Hi all,
We are quite lucky as we now have Australian Unity and both my husband and I used their no gaps for check ups and cleanse. Today I went to one in Sydney and luckily I didn't have to pay, however the hicaps was the following:
Examination $58
Calcukus removal $90
Topical agent $37
Xray $39
Xray $35
Total would had been $259!
When we lived in the UK we paid £16.50 (around $33) for check up and cleanse. Also if you needed Xray that's all you paid still. It was through the NHs and only thing I feel was not done as good, was the cleanse.
So why are dentists so expensive over here? I know they are fully private here, but still they are way too dear.
Why dentists are so expensive here in Oz?
Comments
It's the Aussie Tax.
Because they have big mortgages, car and boat loans to pay
Same question can be asked about a lot of professions. Do you know how much a single sparky can make in a year? It's mind boggling.
Also in the UK as far as I know dentistry is subsidised under the NHS. It is not covered here under Medicare so you need your own insurance.
how much does the average sparky make?
An owner operator and Depending where they are, more than a dentist in some cases. That goes for plumbers too. But all the sparkys and plumbers i know piss their fortunes away on beers and woman
You think that's pricey?
I have ceramic veneers on one front tooth, due to it being chipped after taking a fall. Also had to get root canal — $1,800 AUD
I also did my wisdom teeth (all 4) done at Westmead Hospital — $3,800.
Anyway the reasons from a doctor's point of view was that dentists in the past weren't part of medicare and were basically charging however they liked. Since only dentists can do your teeth the patients have very little bargaining power. You want good teeth — better pay up!
Goodness me…
Wow poor you!
At those prices, I would consider dental tourism. Go overseas (Singapore for the rep for example) and stay a week or two + get teeth done and still save money. Other cheaper places include malaysia, indonesia, phillippines where you can have a great holiday, get your teeth done and save more money. Quality wise I'm not worried.
Example not related to dental, but relevant to medical field: Friend payed over 10,000 pounds for lasic surgery in UK and they screwed up her eyes. She was blind for a couple of months and had to undergo another procedure. Another friend paid about AUD $1k-2k and got lasic in phillippines. Second friend reported no issues.
Or as reddit/youtube (unverified source) put it:
"The average hip replacement in the USA costs $40,364. In Spain, it costs $7,371. That means I can literally fly to Spain, live in Madrid for 2 years, learn Spanish, run with the bulls, get trampled, get my hip replaced again, and fly home for less than the cost of a hip replacement in the US."Sorry about your friend! I was lucky I could get Lasik done in Italy as my sister has great results. At the time I was living there. Cost $3000 and no issue after 7 years.
Of all the Asian countries, English speaking Singapore is a good place to do your teeth or any other surgery. First class hygiene under watchful eye of super nanny government. Further destinations, Korea or Japan.
Since only dentists can do your teeth the patients have very little bargaining power.
I'm guessing dentists have a dentists' union looking after them (the dentistry industry)?
They get together every year at a conferance to price fix
I flew with my wife and kid to Japan and got my wisdom teeth removed and it still came to less than what Australian dentists charge.
Because Australia is a rip-off country with regard to virtually everything.
Rent, food, technology, healthcare, legal, building, clothing etc.
If you need some teeth out just head to your nearest bikie club house and knock over a couple of motorcycles and give it about a minute. Job done
What is cheap here in Australia?
Name one thing that's not expensive …..Most things on ozbargain are bargains
HAHA
We all are always here because everything is expensive …. :P
Petrol is half the UK price in Oz
The centrelink single mum in an outback pub
I found honey, daily products, meat products, basically anything that'd be considered to be agricultural related to be cheaper here than back at my home place.
Hmmm, I think I spent less on return ticket from and to Korea + getting two wisdom teeth removed than getting it done in Australia (As my dad spends around $2,000 on the ticket and it costed me virtually nothing to remove wisdom teeth).
I personally dislike visiting Australian doctors, I have to spend far far more to get something done, in my opinion. To be honest, I think I get better service from Korea than here (though I think it's more of the system's fault than anything). Getting things checked takes time, everything is booked out and something that'd take me 2 hours back at my home country (a simple check up) takes at least a whole day.
I am from Italy and used to live in the UK. Visiting a specialist is nearly impossible in Britain, we are very healthy but sometimes needed dermatologist. In the UK general doctor would say it's eczema and prescribe cream. I would normally go to Italy. Much cheaper or even free through Italian nhs.
Don't get me started on dermatologist, I have to go to Sydney for them (I've heard that they do exist in this city, if you can wait months). Seeing a dermatologist costed me like 10 bucks back home and usually took me 2 hours of waiting (but they allowed people to leave, when the person is not around, they would let the next one who's available in first).
