As beegle mentioned, dental work is muy expensive. $650ish, after insurance, for a cleaning, 4 fillings, and 12 sealants. What I find most ironic is that the preventative sealants are not covered at all. My insurance, all told, will be covering around $400 for all this, mostly for the diagnostic portions. They’ll pay for you to discover the problem, but not for it to be fixed. Crack monkeys. And that’s with the best dental insurance cmu offers.
Ugh.
most dental insurance companies don’t cover sealants or fluoride treatments for adults. the theory is that a) adults know how to brush their teeth and don’t need sealants and b) their teeth don’t benefit as much from fluoride as children’s teeth do.
While the latter is debatable (I have recently started using Act again as part of my routine to avoid sensitive spots), I am pretty sure the former is accurate.
I love my dental insurance – delta dental. Free cleanings every 6 months and 80% restorative – so three fillings were $52.
Ugh… don’t remind me. I need to get a filling next weekend. =/ At least it is only one.
How many trips are you going to need to get that all done??? He never fills more than 2 teeth at once because of novacaine dosage and stuff, although that’s probably not a universal dentist rule.
The plan is 1 trip, 2 hours. I won’t be surprised if it runs over, but I’ve been extremely impressed with this guy’s professionalism and bedside manner.
Years of braces and a few root canals left me with no small dislike of dentists. I’m surprised I don’t have more problems, considering how infrequently I see one. Besides my adolescent trauma, I haven’t had any major work–no cavaties, no fillings, no sealants. Though they last time I went, the dentist warned me about my flossing, or lack thereof. If I get another demonstration of proper flossing technique (using a large plastic model mouth, just to make me feel even more silly), I’ll go postal. Honestly, Dr. Dentist, do you think I lack the skill to floss? No, I lack the motivation, so I need something like, “You know, son, if you don’t floss religiously three times a day, your teeth will rot and fall out. Then your boyfriend will leave you, your dog will die, and your soul will burn in the fires of Ghenna for all eternity!”.
I hear you with the dental work bit…just had my wisdom teeth out about two weeks ago and anesthesia alone was $400. hell, for $5 i could’ve let my karate-ified brother knock me out and just carry me to the frickin’ chair….but alas, for the world is not perfect nor will it ever be 🙂
take care
~*D*~