Is it greed for oral surgeons to do this to us?

I think it is a both , money grubbing and protecting themselves from being sued for any kind of malpractice, saying they did everything they could for the patient .

What @SQUEEKY2 said, plus scheduling management.

I’m guessing he was referred by your regular dentist. It’s not unreasonable for him to do his own evaluation of your mouth before proceeding. Perhaps, in his experience, referrals don’t always play out as expected. If he scheduled a combined consultation/extraction appointment, then found out he shouldn’t do the extraction or there were other complicating factors, he would lose money on the lost time.

I’ve experienced the same scenario with my dentist and oral surgeon.

MIne does it at the same time, even without dentist referral.

@bossob I can’t envision a dentist or surgeon losing money. But you made good points.
@KNOWITALL he sounds like a winner. Keep him!

If you want a consult and surgery on the same day, that surgeon has to have blocked off the time on his schedule, not knowing if you do indeed need the surgery or if you’ll agree to have it done. If you opt out of the surgery, don’t show up, or decide to get a second opinion, that unused time is lost income for him.

Frankly, if someone with the additional education and training wants another view of my tooth before performing surgery on me, I’d be happy to let him do it. Much better than afterward having a discussion of “I wish I had know about “X”, I would’ve done it differently and had better results”.

If you just had xrays and he repeated them then I think that is all about the money, unless it was actually a different xray angle that he needed. If your insurance will pay for it he doesnt give a shit that it is dumping more radiation into your body.

Insurance sometimes demands separate appoinments for certain things, but sometimes it is just the dentist or doctor wanting two appointments for more money. Each visit is another charge for just walking into the office.

Trails will know, I’ll send the Q to her.

Remind him that you are paying cash, not covered by insurance, and ask him if it can be done on the same day. If not, he will explain why.

It might be sort of greed but more likely this: Every procedure has a separate insurance code- even if your’e paying cash it will still be in your chart as an insurance code. The xray thing is probably because they’re digital xrays, end everybody’s idea of density and contrast are not the same, so he probably wanted his own done his or her way, and the consult is necessary to plan: type of extraction, how long it will take, and what type of anaethesia will be needed. I’ve never heard of a consult and surgery the same day but I’m sure some do it. If you’re paying cash they’ll often give you a discount if you pay the same day. You don’t say which tooth it is but wisdom teeth can be very complicated and you can’t just glance at them and know what to do.

@Aster “I can’t envision a dentist or surgeon losing money.”

The overhead of a surgical practice is crazy. You have a whole team of people to support (receptionist, nurses/medical assistants, specialized technicians, PAs, billing/insurance specialists, schedulers, practice managers/administrators etc. and all of their expenses like employer taxes, healthcare/dental, retirement contributions etc.) then there’s a ton of other costs (medical supplies, malpractice insurance, rent, business insurance, liscencing fees and dues, electronic healthcare systems, the digital backup services, the IT support, leases on specialized machines that cost tens of thousands of dollars, basic office supplies and equipment, computers, printers, specialized phone lines and data lines, HIPAA and OSHA compliance training courses, medical waste disposal, laundry services for patient gowns, marketing expenses etc.). You’re talking several hundred dollars a business hour in overhead costs for a practice.

In our case, we make our money from procedures. Yes we bill for office visits, but we probably take a loss (or possibly break even) when you factor in the overhead costs for the MD’s time in that room. No-shows for a procedure are devistating to the bottom line, as is having to change a procedure from one scheduled for 2 hours into something that takes 30 minutes, with the surgeon left twiddling his thumbs for an hour-and-a-half.

I went for the consult and in no way would he have been left “twiddling his thumbs.” I had to wait one solid hour. Then in the exam room he took no new x-rays, spoke of what I could not eat afterwards for 72 hours (tomorrow is the extraction) and joked around a lot about the things people say when under his Versed/Propofol mix. Which he said I’d really enjoy. He didn’t repeat what they said. He just told me it’s all private to him what is said when under anesthesia and , “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” You get 5% off for paying with a check. One molar: $560 total minus 5%. I will lose some weight .

You know what’s funny when I hear about oral surgeons needing consults, exams, x-rays and everything to pull wisdom teeth? The dentist I had when I was little, who was an old school guy in his 60’s with dental furniture that was right out of the Smithsonian, and the one I had as a teen, also “old school” both pulled wisdom teeth, quickly, painlessly, no exam, no consult, nothing. You go in, this is my problem, wham, tooth or teeth out. Novacaine, take an aspirin tonight (yes, even with having the gum cut). No problems.

When I was little, the old dentist with the Smithsonian 1920’s dental furniture drilled my teeth with no Novacaine. Not terrible. Not traumatic. We all lived.

Now, everyone who gets a wisdom tooth pulled needs consults, exams, x-rays, Vicodin and other heavy painkillers.

This is not a rant against any particular dentist, it’s more about dentists today in general.

I said this before but, some wisdom teeth are cone shaped and anybody can flick them out. Some have gnarly roots into the sinus, or right on top of the mandibular nerve. It’s much easier to do these on teenagers because teeth form from the crown down, so the roots are not fully developed, and the bone is not as dense. Sometimes a gp will remove wisdom teeth or other molars and remove the buccal plate (the cortical bone ) leaving the patient with a large defect that will be difficult to keep clean. That’s not the way to pull a tooth and that is why you go to a specialist, people. Ps he sounds like a pervy weirdo.

@jca My husband had at least one wisdom tooth pulled that old school way. We were already dating so that would have been 23 years ago. I think the whole thing took a few minutes.

The aspirin is still shocking to me.

My wisdom teeth were still below the gums when I had it done, so it was a totally different story.

When I was 28 I went to a dentist who noticed a wisdom tooth was decayed for the second time. He said it should just come out. I knew nothing about wisdom teeth and was perfectly relaxed. He pulled it out, twisting slowly and I felt nothing. I left with gauze on the space and the bleeding stopped within the hour . No pain afterwards, no fear and that’s what happens when you’re young!
Last week, on the other hand, I went to an oral surgeon and was hooked up with wires everywhere and given Versed and Propofol. I felt nothing but it was $600 with the previous consult . I’ve had no swelling or pain but I cannot knock this fatigue. I’ve been exhausted for days. I also at times feel slightly feverish. He thinks he knocked me out, and for the most part he did, but I kept waking up and mentioning things and felt him scraping out the root which had broken into pieces. Just a feeling of pressure . Another time I woke up and said, “everything is green!” and I swear the girls in there, the dentist, the room and everything was bright green.
I felt terrific on the way home but by the next day I was wiped out. It bled for four hours.