Every dentist in my area has a Porsche out the front.
So much for the "humble unassuming white collar citizen who studied medicine because he/she is passionate about helping people selflessly" image I built up in my head (or was convinced by others)
Money. Money changes everything
The NHS is like Medicare
nhs covers dental Medicare doesn’t.
What you pay in the UK is a gap payment.I spend a lot of time in Thailand. The former prime minister's (Abhisit) wife is a dentist and did an implant crown and bridge on me. Was one quarter the price of Aus and she is top priced in Thailand. Another Thai dentist did a cleaning job on my teeth incl calculus removal($34) recently and told me I had periodontitis. So when I rtn to Oz I went to a highly recommended dentist here. He said the teeth had not been cleaned properly and would do again. Furthermore he didn't think my early stage condition was periodontitis at all! However he charged me $170. Pricey but worth it. Pay peanut get monkey in some case!
I spend a lot of time in Thailand. The former prime minister's (Abhisit) wife is a dentist and did an implant crown and bridge on me. Was one quarter the price of Aus and she is top priced in Thailand. Another Thai dentist did a cleaning job on my teeth incl calculus removal($34) recently and told me I had periodontitis. So when I rtn to Oz I went to a highly recommended dentist here. He said the teeth had not been cleaned properly and would do again. Furthermore he didn't think my early stage condition was periodontitis at all! However he charged me $170. Pricey but worth it. Pay peanut get monkey in some case!
"He said the teeth had not been cleaned properly and would do again" Of course he did the BMW payment was due.
I disagree with your conclusion Davros. I've had my teeth cleaned a number of times in Thailand while on holidays (because cheap), but the "clean" is never as good of a clean done in Aus. So really at the end of the day you get what you pay for most of the time.
Well the clean I had done in Vietnam was fine and for the price of one clean in Australia I could probably get them done in Vietnam every 6 months for the rest of my life .
My old dentist in UK (now retired to Spain) had a Porsche (licence plate "JAWS1") but he didn't charge like a wounded bull - like they do here.
I see a dentist in Vietnam that friends of mine living there see.
Not the most modern of surgeries decor wise but seems clean, air conditioned and enough english spoken to get buy
Last visit had a filling and a clean and that cost the equivalent of $6aud (100,000vnd) and it was a very gentle experience.
I have no doubt I was charged more than a local would pay.
Like so many of the medical rorts I assume the dentists probably have a powerful lobby group and are milking medicare for all it is worth. If the government tries to crack down on it they whinge in the media that the tightarse politicians are removing people's healthcare and pretend to be the champions of the working man. All the sheep fall into line and complain about politicians…the government backs down on whatever measure they were putting in place and the doctors or dentists breathe a sigh of relief then get on the phone to lease another Maserati! The medical community always complains that the government is cracking down on Medicare and that the reduction in funding will mean longer waiting lists or will mean people paying more money for healthcare, they never offer up that they might have to take a hit because the nation can no longer pay them $400K p.a. Everybody is so quick to believe the friendly hardworking medicos and suspect the evil corrupt politicians, who ever questions why a dentist or a doctor needs to own a Porsche or Maserati.
when I lived in Japan I had a lot of dental work done. it was so inexpensive. I had bridge fitted and it cost about $100. a couple of fillings for ~$50 each. etc etc.
it was excellent work (according to the dentists I have seen since returning to Aus)
I'm going to go against the grain here.
If I got a 99 TER (ie. top 1% in the state) and I spent 6yrs in uni with fees coming out of my ass and I had to spend my life looking into everyones mouths then yeah, I'd charge like a wounded bull too.
The way that we only choose the top 1% to do these things, like doctors, and the expensive process means these things will be expensive.
I went to a dentist #1 5yrs ago. It cost me $159 for a checkup and that kind of minor regular thing.
I've been going to dentist #2 in that 5yrs as I moved away.
I went back to dentist #1 and he now charges $169.
Then again I'm not up for huge bills, I never had a root canal etc. I do have two wisdom teeth that have to come out. I've been quoted $500 in total and that seems fair enough.
I expect sub $200 for a no issues checkup. I expect maybe $300, $400 for something more.
The problem is this govt. has no measures to keep down costs, so what ya gonna do? I hear this govt. wants to take away free oral care for kids?
See where we going? They dont care about this sort of thing. They should be moving dentists and optical to medicare. You need to eat, you need to see to be able to do the minimum in life so apparently poor people dont need to eat or see.
Who ya callin' cereal, foo'?
Because they can due to the all of them charging the same price.