My brother had a bicycle accident and broke a few teeth in the front. Decided to finally get them fixed in addition to fixing a tooth that was abscessed. The dentist quoted $3000 for a few extractions and a bridge or $5000 for full upper denture. Brother decided on $3000 option. Five appts, 5 extractions and so far $5000 later we don't have the bridge. The Dentist says that still more teeth need to be pulled (not many left). Obviously he has stopped going and asked for his medical records but the Dentist wanted to withhold the records until full payment was made and he's charging for them. He has already billed the insurance $1100(plus $5000). I am very confused by this whole situation. This Dentist was referred do to my brother's insurance carrier but at this cost he could have gone to my Dentist without insurance and paid less! We will get further dental care with someone that is not so abusive financially and emotionally. Could we do more though? Thanks _ Toothless Grin
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You really are not giving enough information for someone to give you acurate advice. There are usually 2 sides, and trust me, the dentists side in very different. I will tell you my opinion, however with limited information I can not possibly tell you who is right in this case. I have seen patients who were given a treatment plan and estimate of what a specific list of dental procedures will cost them, and after they recieved this treatment plan, they asked that additional things be done, not taking into consideration that these additional services will be an additional expense. Such as, having an unexpected abcess or toothache come up and asking the dentist to go ahead and pull that tooth out. Obviously, that would be one reason why a treatment plan amount would change. Some dentists quote what they think a treatment plan would cost, and if during the procedure unexpected things come up (example: tooth on bridge needing a rootcanal, that was not anticipated), they bill the patient for the work. Others eat the cost, because it was not previously planned for. Again, this is real difficult to say if he has a case. As far as the records go? Every state is different, and you should call the state dental board to know what your state says, but sometimes a dentist can withhold records if their is a balance on a patients account. They do have the right to charge a duplication fee, however. This is probably what the charge that you refer to is. You do realize, that your brother will be getting a copy of the records, and not the actual record, don't you? A dentist, at least in my state, is required to keep the actual record for 7 years. Anyways, if you want to e-mail me and give me a little more details, I will help you if I can.
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Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Dental assistance?
Hi, I have dental insurance through work and they cover most proceedures. However, they don't cover anything that could have been prevented. Is there a plan that will help to reduce the costs of extra proceedures such as root canal, fillings, crowns, etc? It doesn't have to be free, just something that saves when getting an extra proceedure. Thanks.
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The problem with dental insurance is that they usually have a maximum allowance of about $1500 a year. And even if they do cover crowns or root canals it is only at a certain percentage. Try going on-line with Blue Cross Blue Shield or Met life to see if they offer individual coverage that may pay more then what you have now. The best thing to do is have your dentist give you a treatment plan that tells you what you need and how much it will cost. Then evaluate your insurance plan to see how much you pay a month for the coverage and how much you will have to pay out of pocket.
Source
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The problem with dental insurance is that they usually have a maximum allowance of about $1500 a year. And even if they do cover crowns or root canals it is only at a certain percentage. Try going on-line with Blue Cross Blue Shield or Met life to see if they offer individual coverage that may pay more then what you have now. The best thing to do is have your dentist give you a treatment plan that tells you what you need and how much it will cost. Then evaluate your insurance plan to see how much you pay a month for the coverage and how much you will have to pay out of pocket.
Source
Dental braces at boston?
I am 25yrs old.I had and appointment with a orthodentist yesterday, and quoted up to 5600$.Its far more than my budget.I dont have dental insurance.I kindly request evrybody to provide information about the dentists or plans where I could get braces done for low rates in BOSTON . THANKYOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!!
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Wow, that's expensive! The dental plans at Dentalplans.com should cover braces as they cover orthodontic costs and you should save a few thousand. There's a review at http://www.dentalplansreview.com You should be able to find a dentist in your own area quite easily as there's over 100,000 participating dentists.
Source
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Wow, that's expensive! The dental plans at Dentalplans.com should cover braces as they cover orthodontic costs and you should save a few thousand. There's a review at http://www.dentalplansreview.com You should be able to find a dentist in your own area quite easily as there's over 100,000 participating dentists.
