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Up, up, and away

Dentist fees continue to spiral upward in spite of economic downturn.

By Pam Johnson

2008 was a year first marked by economic uncertainty, then later, economic unraveling. Initial stock market fluctuations early in the year developed into a freefall in the third quarter; the bottom fell out of the housing market; the sub-prime mortgage debacle caused large commercial banking firms caught in the mire to close their doors or, if solvent, freeze credit lending; unemployment rates shot up to numbers not seen since the mid-1970s; and consumers cut back on spending, making large and small retailers alike nervous about the financial outcome of their biggest buying holiday season at the end of the year. In a move to plug the dike, the government stepped in to bail out banks and large insurance firms, while the President rolled out stopgap measures to save the American auto industry.

Still, dentists responding to Dental Product Reports’ 2008 November Fee Survey seemed resolute in adopting higher fee schedules with most fees for indirect services increasing 8% to 11% over those reported in 2006. Historically, dentists raise fees at a rate more than double that of the national inflation rate (see Table 1: Dentist Fees vs. Rate of Inflation); the only exception was in 2005 when dentists hiked fees only 2.3%, a point under the 3.4% rate of inflation.

To get a perspective on what your dentists in your area of the  country are charging their patients for the services you provide, merely visit our "White Papers" section, lick on the downloadable PDF and print out the report. Not only did we break the information down into a useful snapshot of dentistry’s financial picture in general in the National Fee Report, but also regionally by the nation’s nine postal regions: New England, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic; East North Central, East South Central, West North Central, West South Central, Mountain, and Pacific.

We also give you a visual look at the trends in the fees dentists have been charging patients since 2000 for individual indirect services in Table 2.

 


Visit our "White Papers" section for the full survey results...




CLICK ON TABLE BELOW FOR LARGER VIEW