We’ve all been victims of a propaganda campaign. This propaganda campaign has been carefully orchestrated to convince us that we want cheap, quick dentistry. We want dentistry that we can slap down a little cash for and get done right away. But is this really what we want? Is cheap dentistry better for us? And, if not, who is it better for?
Is Cheap Dentistry Better for Patients?
On the surface, it seems like cheap dentistry is a good deal for patients. They can more easily fit dental treatment into a tight budget, which means more money to spend elsewhere on other critical needs. So it seems that a cheap, quick dental treatment should be good for them. But it’s not.
Cheap dentistry is not good dentistry. Although it may offer a solution to the immediate problem, it’s not a complete solution, nor a durable one. If you get a cheap dental solution, you’re setting yourself up for more dental care later. When cheap solutions fail early, as they tend to, you have to get them replaced. So you usually end up spending more over the long term for your cheap dental treatment. And in the meantime, you experience poorer dental health. After a few cycles of failure and replacement, you’re more likely to have teeth that can’t be repaired anymore and need to be replaced. So you end up paying more for poor dental health and teeth that don’t last.
Is Cheap Dentistry Better for Dentists?
So, obviously, it must be dentists who benefit from cheap dentistry, right? Offering cheap dentistry allows them to undercut their competition to bring in more patients so they can enjoy better profits. Actually, it’s the opposite.
Cheap dentistry is bad for dentists. Dentists have fixed costs they have to cover, and cheap dentistry makes that harder by reducing their margin on each dental treatment they provide. This means they have to bring in more and more patients just to keep ahead of costs. The result is that they can’t spend as much time as they’d like with each of their patients, who become an anonymous stream of mouths. They don’t have time to provide these patients with quality care–they can only provide the minimal care necessary to get them out and make space for the next person. That isn’t why they went to dental school: they became dentists to serve people and truly help them enjoy healthy, beautiful smiles. Instead, cheap dentistry makes them poorly paid assembly-line workers who are unsatisfied with their work and their lives.
Cheap Dentistry Is Good for Insurance Companies
Insurance companies are really the driving force behind cheap dentistry. They set the prices they want to pay for certain procedures, which dentists have to meet or else the insurance company won’t pay it. This helps them meet their goal of bringing in more money as premiums than they pay out in benefits. In fact, most people pay more for dental care with insurance than they would without insurance.
But, wait, if cheap dentistry costs more in the long run, then wouldn’t it cost insurance companies more? No, because they prefer dental care to be spread out so people keep paying insurance premiums. A person who constantly needs dental care and maintains a dental policy year after year, paying more in than they get out is ideal for the insurance company. A person who gets expensive care and has good dental health and therefore doesn’t need insurance worries insurers.
And insurance companies have an out that protects them from the long-term effects of bad dentistry. When teeth fail and need to be replaced, they just don’t cover the dental implant to replace it. So they stick the patient with the cost in the end.
Quality Dentistry Is Better Than Cheap Dentistry
So, in the end, insurance companies are the only ones who benefit from cheap dentistry. If you’re looking for dental care in Savannah, make sure you’re looking for quality dental care, not cheap dental care.
And if you’re looking for quality dental care in Savannah, please (912) 234-8282 today for an appointment with a cosmetic dentist at Beyond Exceptional Dentistry
