How much to charge for dental X-rays

Re: How much to charge for dental X-rays

Richard Carter — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:15:41 GMT

I am using standard x-ray machine on ECO 30 self developing dental film - works very well, no processors required and not using/ wasting a standard plate and can put film behind the arcade without getting overlap. Charge out at £23.00 extra

Re: How much to charge for dental X-rays

Rob Davis — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:58:57 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]

[quote user="Rob Davis"]New dental x-ray machines can be bought for less than $2000[/quote]

Did you look at the handheld dental xray units, look quite interesting...

[/quote]

I did get some information about the hand-held unit, but felt that positioning may actually be more difficult - if it's not quite where you want it and needs adjustment for a repeat picture, you don't know exactly where you were before, whereas with an arm-mounted machine, it can remain in place while the film is developed.

I also had some concerns regarding health and safety, though it does look cool - a bit like a ray gun from a 50s sci-fi B-movie!

Rob

Re: How much to charge for dental X-rays

Rob Loxley — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:47:59 GMT

[quote user="Rob Davis"]New dental x-ray machines can be bought for less than $2000[/quote]

Did you look at the handheld dental xray units, look quite interesting...

Re: How much to charge for dental X-rays

Rob Davis — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:17:09 GMT

Of the general practioners out there that are taking dental Xrays on a regular basis- are you managing with your standard Xray machine or using a dental head?

I am currently in the process or purchasing a dental x-ray machine, and I can't wait! I have been struggling with a fixed head standard machine for some time, and it takes ages to get the positions acceptable. New dental x-ray machines can be bought for less than $2000 (should be pounds but my keyboard doesn't want to let me do that!), jam jars of kodak rapid developer and fixer in the dark room allow you to have good films in less than a minute. I am sure we will rapidly recoup the capital costs, and should be able to significantly improve the dental services we are currently offering

Rob

Re: How much to charge for dental X-rays

Jillian Hall — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:38:01 GMT

I've worked somewhere in the past where I had acces to a dental Xray machine an ddental film. It was still underused as it was cumbersome and diffcult to use (It was a prehistoric model). I'm sure I would've got faster if I'd used it more, but the extra time was definately an influence on it's use. The pictures were always very good when I did use it. In my current practice we don't have a separate dental Xray tube. Cost to the client would be the other main influence - I dont recall having a separate charge for dental films so the Xray would have added at £70 to the clients bill.

Of the general practioners out there that are taking dental Xrays on a regular basis- are you managing with your standard Xray machine or using a dental head?

Re: How much to charge for dental X-rays

Rob Loxley — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:01:59 GMT

How do you work out prices for other things?
How about the cost of equipment (tube, manual processor) divided over how many years you want it to be paid back plus maintenance cost (machine service, contribution to radiation safety H&S bits) plus consumables (film, ready to use chemicals) plus veterinary/nurse time (few minutes once you get the hang) plus profit% divided by how many you think you should be taking per year; reassess after 3 months and adjust. Maybe the first plate is more expensive and subsequent ones cheaper, as once you've got the bits out the time element probably decreases as you work more efficiently.
If you have an unused dental machine then surely it's actually costing you money?!

Re: How much to charge for dental X-rays

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:07:46 GMT

[quote user="Laurence Webb"]'m wondering how much we ought to charge for performing dental X-rays and whether reducing the price would mean that we do more, resulting in better treatment and more profit.[/quote]

If I were cynical I'd say that keeping the price the same and doing more would bring even more profit!

Seriously, now. Settle down at the back there. I can see the problem if you're using the big practice machine and you've got a boss who doesn't really understand dentistry breathing down your neck, but you need to abandon the "big chunk of money for the first two plates and then so much per extra plate" plan that's usual for radiographic diagnostic investigations.

Anybody who is interested in doing dentistry properly who does not already have a dental Xray generator should be aiming to get one as soon as they can.

[quote user="Laurence Webb"]For normal X-rays we charge a standard fee for taking X-rays then charge per plate, so the 1st plate costs about £70 then £7-10 per plate thereafter depending on the size used. If we apply the same charges to dental X-rays it makes them very expensive, especially as we're already charging for the time taken anyway. As a result we do very few X-rays during dentals, when I know I should be doing them all the time![/quote]

I can't quite follow the logic. If you know you should be doing more, why not just do them? Charge what your instincts tell you. Point out to the boss that this is all extra profit: he's not doing any fewer ordinary radiographs just because you're doing some extra dental ones, is he?

When I first started routinely including radiography in my dental work, at the very first I didn't charge extra at all....... the aim was to get people to have proper dental work done. After a bit, I built in an allowance for the radiography to the standard prices, or price ranges, for procedures. Since radiography must be a part of so many procedures, and ought to be a part of many more, this seemed the way to do it.

That was with film and you must remember that dental film is extremely cheap, while the difference in cost between processing one and processing ten is negligible.

When I went digital, there were a lot of capital costs to be met, so I added an amount to any procedure that required Xrays (so, yes, a procedure that doesn't require Xrays is now cheaper again). Started off with £20, now it's £40.

No, I don't give the client an option: "Do you want this with Xrays or without?" If Xrays are required, they are done.

A "complete set" would be the same whether it were Greyhound or cat. With digital radiography you don't charge "per plate", and as I pointed out above you don't need to with dental film either.

Only you can decide what actual figures you set for charging, but the principle I commend is to build the charge in to your "standard price" or "guide price" or whatever you use. And yeah, don't be greedy.