My experience is exactly the opposite. The only work I’ve ever had that required extensive payments up-front was for an oral surgeon to get my wisdoms removed. Everybody else just accepted a copay and performed the work they were asked to.
Sam
I just checked with a cow-orker and his kids are having braces. The dentist figured out what the co-pay would be and they paid that in ten installments.
So maybe in the case of extensive work, money is due up front…but so far as calling CPS, that’s bunch of crap for sure.
What originally set of my alarm was the fact that he could tell us exactly how much he was going to charge us before determining on what course of action to take, extration of four teeth or trying to save them. While I know that there’s always the possibility of something new coming up during a procedure, isn’t the whole point of an exam to determine the most likely treatment?
From having both done myself, there usually seems to be quite a difference in the cost of those two options. Not to mention that this is the first time I’ve had to pay in advance for anything we’ve had done, including my wife’s oral surgery to have a wisdom tooth removed.
Peace - DESK
If you really wanted to have some fun with this guy, you can have a little chat with the fraud unit of your insurance company to see if he’s violating the terms of his contract with them. If he is, he’ll either be flagged so all future claims will be scrutinized, or they’ll just terminate their contract with him.
Robin
Maybe we’re using “up front” differently. Just to be clear, I’ve never had a dentist ask for money **before ** the work was done. When I finish with my checkup and cleaning, I go to the front desk and hand the receptionist my credit card for the $90 charge. She confirms my insurance company hasn’t changed and tells me she’ll submit the claim. About 3 weeks later I get a check for $90 from my insurance company.
Kinda strange that no one else has experinced this.
And I fully agree, fuckity-double fuck the insurance companies! (and double for the scuzzy doc for threatening to involve CPS- don’t wanna lose sight of the original rant here!)
It depends on whether the dentist “accepts assignment”. If they don’t (and it sounds like your dentist doesn’t), they are allowed to charge you after services have been rendered, and you get reimbursed by your dental insurance. If they do, they have to accept payment from the insurance company and can only charge you your copay.
Robin
I know that whenever I have had work done at my dentist, the receptionist/office manager has calculated the amount that my insurance would pay and has asked for the balance due at the time of the visit when the work is performed. If it was for a procedure requiring follow-up visits, the balance was due at the time of the initial visit.
But I have to agree, to ask for the entire amount up front without even a breakout of the services to be performed is way out of line.
I agree with this and I strongly urge you to do as Robin suggested. I would contact your insurance company and ask them if this type of behavior violates the covenant/contract that he has signed with them to provide service. If so, I would file an official complaint with your insurance.
Then, if he belonged to a medical group, I would lodge a complaint with them.
Sam
Mine is similar, but it’s usually only the option of paying for follow-up, if that’s more convenient for me. Otherwise, my portion of the follow-up services would be paid at the time of those services. An exception would be crowns, bite guards, and other bits and pieces. They require payment before they’re made. No resale value, I guess.
The CPS threat was despicable.
My experience is as Shayna’s.
I suspect, Desk, that there’s a lot of unnecessary procedures they’d have signed you up for, gleefully, had you taken the bait.
I don’t have much to add here. I just wanted to compliment you on an excellent pitting. I especially liked the part where you called him a used piece of floss. Fantastic!
If there’s true justice in this world, this dentist will be drilled by a thousand drills with no happy gas. Go get him!
The only way I can imagine CPS getting involved in a situation like this was if your children were screaming in agony caused by the rotting teeth and pustulant gums of poor mental hygiene. Then I can see how someone could conceivably say that not getting dental treatment was tantamount to child abuse.
Other than that, what a tool.
This guy sounds like a piece of work. I left my neighborhood dentist after the hygienist told me, ever so matter of factly, that I needed all five of my amalgum (sp?) fillings replaced to the tune of $1000. Oh, and you can see the receptionist to make an appointment.
They used one of those new mini cameras to scare me into thinking that one tooth had a huge cavity in it. The picture had a black spot on it and it did look quite alarming.
But when I went to another dentist to get a second opinion, I only needed one filling replaced. I showed him the pictures and he laughed and said that this lady wasn’t practicing dentistry, she was MARKETING dentistry. He said they blew up the picture so much that even the slight nook in your tooth looked like a huge hole. He x-rayed the tooth in question and showed me: no cavity.
A few months later I meet a lady who happens to have been a former hygienist in the same dentist’s office. She said she quit because she was under so much pressure to upsell products. She actually received COMMISSION on how many people she convinced needed work done.
Great rant, DESK. Go get 'em!
It’s all in their heads!
And penis ensues
Oh, man, talk about a Freudian slip. Of course I meant dental hygiene. (I think).
pouts because the johnny-come-lately got all the smartass-love…
Sorry, I guess mine just more-obtusely pointed it out 
Don’t forget to cc: your insurance administrator at your job, and the fucktard himself.
I suppose the Pubic Health Service had something to do with all this?