Source
Quit my job, insurance question?
and I'm getting my teeth fixed before I go. I'm going to dental school for assisting in the fall, but as of now, I have to move to find a job closer to school which means losing my dental by the end of the month. Is there a way to extend dental insurance for a couple of months? My HR mgr is gone for the week, and I really need to know now. Otherwise, is there an affordable dental insurance I might be able to find. I need the insurance badly and my last appointments are in Feb. Thanks for your time.
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healthplans.my-age.net - here is my health insurance plan. As I remember they can provide such a service.
Source
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healthplans.my-age.net - here is my health insurance plan. As I remember they can provide such a service.
Source
Can I get my wisdom teeth removed while pregnant?
I have a serious problem. Right around the time I got pregnant, my two top wisdom teeth began to rot. I wasn't on insurance, so I didn't go see a dentist. I now have dental insurance, am 20 weeks pregnant, and my wisdom teeth have gotten even worse. One is almost completely rotted away, and the other is almost there. I know I'd have to have major dental surgery, and the rotting teeth makes me worry about a blood infection that could affect my baby. What should I do?
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After the first trimester most dental procedures can be performed without consequences to the baby or yourself provided you are having a normal pregnancy without complications. The dentist more than likely will need to confer with your physician(obstetrician) prior to any treatment. And I agree with a previous answer it is imperative to keep the teeth clean! However if you are not having any pain or infection from the decayed teeth it is possible that the extraction could be delayed until after your delivery. It is imperative for you to be careful with any analgesics(pain meds) taken for pain without consulting with your physician because they could be harmful to both you and your baby.
Source
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After the first trimester most dental procedures can be performed without consequences to the baby or yourself provided you are having a normal pregnancy without complications. The dentist more than likely will need to confer with your physician(obstetrician) prior to any treatment. And I agree with a previous answer it is imperative to keep the teeth clean! However if you are not having any pain or infection from the decayed teeth it is possible that the extraction could be delayed until after your delivery. It is imperative for you to be careful with any analgesics(pain meds) taken for pain without consulting with your physician because they could be harmful to both you and your baby.
Source
What is normally done in a periodontal cleaning?
My dentist recommended I have this cleaning done, and since I am very anxious about dental work, I researched the procedure on the internet, and everywhere said that it is normally done in steps, sometimes 4 or 5, and takes about an hour, with craping under the gums. Well, I went today and all they did was scrape my teeth, like in a normal cleaning. No polish, no fluoride, no flossing.....and it took like a half hour. So it didn't hurt so bad, but the issue is this: My dental insurance pays 100% for regular cleaning, and only 25% for periodontal. I fell like I get more done in a regular cleaning!!! Should I ask the office what is going on? I work in the insurance field, so I am kind of wary that I am getting ripped off.
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I'm a dental hygienist and I do this procedure daily. (and I know it was just a typo but I laughed out loud when you typed "craping under the gums" instead of "scraping"!!!! Don't think I'll ever do that!!) You should definitely speak with the dentist about the procedure you had done and ask him to explain to you how it was different from a regular cleaning. I always fully explain what I'm doing and why I'm doing it; an educated patient is the best thing for me. In a regular prophy appointment (just a normal routine cleaning) the teeth are scaled ("scraped") both above and below the gumline (unlike what the other person who posted above said...the hygienist always cleans below the gumline). Then when all surfaces have been scaled, the hygienist will polish any residual stain off the teeth. A patient that requires a periodontal therapy needs this because over time, they haven't taken good care of their teeth and gums and because of this, tarter has built