Am I being ripped here?
 

I am about to get my wisdom teeth taken out so I asked my dentist for a referral to an oral surgeon. So I make an appointment for a consulation and fill out all the paper work and such. The surgeon came in and talked to me about some ways to remove them and answered many of my questions. Then I recieved a estimate for my surgery which is comes out ot be about $1170. He is charging me $50.00 for consulation, 2*$250 per teeth located in soft tissue areas, and 2*$310 for 2 teeth located in part bony areas. Am I being ripped off here or what? Not to mention I will have to follow through with a check up at least twice so thats another $50.00 for each visit. I am not sure how much my insurance is going to cover yet but I pretty much think my insurance is going to say "Go to a different surgeon."

That sounds pretty reasonable, actually.

You insurance company might tell you to get a few other estimates from different doctors but bear in mind that some dentists charge $75-125 just for a teeth cleaning.

Sounds like you're getting a deal.

That doesn't sound like an unreasonable figure.

This includes anesthetic as well?

20 years ago, 4 of mine cost a lot more than that.

It's not unreasonable for an insurance company to ask for a second opinion, it doesn't hurt to do that, you will probably get the same estimate.

*sigh*
I have a six thousand dollar smile. :D.
Dentists are VERY expensive.

About the same price I paid for mine, and I only had three to get pulled.

Jesus Christ! That is insane...

I paid $30 bucks a tooth for mine, but then again that was in a country with socialized healthcare.

Godbless Canada, iv got an appointment on the 24th and I will need multiple fillings and alteast 1 (most likely three wisdom teeth out)

That is not absurd. I just got mine out, and it was somewhere around 1300$. Insurance took care of a good portion of it...but yeah, it's DAMN expensive if you want a good doctor/anesthesia.

And that was just for my bottom two teeth. :(

i owe about 250 since my stupid dentist went over my dental coverage the last time I went in. and I still have a few more to get done.

i bet anesthesia will cost extra. It would've cost me about 200 more, so I opted out. It wasn't that bad...you don't feel anything and you get to get high on laughing gas :D.

That's about what it cost to pull all four of my impacted wisdom teeth.

Post removed.

Dude with my insurance and living in Canada. I got mine out last summer for $160 with a cleaning. I guess it really is the best country in the world.
:)

I get mine out on August 20th .. I think my consultation was about $2300 for 4 impacted wisdom teeth.

Personally, I think the wisdom teeth thing is a scam. How many people are told they need their wisdom teeth removed? Seems like a hell of a lot. Is this really such an epidemic? What is it that's causing everyone's wisdom teeth to come in crooked or whatever that results in them "needing" to be removed?

I was told when I was about 17 that if I didn't have them removed they were going to push all my other teeth out of allignment. This scared my mom since she had paid a couple grand for braces just 5 or so years earlier and didn't want that money to go to waste. I figured that they weren't hurting and my body can handle itself just fine when it comes to normal evolutionary processes. Guess what? Not a single problem with them. All other teeth are still alligned, and all four wisdom teeth doing just fine.

I am fairly convinced that it's a way for oral surgeons and dentists to pad their pocket books by performing relatively low risk procedures that bring in a grand or more per patient.

If your oral surgeon is a "participating member" with your dental ins. company, then it doesn't matter what his regular rates are, he'll get paid what the insurance co. pays him and that's it. You, of course, will have to meet your deductable but that's it.

I'd talk to him (or his billing clerk) about what insurance you have and what's covered. Also talk to your insurance co. to verify what the dr. told you.

I really dunno. I was in the Air Force when I had mine removed. They'd been after me to have them removed for the better part of eight years. Right before I got out, I thought that perhaps it was a good time, while I was still on Uncle Sam's dime.

Chiming in with that sounds about right. At least they told you they're going to pull all four out. I was told by my dentist they were definitely pulling the bottom two out, but nary a word about the top two. I guess they were far enough in there they weren't a problem. Well, it wasn't until after I had the teeth pulled and was trying to swallow a strawberry that didn't get completely blended and end up trying to chew it in the upper part of my mouth and was met with horrific pain and stitches did I get told they pulled all four. :|

Post removed.