Situation with my dentist (money issue)

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OCNewbie

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2000
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*CLIFFS*
Went in for a crown prep on tooth #2, and possible onlay, but likely crown on #3
Dentist would try onlay to "save me some money"
I'm lead to believe (IMO) that if the onlay isn't sufficient, I'll just pay the difference for the crown
Dentist saw end of nerve ("two dots") when prepping #3 for onlay
Told me to come back in 2 weeks because she was skeptical that the tooth would remain viable
Less than a week I start having pain, viability test shows tooth #3 needs root canal
I get root canal, and #3 then needs crown
#3 which was previously prepped for onlay gets prepped for crown
I receive both final crowns
I'm told I need to pay full price for onlay ($335 - $100 discount (cuz they're nice like that) = $235) AND full price for crown ($475 + $100 special fee (some sort of core buildup or something "core") = $575)
End result = I pay $810 for crown, instead of $575 had she told me I needed a crown from beginning.
Some savings...
I go in tomorrow to discuss it.


Long version:

I had two very large fillings in my two back molars, on the right side, top row (no wisdom teeth) placed ~3 years ago. This procedure was done by a dentist I no longer see. My current dentist recently mentioned that x-rays revealed spots of decay beneath both of those fillings, and expressed confidence that the rearmost tooth (I think it's tooth #2) would need a crown for sure, and the other tooth (#3) would need at least an onlay, but it would likely need a crown as well (because it was so close to the root).

So anyway, on the day she was going to prep for the onlay or crown, and the crown, she basically said she would try to do an onlay, since that would save me money, and if that didn't work, we'd just do a crown on #3 as well as #2. So, once she was able to remove the filling from #3 (which was already very deep), she had to continued to drill to remove some decay, and she noticed she could actually see 2 little dots, which basically were the very end of the nerve, and she shook her head and basically expressed her doubts that the tooth wouldn't cause me issues (without a root canal). She said she would prep the tooth for an onlay, and wanted me to wait 2 weeks before finalizing the molds, just to see if I started experiencing pain in that tooth, and I was going to come back in for a vitality (I believe that's what it's called) test on that tooth (to test if the nerve was good). If the tooth ended up causing me pain, I would need a root canal, and then a crown, instead of an onlay.

Anyway, so less than a week went by, and I started experiencing pain in tooth #3 (the tooth that was "maybe" an onlay). So I called my dentist, came in early (before the 2 weeks were up) and they did the vitality test then. My tooth failed the vitality test, and they determined I should get a root canal, so I did. So, at this point I think all is well, and they will just carry on with the crown prep (which is a good bit more expensive than the onlay), which they did. So, finally, after a LONG time with my temporary crowns in (like 10-11 weeks, that's another story), I finally got my two permanent crowns in.

At that point (when I came in after the root canal, to change the onlay prep to a crown prep), they had charged me an additional $237.50 (I believe), and I was under the impression that that was the monetary difference between the cost of the onlay (which I had already paid for) and the crown (which they were trying to avoid at first, to save me money). So, thinking my balance was zero, when I finally received the perm crowns (the last time I was there), they informed me that I owed them an additional $237.50.

It turns out, they actually were going to charge me the FULL price for the onlay, which I never received, which they told me they would try in order to "save me money", AND the FULL price for the crown! So I argued with them a lot, telling them that the dentist had given me the impression that there would be no risk in trying the onlay, and that she'd try to go that route, to save me some money, and that if that didn't work, I'd just pay the difference between that and the crown (knowing the crown was a good bit more expensive).

Anyway, so they're saying they want to charge me the full price for the onlay prep now, which at the time the dentist prepped it saw the two nerves, and likely knew that the chances that the tooth wouldn't become symptomatic were very low if anything. In the end, I'm going to have to pay the $575 for the crown ($475 + $100, some core charge thing), AND $235 for the onlay prep (was originally $335, but they gave me a "discount" of $100, which coincidentally matches that extra "core" charge of $100 on the crown).

Anyway... this was long... for those who read it, any advice? I go in tomorrow to talk to the dentist and her finances lady (I've been speaking to the finance lady up to this point) about this issue.
 
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homebrew2ny

Senior member
Jan 3, 2013
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Billing seems reasonable to me, you agreed to try and have some money saved, no? Too bad it did not work, but why should the dentist not get paid?
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
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By my reading you got a root canal for only $235.

Congratulations, that's a great price.
 

Slew Foot

Lifer
Sep 22, 2005
12,379
96
86
Didnt read but the dentist is probably trying to screw you in some fashion. They're assholes like that.
 

