AIBU - dentist nearly twice the price they said?

[goldenflowers]

Received a letter recently from my dentist saying I was due a hygienist appointment - rang to book and I was told I was also due for a check-up and they could do the two appointments together. I asked how much it would be for both - not being cheap, but it's an expensive time of year with birthday etc. and I'm currently saving for a house deposit. I was told it would normally be £62, but they were doing an offer this week so they could do it for £52 for both. I was happy with that and booked.

Went in today and during the check-up my dentist noticed one of my fillings had fallen out and said she could do it today or book me in for another time. I asked how much it would be extra to have it done today and she said £10, a total of £62. I agreed, filling replaced, no problems. Went back down to reception to pay and the receptionist said my total was £92. I was a bit shocked by this, and explained the dentist had said it would be £62. I asked if that included the hygienist or not and she said no, the hygienist was £30. There were other people in the reception waiting to be seen and I felt a bit embarrassed making a fuss over it so I assumed I was wrong and paid it.

Since I've been home I've been thinking about it and I'm quite upset because if I'd be told my total cost was going to be £92 instead of the £52 I was told I'd pay on the phone I'd have left the filling replacement for another time, but obviously once I'd had it done I couldn't exactly not pay it. It might seem silly but £92 is 11 and a half hours wage for me! Also, is it just me or is £92 a lot for a scale and polish, 5 minute check up and a replacement filling? I was in and out in 30 minutes!

AIBU? Did I misunderstand the dentist or the receptionist? Is there anything I can do about this?

£92 is actually cheap, on the NHS it would be £62.10 for the checkup and filling and then the hygienist would be on average about another £50

Seems expensive to me. I had a filling at the dentist a few weeks ago and it was only £15. I need to make my hygienest appointment but I'm sure it's only £11 I think they said.

My DH just had a temporary filling at a cost of £45, a hygeinist appointment (20 mins) is £36 and a check up is £30.

I'd call them and say you are confused RE the cost and could they clarify for you? It does sound about right BUT not in line with what you were expecting.

£92 is about 20 -30 minutes at most private dentists hourly rate. To cover dentist, nurse, surgery running costs is around £250 per hour. So it isn’t overly expensive.
However the costs should be made clear. It sounds like there was a mix up at reception. You could ring and have a chat with the practice manager?

I would telephone them or even better, write to them to request a full breakdown of charges and complain about the misleading information

A cleaning and a filling cost £92? My god that's cheap. I'm a dental "billing specialist" in the USA, so obviously everything to do with our medical and dental is stupidly expensive.

In our office, a cleaning with a dentist's exam is $140, and the filling would be around $189 (more or less, depending on size). That'd be $329 or £269.

Regardless to how insane our prices are compared to you, they utterly failed at communicating the costs to you. It's a rule in our office that the doctors and hygienists are not allowed to quote prices because they always get it wrong! I run back with printed quotes all the time, so that people know exactly what will be asked of them upon checkout. I would definitely call to speak with the practice manager if I were you.

Contact the practice manager if they have one, and tell them what you've said here. I would want a refund of £30.

Private charges at my practicebwoul have been £45 for the checkup with s&p plus £69 for the filling. £10 for the filling sounds wrong, is there any chance the dentist could have misunderstood what you asked?

I would offer a £30 refund if it were me tbh. I’d then have a chat with reception so costs communicated correctly in future.

Jesus have you never been the dentist before?
£10 for a filling 😂😂😂😂😂

I don't know if this makes any difference but she didn't actually drill my tooth again - just put more filler into it? I did think £10 seemed cheap, but she seemed sure and I wasn't sure if it was a low price because they did the filling fairly recently and I don't think it should have fallen out so soon?

@LagunaBubbles

That has to be a special rate. Band 2 which is a filling is £62.10 which is taken straight from the NHS website

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/dental-health/how-much-will-i-pay-for-nhs-dental-treatment/

@IWouldPreferNotTo

I’m assuming LagunaBubbles is in Scotland (apologies if I’m wrong!) as those prices are standard for NHS in Scotland.

@RobinHumphries Really? I use an NHS dentist and have never paid that much. £62 would have sounded about right to me. Suppose it depends what area you live in.

MacAndDennisMoveToTheSuburbs
Yes, I'm in Scotland!

@IWouldPreferNotTo

No £15 is a pretty standard price for a filling like I had here as far as I'm aware, not a special rate.

www.scottishdental.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Amendment-No-142-.pdf
Fillings £9.95- £30 in Scotland not really changed since I was last fee per item in 2006.
The NHS is crazy these days- never going back there again!