Dentist, patient agree: Alberta dental guide should take bigger bite out of fees

A dentist and a patient both agree that the new Alberta dental fee guide doesn't drill down deep enough to cut patient costs.

On Thursday, the Alberta Dental Association and College released the guide, which includes recommended fees for specific dental procedures.

But some of the fees are nearly double those recommended in British Columbia.

Soon after its release,Alberta HealthMinister SarahHoffman said shewas "disappointed" with the fee guide and is examining "rather extreme measures"if the ADA&C doesn't make dental services more affordable.

• Alberta health minister slams dental association over new fee guide

'The public deserves better'

After moving to Alberta from B.C. two years ago,Leah Ettarh was floored when she received a $900 dental bill for a cleaning for her and her son.

At the time, she spoke with CBC about the bill in hopes that it would lead to a change.

"Even for people who are fortunate enough to have insurance, there's still a huge gap in what the insurance will pay and what they'll still be out of pocket for," Ettarhsaid Thursday.

"So it hasn't really made it much more affordable, and I think MinisterHoffman has expressed that and I'm glad she's taking a hard stance on this and making the college re-evaluate what they've put out because the public deserves better than that."

Fee guide caught dentist off-guard

Red Deer dentist Michael Zuk said he was caught off-guard by Thursday's announcement and thinks more dentists should have been consulted.

He said his office's fees for checkups and X-rays are nearly half those recommended in the fee guide to ensurepatients continue to book their appointments there.

"Simply because we work in the office from 8 in the morning until 9at night, Monday to Fridayand even open weekends nowour overhead is lower per dentist because we don't have banker's hours."

• Alberta to create fee guide to chomp down on dental costs

Hoffman said that if theADA&C doesn't meet her standards of affordable fees,as a last resortshe is examining the possibility of separating the dental association from the regulatory college.

That's something Zuk said he would support.

"The dental association is like a dentist unionit's supposed to help dentists. The dental college is the side that is supposed to disciplinedentists. Those are completely opposite interests," Zuk said.

"You can't have a group both being your friend and beating you up at the same time. Most provinces have separated [them] for a good reason."