FA+
Shop
Dentist Tiem!
13 years ago
As some of you know, yesterday was my first round of dental work in a many part series. I had some tooth decay. I had a poor diet a few (some would say several) years ago, lack of vitamins. Plus I couldn't afford to see the dentist for several years (severe lack of money and no insurance). That and my entire mom and her entire side of the family had horrid tooth problems. My teeth were hurting me and I didn't want things to get any worse. At one point for a week I couldn't chew on any side of the mouth and just took super tiny bites to swallow. Then I stared upping the calcium and potassium in my diet and used a variety of mouth washes 3 times a day and things started to feel better. However, I knew it was time to see the dentist.
I bought some dental insurance (Delta Dental, it's an HMO) through Costco and selected a dentist on their list that I cross-referenced on yelp. Why an HMO? I knew that I needed a fair bit of work done and most PPO's have a $2500 limit. The insurance I got had no limit, but a decent out of of pocket cost (but was around the same price as going to the dental school). My initial exam was in April. They took many x-rays. They had this cool machine that circles around your head. I've had that before, but this one was much newer and faster. Plus a claw came down and grabbed my head to keep it still, I thought that was pretty cool.
The dentist does a full exam and pocket chart of my teeth and gums. The office tally's up what I need and gives me a itemized list with my costs before and after insurance. My out of pocket cost after insurance is $6000. Combine this with Hippo's $6500 bill that I'm still paying off, student loans, money for the next year is going to be uber tight, even if I get many commissions (which I'll have to get to pay this off). Hippo is going to be 10 years young on Monday (5/7), and he's worth every cent.
I could have gone to a dental school. However, the cost would not have been that much less that my insurance and it would have taken 3-4 times as longer. At a school, students are learning and you need to wait for the teacher to check everything. It was worth it to me to spend the extra $150 more per crown and get it done in the same day, no coming back twice, molds, temp crowns, painful injections twice. Just get it done. Fillings are the same price as the dental school through my insurance and I pay less for cleanings, deep cleanings and xrays. In case you're wondering, the insurance costs me $90 a year through Costco, so it's pretty affordable.
Speaking of crowns, most of my teeth will have partial crowns on them. Hence why the bill is $6000. The dentist that I'm seeing in Pleasant Hill has an onsite CAD/CAM machine. They take pictures of your tooth before drilling and after drilling and you can watch your crown being made on site! It's pretty cool. You get your ceramic crown in one day, no impressions, no temps, done and done. Because most of my teeth need partial crowns, the office was awesome and gave me a discount on them, cheaper than what I would pay for through my insurance. I could cheap out and go for full metal crowns, but because most of my teeth need them, I would have had a mostly metal smile. No thanks. Also, the dentist shaves away more of the tooth with a full crown than a partial. Partial crown saves more of the tooth.
Getting back to yesterday, what was suppose to be a 2 hour visit turned into 4.5 hours. Things took a lot longer than expected, and the one tooth needed more work, but luckily none of my teeth need a root canal, whew! Yesterday was my 2 worst offender teeth. Lots of lidocaine injections since they were teeth 18 and 31 and it took longer than expected.
This dentist was a lot better than my old dentist in Ohio. The analgesics he used were a lot better than crappy benzocaine, and after giving the lidocaine injections, he waited until they took full effect. My old dentist used Novacaine and started drilling right away before anything was numb enough. Plus this guy and his assistant were really cool and talked to me. My old dentist never did that.
TL:DR Long day at dentist. Did the 1st out of 7 visits. Jaw is sore from being open for 4 hours. Want to save my teeth. $6000 is worth saving my teeth. Don't want to be 30 and have dentures and the bone loss in your jaw that comes from not having teeth. If I was 40, I'd look 65 then. Saving bone structure is worth being in debt for a while to me.
I bought some dental insurance (Delta Dental, it's an HMO) through Costco and selected a dentist on their list that I cross-referenced on yelp. Why an HMO? I knew that I needed a fair bit of work done and most PPO's have a $2500 limit. The insurance I got had no limit, but a decent out of of pocket cost (but was around the same price as going to the dental school). My initial exam was in April. They took many x-rays. They had this cool machine that circles around your head. I've had that before, but this one was much newer and faster. Plus a claw came down and grabbed my head to keep it still, I thought that was pretty cool.
The dentist does a full exam and pocket chart of my teeth and gums. The office tally's up what I need and gives me a itemized list with my costs before and after insurance. My out of pocket cost after insurance is $6000. Combine this with Hippo's $6500 bill that I'm still paying off, student loans, money for the next year is going to be uber tight, even if I get many commissions (which I'll have to get to pay this off). Hippo is going to be 10 years young on Monday (5/7), and he's worth every cent.
I could have gone to a dental school. However, the cost would not have been that much less that my insurance and it would have taken 3-4 times as longer. At a school, students are learning and you need to wait for the teacher to check everything. It was worth it to me to spend the extra $150 more per crown and get it done in the same day, no coming back twice, molds, temp crowns, painful injections twice. Just get it done. Fillings are the same price as the dental school through my insurance and I pay less for cleanings, deep cleanings and xrays. In case you're wondering, the insurance costs me $90 a year through Costco, so it's pretty affordable.
Speaking of crowns, most of my teeth will have partial crowns on them. Hence why the bill is $6000. The dentist that I'm seeing in Pleasant Hill has an onsite CAD/CAM machine. They take pictures of your tooth before drilling and after drilling and you can watch your crown being made on site! It's pretty cool. You get your ceramic crown in one day, no impressions, no temps, done and done. Because most of my teeth need partial crowns, the office was awesome and gave me a discount on them, cheaper than what I would pay for through my insurance. I could cheap out and go for full metal crowns, but because most of my teeth need them, I would have had a mostly metal smile. No thanks. Also, the dentist shaves away more of the tooth with a full crown than a partial. Partial crown saves more of the tooth.
Getting back to yesterday, what was suppose to be a 2 hour visit turned into 4.5 hours. Things took a lot longer than expected, and the one tooth needed more work, but luckily none of my teeth need a root canal, whew! Yesterday was my 2 worst offender teeth. Lots of lidocaine injections since they were teeth 18 and 31 and it took longer than expected.
This dentist was a lot better than my old dentist in Ohio. The analgesics he used were a lot better than crappy benzocaine, and after giving the lidocaine injections, he waited until they took full effect. My old dentist used Novacaine and started drilling right away before anything was numb enough. Plus this guy and his assistant were really cool and talked to me. My old dentist never did that.
TL:DR Long day at dentist. Did the 1st out of 7 visits. Jaw is sore from being open for 4 hours. Want to save my teeth. $6000 is worth saving my teeth. Don't want to be 30 and have dentures and the bone loss in your jaw that comes from not having teeth. If I was 40, I'd look 65 then. Saving bone structure is worth being in debt for a while to me.
And having them talk is nice so long as they don't expect a response from you. The guy I went to in Boulder Creek was great, but would ask questions while his tool was in your mouth; wtf. So you just sit there and gurgle away making an incoherent best effort.
Some dentists are pretty good at understanding people, while others never learned.