You get what you pay for
Yes, we're proud to say we're the cheapest private dental practice in the whole country, but is cheap really as good as you think? HELL NO!!! It's so frustrating working here. I'm sick of the practice manager telling me to reuse the matrix band. I always remove the band right after I use it so the stupid DA wouldn't chuck it back into the steri and recycle it. Initially I thought she was just lazy to remove it so I make it a point to remove it for her. Then the practice manager came and said "Can you reuse the band? We'll make sure it's clean and steri it. This band is very expensive, it costs us $8 for a pack of 12. Unlike Toffelmire band it'is much cheaper we can buy it in bulk and only costs us 20 cents each."
WHAT THE FUCK
Look at that shit left on the band after sterilization! It's the composite from the previous patient and they expect me to use that on my next patient. Bloody hell! Even after you steri the whole damn thing you can't get rid of the composite still stuck on it. Not to mention the bent which would distort the filling. What the fuck is $1 when patient has to pay $80 for a fucking filling! Why can't they just increase the price of the filling by $1?! "Oh no we can't if we do ppl would think it's too expensive and wouldn't come. " I don't think anyone would decline paying extra $1 for a clean unused band in his/her mouth. Would you?????
So stop whinging about the cost of dental treatment. They're expensive for a reason. It's the quality you're paying. You pay shit money you get shit quality. Simple as that.
posted by Dentist Down Under at 2:00 am
9 Comments:
We use the tofflemire and they *still* re-use the band. I usually inspect mine carefully and if there is gunk or a tear I just toss it away straight into the sharps container. We don't have a practice manager so its really up to me :)
hehe we should do a price comparison for somethings cause I think my boss also has pretty low prices. Like... $35 for a check up and $60 for scale _and_ prophy. They wanted to keep a total preventative visit under $100. When I first started it was $85. Still, they are pretty generous as I am very lucky to have really godo terms on the contract such as paid leave and sick days etc.
Don't know dental terms or what a matrix band is, but "UUGH"!!! Aren't most stuff disposed after being used in medical/dental treatment? Now tht i know, i am a tad cautious.
rob: That's not tofflemire, it's a siqveland (or however you spell it :p). I always end up with no contact points if I reuse them and patient would come back complaining about food packing. :(
rachel: We beat your price! woooohoooo! check up is $30! ;p I am on commission, no sick/paid leave ;( but I always have a full book so it makes up for the low price.
sunbabies: It's supposed to be one use only but you pay low price you get recycled stuff.
yikes. i hate it when the boss cheaps out. yeah, i can never re-use those things, even for each individual class II cavity that i do, never mind each patient. especially the dead-soft ones. remember, not all matrix bands are created equal! i like the softer thinner ones because you get a better contact than with the regular tofflemire bands, but they distort at the drop of a hat and you definitely cannot re-use them!
i can top your cheapskate story. i once worked in an office that would cut the strips of articulating paper into 4 equal squares. one tiny square per patient. and you know those tiny little prophy cups? you were supposed to open one up and take out half, smear it on your tray and use that for one patient. the other half, in the open container, sat in the drawer and waited for the next patient. then my boss said, that's the expensive kind (the sultan topex course which was a buck a patient!) oh, and re-used autoclave bags, and "cold sterilized" prophy cups. nasty! needless to say, i didn't last long there!
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Wow !! Ok *kowtow* your practice wins! Thats really cheap, AND you are doing quality work so I think the patients there are in a win-win situation when they come in and see you. I hope they know how lucky they are.
Dr Mommy ! I'm glad you are not in that practice anymore *shudder* thats quite a horror story actually. Well no, my boss told me that her old boss actually would have meetings each morning and go, "Well everyone, we need to make a target of X amount today! So all of you should work together to make sure that we get this amount out of patients." and when thigns weren't going his way, he would DECREASE her commission!! It made her decide to own her own practice and never treat anyone like that. HAHA and her old boss got struck off the register for 2 counts : sexual assult of a staff member and placing an implant INTO the frontal sinus (yup he wasn't adequately trained or qualified)
Eh darling, don't you ever use that crap on my tooth please. *bleah*
So interesting to listen to cheapo boss's stories going around. Heh.
There are times when you can reuse the matrix band (in the Tofflemeyer) and times you can't. Obviously if they are bloody or you get a lot of composite, or they are really bend, toss them. Other times it's okay to sterilize them and reuse them. It depends on what office you are in and how OSHA they are. I'm in charge of OSHA in my office, and I care about our patients, so I use the "Would I let him use that on my kids?" reasoning. If I wouldn't, then I toss it!
Running a bloody matrix band through the autoclave sterilizes it the same as one without blood, doesn't it? So basically you're saying that you only reuse materials that patients can't tell haven't been used already.
It's the same philosophy that's used in practices that reuse saliva ejectors and high volume tips. Cold soak the ones that don't have too much crap in them and reuse the ones that look clean. The only thing that this shows is how cheap the office is being. Bacteria and viruses live just as well on bloody matrix bands and suction tips as on non-bloody ones.
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