Dental Insurance that is reasonably priced?

BucksLady

freeyaeco, I hope your Practice does well because you really seem to care.
After my brief liason with the Private Sector I began to think dentistry had become nothing more than a money-making venture - but I can now see that is not always the case

freeyaeco

I just got started here, I guess it will, never had a problem before and patients tend to like me. But thank you Buckslady! I can assure you though that I am far from an exception, loads of dentists I know are really really good and caring people.

The thing is they have an economic reality which is, if you want to not close your practice and still take enough time for each patient you have to charge enough, but if you charge too much, you don't have enough patients, and have to charge even more.
An other main issue, is that a patient doesn't perceive quality of treatment : when you buy a Lada and compare it to Mercedes everyone sees the difference right away, but when dealing with teeth the patient doesn't know what a good treatment is, as long as it didn't hurt and that the pain is gone for some time and it's white... If a patient looses his crown after 3 or 5 years he'll think it's normal and that it's good it held on so long, he won't know that it's supposed to last between 8 and 15 years... Same thing for fillings. The patient rarely perceives dental treatment quality, which is sad because there would be no debate if he did.

I am absolutely sure there is a way to make it so everybody can afford excellent dental care. I'm looking for it, and I really hope it can work out! But I believe solidarity : sharing the cost of the practice amongst its' patients is the key!

theoretica

freeyaeco wrote: »

99.8 to 99.9% isn't that much of a difference, but going from 98 to 93 is : it's going from 1/50 patients having a problem to 1/14 which is quite a difference either you want it or not. Tell a patient he has a 1/50 chance of failure if done right away and 1/14 chance if he waits 3-6 months, see the reaction. Test it really. Excellency is gaining the small % of successful cases.

A clearer way of presenting the data, in my opinion, would be that a change from 98% success to 93% means one patient in 20 will have a problem if he waits, which he would not have had with prompt treatment.

I agree that the healthy need to pay for the ill - the question is how pessamistic are you? The optimist in me says that overall I will need less treatment than average and so will save when I am healthy to pay for myself when I am ill. I guess I do have faith in the NHS to catch me if this cunning plan fails. In adulthood I have not needed anything more expensive dentally than a scale and polish - if I had been paying £40 a month I would have paid out £8 to 9000 more than I have.

freeyaeco

I understand that, but with a system based on solidarity some will end up not needing it while others will need a lot. The thing is you don't know beforehand if you will need it.

But I have a simple question : God forbid it, but if you have an accident and end up loosing say 4-8 teeth do you have the means with the 8-9k you saved up to pay for oral rehabilitation (groossly 2000£ per tooth for implant plus probably the bone graft that would be needed)?

I am not saying this to scare you, but to make you understand that the risk is not null.

The goal for anyone in this system is actually to lose money, which would mean they stayed healthy the whole time. I know it might be hard to get a gist at the concept. Your paying to know your covered whatever happens. The goal certainly isn't to get your money back, just knowing that whatever happens, because !!!! happens, negligence can happen, you're covered.

The system in France is a bit more complicated and the premium is calculated depending on your age, but I feel that is unfair to old people. Maybe a reduced premium for under people under 30 because they earn a bit less on average...

I know it won't convince everyone, we don't need that much people to make it work.

Frankly I don't want people who subscribe wanting to make the most out of the deal, that is not the goal, the goal is to stay healthy! And those who do need treatment know that they'll be well taken care of.

ManofLeisure_2

freeyaeco, I know exactly where you are coming from. 10 years ago my wife had no dental problems at all, but 6 months of chemotherapy put an end to that. Thankfully, she is well again, but unfortunately her teeth were affected. None of us know what will happen in the future - that's for sure.

BucksLady

My aunt had a similar experience ManofLeisure. Having endured many years of chemo, her teeth were damaged and she ended up with complete dentures. After years of struggling with dentures, she's just about to have implants to support new ones. Gosh, dentistry has come so far - thank goodness.