The Leading Business Education Network for Doctors, Financial Advisors and Health Industry Consultants

Bitching about Dental Insurance

15 Responses

1. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on May 14, 2011 at 8:36 PM said:

   Blunt honesty about dental insurance

   If anyone should run into a United Concordia dental consultant, please tell the licensed dentist (?) that he or she can kiss my butt. Yea, you heard me right. I don’t care how unprofessional that sounds. I no longer even pretend to respect anonymous UC Bozos. They’ve never respected me or their clients.

   It seems one of them recently proved to me and my patient that if left to UC’s level of ethics, they are likely to continue to harm vulnerable people to increase their commission and/or bonus, and cannot be held personally accountable … not yet. That is just wrong. So why have we silently accepted this under-the-radar crap for this long, Doc?

   Dentists, let’s talk bluntly. Let’s you and I risk nothing more than personal embarrassment to independently let our dental patients know how we honestly feel about their bosses’ lousy choices in dental benefits plans. Pick your adjectives carefully. You and I both know that our clueless and trusting dental patients continue to be harmed by the unfairness endemic in the notoriously unaccountable dental insurance market. It’s a business built on deceit allowed in part by the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 (contact your Congressperson for repeal of insurers’ protection from the FTC).

   As healthcare professionals who otherwise put our patients’ interests first, if we stand by and do nothing to prevent monsters like United Concordia, Delta Dental and BCBSTX from harming our patients, we fail our Hippocratic Oath. Our “professional” silence only helps sleazy insurers to sell more of their intentionally complicated plans to clueless employers.

   Each time dental consultants needlessly interfere in dentist/patient relationships by delaying and even denying payment – like some United Concordia Bozo unsuccessfully tried with one of my aggravated patients recently – it harms innocent people. And it’s starting to really piss me off to be second guessed for baseless reasons. So don’t try that crap again, Bozo, because the next United Concordia client who you attempt to cheat might also follow my advice to seek legal help. Your clients and their attorneys like me better than you, UC. Don’t forget the lesson you learned this week: “Never again mess with Darrell Pruitt DDS’s patients because it will never turn out well for your boss!” …. Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.

   Insurers’ self-serving delay and denial of payment of their clients’ dental claims is something dentists (who accept reimbursement as a favor to the patient) have endured and quietly mumbled about for decades. But since fee-for-service dentists have no contractual relationship with insurers, neither mumbling nor the ADA have been successful in preventing third-party interference in dental operatories.

   Few Americans realize that like tedious insurance paperwork, payment delays always increase dental costs without benefiting patients or their dentists. It’s no secret that traditionally confusing dental insurance policies keep dental prices artificially high in the nation. A market correction is long overdue. It’s my hope that when it comes time to renew dental benefits, employers will consider straightforward, consumer-friendly direct reimbursement-type plans such like DentalDirect. http://dentaldirect.us/

   (See also: “Is Dental Insurance Worth It? Or Is There A Better Way?”)

   http://blog.riskmanagers.us/?p=5684

   If the nation is serious about saving money in dental care, here is the first thing we do: We demand transparency and personal accountability from dental insurance companies. Then we step back and watch parasites scramble for cover.

   How much of their non-productive crap are you going to mumble about, Doc, before you get pissed off enough to stand up and fight for your patients’ rights to be treated fairly and safely? When will we as guardians of dental patients’ interests individually demand accountability from intrusive anonymous Bozos?

   If you and I say nothing to stop preventable harm to our patients, who will?

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike
2. Darrell K. Pruitt DDS, on May 24, 2011 at 10:45 AM said:

   Two-tiered dental care is here

   Genevra Pittman, writing for Reuters posted “Dentists hesitate to treat kids on Medicaid: study”

   http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/23/us-dentists-medicaid-idUSTRE74M0QU20110523

   It’s simple economics in a free market: Since CMS fails to provide enough financial incentive for small businesspeople to treat Medicaid patients, take a look at our nation’s default, two-tiered dental care system. I respect dentists who treat Medicaid patients for little profit with lots of bureaucratic headaches, and dentists who provide charity care, equally.
   
