1/16/2011

NTUC Dental Care

Lee Wei Ling wrote an article in the Sunday Times today complimenting Singapore doctors for not doing unnecessary medical tests and cutting down medical cost. I had an experience last week at NTUC Dental Care when I was coerced in a way to have two Xrays taken or else no treatment. I went just to repair a tooth filling that was chipped off. A simple removal of the existing worn filling and refilling it with new amalgam should do the job. The dental surgeon insisted that two Xrays must be taken as evidence of the state of the tooth and should the hole be too big and necessitate a root canal treatment, then she would be protected in case I complain that it was her fault. I want to say 'f'. This really pissed me off. I was at the verge of sitting up and walk out of the clinic. But I held back as it was a small matter and did not want to waste more time since I had already made the appointment and sitting on the dental chair. The reasoning for the extra two Xrays was unacceptable as it was done for her own protection against complaints by unhappy customers. Here she assumed that I would be an unreasonable customer, that the hole in my tooth could be bigger and required canal treatment, and I would complain against her. So I kenna paid for two Xrays for her protection just in case. At the end, after the treatment, there was no big hole that required canal treatment except a big hole in my pocket that was unnecessary but for her own good. And now, I am complaining for a different reason. I actually did not want to raise this minor issue until Wei Ling's article reminded me of how medical cost can go up for all the wrong reasons. And if my experience is the norm, then many NTUC members or NTUC Dental Care customers must have been made to pay for unnecessary tests. NTUC being an organisation to protect the welfare of workers should rethink this stupid practice and save the workers some money. No, I am not going to complain to Swee Say about this. Too tedious and time consuming. But any NTUC leaders or members reading this may want to take note and bring this up to him. It will save the workers some money and avoid being abused by such arrogant attitude of some practitioners.

27 comments:

Wally Buffet said...

Mr. Bean, Good Morning on a cool Sunday.

Not to be perceived as siding with the female dentist but I think she is very apprehensive because you gave her the impression that you are some high falutin' lawyer or a district judge with your bearing. :o)

The trick when seeing medical people is to pretend stupid and uneducated. This way, they are off their guard and probably won't have the animal instinct to protect their interests.

Regarding your decayed tooth, you might like to consider chopping off the bad part and doing a crown instead. Trust me, it may be more expensive but in the long run will save you repeated fillings and more hot under the collar encounters with stupid just graduated dentists.

Hehe. ;O)

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi Wally, I think she must have thought that I was a road sweeper for her to throw her weight.

I have done one crown so far. Maybe I will do this one as well. I was thinking of doing the whole works but it will cost a bomb. 15 years ago I was told that it would cost me $8k. I asked myself why would I want to put $8k in my mouth. Today I think it would probably be $20k.

And to think that the end is near, the returns may not be worth it: )

Wally Buffet said...

Mr. Bean,

What kind of fish is that featured in your header picture?

Is it some kind of new specie as yet undiscovered?

If my guess is right, it was originally a goldern koi and you caught it in the process of morphing into a new specie!

Hehe. :o)

Wally Buffet said...

What's this "the end is near"?

Statistically, we who are in our sixties have on average another 20 to 30 years of juice left to kick around. So your investment of $20k spread over that period means it's less than lK a year for a lifetime of not having to see another dumb fuck of a dentist.

That is a real bargain if I may say so.

Hehe. :o)

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

You are half right. It is a koi, a butterfly koi.

I contorted it, put it in the freezer and then shot it when it is in the desire shape: )

Wally Buffet said...

Shshssss........

Mr. Bean, please keep your unorthodox photographic artistry methods quiet man.

You don't want the SPCA to knock at your front door surely?

Nowadays, these busybodies even come after you if you so much as ill treat a crow. WTF!

LMAO.

Hehe. :o)

Anonymous said...

Had Redbean read the comments at the Dental Blogs, he might have not go where he went.
In any case no harm asking around before going to any dentist.
Most of them are expensive and few are good at their trades.
But, there still good private practitioners giving good services at reasonable price.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

So if one engages a renovation contractor he can bring a long a camera to take a photo of the house first just in case it collapse during renovation. He then bill the cameraman fee to the owner of the house.

The principle of the artisan doing something to protect himself and charge it to the customer is unacceptable.

