Dentist buys Vancouver practice to cut fees

Dr. Ryan Eom, a Vancouver dentist, purchased a downtown office a little over a week ago with a plan to make dental services more affordable.

He says his fees are 15 per cent less than what the B.C. Dental Association suggests.

“I feel like there [are] two groups of people we’re not really serving. One would be people without insurance, they have to pay everything out of pocket. The other group [is] people even people who have insurance, if they have significant dental needs, like say they have more than 10 cavities, they need a bunch of root canals and crown,” Eom said.

“Things like that, it can easily run [up to] 10, $20,000 or more,” he added.

“I wanted to do something different than what was already out there, and I think reducing my prices as much as I can is going to help pretty much everybody except the top one per cent.”

Even though his office has only been open for a few days, Eom says some of his patients haven’t been to the dentist in five or 10 years and his low rates are what triggered them to come in.

In terms of how Eom is able to do this without losing money, he says his bills to operate are the same and he’s not underpaying his staff, but in order to reduce prices, it has to come out of the profit margin.

“And that’s okay, as long as enough of a profit margin is there for me to still able to make a living.”

Eom says it’s vital that people stay on top of dental care and deal with issues when they first pop up.

“The biggest problem is that you could lose your teeth … if you have a chronic infection in your mouth, for example, if you have gum disease, that can cause a stronger inflammatory response in your general system, and that’s not good for your health.”

Additionally, Eom notes that avoiding the dentist’s chair can also result in acute infections.

“Things that could lead to a lot of pain, swelling, puss, things [that are[ not fun to go through. Dental pain can be some of the most excruciating pain somebody can imagine.”

Eom knows what he’s offering isn’t a perfect solution, but he believes it can help.

“I think it might be just a little bit of a nudge for people that either haven’t been able to afford it, or you know, they thought it was too expensive so they just didn’t try going.”

Related Articles:

• Dental care legislation among the first bills on the docket as Parliament resumes

• Serious staff shortage in dental offices around B.C., industry says

According to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, roughly 3.5 million British Columbians had dental insurance of some kind in 2021; the remaining 1.5 million had no coverage at all.

“Dental care is an essential part of everybody’s healthcare,” Steven Staples, National Director of Policy & Advocacy, Canadian Health Coalition, told CityNews in an interview.

“Families tie themselves in knots trying to figure out which spouse has the best dental plan. Can they cover part of it over here? Another part of it over there. It’s like the hunger games out there trying to get dental care coverage for your kids,” Staples added.

Bill C-31, which includes a new dental-care benefit for children under 12 in low and modest-income families is expected to pass final reading in the House of Commons by end of the month. Staples says it’s a step in the right direction.

“Our group wants to see the public health care system expended to include dental care system. Ideally, dental care wouldn’t be treated anyway different than going to a hospital.”