Dentist..my word!

[irishgirl73 0]

I am soooo glad I saw this topic as I had my first dentist experience yesterday in the US and I came home crying my eyes out wanting to go back to England! I have dental insurance and just wanted to go along for a routine teeth cleaning as I havent experienced any other problems with my teeth. What a terrible experience it was. I was in there for over two hours and by the end of it I felt so shocked and also felt like I had been to a timeshare presentation! I was told I need four fillings, an implant, all my teeth were decaying, I was told I need a cap for a slight chip in my teeth I had never even noticed and dont care about, I was told I needed extensive cleaning which would cost about $600 ... in total, they said I needed about $5000 worth of treatment!!!! I was so upset by it all. They refused to do the routine cleaning that comes with my dental insurance, they said it would be like "putting a bandaid on something that needs stitches"!!! I actually went to the dentist ten months ago before I moved out here and was never told I needed anything else. I have had four fillings in 28 years of being on this earth and then in the space of ten months another dentist tells me I need four more!!! Perlease! They were also saying about wisdom teeth and how I should have them removed ... hell, they aint hurting me so as the saying goes 'If it aint broke then dont try to fix it'. They were also saying that in English water we dont have fluride so it leads to receeding gums and stuff. I always thought my teeth were fine apart from being slightly stained. I know America (especially California) is the land of the vain and its all about having the 'movie star' smile but please, as long as I am in no pain with my teeth and they look normal whats the problem! Was thinking about going over to Mexico to get stuff done as its alot cheaper!

I can't believe they wouldn't even clean your teeth...............that is horrible. It is true about the flouride in our water here, but $5000 worth of work???? that is ridiculous. Like you said-you were just at the dentist not too long ago.

you should definetly go see someone else-and for the record-scaling, which is when they scrape under your gums, should only cost about $300-$400. Not sure if you want to do this but...........there are dental schools that charge next to nothing for most dental work-maybe that could be an option for you? I know people who have gone & they were very happy with the results.

[Lou Lou 1]

I am soooo glad I saw this topic as I had my first dentist experience yesterday in the US and I came home crying my eyes out wanting to go back to England! I have dental insurance and just wanted to go along for a routine teeth cleaning as I havent experienced any other problems with my teeth. What a terrible experience it was. I was in there for over two hours and by the end of it I felt so shocked and also felt like I had been to a timeshare presentation! I was told I need four fillings, an implant, all my teeth were decaying, I was told I need a cap for a slight chip in my teeth I had never even noticed and dont care about, I was told I needed extensive cleaning which would cost about $600 ... in total, they said I needed about $5000 worth of treatment!!!! I was so upset by it all. They refused to do the routine cleaning that comes with my dental insurance, they said it would be like "putting a bandaid on something that needs stitches"!!! I actually went to the dentist ten months ago before I moved out here and was never told I needed anything else. I have had four fillings in 28 years of being on this earth and then in the space of ten months another dentist tells me I need four more!!! Perlease! They were also saying about wisdom teeth and how I should have them removed ... hell, they aint hurting me so as the saying goes 'If it aint broke then dont try to fix it'. They were also saying that in English water we dont have fluride so it leads to receeding gums and stuff. I always thought my teeth were fine apart from being slightly stained. I know America (especially California) is the land of the vain and its all about having the 'movie star' smile but please, as long as I am in no pain with my teeth and they look normal whats the problem! Was thinking about going over to Mexico to get stuff done as its alot cheaper!

My first dental experience here was just like that. Go to someone else and explain what care YOU want to have. And to put that ignorant wanker of a dentist correct, yes, we DO have floride in the water in the UK

[TracyTN 237]

I agree with the others - you have to shop around, unfortunately, to find a good dentist. The first one I had in this town told me I needed at least 3 crowns.

I then went to my current dentist and only have 1 (and I even waited a year before having that done). Crowns are pricey so they like to 'sell' them.

Find someone that a friend has been going to for years and trusts. Recommendations are a huge help in something like this.

[#@!!* 0]

My word(s) regarding dentists involves: Evil. Bloodsucking. Money. Sadists. Fiends.

