Irish dentists - why are they so expensive

CharlieZeroOne

Hi all, ill start by admitting i have a axe to grind, you may navigate away now that you know that.


due to some mistakes.. (?) as a young person, my teeth are in bad shape. I have spend thousands (as you can imagine) getting root canals and crowns, and each round cost a packet and gets me through another two years or so, but still they deteriorate., When I was younger i thought that so many of my teeth had fillings, sur how could they deteriorate more.. how naive of me.

so i have landed at another round of expense. I have a tooth, no pain at the moment, a big molar, with a huuuge hole in it.

its going to cost me 500 for a root canal, or thereabouts, and the same again if not more for a crown.
you can say, oh, its less than that, maybe you are right, if i hunt around, by maybe a hundred euro or so.

the fact is im going to have this tooth removed, because im not willing to pay the inflated prices that irish dentists and 'organised irish dentist' (like smiles) - charge.
that will be three big molars that im missing, and three of my front teeth.

can someone explain to me please, just why it is that irish dentists get away with charging so much

i looked at a dental website just now. 500 for a root canal and 750 for a crown.

thats 1250 - FOR 1 TOOTH

im so bitter about this. ive spent so much money on dentists. its not right.

I realise that most people will never need the amount of work that ive needed, and therefore will never be as put out about it as i am. ugh.

Dianthus

It's a difficult& frustrating situation to be in. The first adult molars erupt at 6 years of age, so if they develop decay early, it's a downward spiral.
Unfortunately Irish patients attend at irregular intervals, generally only when in pain. This means that the opportunity for preventative&/minimally invasive (ie: cheaper!) treatment is lost.
I wouldn't know enough about business overheads to answer your question properly, the only advice I can give is to floss daily, attend 2-3times a year for checkups/cleanings,& most importantly of all to adopt a preventative regime with your own children so that they don't have to experience what you are experiencing.

CharlieZeroOne

i dont think you understand

im not bitter that my teeth are decaying, thats life, whatever, its imperfect.

im bitter at irish dentists and being constantly charged crazy amounts of money by them. dentists all the way.

and as to why they do it, its a simple answer - because they can.

ballsymchugh

unfortunately the cost of doing business is relatively high in ireland, and there's no escaping that. staff wages, council rates, materials, services, rent of premises, public liability insurance, professional indemnity etc all have to be paid.

having said that, private treatment in the UK is comparably as expensive.

Dianthus

Tooth decay is absolutely not a fact of life, it is a disease, and a preventable one at that.
Everything health-related in Ireland is expensive - I paid €55 for a 7 minute GP visit (chat) only this morning! Go figure.

tayto lover

Go north young man/woman.

CharlieZeroOne

man, cheers, lol

Dianthus i was faced with a similar situation this morning, i released i have an eye infection.

It takes me 4 hours to make 50 euros. Ill be damned if im going to hand my four hours over to chat to a doctor for 7-8 minutes.

so i googled the hell out of it until i found to my relief that it will disappear in two weeks with no treatment. its not that bad, not that sore, so ill live with it.
no bothers.

teeth are a different story though. mother nature is effectively holding a gun to your head / blade to your throat / take your pick of descriptions , and leaving you at the mercy of ruthless professionals who want 175 euros for 30 minutes work

Stheno

Redd4 wrote: »

i dont think you understand

im not bitter that my teeth are decaying, thats life, whatever, its imperfect.

im bitter at irish dentists and being constantly charged crazy amounts of money by them. dentists all the way.

and as to why they do it, its a simple answer - because they can.

So because of mistakes you mad, the cost of rectifying those is annoying you?

I ignored dentists for years and spent a considerable amount of money remediating that abuse on my part, and don't regret it.

As part of it I'd to have one root canal on a back molar, which cost €900 (think it had three roots), went back two weeks later still in pain and my dentist examineed, found a small piece of root he hadn't extracted and remedied it free of charge.

If you went up North or to Easter Europe, I'm not sure you'd get that same remedy

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Look prices are available online, they are there for you to see. The level of treatment you need is down to you.

Dental disease is preventable, root canals and crowns are discretionary. Extractions and dentures are not expensive, its a choice.

Dental costs are a a resentful purchase. You can go where every you like for treatment. The north is generally not that cheap, you will find comparable prices in the south if you shop around.

CharlieZeroOne

okay

whats the cheapest you think i can get a root canal and crown done in the Republic ?
i dont care about the craftsmanship, hell i dont even care if the injection hurts

what i care about is that im running out of teeth to chew with, because i cant afford to get them repaired.

or rather I can afford to get them repaired, if i go without anything else, for several months

Dianthus

Redd4 wrote: »

okay

whats the cheapest you think i can get a root canal and crown done in the Republic ? i dont care about the craftsmanship....
what i care about is that im running out of teeth to chew with, because i cant afford to get them repaired.
or rather I can afford to get them repaired, if i go without anything else, for several months

OP, you're missing 3 molar teeth& 3 front teeth already, yeah? So this tooth is the 7th one you may lose? Rather than leaving gaps& putting excessive pressure on the remaining teeth& spending money on shoddy work that may/may not last if you develop more decay, would you not consider cutting your losses & considering a good quality removable prosthesis (denture)? Low cost, numerous problems solved
PS be careful with the eye infection, whatever about your 32/less teeth, you only have 2 eyes (I assume;))

davo10

Redd4 wrote: »

okay

whats the cheapest you think i can get a root canal and crown done in the Republic ?
i dont care about the craftsmanship, hell i dont even care if the injection hurts

what i care about is that im running out of teeth to chew with, because i cant afford to get them repaired.

or rather I can afford to get them repaired, if i go without anything else, for several months

Cool, I'll do it for €300. No anaesthetic, after hours, no staff, 30 minutes for root canal and crown prep, cheapo lab, no gaurantees. Lubly jubly

Oral Surgeon

Redd4 wrote: »

i dont think you understand

im not bitter that my teeth are decaying, thats life, whatever, its imperfect.

im bitter at irish dentists and being constantly charged crazy amounts of money by them. dentists all the way.

and as to why they do it, its a simple answer - because they can.

