Why do prices vary dentist to dentist even for the same treatment?
There's a couple of layers to this. One layer is going to be the expertise of the dentist. Although it may be, on paper, the same procedure, different doctors have different levels of experience, different levels of expertise. And there's a part that, you know, you pay for that.
The second part of it would be the type of material that's used. There are numerous types of materials, and some materials are proven through research to be the best materials. Some practices, like my own, are only going to use those premium materials.
It's kind of like going to the gas station, right? From town to town, city to city, or even location within a city, gas prices can vary. There's also different types of gas, right? You have unleaded or you have premium. I'll be honest. For my vehicle, I put unleaded in my own vehicle. But if I were driving, like, a really supercar or really high-end vehicle, well, I'm going to put in premium, right? Because of the value of that vehicle.
In my opinion, in my practice, you, the patient, are a high-end, super valuable vehicle. And so, if you are this super valuable individual, well, then I need to be putting in you a premium product because not only is it going to be better for your body, meaning it's going to be healthier for your body, it's not going to create some secondary reaction, it is also going to be better long term, where you yourself are going to---it's going to last longer, right?
If I have a premium car and I put unleaded in it, well, that's going to build up some crud, and that vehicle is just not going to last as long. Whereas premium is going to make my vehicle last longer. Unlike a vehicle, yeah, you can go replace a car. You as a person are not so easily replaced. And that's why it's really important what I put into your body, and I want that to be the best quality.
Now, with that being said, we as dentists are able to see what the price range of procedures is within our own city. And that allows us as doctors to kind of say, well, where do we want to fall within that price range? For me, what I've been able to do is I've been able to say, "Okay, well, hey, I can position myself right in the middle." That way, I may not be the cheapest, but I'm definitely not the most expensive, and it still allows me to provide you, the patient, that premium, top-of-the-line product.
And I'm always very transparent with my patients in that I give proof. Like, if you want proof, I will show you the sticker that shows that you are receiving that premium product. That way you know what you're getting because, in so many other places, you don't know what you're getting. And unfortunately, a lot of places will value profit over product. There are materials that I can get from a very high-end place, or there are materials I can order from Thailand or China. And the value is going to be different.
That, to me, would be kind of the short answer as to why prices can vary place to place. And so you, the patient, what you should be asking is, well, what am I getting? Because so often we focus on the price because we think it's exactly the same. And in dentistry, I can tell you that's not the case. It is never the same. You get what you pay for.
It's important that you, the patient, ask because, if you think about this, if my product is going to last 20 years and the other product is going to last 10 years, and there's only a $100 difference, well, in the long run you're actually paying well more than if you were to choose me and my practice. And that's why it's so important to be educated and to know and to question and ask. That way you know exactly what you're getting.
That way you're left with fewer complications and ultimately spending and saving more money in the future.
How do lab costs, technology, and materials affect cost and quality?
To kind of dive into what I previously said a little bit more, we're going to talk about lab costs, technology, and materials. How do those affect the cost of what we are able to provide, as well as the quality?
I'm going to start off with lab work. There are several things that we do in dentistry that have to be made in a lab. Some examples of those would be crowns, certain types of fillings, dentures, implants, partials, bridges, retainers, mouthguards, all those kinds of things are things that you typically find in a lab.
There are labs that, for example, for a crown, are like 50 bucks, or there are labs that will charge you 600 bucks. Now, you, the patient, are probably going to be paying the same. So, say you come to my office and you pay $1,000 for a crown. Well, you're going to get the $600 product. Other places will charge you exactly the same, but then they're going to give you the $50 product.
Again, that is what matters the most because what is going to be different is one is made by hand by a craftsman who is a master. The other one is made by a machine that has no detail to it, no anatomy. So the fit of it is going to be different. One's going to feel more natural and look more natural. The other is going to be more kind of generic, as well as it's not going to feel normal.
And if you imagine the fit of it affects the overall comfort, which overall affects the bite. And just like, you know, using the car analogy, if a car is out of alignment, well, then you're going to wear down the car. Same thing with the bite. If the bite's out of alignment, then you're going to wear down the teeth. You're going to wear down the joint. So that's really where the biggest difference comes with labs. With a lab, you get what you pay for. And same thing, that higher-end quality is also going to last longer.
