It's such a joy.
Multiple shots of novacane just for starters and then the pretty little thing got serious.
An hour later and my gums are still bleeding.
So far I haven't dribbled coffee down the front of my shirt but that's only because I am taking baby sips.
I can't feel half my face.
After this final round of torture I got to talk to the dentist , they call it a "consultation", it's more like negotiating with a car salesman in my opinion.
To see just how fucked up my teeth are, take a gander at this mess.
That be a dentists playground there my friends.
Needless to say these are not my favorite people to begin with.
So I had what I thought was a fairly close estimate of what this guy wants to fix all my teeth in the back of my mind when he hands me an itemized list of all the shit he wants to do along with the price for each item.
From past experience with these guys I figured about $8,000 easy.
Oh no no no no.
I was waaaay off.
Two thirds off.
Let's try TWENTY FOUR THOUSAND FUCKING DOLLARS!!!
That's when my ass puckered up.
It's a good thing I was sitting down.
I took a glance at this long list of wants and laughed right in his face. I'm sure he was expecting it too.
Dude, this is a down payment on a house.
There is no way I am doing all this.
He is talking bone grafts and implants and crowns and all kinds of happy shit.
Yeah right.
I have two teeth that need to be pulled because they are shot, one in front that is broken off at the gum line that needs to be pulled and an implant hammered in and a couple of teeth that had root canals done on them and just stuffed with fillings instead of having crowns put on because of cost. Those are bad because they are cracking. No support in the middle, the crowns are actually functional for support.
One of the teeth that needs pulling is on the bottom right side in the back and it is sensitive as hell. I can't chew anything even remotely solid on it or it lights up like a neon sign.
He only wants $160 to yank a tooth
After looking at the list and running some numbers in my head I told him that I will live with the sensitive tooth for now and if it gets so bad I can't stand it anymore that I will just pay out of pocket to get it yanked out. It's been bad for a couple of years already and I have learned what not to do with it. Then we will do one crown in the back on top on the other side so that I at least have two teeth that I can grind on and then we will go from there.
None of this is going to happen until after the first of the year anyway, just the deep cleaning of all my teeth went over the total cost of what my insurance will pay FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR.
I am kicking myself for not staying on top of this but there was a period of about three years when I didn't have dental insurance and my hatred of these people just caused me to ignore the mounting problems after I did get some.
So now I get to pay.
Some here and some there.
I will do what the insurance covers and as little as possible on top of that.
As long as I have a couple three functional chompers I am good with it.
It ain't like I was ever a pretty boy anyways.
13 comments:
You might want to do a google of dentists in Costa Rico. I went do there a few years back, crowns were 250.00 implant 500.00
Anon is onto something. Met a lot of people who fly south to get work done. It's a lot cheaper and they get a mini vacation thrown in. As for me, I had dental insurance exactly one year in my life. Caught up on 15 years of neglect. Right now I've got nothing and I'm afraid to even go for a cleaning.
I feel your pain brother.
So far this year I've had a 4 crown bridge replaced -- with root canals and posts - $3,200 for the crowns + $3,100 for the root canals & posts. Barely got that shit paid for when my second bicuspid decided it was in the mood for a root canal, post & filling (Dentist said to me "better get that crowned in the next couple months"), guy let me off for $800 for that work.
I do not have dental insurance and never will at this point in the game. And like most fellows I should have stayed on top of this way better than I did.
dang the luck,,,,,,,
later,
-Moe
You could always go old school, have all your teeth pulled and get dentures.
I had mine pulled. Glad I did, abscess had me in bad shape. I don't wear my dentures all I can't eat is nuts.
My mother drove down to Mexico with 2 of her friends to get all of their dental work done at once.
What the dentist up here wanted over 17k to do, my mom had done in Mexico for just under 800.00
I say , go the denture route. It will take a couple years to get used to them.
In the end run you'll be happy ya did !
I tells ya dude, I can crunch up freaking ice cubes and hard candy with my bionic teeth......
I appreciate the suggestions, you gave me a few things to think about. As far as dentures go, I'm going to rule that out for now. I have a buddy at work who recently had the last 19 teeth he had yanked out all at one sitting and dentures made. He has been fighting with them ever since.
I still have enough decent teeth to get me by just fine. That 24K wish list is just that. It is going to be a long term thing but even getting one molar back will improve my life . As for heading South of the border, I have to admit that is somewhat tempting but the logistics are prohibitive and I have serious concerns that they might not let me back in the country. You and I both know that the government has been watching me run my mouth for years now and I have seen some of the horror stories about them denying reentry to people they don't like. I'm just going to take it slow and stick with my plans.
not that it's much cheaper, but ClearChoice dental will do it all in one day (for the most part) I had all of the top teeth removed and 4 screws put into my skull to hold in the prosthetic, permanent teeth. Cost? Just under $20k, none of which was covered by insurance of course, but if your credit isn't too bad you can get it financed.
For me, it was the best decision I've made in a long time, and at that time probably one of the most expensive too.
Go north then. Canada.
leaperman
Yea , as I said the first two years were a bitch getting used to them. With gag reflex and less room in your mouth ya have to even somewhat learn to talk with them.
I had thirty two pulled all at once ! They jammed them damn things in the same day and I couldn't take em out till the swelling went down. Couple of real miserable days !
I shopped around and got the works done for $5,000...but that was back in 2002. There are Deal's which can be made out there.
Good luck bro, perhaps your insurance will help ?
Believe me you'll in the long term not regret it. :-)
I had my teeth pulled, about 17 or so, and dentures made up last November, at Aspen dental, here in MI. Put the dentures in on the same day. The entire bill was 2500$. That is right, twenty five hundred, not thousand, for the entire thing. I have a horrible gag reflex, and I have not had any problems whatsoever. My teeth were in bad shape, as I also hated the dentist, because of my gag reflex. I also had a dislocated jaw and broken teeth from high school football, which started me on the road to my teeth going down hill. The repairs didn't last forever, I am 56 now, I was 17 then. I couldn't be happier that I had this done. It is of course not the same, but it is better than I had when I finally had my teeth pulled. I had broken teeth at the gum line, pain, and other problems. Best of luck to you.
I found out that a one visit crown can be machined to fit the precise tooth carving of a cavity or partial tooth, called CEREC. Pure ceramic cut in a tiny tabletop CNC mill in about an hour while you wait.
Read about here:
mynewsmile.com/cerec.htm
Root canal is a terrible thing to endure, since it usually traps at least a low-grade infection inside the jawbone, and with no appreciable blood flow, no antibiotic can ever reach in quantity to deal with that situation.
I read about an old crippled lady that greatly improved after extraction of a long-term root canal after diagnosis by a specialty dentist visiting the nursing home.
rheumatic.org/teeth.htm
Hope this helps somebody you care about.
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