Getting people to pay the bill is always the number one issue of any vet clinic anywhere in the western world.
guaranteed
Why don't you think $500 is a fair price for a "routine" dental?
A good routine dental should include (based on numerous discussions on VIN)
- Preanaesthetic bloods (as most dental patients are older) including, CBC, PCV/TP, electrolytes, basic biochem
- Predental x-rays to determine the extent of dental disease - vets are increasingly realising that this is an extremely important step in treating dental disease!
- Full PE
- Premedication with a suitable modern sedative and good analgesia (as extractions and dentals are painful!)
- Induction with a modern, safe agent (no xylazine for the doggies/kitties please!) with maintenence on a safe inhalation agent via an endotracheal tube
- Peri-operative analgesia including nerve blocks if doing extensive extractions
- IV fluids during anaesthesia
- Anaesthetic monitoring from a suffienciently trained person, including (hopefully) pulse ox, ECG, BP, temp, capnography would be nice...
- Another highly trained person performing the procedure of examination of the entire oral cavity, extractions as nessercerry from exam and xrays, scale and polish
- Adequate recovery in a controlled environment under immediate supervision.
- Discharge appointment home, with antibiotics and analgesia as nessercerry, and a series of follow up appts - one in 2 wks time if extractions, and then 1 in 12 months time to recheck the teeth (with a nurse) and dental care advice.
How is that NOT worth $500?!?!?!?!?! How is that NOT worth more?!?!!?!?!?! And if your lovely "B" vet is doing all this for $250, he's losing money. If he's not doing all this,
or even offering it, he is not offering his patients top-notch medicine, (regardless of whether or not they would accept it).
At vet school, we are always told to offer the best option first. No matter what the cost of that is - that is up to the owner to decide, not for you to judge first. You do this because it is the BEST OPTION. That is your job, to offer the best option, and to hopefully convice them to take it, as it is the BEST option and you are an advocate for their pet.
The problem I have with using lower routine costs as a business plan is
a) In general this does NOT work. regardless of what you've seen in ONE case
b) it encourages price shopping, which is NEVER a good thing.
c) we should be educating people about how the money we ask for is WORTH IT, not cutting our costs. We should be aiming to charge what we DESERVE for our services. if we charge ridiculously small amounts for our routine things, it gives the idea to clients that that is all we DESERVE, when we actually deserve so much more. Also, it can cause difficulties when something non-routine pops up, the prices are hugely more and they don't understand the discrepencies. We should be educating clients on how much our services are actually worth and this is where a good tech comes in - people get all up in arms about paying $500 for someone to "clean their dogs teeth". But if you have an awesome tech that can communicate well, they can explain everything ive outlined above and then every reasonable person says yes! (they really do, ive seen it/done it lol).
Lastly, in genuinely made me laugh that in the same post you said that you think vets should drop their charges and pay their techs more. Um, what?!