Now, as far as material goes, there are materials that are proven to last longer, and there are materials that are proven not to last as long. Again, you can imagine if something is made to last longer, well, it's going to cost more. And so I'll use implants, for example. There are implants that are designed to last 10 years, and then there are implants designed to last you a lifetime.
As you can imagine, well, that's a surgery that you have to go through to get an implant. So many people think, well, in 10 years, I'll just face that challenge then. It's like, well, here's the thing. If you're facing that challenge in 10 years, it doesn't mean that the conditions are the same. You probably have lost bone. Now, you're going to have to go through a procedure to build up the bone, and then now you're going to have to replace that implant. And what do you do then? Do you get the premium implant then, or do you get the 10-year implant, all to have to go through the same procedure all over?
Again, the prices of these things are not drastically different. And so I love to explain that and educate people on that because so often we always want to get the cheapest option. I've been guilty of that myself. I did not come from money. So that is real to me, having to choose things within a budget. But what I like to educate patients on is if we spend just a little bit more, we're going to be getting a drastically different product in the end.
Lastly, to tie this in, is technology. Some technologies are going to provide more accurate captures of what we end up creating. Well, that technology comes with a cost. Again, every one of these things is not there because we're trying to increase the cost of something. No, we're trying to increase the value of something.
Because what's important for me, even if you were to pay a penny in my practice, I want you to get the most out of what you pay. And the only way I can guarantee it is by using the latest technology, by providing you the highest quality material, as well as using a high-end lab that's going to create you a product that is going to last you a very, very long time.
That would be how lab material and technology impact the overall cost of things, and how you, the patient, are going to be so much more satisfied by making that little extra investment to get that next tier of quality.
How does the doctor's experience level affect price?
Now, something I kind of briefly touched on previously, as I said, the experience level of the doctor also affects that price point. So many people assume that just because a dentist went to dental school, they're all the same.
Keep this in mind. Some dentists graduate first in their class, and then there are dentists who graduate last in their class. Well, they're both dentists at the end of the day, but you have one dentist who studied hours on end to be able to become the best student they could be, so they could become the best dentist they can be. And then you have dentists who just chose to get by because they knew if they graduated last, they would still be a dentist at the end of the day. What are you going to get in the end?
And yes, the difficulty that I have to kind of help explain is you're not going to get the same product. You're not going to get the same outcome of the procedure. And oftentimes, I can't tell you how often I've had patients who go and get the cheapest root canal, and then that dentist fractures the tooth, and now it has to be pulled, that I easily could have saved for that person for at least 20 years. But now we've lost this tooth because the doctor was less experienced, and they fractured the tooth.
And then there are additional layers of education that can be added on. Those layers of education can be residency, where the dentist now goes and becomes specialized in procedures, where they get additional training, where they're now learning more advanced levels or advanced ways to perform these procedures. That way, again, they can assure better outcomes for the patient, as well as there are different types of continuing education and courses and things like that that also help advance the dentist.
To put this in perspective, the state board in Texas requires a dentist to get about 12 to 16 hours a year to maintain their license. If you were to look at the number of educational hours I get, I average between 150 to 200 credit hours a year in continuing education. So tell me which dentist is actually maintaining a higher level of care within their own profession: the 12-hour dentist or the 150-hour dentist?
I like to explain that because, again, you, the patient, don't know that. You're going to the dentist thinking you're getting the exact same quality, exact same experience, exact same intention, right? Because for me, I want to be able to provide people the best because I know that you are trusting your health to me. The work that I do, and the dentists in my practice, the work that they do, is going to make a distinct impact on your quality of life as well as the longevity of your life.
So here at Aspire Dental, we take that very seriously, and that's why we are always striving to be able to perform the highest level of care and stay up with the highest level of care, as things don't stay the same within medicine. Things are always advancing and changing. There's this whole evolution that takes place. Well, you want your dentist to be staying up with the latest, and that's what we do in my practice.
