People around the world share one feeling: being anywhere but a dentist’s office. Currently, figures show that 7 out of every 15 adults do not go to the dentist for recurring appointments or for any illness. We still don’t understand why there is so much fear about going to the dentist’s office, but we can assume that it may be because of the high costs that some of our colleagues usually show in their treatments. If so, read on and we have the solution for you.
Albania is one of the best places where you can do dental tourism in an economical and safe way, but if even being in Albania you do not know how you can reduce the prices of your dental consultations, here are some tips that you could do to reach your ideal budget.
It is quite common to get carried away by the recommendations of our friends in terms of specific places to go and even if they cost very much and do not suit our economic needs, we end up going for other suggestions. But we must stop for a moment to think and calculate how we can lower the price a little more.
It is normal that in most cases, patients have dental insurance that can fully cover the cost or have a large discount for their dental interventions, but not all of us are that lucky. And if you haven’t looked closely enough, we’ll tell you: it’s normal for prices to vary a bit from professional to professional for different reasons. You only have to move a few steps to be able to get a totally different price than the one you were originally offered, and you can take that as an advantage to save money.
There are also websites that are in charge of distributing the information of each place and the prices, and if you don’t want to be walking or showing up in person, you can order them online through the website of the different dental offices you are interested in attending. You just search patiently and you will find your ideal dentist at the best price by your own hand! Even if it’s just a few price differences, at the end of the month we assure you that it will make a big difference in your pocket. Don’t miss the opportunity.
If you do a little research on your own and know exactly what you have and what you need (of course, backed up by professional information), you will be able to know what specific treatment plan you need. There are some dentists who take advantage of their clients and want to add extra treatments that they don’t really need in the treatment plan. So, we recommend that you really take a look at what your dentist is offering you and determine if they are adding more or less. This only if you know a little bit about the subject, because we should not make the mistake of challenging the professional, since he is the one who has studied for it. But it is always good to make sure.
In case you have insurance, make sure that all the treatment is being covered by it. Or in case your money is quite limited at the moment, try to have major problems taken care of before minor ones. A cavity? Fundamental. Teeth whitening? Maybe not so fundamental, and you can save a little more money until the next time you can get your other treatments done.
It is also important that in order to prioritize treatments from most to least, you check with your own dentist to see what will happen in the short and long term if you forget a treatment you can’t currently afford. This will also help you focus and be able to make better decisions that will lead you not to risk your individual health.
Although you shouldn’t take advantage of this all the time, occasionally dentists will run small special promotions to bring new people into the office so that they can become repeat customers.
Most of these promotions try to focus mostly on preventive dental care and also target people who do not have health insurance. Usually, there are ads in the front of the offices, and we can even see them on television or in newspapers. But, there is also the possibility that if you want to take a chance, call the office directly and ask if there are any promotions available that they have not yet made available to the public. You might be surprised to find that there are.
It should be noted that this point is mostly for patients who do not need too many things, usually a consultation or a small cleaning, because it is very difficult to get promotions for operations or procedures that need something more extensive, such as braces or splints to prevent bruxism.
The use of coupons is pretty standard nowadays, both virtual and newspaper coupons, and just as we can take advantage of them for food and other necessary products and services, we can also do so with dental care.
In local newspapers, brochures, classified ads, or online, you can locate different types of coupons. And if you’re lucky enough, you may be able to get one that gives you a discount at a dental office.
This is just an occasional tip, again we emphasize that these services are probably not available in more complex operations or treatments that do require extensive reviews and a much deeper study of the problem.
It is also advisable that in case you liked the service with that dentist, you stay as a regular customer because usually the offices that make this type of promotion are somewhat lacking in patients and need a more solid base to continue providing their services.
There is nothing better to avoid spending too much money at the dentist than to avoid diseases that will make you put in a lot more money than usual.
It is true that it is totally necessary to invest in cleaning and checkup from time to time, but neither of these compares to the actual expense of periodontal disease. Hygiene at home must be perfect to avoid these problems, both yours and those around you.
