Red flags refer to alarming signs that something bad is happening. At a private medical facility, including private dentistries, there is always the danger that the dentist is overprescribing, analyzing, or doing useless and unwarranted dental treatments just to get paid for them. Here are some red flags to look out for while at the dentist.
When it comes to financing at the dentist, you should know what kind of plans they have for you. A treatment plan is an itemized and priced list of all of the procedures that will be needed to nurse your mouth back to optimal health. If the dentistry does not give you a treatment plan, then there is really no way for you to know how much your treatments will cost, what kind of treatments you need, which procedures have been done, and which are still to go. This is a classic rip-off strategy, and any dentistry that does not produce a treatment plan that is visible, accessible, and intelligible to the patient should be avoided.
Going to a dentist is tricky because they are medical professionals who may spot problems that are not visible to you; this is why they are dentists. But sometimes certain dental treatments may not make much sense. Fillings are typically overprescribed, when just a faint retouch and some cleaning is enough to stop a pre-cavity from developing further. If every single pre-cavity is billed as a filling or is made into a cavity that then needs a filling, then you are the victim of unethical dental practices and can sue.
When you sit down in the chair, it should be completely obvious for you what dental treatment you will get, what that entails, and how much it will cost you. If you are not sure, you should ask and be given a clear response. The best dentists will tell you what it is they will be doing that day, where it is on the treatment plan BEFORE administering the anaesthetic.
With medical science and biology in general, everything is always subject to change. The human body is more complicated than we can currently understand, and it may be the case that changes need to be made in the treatment plan, changes that may negatively affect the patient or the allotted budget. This is just a fact of life. But the way to handle this is to tell the patient as the procedure is happening, as soon as it becomes apparent that they will need to pay more than initially thought. The treatment plan should be updated to show this issue, and the change should be explained to the patient.