   Darrell K. Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike
3. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on June 10, 2011 at 11:27 PM said:

   Not Bitching!

   At last! A balanced mainstream article about dental insurance (that justifiably kicks everyone’s butt).

   http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/family-finance/why-your-dentist-costs-so-much/4569/

   Even though CBS reporter Sarah Lorge Butler points out the vast discrepancies in price and quality of dentists – as well as shameful differences in ethics – she treats my profession with more fairness than I can ever recall reading in the “mainstream” media.

   “Dental care is not a commodity. It’s not laundry detergent or breakfast cereal or wireless minutes. Dentistry is a professional service that’s both art and a science.”

   You got that right, Sarah Lorge Butler. It’s not like buying a can of Campbell’s Pork and Beans.

   Apart from the need of both business skills and medical knowledge, dentists routinely perform very intricate handwork to exceedingly narrow tolerances in challenging, confined environments for conscious and sometimes wriggly people who would prefer to be elsewhere – and half the time we do it through a mirror. Fillings that demand concentration and eye-hand acrobatics to be done well enough to chew on require unhurried dentistry.

   Butler adds: “Overhead costs are huge. Anywhere from 60% to 80% of what a patient pays goes toward the expense of running a modern dental practice.”

   Now wait just one darn minute! Let’s do the math: If the CBS reporter says a dentist’s overhead is roughly 70%, and discount dentistry brokers like Delta Dental, BCBSTX and UnitedHealth promise to cut their contracted dentists’ fees 30% – or more, does that mean the dentists they prefer work for free – or less? One thing for certain: Preferred providers have to work faster to make less money.

   Since contracts with discount dentistry brokers don’t address “time spent giving injections,” typically, the first patient benefit that is cut is the extra seconds spent giving (almost) painless injections of local anesthetic – which quickly numbs the injection site as well if given just a few more seconds of the dentist’s time. The technique is as common sense as it is simple. What’s more, if the anesthetic is injected slowly, the injection site is less likely to be painful afterward. Unnecessary post-operative pain is also not addressed in preferred provider contracts. And it’s not something one can sue the dentist over. Nonetheless, it’s aggravating when such lingering discomfort can be avoided with the courtesy of a few more seconds. But then, what do you expect from dentistry that is 30% less than prices that are fair for everyone.

   Butler: “Insurance isn’t really insurance. Dental insurance, the dentists told me, is nothing like health insurance or auto insurance. It’s a maintenance plan that will cover cleanings and x-rays, maybe half the cost of a crown. It will not protect you if you need a lot of work done. The maximum annual benefits, $1,000 to $1,500, haven’t changed in the 50 years since dental insurance became available.”

   See what I mean? When is the last time you heard Sarah Butler’s kind of honesty about dental insurance from CBS or any major news affiliate?

   There’s a basic economics lesson here that the nation’s biggest employers haven’t yet learned: When dental insurance sounds too good to be true, and the math doesn’t allow for a dentist’s profit, what is missing from the story? It tells me that a slick dental insurance salesperson outwitted yet another naive employer by withholding information about the unspoken effects of compromises in dental care.

   If we are to believe data from Delta Dental as well as CBS, discount dentistry providers simply must cut corners to take home the same amount of money as fee-for-service dentists. In addition, if a preferred provider’s rent goes up, the contract with the broker prevents the dentist from raising fees to cover the increase cost to provide care that is already discounted 30% or more. So either the dentist’s intricate work has to be performed a little bit faster or the dentist has to find a less expensive hobby. I don’t know how, but PPO Physicians can see 40 patients a day without becoming a danger to the community. Dentists can’t.

   In this land of the free, for employees to get raises, as well as for funding rent increases, small business owners have to raise fees to survive. That’s the carrot and stick of capitalism. Got a better idea? Whatever it is, it’s been tried and it doesn’t work.

   If preferred providers can’t depend on the legendary benevolence Delta Dental for timely and fair fee schedule updates to pay for the rapidly increasing cost of doing business , then clueless Delta clients will pay dearly for the shortfall. Always.

