Dentist's - Rip off

Ciphon

Ciphon

Ciphon

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Hello All,

I've just come back from a check up with my dentist, and I believe that I've been played and ripped off.

My appiontment was at 10:45, and I didn't get seen until 10:55.. a minor annoyance, not such a big deal.

After my wait, I went into the dentists office, she had her poke around in my gob and said everything looked fine, but I may need a filling in one of my teeth and recommended some X-Rays.

She took the X-Rays and sent me out of the room and said she'd come get me in 5-10 minutes. 25 minutes later out she comes, and says everything is fine on the X-Ray.

She decides to have another look in my mouth to be sure, then says "Ahh Actually, I'm really happy with that, yeah - really happy!"

So she almost doubled the price of my visit from £29 to £49 to change her mind and say actually everything's fine and she's really happy with the tooth.

Is this normal? Do you need an X-Ray to show if you need a filling or not?
 
Beerbaron said:
Private can charge what they like.
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gord said:
You had xrays at a private and it came in under £50.. I wouldn't be complaining.

Last time I went I think I paid £60.
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I'm not really questioning the price..

More that it seems a little suspect that all of sudden she was incredibly happy with the way the tooth was and actually no action was needed.

It feels to me as though she thought she'd do an X-Ray for the hell of it just to get some more cash out of me.
 
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Beerbaron said:
You are meant to have xrays fairly regularly.
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Really? I hope you mean infrequently unless you have major dental problems? I for one wouldn't be happy with being subjected to the radiation of X-rays "fairly regularly". I mean, last time I had one done I'm pretty sure I was asked if I'd had any recently. Indicating to me that having it done frequently isn't a good deal.

Beerbaron said:
Private can charge what they like.
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Truth. I think Ciphon is more aggravated with the fact that he thinks the extra X-ray was unnecessary work though. Although no one here is a dentist so can't confirm/deny its requirement.

I'd also be slightly annoyed, £20 for an X-ray maybe cheap but being nobbed around in the waiting room and then having to pay extra for what was in all cases an "Oh well, nothing else is needed everything is actually fine" would have got to me.
 
She was probably happy to see the x-ray showed no sign of decay or need for work. She then did a visual check again to confirm.

Which bit about this are you unhappy with? Did you want some work done?
 
the money for the xray will not just go into her pocket. It does actually cost to take and produce the xray.

It seems fair to say that the xray proved to her the tooth was fine.

However, how do you know the xray she pulled out was actually yours and not someone else's?
 
[FnG]magnolia;17086565 said:
She was probably happy to see the x-ray showed no sign of decay or need for work. She then did a visual check again to confirm.

Which bit about this are you unhappy with? Did you want some work done?
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He is unhappy as the dentist originally said that hes teeth were healthy, but then done a xray for the sake of it, charging him more money.

I would have questioned it at the time, bit late to do anything about it now unfortunally.
 
FishThrower said:
He is unhappy as the dentist originally said that hes teeth were healthy, but then done a xray for the sake of it, charging him more money.

I would have questioned it at the time, bit late to do anything about it now unfortunally.
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No, her visual inspection suggested that everything looked fine but an x-ray was needed to determine whether a filling was needed or not.

OP sounds likes he's peed off because it took so long which is fair. Also sounds like he's peed off that she did a visual, x-ray then visual again, which is not. That's her job!
 
[FnG]magnolia;17086692 said:
OP sounds likes he's peed off because it took so long which is fair. Also sounds like he's peed off that she did a visual, x-ray then visual again, which is not. That's her job!
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Well.. The wait was annoying, but that isn't really my issue.

It's more that she did a visual check - said I needed a filling.

Did an X-Ray.. which didn't show anything up.

Then another visual check, and then decided that actually she's completely happy with the tooth and no filling is needed.

Seems as though her first assessment was completely wrong - and I got charged an extra £20 for the pleasure.
 
She can't see into your teeth. She can make educated guesses as to the state of an individual tooth based on the rest of your mouth and a whole host of other factors but she cannot see through enamel.

Her first assessment was visual. The second was the x-ray; this either confirms or denies the first assessment. She then goes from there. How else would you have liked her to do this? Just start drilling? Leave a filling untreated?
 
[FnG]magnolia;17086742 said:
She can't see into your teeth. She can make educated guesses as to the state of an individual tooth based on the rest of your mouth and a whole host of other factors but she cannot see through enamel.

Her first assessment was visual. The second was the x-ray; this either confirms or denies the first assessment. She then goes from there. How else would you have liked her to do this? Just start drilling? Leave a filling untreated?
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I agree with this. It's completely normal from my experience for them to take an x-ray to make sure things are ok or not and to then do a final visual check.
 
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