The Case of the Unusually Avaricious Dentist

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.