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Medical Forum / General / Dentistry / June 2006Charge for giving 4yo tranquilizer?
Our 4 year old needed two fillings, and the dentist recommended diazepam before the procedure so he'd sit still and not freak out. Makes sense, so we filled the prescription, gave him the pill an hour before the appointment, everything went fine. Then we got the bill. They added over $150 to the cost of the filling for having him take the diazepam. That's not the cost of the pill, we paid for the prescription ourselves at our pharmacy. It's not the cost of administering the drug, we did that ourselves. The dentist's billing clerk seemed surprised we had any question about the bill, and assured us this was a normal charge since they have to "monitor" him on the tranquilizer. Not that they did anything like check his pulse, respiration, or blood pressure, it was by all appearances a standard filling. Is this really a common practice, charging $150 for having the parents give a child a tranquilizer before the procedure? If so, why? > Our 4 year old needed two fillings, and the dentist recommended > diazepam before the procedure so he'd sit still and not freak out. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Is this really a common practice, charging $150 for having the parents > give a child a tranquilizer before the procedure? If so, why? There is cost involved in becoming state certified for enteral or parenteral sedation in some states. However, since you saw no sign of monitoring, it might be instructive to ask them just what monitoring was done--so you can call them on what seems to be a lie. There may be an explanation for the charge, but it doesn't sound to me as if you've gotten one--and you deserve it. Steve  SignatureMark & Steven Bornfeld DDS http://www.dentaltwins.com Brooklyn, NY 718-258-5001 > Our 4 year old needed two fillings, and the dentist recommended > diazepam before the procedure so he'd sit still and not freak out. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Is this really a common practice, charging $150 for having the parents > give a child a tranquilizer before the procedure? If so, why? That sounds about right. When my son was 3 he had a few cavities, and they had to sedate him before the procedure. They gave him some liquid to drink, and he fell asleep in the waiting room. This was over 13 years ago, but I remember correctly the bill was around $130.00 for the sedation alone. The dental work by a pediatric dentist was another $250.00 dollars. Sounds like it's time to have a chat with your dentist's billing department. SignatureChristopher A. Young You can't shout down a troll. You have to starve them. . Our 4 year old needed two fillings, and the dentist recommended diazepam before the procedure so he'd sit still and not freak out. Makes sense, so we filled the prescription, gave him the pill an hour before the appointment, everything went fine. Then we got the bill. They added over $150 to the cost of the filling for having him take the diazepam. That's not the cost of the pill, we paid for the prescription ourselves at our pharmacy. It's not the cost of administering the drug, we did that ourselves. The dentist's billing clerk seemed surprised we had any question about the bill, and assured us this was a normal charge since they have to "monitor" him on the tranquilizer. Not that they did anything like check his pulse, respiration, or blood pressure, it was by all appearances a standard filling. Is this really a common practice, charging $150 for having the parents give a child a tranquilizer before the procedure? If so, why? How about suggest that they put a new light bulb in the lamp in the waiting room. And then bill them $200 for the new light bulb after they go out and buy it and put it in themselves. Sounds fair to me. SignatureChristopher A. Young You can't shout down a troll. You have to starve them. . Our 4 year old needed two fillings, and the dentist recommended diazepam before the procedure so he'd sit still and not freak out. Makes sense, so we filled the prescription, gave him the pill an hour before the appointment, everything went fine. Then we got the bill. They added over $150 to the cost of the filling for having him take the diazepam. That's not the cost of the pill, we paid for the prescription ourselves at our pharmacy. It's not the cost of administering the drug, we did that ourselves. The dentist's billing clerk seemed surprised we had any question about the bill, and assured us this was a normal charge since they have to "monitor" him on the tranquilizer. Not that they did anything like check his pulse, respiration, or blood pressure, it was by all appearances a standard filling. Is this really a common practice, charging $150 for having the parents give a child a tranquilizer before the procedure? If so, why? |
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