Bruggeman Brett DDS

Our family has United Concordia dental which has been wonderful. Unfortunately, our daughter needed a root canal and Dr. Brett Bruggeman has the market cornered in Great Falls (he is not a United Con. pref. provider), Billings is the next closest town ... Long story short, he charges $780 and United Concordia states a going rate of $650 for a root canal. Prior to service we paid $425 and then our insurance paid $411. (and we still owe another $14 per their records) In our minds the $650 for the 45 minutes of service was plenty. We understand that $780 is his "normal" going rate... What we don't understand is that they know they have "forced" market in Great Falls and they quite frankly don't care to work with the client regarding their fees. It gets better - they took xrays (charged us for both) before and after the procedure when our dentist sent over brand new xrays, what a waste. Then decide to charge an additional $25 for "pulp vitality test" which is bogus considering that procedure is just looking around and poking for soft areas in the tooth which the dentist had already done, as well, United Concordia advised us that, that is usually included as standard procedure and not an additional charge. When we called the office to discuss, we just wanted a fair and ethical response, we aren't asking for free service. We understand you are running a business, but how insensitive... As Great Falls grows, we pray for competition...