We offer NO GAPs for General Dental treatment e.g. you pay $0.00 out of your pocket; we gladly accept what your health insurance pays for general dental.
Discounted Dental Care - Toongabbie-Western Sydney- 2146
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AssociatedLbantyg on 08/03/2011 - 20:56 paynlessdental.com (303 clicks)
Last edited 09/03/2011 - 10:20
Last edited 09/03/2011 - 10:20
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Who, What, When, Where and Why?
Found the address in the flyer (Massive flyer though)
Dr. Payal Gupta
PayNLess Dental
Unit2/22 Aurelia Street
Toongabbie
NSW 2148PH:02 86779094, 1300-345679
www.PaynlessDental.com.auGuess I won't be going there cos I'm 1396 klicks away.
Dr. Payal Gupta
I read that as Dr. Paypal Gupta! :o
I was thinking "man, this guy is hardcore"!!! :p
Quite a few dentists Western Sydney offers no gap treatment. This is nothing special. Since it's no gap, what does 50% off even mean to the end user?
For example Dr. Lung in Wentworthville.agreed
… spent 2.5k on whitening and cosmetic restorations a couple of weeks ago. Results are to die for but damn it's costly!
bangkok is cheap
lol
I personally find this very very appalling to degrade professional services like dental treatment to this level. Extremely poor. It's one thing to operate as a no-gap fee practice - that's fine and common-practice. But its completely another thing to advertise yourself as a budget provider. Potential patients beware - I'd question the quality of dental treatment provided by someone such as Dr Gupta.
This sort of advertising is only done when a dentist is extremely desperate and is having problems with patient flow. You may be able to guess why it's having this issue.
It sounds a bit like you might be in the trade yourself, and looking to keep those already exhorbitant dentistry bills high!
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't Toongabbie a fairly low SES area…this guy could be a startup looking to get some feet thru the door, maybe even looking to help out a few less affluent folks along the way. Second guessing his motives or competence without any real evidence just sounds like sour grapes to me.
Not sour grapes at all :) but I personally wouldn't feel comfortable having treatment from an advertised low-cost dentist. Each to their own i guess.
Your dental surgery is searchable on your health fund's database if you're a primary provider of theirs (or you can even call your health fund and ask them directly which practices are on their preferred provider list within your area), so this sort of advertising is not necessary at all. Also doesn't reflect very positively advertising it on a discounted/bargain website (Dont worry, I love OzBargain also, hence my nickname, but I wouldn't be advertising these sorts of professional services on this sort of website. You may feel differently and that's fine, these are just my thoughts).
Personally, I'd love to see some dentists advertise some bargains here!
Then some doctors (we have a great one) … and then some lawyers.
Real bargains only of course.
A bit of competition in prices may make dental a little more affordable.
call your health fund and ask them directly which practices are on their preferred provider list
Now, I'm not sure how this works in the dental industry, but IME 'preferred provider' usually has less to do with the quality of service than it does with the advantageous nature of the reciprocal arrangement between that provider & the fund!
Let's not kid ourselves here mate, the HC funds are in business purely to make money, it is not always in their best financial interest to assist consumers to save money! To think otherwise is extremely naive! ;)
Here's an example from Mutual Community, one of if not the most popular health fund (I dont personally like them, but that's a side point)
http://www.mutualcommunity.com.au/public_insurance_sales/sa/…
A list of preferred providers. All you need to do is visit their website and click on link "List of providers". It's that easy. If you call them up they'll also tell you straight away. I'm certain you can do this for any health fund.
It's actually in their interest because they are able to control the fees set by the dentist, so you will generally find that fees charged by a preferred provider will be substantially lower than regular private fees. They're actually not "assisting consumers to save money" - they actually earn more from patients paying them the annual health insurance than they do from having a relationship with preferred providers - that's the whole point of the preferred provider scheme.
But yes, they are in the business of making money.