   In the cruel, secretive business triangle between preferred providers, employers and discount dentistry brokers – if naïve and trusting dental patients are fortunate enough to have found a caring dentist whose ethics have not been sold to pay rent – the patient has one ally who will defend his or her interests against the greed of the other two who simply don’t care.

   Nowhere are uninformed consumers more vulnerable to harm from ads that pit providers against patients than in the discount dental industry. It’s a slimy business triangle that shrugs off accountability.

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike
4. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on June 23, 2011 at 5:00 PM said:

   They’re on to us, Doc – Dental patients are growing wise to dental practice consultants’ old tricks

   “I am constantly reminded that I will lose my annual benefit if I don’t use it by Dec 31. What they really mean is that THEY will lose it.” Want to see more of what a dental patient thinks of transparently aggressive sales gimmicks, Doc?

   In response to the question “Why Your Dentist Costs So Much” posted on CBS MoneyWatch last week, a reader offered the following reply today:

   http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/family-finance/why-your-dentist-costs-so-much/4569/

   “I understand it costs a lot to run a business and there are never-ending hassles with insurance companies. Unfortunately it seems a lot of dental offices I have visited over the past 10-15 years have started using questionable business practices that has left me very distrustful of dentists. It seems like the staff is working on commission and ‘treatment plans’ are customized to the specialty of the dentist. I am constantly reminded that I will lose my annual benefit if I don’t use it by Dec 31. What they really mean is that THEY will lose it. If I don’t need any work done, why should I care if I don’t use the full annual max? I am now forced to pay in advance but the amount is always more than what my insurance company reimburses and the overpayment is never returned. Their statements purposely resemble my convoluted cable bill and when I request a refund of the overpayment there is always an ‘outstanding claim’. It’s pretty sad when I have to resort to a conference call with my insurance company and dental office to get my $60 overpayment returned to me.” – Tom Mater

   Ouch! For what it’s worth, here’s some home-grown advice concerning greed: Our patients are hardly as dumb as some of the most well-known, charismatic dental practice management pros would have us believe for a reasonable price.

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike
5. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on July 4, 2011 at 12:12 AM said:

   Kelly Soderlund, writing for the American Dental Association, warns members against discussing anything at all about dental insurance, and justifiably so. (See: “FTC bars Texas physicians’ group from jointly negotiating prices charged to insurers”)

   http://www.ada.org/news/6013.aspx

   Since sleazy, unethical companies like Delta Dental, BCBSTX and United Concordia are protected by the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 from the Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890 – and dentists aren’t – it will be sleazy lawyers hired by sleazy dental insurance companies who will turn your conspiring butt in to the FTC.

   So whatever you do, dentists, don’t post anything hateful on the internet about Delta Dental, BCBSTX or United Concordia or someone will think we made an agreement. Give it a few minutes.

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike
6. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on August 26, 2011 at 11:42 PM said:

   Delta Dental’s HMO has “quality standards”? Really?

   Because Delta evades transparency as policy, I say there is a very good chance that the discount dentistry broker is knowingly misleading naïve and vulnerable consumers about the quality of capitation dentistry. In a half-baked effort to promote Delta Dental’s HMO dental plan, they recently advertised that “all DeltaCare USA dentists undergo a comprehensive credentialing process to ensure they meet Delta Dental’s quality standards.” I don’t believe them.

   Who are they kidding? Delta Dental doesn’t even pay its preferred providers enough to afford quality standards. Much less their HMO dentists. Want proof? Anyone can go to doctoroogle.com and compare Delta Dental preferred providers’ general popularity to all other dentists in any major city…. See what I mean? What more does one need to see that Delta’s quality control efforts are failing – even for the dentists they pay the most. What’s more, capitation dentists are generally even more disliked by patients than preferred providers. Many dentists who participate in capitation plans aren’t even listed on DR.Oogle.

   If you followed yesterday’s horseplay with Delta Dental over the quality control measures they advertised, you will recall that by the end of the day, this dentist’s sincere questions were deleted from Delta Dental’s Facebook Wall. I am also blocked from asking the nameless public relations specialist who moderates the Facebook any further questions.