Wally Buffet said...

This dentist who attended to you is one dumb bitch.

Instead of telling you that it's for protecting her interests, she can always say that the x-rays are for your own good to show the extent of the decay and to use the appropriate type of treatment for your problem.

Fuck. What kind of rubbish are they teaching kids in the Uni these days?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Ahem, in the news today, a plastic surgeon is being sued for taking photos before treating the thigh of a young girl. The reason for taking the photos, as proof of pre operation condition.

The tricky part was that other than the thigh, the girl was stripped naked, even underwear removed, for the photo shoot.

Now the question is whether the other private parts of the body is necessary or will be involved in the treatment of the thigh.

And who has to pay for the photograph and the camera man?

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Looks like a "gold digger" case to me.

The good doctor should put a scar on the despicable girl's other leg.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Really? Is there a need to remove the panty when the scar to be treated is on the thigh?

The medical reasoning could be fascinating. Matilah's reasoning for such cases cannot be accepted. He has an intrinsic bias in favour of anything that is nude: )

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

No lah. The guy is a successful plastic surgeon lah -- has his pick of women if he chooses.

He doesn't need to look at a puki next to a "flawed" ugly scared thigh to get his rocks off on.

Common sense lah. You're not talking about some hard-up, broke, unattractive loser. This guy is well-known, successful and ok in the looks department.

The bitch is a gold-digger. Needs a shot of acid in her face :-)

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

I really dunno.

I have heard of fetish hang ups. Even very rich people can have an urge to shop lift for very cheap stuff in the stores.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Rich losers maybe,typically not the rich and famous themselves. -- i.e. those who are "related" to the rich and famous -- a good-for-nothing spouse or free-loading lazy children.

Sure, it is best to be rich if you have fetishes. Being rich allows you to be more discreet and pay for your privilege, i.e. "buy" silence or discretion. especially important if you want to maintain your social standing and wealth.

Long time ago, I used to move with the Asian "kuda" crowd here. They'd set up Asian style "gentlmen's messes" here in sleepy kampong Perth. And they would come over -- Tungkus and Datoks and all and eat pork, fuck girls and gamble...then fly back and be the goody-goody. The messes had full time girls -- local and imported, full-time 24 hr kitchen with Chinese chef, look-outs and surveillance (looking out for cops), and chauffeurs.

Rich guys are generally too clever to "pechah lobang" and if needed, have their own gentlemen's messes to satisfy their fantasies.

They don't need to be caught "korek puki" of disfigured girls. No class lah.

I say again, the bitch is a gold-digger.

Common Sense said...

The reason that the dentist gave you for taking the xrays (i.e. to protect herself in case of a potential complaint) is certainly not a very good one.

However, I do agree with the neccessity of taking a dental xray prior to actually having treatment done and having a drill taken to a tooth. Would you let a medical doctor perform surgery on your without an xray/scan or other necessary diagnostics?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi commonsense, Welcome to the blog.

It all depends on the problem. In my case it was a simple case of some amalgam falling off and I only need to clean up and refill. My commonsense also did not think it was necessary as there was no pain or any complication.

And my commonsense was proven right. Wasted time and money on two unnecessary X ray and I had to pay for it.

The practice of being double and triple sure and sending a patient to go round a big circus is getting out of hand, at the expense of the patient of course. It is also unhealthy and bad PR for the medical profession.

Sure, the experts have 101 reasons to want to be safe and protected. I still trust my commonsense in simple cases.

Dentist said...

It's really important to visit your dentist at least every 6 months to check on your oral and dental health.

Dentist said...

In that case visit only the licensed and legit dentist to avid troubles as such.

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Gig Harbor Dentist said...

Treatment and procedure for a dental care can be expensive sometimes, it's nice that you can now get discounts for this care.

Dentist said...

You have to be sure that you visit only the best in the field. There are other dentists who can really give you great service.

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Anonymous said...

Don't be daft. You had the option to walk out. But you didn't. So why complain?
The reason why he has to do an x ray is because he needs to know how deep the decay went. If he doesn't do it and just patches it, 3 years later when the decay hits root canal tell me you won't come back to haunt him?!

Geez since you paid for it. MOVE ON!