Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Is it "Sap Sap Sui" for you uncle?


Shall we provide these entertainment for our surgery patients? Yes, i think we shall IF they will say YES to us after the consultation. How many of them won't say THAT'S EXPENSIVE? If they say "ok, i will do it."

Anyway, our clinic don't provide these kind of service at all. If you want, please bring it along on your surgery day.

We could provide IF NO ONE COMPLAINTS THAT WE ARE EXPENSIVE.

A RICH and EDUCATED man who scolded me on that morning. I remembered clearly that i told him "if you do any treatment in our clinic, we won't charge you any consultation fees". I thought he would understand my simple and broken english.

After he consulted the dentist, i told him "sir, it's $50 for your consultation." He starting to @#$%^&* to me. He scolded a lot of nonsense, i only can remember that he said "for me, $50 is just like a peanut! But i won't pay for it, because you told me that it's free consultation."

Wah!!! Since when i told him is "FREE"??? "If you do any treatment in our clinic, we won't charge you any consultation fees" doesn't mean IT'S FREE, am i right? Somemore he didn't do any treatment in our clinic, so of course we will charge for consultation fee. He was very angry. He said will ask lawyer to sue me due to i told him wrong information.

At that moment, i feel so innocent. I did nothing wrong. Is my english problems? Or the information i gave him is not clear enough?

After he @#$%^&*, he left clinic.

Well, that's the difference in between EDUCATED him and UNEDUCATED me! I think this is TOO MUCH for me!!!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Payment For Dental Surgery With Medisave

Medisave audits have been driving many dental clinics crazy. Almost no clinic can escape without refunding money due to "overclaiming". It has been and will always be our clinic's policy to help our patients claim the maximum amount that MOH and CPF Board allow. We are not in the position to dictate or even advise our patients on what to do with their own money.

On the other hand, organisations which regulate the use of Medisave funds have the duty of protecting our patients' Medisave reserves. The maximum claimable amounts stipulated by MOH are not meant to cover 100% of the bill. As private practitioners, however, we always try our best to charge and claim in a way that results in no cash payment on the part of our patients. Nevertheless, this is not always possible. MOH has very rigid guidelines on the maximum claimable amount for a particular type of wisdom tooth condition. At the MOH side, the evaluation is based purely in xrays. It is common knowledge that Medisave is only for surgery and medication for chronic illnesses requiring long-term medication. Please DO NOT ask us if dentures, fillings, crowns etc can be paid for with Medisave.

Below is a detailed explanation on how much is claimable for each type of surgery:

1. Single Wisdom Tooth Surgery (maximum $950)

If your wisdom tooth looks like this on the xray, we will be able to claim up to $950 for the surgery. $600 is well within our charges for this surgery. If you present at our clinic for the removal of this tooth, we will take no cash from you.

If your wisdom tooth looks like this on the xray, we will only be able to claim up to $350 for the surgery. If you present at our clinic to remove this tooth, we may not be able to charge within the limit. Figure on paying about $200 in cash.


If your wisdom tooth looks like this, we will not be able to claim anything for you regardless of how difficult the extraction is. Sorry, we don't make the rules.

Surgical excision of 2-3 wisdom teeth (Max $1550)

If you are taking out 2 or 3 wisdom teeth at the same time and at least one of them looks like the second xray on top, you can claim a maximum of $1550. This may not cover you fully when all 3 extractions are difficult. You may need to fork out $200-$300.

Surgical excision of 2-3 wisdom teeth (Max $1850)

If you are taking out 2 or 3 wisdom teeth at the same time and at least one of them looks like the first xray on top, you can claim a maximum of $1850. This is within the range of our charges. You will not need to fork out cash even if both lower teeth require surgery.

Surgical excision of 4 or more roots/wisdom teeth (Max $2150)

If you are taking out all 4 of your wisdom teeth where at least one of them looks like the second xray, you can claim a maximum of $2150. If the upper teeth are simple extractions, $1400 will be well within our charges for the entire treatment. You will not need to fork out any money.

Surgical excision of 4 or more roots/wisdom teeth (Max $2600)

If you are taking out all 4 of your wisdom teeth where at least one of them looks like the first xray, you can claim a maximum of $2600. $2600 should cover everything. You will not need to fork out any money.

2. Surgical excision of soft tissue tumour ($200)

3. Drainage of Pus ($150-$200)

4. Root Canal Surgery (surgical removal of root tip after failure of root canal treatment) ($800)

5. Implant Surgery excluding crown $1250 to $2150 claimable

6. Biopsy ($200)