How much does a dental emergency cost?
It varies quite a bit. That answer is obviously not enough, so here is the explanation.
A few basics to understand what follows
In Switzerland, the overwhelming majority of dentists base their billing, for routine as well as emergency care, on the SSO’s “Dentotar” tariff (the Swiss Society of Odonto-Stomatology, now the Swiss Dental Association).
Like the medical Tarmed/Tardoc, the dental Dentotar lists the procedures that can be performed and assigns each of them a distinct code, together with a value in a number of points. For a given code, that number of points can be adjusted around its reference value, known as the median. In theory up or down; in practice, always up. The total number of points arising from a consultation is then multiplied by a factor, called the point value, to arrive at a price in francs.
What values does the CMDB+B use?
We use the Dentotar, we always apply the median number of points for our procedures, and our point value is 1.19 for our private patients. This places us in the average range for practices in French-speaking Switzerland. For our patients receiving social assistance, such as the SPC (Supplementary Benefits Service) or the Hospice Général, our point value is 1.00 for the services covered by these social bodies.
Is an emergency consultation necessarily more expensive?
No. We do not take advantage of the urgent nature of a procedure to raise its price. All procedures are billed at their usual value, and the emergency clinical examination is actually billed at less than a standard examination, which makes sense since it is less extensive: the standard examination is worth close to CHF 80.00, the limited emergency examination close to CHF 40.00.
What is the price range for an emergency consultation?
At a minimum, your consultation will add up the items corresponding to the use of materials and instruments (a disinfection charge), together with the limited examination mentioned above. In most cases, a small X-ray is also needed. This part of the consultation, which makes it possible to establish a diagnosis, will cost you CHF 80.00.
The maximum is less easy to pin down, given the great variety of problems and of the corresponding care. That said, the most expensive care we could envisage in an emergency would be that of a badly affected molar requiring, in order to save it, a complicated root canal treatment for which the practitioner would have enough time to carry out the first part completely. A root canal is almost always carried out in two or three stages. Here, the bill can rise to CHF 700.00.
And more precisely?
Understandably, this wide variability can be worrying. In practice, we find that the vast majority of our emergency consultations do not exceed CHF 300.00. When you book your appointment, our receptionists can give you a rough idea depending on your problem. For example, a fractured tooth that would need only a simple temporary filling will cost you less than CHF 200.00. It is, however, very difficult to make a diagnosis over the phone, and these indications can only be approximate.
An exact price can always be established once your diagnosis has been made, that is, at the end of the CHF 80.00 examination mentioned earlier. Your dentist can then draw up a precise estimate of the total cost of your consultation, together with the care option or options under consideration.
Ultimately, you decide what suits you.
Payment
For new patients, as well as those who consult us only very occasionally, we ask for payment on site, by card or in cash. We favour card payment. For our regular patients, payment can be made by invoice. For patients receiving social assistance (SPC and Hospice Général), we ask for proof of entitlement to be presented.
