Teeth and the aching....

gidget1978

gidget1978

Cathlete
Question for you...kind of a "what would you do"

I have two teeth causing some issues right now, with no dental insurance. We did look into it and the insurance plus our life insurance would cost us over $300 a month. Pretty expensive. Also, the option to get it at work isn't there either or I would have been all over it.

So....I have one tooth on the top, 3rd one from the back, that needs a root canal and a crown. Gonna cost about $1000. Then the other tooth at the bottom, 2nd one from the back is causing me some issues, and I think my dentist is going to suggest the same thing. The thought as crossed my mind to get the bottom one pulled. It is in the back, no one would see it and maybe...just maybe when my wisdom teeth come in, it may push my teeth closer together....Im not even sure if thats an option or just wishful thinking. Right now my top tooth isn't to bad but if I have to pay the 1G, I would rather spend it on my top tooth, that people will see when I smile. BUT my bottom one is the one causing the issue right now.

What would you do? Suck it up and pay over 2G's for two teeth or get one pulled?? Im not into losing my teeth at all but Ive also heard a few stories about people getting root canals, crowns, bridges....and in the end, the tooth had to come out anyway.

Im just debating what to do. I have an apt tomorrow @ 10 just to talk to my dentist.

Lori:)
 
Ask your dentist for a payment plan. My dentist put in veneers for me--he insisted they were necessary since I've evidently brushed away all the enamel on my teeth, not to mention a good part of my gums--so he's letting me pay $100 a month until they're paid off.
 
Lori,

I feel for you. We have never had dental insurance, since my husband is self-employed. we pay $875 a month just to have health insurance.

My thoughts on your teeth, since I have had numerous crowns and root canals. I ended up having crowns put on my back two teeth (upper and lower). Over the years, I kept having problems with the back bottom tooth after the crowns. I was sent to a specialist who would irrigate it, etc. Well, eventually I had to have it pulled.

The down side to this is the tooth above the one that was pulled no longer had the contact it needed to stay in place, so I had to have that one removed also.

I am fine with them gone, but it really upset me that I spent thousands of dollars to end up losing the teeth anyway.

For some reason, once you have a root canal with a crown, the remaining part of the tooth gets brittle and cracks. There is nothing they can do, so you end up losing that tooth.

I hope this helps you in the decision. 2K right now with the way the economy is, is a bit much. I would say it is worth getting it fixed. It might last you for 10 more years.

Cheryl
 
I feel for you too, with the no dental insurance. We've never, ever had dental insurance. The $$ we've spent on our teeth over the years would probably finance a nice mansion!

We pay over $1500 a month just for health coverage. We are self employed.

My advice.... DO NOT pull a tooth. Ask you dentist for a payment plan and do everything you can to save both teeth.
 
My dentist gives us a 10% discount because we don't have insurance.

Please do what you can to see that you get this work done ASAP, because it will only get worse and more painful if you wait.

Good luck!
 
My dentist gives us the same rates the insurance companies pay. I think it helps him keep business. He is always booked! It's a win-win.

Laura, how much do veneers cost? My DH has soft enamel and needs them. I think my oldest boy will too.
 
i bought a dental insurance discount card. It's been a lifesaver! It's cost me $45 to sign up, and $9.95 a month. For the crown alone it saved me $400!!

jessica
 
I feel for you because I'm in the same boat. Here's the twist for me though - I have insurance including supplemental that will pay half on the root canal and the crown. Problem is, I have to go to a specialist for the root canal and the cost is $800 just for the rc - and they want it up front. It may as well be $8K with the way our finances are right now. PLUS, I cannot have credit - even if I could get it - I have my credit cards consolidated through a credit counselor and one of the rules is - no additional credit.

My fear is - what if I take the loan and have the root canal and crown done, and then the darn thing needs pulled anyway? I would be so upset spending all that money just to lose the tooth anyway.

I'm waiting it out. Mine isn't infected; it's a tooth that takes the brunt of my clenching so the roots are dying. :(

I hate the thought of losing my teeth though....
 
I don't have advice because I've always had dental insurance. Rather, I have a question. Aren't you in Cananda? Don't Canadians have universal health care?
 
Lori - ITA with others about a payment plan with your dentist. Also, it may help to see if they accept Care Credit. It's basically a credit card for elective health, dental and veterinary services - http://www.carecredit.com/.

My dog had surgery last year to the tune of $1400 and the vet's office recommended it. They participated in a promotional thing where you could take a year to pay it, interest free. It was very handy for us at the time. Different doctors/offices may have different levels of participation, but it might be worth checking out.

One more thing, from experience, if you need a root canal, get it before it becomes an emergency root canal.
 
I work for a dental office as a billing account manager. A few things. One, . . Dr's hate it when patients come in and ask to have their teeth pulled. Pulling out teeth miss aligns your bite and is detrimental to oral health, in other words it makes things worse. My advice get a second opinion. I hate to say this but I've seen it more often than not. Sometimes patients will come in and say "My last Dr. said I need a root canal" , . . . but when the Dr. would do an exam it would turn out only to be a filling. If you can find a good qualified general practice Dr. that has experience with doing root canals it can be up to 40% cheaper than going to an endodontist or a specialist. Also I hate to burst the bubble and make the news even worse but typically with a root canal come a post and a crown an additional $1500 cost on top of the $1000 cost for the root canal. Gayle's advice on Carecredit.com is really a great idea. We use it in our office because it has a high approval rate. Now my last tid bit of advice, by the way I also don't have dental insurance , . . is to go in 2 times a year and pay out of pocket for preventative care and for x-rays as needed only (don't let them sucker you into unecessary x-rays). I've found that the people who end up spending a small fortune on root canals and fillings are people who have not seen a dentist in a really long time. Prevention is the key and the best way to save yourself from the trouble. This news sucks and I feel for you. I hate that most people just cannot afford dental insurance or medical insurance for that manner. What is even more sucky is the fact that dental health is just as important as medical health and yet because of costs people tend to look over preventative care and wait until something hurts. Hey, my heart goes out to you. Oh and one last thing, . . no not wait! Waiting not only makes you hurt more it can make matters oh so much worse. Hang in there!
 
gidget1978 said:
We don't pay for health care but we do have to pay for everything else.
Click to expand...