up heavily below the gumline (where a brush can't reach and if you haven't been flossing regularily, the gunk under there that started out as soft plaque you could have flossed out is now hardened to a concrete-like chunk you can't remove yourself) I tell my patients that the tarter is much like a splinter under your skin, it irritates the gum tissue both physically and chemically because it's decaying bacteria that gives off toxins. The gums do not like it being there and your body tries to defend itself by sending white blood cells to the area, thus increasing blood flow and swelling in that area. Gum disease usually does not cause any pain, but you may notice that the gums are red and/or swollen and almost always have bleeding when you do brush and floss. Healthy gums should never bleed. After the gums have been irritated awhile, they react by pulling away from the source of the irritation, they recede. And the gums don't just pull away and leave raw bone, when they recede, they trigger the bone underneath to start to dissolve too. The bone and the supporting soft tissue structure of the gums and ligaments are what hold you teeth in place so the loss of these structures is very significant....lose them and you will eventually lose your teeth! Your dentist and hygienist should show you the tarter build up and bone loss on your xrays. A patients xrays are the best teaching tools I have! Ask them to show you and explain. When you can see the cause and effect for yourself, it begins to make sense. So now, the treatment is to remove the source of infection/irritation and that requires a scaling or deep cleaning as some offices call it. If you go to a periodontist (a dentist who specializes in gum disease), the extreme method of doing this procedure is to do "flap surgery" where they do cut the gums into a flap, lay it down to expose the root surface which they clean thoroughly, then stitch the flap back in place. This is pretty extreme and it does work quite well but it's painful and expensive and many patients simply won't go through that. If you do this through your general dentist, they won't do the flap surgery, just deep clean and they will do the procedure in steps, as you noted. Usually they will do a quadrant of the mouth at a time (such as lower right, then lower left, upper right, then upper left) and then after about a 2 week period when that's all done, I have my patient come back in for one more appt. where I check how well the tissue is healing and go over any areas where it doesn't appear to be healing as well, evaluate how well the patient is doing at home with brushing and flossing (if I see new fresh plaque and tarter build up, they aren't doing a very good job and I go over it with them again) and then I polish the teeth. In my office, we break it down to 3 appts. because I do an entire arch at a time, the lowers on the first appt. and then the uppers on the next, then the follow up appt in 2 weeks. When I do a periodontal scaling and root planing, it differs from the regular cleaning on a patient without gum loss because I have to reach much further down onto the root surface below the gumline due to the bone loss. There is a gap, which we call a "pocket" between tooth and gum where all the bacteria and "crud" gets stuck. That pocket is deep in a perio-involved patient and we take our instruments (often using an ultrasonic cleaner that isn't sharp, no scraping, just uses sound waves to "jiggle" the tarter off) all the way to the bottom of that pocket and also smooth off the rough surfaces of the root of the teeth as we go (it's harder for new build up to attach to a smooth surface than it is to a rough one, that's why we smooth it out.) This is a very thorough, deep cleaning. It should not hurt, no more than mild discomfort. You may notice alot of bleeding as she is working, that's normal as the gums are swollen with extra blood and this is just releasing that inflamation. Yes, it's more involved than a regular cleaning and again, if you look at the xrays compared to the xrays of a healthy mouth, you can see why. It's important to remember that periodontal disease is not something we can CURE, it's something we can MANAGE. When bone is gone, it's gone, it will not grow back neither will the gums. BUT if the area is cleaned out well and kept clean by the patient at home and with regular 6 month cleaning appts. the perio problem can be slowed or halted at that point. You have valid questions and you should have been educated about this procedure, why you needed it and what to expect. Sounds like your dentist/hygienist dropped the ball on that. Go back and ask about it, ask to see the xrays, etc. Good luck!
