$$$ Dental Decisions $$$$$

How many times have I said it before? I will say it again. Why, why, why did I not sign up myself and the kids on DH's dental insurance? Oh, that's right, because I thought it was so expensive. Well, with the $700 or so of dental care I've needed this year and the $1,100 estimate I just got for DD, I think I would have come out ahead. :thud:

DD has six [/i]small[i] cavities on three teeth. They think they can do it in 2 visits, rather than 3, which at least saves $45 for another dose of laughing gas. All of the cavities have gone past the tooth enamel. So.....has anyone heard of any success with a wait and see approach? If I can make it to January we would have dental insurance. I am totally going out on a limb here and know I should probably do this sooner than later. Any dental miracles out there?

[houseelf]

ohh...this sucks. We have dental insurance and we still pay through the nose. DH's dental work will be over 3,000 this year! (He is getting an implant). Seriously, our dental insurance pays so little.

Did you discuss the "wait and see" approach with the dentist. Some dentists are more aggressive than others, could that be the case here?

Kelly

[Cumberland]

I go to the School of Dentistry ( and they take my insurance too). It is really cheap- like 25 bucks a visit toatl, all of which my insurance pays. I need a new bridge, and the estimate from a regular dentist was 3K, I am going to get it done at the school for 800 bucks. The SOD here takes kids, maybe it is an option?

I was sort of in a state of shock and drooling after seeing the bill. Here is my current plan -- I can swing the first $400 (two fillings) that we have an appointment for on Friday. I feel like I need to go with the momentum of DD being excited about getting a filling.
I'll ask him in Friday about waiting until Jan. 2 for the next 4 cavities.

Honestly, Kelly, the dental coverage here is not so great as well and that is part of the reason I decided to pass. I figured with the minimum payments and co-pays we would break even with the premium. Not this year. I'm just going to do it for next year -- it's $50/month to add myself and the kids.

SOD -- that's a great idea! I know they have a peds dentistry program there (our dentist teaches there -- wonder what he would think about that!).

Yes, I had a place on my gum that was eroding and I was going to need a gum graft (or however you spell that!) and my dentist actually recommended going to the dental clinic at OSU because he knew that a private practice would be much more expensive for me to get the procedure--luckily, between our primary doctor, our dentist, and our pediatrician, they've all been very sensitive to the fact that DH is in school and they try to recommend alternate services that will be cheaper for us (like going through MRDD for DS's speech therapy...)

Today was the big day for the fillings. She marched into the office, was doing great, and then was a puddle of tears after she hopped in the chair. I think it all caught up with her. The dentist was very understanding and suggested we just re-schedule for another time and consider using a sedative for that appointment. He wanted her to have a "success" though and so asked if he could count her teeth. She said that was ok, then he asked if he could put the nitrous oxide mask on her, then show her the water dealie, and then the "whistle" (or drill!), and then asked me if it was ok to go ahead. I said -- ask her! She was ok with it and 30 minutes later had 2 of the 6 fillings. She did great. Still wanted to go back next week for the next round and still wanted to be a dentist.

But....while her mouth was numb she chewed the heck out of her cheek. When her motrin was wearing off, she started to get really upset. She thought the soreness was from the dental dam -- which was "even stupider than bad guys" and "a really stupid shade of blue." And she doesn't want to be a dentist because she doesn't want to hurt people. Oh crap. Hopefully she feels better and has a different outlook tomorrow.

The dentist filled the most concerning cavity today and thinks it is reasonable for us to wait until January when the dental insurance kicks in. I hope we don't regret it, but that's the plan for now.

Oh, I was wrong about the SOD -- no peds dental program here yet. If she did go, we would run the risk of getting a pretty new 3rd year. I'll keep that in mind for the 2 crowns in need in the next few years, though -- but at the end of a program year!