That also kind of goes in with what you're paying for. You're paying for the best quality and the most intelligent, skilled, and up-to-date dentistry. That's what you're paying for. And so I always like to explain that because, again, we don't think about that as patients.
That's why I like to help you see what is the difference in what you're getting because what you are committing to in our practice is an outcome. Meaning, unless you get the best outcome, we are not resting. We will work until however much time needs to be devoted to get the outcome. That's what you're getting. Whereas in so many other places I see, you're just getting this product. It's a bad product, but, you know, whatever, that's what you're going to receive. And here, unless it can be proven to be the best, we are not going to stop until you are given that best.
Why do dental implant prices vary so much?
I would say one area where you see really large price variation within dentistry is dental implants. For the most part, extractions and fillings and crowns, those prices don't vary too much. Although there can be a great difference in the quality you get, implants are one where it can vary by thousands of dollars. There are some places you can spend $10,000 on an implant, and there are places you can go get an implant for 3,000 or even less.
Now, there is a massive difference in what you're going to get based on that range. Kind of like what I was tying to earlier, there are implants out there that are going to maybe last you 10 years, and then there are implants out there that are going to last you a lifetime. Also, there are dentists that look at building the foundation first, and then there are dentists who are going to force an implant into the bone where it's at, even though the foundation may not be good, even though the foundation may be cracked. And as you can imagine, that also is going to affect the life of that implant.
Going into the material first, there are thousands of dental implant companies out there because implants are like the newest and hottest thing that everyone wants to do, and they're great. But you get what you pay for. In my practice, we use two companies. We use one called Straumann and one called Nobel. You yourself could go and look at AI or Google and search what are the best implant companies, and you're going to see those two implants are at the top.
Why? Because they've been around the longest, and they are proven to be the highest quality. They do not corrode with time, they do not cause metal toxicity, and they are meant to last a person their lifetime. In fact, both those companies have a lifetime warranty because that's how sure they are of their product. You don't create a lifetime warranty unless you expect your product to last a lifetime.
But there are companies out there that are called knockoff companies, where they make a product that looks exactly the same. You take an X-ray, it looks identical, but the material is downgraded to be of lesser quality. And like I said, they could become toxic to the body. Your body can create resistance to them, your body can reject them, and they can corrode with time.
That corrosion can create hormonal issues and cancer, all sorts of degeneration of the jaw, all sorts of things can occur because of that. And so that's why I use implants as an example, because implants are really cool because you can replace a missing tooth, but what you get matters. And you, the patient, should be asking, what am I getting? And the doctor should be able to prove to you that what you're getting is a genuine product and is of the quality that you, the patient, deserve to receive.
How do location, staffing, and equipment affect price?
To continue to dive into what makes these big differences, oftentimes you're going to see a difference as far as location, staffing, and equipment. Going to location, there's going to be certain areas that are maybe nicer, more affluent areas, and then you might see a difference in price.
My practice is centrally located in San Antonio. And I'd be honest to say it's kind of smack dab in the middle of some really nice places and some other places that are just ordinary. For me, I don't let my location dictate my price. I want my price to be fair. I want it to be fair to me, but I also want it to be fair to you, the patient. I want my price to be able to allow me to provide the highest quality, but at a range that's still affordable for you, the patient, to receive that highest quality.
But there are places that are going to jack up the price. You go to Beverly Hills, you're going to be paying Beverly Hills prices. You go to the Dominion, you're going to be paying the Dominion prices.
Now, staffing does matter because, as you can imagine, I want to be able to not only provide a high-quality product, high-quality material, but I also want a high-quality team. That is so important because this is not a one-man show. Yes, the dentist is going to be performing a big part of the job, but you also have the auxiliary support, such as the assistants, the hygienists, lab techs, the person answering the phone, the person greeting you. Even that can make a difference.
And so, it is very important for me that I'm not the most skilled and trained person in the office, that my assistants and hygienists and other supporting team members are also trained and highly skilled. That is very important, and that is also considered and looked at when you choose an office because there are parts of the procedure that are done by each of those individuals, and so you want to make sure those are also done at the highest level.