Some health funds are not-for-profit though.
they actually earn more from patients paying them the annual health insurance than they do from having a relationship with preferred providers
Yes, of course they earn more money from the premiums, but they also save a lot of their 'winnings' by using providers that they have 'special' arrangements with. As I said, I don't pretend to know exactly how it works with dental, but I personally know providers in other health professions who offer such arrangements to insurers, they get (preferred) volume in exchange for either discounted fees or value added services to the insurer/funding agency. They offer no change in gap payment to the patient.
that’s the whole point of the preferred provider scheme
As I've just explained, a PPS is mostly about fostering the mutual arrangement between insurer & provider; nothing whatsoever to do with saving the patient money. Don't even get me started on kickbacks & other 'under the table' backdoor deals. There would be literally hundreds of equally competent, qualified & ethical practicing clinicians across multiple domains that never go anywhere near a PPS, yet offer comparable services at both higher & lower price points, making a PPS as a measure of quality utterly irrelevant.
As a medical provider yourself http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/38759?page=1 you would know that “Preferred Providers” agree to charge lower fees in exchange for the advertising that the health fund provides (on their database).
You would also know that the fees you are asked to accept are well below the usual and it is only the struggling provider or business that is likely to be seduced by this so called Preferred Provider arrangement. And the reason they are struggling is ???
Firstly StewBalls, i'm not exactly sure what you're arguing about now. I think you're essentially now making the same point that I made originally (and then you, confusingly, argued with me, then essentially changed your tune to agree with what I'm saying all along).
Here is a a basic summary of what I have said so far:
1) I do not agree about advertising medical services on a forum like ozbargain.com.au. Personal opinion, but I think it's just not very professional. As Shue mentioned, we are not selling t-shirts her, this is a professional medical service, not something to be taken lightly.2) I said that no gap fee treatment by preferred providers is very easy to find, and that you don't need to advertise your services in a website like this because your practice will be easily locatable by the appropriate means i.e. calling your health fund or searching their online database which will reveal which practices, if preferred, will provide no gap treatment for patients.
3) StewBalls, you then said "Let’s not kid ourselves here mate, the HC funds are in business purely to make money, it is not always in their best financial interest to assist consumers to save money" What I interpret that is as saying "It's not in the interest of the Health Fund's to help you easily find their preferred providers to save you (the patient/consumer) money".
I disagreed on this point, saying that firstly it IS in the health fund's interest to have your practice easily found by potential patients, because it allows for that relationship between provider-health fund, whereby the provider receives (in theory) higher volumes of patients in returning for providing lower cost treatment as determined by the health fund.
4) StewBalls, you then, confusingly argued the point that "As I’ve just explained, a PPS is mostly about fostering the mutual arrangement between insurer & provider; nothing whatsoever to do with saving the patient money. Don’t even get me started on kickbacks & other ‘under the table’ backdoor deals. " You don't realise that thats EXACTLY what I've been saying all along? The point of difference is that I said health funds DO make it easy to find preferred providers whilst you originally hinted that they DONT. That's the point we should be arguing, not about whether or not its in the interest of the health fund or provider, or both, etc because it's irrelevant because we're actually agreeing on that point.
7Alice7, yes I am aware of all of that. The reason they are "struggling" is because the large health fund's have largely taken over the dental industry and are heavily regulating prices of dental services. What is essentially happening is that in order to survive in the metro area, you need to be a preferred provider otherwise its very difficult to receive high volumes of patients. But this is beside the point, so I don't know what you're actually getting at? All I'm saying is that you don't need to resort to advertising on ozbargain.com.au or "shopping dockets" as Dr Payal has mentioned. Looks very tacky and reflects poorly (even if they are great dentists, honestly, this can't reflect too well).
If your practice is decent, you will build your reputation by providing good quality work at a reasonable price. Your practice will also be easily found by asking your health fund.
One key thing to note though is that I am not out to protect the fees charged - many, many dentists overcharge far too much. I agree and something needs to be done. But i am NOT arguing this point - it's the advertising method that I don't agree with.
@ILoveOzB,
I'm too tired to read all of that 'War & Peace" comment, but a quick skim revealed something about agreeing so that'll do me! Peace, out! ;)
nookular, one thing to note about "not-for"profit" is that it is distinctly different from a genuine charity full of volunteers etc, in that it means by end of financial year they can't have any profit left over in the bank/operate like a business. What that means is, the top CEO could still be paid millions and the company could still be considered "not-for-profit". Very important to understand that difference.
Bottom line, you'd go to this dentist if you were having trouble paying for treatment. If you can afford a full price dentist, you'd go. My dentist gives the best service I've had anywhere for a long time, worth every cent.
