[Victoria'smom]

Well I went to the dentist today. They x-ray'd my lower left side. Out of the 4 teeth they x-ray'd 2 need root canals and crowns, 1 needs to be removed and 1 needs to be filled. The dentist there can't do root canals or crowns. He strictly fills and pulls. He told me I'm looking at over 3k to fix just those 4 teeth. They can't get me in for a full exam until oct. 2nd. I found a place that does exams, x-rays and estimate for like $100. That's at least a place to start. Then we can look around for the cheapest place, not like we can do anything about it but at least we know. $100 is a lot for us though. Medicaid covers almost nothing but at least they covered the antibiotics. Of course my ED is doing wonderfully now that I can't really eat solid food.

My husband is mixed right now, not fun for anyone in our house. He even kicked me out of the car while waiting for my son finish volunteering. He says I'm not caring about his feelings. When I'm trying to keep things together. I had to tell my son several times that he's just in a bad mood. He's throwing fits and hatred whenever he has to leave the house. He even dropped out of teaching a co-op the day the co-op was starting. Which means my son doesn't get to be with his friends from there. However now we don't have to worry about gas and food for that day but the teaching offset that. So we're having a secret argument whether my son should volunteer because that's 2 days my husband wouldn't have to leave the house. So what does my son do? Signs up to volunteer on the day he had co-op because he's free that day too. Uh, I'm fighting to keep him there 2 days and he adds another. So IDK, I kinda just want to curl up in a corner and wait this out.

Wow, all of that sucks so hard. Teeth are crazy expensive — and if you don’t fix them, it just cascades into a series of other problems. Do you live near a university with a dental school? You can receive very inexpensive treatment there (by students under supervision).

That’s so sad about your son. He must get so frustrated with the situation.

[Fuzzybear]

[Victoria'smom]

3k was the estimate of the dental school.

Is there any way to do a payment plan with a dentist? You know, pay like $500 a month or something. I know that $100 alone is a lot for you, but could you do something like $250-500 a month?

Or you could find a place that does a sliding scale.

See: Free/Low-Cost/Sliding Scale Dental Clinics | NeedyMeds

[Victoria'smom]

After all our bills are paid we have $52/week for gas, household stuff, and extras. Most sliding scale here only pull or fill. I've already called the places on that list but I'm going to call the ones in the surrounding county. Thank-you it's much easier to see it all in one place. I'm unsure if dental insurance is worth it.

[Faltering]

I'm sorry your teeth are going to be so expensive to fix. I hope you find a reasonable solution you can afford.

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

After all our bills are paid we have $52/week for gas, household stuff, and extras. Most sliding scale here only pull or fill. I've already called the places on that list but I'm going to call the ones in the surrounding county. Thank-you it's much easier to see it all in one place. I'm unsure if dental insurance is worth it.

Depends. My dental insurance will pay a max of $1,000 a year for dental work. Then you're responsible for any additional costs after that. (Not good for x-rays and a root canal when I cracked a molar @ 13-14.)

I don't know if my dental insurance is normal or not in that respect, but that's how mine operates. So if you could get something like that, that might be more worthwhile than getting a dental insurance plan that has a high deductible (e.g., $3000).

My insurance is Cigna, btw. Maybe they have a higher maximum (e.g., $2000) depending on which plan you get. Dunno, but it's worth looking into.

[luvyrself]

Network w friends about this. I found a much cheaper dentist that way. He is close to sun city out here and hence caters to people w limited retirement incomes.

[luvyrself]

Network w friends about this. I found a much cheaper dentist that way. He is close to sun city out here and hence caters to people w limited retirement incomes.