthetic.
What else? I had
X-rays taken. And the dentist herself said I needed two back teeth extracted.
Now, a previous
dentist had said that two of my back teeth had decay under the caps, and I
would have to have them re-capped. She didn’t tell me how much it would cost,
but she said that she would need at least an hour for each tooth. The possible total cost was frightening.
The dentist’s
assistant, by the way, told me to buy a special toothpaste—which I might buy at
a particular drugstore, and save several dollars. At this point I knew I was
being manipulated. She was so determined to save me a couple of dollars—after
having charged me $400!
I asked a retired
dentist friend: What should I do? His advice: Ask for my X-rays back and see
another dentist.
So, at that point, with
my X-rays, I returned to my old dentist in New Jersey, Dr. Jones. He was shocked to hear that any dentist would
charge $400 for a first visit.
Anyway, Dr. Jones
took new X-rays. He said that the ones I had brought with me were “dirty.” He
also said that I didn’t need an anesthetic to have my bottom teeth cleaned, and
I didn’t.
Then he examined my two back teeth. No, they
did not have to come out, he told me.
And that dentist in New York, he said, was probably going to propose expensive
implants. But all that those two teeth needed, he said, was filler to close two
gaps. Dr. Jones added that some dentists are all too eager to extract teeth
because insurance pays them more for extractions.
Dr. Jones said
that he was worried that so many physicians in general are so concerned with
insurance payments that they don’t necessarily do what’s economical for the patient,
but what’s remunerative for themselves.
Anyway, I had left Dr. Jones, the New Jersey dentist,
because I was leavimg New Jersey for New York State. Now I realize: Top-notch physicians and dentists are so rare
that you should be willing to drive 90 miles to see them.
By the way, Dr.
Jones’ office gave me that special toothpaste--for free.
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