Dental Charges, sneaky.

swingaloo

My hubby went to the dentist as he needed quite a lot of work done due to not going for a long time- stupid man.


Anyway he needed fillings, extractions and crowns which he knew he would. He found a dentist to take him on NHS and when he went for the first appointment he asked how much the treatment was going to cost him.


He was told it would go to band 3 and would be £214 so started the treatment.


His first apt was the check-up and he was given an appointment to go back for his fillings but the dentist referred him to another dentist in the next town to do the extractions (she told him that she was doing this because he takes a lot of medication and he could not have Novocaine on the meds he was on).
When he saw the second dentist he was told that they couldn't understand why he had been referred as they were simple extractions and Novocaine is no longer used.


He then went back to the first dentist for the fillings but in the meantime they rang to cancel his appointment as the dentist was ill and they had no cover. They rescheduled it for 3 weeks later.


At the first visit he paid £18 and at the second visit he paid another £50 and as far as he knew he was paying towards the total figure he had been quoted when he enquired about the cost.


He was then told not to go back for 6 months to give his gums time to heal before they do the bridge/crownwork.


So today he has been back expecting to be charged the balance only to be told it is now a new course of treatment as so long has passed between the first apt and this one.


He explained that he had been told by the dentist not to return till today so as far as he was concerned he was still undergoing the course he had started.


Apparently if you do not complete the course within a set period it is no longer the same course. He wasn't told this when he was told not to come back for 6 months!


Looking at the sign in the dentist it says an examination is Band 1. Band 2 covers the examination plus fillings and extractions.


So we than asked why if band 2 covers the initial check up plus the fillings and extraction he had already been charged the equivalent price of Band 1 and 2 as the band 2 charge would have covered both. Apparently this is because there was a delay between him completing band 2 treatment but this was due to them referring him to another dentist for the extraction coupled with the fact that they cancelled his apt because the dentist was ill.


So basically despite asking the total price for the treatment at the start of the course and having already paid over £70 he is still going to have to pay the original £214 on top.


To add insult to injury they have also said that when he was referred to the other dentist, (who as I said before didn't understand why there was any need for a referral) he should now get charged the Band 2 treatment charge by them as well so he is due another bill.


So all in all the original £214 he was quoted has escalated to £342.


He's not a happy bunny.

dodger1

Is the bridge and crown work also in that total?

kwikbreaks

dodger1 wrote: »

Is the bridge and crown work also in that total?

It's a bargain if it is. A single crown from a private dentist will cost more than that on its own. Maybe I should have persisted in trying to find a NHS dentist....

swingaloo

The total for a Band 3 treatment which includes the crowns etc is £214 which may be 'a bargain' but my gripe is being quoted for the work and then part way through the treatment being told that the quote is only valid if your course completes in a set number of weeks when the dentist is aware (but the patient is not) that the treatment will take longer.

sinizterguy

swingaloo wrote: »

The total for a Band 3 treatment which includes the crowns etc is £214 which may be 'a bargain' but my gripe is being quoted for the work and then part way through the treatment being told that the quote is only valid if your course completes in a set number of weeks when the dentist is aware (but the patient is not) that the treatment will take longer.

Perhaps it was bad communication.

I wouldn't have a bridge fitted over a recent extraction site anyway. I would leave it 3 months after the extraction.

So, it would have been a second course of treatment.

This should have been explained at the beginning.

The first course may also have been a Band 3 if crown work was being done. Or you could have waited until the second course to have both done in one course of Band 3.

Otherwise, the minimum sensible way to get everything described sorted would be to have first course as a Band 2, and a second as a Band 3, as the fillings and extractions need to be done as soon as reasonable, but the rest may have been able to wait.

kwikbreaks

swingaloo wrote: »

The total for a Band 3 treatment which includes the crowns etc is £214 which may be 'a bargain' but my gripe is being quoted for the work and then part way through the treatment being told that the quote is only valid if your course completes in a set number of weeks when the dentist is aware (but the patient is not) that the treatment will take longer.

I understand now and sympathise. Sounds like I certainly should have looked for an NHS dentist then but they were few and far between I decided to catch up on dental maintenance.

swingaloo

sinizterguy wrote: »

Perhaps it was bad communication.

I wouldn't have a bridge fitted over a recent extraction site anyway. I would leave it 3 months after the extraction.

So, it would have been a second course of treatment.

This should have been explained at the beginning.

The first course may also have been a Band 3 if crown work was being done. Or you could have waited until the second course to have both done in one course of Band 3.

Otherwise, the minimum sensible way to get everything described sorted would be to have first course as a Band 2, and a second as a Band 3, as the fillings and extractions need to be done as soon as reasonable, but the rest may have been able to wait.

That's precisely the point, he was having it all done in one Band 3 course he thought, that's what they told him at the beginning as the Band 3 covered everything. What they didn't tell him was that because of the time lapse in between the first and second and then the second and third visit, each visit was a different course. Especially annoying as the time lapse between the first and second visit was partly down to them cancelling his appointment.

sinizterguy

swingaloo wrote: »

That's precisely the point, he was having it all done in one Band 3 course he thought, that's what they told him at the beginning as the Band 3 covered everything. What they didn't tell him was that because of the time lapse in between the first and second and then the second and third visit, each visit was a different course. Especially annoying as the time lapse between the first and second visit was partly down to them cancelling his appointment.

In that case, write them a complain and they will send you an apology.

If you press it further there may be an irrevocable breakdown in the relationship.

In the main, your husband was not shortchanged. He just thought he was getting a better deal than he was.

I would not accept having to pay for a second course of treatment because the dentist was ill and they had to delay you appointment - that is not acceptable. But, if you re-arranged/cancelled/did not attend appointments after the dentists re-arranged the original one, then it can be reasonable to terminate the existing course of treatment.

If you head with that point, rather than the rest of it, you might get a refund of a Band 1 course, to make it as it should have been.