Am I Being Ripped Off-Root Canal Charges?

unni

Adept
I had some problems with one of my tooth and I went to a famous dental hospital in Bangalore. Immediately after seeing it, the doctor told me that it requires root canal. They told me that the root canal will cost 3000 Rs. and a ceramic crown will cost Rs. 5000. I agreed and the root canal part was done in 4 sessions.



During one of these sessions, I asked the doctor whether any of my teeth require filling. After checking, she told me that 4 teeth-1 in front and 3 in back require filling. She said that the front one will cost 1200 Rs. and the back ones 500-800 Rs. I asked her to do the front one first. She did and I went to the counter to pay the bill. I was surprised to know from the counter that I have to pay 2400 Rs. since two of my front teeth were cleaned/filled. I thought "ok fine" and paid the money.



On the day of my 4th session, before the doctor started, I asked him what he would be doing today. He said he would be doing pinning followed by measurement for crown. He did some things and finally after 30-35 minutes, everything was over. I went to pay the bill and was shocked to hear that I had to pay 2500 Rs. for the pinning. That would make the total cost of root canal for a single tooth 3000+5000+2500=10500 Rs. Fortunately, the credit card machine was not working and so I didn't pay anything.



The next day, I came to know from one friend that this pinning was done for him from the same hospital as part of the root canal stage for which they charged 3000 only. Also, another friend told me that he got his metal crown replaced with ceramic for 2000 from Kerala.



My questions are as follows:

1. Are they overcharging me for crowning?

2. Can they charge me extra for pinning or is it supposed to be part of the 3000 which I paid for root canal?

3. Aren't doctors supposed to clearly tell me the requirement/need, cost involved, complications and side effects of any procedure they are going to perform on me even if I don't ask them?

4. Should I argue saying them that I am not ready to pay the 2500 for pinning?

5. Any good dental hospital in Bangalore that doesn't overcharge?

Please advice guys.
 
I'll tell you my experience with RC treatment. I went to a private Dental clinic in my area for RC and the doctor is a very nice professional lady. For one tooth I was charged 1500 total for the RC treatment which included cleaning and everything, and 1500 for the crown. So any good decent doctor should charge anything between 1500~2000 for the RC treatment and 1500~2500 for the crown.
 
you did go to a famous dental hospitals , i am guessing that would be their rates then ...if you did visit a pvt dental doc then what shakensoul mentioned would be the rates , if you had friends as dentists like I have then it would be free :d
 
I got 2 RC and 2filling and one removal all for 4K in Bangalore .Its all strong and good from the past 1 year.I got it done through a friend of mine .Never go to hospital for dental job they rip you apart.Tell me which was one was it Mallya ,Manipal,Ramaiah,Columbia Asia ??
 
If you are in Bangalore, you are lucky that we have so many reputed dental colleges here

They charge only Rs 500-700 for the root canal & 500-700 for the crown

Moreover, as they do not earn money from the treatment, you can be sure that they will not do any unnecessary procedures

Also they are more thorough in the procedure then many clinics who charge 10k for the same, although it may require 1-2 extra sittings.

The flip side is the big waiting list for root canal & are not air conditioned or have beautiful receptionists & nurses waiting on you & you have to go from room to room for treatment & payment personally.

I first went to the college for a root canal which a very reputed clinic in Bangalore could not complete even in 6 months as every time there would be a infection, as I have vomiting tendency

The college was able to complete the treatment in 1 sitting as they used Rubber dams which private clinic do not use.

The colleges go by the book & hence are more thorough in my opinion although more lengthy & cumbersome as they may take even 10 xrays for a single tooth which would be done away in 1 xray at private clinics

I get my teeth cleaned thereafter twice a year for 50 bucks only which would have cost me upwards of 500-1000 bucks at private clinics & is done here by the latest ultrasonic cleaners which few clinics have.!

So as i am a regular visitor at the college, any further treatment required is also done on priority.

