Have dentists' business fallen off drastically? Reason I ask is

[raccoon]

I called my dentist's office just now to make an appointment. I got a message saying the office was closed. OK....so maybe they are closed on Friday. Then the message went on to say that they will re-open on TUESDAY!! What gives?

[ingac70]

1. I have never met a dentist that work a full 40 hrs.

That said, my brother's boyfriend is a dentist (cosmetic) and business has fallen off for him.

[PCIntern]

12. I work 70+ hours a week...

so your record is broken...

[ingac70]

22. Well nice to meet you!

:hi:

[madinmaryland]

23. Do you give discounts to area DUer's??

:P

[PCIntern]

24. Here's the "deal"...

I have 'list prices' (since we're talking finance) - I take insurance which obviously is,say, 40% or MORE below list. At what point do I call it a 'deal'? I'm happy to work out payment plans...I can quote a fee for a case which is well-below my 'list', but I have to see the case and the patient.

[madinmaryland]

25. ...

Just kidding. We have insurance and a dentist down here. But thanks for the info!

:hi:

[PCIntern]

26. Oh I know/figured...

I was stating it for the rest of the folk...i tend to get a lot of PM's after these threads...

:hi:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

2. I'm self-employed without dental insurance and

so dental care is something I buy when business is good and my debts are low.

I'm sure there are a lot of people in the same position.

[Lebam in LA]

3. We write insurance to cover new dental and medical practices.

We are not seeing any downturn in the numbers. They don't seem to have much trouble getting loans to buy or open new practices. Having said all that, we don't know if the practices will survive.

[subterranean]

4. The dentist I go to has the same schedule.

Tuesday through Thursday. They're open 11 hours on those days, but then they get a four-day weekend.

[old mark]

5. It sure is easy to get an appointment right now...nt

[sarcasmo]

6. Our Dentist is a four day a week guy, so I think this is normal.

[orwell]

7. Business is down...

...where I live about 20%.

[katnapped]

8. Can't see why it would be

Everyone is awash with cash to go get dental work, right? :sarcasm:

[sammytko]

9. Not here in small town Texas. There are at least 6 dentist offices in

a town of 14K. I think their number 1 patient is the child on Medicaid. I always wondered how so many kids at school could afford braces. They all have them, or so it seems. This is a poor county.

[raccoon]

10. Does Medicaid pay for braces? nt

[Shandris]

19. Depends on your state, as Medicaid is state-run.

I don't think it does in Indiana. Or...did. They're planning on removing ALL dental coverage imminently.

[Iris]

11. Training?

[Catherina]

13. My dentists is always closed on Fridays. He reserves Fridays

to a day of rest OR extensive dental surgery where he needs uninterrupted hours to do the work.

I can't speak to business being down, it could be, but for the 10 years I've known him, he was always closed on Fridays.

[nutsnberries]

14. My dentist has talked about this a lot over the past few years.

He is a great dentist and had a thriving business for over 30 years. People love him, but have stopped coming in the past few years for lack of insurance. For a long time he had so much business he'd have new dentists out of school come in to work with him for a while, two assistants, two office workers and 3 hygenists working every day. Then he stopped hiring new dentists, layed off an assistant, one hygenist retired and was not replaced. Then he layed off an office worker and a hygenist, then he went down to 4 days a week. These days he's open 4 days a week part of the year, 3 days a week the rest, and takes some vacation weeks. He has one hygenist, one assistant (his wife) and two part-time office workers. One is his grand-daughter that came in to modernize the billing and records for him. He's not happy so many people aren't taking care of their teeth anymore and he sees his old friends/patients when they've got serious problems in their mouths and has been known to trade goods/services for care or do the work for nothing. We used to have the hope that when he retired he'd have a young dentist that learned a lot from working alongside him take over, but that's probably not going to happen. He's in his late 60s or early 70s and we're just glad he still loves doing what he does.

[Chimichurri]

15. My dentist's office complains about a large drop in business

He is known for his cosmetic dentistry prowess and has cut the cost of those services by half - which helped very little.

I thought maybe it was his office because he is expensive but maybe not.

[madmom]

16. First thing our company insurance dropped was dental, second vision.

[PCIntern]

17. My business is up...

that's b/c I take insurance, see people who are in pain immediately, am a grotesque extrovert and can talk to virtually anyone in a manner with which they are comfortable, and I will work out reasonable payment plans.

I am not an asshole who doesn't seem to care - I'm empathetic, I listen to the patient's issues and complaints and do a reasonably thorough history and a reasonably good job consistently, and if someone feels that there's a problem, I work it out to their satisfaction BEFORE there's a big problem.

It's smart business as well as smart practice...

[BlueJazz]

27. I know this is off-topic but I'm curious. What do Movie Studios pay..

...when they want to completely redo an aspiring actor's teeth.
Of course you can't quote an exact figure but is it 5 grand...10 grand.. more?? :)

[OhioChick]

18. My dentist is only in 4 days a week. n/t

[Morning Dew]

20. My guess is that they forgot to fix last week's recording

when they would have been closed on Monday, the MLK holiday.

Probably just an "OOPS!"

[bikebloke]

21. My dentist was more concerned with capitalism.

They openly talked about playing the insurance codes, milking every cent they could get their grubby hands on. I really couldn't trust their dental care. So I've been taking better care of my eighty-eights. Though when it's necessary, I'll try another dentist.

[Missy Vixen]

28. If those reading the thread don't have dental insurance

and need to see a dentist, check out the local voc-tech. There's an outstanding one on Seattle's Eastside. They charge 1/3 the cost of the dentist's office for routine stuff like cleanings, fillings, etcetera, and since they're being graded, they do an excellent job. They also have a stable of retired dentists that come in to do the stuff students are not qualified to do.

I have a cracked tooth. The dentist's office quoted me $900 to fix it with a crown. The dentist at the voc-tech is going to fix it for $200, and is not going the crown route.