Dentists Expose Why Dental Insurance Is A Scam

Jordan Zakarin, despite having good health insurance, faced an $8,000 out-of-pocket cost for three to four hours of dental work on two teeth over eight months.

Jordan Zakarin paid $0 for his sixth open heart surgery, which involved nine hours on the operating table and 10 days in the hospital.

Non-clinical management at DSOs like Heartland Dental would push for overtreatment and more expensive procedures, even when dentists deemed them clinically unnecessary.

Emma Freer, a senior policy analyst, explains that state laws prohibiting the corporate practice of medicine, which require physician ownership, have many loopholes and vary by state.

DSOs circumvent corporate practice laws by installing nominal or minority dentist owners who have minimal control, with actual control resting in corporate management.

Emma Freer believes private equity involvement in healthcare creates a conflict of interest because their primary goal is high returns for investors, not quality patient care or safe working conditions.

Aspen Dental settled a lawsuit with the state of New York in 2015, which alleged corporate pressure impacted patient care and dentist decisions.

Dr. Michael Davis believes it is deceitful for dentists to work for a third party like a DSO without disclosing it to patients.

The CEO of Delta Dental, a nonprofit organization, earned $7 million in 2023.

Delta Dental recently acquired Cherry Tree Dental, a midsized DSO, creating conflicts of interest by allowing Delta Dental to profit at multiple points and steer customers to its affiliated providers.

The percentage of American dentists in solo practice declined from 65% in 1999 to 35% in 2023, with DSOs contributing significantly to this trend.

Between 2013 and 2024, the number of dentists working for large chains (DSOs) increased from 7% to 16%.

We were losing $11 a patient on a regular dental cleaning.