Can I pay it off?

Every dentist has been asked many times by patients whether they can pay off their treatment. There are 2 types of people who’ll ask you whether they can pay it off: Genuine people or scammers

What should your answer be? Is there a reply that keeps everyone (including yourself) happy?

With either type of patient I don’t recommend simply shrugging your shoulders, saying OK and then doing the work. This can go wrong very easily.

Genuine people who haven’t paid for the work are likely to find fault. The first person who made me aware of this was a plastic surgeon. He told me how, when he went over to pay before you operate, his patients were happier with treatment. When they owed him money they were much more likely to nit pick. I subsequently found this to be true for dental patients. A denture patient who hasn’t yet paid for the denture will never get used to it.

Scammers are dying to get their work done for free. Once you do work for them they’ll disappear from your practice never to be seen again. I recall opening up my practice on a Sunday afternoon to help out an emergency patient. He told me that he had no money with him but he would drop in and pay on Monday. Something made me dubious and I told him: No money, no treatment. He then produced a wad of bills from his pocket and paid.

My recommendation is to never extend credit to patients. You are setting yourself up for pain.

If a patient doesn’t have the money to pay for treatment you can either set up a payment plan through a third party or delay treatment until they do have the money.