And then the technology is also so important. For example, we use the latest X-ray technology. Well, the latest in X-ray technology means it has the lowest dose of radiation exposure. It's also going to give you the highest image quality that we can use in our planning, that we can use in our diagnosis.
Why does that matter? Well, imagine if I can see something developing when it's small. That means I can do a smaller treatment to fix that thing versus waiting for it to become large and then catching it at that point. Because the larger something is, it's going to be, one, more expensive, but also it's going to be more of a procedure to go through.
The other part of it too is that higher-quality image allows me to plan better. So, for example, if I'm going to be performing a surgery, I can see arteries and nerves that maybe we couldn't see in other X-rays. And by being able to see those arteries and nerves, I can avoid those structures so I don't accidentally create damage to them.
That's why even the technology matters so much because, again, that technology is going to allow a better product to be received, a better procedure to be performed, as well as it speeds up the procedure because if I can have better image quality and better clarity, then I can perform the procedure faster. And if I can perform the procedure faster, that means you are in the chair less time and you are having to stay open for less time. All of these things are connected.
And all of them go into what am I receiving at the end, and that is what is so important for me, the dentist, to make sure my patients are receiving throughout the process.
How do paying out of pocket, insurance, in network, and out of network affect price?
Another thing that can impact price, and what patients should know, is how paying out of pocket versus having insurance, being out of network, or in network impacts the price.
A very common misconception that patients will think, or they're kind of educated to think, is that if I go in network, I'm going to be getting a cheaper price. The reason why I say people are educated to think that is because that is very often not the reality.
The reason for that is because what patients don't realize is there are really three main dental suppliers that provide all the dental supplies and equipment for dentists. Now, those three companies pretty much charge the same price place to place. So then if that's the case, how can one dentist take a huge cut and discount and the other one not? And that's where you need to kind of question the quality, or if you want that premium product, you're going to have to be charged an up-fee because you're in network.
Because what happens is when a dentist goes in network with an insurance, they are making an agreement to charge less, but there is an exchange that takes place. The insurance says, "Okay, here's this contract. You have to charge less, but as a result, we are going to be referring patients to you." So what that means is, in order to keep their end of the contract, they have to send patients to the dentist, which means they're going to do whatever they can to convince patients to go to that dentist. So that's one part.
The second part is by the dentist agreeing to that contract, oftentimes the dentist is agreeing to provide lesser products because by providing those lesser products, the insurance now can pay less. And so at the end of the day, the one who's really getting off the hook and really getting the benefit of it is the insurance company because you, the patient, are either getting a lesser product or you're now having to pay a premium if you want the good product because some dentists are unwilling to provide their patients with a lesser product because we know as dentists it's either going to be toxic or not last as long.
But if a dentist is not wanting to provide those lesser products, then that means they're going to have to charge you an up-fee in order for you to receive that. Which means you are actually now paying more out of pocket versus if you went to the out-of-network dentist because when you go to the out-of-network dentist, there is no contract. And because there is no contract, they do not have to agree with the insurance. And now the insurance actually has to pay a percentage of that better product. They're forced to because we're not in network.
And what happens is the insurance ends up paying more money. And because they pay more money, you, the patient, oftentimes are paying less out of pocket. And again, your insurance doesn't want you to know that because they want you to go to the in-network guy because they're going to be paying less.
And lastly, say you are a cash-paying patient, or you are an out-of-pocket patient. Very oftentimes, dental offices such as my own will work with you, and we offer different discounts and different things to work with you because you don't have the added benefit of insurance. Why am I able to discount things for someone who does not have dental insurance? It's because, as you can imagine, if I have someone who has insurance, well, I have to have an employee who I pay to look into your insurance, to file to your insurance, submit claims, appeals, all these things that take hours and hours of time. If you are an out-of-pocket patient, you don't have insurance, I'm not having to pay that fee, so then it allows me to give that back to you, the patient, in the form of a discount.
So you end up being able to pay less. Again, I like to explain all the differences and how those things impact the cost because it's important to know, because you're not always knowing of what exists. So that would be my answer to how in network, out of network, and being a cash-paying or non-insurance-participating patient affect price.
