Archive for the ‘Affordable Dentistry’ Category

Need so much work and I can’t afford it.

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

I have a flipper that I’ve worn for a good decade and I broke it (again) tonight. I know it may be able to be fixed, but broke down. Why? I’m a 27 year old female. I had OCD as a child and a bad home life. The combination meant that I was not able to care for my teeth until I was in high school and after. By then, the damage was well past done. I now have at least $20k of work to be done. I can’t afford to do it, or I would. Not a day goes by that I don’t pray I can figure this out somehow. But I can’t afford payments or the work. I can’t find help because it is extensive work – a removal along with several crowns and bridges. My dentist won’t do reduced work and can’t come up with any other solutions or me.

Please, let me know if you can help me or know of someone who might. I will be forever grateful. 

Thank you,
Katie from Michigan

Katie,
I don’t have any special resources or a dentist near you that I could refer you to, but I may have some suggestions.

I don’t know exactly what you need, but judging from what you seem to be telling me, it seems to me that you should be able to phase your treatment somehow in such a way as to make your dentistry affordable.

When you have a lot of decay, broken-down teeth, and teeth that need to be extracted, here is a way that can sometimes be done to try to fit this into a do-able budget.

First, the dentist can go in and remove all the decay, just filling the decay as economically as possible. If the tooth needs a crown, the crown can wait, and the dentist can just do the buildup. If necessary, temporary fillings can be placed, just to eliminate the decay. Glass ionomer filling material is fairly easy to place, it has a moderate bond with the tooth, and it releases fluoride. It isn’t a long-lasting filling material, but it’s a great base or a buildup for a crown, it’s relatively inexpensive to place, and it releases small amounts of fluoride to help guard against further decay.

The second step would be to take out any hopeless teeth. For teeth replacements, if you can’t afford implants or bridges, there is a less expensive option. A removable partial will save quite a bit of money.

If your dentist is unwilling to discuss these options with you, I would call around and find a dentist who will work with you. Just explain when you call that you need a lot of work and want to phase your treatment so you can afford it, and ask if the dentist is willing to do that. Some dentists will let you come in and ask questions without charging a consultation fee.
I hope this is helpful.

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Can I get dental insurance to pay for my implants?

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Do you know of a dental insurance plan that will cover some of the cost of dental implants? I am in need of the entire upper. I’m wearing dentures now but they are not working for me. My dentist has suggested implants but I can not afford it.
- MS from Philadelphia

Dear MS,
It sounds like you’re in kind of a spot. Most people don’t realize when they have all their teeth extracted that their jawbone then starts to shrink and within maybe twenty years they won’t be able to wear their dentures any more. And now you need not just implants, but you need bone grafting to build up your jawbone first so that it can hold the implants. So I want to use the occasion of your question to urge other people to first try to save their teeth if they can. If they can’t, then at least get a couple of implants to hold their denture in. The presence of dental implants helps prevent the jawbone from shrinking.

Unfortunately, you’re not going to find a dental insurance plan that will help you pay for these dental implants.

Put yourself in the place of the insurance company. They have to make money on the policies they sell. It doesn’t make any sense for them to sell you a policy and then turn around and pay you benefits that way exceed the cost of the policy. They couldn’t stay in business operating like that.

Dental insurance makes sense when the insurance company can sell it to an employer. Then they take the cost of all the dental benefits they pay and pass those on to the employer, with a little profit for the insurance company. It’s a way to take the cost of dental care and pay for it as a benefit of employment, with pre-tax dollars.

And even if you had dental insurance through an employer, they don’t like paying for dental implants. Usually they cover the cheapest treatment, so most of them will pay for a new denture and not for implants. Plus they usually have annual maximums of maybe $500 or $1000, which doesn’t go far toward any kind of extensive dentistry.

I wish you were closer and we could try to help you. There are various ways we can provide affordable dental implants and affordable dentistry. Maybe you can find someone in Philadelphia who can help you with this.

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