subject: How Dentists Work Out Their Charges [print this page] Many people who seek the various healthcare services provided by dentists often express an interest in knowing how these professionals work out their charges. It is easy to understand where this interest comes from, especially when you take into consideration the fact that it is easy to get the same service, from two different dentists and at absolutely different rates.
Definitely, charges for dentists' services are not like the prices for most products (the service is a product, in the business sense), which tend to be more or less constant across the respective sectors. The end result is where, for instance, one dentist could charge you some $100 for a 'tooth extraction' service, with another one, within the same town, charging you some $200 for the same service. It gets even more interesting when we look at special services like teeth whitening and teeth straightening, where the variations in charges can be spectacular.
It is all this, then, that leads to the question as to how dentists work out their charges.
And as it turns out, there are a number of factors that dentists take into consideration, in determining their charges. What is worth keeping in mind though, is the fact that there also guidelines that are set by their professional bodies on what they should charge. Most of these though, will be in terms of how far low not to go in terms of their charges, so as not to introduce 'under-cutting' practices in the profession. So in a given area, it may be left to the individual dentists to work out what they will be charging for their services - provided they don't go below a certain stipulated minimum. There will also tend to be a mention of some ceilings, put in put place to avoid outrageously high bills, which can put these healthcare providers with insurance companies. Of course, these stipulations may not always be adhered to.
Within the stipulated pricing floors and ceilings (where indeed they happen to be adhered to), it is usually upon the dentists to work out what they want to charge for their services in a 'free market' model.
One of the factors that ultimately determines what a given dentist charges is the type of patients (maybe we could call them clients) he targets to serve. Of course, dentists, like other healthcare providers wouldn't want to be seen as being very businesslike, but the truth of the matter is that there is a lot of business consideration that goes into their work. Different practitioners, too, target to serve different demographic groups; with a practitioner who targets an affluent clientele having the opportunity to use pricing to ensure that they only get that type of clientele.
Another factor that is taken into consideration in determining what to charge is where the dentist in question practices. If the dentist is working in a hospital complex with other doctors, chances are that he or she will want to harmonize their charges with those of other practitioners there. Indeed, some hospital complexes have this as a matter of policy requirement, so that you have to adhere to it, in order for you to continue practicing from their premises.
The profile dentists manage to build for themselves also go some way in determining what they can charge for their services (and actually have people pay). This is especially the case in areas like cosmetic dentistry, where the dentists who build a reputation for delivering spectacular results can, over time, have people coming from far and wide seeking their services -and willing to pay a premium for good results.
by: James Maloney
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