Dental Bill

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Hi Im Wondering If Anyone Could Help I Recently Started A Course Of Dental Treatment In Total It Was Costing Me £257.00, My Dentist Has Sign Up On Reception Area Stating All Dental Bills Must Be Paid Up On Last Day Of Treatment... After Gettin Root Treatment On One Tooth My Dentist Demanded That I Pay £120.00 Up Front Of My Bill, Covering The Cost Of My Root Treatment, And If I Didnt Pay This There N Then, They Wouldni Continue Rest Of My Treatment. Iv Argued Bk N Forth With Them Sayin I Will Pay Up When My Treatment Is Completed. Re- (as Stated On The Notice In Reception) Now They Have Taking This Matter To A Debt Collecting Agency Who Have Issued Me With A Bill For £203.53, Looks Like My Dentist Have Charged An Extra £40 On To This Bill Of £120.00 And The Debt Collection Have Added 25% ...i Have Twice Now Contacted Dentist Askin Them To Give Me A Detailed Breakdown Of What This £40.00 Is For But They Have Ignored Me. The Debt Collection Are Puttin My Case On Hold Til I Get Satisfactory Answer From Dentist.... Can Anyone Advise Me What To Do Now. ? ? As I Feel Iv Been Treated Unfairly By My Dentist And It Looks Like I Could Be Out Of Pocket Too.
Thanks

mazmack

Hi, don't hate me but I work for a dentist (pays the bills I suppose). I thought I'd try to explain the situation to you from the point of view of the dentist, since your dentist isn't explaining things to you. I am not a dentist but have a lot of experience in dealing with these situations at work and I know how dentists operate financially.

It is strange that a notice says that all treatment must be paid for at the last appointment but then they asked you for the cost of the root treatment, I agree. However, although the sign says that you have to have paid for everything by the end of the last appointment, this does not mean that you don't have to pay anything until the last appointment. Once you have had the treatment done you legally owe the money for it. If you had had a haircut you would not be outraged that you were being charged for it on the day and then go away and refuse to pay the bill!! In my experience people view dentistry treatment very differently to any other services they pay for, for some reason. They wouldn't go into a shop and buy a load of stuff then say they would pay for it later and be really upset that the shop asked for the money at the time, yet they will have treatment done by a dentist and then feel upset that the dentist asks them to pay for the treatment!

The dentist I work for asks for payment after each appointment, for the treatment you have just had, to avoid people not coming back and not paying for treatment which they have already had done.

It sounds like they had some reason to expect that you would not pay for the treatment at the end of the course of treatment, since it was quite a lot of money, or that you might fail to return to complete the course of treatment. The dentist I work for has a really high rate of people having treatment and then failing to pay for it, for whatever reason. Unfortunately I don't think they will back down, as by refusing to pay for your root treatment you will just be proving to them that they were right not to give you an entire course of treatment on trust, before asking for payment.

I am not defending them or saying they are right, but just trying to clarify things for you from the point of view of the dentist.

I would also imagine that the £40 which has been added is to cover the cost of them having to submit the debt to a debt collector. It is pretty bad that they have not given you a breakdown of the cost, I agree.

Anyway, as I say, I am not defending them, but thought I would try to explain things from the dentist's point of view, since they are not communicating with you. I'm sorry to say that in my experience of this field I do think the dentist is legally entitled to pass the debt to a debt collector and to apply a charge for doing so, and so I don't think there is much you can do to fight it. The dentists I work for do this, and they have taken legal advice and been informed that they are allowed to do this. They SHOULD give you a breakdown of what the charges are for, but the fact they haven't isn't legal grounds for you to fight the charges.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news