<p>Scheduled an oral surgery with a dentist and the front desk lady asked me to sign a piece of paper. Because the dentist might need to do additional treatment once he cut me open. The cost will be within a range and the Max is X. I need to pay 20% of whatever max comes to be for this day. </p>
<p>Apparently, the dentist did a lot more without consulting me. The final bill was over 20% more than the estimated Max. This means my coverage for the whole year is done. I already have other dental work planned for this year. </p>
<p>What is my right here? Should I complain to the BBB or dental board?</p>
<p>I can tell you our dental board isn’t worth a darn. It is the fox guarding the henhouse. We put in a complaint regarding some treatment D1 had a couple of years ago (there is a whole thread on it out here). Didn’t do a bit of good, dentist got off with nothing. All you can honestly do is change dentists and tell everyone you know why you did. :(</p>
<p>Some surgery you can get processed through your major medical rather than dental for a higher cap.
Of course dentists are dropping insurance companies left and right & it is impossible to find one that is on our companies preferred provider list without driving 30 miles.</p>
<p>It’s not like he would have had to call you on the phone . . . You were, like, right there.</p>
<p>That said, he may not be on top of what the charges would be.</p>
<p>I would take it up with him. You were told it might go as high as $X and you agreed to that. You did not agree to $X + 20%. He might respond, “Well, the treatment turned out to require more; I didn’t foresee that,” to which you can respond, “Then that possibility should have been included in your original estimate.”</p>
<p>It’s worth a shot to discuss this with the dentist.</p>
<p>Before complaining to the Better Business Bureau or deciding that the dentist is somehow ripping you off, why not find out what additional work was done, and why? Is it possible that you were sedated, and that the dentist was unable to discuss any additional work with you for that reason? The dentist may have saved you some money if he headed off a worse situation with the additional treatment.
Did the form you signed specifically say “for xyz procedures,” or did it refer to any and all possible additional work?</p>
<p>D1 went to a dentist referred by someone from work. The dentist charged her 3 times more than what other dentist charged for check up and cleaning. We paid for it, but now she is going to my dentist, who is a lot more reasonable and honest.</p>
<p>To be fair, a lot of times dentist (or doctors) don’t know what they need to do until they open you up and start treating. I think you either trust your provider or you don’t. If you don’t trust how much they are charging you, you probably should get another doctor.</p>
<p>Agree with frazzled. Talk to the dentist and/or staff first. Its quite possible it was discussed, or that the dentist’s additional work saved you more headache down the road.
Dental insurance is usually very limited for the year, so can be used up with one or two expensive procedures. That is no surprise. That said, you can’t completely know for sure how much will be covered by insurance and how much the dentist writes off as an in network provider, so there well may be some benefits left after the claims are processed. As others have said upthread, its often hard to find any dentist that accepts insurance, so count your blessings and try to think positively. Everyone is not trying to rip you off. Dont be so quick to complain or assume the worst.</p>
<p>BTW, what is your deductible, Dad II? That would have to be met before the insurance kicked in, so isn’t it possible the cost is higher because of the deductible, not because of additional charges?</p>
<p>I think what dadll is saying is that his total coverage for this year was $_____, and this procedure exceeded it.
Oral surgery is very expensive and ins seems to cover only a small part unless you can get your major medical policy to pick up some of it.
We had the same problem when D has her wisdom teeth pulled.
She also needed additional dental work done, but the cap is quite low, maybe $2,000?
So had to wait, cause couldn’t afford to pay out of pocket.</p>
<p>I expect all he can do is to tell the dentist he is switching to another dentist who does a better job estimating.</p>
<p>Agreed, EK. As I said in #11, dental coverage is usually pretty limited. Maybe $1500 to 2500/yr ( I believe this was the range of coverage of some employee plans we had) and one oral surgery procedure (we dk if thats an extraction/implant which may fall partially under major medical, or a root canal/crown -that’ll burn it up quickly) or maybe gum work. The difference here is, your daughter really couldn’t afford the out of pocket cost.</p>
Loved that whole episode.</p>