   As one might imagine, when I awoke this morning, Delta Dental was on my mind. By the time I got to the office, I had worked up an intense desire to have even more ornery fun on the internet with public relations specialists, and an anonymous Northeast Delta Dental employee became handy.

   A new target emerges

   I don’t care if my colleagues consider executive-tipping unprofessional or not. Not unlike cow-tipping, it’s damn good sport on a slow day. And since Delta’s PR employees are anonymous as policy, their internet reputations are never threatened – even if I assign them names for convenience. Nevertheless, I imagine the horseplay you and I enjoy is hell on a handful of bulky, slow moving Delta Dental executives – command-and-control, image-conscious giants in dentistry whom anonymous employees protect from accountability to dentists, as policy.

   After becoming the 15th fan of Northeast Delta Dental Facebook, I posted this question on their Wall: “Can you tell me anything about DeltaCare’s credentialing process, Northeast Delta Dental?”

   https://www.facebook.com/pages/Northeast-Delta-Dental/58485170193

   It’s been 8 hours, and so far, I haven’t been kicked off, but nobody has replied either. Eventually, one of the two will happen. I promise.

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike
7. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on September 29, 2011 at 10:40 PM said:

   Faux Delta

   Recently, Delta Dental’s PR team has been buying numerous press releases to bring attention to how Delta diverted even more of their clients’ dentalcare money to fund charitable efforts and rent friendships. Here’s one: “Thousands of Uninsured Gain Access to Free Dental Care Thanks to Delta Dental Donation.”

   http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-uninsured-gain-access-free-dental-care-thanks-153210453.html

   Don’t let Delta’s faux generosity fool you. Delta is cruel to naïve, vulnerable clients who have no choice in dentists. When Delta’s clients pay their premiums to DDPA members, is it to purchase dentistry at a 30% discount, or is it to fund DDPA CEO Kim Volk’s $162,000 charitable contributions?

   Since Delta cannot raise the cost of their premiums and still stay competitive with newcomer Brighter.com (which offers 60% discounts), where did the money for Volk’s generous donation come from? Delta simply cut the payments to the preferred providers in Washington and Idaho. That means several hundred dentists must work even faster in the tender mouths of Delta’s clients to make the same amount of money. Ethics aren’t free, you know. And injections done quickly are unnecessarily painful.

   So by paying someone increasingly less for intricate handwork, is that more likely to increase or decrease the quality? Dental work isn’t like buying a can of pork and beans, and Delta Dental has NO QUALITY CONTROL to monitor low bidders’ work. The result isn’t unexpected: Doctoroogle.com shows that Delta’s preferred providers are generally far less popular with dental patients than fee-for-service dentists.

   Just imagine how they feel about Brighter dentists whose work is discounted 60%!

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike
8. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on October 13, 2011 at 1:11 AM said:

   Puerto Rico sues Delta Dental – Know the difference between Puerto Rico and the rest of the US? The McCarran-Ferguson Act

   Unlike the ADA, the M-F Act of 1945 doesn’t prevent Puerto Rico’s “Colegio” from holding Delta Dental CEOs accountable for the unfair business practices they’ve been getting away with for decades on the mainland. (See “Puerto Rico Colegio sues insurers” by Kelly Soderlund in ADA News).

   http://www.ada.org/news/6302.aspx

   While Delta Dental is being justifiably sued for fraud in Puerto Rico, Jean De Luca, President and CEO of Delta Dental of Idaho recently cut payments to Idaho dentists explaining, “We all must adapt to a changing landscape.”

   http://idahobusinessreview.com/2011/10/12/we-all-must-adapt-to-a-changing-landscape/comment-page-1/#comment-87280

   I asked Ms. De Luca, “How much was your pay cut?” in a comment following the press release. Even though she hasn’t deleted it, she also hasn’t responded.

   Maybe if a couple of hundred people asked Ms. De Luca if she also took a 13% cut in pay, Delta officials would hesitate before sacrificing the quality of naive clients’ dentalcare for bonus money.

