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Adventures in Teeth
Aside from one emergency fill, due to unemployment and lack of funds, I haven't seen a dentist since 2003-ish. Now that I have steady job, it's been on the list of things to do since a few teeth need attention, even if I don't have insurance.
One of the molars with a hole in it has been causing sharp spikes of pain that nearly have me in tears (<-- high pain threshold), so I finally got it checked out and lo, root canal. Dentist office says no problem, we don't do that, we send people to an endo-surgeon to have it done, we'll get ya fixed up.
I ask for an estimate, since I have a little give in my budget, and don't like doing the credit thing. Was told around $850-950. Which is tighter than I'd like, but do-able.
Got the root canal done today. $1,100. The endo-surgeon just drilled out the roots and temporarily filled them, they don't fix the tooth after, putting on a crown or a cap. I have to go back to a dentist for that.
Oh, and the cap or crown will cost about the same as the root canal itself.
... Which was never EVER mentioned.
Could have probably gotten the two holey teeth pulled and the rest of my mouth cleaned and fixed for this price.
So now I'm trying to figure out A: Is this Normal, Standard Operating Procedure / Costs, B: What questions I should have asked and didn't know I needed to at the time, C: Where to Go and What to do from here, and D: Was I actually snookered and is it okay to be feeling angry?
In the meantime, off to pop some extra-strength ibuprofen. Which, if my reaction to it is anything like extra-strength tylenol, I'm either gonna be high and loopy for the rest of the night, or dead to the world... Be interesting to find out which.
One of the molars with a hole in it has been causing sharp spikes of pain that nearly have me in tears (<-- high pain threshold), so I finally got it checked out and lo, root canal. Dentist office says no problem, we don't do that, we send people to an endo-surgeon to have it done, we'll get ya fixed up.
I ask for an estimate, since I have a little give in my budget, and don't like doing the credit thing. Was told around $850-950. Which is tighter than I'd like, but do-able.
Got the root canal done today. $1,100. The endo-surgeon just drilled out the roots and temporarily filled them, they don't fix the tooth after, putting on a crown or a cap. I have to go back to a dentist for that.
Oh, and the cap or crown will cost about the same as the root canal itself.
... Which was never EVER mentioned.
Could have probably gotten the two holey teeth pulled and the rest of my mouth cleaned and fixed for this price.
So now I'm trying to figure out A: Is this Normal, Standard Operating Procedure / Costs, B: What questions I should have asked and didn't know I needed to at the time, C: Where to Go and What to do from here, and D: Was I actually snookered and is it okay to be feeling angry?
In the meantime, off to pop some extra-strength ibuprofen. Which, if my reaction to it is anything like extra-strength tylenol, I'm either gonna be high and loopy for the rest of the night, or dead to the world... Be interesting to find out which.
no subject
Regarding the cost -- they *should* have told you, rather than assuming you knew, that the crown (the fix to the visible part of the tooth) and the root-canal were two separate operations of approximately equivalent cost. You are absolutely justified in being angry about that.
The costs you are listing here are, unfortunately, standard. They are not ripping you off any more than the whole entire health-care industry is. So, no, they didn't snooker you. It is still perfectly ok to be angry about the high cost, though.
The thing about having teeth pulled instead of fixed is that -- from my experience -- they *really* don't like pulling teeth that have a reasonable chance of being saved. Ask for a payment plan. A reputable dentist should be willing to work with you on that.
*MOAR HUGS*