Payment plan for dental treatment

Carra23

Hi

I need alot of work done on my teeth. 1 implant , 2 crowns and teeth whitening. I was quoted 4/5 grand by one dentist. I really want and need this work done but I know I will never have 4 or 5 grand sitting around gathering dust.

Does any one know if there are dentists that provide payment plans ? I could afford to pay for thye treatment weekly but will never have the cash up front.

Thanks

Carra23

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Depends on how long you want to pay over. If you are willing to pay over the course of treatment then most dentists will divided the amount by the number of visits. If you want to pay over a longer period best get a personal loan from the bank or credit union. Sometimes dentists give discounts for paying up front and this would offset the interest.

b55

I need to have a lot of implants and unforunately can only afford to pay by monthly installments. Surely in these times there must be a way of doing this as it still is business for the dental practise and they still end up getti there money. Can somebody tell me what i can do.

helimachoptor

The problem with that is you will most likely have the majority of work done before you get anywhere near paying it off. Let's say youre getting 5 implants and all in it comes to 10k (figures are purely for the sake of argument) so let's say the treatment plan is 5 months long if your paying off 500 a month, when your treatment is finished you still owe 7500 and tbh I wouldn't take that risk.


The dentists on the forum can maybe confirm but what I would see as the typical approach to the situation above would be an upfront payment of 5k and then monthly payments of 1k. I did something similar when I was getting my own treatment done. Upfront payment of about 30% followed by payments of 20% 20% 30% that was over about 8 months.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Get a bank loan, dentists are not banks. As I said above the interest may be offset by discounts by the dentist for paying upfront. Banks are there to do this, dentists are there to fix teeth.

fonpokno

b55 wrote: »

I need to have a lot of implants and unforunately can only afford to pay by monthly installments. Surely in these times there must be a way of doing this as it still is business for the dental practise and they still end up getti there money. Can somebody tell me what i can do.

The practice I'm currently working in offers a dental plan where you can spread payments over a number of months. You can PM me if you want info.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

fonpokno wrote: »

The practice I'm currently working in offers a dental plan where you can spread payments over a number of months. You can PM me if you want info.

But I am guessing that payments must be complete before the patient walks away with their new crowns/implants/dentures/bridges etc.....think the posters here want credit over a number of years, not months....Car dealers dont give credit, banks do.

helimachoptor

Op your credit union may be worth a call.

Big_G

The reason that dentists don't do this is that they would be required to be licensed by the financial regulator. This would be prohibitively expensive and in many cases would breach doctor-patient confidentiality if the patient defaulted and the debt had to be pursued through the courts.

davo10

We had a patient last year who had two implants placed to replace his two front teeth. He was given the treatment plan and costs prior to surgery. the implants were placed by the OS and payment for this stage was made. Three months later at the restorative stage he was advised before attending for impressions that half the payment for this stage was due with the balance on completion of treatment. He attended for impressions and said he forgot his chequebook but given the fact that there was no problem with payment for surgery we carried on. When the crowns were fitted on the implants he gave us a cheque for this, over €2k. I lodged it the following day and it bounced. For the next 2 months we rang him, wrote to him etc and he apologised and said he would be in the next day to pay, each time there was no sign of payment. Eventually I had to contact a solicitor and eventually he settled his account. He was a well known business man in our town and it never crossed my mind that he would bounce a cheque with me, so unfortunately now whenever there is a lab fee involved such as with crowns/veneers/dentures/implants we either insist on credit card payment or cash and it must be paid for before the lab work is fitted. Sign of times I'm afraid.

frulewis

I completely understand that dentists need to be paid and that a payment plan may not be viable but something needs to be done with the whole system, people are losing teeth due to an inability to pay/get a loan for dental work which I think is disgraceful. Here's hoping some bright spark gets an idea in the future to sort it out

davo10

frulewis wrote: »

I completely understand that dentists need to be paid and that a payment plan may not be viable but something needs to be done with the whole system, people are losing teeth due to an inability to pay/get a loan for dental work which I think is disgraceful. Here's hoping some bright spark gets an idea in the future to sort it out

There were workable schemes for this, the medical card dental scheme and the PRSI dental scheme but the Government scrapped them. Complain to your TD.

Lux23

This is why I have dental insurance, I know at most it will only ever cover half of the treatment but its easier to borrow half than nothing at all.

Bearcat

just back from my favorite dentist......im only doing the root canal route but christ its costly........may I ask our pro's here why are implants so expensive? I don't need a smart ars@ answer of go see your bank but its a genuine inquisitive query.

b rgds

Oral Surgeon

Bearcat wrote: »

just back from my favorite dentist......im only doing the root canal route but christ its costly........may I ask our pro's here why are implants so expensive? I don't need a smart ars@ answer of go see your bank but its a genuine inquisitive query.

b rgds

Hi Bearcat,
There are a few reasons for this;

The expenses
First, the implant screw, coverscrew, healing caps, and all the instruments to place it are very pricey. Obviously the expensive kit is reusable but still needs to be factored in.

Often times there is a bone graft needed to ensure the longevity of the implant. This is sourced from lab cows and lab pigs and again are very expensive.

There are also other miscellaneous surgical costs like any other surgery.
There is the clinical time to be factored in, maybe 1.5-2 hours for the initial surgery, half hour to uncover it a few months later and a few hours for the impressions and fitting of the crown. Surgical time takes into account rent, rates, loans on equipment, nurse and receptionist wages...

Then the lab cost to fabricate the crown to fit to the implant, this involves some precision attachments and copings which the lab technician builds the ceramic tooth on to, again not cheap.

The professional fee;
After all expenses are paid, the fee to the oral surgeon/ prosthodontist/ dentist needs to be factored in. The skills to do this job correctly were not licked off the ground so clinicians like to charge for their 5 years undergrad and 3 years postgrad training but beleive me the costs on a single implant case are significant so the profit as a percentage of the price to the patient is not as brilliant as you may think....

Oh- then the tax man takes half of that and my wife takes the rest...!!!

Good luck,
OS

Bearcat

many many thanks for taking time to explain the process, never realised the detailed scenario involved. I'm spending a lot of my life in my mid 40s sitting in a dentists chair.....3 rc's in 3 weeks.....my jaw and wallet hurt but itS falsies otherwise and I appreciate the skill involved.

Now about the tax man and the wife taking ones purse......I hear you. What really vexes me is you, me and the rest of us paying prsi, social charges etc and yet we benefit inreality sweet feck all from the process.

Thanks again OS.