Dentists...
Well, I went to the dentist yesterday for the first time in about 10 years. I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I probably needed a good number of cavities filled, and probably needed either 4 or 5 teeth pulled, as my wisdom teeth really don't have enough room, and there's another tooth that's -really- sensitive to pressure and hurts when touched. I'm not good at keeping my teeth brushed, either, so I expected all kinds of things....
It could have been worse...but it could have been better. The dentist is recommending 5 visits, with a total of 9 cavities filled, 2 extractions, and .... a root canal and crown. The kicker here is that he wants to do a cleaning, an extraction, the pre-crown and root canal on the first visit...and the crown itself on the 5th.
The problem here is that the entire series of things he wants to do is going to run about $3000 before insurance...and about $1600 after. I can't afford this. My insurance only covers $1500 a year total. I'm going to have to split this over two years...and since, as far as I know, the time between getting the root canal and the crown itself need to be -very- close together...then i'm thinking about having them push the root canal to last, or next to last, and having him do the extraction and a few cavity fills (which is in visit #2) at the same time. If so, the first visit will only run me about $200 instead of $300. Also, have a cleaning scheduled for the end of next month, which is when I'll ask about the next time I get there.
*sigh* Hopefully my teeth'll be decent in a few years.
It could have been worse...but it could have been better. The dentist is recommending 5 visits, with a total of 9 cavities filled, 2 extractions, and .... a root canal and crown. The kicker here is that he wants to do a cleaning, an extraction, the pre-crown and root canal on the first visit...and the crown itself on the 5th.
The problem here is that the entire series of things he wants to do is going to run about $3000 before insurance...and about $1600 after. I can't afford this. My insurance only covers $1500 a year total. I'm going to have to split this over two years...and since, as far as I know, the time between getting the root canal and the crown itself need to be -very- close together...then i'm thinking about having them push the root canal to last, or next to last, and having him do the extraction and a few cavity fills (which is in visit #2) at the same time. If so, the first visit will only run me about $200 instead of $300. Also, have a cleaning scheduled for the end of next month, which is when I'll ask about the next time I get there.
*sigh* Hopefully my teeth'll be decent in a few years.