I obtained a print out of the number of dentist employed with Small Smiles and Kool Smiles in Virginia, Maryland and the DC area, here's the breakdown give or take 10 or so.
Small Smiles has about 30 dentists.
Kool Smiles has about 60 dentists.
I've seen ads on the Internet where Small Smiles has advertised a starting salary of $144,000 however it may be more like $125,000 at present. Ok, so that is a wage expense for dentists alone of (using the median, of $135, 000) $4,050,000.00 a year. Remember that is just dentists salaries.
Let's look at Kool Smiles and use the same salary, that is 8,100,000.00 a year in dentist wage expense alone.
$12.15 million between these two companies in one area in one year needed just to make dentist payroll! No wonder they have a quota to meet each day... (clearing throat, I mean "conversion rate" as they call it) No wonder they tie 'em up and rush them through. No wonder they get a bit creative in treatment. No wonder they've been caught in some questionable billing of Medicaid.
Just think of the number of filling, crowns, sealants, etc needed each year to make just those salaries alone, not counting all other supporting staff, office expenditures, advertising, countless attorneys, PR firms, Lobbyists, equipment, buildings and utilities, supplies and on and on.
Just imagine that for a minute. That is just in one small area of the county, that is just in 8 Small Smiles clinics and 12 Kool Smiles clinics.
Just think they have 90 dentists right now doing all they can to make those dollars roll in.
6 comments:
I constantly hear people complain that not enough dentists accept medicaid. The reason they don't is because medicaid does not pay enough to cover the overhead that it takes just to keep an office open, i.e. staff salaries, dental equipment, dental supplies, rent, malpractice insurance, disability insurance, utilities, professional licenses, dental continuing education courses, etc.
Therefore, a medicaid dentist must treat a larger number of patients, just to stay open. If the child is not cooperative, mainly because the parents did not take him/her to a dentist starting at 1 year old, it is impossible (and dangerous) to complete treatment without restraining the child. Dental treatment cannot be completed if the child is shaking his head, crying/screaming, etc. A dentist that takes over an hour to complete a filling on a child who will not sit still will not remain in business for long.
Also, parents complain that an uncooperative child should be taken to a hospital and have dental work completed under general anesthesia. Do you know how much it would cost to actually do this, not to mention how dangerous this is?
First of all, you parents should be glad that these dentists take less pay to do work that no one else wants. Why do you think most dentist do not want to work this hard for this little pay, especially when dental school costs over $200k.
Secondly, take your children to the dentist early and often, since it costs you nothing, as you are already on medicaid. This will allow the child to be familiar and comfortable with the dentist, not treatment can be rendered without restraining the child.
Finally, take some responsibility in your child's dental health. You are responsible for making sure they brush/floss and have regular checkups. If these parents had taken care of their child's teeth, they wouldn't need fillings or stainless steel crowns.
Maybe the government should make it mandatory that dentists report parents who bring their children in with decay on every tooth and charge them with child abuse.
Some fool from Texas! Dear Lord! Did you just graduate from the DeRose (FORBA) training program in Colorado?
Yeah, this Texas "fool" has 3 daughters with zero caries, and they all sit still in the dental chair allowing radiographs to be taken and prophys to be completed. They brush/floss a couple times a day, don't eat sweets, don't drink sodas, etc. I take responsibility for my children's TOTAL health.
It's fools like you that make honest dentists, like me, not want to treat medicaid patients... having to deal with people that know nothing about dentistry, dictating what treatment their child needs. If you know so much, why do you take your child to the dentist? You should be able to complete their treatment yourself.
BTW, for the fools that claim SSCs (stainless steel crowns) were unnecessarily placed on "baby teeth" when they could be extracted... this is done because restoring a deciduous tooth with a SSC maintains the space that is needed for a permanent tooth to erupt. Once a deciduous tooth is extracted, it takes time for the permanent tooth to erupt. During this time teeth on either side of the now missing tooth, and tooth above the missing tooth, will move to fill in this space. Now, you have a big problem, there is no space for the permanent tooth to erupt.
To solve this problem, you would have to place a space maintainer in the child's mouth, following an extraction to prevent this space from closing. Now, the permanent tooth has the space it needs to erupt.
So, the dentist who placed the SSCs feels that he would rather place a SSC ($162), rather than extract a tooth ($67) and then fabricate a space maintainer ($160-$237). Besides, many times parents do not return to the dental office for the space maintainer to be placed, once it comes back from the lab. In these cases, money is spent for impression materials, lab supplies and lab fees, and the space maintainer is never even used.
So, take all of these accusations of dentists torturing children or completing unnecessary treatment with a grain of salt. One, these parents did not go to 4 years of dental school, so they have no idea of what treatment their child needs. Two, the real torture occurs when the parents do not take care of their child's oral health. The child's mouth is full of rotten teeth, and the parent would rather blame the dentist than himself.
Wait until dentists like myself get fed up of this and stop treating medicaid patients all together. This will finally give the parents something to whine about, as no one in their area will see their child who is on medicaid.
I am now done with this conversation. Judging by your last response, you have nothing intelligent to add to this discussion.
Don't worry, with Obama care you are about to treat loads of people at medicaid rates.
You sir, don't have a clue as to what you are talking about.
If you would take the time to take the blinders off and see what is really going on the world would be a bit better. However if you feel happier in your fantasy world, enjoy.
Grain of salt? This has been documented, reported on and exposed all over the place, you are blind and brainwashed. The DOJ isn't investigating this because it's not true.
Come back and tell me about all of this when you get some experience under your belt.
I know 4 years of dental school and 200k in student loans makes you what? Blind, that's what.
If you were confident and really believed in your heart of hearts what you have to say, you would put your name behind it and feel confident in doing so.
With Obama as president "loads of people" will also get medicaid type care of dental care. Fast, cheap, non-cosmetic, only emergency, dental care. The only "necessary" dental care is the management of dental pain, which includes extractions and root canals; all other dental care is not considered necessary (i.e. cosmetic). Since root canals can only be completed so fast, are expensive, and require restoration with a crown, the government will most likely only cover extractions. Therefore, we will have a huge amount of edentulous patients everywhere; maybe dentures will be considered cosmetic, too.
Those brainwashed by Obama's promises believe our path towards a socialist government will benefit US citizens; however, reality will quickly set in. Appointments to see your dentist will be several months, and the appointment will be quick and non-caring, just how it is when you go to your physician now. Dentists will be so overloaded that we will be forced to rush through procedures, treating patients as quickly as possible, just to make enough money to keep our offices open. As a result, substandard treatment will be rendered.
The government ruined medical care, now it will ruin dental care. The government will probably place dentists on the same salary scale as an unemployed person. I guess I shouldn't have gone to dental school and sat on my rear, so that I could reap the benefits of tax payers. It will soon pay to be lazy.
BTW "Debbie" you are blind and have no idea what you are talking about; you obviously know nothing about dentistry.
What is your solution for a child with dental pain, who is kicking, screaming, biting the dentist, who is trying to get him out of pain? Do you think tax payers should be responsible for paying to have this child's dental care completed in a hospital setting under general anesthesia? Are you willing to take even more money out of your paycheck to pay for this treatment just because a lazy parent did not take his child to the dentist every six months?
You are drinking the Obama kool-aid... do you think Obama is going to receive the same health care you will? Do you think your family will be treated by the same doctors as the Obamas?
The mentality under Obama "Give a man a fish, and not only will he eat for that day.....but he will bitch, whine, and moan because you only gave him 1 fish instead of 2, and didn't provide him with all of the condiments he needed, smokes, and a six pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon to wash it all down with."
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