You may also examine this possibility of going to a nearby dental college for future treatments
 
@unni-->Dude,thats a lot of work done by your dentist. Am currently undergoing RC treatment.,This saturday will be my last painful session *I hope(Pls lord)*. I paid 1200 for drilling and filling. Then its going to be 1000 for the ceramic cap. What you pay is huge..
 
this is way too costly. I have got 2 RCs done (in Delhi) for 3000 (all inclusive + crown). And none of the sessions were painful.
 
Agreed the whole root canal used to cost 1k here in mumbai 4 years back...even if we double its 2k...If its big hospital say again double...overall total say 4k for all...For u its a loot..Take 2nd opinioin from other doc
 
I f you are around Indiranagar area, visit Arti Modi clinic. Google for address. Take appointment before visiting. Very professional. Reasonably priced.

Regards,

Mohit
 
Cities, now a days have posh hospitals cheat charging like anything. The way cheap loans have caused house prices sky rocketing, health insurance companies are causing a price rise in health care.

The cost you paid seems higher. Its best if you go to some old but trustworthy hospital in your area.

By the way, I think you must not compare with health care prices in Kerala. Kerala have good health care at lowest prices, which will change in due time, of course.
 
RootCanal should never cost more than 3K to max 4K,anywhere no matter how professionally done.

I have paid about 4K for the complete thing along with ceramic crown.

I have a friend who has his own ceramic Laboratory. If anyone needs good quality crowns at half price let me know.
 
noop

i asked my father who is a dentist of the same .

he said a new intern will do the same RC in mumbai for 1k or less but in this case hands on are next to none due to the bad scenarios of private medical collages

the same by experienced docs ( 10 + yrs) will cost 3.5 k + depending on complexity

my dad does implants from 1982 even before i was born and he says all the new kids do big course ware from outside learning form videos of live and recorded but do not get into medical systems in those countries and return here to earn fast bucks... this is a major concern for him as he feels they just keep on displaying the added qualifications just to dupe many * ( sorry) just misguide people

he feels keep docs standard dont keep swapping docs its a useless over head for system which already suxx
 
My dad got a root canal done in Manipal hospital. I think he paid some 6-7K for the procedure. I don't think it's cheating. Th cost is high but they have eqpt to give you x-rays on the spot. This means not having to wait for the x-ray to develop and come in for a consult a 2nd time. Plus, he was offered two types of crowns I think(I don't remember exactly which). He took the costlier one.

I went for a filling recently in Manipal. I paid Rs 550/-(Rs 150/- for consultation and Rs 400/- for the filling). The 1st x-ray that the dentist took was bad. He took a 2nd x-ray to confirm my condition. I really appreciated the benefit one gets from the x-ray equipment. I remember my childhood days where I had to return twice everytime an x-ray was taken.(Don't know if dentists have these machines now.)

One problem with a hospital setup is, you might not get the same doctor or you have to specifically request for dentist whom you know does good work. With a private clinic, you can get your work done by a dentist whose work you like. Cost of dental treatment will be more at a hospital as there are more overheads to running a dental dept. in a hospital.

W.r.t dental colleges, I remember travelling to dental college in Manipal(the actual town) on someone's suggestion (to get cheap treatment as everyone in my home town seemed to be doing it.) I had an active spacer put in for a princely sum of Rs 500/- (500Rs had a lot of value in the 90s and we were not so well to do back then) by an orthodontist. I remember the student doctor pulling my spacer halfway out deciding that it needed to be removed before another student doctor came over and felt that it needed to stay. They then somehow fitted it back.

All this leads me to conclude that a dental college may not be the best option if your condition is complicated or needs an expert or orthodontist opinion. For regular fillings or filling replacements, it may be ok.
 
I did a Root Canal couple of months back in Cochin. The doctor is a reputed & senior guy. He charged me Rs.1000 for the RC & Rs.500 for the Silver Cap. I've had no probs. My brother also did the same from him last week for the same price.

The charges vary from hospital to hospital & doctor to doctor. I know directly that some reputed hospitals charge high price for NRIs & less price for others.
 
Emperor said:
Is she so beautiful ;) how on earth people get ready for Operate without details, at least about charges :mad:

:D It's not like that, though I agree that it was my fault that I didn't question them.