Source
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I'm a dental hygienist and I do this procedure daily. (and I know it was just a typo but I laughed out loud when you typed "craping under the gums" instead of "scraping"!!!! Don't think I'll ever do that!!) You should definitely speak with the dentist about the procedure you had done and ask him to explain to you how it was different from a regular cleaning. I always fully explain what I'm doing and why I'm doing it; an educated patient is the best thing for me. In a regular prophy appointment (just a normal routine cleaning) the teeth are scaled ("scraped") both above and below the gumline (unlike what the other person who posted above said...the hygienist always cleans below the gumline). Then when all surfaces have been scaled, the hygienist will polish any residual stain off the teeth. A patient that requires a periodontal therapy needs this because over time, they haven't taken good care of their teeth and gums and because of this, tarter has built up heavily below the gumline (where a brush can't reach and if you haven't been flossing regularily, the gunk under there that started out as soft plaque you could have flossed out is now hardened to a concrete-like chunk you can't remove yourself) I tell my patients that the tarter is much like a splinter under your skin, it irritates the gum tissue both physically and chemically because it's decaying bacteria that gives off toxins. The gums do not like it being there and your body tries to defend itself by sending white blood cells to the area, thus increasing blood flow and swelling in that area. Gum disease usually does not cause any pain, but you may notice that the gums are red and/or swollen and almost always have bleeding when you do brush and floss. Healthy gums should never bleed. After the gums have been irritated awhile, they react by pulling away from the source of the irritation, they recede. And the gums don't just pull away and leave raw bone, when they recede, they trigger the bone underneath to start to dissolve too. The bone and the supporting soft tissue structure of the gums and ligaments are what hold you teeth in place so the loss of these structures is very significant....lose them and you will eventually lose your teeth! Your dentist and hygienist should show you the tarter build up and bone loss on your xrays. A patients xrays are the best teaching tools I have! Ask them to show you and explain. When you can see the cause and effect for yourself, it begins to make sense. So now, the treatment is to remove the source of infection/irritation and that requires a scaling or deep cleaning as some offices call it. If you go to a periodontist (a dentist who specializes in gum disease), the extreme method of doing this procedure is to do "flap surgery" where they do cut the gums into a flap, lay it down to expose the root surface which they clean thoroughly, then stitch the flap back in place. This is pretty extreme and it does work quite well but it's painful and expensive and many patients simply won't go through that. If you do this through your general dentist, they won't do the flap surgery, just deep clean and they will do the procedure in steps, as you noted. Usually they will do a quadrant of the mouth at a time (such as lower right, then lower left, upper right, then upper left) and then after about a 2 week period when that's all done, I have my patient come back in for one more appt. where I check how well the tissue is healing and go over any areas where it doesn't appear to be healing as well, evaluate how well the patient is doing at home with brushing and flossing (if I see new fresh plaque and tarter build up, they aren't doing a very good job and I go over it with them again) and then I polish the teeth. In my office, we break it down to 3 appts. because I do an entire arch at a time, the lowers on the first appt. and then the uppers on the next, then the follow up appt in 2 weeks. When I do a periodontal scaling and root planing, it differs from the regular cleaning on a patient without gum loss because I have to reach much further down onto the root surface below the gumline due to the bone loss. There is a gap, which we call a "pocket" between tooth and gum where all the bacteria and "crud" gets stuck. That pocket is deep in a perio-involved patient and we take our instruments (often using an ultrasonic cleaner that isn't sharp, no scraping, just uses sound waves to "jiggle" the tarter off) all the way to the bottom of that pocket and also smooth off the rough surfaces of the root of the teeth as we go (it's harder for new build up to attach to a smooth surface than it is to a rough one, that's why we smooth it out.) This is a very thorough, deep cleaning. It should not hurt, no more than mild discomfort. You may notice alot of bleeding as she is working, that's normal as the gums are swollen with extra blood and this is just releasing that inflamation. Yes, it's more involved than a regular cleaning and again, if you look at the xrays compared to the xrays of a healthy mouth, you can see why. It's important to remember that periodontal disease is not something we can CURE, it's something we can MANAGE. When bone is gone, it's gone, it will not grow back neither will the gums. BUT if the area is cleaned out well and kept clean by the patient at home and with regular 6 month cleaning appts. the perio problem can be slowed or halted at that point. You have valid questions and you should have been educated about this procedure, why you needed it and what to expect. Sounds like your dentist/hygienist dropped the ball on that. Go back and ask about it, ask to see the xrays, etc. Good luck!
Source
can anyone recommend an orthodontist in san diego ca?
I am looking into getting braces but also need some dental work done preferably at the same office. I don't have any insurance so i need a place that has payment plans or any companies that do loans for dental insurance. Any recommendations would be great. Thanks!
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Beauchamp Dr-Western Dental Centers 531 Broadway San Diego, CA 92101-5231 (619) 702-8000 http://www.westerndental.com/easy-credit…
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Beauchamp Dr-Western Dental Centers 531 Broadway San Diego, CA 92101-5231 (619) 702-8000 http://www.westerndental.com/easy-credit…
Source
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