Well... got my first 'burn' with insurance :-(

Scougar

Scougar

Scougar

Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2007
Posts
15,519
Location
PA, USA (Orig UK)
I went to the dentist recently, and I had been pretty bad and had not been in about 3 years. This place was pretty good, lots of staff and very professional. All the gear, hand-held x-ray machines etc.

Anyway.. I had to have some deep root scaling/planing (Basically scraping the plaque from under the gum line, and some on the roots.) Was extremely unpleasant and pretty painful in some area's.

Before I had this done, the checked and told me that it would be covered on my insurance.... oh silly me for actually believing them, and not checking with my insurance company first (I have a very good dental plan). Anyway... que a month and a half down the line, and my dental insurance company now want me to pay over $850 for the work as it wasn't covered, as basically your teeth had to be falling out of your mouth for them to pay for it lol. (kinda seems a bit bad tbh, as preventative care is better.. at least you would have thought).

Not sure what is going to happen, but I highly suspect I will end up footing the bill, due to being naive on this process for insurance. I'm not denying I needed the work doing, my breath being honest, no longer as an odor which I was paranoid about, and I haven't noticed by gums bleeding recently (which i paid no real attention to before).

So... I got burned, and learnt a lesson. Interesting how different things are over here!
 
850 for some scaling etc... OK I guess it is a bit more than a regular scale & polish but still...slightly longer session and some local anesthetic? I guess it shows why dentistry/medicine etc.. pays rather well over the pond
 
Surely if you can prove the dentist said he had checked and it was covered you can dodge paying?

Guess that's how they afford all of their kit.
 
No.. it was word of mouth, as they came back and simply said that I had great insurance and not many people have it, and I was covered. I did not get that in writing. Now I know lol.

I will try to negotiate a discount.

Also... it wasn't just using a pick between the teeth, it was using special pulling picks/tools to reach below the gum line and pull everything out. They also used a sonic device to break the plaque up in advance, plus the special numbing gel etc. (Thank goodness I didn't ask for an injection with Novacaine else I'd be paying more lol). In total the scaling was 2 hours worth of work.

Edit: I already paid around $80 which was allegedly my proportion of the cost, and the rest was meant to be insurance. I needed it done, I have absolutely no doubt on that, just getting a bill for something was meant to be covered is a little dissappointing.

dowie said:
850 for some scaling etc... OK I guess it is a bit more than a regular scale & polish but still...slightly longer session and some local anesthetic? I guess it shows why dentistry/medicine etc.. pays rather well over the pond
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Total was just shy of $1000. The number of staff in there and the equipment they had was way in excess of any dentist I've seen in the UK. I get paid significantly more than I did in the UK, so I can't quite compare the cost. If I was comparing it to my old job and in UK money, it would probably translate to about 300 to 350 pounds (due to my pay increase).
 
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Scougar said:
No.. it was word of mouth, as they came back and simply said that I had great insurance and not many people have it, and I was covered. I did not get that in writing. Now I know lol.

I will try to negotiate a discount.

Also... it wasn't just using a pick between the teeth, it was using special pulling picks/tools to reach below the gum line and pull everything out. They also used a sonic device to break the plaque up in advance, plus the special numbing gel etc. (Thank goodness I didn't ask for an injection with Novacaine else I'd be paying more lol). In total the scaling was 2 hours worth of work.

Edit: I already paid around $80 which was allegedly my proportion of the cost, and the rest was meant to be insurance. I needed it done, I have absolutely no doubt on that, just getting a bill for something was meant to be covered is a little dissappointing.



Total was just shy of $1000. The number of staff in there and the equipment they had was way in excess of any dentist I've seen in the UK. I get paid significantly more than I did in the UK, so I can't quite compare the cost. If I was comparing it to my old job and in UK money, it would probably translate to about 300 to 350 pounds (due to my pay increase).
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Sounds exactly what I had apart from the numbing gel, I like pain.
 
As others have said that sounds exactly like my last hygienist appointment. I have this done once a year at the cost of £45 (nhs but done by a private hygienist that doesn't work for my dentist) Also wasn't given any numbing gel ta bit of discomfort and blood ahhhh the NHS how much I love you :p

My capped bridge I'm having made which will make me look like jaws on one side was a tad more expensive got to love painful accidents and rubbish teeth!!! :o
 
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Scougar said:
Before I had this done, the checked and told me that it would be covered on my insurance....
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I'm guessing you "checked" with the dentist and not the insurance company?

Of course they're going to tell you that it's covered, if they tell you it's not/might not be, they potentially lose your business!
 
Haggisman said:
I'm guessing you "checked" with the dentist and not the insurance company?

Of course they're going to tell you that it's covered, if they tell you it's not/might not be, they potentially lose your business!
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That's the point, they verbally told me the procedure was covered after they -the dentist- checked. I'm guessing they didn't look at when that was valid to be covered, but as my first experience and them being a seemingly professional place they thought they would be legitimate in what they told me.

In the end, it's my fault for not checking with the Insurance company and taking what the dentist said at face value.
 
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