Dentist trying to rip me off

Archeotech

Hi

So I had a crack in a filling (rear molar) I got at a dentist last year and went back to try get it fixed quick as there was pain when I chewed on it. My normal dentist was out so another one there covered it instead.

Anyway I have the medical card which would cover my filling (They were aware I was using the medical card) and all was fine at first. He gave me anesthetic and got to work clearing away the old filling but then said that it was a bit more tricky than thought and that the filling would have to go deeper. In fact I'd probably need a root filling so he said he'd clean it out and do a quick patch on it and then my other dentist would finish the job the next day. No cost was mentioned so I just though it was just a difficult filling and it sounded like they were taking care of it. I just grunted a kind of ok as he had his instruments in my mouth all this time. Anyway he does his work and then I go out and the suddenly they're looking for €150! I was like what? In fact the whole thing was going to cost me €650 and it was in fact a root canal when I hadn't intended on spending anything as not that well off!

Now for a back tooth I'd probably have gotten a extraction which was also free for me but should I really have to pay for this con? No price, proper explanation or options were discussed. I paid some of the money with the idea that I'd come in a few days later and talk to my proper dentist. The other dentist said that I should've had a "root filling" last year when I was last in.

I'm kinda thinking that they should also refund me for my filling last year as well!
Any advice?

Also my tooth is quite sore all the time now >_< Hoping it might get better with some sleep.....

jcd5971

Talk to your main dentist see what he says.

Personally seems a bit odd to expect you to agree to a big cost procedure like that in the middle of a different procedure. I'd assume you had been given an anesthetic injection by that stage as well?

Archeotech

Yeah he'd given me the anesthetic and like I said didn't really go into much details on what he was doing beyond putting in a quick fix and prepping it for my main dentist so he could do the root filling. First I heard of cost and more details was when I left the dentist to get my prescription for penicillin.

Oral Surgeon

I think "trying to rip you off" is a bit much, more like poor communication skills here....

You had a painful tooth and this was sorted out temporarily.... You should pay for that....

Any subsequent treatment (root canal or extraction) is extra and you should pay for whatever treatment you go on to have.

It is up to the dentist to explain the pros and cons of treatment and especially cost. It is also important that the patient asks what is going on too- did you expect the dentist to work in your mouth for 30-60mins for free?

I know the counter argument here is "why didn't he fix it correctly the first time?" Dentists deal with the structure and biology of your teeth- we will try to fix the tooth as it appears today, that doesn't mean that every tooth will respond to that treatment and does not mean that we now own the tooth forever. If you want certainty then we will root canal and crown every tooth whether it needs it or not!!
I'd liken it to cancer treatment- the oncologist makes an assessment and deems that surgery alone is needed.... Most times this is correct but sometimes not and the patient may then need radiotherapy or chemo or both.... Does the patient blame the oncologist for the need for ongoing treatment?????

Archeotech wrote: »

Hi

So I had a crack in a filling (rear molar) I got at a dentist last year and went back to try get it fixed quick as there was pain when I chewed on it. My normal dentist was out so another one there covered it instead.

Anyway I have the medical card which would cover my filling (They were aware I was using the medical card) and all was fine at first. He gave me anesthetic and got to work clearing away the old filling but then said that it was a bit more tricky than thought and that the filling would have to go deeper. In fact I'd probably need a root filling so he said he'd clean it out and do a quick patch on it and then my other dentist would finish the job the next day. No cost was mentioned so I just though it was just a difficult filling and it sounded like they were taking care of it. I just grunted a kind of ok as he had his instruments in my mouth all this time. Anyway he does his work and then I go out and the suddenly they're looking for €150! I was like what? In fact the whole thing was going to cost me €650 and it was in fact a root canal when I hadn't intended on spending anything as not that well off!

Now for a back tooth I'd probably have gotten a extraction which was also free for me but should I really have to pay for this con? No price, proper explanation or options were discussed. I paid some of the money with the idea that I'd come in a few days later and talk to my proper dentist. The other dentist said that I should've had a "root filling" last year when I was last in.

I'm kinda thinking that they should also refund me for my filling last year as well!
Any advice?

Also my tooth is quite sore all the time now >_< Hoping it might get better with some sleep.....

Archeotech

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

I think "trying to rip you off" is a bit much, more like poor communication skills here....

You had a painful tooth and this was sorted out temporarily.... You should pay for that....

Any subsequent treatment (root canal or extraction) is extra and you should pay for whatever treatment you go on to have.

It is up to the dentist to explain the pros and cons of treatment and especially cost. It is also important that the patient asks what is going on too- did you expect the dentist to work in your mouth for 30-60mins for free?

I went in for a filling which was covered by the medical card so wasn't really expecting any expense at all and they get paid by the government so it's isn't free work. The work the dentist did took maybe 15-20mins and was phrased as a more complicated filling that I'd need my main dentist to finish off. To expect me to pay €150 from what was a covered procedure without explaining is pretty suspect if you ask me. I couldn't talk during the procedure as i had anesthetic in my mouth and it was full of liquid or his tools. All I could do was grunt so not sure how I was supposed to ask questions??? He said I needed it done and that was it. No options were discussed.

If he had said you need extensive surgery or a Root Canal and that it would cost me X amount or I could get an extraction then obviously I'd have gone for the extraction which was also covered.

Honestly the reason I needed that tooth pulled was because he messed up the filling at least 3 - 4 times. I remember when I first went into him to get a filling on a different tooth he saw that tooth and said it looked a little soft and that to protect it he said I should have a small filling on top. At the time I thought sure if that's what he recommends. He proceeded to drill into the tooth and put a filling in which came out a few months later. After that he had to refill the tooth about 2-3 more times. I'm not even sure if it did need that filling to begin with!

Anyway to finish I went back in and explained. So I ended up paying €75 for the emergency patch and getting the tooth extracted, however he bungled the anesthetic so I was in incredible pain when he took the tooth out. I will say he did a good job otherwise on the extraction and it's healing up nicely but will never go back there again.

davo10

Archeotech wrote: »

I went in for a filling which was covered by the medical card so wasn't really expecting any expense at all and they get paid by the government so it's isn't free work. The work the dentist did took maybe 15-20mins and was phrased as a more complicated filling that I'd need my main dentist to finish off. To expect me to pay €150 from what was a covered procedure without explaining is pretty suspect if you ask me. I couldn't talk during the procedure as i had anesthetic in my mouth and it was full of liquid or his tools. All I could do was grunt so not sure how I was supposed to ask questions??? He said I needed it done and that was it. No options were discussed.

If he had said you need extensive surgery or a Root Canal and that it would cost me X amount or I could get an extraction then obviously I'd have gone for the extraction which was also covered.

Honestly the reason I needed that tooth pulled was because he messed up the filling at least 3 - 4 times. I remember when I first went into him to get a filling on a different tooth he saw that tooth and said it looked a little soft and that to protect it he said I should have a small filling on top. At the time I thought sure if that's what he recommends. He proceeded to drill into the tooth and put a filling in which came out a few months later. After that he had to refill the tooth about 2-3 more times. I'm not even sure if it did need that filling to begin with!

Anyway to finish I went back in and explained. So I ended up paying €75 for the emergency patch and getting the tooth extracted, however he bungled the anesthetic so I was in incredible pain when he took the tooth out. I will say he did a good job otherwise on the extraction and it's healing up nicely but will never go back there again.

From a dentist's point of view, I can see why you are angry and justifiably so. Poor communication led to your options not being explained and what the costs were. If I owned that clinic you would be given a full refund along with an apology, the dentist would have been told to cop on.