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A Crisis Comes At the Most Inconvenient Time

August 23rd, 2011 at 12:59 pm

The event that sparked me to look for this blog and start bogging again involves dentistry. I have coverage for me and my family through work. Over the years it has covered regular check ups for everyone, braces for two of three kids, wisdom teeth surgery for a couple of us, and a couple of root canals.

Now my wife and I are in the middle of (her) and facing (me) extensive dental work. The annual benefit is "only" $1500 -- I put that in quotes because I recognize that some people have no coverage.

Yesterday, she realized that she had maxed out on this year's coverage, and owed about $1,000, and still had more work to do.

I'm scheduled to go in for a root canal tomorrow and will need some sort of bridge or something when I'm all done -- again, something that will cost more than the annual benefit.

Needless to say, and based on my previous post, none of this is in the budget. I'm still on the fence about cancelling tomorrow's appointment because I'm facing about a $300 to $400 co-pay that I will have to come up with tomorrow.

Posted in Where I Am Now | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “A Crisis Comes At the Most Inconvenient Time”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    August 23rd, 2011 at 01:16 pm 1314105407
    1314105407

    Can you call the dentist to find out if they will accept payments for tomorrow's appointment? I would talk with them before cancelling. Good luck.

  2. MonkeyMama Says:
    August 23rd, 2011 at 01:48 pm 1314107315
    1314107315

    I would also strongly consider a 2nd/3rd opinion. I've come across too many scammy dentists. Always get multiple opinions for any dental work. Not that this is your situation, but I see people paying for thousands of dollars of dental work they don't really need, all the time. We moved and when I shopped dentists, I visited 2 highly recommended "honest" dentists who told me I needed $2000-ish worth of work. Rolleyes Thing was they both told me different things, so I got a third opinion and talked to my regular/lifetime dentist. They both told me "scam." A decade later, I haven't needed any dental work, or had as much as a toothache. Scam, indeed.

    Bummer is my old dentist retired this year, so it's back to the scammy drawing board. The sad thing was how highly recommended these dentists were!

  3. ptc712 Says:
    August 23rd, 2011 at 01:52 pm 1314107546
    1314107546

    Well, I certainly need the work -- I've lost most of a tooth.

  4. Petunia 100 Says:
    August 23rd, 2011 at 03:59 pm 1314115166
    1314115166

    What about a secondary dental insurance?

    I buy Smile Savers. I pay about $80 per year.

    When my daughter was 7, a dentist said she NEEDED a retainer. For her baby teeth. I said no, the first day she goes to school and takes it out to eat lunch, the retainer will end up in the trash. Her teeth looked straight to me anyway. I thought at the time and still think, she did not NEED a retainer, the dentist NEEDED revenue.

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