Hello!
First of all, compliments for your effort and all the useful information.
Now to my problems: what is the approximate price at your practice for making a dental bridge, and what does the price depend on?
Because the condition of my teeth had already become quite critical, I decided to visit a private dentist in Ljubljana (since you simply get nowhere with the 'official' system, and my former dentist also retired). After the procedure, i.e. extraction of the bad teeth and the fabrication of two upper bridges (one on the left and one on the right), I was charged almost EUR 3,000! They were supposedly made of metal-ceramic material, not all-ceramic.
So I feel that the price for this service was perhaps somewhat too high? Before the procedure I was assured that the price would be considerably lower; otherwise I would not have chosen the treatment at all. Is there anything like a standard tariff for such services, or is it simply left to the 'free market'? Everything I have read about this topic on the internet so far points mainly to the latter... and now I fully understand the poor opinion that most people have of our dentistry!
I am also interested in the following: the invoice I received contains no specification of items, neither for material nor for work, only the amount. I only have the dentist's verbal assurance that the work should last at least 5 years. Your comment?
Any opinion or explanation from you would be a great help to me. Thank you in advance for your answer!
Kind regards, J.

Dear Sir!

For larger prosthodontic work, the patient should receive a quotation which, in my opinion, can be written without deviations from the actual invoice issued after completion of the treatment. The quotation and the invoice should also match in the specification of services (amalgam filling, porcelain crown, Bredent anchor, implant, crown on implant, denture with cast base ...). The names of the services should be identical on the price list and on the quotation. Ask the dentist for the items listed above and the process becomes very simple and clear. Guarantee periods are determined by the insurance company and are of course observed if you were treated by a concession provider. For self-paying services, these periods can of course be determined individually (different treatment conditions), but they need to be defined before treatment begins so that patient and therapist agree on everything.
Prices of self-paying services are set freely and are market-driven, as is the case in all European countries. I believe that everything listed above is generally practised everywhere; however, the discussion about waiting times among concession providers remains quite open. In this respect, I believe the system is outdated and needs complete reform. In our practice we have around 3,000 registered patients, so it is completely clear that the working methods differ from those of a practice with one thousand registered patients... I can say that we make every effort to work efficiently and transparently, although at times that is almost an illusion. In Slovenia, a dark shadow has recently fallen over the organisation of the entire healthcare system, in my view justifiably, but not all the blame lies with us, the providers. Dentists have been pointing out the system's faults for years, yet so far nothing at all has changed.

Have a nice day!