Can someone in the dental field please read -solved...thnx

[vmichelle]

Something doesn't sound right there . Have you talked to your insurance provider ? The reason " since I hadn't been to a dentist in a few years." isn't a very good reason from your dentist , IMO.

I would ask for a detailed bill separating the insured coverage AND the portion your paying out of pocket . I would want to see it all .

Makes sense to me. I worked for 4 months (I know, not long. Not saying I'm all knowing) doing front desk at a dental office. If you haven't been to a dentist in a while any treatment you may have needed previously only gets worse if you don't do anything about it. It's not like you get a cavity and it stays the same size forever over time it gets bigger, causes more damage and ultimately costs more money as it takes more time/supplies to treat it.
On top of that like other posters have said if you haven't been to the dentist in a while there may be other things that needed to be done. I'm trying to remember how the rates went at the office I used to work at, but its been a bit. I know for hygiene depending on how much needs to be done it can cost anywhere for $100 up to $500 (before insurance) which once again can go up if you haven't been to the dentist in a while. Then you need to add in any updates to your xrays, treatment planning, a dental exam, followed by whatever treatment is necessary.
Fillings increase in price depending on the size and how many surfaces on the tooth need to be covered.

I would say ask the office to print out a detailed statement breaking down the costs for you. I use to deal with insurance and sending off the predeterminations and what not so they'll be able to tell you what their costs are and if they have already sent it off to the insurance company than they might be able to explain to you a bit of what the insurance company paid they just won't be able to give you the break down of why the insurance company paid what it did. Best bet would be to contact your insurance company and talk to them about it more.

[xjeepguy]

1. True , but it's not good for business if your surprising customer's with bills they aren't expecting .

2. In my case your statement is not correct , my dentist had several Insurance carriers login screens on their office computer . With my dental program number she logged in and was able to show me exactly what my coverage was and what I was responsible for , cost wise ( she also said this program was how they submit their invoices too ) . That's smart and up to date and shows they are on the ball .

It is not the responsibility of the Dentist to tell you what your dental insurance covers.


In fact, Dentists don't know much about it at all. That is not their job.
.

[gardengirl]

1. True , but it's not good for business if your surprising customer's with bills they aren't expecting .

2. In my case your statement is not correct , my dentist had several Insurance carriers login screens on their office computer . With my dental program number she logged in and was able to show me exactly what my coverage was and what I was responsible for , cost wise ( she also said this program was how they submit their invoices too ) . That's smart and up to date and shows they are on the ball .

It is not the responsibility of the Dentist to tell you what your dental insurance covers.


In fact, Dentists don't know much about it at all. That is not their job.
.

The office manager may know about insurance, the Dentist most likely does not.
IT IS NOT HIS JOB.

[vmichelle]

1. True , but it's not good for business if your surprising customer's with bills they aren't expecting .

2. In my case your statement is not correct , my dentist had several Insurance carriers login screens on their office computer . With my dental program number she logged in and was able to show me exactly what my coverage was and what I was responsible for , cost wise ( she also said this program was how they submit their invoices too ) . That's smart and up to date and shows they are on the ball .

It is not the responsibility of the Dentist to tell you what your dental insurance covers.


In fact, Dentists don't know much about it at all. That is not their job.
.

You're lucky the office was able to do that for you. I always had patients trying to get me to call their insurance company for them, but I can't. When you call they won't give any pertinent information unless you are the person whose name the plan is under (or one of the names covered by the plan) there is some specific privacy laws that won't allow it. By your office using the internet they're able to bypass that most likely as there is no way of telling who is accessing the information... though things might be different because I worked at an office in Calgary.
Otherwise the office should be able to give you the contact information for your insurance provider regardless because they've got all of that handy if they need to call them for whatever reason.

And yeah, most dentists wouldn't know much about insurance coverage as they don't work with the insurance companies. The people working at the front desk or the office manager will know more because they are the ones doing all the paper work and dealing with the insurance companies.

[Triple 6]

My office can submit the costs then and there. Electronically. I know the amount I have to pay.
Whenever I have had work done in the past, I always get a quote from the dental office. No surprises.

[Piecemaker]

My office can submit the costs then and there. Electronically. I know the amount I have to pay.
Whenever I have had work done in the past, I always get a quote from the dental office. No surprises.

Ditto. They can tell me before the work is done how much is covered and what is not. Plus I have to sign the form that is scanned and then electronically sent to Blue Cross for payment to the dentist. They give me a printed copy of what Blue Cross is paying and what portion I paid.

The $300 sounds about right for the amount of work done. Unfortunately when you don't use all your dental plan allows in one year, it does not carry over for future use. If you go to your dentist regularly you can avoid needing a lot of work done in one year and be less out of pocket. However, there is no way around it, dental work is costly.

[the_zipper]

It is not the responsibility of the Dentist to tell you what your dental insurance covers.
In fact, Dentists don't know much about it at all. That is not their job.

