I'm sorry you have such a terrible bill for this. Dental insurance in the US is a joke. Several years back my husband contributed money towards dental, and like yours the annual amount max they would cover was somewhere just over $1,000. We ended up dropping it and were without for at least a few years. Hubby needed an implant for a molar, and the oral surgeon was asking for over $6,000. Hubby didn't get it there. Instead, just lived without half of that tooth. A year prior I had root canals in both of my top front teeth (something I couldn't avoid). That totaled about $3,500 and reflected "a good deal" since I was getting two done and not just one.

Now in Czech Republic, both dental and vision are included in the public health insurance my husband and I have. Americans would cry if they knew how little we must pay for such procedures here. Unfortunately, misleading propaganda still makes many Americans demonize universal healthcare. And the other many attractive public benefits that many European country citizens receive. Like...in Czech Republic...very long fully paid maternity leaves, free university educations, six weeks paid vacation for all employees from the very start (versus after at least 20 years at the same company in the US, that is IF vacation pay is even offered), and more.

I didn't write the above to brag about what I now have. Rather that I'm sad. Very sad! That Americans don't have it. Perhaps if Americans did, I would still be in the US. My native country. I also can't help but wonder if I (and many others) with mental health issues could have avoided some or all psych hospitalizations if I had had the extra time off. Certainly I might still have the tens of thousands of dollars I paid out in psych hospital and IOP co-insurances and co-pays (and deductibles), as well as initially giant medication co-pays. When I was first diagnosed and hospitalized, many of the medications were not available in generic forms, and brand names were (and still are) far more expensive in the US than pretty much anywhere else in the world.