While I am sorry that you need so much work and understand that it is expensive for you, you must also understand that bar a few exceptions, we all are born with and develop a healthy set of teeth. It is our own bad habits and neglect that leads to decayed, broken and dirty teeth. That, unfortunately is your problem and your problem to fix and pay for.

Good dentistry is expensive for a millions different reasons, search the forum, it's been done to death at this stage. Why would it be cheap?? If you regularly broke a finger or needed stitches and needed to see your GP for treatment, you would pay a fair bit of money too. Why is an intricate surgery in your mouth any different???

Female patients of mine regularly pay more to get their hair cut and coloured than a difficult lower wisdom tooth removal yet query the cost of my treatment!!
Without sounding like a prat, I find this ridiculous as the two services are poles apart in training, regulations, complications overheads etc. You can bet that the profit margin on the hair salon is more than mine.

Patients give out about the cost of dentistry because they don't want dental treatment yet happily spend thousands on drink, smokes, hair, clothes…..

CharlieZeroOne

hi, apologies, thats hardly a good comparison, although it is apples and apples, crazy and crazy, what females spend on beauty treatments makes no sense to me at all.

to the previous post, no anesthetic, go to hell

and to the other previous post, dentures, i have those already, they are not good to eat with.

how about this for a comparison. its like abortion, in that i have to leave the country, to get a reasonable service, because its prohibitively expensive.

davo10

Redd4 wrote: »

hi, apologies, thats hardly a good comparison, although it is apples and apples, crazy and crazy, what females spend on beauty treatments makes no sense to me at all.

to the previous post, no anesthetic, go to hell

and to the other previous post, dentures, i have those already, they are not good to eat with.

how about this for a comparison. its like abortion, in that i have to leave the country, to get a reasonable service, because its prohibitively expensive.

People don't leave this country to have abortions because of cost, but because it is illegal except in certain circumstances.

Dental treatment is not illegal, but it does cost. As a consumer you are entitled to travel world wide for dental treatment and the further east you go, the cheaper it will be.

The hair analogy is a good one, a root canal and crown may last you 10 years, how much will you spend on your hair during that time?

CharlieZeroOne

Im going to bow out now. quit while I'm ahead.

I wanted to find some dentists and give them grief, they need it, want it, deserve it.
I think I've done that, mission accomplished.
Clever clogs will just annihilate me if i hang around longer lol. cee ya.

Oral Surgeon

Redd4 wrote: »

Im going to bow out now. quit while I'm ahead.

I wanted to find some dentists and give them grief, they need it, want it, deserve it.
I think I've done that, mission accomplished.
Clever clogs will just annihilate me if i hang around longer lol. cee ya.

Ah but you are not ahead...!!!!

davo10

Banjoxed wrote: »

Why? Because Irish health specialists are greedy kunts. That's the why.

I'm paid exactly what the market will bare, which means I'm paid what I'm worth. No one forces you to pay.

Dentists clinics typically run on a 15-17% profit margin after tax and expenses so for every €100 spent by a patient, I bring home €17, if you think that's "greedy", well I can live with that type of greed.

Alf Veedersane

Redd4 wrote: »

It takes me 4 hours to make 50 euros. Ill be damned if im going to hand my four hours over to chat to a doctor for 7-8 minutes.

You're comparing all sorts of treatments to a dentist.

You go to a doctor because you're concerned about a health issue. I had to bring my baby daughter to the doctor the other day and I ended up being with him for less than 5 minutes. All was ok. I paid him the €60 because he had trained and had the knowledge to be able to tell me that she was ok. I didn't need to spend another hour shooting the breeze with him to feel like I had value for money and it was a damn sight better than being there for an hour because there was something wrong with her.

The work you're looking to have done isn't easy. Not everyone is a dentist or capable of being one. They have had to put in a lot of time and effort and probnably money to get where they are.

Then there are the other costs they incur to be in business.

I don't like having to hand over large sums of money for what seems like a disproportionate amount of service, I appreciate the fact that their charges are based on their knowledge and ability to provide the service.

Oral Surgeon

Banjoxed wrote: »

Why? Because Irish health specialists are greedy kunts. That's the why.

Just because you substituted a c for a k doesn't excuse your vile post. Grow up.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Alright lets call it a day here. I have found that people generally get the teeth they deserve. If you place no value on your teeth and dental work, neither will the provider of the dental work.

Dentists are small business people, working hard, paying their taxes, creating employment and helping to drive the economy. Advanced dental work (such as root canals) is a discretionary spend, you dont have to have it done, you can give out all you want but at the end of the day to person in pain and toothless will be you.

There is nothing more expensive than poor quality dental treatment, and in the long run the only person that suffers is the patient.

OP you came here to gripe, I hope its made you feel better.