   Or maybe we should just adopt Puerto Rico’s justice system without the insurance-friendly M-F Act.

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike
9. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on October 23, 2011 at 1:26 PM said:

   Dear Jared Balis
   [Discount Dentistry Broker #50999]

   I followed the link you posted in your comment yesterday on CBS http://www.MoneyWatch.com and read your advertisement for the discount dentistry plans you sell to naïve readers. If you choose to respond, feel free to correct me as needed.

   I think most consumers agree that since you never mention a word about the quality of dentistry you sell, you take advantage of trusting customers who can least afford to waste money on rushed dentistry. Those you attract by offering nothing more than “discount” don’t (yet) understand that when dentists cut corners to stay in business, the resulting work is generally inferior to work sold at a fair market price.

   Since only a fool would argue that the less one pays for intricate handwork to exacting tolerances – the higher the quality, it’s also safe to assume that generally, dental work performed in tender mouths that is discounted by 60% is also more painful than dentistry unhurried. For example, have you ever experienced the lightening shock and unending pain of a rushed injection in the roof of your mouth? You wouldn’t want your clients to risk unnecessary pain just because they didn’t understand how dentists make money on discounted fees. Would you?

   Is it really in Americans’ interest that you cannot be held personally accountable for the dentistry you sell to the poor who pre-pay for it sight unseen, Jared Balis?

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

   LikeLike
10. Darrell, on October 25, 2011 at 8:30 PM said:

    Jared Responds

    Jared Balis, the discount dentistry broker I met on the internet responded to my rant on his Website:

    http://www.mydiscountdentalplans.net/discussion.html

    ——

    Dear Darrell,

    Unfortunately, since I tried to post my response to your discount dental rant on bnet a number of times without success, I had to post it on my own site…you can respond on bnet if you’d like and I’ll respond on my website, since I can actually rely on it to post my responses.

    I will correct you, and welcome the opportunity.

    The quality of the service my customers experience correlates directly to the specific dentist they choose. As with any network, or group of dentists, there are going to be some bad ones in the bunch.

    However, over the last two years, my family of six has found three dentists that we are all happy with and use on a regular basis.

    In fact, our pediatric dentist, Jeff Burg DDS in Salt Lake City is on several of the networks associated with the discount dental plans I sell. In addition, his patients are quite happy with his work, as you can see by reading his customer reviews @ http://tinyurl.com/3botlcb.

    My four year old has had four cavities filled in the last two years, and not once has he cried, or complained. The anesthetic was administered just fine and he didn’t even know he had received a shot. When it wore off, he was as happy as could be. My son didn’t experience the “lightening shock” or “painful dentistry” you introduce in your comment. None of my family has.

    For many people, who don’t want to pay high premiums for dental insurance, and want to semi-self insure, discount dental plans prove to be a valuable service.

    In the real world, there are dentists who are still building their practice, and don’t charge full retail, because they are still working on building a clientele. One way to do that is to join insurance and discount networks so customers can experience their work first hand (with the goal of them becoming a lifetime patient). Sadly, you are mistaken to stereotype dentists in this category, as the majority of them do fine work.

    I appreciate your input, but it’s inaccurate.

    Sincerely,

    Jared J. Balis
    ————-

    Dear Jared:

    I’m pleased to hear from you. I agree. I see nothing in your comment that warrants being deleted from the CBS MoneyWatch (bnet) thread. Even though it is simplistic and your empirical reasoning defies human nature as well as basic economics in a free-market society, you gave a polite, cogent response that offended no one except a trigger-happy moderator. Just between you and me, I’ve experienced censorship enough to know that it is hard to predict where moderators will draw the line to valiantly protect thinking adults from harm. Censorship on the internet is tricky. The best moderators are those who mostly sit on their hands.

    You say, “The quality of the service my customers experience correlates directly to the specific dentist they choose.” I say, the quality of the service your customers experience correlates directly to the dentists you give them to choose from.

