Why ask personal questions on Patient History Form?

[Dialtone]

My daughter needs braces. OK...So I take her to the referred to Orthodontist. They wanted to know where I and my wife worked. I wrote the answer and the lady made a comment that since my wife was a professional, they'd give us a 10% professional discount. Ummmm, WHAT?

The estimate was about $6,000.00 I was shocked. I have a feeling they jacked up the price before the "professional discount" and still wanted more that was a fair price.

We're going to a second place and danged if the form for them, doesn't ask the same questions about where we work and what are our positions. That just sounds like they will price people based on what they think is our income.

What's really going on here? Does anyone really understand this new line of personal questioning?

I'm ready to tell them my wife is a stay at home mom who has mobility challenges.

 

[John Roberts]

Shoot, I'd try that. I've come to the conclusion I don't think I trust any of them. I went to a orthodontist the other day and I didn't get a good feeling about him. My teeth are hitting together and hurt. He gave me some medicine to try and basically said it that didn't work it would cost me lots of money. Don't know if I am going back or not. They didn't ask me what my wife did though.

 

[Dialtone]

Thanks for replying and I understand frustration at some medical "professionals." I quit one after he told me that I didn't have any pain in a tooth.Sadly, that was after he said, "Ooops," while trying to grind down a tooth for a crown. Seems he went too far down and exposed the nerve. His solution was to suggest it'd be just fine after the crown was set. Nope, it wasn't, so he said he wouldn't charge to do a root canal through the top of the crown. I did see where he didn't bill ME, but tried to bill the insurance company. Shortly after that is when he told me I didn't have any pain in a tooth which was causing pain.

 

[svor1988]

Yes, never answer any questions about where you work. For obvious reasons as you had mentioned. You're approaching this the right way.

Does she really need braces? Out of cosmetic "need" or genuine medical need? Be aware if teeth are moved too far too fast or even back and forth with repititon, it may kill the tooth- this is what happened to one of my molars.

Be aware if this is for cosmetics, she'd need to wear a retainer for life or the teeth will just move back to their natural positions. Skipping the retainer for a while would make it so it wouldn't fit anymore. Permanent retainers behind the front teeth exist as well but I've had trouble with mine causing a stress fracture & cavity on my canine (due to a hard to clean crevice created). Wasn't worth the pain & expenses by a long shot- my teeth were in good shape in the first place, and I lost a good molar and soon to be canine I expect.

Get an invoice at time of service so you can dispute any claims then and there. There is a lot of upselling in this industry just as there is with professional car mechanics... Also verify the invoice matches your insurance company's record. One of my past denstists didn't submit certain claims to the insurance company in order to remove a paper trail so they could get away with not paying taxes on those payments/income.

There are many trustworthy dentists, but there are also many unethical ones driven by greed. The trustworthy & honourable professionals would be wise to report misconduct they see done by other practitioners instead of protecting them...

Trust your gut instincts.

 

[Dialtone]

Great Advice! Thanks for replying. Our current long term dentist referred us to an orthodontist a few years ago. They said her thumb sucking pulled her pallet out a bit and it should be looked at. I did take her, but when they said she had pretty teeth, I discounted the "need" to get them. The subject was dropped and forgotten about. However, the last three visits to the dentist for cleanings, they ask about her going to see an Orthodontist. So, I thought maybe something really needed attention.

Since I didn't care for the prior referral office, I got suggestions for some others. I did like how they took pictures and showed the trouble areas, Mainly, on the left side , her teeth were very lined up one to one. On the right side, they were staggered. The left side could cause uneven pressures on the jaw and lead to pain and other issues if not corrected.

The other was her front teeth having a gap and not having the upper front overlapping the bottom teeth. Well, it seems reasonable to get some adjustments from what he pointed out. Just not a +6,000.00 dollar adjustment.

I moved to Ohio with my wife and we found a local dentist, whom seemed nice. She was really into up-selling like you mentioned. Took lots of pictures of my teeth and pointed at all the "decay" and said they needed to replace the amalgam fillings, ASAP. I was quite shocked by that and just stopped going. My wife, had quite the opposite experience. Her teeth had poor care during her life in another country. The dentist treated her really well and didn't try to do extra services to her like she had done with me.

One thing she did do though, was to give my wife Whitening treatments to take home. For Free. Her teeth had not been pearly white, due to medications commonly used years ago. We weren't billed, nor was our insurance. I never quite understood why all that happened with that dentist. It's 12 years later and my 40 some odd year old amalgam fillings seem to be just fine.