There is now increasing talk of low-cost centers and low-priced dental care that can provide excellent results with ample savings.
In fact, these centers invest heavily in advertising and marketing efforts to attract customers by highlighting prices well.
These are chains of dentists made up of very different entities-cooperatives, corporations, franchises-that share a common sign, a website, a toll-free number to book an appointment, and a flexibility of hours and days that is often much greater than traditional practices.
By relying on these centers, can patients really save money? And what is the level of quality and professionalism they are able to offer?
I will report today on Ornella's case and her experience within low-cost dental facilities.
Ornella's experience in low-cost dental centers.
Ornella is a 60-year-old lady who relied on low-cost centers and ended up visiting 13 of them, belonging to the 11 most popular chains.
Before starting her Odyssey, she visited a team of private specialists to get a treatment plan and an estimate.
Ornella's most obvious problem is the lack of 4 teeth in the right upper arch, but the team of specialists points out to her that the whole mouth is in need of treatment and that the treatment plan, in order to have an optimal and lasting result, will be more comprehensive. In particular, action must be taken in "sanitizing" the entire mouth system: caries, untreated bridges, poor hygiene.
Ornella decided to try the low-cost route anyway ; here is what happened to her during her many visits to these centers:
- Ornella was almost always greeted by a chairside or commercial assistant who took the history and never left her, even during the visit with the dentist.
During the visit with the specialist team, however, the patient talked about the treatment plan exclusively with the doctors and not with the chairside assistant! - The estimate, unlike in specialist practices, was formulated and delivered by the assistant and not the dentist.
- The dentist showed up, almost always, verbally, and Ornella rarely saw the names of the dentists working in the center displayed. In other cases she saw only the name of the medical director displayed.
- In 6 out of 13 cases the quote is initialed directly by the commercial assistant while in other cases only the name of the director appeared. In the quote, the commercial sign takes precedence over the individual dentist so there is no certainty of always being followed by the same professional, which is instead a very important aspect.
- In 8 out of 10 cases, the examination was not accurate: the dentist, after looking at the OPT, checked the mobility of the teeth with his hands without ever using a mirror and speculum, tools that ensure a complete examination and allow detection of any precancerous lesions.
- Almost all of the proposed treatment plans focused on restoring missing teeth with implants and crowns, without any consideration of rehabilitating his oral health.
The most immediate, fast and simple solution was proposed.
Did Ornella receive adequate care and achieve effective savings?
The prerequisite for any type of surgery is the restoration of gum health and increased care in hygiene; therefore, the treatment plan must include the care of the mouth in its entirety, it cannot be limited only to the treatment of missing teeth as was proposed to Ornella in the low-cost centers.
The treatment plan proposed by all of the centers seems to be cheaper and less invasive than the one recommended by the team of private specialists who had initially seen Ornella; the reasons are obvious as well as a lack of professionalism and quality emerges from her experience.
Indeed, the success of dental implants is strongly linked to oral hygiene and oral health; these are factors that cannot exist separately.
Ultimately, therefore, low-cost centers such as Dentalcoop, Vitaldent, Amico Dentist, do not have much lower prices than the traditional dentist.
For an implant, the price ranges from €500 to €1350, and considering that the lowest rate is almost never charged, the cost is not much less than private firms that charge rates from €600 to €2300.
What is the fair price of professionalism?