    Do you see how it easily appears to others that you ducked accountability with your reply? You have no method to control the quality of the dentists you attract by promises of hordes of new patients (every one of them expecting discounts of 60% and more). At the end of the day, you take home profit from signing contracts with a few unethical dentists whom you promote to unsuspecting people who don’t understand that overhead in dental offices usually runs 65% of the fees before the dentist even turns a profit… unless corners are cut in time and/or materials. So are you really not responsible for the increasing the likelihood of harm to your clients than if they had never signed up for uncontrolled discount dentistry?

    Although I believe your personal testimonial of your family’s good fortune to find quality, caring dentists who participate in your discount plans, you said it best: “As with any network, or group of dentists, there are going to be some bad ones in the bunch.”

    Disregarding your family’s exceptionally altruistic dentists, I don’t think you can argue that the less dentists are paid, the better the care.

    The undeniable fact remains: Intricate handwork performed in tender mouths cannot be rushed without sacrificing quality, and fast injections of local anesthesia hurt a lot more than when dentists can afford to take their time.

    D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

    LikeLike
11. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on October 26, 2011 at 2:14 AM said:

    Jared Balis, the discount dentistry broker, responds again. I’m beginning to like this guy. He expresses himself well and he’s got guts.

    Our conversation is taking place on The American Way of Dentistry Facebook.

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-American-Way-of-Dentistry/140481915269?ref=ts

    ————–

    Dear Darrell,

    I agree. The quality of dentistry does correlate to the network of dentists one is presented with. You always get what you pay for, to some degree.

    I’m curious…do you pay full retail for healthcare? Or do you have a health insurance policy, that includes a network of doctors who have agreed to negotiated fees, like the majority of Americans.

    Most Americans aren’t fortunate enough to live on a dentist’s salary and pay full retail for all of their dental needs. In a perfect world, we would all choose the best dentist, and we’d be happy to pay full retail because we’d all be able to afford it.

    I’ll speak for myself, but I think that most Americans would agree, that great dental work at a fair price will do just fine (as opposed to excellent dental work at a high premium). If they don’t agree, they should be paying full retail for dental care and receiving the quality of work they want.

    Since you refer to the 60% discount quite a bit (not sure where you came up with the “and more” part of that statement.) You and I both know, as does the average consumer, that most of the discounts are going to fall somewhere within those numbers. That leaves plenty of room for a reasonable profit even with good discounts from retail prices. 10% – 60% means 10% to 60%, not 60% all the time, as you base much of your argument on.

    I haven’t ducked any responsibility with my last reply.

    Yes there may be some low quality dentists in the bunch, just like there would be on any dental insurance network, or even a group of dentists who charge full retail. However, with hundreds, if not thousands of dentists to choose from, anyone can find a dentist who does good, quality work by reading patient reviews, asking for a referral from friends or family, and learning of a particular dentists credentials before allowing them to work on your teeth.

    I find it a quite impossible that my family happened to find the three good dentists in the state of Utah that accept discount dental plans.

    In response to your last statement:

    The undeniable fact remains: Intricate handwork performed in tender mouths cannot be rushed without sacrificing quality, and fast injections of local anesthesia hurt a lot more than when dentists can afford to take their time.

    I’ll repeat myself:

    My four year old has had four cavities filled in the last two years, and not once has he cried, or complained. The anesthetic was administered just fine and he didn’t even know he had received a shot. When it wore off, he was as happy as could be. My son didn’t experience the “lightening shock” or “painful dentistry” you introduce in your comment. None of my family has.

    Although that statement is based completely on my family’s personal experience, my decision should weigh heavily on my family’s experience, instead of an economic report.

    I would encourage anyone I sold a discount dental plan to, that experienced pain, a rushed injection, or poor quality dental care to look for a new dentist, and if they believed they couldn’t find a quality dentist, a new plan.

    The fact is, that discount dental plans have a place in the market because they provide a service that people want at a price that’s affordable; quality dental care at a discounted price.

