27 August 2010

Why do dentists charge different fees

An interesting article this week in the Daily Mail about different treatment plans recommended by different dentists and prices in dental practices. A "mystery shopper" went to four different dentists and surprise surprise found the cost and the work varied according to the dentist.

Why would this be the case? It’s because the NHS dentist might recommend the absolute basic amount of work needed to save your teeth, and the high ranking cosmetic dentist might recommend a beautiful new set of crowns all straight, white and gleaming, to restore your mouth to a Hollywood level. They obviously aren’t going to cost the same. Think of a car – no way would a Bentley and a mini cost the same amount.

Why does a crown cost more at one dentist than another dentist? It’s because the materials they are made from and the lab that is used by the dentist are not the same. A basic porcelain fused to metal crown that an NHS dentist uses is a world apart from a high level beautiful porcelain crown which has been made in a top class lab. So crowns aren’t the same price because the materials aren’t the same. Guess which one is going to look the most natural.

What else pushes the price up? The equipment a dentist has. The NHS might have the basic equipment needed to do the job, but the cosmetic dentist might have invested in state of the art equipment.

2 comments to Why do dentists charge different fees

Leave a Reply

  

  

  

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>