Remember that brushing at least twice a day for two minutes each time is important to remove tartar and bacteria buildup that can easily accumulate between teeth. We also recommend the use of dental floss that will greatly facilitate the task of having to remove the small traces of food that remain between our teeth when we eat fruits or foods with too much fiber that can easily get stuck in the area.
It should be noted that a balanced diet is also essential for perfect oral health. We are usually used to eating a lot of processed foods that contain too many empty carbohydrates and too many sugars that are harmful both for our teeth and our body in general, and that help bacteria to proliferate faster between our gums to create cavities or dental tartar difficult to remove.
And even if we eat a lot, we may have a diet poor in what we need: vitamins and minerals. For example, the absence of calcium in the diet is very common. This will cause our teeth to deteriorate much faster and create the possibility of developing periodontal diseases such as gingivitis more easily, or that your teeth break very easily.
If you want to improve your diet to look better and have much healthier teeth, you could focus on adding green leafy vegetables, dairy products, cheese, apples, carrots, and celery.
Plus extra vitamins that you can take in capsules or through food. You will especially need Vitamin C, which you can easily get from fruits such as oranges and tangerines.
And as we already said, reinforce all this with a visit every three months to your dentist to check the state of your teeth. We want to save money, but prevention comes first and you always need the help of a professional to guide the process and know how to inspect your teeth well to determine whether or not you have problems that can cost you even more expensive in the future.
Dental institutions often provide dental services at very low prices and you can even get them for free depending on the institution you are in. And sometimes they even make charitable contributions to the community to provide care at no cost.
The problem with this is only that they are students who are treating you, they are not fully trained professionals. They are practicing with you in order to perfect their techniques so that they can offer a professional service in the future. So, practically you would be a test subject with whom they will practice to see if their techniques work out well or not.
Before entering these sites you have to sign letters of consent to make sure that you are doing this on your own accord and that whatever happens during the process, the institute is not responsible, depending on what is done. Don’t worry though, this process is carried out with the supervision of a qualified and graduated orthodontist who will be in this case the teacher, the one who will make sure that everything goes well and that there are no major problems.
It is a fairly inexpensive way to get basic dental help in case you really can’t invest in something better. Just be mentally prepared to spend quite a bit of time sitting in the chair as it is normal for them to take a bit longer doing the procedures as they are students, not professionals.
On certain dates, dentists in a dental office agree to offer free services to the community. These may have various reasons. They may be to attract more clients, to empathize with the community, to help those who cannot afford to pay for a consultation, among other individual reasons that each dentist will have. But, the point is, at these events, you don’t pay for basic services such as inspections, and that will be a benefit for you. Although, it is important not to take advantage of this all the time and ask for in-depth help. But, it can be an occasional help.
The only negative thing about these promotions is that if they are not per quota. They attract a lot of people who are also interested in looking for much cheaper alternatives. Therefore, you will most likely end up waiting behind a long line if you don’t arrive early, or if you haven’t booked your appointment in time. And you even run the risk that they may end up not seeing you at all. So, you have to be incredibly attentive in order to be one of the lucky ones.
In some parts of Albania practices, there are special dentists who take the customer into consideration and can offer different payment plans for people who have trouble affording these types of treatments instantly. It is quite nice because most of them have no outside interests and allow you to pay it little by little. However, it is important not to betray the trust of the specialist.
Clearly, this does not reduce the amount of the treatment, but it allows you to receive it and pay it little by little depending on your capabilities. There are daily, weekly, biweekly, and monthly payment plans.
This is one of the best pieces of advice we can give you nowadays. And yes, we know that aesthetics is important and that everyone wants to have a perfect smile and the ideal teeth. But, we have to be realistic, and sometimes when money is not enough to afford these luxuries, it is best to keep our priorities straight. For example, we can’t choose teeth whitening over gingivitis treatment. Besides, the dentist probably won’t agree to do it because your teeth are diseased.
And so not only with dental treatments. You may be spending a lot in your daily life and therefore you are not allowed to save for dental treatments.