    ———-

    Dear Jared:

    It would be difficult to address each of your thoughtful rebuttals without needlessly rehashing material. Nevertheless, I would point out that even though we agree that customers generally receive what they pay for, you insinuate that charging “full retail price” (by definition a price that the market will bear) is unfair or even immoral in the land of the free. You might as well argue against the unfairness of gravity.

    “I’ll speak for myself, but I think that most Americans would agree, that great dental work at a fair price will do just fine (as opposed to excellent dental work at a high premium). If they don’t agree, they should be paying full retail for dental care and receiving the quality of work they want.”

    I’m skeptical that Americans would agree that “great” discounted dental work is good enough if they are properly informed that they are more likely to receive “excellent” dental work for a sustainable price that is fair to dentists as well as patients. What’s more, if you properly warned your customers somewhere in your ad that discounts generally compromise quality, they might decide to pay full retail for dental care to assure that they receive the quality of work we all want. Nobody desires to knowingly increase their risk of having to have dental work re-done – even with a 60% discount.

    By the way, I found it interesting that you asked where I got the idea that patients expect discounts of 60% “and more” when your maximum quoted discount is only 60%. It was like I touched a nerve.

    Here’s my thought: Since most patients’ eyes glaze over anyway when percentages are mentioned, let’s just will away the fact that the accepted average overhead is 65% in the dental industry – just like you do in your ads. So if cutting dentists’ fees 60% only compromises dental care to a level of “great,” it stands to reason that dentistry discounted by 70% might still be of “acceptable” quality to non-discerning dental patients should they reveal themselves somewhere in the US. Since in the free-wheeling discount business we can eliminate the cost of running a dental practice just by ignoring it, would 80% be ostentatious?

    Seriously. At what point between 10% and 60% would you say that discounted dental prices become unsustainable in most dental practices without harming virtually everyone who walks into the office – including doctor and staff?

    Vulnerable dental patients know less about their mouths than dentists’ overhead expenses, and ethics aren’t free. Your solution of selecting a discount dentist by trial and error from a list of strangers is cruel.

    Finally, since the seriousness and the price of medical care cannot be compared with even the most expensive cosmetic dental care, that line of argument is nothing more than a distraction. For dental work, one might put off buying a home entertainment center. For heart surgery, one might lose a home. In addition, almost all diseases dentists are paid sustainable fees to treat are caused by predictable, preventable harm from poor oral hygiene habits. Even the most neglectful people rarely die of tooth infections that can be easily cured with extractions that cost around $200… or pulled much quicker using less anesthetic with a 60% discount for $80.

    D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This topic is now closed.

    LikeLike
12. D. Kellus Pruitt DDS, on November 14, 2011 at 6:57 PM said:

    I scratched the surface of Brigher.com this weekend. Know what I found hidden underneath the expensive PR? Castle Dental. Here is a conversation that is taking place on NBC DFW.com – a local news outlet. If the story catches on, it should probably appear in the Sports section.

    http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Using-the-Internet-to-Shop-Around-for-Dental-Services-133276458.html

    ———

    Dear Brighter.com,

    Hello again. Does Brighter.com really rate contracted dentists according to Facebook “likes”?

    Two days ago, in order to establish the validity of your employer’s promise “Trusted Dentist. Best Prices,” I requested the names of your 10 highest rated dentists for a city of your choice, and offered to research the dentists’ popularity according to DoctorOogle.com – arguably more reliable as a dentist-rating platform than Yelp, and certainly more reliable than the number of a dentist’s “likes.” You and I know this isn’t the first time you failed to respond to my request for such a list.

    By the way, the ADA Facebook has over 15,000 people who “like” the site, but apart from the growing number of disappointed fans, the ADA Facebook has nothing to offer visitors. Yet you say your boss, Jake Winebaum, uses a dentist’s number of “likes” to influence his clients’ choices? The fact that Winebaum is Wall Street’s sweetheart is something I find fascinating, yet scary. It looks to me like he’s on sitting on a bubble.

