Dentist's - Rip off

You got irritated because you had to wait ten minutes more than your appointment time? I guarentee that if you felt that she rushed the job to ensure her next appointment was bang on time you'd be here complaining about that.

Xray thing - She needed clarification to determine if any further treatments were required on the tooh. The xray showed that this wasn't the case. You're having a whinge about the time, expense and the stress you went through getting an xray. Imagine you had a serious problem, and an xray was the only way to determine this - you'd be thanking her for doing a good job not having a moan because it took a few minutes out of your day.
 
Ciphon said:
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.
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All x-rays need justification before being taken. Your dentist should be taking routine x rays based on risk factors also (risk of decay/ gum disease). If you hadn't had routine x-rays according to your risk factors and a tooth was not clinically sound this is enough justification to take an x-ray.

The dentist could have ended up doing a filling that wasn't clinically necessary. She did this in the best interests of your dental health and saved you having a filling.

There is nothing wrong with repeating a clinical examination of a suspect tooth. Again- done in your best interest.

If the money is the issue, you have other dental providers available. The special investigations she carried out to secure your oral health by the sounds of it and your not happy with the charge..

Although I would do my best not to keep private patients waiting so long.

A dentist.
 
Ahleckz said:
You got irritated because you had to wait ten minutes more than your appointment time?

Xray thing - She needed clarification to determine if any further treatments were required on the tooh. The xray showed that this wasn't the case. You're having a whinge about the time, expense and the stress you went through getting an xray. Imagine you had a serious problem, and an xray was the only way to determine this.
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In total, I think he was there 35/40 minutes longer than originally given appointment. So all in all was there 1hr+. I don't know about you, but my employer makes me work flexi time or "make time up" to go to Doctors/Dentists. I'd be ****ed if I had wasted the majority of a lunch break or even time at the end of the day due to having to wait. Bare in mind she said we'll get you in 5-10 minutes and OP said it was more like 25-30 minutes.

Also, it was a routine checkup, if he had needed something serious doing I.E - In pain or something was wrong, I'm sure he'd probably know about it. In which case, I'm sure he wouldn't give a monkeys with regards to any treatment needed as long as she fixed it.

End of the day the action has to be that if he isn't happy with the Dentist to possibly make a complaint and move on, or just move on. I know I would if I wasn't happy with the practice I was registered with.
 
Knubje said:
Although no one here is a dentist so can't confirm/deny its requirement.
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Actually there are some dentists who post on here, hopefully the OP will get a response from someone who works within that profession.

Personally I don't see what the OP is complaining for, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure as the saying goes. A further £20 is a rather insignificant amount to pay for that little bit of extra preventative checking and piece of mind.
 
Ciphon said:
My appiontment was at 10:45, and I didn't get seen until 10:55.. a minor annoyance, not such a big deal.
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Anything but the first appointment will always be late, and sometimes even that one will be too...

Ciphon said:
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?
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So you're upset because she did a thorough check to look for fillings and then didn't find any? Sounds like par for the course to me.

You'd be whining if she'd not done the X-Ray and then you had to go back a month later with a cavity.
 
I'd be glad you had a dentist do a thorough check rather than just relying on her best educated guess. And that it ended up costing you a lot less than it could have done.
 
Tbh, all this will be unnecessary when you're Mrs gets a practice plat. We can all visit Cambridge and get some discountzzz.

:D
 
She'll quite happily take £25 to look at your teeth. It wouldn't do you much good though, given that she's more qualified to look at your eyes :D.
 
My dentist (private) don't charge me for x rays, but then again they do charge 80 quid for a filling. Luckily my insurance give me 50% cashback for treatment and 75% back for routine maintenance.

It's worth getting insurance if like me you have phobia and due to this you need a lot of work done having avoided the dentist for a fair few years! It also gives you the freedom to gpu to whatever dentist you like, so you can shop around and find one you are comfortable with.
 
You probably had the option to say to her "no xray just fill the tooth please"

I guess its a matter of how much you like to gamble.

Say filling, xray and checkup costs £100
Xray and checkup £50
just checkup £30

Now, it is very possible you don't need a filling so you just have the check up, go home feeling smug having saved £70 (knowing with hindsight the tooth didn't need filling). However, Having the xray and checkup for £50 you can still go home smug and say you saved £50 as she checked and found it wasn't needed.

What you also could do is play russion roulette with your teeth, go in and say " I think this tooth needs filling today - do it"

And ofcourse you could just take your own teeth out...but now we're just getting silly.
 
FishThrower said:
He is unhappy as the dentist originally said that his 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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X-rays are routine, I don't really see a problem.
 
lol, private, and you're complaining. My dentist charges £50 per xray, he shoots 2 at a time almost every visit. On the one hand its a pita, because it costs a lot of money. On the other, it gives him a solid idea of what's going on in my mouth, and that's pretty much his job. If you don't care for it bro, go NHS.

In-fact, to add to that. About a year ago I went to an NHS dentist to see what it was like. She took a single xray on one side of my face and told me to book an appointment in a couple of weeks (when she's got the xray back...). My usual dentist takes the xray, 10 mins later a woman from upstairs brings it down and he analysis it. That's why it's worth £50 baby.
 
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Yeah I am not sure I understand what the problem is here. Someone did a thorough job and made sure that your teeth were fine (which I hope is why you were there) and you had to pay a little extra for that pleasure. Its really not a lot of money for your teeth. How often do you go?

And waiting for a little longer and getting annoyed by that is just madness. As said, after the first appointment you are usually behind time. I remember when I was younger having to wait half an hour after my appointment was meant to start. Suck it up.
 
i went to the dentist, i got a checkup and two xrays for £16.50 love the NHS, my dentist has instant xrays and is a pretty modern surgery, i was damn lucky to get on their NHS list
 
As somebody who has spent around $5,000 on dental work over here in the US - this thread is like a slap in the face :)
 
benneh said:
lol, private, and you're complaining. My dentist charges £50 per xray, he shoots 2 at a time almost every visit. On the one hand its a pita, because it costs a lot of money. On the other, it gives him a solid idea of what's going on in my mouth, and that's pretty much his job. If you don't care for it bro, go NHS.

In-fact, to add to that. About a year ago I went to an NHS dentist to see what it was like. She took a single xray on one side of my face and told me to book an appointment in a couple of weeks (when she's got the xray back...). My usual dentist takes the xray, 10 mins later a woman from upstairs brings it down and he analysis it. That's why it's worth £50 baby.
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You've got to be kidding me? You paid £50 for consultaion and radiograph surely, you can't have been charged £50 for a single radiographic film? Say it ain't so?

As for those who think it isn't necessary, most decay adults get is between your teeth, so radiographs, usually 1 on each side are taken every 2 years or so in healthy mouths to invetsigate the sites dentists can't see.
You can skip them, you can wait, you can avoid it and wait and see, but a small amount of decya is easier to fix than a large amount, and if you wait until it is visible then occasionally the tooth will be beyond saving.
 
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