It is hard to resist a “deal” that will save you a sizeable amount of money, isn’t it? Nobody wants to pay more than they should for something. So many times, we see patients leave our practice for “great deals” elsewhere, and they end up paying a hefty price for it. Here are two recent examples that I encountered in one week, plus one disaster yet to happen. Naturally, I am not using real patient names in the stories.
Lucia
Lucia had lived a good part of her life in Peru. There are some good dentists in Peru, but there are also plenty of bad ones, and even assistants practicing as dentists with forged degrees and licenses. Lucia’s Peruvian root canals were poorly done. We were able to redo some of them, but she lost one tooth. Two long lower fixed bridges connected to wisdom teeth in the back had also been done in Peru. Even if the bridges weren’t overly long this would not have been a good idea. As usually happens, the porcelain was cracking off, and the bridges came loose from the wisdom teeth, causing decay underneath.
I told Lucia the span was too great for fixed bridges, and she either had to resort to a removable partial or implants. She did not want anything removable, and believed she could not afford implants.
Lucia’s husband found what he thought was a good dentist in Mexico that would fix the problem at lower cost. Maria returned to my office with two new fixed bridges attached to the wisdom teeth- just like the ones that failed before. The porcelain is already cracking. The bridges were excessively contoured, making her gums recede. Without a doubt, Lucia will eventually lose both new bridges. Her money was completely wasted by ignoring my advice.
Gina
We saw Gina a couple of years back. She had an upper premolar that could not be saved, and we had to extract it. We warned Gina that if she waited, a premolar on the left would start hurting, and soon need a root canal. Gina waited until the tooth hurt. (Why do humans procrastinate?) But instead of coming to me, she decided to go to a dentist that supposedly offered heavily discounted fees.
That dentist did a root canal and a crown on Gina. It went alright for a while, until the whole thing cracked off at the gumline. The reason Gina was given such a low price is the dentist left out an essential part of treatment- a cast post to strengthen the root against fracture. Without a post, the inevitable happened. I am guessing even at the discounted price, Gina probably paid at least $1800 for this failed treatment.
But if it were just the money she lost, it would be bad enough. Gina waited so long to come to me after the fracture that bacteria reinfected the root canal, and Gina lost the tooth. She was out all the money she paid for the root canal and crown, the money I charged for extraction PLUS she has another toothless space in her smile!
And today…#3
Sabrina
Last month I worked up a case on Sabrina where her teeth would be moved by an orthodontist, assisted by implants placed in strategic positions to act as anchors for the braces. This case will require a high degree of cooperation between myself and the orthodontist. There are only a few orthodontists I would trust with a case like this. Sabrina was referred to one nearby.
What did Sabrina do? She checked her insurance list and instead went to a “participating” orthodontist in a corporate clinic. This orthodontist never contacted me, despite requests to do that. He is supposed to be putting on brackets today, as I write this. We have not decided where the implants should go, nor planned anything about the case. Corporate dentists like this guy don’t have time to consult with general dentists. They are typically bonused to start new cases, and they don’t want any consults to slow that process down. Will the case end in calamity? I hope not, but I am not optimistic.
It is hard to comparison shop for dental treatment. The price of procedures is only a minor part of the equation. More important is what procedures you will be billed for, whether they are appropriate, and how competently they are done. Internet reviews can be doctored, and there is no Consumer’s Report on dentists. In the end, competency and honesty of the dentist matters more than fees for procedures. You really do not save any money on a procedure at a cheap price if the procedure is inappropriate, or fails!
July 30, 2023
Kim Henry, DMD, PC 