Christ Reynolds

need dental work, no insurance, any advice?

i read through the dental threads here, there was some great info, but nothing specific for my situation. i'm in college, so i dont have any dental insurance. i have the option of joining the dental plan from my school (aetna i believe?).

almost 2 years ago, i needed a root canal on one of my upper teeth. being extremely short of money, a friend suggested i go to the city and use the services of tutfs dental school, where the dental students work on you under supervision of the dentists/teachers. to be honest, the actual students were fine, but the procedure did not go smoothly, mainly due to my lack of responsiveness to novocaine (or whatever numbing agent they use). it would work for a little while, and i would feel pain when they went deeper, so they tried to numb the hell out of me, but i would still feel extreme pain when they were drilling. they tried giving me dozens of shots all over my mouth , and none seemed to numb the area they were working in. eventually, the dentist said that since i wasnt responding to the numbing, they would have to inject the shot directly into the nerve. and i thought it was painful before...

anyway, the point of that was, i dont respond very well to being numbed. my dad doesnt respond at all; maybe it is hereditary. my question is...what are my options for sedation dentistry? from what i understand, there are a few different methods. i would prefer to be completely knocked out during the procedure. can i get it when i'm using the school's discount plan? is sedation dentistry significantly more expensive? also, what are my other options besides the school plan? are there private plans that provide better rates? perhaps i have been subconsciously avoiding the dentist, but i am at the point where i can no longer do so.

i tried looking around the internet for a dentist search, but most sites seem to be bloated with ads, and offer no real content. if there are any reliable dentist search sites, i havent seen them yet. thanks for any help/info you can give.

CJ

Joel...Lane

If you have a job working at least 32 hours a week you should qualify for medical coverage.

Cameron Yee

Well, he did state this:



Try this:

http://1800dentist.com/default.aspx

Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation. - Edward R. Murrow

Christ Reynolds

full time student, part time job, no benefits.

or any other area i tried, including 02115 (boston) and 10001 (manhattan). may as well just have a page saying "just call 1-800-dentist. but thanks for the link.

CJ

Leila Dougan

I'm not a dentist so I can only tell you how my experience was. When I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I had the option of being given local anesthesia (the shots) or being sedated. According to my oral surgeon, this is the deal:

- Most insurance companies won't cover sedation if it isn't medically necessary. For extractions, root canals, and other similar things, it's typically not considered necessary. This means that even with insurance, you'd have to foot the bill of the sedation. In my case it would have been $600.

- More importantly, they STILL give you the local anesthesia when they sedate you. The sedation doesn't really do anything for the pain, it just makes you not be awake. So you still get the shots and still rely on their effectiveness after they wake you up. If the shots don't work for you, that's the real problem, not so much the sedation.

So that being said, you may want to inquire with a few dentists how much the procedure would be without insurance, and then again with the school's insurance (and account for premiums). Also ask if they have a "cash" discount for non-insured patients (many do). Ask a lot of questions about the anesthesia and sedation. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be sedated, especially if you're anxious, but be sure to find out if the school's insurance would even cover it. And ask the dental school if they would do that (I'm thinking they may not). But most importantly, find out if there are any alternative drugs you could be given because if you get no shots, you're still going to be in a world of pain when you wake up.

Joel...Lane

Well, he did state this:


quote:
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i'm in college, so i dont have any dental insurance. i have the option of joining the dental plan from my school (aetna i believe?).
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True, but he didn't say if he had a job or not. Some people aren't aware that they qualify for benefits if they work less than 40 hours a week.



You may be right. I did a google on NO DENTAL INSURANCE and got almost 7 million sites. Try that and see if anything useful comes up.

Good luck!

Patrick Sun

About 7-8 years ago, I had my wisdom teeth pulled, and opted for sedation, which tacked on another $300 to the bill, but I guess it was worth it since I didn't have to deal with being awake and subjecting myself to the conscious awareness (and later memories) of the oral surgeon getting to work and pulling out those teeth.

"I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar!"
Patcave | 2006 Films | 2007 Films | Dragon Con 2008

JonZ

"If you have a job working at least 32 hours a week you should qualify for medical coverage."

I work at IBM and we've just had our benefits cut.

We now have a USELESS copay plan.

I either make too much or dont make enough to be able to afford coverage on my own.


Most places will work out a payment plan with you.