Re: Very OT: The Deed is Done!

"Goomba" wrote:
brooklyn1 wrote:

Maybe you need to find a different/better dentist. Mine charges $90 for
an exam and a cleaning by the dental hygienist. I don't have any dental
insurance, the dentist knows this, when I need any work he takes my lack
of insurance into consideration and charges appropriately less. I go for
my exam and cleaning twice a year, an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure. Dirty rotten teeth are disgusting, and affect ones
overall health in more ways than one can imagine. Did you know that
there is a definite corrolary between poor dental care and obesity,
people who don't care for their teeth generally have poor diets/people
who have poor diets generally don't care for their teeth.

I pay for my family's dental insurance (whereas my husband carries the
health coverage) and for my family policy cost is $650/year. And like
you, my dentist charges about $95-110 for the twice yearly checks and
cleanings. The higher rate is probably when x-rays are done once per year.
Dental insurance for a single person would obviously be cheaper. And I'd
make sure I was covered before I spent money on other "alternative
treatments" and such. Its a no-brainer to me. Everyone's cleanings and
exam twice a year are covered 100%.

Anyway, I would feel horrible and probably look pretty scrungy not going
to the dentist and getting them professionally cleaned. Yellow grungy
teeth are not the image I want to present. My dental health and smile are
important to me.

Dental schools are another option for less expensive care although one has
to put up with a certain element of nuisance-factor. If that was ones only
option, I'm sure it is tolerable.

Even though I brush and floss after every meal I still think a professional
cleaning is critical for scraping away plaque and tarter, even below the gum
line. And x-rays and an exam by a dentist poking at each tooth looking for
small damages that will only become larger if left untreated and checking
for gum problems and oral cancers is very important. My dental hygienist
tells me that they actually turn away people because their teeth are so
awful and filthy they won't treat them, and I see people like that here, a
bunch of hillybillys who haven't been to a dentist in like ten years...
somehow they don't see the crud on their own teeth. I once worked with a
guy who actually did his own dentistry... I swear this is true... one day
everyone was gathering around to watch Al "Mungo" Campbell yank out his own
molar with a pair of Chanel Lock pump pliers. I can still see that beet red
face awash with sweat, with blood gushing out his mouth, down his chin, and
all over the floor... and their he was waving the pliers around with the
bloody tooth with the biggest roots I ever imagined, with a big *** eating
grin on his ***... I swear there was enough gum meat clinging to that tooth
to make a pretty rich stock. Security was called and he was escorted to
medical. And our employer provided medical insurance for free, the best
plan CIGNA wrote, and for a very modest fee we could buy dental insurance
that covered most procedures (not implants), I had the dental insurance,
only cost $5/month, I paid $60/yearly, was easier. I can still buy their
dental insurance but for retirees the premium has more than tripled and now
there's a stiff copay so having pretty healthy teeth I opted out. I've
discovered that one of the reasons doctors/dentists want to know about your
insurance is so they'll know how much they can bill... just like how home
improvement contractors charge by the height of your carpet pile so do
medical professionals charge by your insurance coverage. Once my dentist's
office personal were informed that I no longer had insurance they billed me
exactly half what they did previously. Two years ago they billed me $1,400
for a crown, last year after I turned 65 I needed another crown, they billed
me $700, and knocked off $50 when I agreed to pay in advance, something they
offer seniors. Naturally I maintained my medical coverage, it's almost the
same coverage I had prior to retirement but now it costs me $65/month rather
than being free, well worth it just for Rx alone... Medicare won't pay for
brand name drugs and I prefer some as their delivery systems are much
better. Contrary to popular belief generic drugs are rarely *exactly* the
same as brand name drugs... same holds true for OTC drugs as well, the store
brands are not the same as name brand... even bandages, no way are say
Rite-Aid bandages nearly as good as Johnson n' Johnson Band-Aid.



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