    Just as you suggested, rather than take your word for the quality Brighter demands of its contracted dentists, I picked the Brighter.com site for Austin, Texas to see for myself. On the way back, I also stopped by the Austin Better Business Bureau. Here are the results of my quick investigation into Brighter.com’s top ten recommended dental practices in Austin:

    It turns out that 7 out of Brighter’s top 10 choices – in part according to the number of Facebook “likes” – are anonymous clinics. The 3 not-anonymous dentists who sport their names on their office doors happen to be Brighter’s top three Austin choices. However, only one of the dentists’ names appears on DoctorOogle.com, and he only has 2 reviews – putting him far behind the “highest rated dentists” as advertised by Brighter.com. What’s more, he practices in Round Rock which is several miles outside of Austin.

    I’ve mentioned before that if one doesn’t mind seeing a different dentist every third visit or so, Brighter.com’s franchise dental clinics might be fine. Most dental patients aren’t like that though. They like consistency. What’s more, even Delta Dental admits that “changing dentists causes fillings.”

    You promise: “If we get negative feedback from our customers, we research the situation and will go as far as removing bad dentists from our listings.” Allow me to give you something to research: Your Austin clients’ 6th choice, “Omni Dental Group, located at 1110 W William Cannon Dr, has a B- Reliability Rating with the Austin BBB in connection with 26 resolved complaints in the last 3 years. The report states:

    “Consumer disputes received by the BBB allege that Omni Dental Group charges an upfront fee for a service but later charges their insurance for the same work. Consumers further allege a lengthy processing time for refunds and difficulty contacting this business to determine the status of their refunds. Other consumers allege that they had difficulty addressing issues with billing, appointments, and getting corrections done on dental work due to poor customer service. On July 30, 2009 the BBB contacted Omni Dental Group regarding our concern that these issues appeared to be forming a pattern, however the company has not yet responded.”

    The Austin BBB thinks even less of Brighter’s 7th choice: They gave an F to Castle Dental, located at 1000 E 41st St. because of billing and collection issues that the BBB no longer even bothers to describe. Nevertheless, even though Austin BBB gave up hope for seemingly incorrigible Castle Dental, two Castle clinics as well as two Omni Dental Group clinics nevertheless continue to rank in Brighter.com’s top 10 dental practices in Austin.

    As always, I fully understand why you simply must quit responding to my questions at this point, Anonymous. Nevertheless, next time we meet on the internet, I’ll try again. Good to see you again.

    D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

    LikeLike
13. Darrell K. Pruitt DDS, on November 15, 2011 at 3:44 AM said:

    Brighter.com

    I scratched the surface of Brighter.com this weekend. Know what I found hidden underneath the expensive PR? Castle Dental.

    Here is a conversation that is taking place on NBC DFW.com – a local news outlet. If the story catches on, it should probably appear in the Sports section.

    http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Using-the-Internet-to-Shop-Around-for-Dental-Services-133276458.html

    Darrell K. Pruitt DDS

    LikeLike
14. Darrell, on February 1, 2012 at 7:31 PM said:

    Delta re-gifts premiums

    “Keystone Dental Care receives $50,000 Delta Dental grant” (no byline) was posted on the Elizabethton Star today.

    http://www.starhq.com/2012/02/01/keystone-dental-care-receives-50000-delta-dental-grant/

    When I’m given the opportunity to comment following Delta’s press releases announcing generous donations, I always try to point out the discount dentistry broker’s sleaziness:

    In Austin Texas, Castle Dental franchises are listed as 4 of Delta’s top 10 DHMO providers. Castle Dental has an F rating with the Austin Better Business Bureau.

    If instead of re-gifting their clients’ premium dollars for even worthy causes, Delta Dental were to pay their dentists a fair fee, the dentistry their clients are limited to wouldn’t be of such inferior quality.

    Darrell K. Pruitt DDS

    LikeLike
15. Roxanne Dimacale, on December 12, 2016 at 12:34 AM said:

    GA DeltaCare

    My business needed GA DeltaCare FRM 0028 some time ago and learned about a web service that has 6,000,000 forms .

    If others need GA DeltaCare FRM 0028 too , here’s a https://goo.gl/1QtT4P.
    
    Roxanne Dimacale

    LikeLike