Or put another way:

Your taxes cover health care but not dental care. Surely those in the health care industry don't work for free!

Anyways, that's a bummer.

I hope you are able to work something out and get your tooth fixed soon!!
 
janie1234 said:
I work for a dental office as a billing account manager. A few things. One, . . Dr's hate it when patients come in and ask to have their teeth pulled. Pulling out teeth miss aligns your bite and is detrimental to oral health, in other words it makes things worse. My advice get a second opinion. I hate to say this but I've seen it more often than not. Sometimes patients will come in and say "My last Dr. said I need a root canal" , . . . but when the Dr. would do an exam it would turn out only to be a filling. If you can find a good qualified general practice Dr. that has experience with doing root canals it can be up to 40% cheaper than going to an endodontist or a specialist. Also I hate to burst the bubble and make the news even worse but typically with a root canal come a post and a crown an additional $1500 cost on top of the $1000 cost for the root canal. Gayle's advice on Carecredit.com is really a great idea. We use it in our office because it has a high approval rate. Now my last tid bit of advice, by the way I also don't have dental insurance , . . is to go in 2 times a year and pay out of pocket for preventative care and for x-rays as needed only (don't let them sucker you into unecessary x-rays). I've found that the people who end up spending a small fortune on root canals and fillings are people who have not seen a dentist in a really long time. Prevention is the key and the best way to save yourself from the trouble. This news sucks and I feel for you. I hate that most people just cannot afford dental insurance or medical insurance for that manner. What is even more sucky is the fact that dental health is just as important as medical health and yet because of costs people tend to look over preventative care and wait until something hurts. Hey, my heart goes out to you. Oh and one last thing, . . no not wait! Waiting not only makes you hurt more it can make matters oh so much worse. Hang in there!
Click to expand...

The dentist I am going to now is the dentist I use to see when I was a little girl. I started going to him again when I needed a 2nd opinion about the top tooth I am talking about. Instead of doing a root canal like the other dentist suggested, he went with a deep filling and its kept me happy for about 4 yrs. Back then DH was working else where and had dental insurance! I should have had the root canal done then.

Thanks everyone for your opinions! I guess I will know more after I talk to my doc tomorrow!
 
toughYrun said:
Or put another way:

Your taxes cover health care but not dental care. Surely those in the health care industry don't work for free!

Anyways, that's a bummer.

I hope you are able to work something out and get your tooth fixed soon!!
Click to expand...

haha! Yes I guess thats the way it works! LOL
 
Take care of your teeth. If you do nothing, it will get worse. If you shelled out the money for dental insurance, it probably would only cover a portion of the cost anyway. For major things like that, most insurances don't cover the whole thing.
 
A few years ago I had a root canal, and after it was completed, the pain I had was unbearable. I ended up seeing a specialist who did more root drilling, which did nothing to curb the pain. The pain was to the point that I couldn't eat or sleep. They finally pulled the tooth, and still the pain was present. I had surgery to scrape along the jaw bone, and still no relief. Every dental specialist treated me like a hypochondriac, told me I must be extra sensitive to pain. I was finally recommened to the head of neurology at Dartmouth and was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia. Ironically the doctor I saw also had this disorder and said had I been diagnosed earlier and had the proper medicine to interveen the pain receptors, I probably wouldn't have such a severe case of it. I still have to take two medications a day to stop the reuptake of nerve pain. I know this disease is really rare, but if you look at blogs, most peoples cases start with a root canal. Just something to think about when having work done to bottom teeth. When, a few year later I had a problem with the tooth on the other side, I had the tooth pulled and had an implant put in a year later. There was no way I would go though the same senario again. If I had a top tooth that needed a root canal, that I would probably do.
 
I'm very sorry for what you're going thru. I'm a complete wuss in terms of pain and have dental nerve endings that are way higher than they ought to be so any problem is magnified 10x. I thought you should hear some crown success stories to balance the negative ones you've heard yourself.

I have 3 crowns and have had one root canal, all on lower molars. I had one of my crowns for over 20 years, with no problems whatsoever. I've had another one for over 8 years, no problems. The last one was due to an emergency root canal and that was done over a year ago. No problems there either. So, there can be happy endings (albeit expensive ones...).

I would not have any teeth pulled as teeth are designed to support each other. Once you take one out, you basically weaken the entire structure of your mouth, leaving the door open for new problems.

I agree w/ the advice to to talk to your dentist about a payment plan. I'm sure he/she has other patients in similar circumstances so he's had to deal w/ it before. The insurance thing sounds promising too!

Again, I'm sorry to hear about the pain you're having and hope you're able to work out a good solution soon. (((((((((hugs))))))))))
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top