FEE RULES NEED TEETH

Following years of complaints about costly dental work, Health Minister Sarah Hoffman proudly declared last December that Albertans would be getting their first guide for dentists’ fees in 20 years.

But Hoffman wasn’t smiling when the Alberta Dental Association and College released its newly recommended fees last Thursday.

Hoffman appeared to have been surprised by the fee guide’s release; no one from the provincial health ministry attended the dental association’s news conference. According to Hoffman, she wasn’t told about it.

That might help explain Hoffman’s exasperation in discovering that the set of newly recommended fees fell far short of expectations. By her estimation, the fees in the guide represent only a three-per-cent reduction from average rates Alberta dentists currently charge for the most common procedures.

Since the association stopped publishing a fee guide in 1997, Albertans have had no easy way of knowing how much procedures should cost and prices can vary widely between practices.

A review of fees launched in July 2015 confirmed what many Albertans already know: going to the dentist costs more than in other western provinces. The analysis of 49 procedures found costs came in as much as 44 per cent higher, with recall examinations, preventive care and crowns being consistently pricier than other provinces. In some cases, procedures cost double what is charged elsewhere.

The association says Alberta dentists face higher costs because employees are more expensive and sterilization standards are more onerous. It insists the newly recommended fees will create “downward pressure” for dentists to reduce their rates even though the fee guide is not mandatory. Dentists will “clump close” to the recommended prices because no one wants to be an outlier, the association says.

Many may share Hoffman’s skepticism when she argues that dentists living in expensive parts of British Columbia have found a way to make a living with substantially lower fees.

Albertans, too, may wonder about the level of collaboration and communication between the association and government on setting fees, given Hoffman’s reaction.

The new dental fee guide fails to allay widely held concerns about inflated prices and lack of transparency. The association would do well to heed Hoffman’s advice and re-examine its fee guidelines before Hoffman follows through on a veiled threat to impose new regulations unilaterally. Going to the dentist can be nerveracking enough without worrying about the size of the bill.