What should patients look for when comparing prices?
Something patients should look for when you are comparing prices, to make sure that you are comparing prices fairly, is: are you getting apples to apples, the same product? For example, if I'm going to go buy an iPhone and then I go to another store and they're going to give me a flip phone, yes, those are both phones, but totally different products. So you can imagine that it's going to be different. Totally different products. You can imagine they're going to be different.
Same thing if I go to buy a Toyota and then I go to the Kia dealership. I'm getting two different cars. They're both cars, but the quality can be a little bit different. The time they're going to last can be different. So you want to make sure you're comparing apples to apples, the same exact product.
And how do you do that? You say, well, what is the procedure? Is it the exact procedure? Are they putting in the exact same materials? I would question what is the brand of material you're putting in. That way you can actually go research that material. And are there any warranties? How many visits is this going to take? And what is the research on that material? Those are all things that can be looked up and should be able to be readily available from me.
I can provide those to you in a second. If an office cannot provide that for you within a very quick response time, it is very important that you question that because unfortunately in dentistry there can be such a difference in what you receive, and I hate that that exists. But that's why it's important for you, the patient, to do your research, get educated. That way you don't end up with something that is lesser because ultimately, in the long run, if you are left with something that is lesser, it is going to impact you and the quality of life, the quality of the material, the quality of the product, as well as the life of your tooth and creating more work for the future. So that's why all those things matter so much.
When should you get a second opinion?
My next question is, because we've been talking about prices, we're doing all this research trying to make sure we end up at the right place, when should you, the patient, get a second opinion?
And my answer to that would be: if you're not getting straight answers, if the dentist cannot provide you proof, get a second opinion. Because I know we want to get second opinions because maybe we're doubtful of what we're receiving. If you are doubtful of what you're receiving, like this is the right treatment, ask for proof, right? Show me pictures, show me X-rays, look up photos that are of the same type of thing.
For me, in my practice, I've had patients where I show them, hey, look, you have an infection. Well, you're not trained to look at an X-ray. So I can point at an X-ray and say that's infection. Well, how do you know? So what I go and do is I pull up Google and I type in Google dental infections. So now I have thousands of images that show me what a dental infection looks like. And then what I can easily do is show you yours and say, "Hey, do you, the patient, agree that your picture, your X-ray, looks exactly like that?"
Because by doing so, I help you see that what I am telling you is real. Because that's the biggest thing, right? We want to know that what I have going on is real and that this is the right treatment to fix this problem. In my practice, I will give you all the time in the world to make sure that you have that confidence because I will not move forward if you are not confident. And that's important.
I'm not just looking for you to agree to move forward. I am looking that you are confident in that agreement to move forward because I want you to be confident in what you receive because that is how we are going to end up getting the best outcome. So that would be my answer as far as when do I get a second opinion. And it all comes down to: can my dentist show me what they're telling me is real, and can they show me that what they're recommending is the best treatment for that problem and give proof?
What is the most important thing to understand about cost?
The final thing that I would like to touch on in this video, because there is a lot of information I've unpacked, is what is the most important thing to understand about cost? Because ultimately I want you to make the best informed decision.
And the number one thing that I want you to understand is you get what you pay for. Also, you should have confidence when you're moving forward. If there's any layer of doubt, question it. And unless your doctor can give you the time and proof to show you what you're getting is what is best for you, then don't move forward.
And finally, the third thing would be that you are worth the cost. I know so often we will accept the least for ourselves, but you are a highly valuable person, a highly valuable individual, and you deserve what is best for you. Because ultimately, whatever you put into yourself is what you're going to get out of it. And if junk is going in, then junk is going to come out. And it's going to impact your health, right? So, you deserve the most valuable product, the most valuable material. And like I said, I can provide that for you at a very affordable cost.
So those are the three main things I would like you to take away from this video. That way, you now can make informed decisions and make the best decision for not just yourself, but for your health, knowing that it's going to affect the quality of your life and your future.
Understanding your dental care options is an important part of protecting your oral health. Contact us at (210) 972-0768 or email [email protected] with any questions.