Cuda1447

Lifer
Jul 26, 2002
11,757
0
71
Billing seems reasonable to me, you agreed to try and have some money saved, no? Too bad it did not work, but why should the dentist not get paid?

Well, let's not act like the dentist isn't getting paid. Medical billing is all screwed up, I don't blame the OP for being cautious. It's one of the few industries where they just bill you whatever they feel like after the fact and those bills vary widely from person to person (or insurance). It'd be quite easy to be unethical in that field, if one wanted.
 

OCNewbie

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2000
7,596
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Billing seems reasonable to me, you agreed to try and have some money saved, no? Too bad it did not work, but why should the dentist not get paid?

Sure, under the impression that there was no risk in attempting to achieve these savings (let's try an onlay, if it doesn't work, no problem, we'll just do the root canal). It was in response to the professionals implication that it was possible to treat my tooth with this cheaper procedure.

I'll give an analogy. You tell a pest control specialist that you have a bug problem in your home. The guy comes and checks things out, tells you you might need the $300 full home treatment, but he'll do the $200 partial-home treatment because that might work and it'll save you some money. Midway through the $200 treatment, he realizes the problem is pretty bad, and expresses skepticism that the $200 treatment will suffice. He says let's wait a couple weeks and see how it works out and if this treatment doesn't work, he'll come back and do the full treatment (treating the rooms the $200 treatment didn't cover).

Two weeks pass and it's clear the $200 treatment wasn't enough, like he suspected. He comes back, finishes off the job, and charges you the original $200 AND $300 for the full home treatment. So instead of charging you $300 for the home treatment when he was there the first time, and with his experience realized that was what was likely needed, he instead leaves you with the $200 bill, only to return and charge you for the FULL treatment, when the full treatment was already halfway complete.

Doesn't it sound like the guy was going to just charge the difference between the partial treatment and full treatment if the partial didn't suffice? With his expertise, shouldn't he have made it clear to you at the time the $200 treatment was performed that he did not believe the $200 treatment would likely be sufficient, and if he had to return he would charge you again, for the full treatment ($300) on top of the $200 you had already paid him?

ETA: I'm saying the dentist did not make it clear to me that if the onlay wasn't sufficient that I would still have to pay full price for that attempt, PLUS the full price of the crown (which is just grinding the tooth down even further/completely than the onlay), even though it seems she was fairly aware the onlay wouldn't suffice. I'll add that I did not express insistence that she give the onlay a try anyway, I was going by her suggestions/recommendations/expertise.
 
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dbk

Lifer
Apr 23, 2004
17,685
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Yes, her fault that she didn't clearly lay that out for you. Your fault for assuming the discount*. I say discount because both of those treatments were performed. Technically you should be on the hook for both of them unless you have some sort of agreement on the foregone contingency (if A fails, then B). If I were her, I would discount the cost of the first treatment as a professional courtesy or risk losing you as a patient/customer.

Lesson here is to never assume anything AND don't always go for the cheaper option. Could you have possibly gone to another dentist (I guess it depends on your dental plan)?
 

OCNewbie

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2000
7,596
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Could you have possibly gone to another dentist (I guess it depends on your dental plan)?

Yes, but other than this one issue, I have REALLY liked this place up to this point. All the staff has been really really nice, the facility is clean, the equipment is fairly new, and everything looks well maintained. I had already spent over $1600 there (had another crown and a few fillings done with them already) before this incident, without any issues. The dentist actually seems really nice, it's just when this money issue came up, the finances lady (who had been really really nice up to this point as well) just didn't seem to want to budge. I argued with her on the phone for 30 minutes (long phone call with a dentist rep!) a couple weeks ago. It wasn't really heated, but we obviously weren't seeing eye to eye.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
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Those prices are half what I pay my dentist here in yuppietown -- a crown is $1,100 - 1,200.

You're getting two charges because the dentist did two procedures. It does sound like there was some miscommunication though, with you thinking that the inlay would be free if it wasn't successful.
 

tcG

Golden Member
Jul 31, 2006
1,202
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No clue why standard dental practice isn't to just put a gold inlay/onlay on for the first filling, which can potentially last a lifetime, rather than use composite/amalgam, which are essentially temporary, and result in needing more tooth material drilled away, and eventually a root canal/crown since no more tooth material can be drilled away. It's terrible medical practice.
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
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Ever wonder why all the dentists and doctors are all good looking? Its because they have been filtered. Medicine is a difficult practice because it takes a certain type of person to scam you and your insurance company while at the same time keeping your trust so that you'll keep going back.
 
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