Thanks guys for all your replies. This is what really happened.

About 4 weeks back, I went to Narayana Hrudayayala Dental Hospital in HSR Layout, Bangalore. One of my colleagues had recently got 2 root canals done from there. This is the main reason I decided to go there. I knew the charges to be on the higher side. Since I really hate going to hospitals (don't know why, but I always try to avoid them at all costs :)), I went there because I didn't want to bother about running around here and there. I just want the treatment to be done without problems, that's all I thought when I chose this hospital.

I went there to show one tooth that was bleeding occasionally. There was no pain, but I couldn't chew with this tooth since the decay was big. The lady doctor asked me to open my mouth, just had a look at it, took one x-ray and showed it to me on the monitor telling me that the decay is almost near the nerves and root canal has to be done. I agreed and asked about the cost. They told me that the root canal would cost Rs. 3000 and crown between Rs. 2500 and 5000 depending on the type of material. The treatment started. Root canal was done by another male doctor. On the first day, the male doctor did some cleaning and drilling. I just kept my eyes closed since I didn't want to see all those files and chisels and drills they put in my mouth. :) After that days treatment was over, the (male) doctor told me to ask him questions if I have any and that it is his duty to answer them. I didn't ask much since I expected them to do whatever required. I paid 1500 + 150 (consultation charge) that day.

I asked the lady doctor whether any other teeth require filling. She checked me and told me that 3 in the back and one in the front require filling. When asked, they told me that the front one would cost Rs. 1200 and others 500-750. I went there again the next Wednesday for filling. I told the lady doctor to do the front one first. She did the drilling and cleaning. Since there was bleeding, she asked me to come on another day. I went, got the filling done and went to the counter to pay the bill. I was shocked when they gave me a bill of Rs. 2400. I asked the lady at the counter and she told me that 2 teeth were done! I didn't ask anything further (I know you must be thinking WTH). I decided to do any more fillings from there.

During the next 2 weeks, I went there twice for the root canal and paid 1500 more. Now, the 4th session was on last Saturday (13th). On that day morning, I came to know from a friend that he got his crown replaced with ceramic (he had silver crown before) for 2000 from Kerala. He had a dental doctor friend (in Kerala), called him and came to know that most private hospitals charge only 1500-2500 for root canal and maximum 2000 for the crown. These hospitals get the crown done for Rs. 750!. So, I decided not to go to this hospital any more. However, I got a call from them around 10 am asking whether it's ok to shift my appointment that day from 10 to 1.30. I asked the lady what they would be doing today. She said pinning and crown measurement. I thought this pinning was part of the root canal session (for which I already paid 3000) and told her that I would be there at 10 itself. By the time I reached there, I decided to get the crown done from here itself. If I get it done from Kerala, I would have to go at least twice and the traveling itself would cost close to 2500. The (male) doctor did some things for almost 30-35 minutes and I went to pay the bill. Again, got shocked that they wanted me to pay another 2500 for the pinning. Since their credit card machine was not working, I didn't pay anything that day. I asked the colleague who had gone there before and he told me that they didn't charge him extra for pinning.

Then I started this thread. After seeing all your replies, I didn't want to go there any more. However, my dad told me to complete this and pay the amount since he felt it was not right to stop midway. I went there yesterday, got the crown fixed and paid the remaining Rs.7500. I asked the (male) doctor about the pinning. He told me that it was done since my tooth structure was weak. In pinning, they insert fibres to strengthen it.

So, the total amount I paid there are as follows:

Consultation : 150

Root Canal Treatment : 3000

Crown Cementation : 5000

Post & Core (Pinning) : 2500

Root Canal Total : 10500

Composite Restoration (for 2 front teeth): 2400

Total: 13050

Coming to the root canal treatment: I think the (male) doctor did a very good job. I didn't feel any pain at all and he seemed to be a nice guy.

I will definitely never go to any of these kind of hospitals any more. I will see if I can get the remaining tooth filling done from some other clinic (like the one suggested by amohit).
 
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