It is also not the staff's responsibility to tell you what your dental insurance covers.
As the patient, it is up to you to find out these things before you agree to have the treatment.
If you ask for a written estimate in advance, you can call your insurance company to have them explain to you what is covered and what is not.

There are many different types of insurance and many different insurance carriers.
The staff at the dental office may be familiar with the more common ones, but they do not know all the details of every type of insurance, nor should they be expected to.

The patient is the one who purchases the insurance plan or has it as a benefit of work.
The Dentist has absolutely nothing to do with that transaction.
If you have purchased a product which is not suited to your needs, or does not provide coverage for the services you require, that is your own problem.
It is your responsibility to find out what you are getting with your plan.

A Dentist does not do treatment planning according to whatever insurance you may have.
An examination is done and recommendations are made according to what the patient requires.
It is then up to the patient to decide the course of action. If you cannot afford to have everything done at once, the Dentist may be able to amend the treatment plan and do it in stages.
However; the decision whether to have the treatment or not is entirely up to the patient.

In this case, it is highly unlikely that everything was done at one appointment.
Fillings and cleanings are rarely done on the same day.
The patient would have had an examination and probably xrays at the first visit.
The restorations and cleaning would probably have been booked for subsequent appointments.
The office most likely provided the patient with a quotation for that.
Then it was up to the patient to find out what was covered by their insurance plan.

Worth Repeating!!

To the OP The cost sounds about right, depending on how many fillings you had done. Doesn't sound outrageous to me.

[ogopogodude]

It is not the responsibility of the Dentist to tell you what your dental insurance covers.
In fact, Dentists don't know much about it at all. That is not their job.

It is also not the staff's responsibility to tell you what your dental insurance covers.
As the patient, it is up to you to find out these things before you agree to have the treatment.
If you ask for a written estimate in advance, you can call your insurance company to have them explain to you what is covered and what is not.

There are many different types of insurance and many different insurance carriers.
The staff at the dental office may be familiar with the more common ones, but they do not know all the details of every type of insurance, nor should they be expected to.

The patient is the one who purchases the insurance plan or has it as a benefit of work.
The Dentist has absolutely nothing to do with that transaction.
If you have purchased a product which is not suited to your needs, or does not provide coverage for the services you require, that is your own problem.
It is your responsibility to find out what you are getting with your plan.

A Dentist does not do treatment planning according to whatever insurance you may have.
An examination is done and recommendations are made according to what the patient requires.
It is then up to the patient to decide the course of action. If you cannot afford to have everything done at once, the Dentist may be able to amend the treatment plan and do it in stages.
However; the decision whether to have the treatment or not is entirely up to the patient.

In this case, it is highly unlikely that everything was done at one appointment.
Fillings and cleanings are rarely done on the same day.
The patient would have had an examination and probably xrays at the first visit.
The restorations and cleaning would probably have been booked for subsequent appointments.
The office most likely provided the patient with a quotation for that.
Then it was up to the patient to find out what was covered by their insurance plan.

I LOVE THIS POST... This is (most likely) written by a dental person (be him/her a CDA, an RDH, a receptionist, or an actual dentist). It is written so succinctly and informatively, ... Why is it that people should think that their dentist should know everything about their particular insurance plan to the detail?

Drilling, filling, extracting and so on is their actual career procedures, ... not trying to decipher the 50 bzillion different plans that exist out there. Not even their staff can know this. Insurance companies try to screw two parties, ... first is the subscriber (and if the person reading this post has a plan,this means YOU...).The other party that the insurance tries to screw is the dentist.

Insurance companies want to maximize profits. THIS IS THEIR SOLE AIM. They do not care about the patient (like the dentist does) nor do they care about the dentist. As a matter of fact, ... insurance companies WANT the patient never to go to a dentist at all, ... nor when they do go ,.... the insurance company does not want to pay out the claim that the dentist makes on behalf of the patient.

Whenever there is an insurance problem, ... the patient should get mad at THEIR insurance company, ... NOT their dentist. Oh, ... by the way, ... one must remember that phrase.... "it is the patient's insurance plan" .... so any problems is, well, the patient's. The problem should not ever become a problem of the health care giver (dentist).

BTW, when an estimate is given at a dental office, ... it is JUST THAT, ... AN estimate. There are always changes that can occur during treatment, .... just like a kitchen renovation (ONE NEVER knows what's under the floorboards until u take apart the floor to see what surprises lay underneath).
Plus, .... insurance companies love to "change" things and add little clauses, (and make things difficult such as giving information-after-the-fact (after the work has been performed) etc, ... ANYTHING to create a riff between their dentist and the subscriber (patient). There is a reason for this: the insurance company wants the patient to not go to the dentist for a long time, .... this makes it such that the insurance company takes the money "in" but doesn't pay the money "out" (pay the claim to the dentist).