Cost of a dental consultation...

P

pinkyBear

Registered User
Messages
1,065
Hi there,

I have been attending a dentist for years, I am very happy with my dentist, however I am a nervous patient. I have had to visit my dentist a few times over the past few months. I had a tooth infection in a particular tooth that needs to be removed.

This is a top back tooth, hence I expressed massive fear to my dentist! So she suggested I try another Dentist who is covered to give sedation.

I got a call yesterday from this other dentist. I was told by this practice to book a consultation. Which I did. I asked what was the consultation for and I quote the secratary - "It is to determine if your VHI covers this proceedure, your x-rays will also be reviewed", so I asked how much will this cost. I was told "€100"....

My VHI would cover this, however I have to ask a few questions:
1) Do certain medical practices think it is acceptible to charge a person any price they like - just because they are covered with VHI.
2) Does this man think he is God.

I asked the receptionist to give me the price of an extraction in this practice -
€200 - €250 for an upper tooth, without sedation.
€350 with sedation.

My regular practice charges €90 - €150 for an extraction...

mmmhhhhh
 
that sounds unbelievably high. what about PRSI entitlements? are they taken into account?

I am the same when it comes to dentists. Had once a very bad experience and kept my distance ever since but then my back tooth had to be removed, too and after long considerations I got myself to call a new dentist (recommended at the time from my working colleague). The consultation fee was like with a GP 50€ I think minus PRSI entitlement. They also took XRay, not sure if I had to pay extra for this, I don't think I did. They couldn't get the XRay pictures from the previous (bad experience) dentist that's why a new one was taken. If you have yours, I don't think they take new ones. That's how I understood it anyway.

The total for taking the tooth out including sedation was around 150€.

Ping me if you want to call them for info.
 
Correct me if i'm wrong but didn't dentist and optician prsi entitlements get scrapped in the emergency budget?
 
I went a year ago - so maybe was that across the board or with exceptions?

Added: Just found this article [broken link removed]

"A spokeswoman for the Department of Social Protection, which administers the PRSI dental scheme, focused on the fact that people are still entitled to a free dental examination."

Article is from the 2nd of August
 
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That's an outrageous price. I just switched dentists and the new dentist took a full mouth x-ray (one of these fancy rotary x-rays) and checked all my teeth, removed a piece of broken tooth and put in some temporary filling and all that cost 70 Euros.
 
I remember years ago if you went to the dentist and something needed doing it was done on the first visit and appointments made then if needed. Now first visit is just an examination and meaning extra money to be paid out.
 

Why should a dentist care whether your VHI covers this or not?, at the end of the day, even if it does, will you not be paying and looking to claim it back from the VHI (which is what any dentist I've used does), rather then him billing the VHI direct?

€100 is ridiculous for a consultation. I had to get a lot done to my own teeth last year, (legacy of a rugby boot) and the dentist charged me €70 for the consultation but knocked it off the overall bill once I agreed for him to do the work.

My mother in law had an experience with her dentist recently, he wanted to charge her €120 for an extraction, she found another in the area to do it for €80. Like most things, dentists are cheaper once you go beyond Dublin
 

Hi there, I know this would be an expence I could claim back from the VHI. However if you think of it, I attend a medical practicioner, I get a bill. Because I am covered with VHI, I can claim back this expence.

Fast forward to the end of year, VHI post losses. My VHI subscription increases.

Could these exorbitant fees be the reason VHI costs are creeping upwards????? I would think so.
 
On a related topic:

Colgate are running a promotion for the month of September, if you buy some of their products you can claim up to €65 back for dental check up or scale & polish. It won't be a benifit for everyone but I know some dentists charge up to €90 for a scale & polish. Details are at:

www.colgateohm.ie
 
that's a brilliant promotion thanks for the link wizard. PRSI allows 1 check up a year. Now I can add a scale and polish and have Colgate refund €65, great benefit.
 
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