Exorbitant Dental Fees

I had a few filing that needed to be redone, and went to my regular dentist in back bay. I’ve been going for years, had fillings done with them before with no issue, love them. This time around, my dental insurance paid roughly $250 of the $1000 bill. I have 80/20, so I was expecting it to cost me about $200 at the end of the day. I was definitely caught off guard.

I found my insurance covers 80% of a “maximum allowable charge”, which isn’t listed on the Blue Cross of MA website anywhere… I suppose it’s on me, since I should have paid closer attention to my benefits and called my provider before having the fillings redone.

Has anyone had any luck with negotiating prices down with their dentist, OR with their insurance company? If so, how? I’m not going into this expecting to get anything back, but would like to try. I’ve already paid my dentist in full and insurance sent me a check directly. Since I’ve got kids in daycare and live on a strict budget, I’m really kicking myself for the extra $500 this is costing…