We've got a great dentist too … but the govt really should chip in a bit more (from the miners) starting with children … $150odd each just for a check up for my two school age kids every six months - clean bills of health … and the dentists say go every six months. Thats over $600 a year for them, plus $600 for mum & dad, $1,200 out of after-tax earnings.
So half price might save $600.
And that's if you have perfect teeth!
ps. Just imagine what we could have done if they hadn't left it with the miners!
Yep, I'd gladly pay a higher medicare levy to have dental included under medicare. It's horrible that people have to suffer through pain and losing their teeth because they can't afford the hundreds and often thousands of dollars for the work needed.
Be good. ;)
ILoveOZB a bargain is a bargain whether its for commodity or for service and if you really love the site you won't denigrate it by saying "Also doesn’t reflect very positively advertising it on a discounted/bargain website " , just do a google yourself and find that this is nothing in terms of what others in the trade are doing to promote themselves.
Where did Dr. Payal Gupta obtain his experience and degree from?
why is that matter?.if he is dentist then thats all count. most of the doctors are from over seas anyway.
Are you serious? Of course it matters. I'll be wary to use their service if they have not met the Australian dentistry standards.
They wouldn't be legally practicing if they didn't!
http://www.ahpra.gov.au/Registration/Registers-of-Practition…
Foreign trained dentist passed ADC exam for 2 years I presume.
Technically true but there are those who slip under the radar. One that comes to mind, Dr (Death)Patel - although he wasn't a dentist but he was in the medical field.
Whilst that is a valid point, why is it that must we first assume it is professionals with non-anglo names that are fraudulent???
Trust me, there's plenty of incompetent whitey's out there too! ;)
I agree. I think its outrageous these guys are second guessing the dentist just because of his surname…if he was Dr Smith i'm sure you wouldn't say anything. Grow up guys.
'Her' experience, Payal is an Indian name, so most likely India.
Paypal is from India???? So that's where all my insertion fees went too…
Actually, you might well find that Dr Gupta's qualifications were obtained in Australia, UK or US. Most of my Indian friends/colleagues were trained as international students in developed countries! ;)
god forbid an australian has a name Payal!
No , nothing wrong absolutely , if charges define your quality of work then go ahead and pay your hard earn money to anybody and stop whinging , there are many Dentist advertisement you can find in shopping dockets etc so its quiet common , nothing to do with their quality of work. Seems some of us like the exorbitant costs as they can afford it.
Yep, it always reminds me of an old story from the comedian Jerry Lewis about himself. He really wanted a particular shirt that (in the 70's) cost over US$100. He was in another shop once where they had the identical shirt for $28 on sale. He refused to buy the cheaper one coz he reckoned everyone would think he was a tightass!!!
The old saying, "more money than sense" often applies with consumers! ;)
100% agree. Price doesn't define quality (& neither does your name or where you were born).
This is not selling a shirt, it's selling a medical service.
I understand everyone deserves a 'fair go' but they're willing to accept whatever the health fund pays, what if my health fund was only willing to rebate say $60 for the initial check-up, x-ray, clean and scale, fluoride application worth about $220. I'm not sure about others but I'm definitely skeptical.
And you've completely missed the point! ;)
I am not from the East Coast, but here in South Australia I have NEVER seen a dentist advertise his work on the back of a shopping docket. Even if it does exist, it doesn't make it a profession/appropriate form of advertising. Looks as tacky as posting your professional services on Ozbargain.com.au. Sorry.
I find an element of this thread disappointing. I'd never thought about this before I read this thread:
There are two dentists nearby. The first we used was poor, the second fantastic.
The first was "Anglo" and the second a muslim Indian.
imho nationality is not a criteria for choosing a dentist.
oh and I'm "Anglo" :)
If I lived nearby I might be on the phone.
Agreed. When I'm crook I don't care one whit about race, if a medical professional makes me feel better when I'm in pain I don't care where they came from or how they got here…I just thank my lucky stars they were around to help me! ;)
Yeah. I'm absolutely disgusted by how people have presented their opinions here.
My current doctor is Middle Eastern. He is absolutely fantastic. Professional, well educated and doesn't judge. The one before was Indian. He was close to just as good. In between, I've seen two 'white' doctors who have been sub-par at best. I don't judge white-Australian doctors based on this, though.
As I'm sure you can all see, I'm pretty 'anglo' myself.
same service/price is readily available elsewhere - not a bargain
Exactly :)
Please put location in title.