I think it was just his way of providing it under NHS - although the fact the practice eventually went private suggests it may not have been.

There are poor dentists who are only interested in money everywhere. I was once told in Ireland that I needed 9 fillings by a dentist (my mouth hygiene was lacking at the time). I thought that sounded ridiculous, so I went to another one where I got one filling and I have not had any problems since and my mouth hygiene has improved.

I haven't had any experience of dentists here yet, but my health insurance covers $2000 of routine treatment, so not sure if price would come into it for me.

Tell them you have no insurance and pay for the basic exam in cash. They won't try to up sell you things since they know there is no insurance to pay for it.




My dentist in general in Squamish is old school, he really doesn't up sell or have a fancy office or advertises any of the newest and best for dental care, he is down right basic dentist, and if he can't fix something, he will tell you upfront. He also knows our insurance cover will not cover anything non-essential as in anything not causing pain right now, and will only cover a basic check every 12 moths.



I try to avoid the ones with fancy officers with all the bells and whistles, someone has to pay for all those fancy toys and find dentists with the basic tools, and basic dental services, especially avoid any that openly advertise cosmetic dentistry.

A bad GP is the worst, I like my current doctor, in fact nearly every doctor in this town is excellent, just worry he will be retiring as he isn't young, but who knows. Hopefully he keeps practicing for a few more years.

I think this town is unique, seems to not have issues attracting GP's, we have a fair amount of younger ones, so have 11 accepting patients, which for a town of 17,000 is pretty good to have 11 accepting patients.

I like my dentist and the hygienists who work there. He has suggested crowns, replacing fillings etc but has given reasons for each bit of work and prioritized them. He also doesn't push any of the treatments.

If you don't want something done just say so, they can't go drilling and scraping around without your consent. I don't get X-rays all the time either. Just take control and discuss your dental health with them then make an informed decision.

Btw since I heard how much false teeth cost I may well have those crowns done after all.

This is exactly what I thought to do. We often have trouble getting anyone to direct bill with my husband's insurance plan anyway. I might come and visit your dentist in Squamish!


S

I suspect that many dentists have always been on the make.
Many many years ago now, I was referred as a young child to the school dentist. I suspect he was on some kind of piecework because I went in for two fillings and came out less six teeth!
A second tale occurred years later when I heard a Ferrarri dealer say that his main customers were dentists and some other disreputable profession (cant quite remember who).
Now I know that it's not politically correct to say so, but mankind lived quite a long time without the benefit of 6 monthly checkups. Yes I know that the blacksmith would gouge out bad teeth and the barber would help, but you have to ask the question, are dental checkups too frequent or is it something that dentists would have you believe are essential just to keep the silver rolling in, because I don't think so, and I don't do it.

My head is so sore.
Two "tales" don't make a double blind randomised trial
Maybe, just maybe you had crappy teeth as a kid Dave?? Who is to tell?
As for cars... When I was practising dentistry I think I was driving a Vauxhall Astra, not a Ferrari- don't you just love anecdotes?

Re checkups, my dentist suggests annual checkups, again you are all big girls and boys, you can change dentists if you are not happy

Talking of political correctness:

mankind = humankind

Yes I'm coming up to a year hence the thread.


S

Our dentist recommends annual, and has never pushed anything onto me. Last time I was in there with a sore tooth, he asked if I wanted an x-ray and I said no, and he said, good good, no reason to waste $15.... and off I went. Paid my $40 that is my responsibility and off I went.

He also has 0 advertising in his office for cosmetic, not even sure if he does cosmetic only procedures, he may but certainly no advertising for it in the office.

Basic dental office as well, no fancy TV's, normal dental essentials, and staff. Fees are reasonable at least so far.



Snowy if you ever decide to try them out here is the info. They are brothers, Dr. Vanzella's, been practicing in town for a long time, in their 60's if I had to guess, but quite good and long time residents here always have something positive to say.

(604) 892-3548

Squamish Dental Clinic  
Dentist
Address: 37979 Cleveland Ave, Squamish, BC V8B 0A6

Thank you for this! I just might. I've written down the details. We all need to go. It sounds like the "no frills" option. My husband did not look me as if I was mad when I suggested it (probably thinks there might an opportunity for him to go to Whistler afterwards!).

I've taken note of Adele's suggestion too but it sounds a little upmarket for me. They might suggest Botox (on the insurance) or something!

S

The first time a dentist sent correspondence like that to me would be the last I time I used that practice.

I'm curious...did you ever find a dentist reluctant to take you as a patient on that basis?

In the UK, when dentists were moving over to treating patients privately it was very difficult to find a dentist taking new patients under the public system (I believe it still is) because they couldn't get as much money as they could when doing it privately.

Just wondering if you experienced an equivalent difficulty from a dentist reluctant to take an uninsured patient.

No. The dentists here will take anyone willing to pay them, be it insurance and cash.

We have some public coverage, and yes it can be difficult to find a dentist willing to accept it as they don't want to deal with the ministry for payment of that part.

The patients pays the difference between what the ministry pays and what the dentist charges, so for a basic check up I think we pay an extra $40 as the ministry only pays something like $40 for it.

Most things are not covered, only what the ministry deems essential has any coverage. We get like 1 basic exam every 2 years I think it is, tooth extraction if causing pain is covered, but things like crowns or bridges have no coverage at all.

But that's if you pay them though. Or specifically it's either insurance or you. What I was really getting at was telling them that no matter what, you weren't having any crowns, bridges, all you wanted was a check up, no x-rays or maybe just a replacement filling of a cheap kind.

Faced with seeing you for a small return when they could see someone else instead and whether the patient paid or insurance paid they could do more.

Dentists in the UK were known not to be taking public patients because they could see private ones and get higher payments instead. For the same treatment.

I think they might just be hiding behind that. There was one year a few years back where I had some dental work done and it was covered by the province scheme where they would pay up to $800 pa for essential treatment.

It made zero difference to the admin procedure at the dentist (just the same as if it was private insurance) and they encouraged me to do it. It was actually that one time thing that produced the email from the dentist suggesting the unused part of that $800 because it was still available.