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Dental care with medical card

  • 14-04-2021 9:46pm
    #1
    sbkenn
    Registered Users Posts: 186 ✭✭


    I am suspicious, and would appreciate opinions:
    Are dentists likely to choose the cheap option when treating patients with medical cards. I have had dental problems finr a very early age. I am already missing several molars so don't want to lose any more if I can avoid it. A dentist told me today that 2 more need to come out, and I wonder if that is because extractions are quick and easy .... for them, as opposed to time consuming and possibly difficult drilling and filling.


Comments

  • #2
    Dav010
    Registered Users Posts: 13,949 ✭✭✭✭Dav010


    sbkenn wrote: »
    I am suspicious, and would appreciate opinions:
    Are dentists likely to choose the cheap option when treating patients with medical cards. I have had dental problems finr a very early age. I am already missing several molars so don't want to lose any more if I can avoid it. A dentist told me today that 2 more need to come out, and I wonder if that is because extractions are quick and easy .... for them, as opposed to time consuming and possibly difficult drilling and filling.

    Fillings are easier and often quicker than extractions.

    You mention “medical card” in your title, I don’t know what the fee is now, but the fee paid to the Dentist for an extraction used to be lower than a filling, also, I’m sure you are aware, your card only covers two fillings per year so the Dentist would more than likely make more by charging you private fees for fillings.

    Dentists don’t like taking out teeth, and if your suspicions are that it is being done for financial reasons, once a tooth is extracted the possibility to “earn” from that tooth are at an end, which would seem counter productive for the Dentist if they were that way inclined.

    If a tooth is beyond repair with a filling and requires either extraction or invasive, expensive treatments, which one would make a dentist less, extract the tooth ( guess €70 on the Med card) or tooth canal treatment and ceramic crown (€1200 - €1500)? Now, does unnecessarily extracting a tooth make sense?


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