Is Your Dentist Ripping You Off?
What’s the most exciting thing you’ve ever spent money on? Was it a vacation? A house? A new car? Did it fill you with pride and happiness to make the final payment, knowing it was yours? Spending money can sometimes offer a thrill. But other times, spending money is downright painful.
These times are for those tedious, inevitable life obstacles that offer no joy and instead fill us with a sense of obligation and dread. They are things like tires, home maintenance, and bills. But these costs have nothing to do with dental care.
Even the thought of the dentist is enough to cause some people to sweat and tremble. The dentist always seems to cost a fortune, even if you have Dental Insurance to lighten the burden.
The cost of dental care is on the rise.
And while this is problematic for almost everyone, it can be especially troublesome for seniors. As we age, we often have a more pressing need for extensive dental care. Seniors frequently need dentures, Dental Crowns, and Dental Implants.
Even without large dental expenditures, it’s still vital for seniors to keep up to date with their semi-annual cleanings since putting them off can cause serious health problems. To add insult to injury, most seniors in the U.S. are on fixed incomes, which makes the rising costs of dental care even more challenging to manage.
America’s most in-demand dental procedures are implants, All-on-4s, Snap-on dentures, dental crowns, root canals, and partial dentures. According to a survey of local dental offices, the average costs for these procedures in the U.S. are $1,600.00 (dental crown), $1,200.00 (root canal), $1,600.00 – $1,800.00 (dentures), and $5,000.00 (dental implant).
In most states, the average costs are $1,700.00 (crowns), $1,400.00 (root canal), $1,800.00 – $2,000.00 (dentures), and $6,000.00 (implants). And even with dental insurance, you are still responsible for up to 50% co-insurance plus your deductible and monthly premiums.
Whether you live or have dental insurance, you will likely Max Out Your Insurance at $1,500.00. So, if you need more than one procedure in any given year, you’ll have to pay for the extra procedures entirely out of pocket.
These higher costs have little to do with the quality or costs of the procedures or materials. Instead, these costs are based on the astronomical overhead cost of running a dentist’s office in America. For example, a small dental clinic serving just 1,000-1,800 patients annually costs $625,000.00 at start-up and $305,000.00 annually.
This cost supplements the average dentist’s salary of $140,000.00, the wages of dental assistants, receptionists, and hygienists, construction, remodeling, and the top-of-the-line furnishings that American patients are accustomed to.
For a large corporate dental clinic serving between 5,400 and 7,200 patients, the annual operating cost is $1,100,000.00. So, it’s easy to understand why American dentists charge so much for their procedures.
For the past 20 years, Americans have been traveling to border towns in Mexico for dental care because prices are much lower. If you don’t have insurance, the cost savings are astronomical!
But even with insurance, the cost savings can be in the thousands of dollars, especially if you decide to go through a dental referral agency. Have you thought about going to Mexico for dental care? At Beyond Borders Dental, we make all the arrangements for you. You don’t have to worry about sending your dental records, dealing with foreign currency, making travel plans, or arranging transportation. We refer you to the best dental clinic for your case and take care of all the details of your initial appointment, from A to Z.
If you have questions or need additional information, please Contact Us or Request a Free Quote to send us your dental inquiry, and we’ll get back to you.
