My youngest needs to get 4 wisdom teeth pulled. With my oldest its was +/-$2,100 & the dentist did it in a single visit. I thought about asking for a discount, but passed. This time I'm asking for a disco, plus I pay cash so those insurance billing people should not be on my dime... also, I suspect the insurance pays less per tooth than I am being quoted. He can negotiate, or we walk & get it done by another dentist
Tell you what ... I'll do it for half that. And and I won't even ask you to bring the pliers. But seriously ... it's what, maybe 40-50 minutes of work? ... hour and a half, tops? As far as I'm concerned, NOBODY's time is worth that much, and I mean NObody. It pisses me off that we let these guys get away with charging such outragous fees for common dental procedures. Maybe we should nationalize the dental business instead of medicine.
My son was in there less than 1 hour for the extractions. To make it worse, they called me like 6 months later & said they forgot to charge for x-rays, so they wanted more money. They had done X-rays a month prior to the extractions; that's how they realized it was time to pull the teeth. They got nasty so I told them to fuck off, to cancel all pending appts for my entire family & not to bother me again... they called back 15 minutes later & said they were in error, that X-rays were on special in September & they were Free in that month. You know, whatever, shove it up your ass. My kids want to go there, but I stopped going to them... Its a recession & the guy has 1/2 his office empty & has all new state of the art everything... when I started going to him, he had 2 offices, one for the teeth scrapper/hygienist & one for his dental chair - and he is a great dentist - non-metallic, uses inlays to fill teeth & he did all his own tech work too... beautiful work! he was in one of the most exclusive communities in the USA, but he went crazy as his kids are becoming dentists and has a pretty huge office now in a nearby city. massive overhead too.
$2100 for wisdom teeth pulling? celebrity price, you got suckered dude! Going price is $200 per teeth pulled plus this or that. Travel to Mexico and get it done for 25% of the price, if ofcourse living on the border states, although driving a 1000 miles to save $1500 does make sense also.
That thing about how they caved on the x-rays is hilarious. I'm sure all dentists are feeling the recession now, so no doubt that's how that worked. My girlfriend's brother is and her father was a dentist. The father was very down-to-earth and cool, but the brother ... kind of a prick now. Also, I just did a song demo for a girl whose dad is a dentist in Glencoe, IL (I'm a music producer), and our deal was they'd pay me half up front and the last half as soon as we finish. Well we finished in April and they paid me about a week ago. Needless to say, it was like pulling friggin' teeth to get my money. (I know, that was bad. )
'I'll be price shopping, but not in Mexico.' I would travel 1000 miles to save $1500 if I have to go to Mexico. A standard experienced Mexican doctor using clean tools and modern equipment is as good as any doctor in the US. You statement is like saying I would not fly Mexican Airways because it might crash. Do deeper and find that security topics might be better taken care of in Mexico Airline than in the US where pilots are worked up like farm horse and several other issues like barebones Training from Gulfstream Academy and not to forget so many drunk pilot cases in the US carriers..
Typical moron who has never owned/managed a business and has no clue. Do yo think that in that $2k, there are some other costs associated besides just the "dentist's time"? Do dentists typically have a handful of people employed in the office? Do they pay rent? Do they have expenses for their employees (such as healthcare)? Do they have to play insurance premiums in case of litigation? Do they have expensive equipment in their office that needs to be paid off (x-rays, power tables, etc)? You should really think through these things before posting. Also, the dental arena is much more "retail" (ie competitive) than medical, simply because there are far fewer people with dental insurance, and typically they co-pays are much greater percetages.
I lived in Mexico & married a Mexican. My children are 1/2 Mexican... We have spent lots of time in Oaxaca, I had business interet there for many years & traveled to other parts of Mexico & have had many "diverse" experiences. My F-I-L is a Mexican Doctor... When he needed care, he flew to Houston, Tejas. I did not make my statement out of ignorance or prejudice. I will not be taking my children to TJ for oral surgery... not now, not ever.
warning: dentists are among the greediest white-collar professionals you'll find. i know 3 people who are dentists (including a former college roomate), and i know two other people who work in dental offices, so i know what goes on behind the scenes and how they operate. they will do anything to make a buck off you, including procedures that aren't necessary. in terms of greed and ethics, i would place dentists in the same category as lawyers and car salesmen.