I may have just been an SC at my dentist's office...

[wagegoth]

I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo glad my dental insurance pays everying. I don't even have to do a co-pay.

Oh, I am so frikkin' green with envy right now.

[KellyHabersham]

Me personally, I'd just be happy to have any dental insurance at all. My library job doesn't provide any sort of benefits for part-timers, I can't afford insurance on my own, and the Medicaid program here in Arizona (not sure how it is in other states) doesn't have dental coverage for adults. So that being said, I haven't been to a dentist in over four years.....fortunately, I haven't had any problems.

[Sliceanddice]

grrr this thread is making my mouth hurt (i have two wisdom teeth bugging me and a nasty chipped tooth) i get dentle at my new job but i dont qualitfy for a about 60 days and i know a wisdom tooth cost abouit 380 bucks not fun...

[Becks]

Oh, I am so frikkin' green with envy right now.

Forgive me?

It came in handy with my broken wisdom tooth, and will come in handy again when I have a second (non-broken) wisdom tooth taken out at some point.

[Mighty Girl]

That's just downright deceitful. That's the equivalent of - here in the states- doing dental work on a 70 year old person, then telling them afterward that they don't take medicare. Say it upfront so you have the option to go find somebody who does. After all, they OPTED out of accepting that kind of payment, so they should be totally supportive of other people exercising their right to options....

They screwed you, just tell them you don't have the money and you don't appreciate their underhanded practices, report them to whatever authority there is there (private organization as well as goverment agency- example, in the US we have the American Dental Association, and medicare as well as the state attorney general) and tell them they can either accept a payment plan you can live with, or they can sue. They're employing unethical business practices, and there's a good chance that it could be illegal not to disclose that info. upfront.

Your groceries, rent and kiddos come first, pay them AFTER your priorities are taken care of.

[tollbaby]

When you first made your appointment did you ask if they took your insurance? Either way it does sound really crappy that they wouldn't say anything. When you signed up with that insurance did they tell you which dentists accepted your insurance? Maybe you can dispute the charge with your insurance it doesn't sound right.

Anakah, you don't understand. Dental care is supposed to be FREE for ALL children under the age of 10 in the province of Quebec. It's a feature of our provincial medical coverage. It's not private insurance. It's something that every Tom, Dick and Harry who lives here gets. That's why I'm so flabbergasted that they can opt OUT of it. So of course I didn't think to ask if they accepted it, it's the freaking GOVERNMENT. EVERYBODY is supposed to accept it.

Well, fortunately, my ex-husband's insurance still covers the kids, and it covers 100% up to $1500/year. So I'll pay up front (now that I know how much it is) and get the reimbursement from the insurance.

MightyGirl, fortunately, my ex-husband was able to front me the money for the appointment, and when his insurance sends a cheque, he'll have his money back as well (he makes about twice what I do). I did tell them that I was rather angry that they didn't tell me up-front about the fact that they had opted out of the provincial insurance coverage scheme. I told them I felt deceived and that I wasn't sure I could do business with an office that operated that way, so I'd have to cancel all my outstanding appointments and get in touch with them later about rebooking if I wanted to continue my relationship with them. So now I have to decide if I want the bother of finding a new dentist, or if I want to stay with the one that's literally RIGHT next to my house (I'm not kidding. Their front door is less than 50 feet from mine).

Quite honestly, I blame the office staff. This is the sort of stuff THEY deal with. The dentist is only supposed to have to see you when your mouth is already open and leaves before you get up. She's also fantastic with the children, and they're very relaxed and comfortable with her. I'm not sure it's worth going through the transition pains with a new dentist, even for my cherished "principles" LOL I may simply request that they put a sign up in the waiting room stating that they don't accept provincial insurance.

[draftermatt]

I think all good doctor and denist's offices are that way. You love the person doing the work, but the staff sucks so hard, you have to convince yourself to keep going there.

[Shabo]

Luckily, not at my dentist's office. The dentist has been a family friend for years. I can't remember going to any other dentist ever in my life (although I'm sure I have since we didn't move to this state until I was 2). I actually don't want to find another dentist because I've heard too many horror stories about other ones, but I'm going to have to soon since he's a pediatrician and I'm 22

[cinema guy]

Dentists here in the UK can opt out of the National Health Service. It has gotten to the stage where there is a chronic shortage of NHS dentists (free for children, eldery, disabled etc) in many areas.

[Nakajo]

Hah.
Here in England, kids get'free' dental and specs, and dentists and optitions (sp) just charge the Gov.
Back in school, my dentist hit me with a filling, it fell out in the car home.
Next checkup, six months later, he didn't notice the tooth needed a filling...
20 years later, new dentist ain't noticed either..

My old dentist would find 2 fillings every time I went in... and I had to have the special insert fillings which were $200 extra, because they "didn't do regular fillings". They hurt SO BAD, because they drill twice as big a hole for the special inserts... anyone ever had one of these? I was always so afraid to go to the dentist... up til I was 17 years old!!!

We started going to this new guy about 3 years ago. The first time I visited him, he said my mouth was perfect. I told him all the stuff I had done in the past. He looked at me and said, "Well, your old dentist is full of $#*^."
Verbatim.

I love going to the dentist now.