Dental Insurance - any advice ?>

Toothsmith

paul5046 wrote: »

If you were on a Denplan, is there more incentive for the dentist to encourage you to look after your teeth. If you are on "pay a you go" then a patient with really good teeth isn't a great earner. Or am i being too cynical.

Again, it depends on the dentist and how the fee structure is set up.

I tend to work everything out on an average hourly rate. (I don't have the meter running whilst people are in the chair, I set the prices on how long the thing usually takes me, and how long I book the appointment).

So whatever a patient is having done, the cost of that time is paid for with the same proportion of costs and profit.

So someone coming in once a year and only ever needing a check up and a clean will make me the same amount on a per hour rate as someone needing complex treatment.

I would be just as happy with lots of patients needing very little doing as fewer patients with crumbling mouths.


Some dentists keep check-up charges low as a sort of 'loss leader' but if you do this, then you are a bit reliant on people needing treatment.

paul5046

Okay thanks.

Toothsmith

Sorry - I didn't read the first bit of your post properly.

The reason I like Denplan, and have most of my patients on it is that it does tend to put dentist and patients on the same side. It's in the dentist's interest to keep the patient's mouth as healthy as possiible - because then fewer things can go wrong, and ultimately the practice will be more profitable as a result.

In the same way that over-treatment can be a problem with some fee per item dentists though, under-treatment can be a problem with these payment schemes.

It isn't generally a huge problem - but just be aware if you're on one of these schemes, and you're only getting very quick check ups, very quick superficial cleans and precious little else.

paul5046

And what about NHS practices. What is the relationship between the way they are paid, and the patient/ treatment.

My dentist does both NHS and private.

Toothsmith

That's a whole essay in itself!

In a nutshell, the NHS dental service exists to patch people up as cheaply as possible. Whilst everything 'clinically necessary' should be available to an NHS patient, the defenition of what actually is clinically necessary for any particular patient can be a difficult thing to establish.