Posted on 07/08/2011 2:19:10 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB
Back in April I wrote about a person near and dear to me — yes, my husband — who needed two new crowns for $3,442. I published his experience in a post, Is Your Dentist Ripping You Off? Dentists howled in protest at the provocative headline, though most agreed with the content of the story.
(Excerpt) Read more at shine.yahoo.com ...
My current dentist has an associate. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania dental school. He is $250,000 in school debt. Add to that the income he was not earning in the 8 years he was in school and the diminished income of his residency.
I wonder what that amounts to per working hour ( plus the interest) over the 20 to 30 of his career. ( Just wondering).
To start with, many dentists today have just been nuked with student loans. A generation ago, while a dentist might have left school penniless, it was all uphill from there. As is, they might start out owing anywhere from $150k to a quarter million dollars.
A holdover from that time were a few dentists who would buy and sell a percentage of their group practice. Thus new dentists would only pay, say, just a third of the costs of the practice, and buy more of the business as other dentists either moved elsewhere or retired. Then they could return the favor to other new, poor dentists.
Today, not so much. If they want a piece of a practice, they probably have to take out yet another loan and pay cash up front.
Yet the irony is that some physicians today are slashing their overhead by refusing Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance at all. They save so much money that they can cut their prices by 50% and still make more money.
I can imagine many dentists going this route. But they still have very high expenses, some of which are hard to avoid.
sounds like the same boat I’m in.
insurance cover nothing , so I’m going to check out those dental plan options.
You conveniently forgot to include all the LOST wages from not working while in school. And...interest.
The amount of time in school is 8 to 10 years. These are his lost wages.
but that’s part of the cost of doing business
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yep! And....In all businesses that cost is passed on to the customer.
Well if you’re not going to believe the facts that’s you’re own damn fault.
Dental insurance stinks. It’s usually got a low cap (how far is 2K REALLY going to go in fixing up a mouth?) and NEVER have I not gotten a letter a few months later saying how the amount was figured wrong and I owe $400 or so for bad estimates, for work I already had done.
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If you have been getting these absurd demands for services and payed them then you have been marked as a “fish”.
Why on earth would you give them a dime more then what you were originally quoted? If the Dentist made a mistake then he absorbs it not you.
If he does a crown for you and in a month it falls apart, can you go back to him and have it repaired for free?
I didn’t think so.
I know the facts. They are over priced. End of story!
No that’s your assumption based on emotion. The facts actually run exactly the opposite. But you find those facts inconvenient so you stick your fingers in your ears and yell LALALALALALA hoping they go away. But they don’t, the facts stay, and you stay wrong.
As I said, everyone in business has overhead, A dentist may have to spend a hundred grand on a piece of equipment, but he only buys one or two for an entire career. A dental chair will last for decades. A drill for at least a decade and an X-ray machine for many years. A new autoclave every century and let’ not forget that oh socostly rubber gloves.
Two dollars of composite for a low low $200. An hour for a root canal, that will be $750, Oh and lets not forget the $1,200 gold crown complete with $50 worth of gold. Highway robbery. Straight up theft. An industry of collusion and crime. Dentists the new Cosa Nostra.
The average income of a dentist nationwide is about $125,000. He spends $250,000 for his education and twice that again for the equipment and building for his practice.
How are they overpriced? Maybe you are just a cheapskate looking for freebies? A liberal, I take it?
“A drill for at least a decade and an X-ray machine for many years. A new autoclave every century”
1. Drill tips are expensive and the machines do not last for 10 years without repairs.
2. X-Ray machines do not last forever. They require inspections and repairs.
3. Autoclaves also require repairs and inspections.
You obviously have never run a dental office much less any business.
Lighten up Francis.
If you don't like being a dentist get a different job. of course theft in most other areas of society generally rewards with a trip to prison, so I bet you will keep drillin’ for dollars.
Wow, looks like every single statement is wrong. Most dentists are running at least 3 chairs so you’ve got the count wrong. Drills don’t last that long. X-Ray machine technology keeps improving so they wind up needing to be replaced, it ain’t 2 dollar composite and you’ve studiously ignored the staff they need to pay the insurance and the building.
It’s really cute how dedicated you are to your fictional beliefs. But you’re wrong across the board.
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