Well okay, not all dentists but a good number of the ones that I have been to fit that description. Quite a few of us at work are looking to switch because we all have complaints that fit the above-stated words.

I agree with those who recommended shopping around and getting a second opinion. I used to have something called SmileSaver when I was a kid. Apparently they were great. I picked them up recently to supplament my dental insurance but those people at the dental office misled me and said they'd take both at the same time, but when I got there, and after they had already begun a ton of dental work, they said they wouldn't. My understanding is that SmileSaver contracts with some dentists to offer discounted rates.

I hate dentists more than gynocological exams.

Good luck

#@!!*

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

ITS GONNA COST $10,000 to get my teeth fixed...

Welcome to America!

[BelwinMills 0]

Welcome to the USA.... I told my hubby to be to get his wisdom teeth taken out. Cause it cost like a 50 dollars to take out a tooth. Do you have insurance wow 10,000 what are u getting done? Crazy Best wishes

[pedroh 21]

lol.. why all UK'ers are complaining? then its true all brits have ugly teeth??! lolzorz omg!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I read this article this morning from the BBC News - and immediately thought of this thread. Ah, the glories of health-care for profit!

Washington diary: Body shock

By Matt Frei

BBC News, Washington

I have spent the past two weeks recovering from foot surgery and so I have had ample time to reflect on the marvels of (private) US health care and the misery of a body in decline.

Patient has his teeth examined by a dentist

Dental perfection means you are in for the long haul

By sheer coincidence my medical issues started as soon as I landed in the US four years ago.

Only 48 hours after getting off the plane in Washington I was seized by numbing pain in my upper jaw and rushed to a smart dental clinic near the White House.

I pointed to a throbbing molar and was puzzled to find the unusually monosyllabic nurse taking an X-ray of every single tooth in my mouth with quiet and unflinching determination.

She returned half an hour later with the maestro of the clinic who pinned 36 or so stamp sized X-rays on a back-lit board as if they were part of an avant-garde art project and then gave a PowerPoint presentation entitled something like "My vision for your mouth".

"What about the tooth that hurts?" I asked innocently.

"Thas juss the beginning," said Dr Harrison, a southern gent with a pencil-thin moustache arching over a blindingly white smile.

"We are gonna work together for three years to get everything in perfect order! An I promise, I won't have to see ya more than once a month."

The health industry had officially declared me fair game, easy prey

When the doctor had exited in a swoosh of fluttering white to "work with" the next patient, the nurse leant over as if in deep confidence and added: "You are SOOO lucky to be working with Dr Harrison! He is the beeeast!", making "best" sound like "beast".

I never returned after my root canal operation. I chose to become a dental fugitive, hounded every six weeks by increasingly urgent letters reminding me of the doctor's vision and my empty promises. I am certain that my mouth is on a blacklist somewhere.

Flatulent joints

Two months later the next chapter of bodily woes was opened. One day, out of the blue, without warning and for no apparent reason, my neck felt as if I had survived a garrotting.

I ventured into the hitherto unknown world of chiropractors.

Surgeon holds a scalpel

You can run but you can't hide from the surgeon's knife

Dr Schweinstein X-rayed everything above my shoulders and explained to me that - among other things - I had too much gas in my joints, which is why I would soon hear a flatulent noise as he took my neck into a half nelson.

As I contemplated the notion of farting joints, the chiropractor's fleshy hands fastened around my head, yanking it left and then right as if I was an extra in some martial arts movie. I heard the advertised noise and felt instantly better as the pain seeped away.

"Thank you, Dr Schweinstein," I said with genuine relief and admiration for the healing profession. "That will be it then?" I added for good measure, heading for the door.

The doctor fixed me with watery blue eyes.

"Actually," he intoned with a flat, yet authoritative voice, "this is just the prologue, you might say. What I have in mind for you is a two-year programme... a standard course of chiro-therapy to get your neck back in shape. The good news is: shouldn't need you here more than once a week! Your insurance should cover some, if not most of it."

The cost of this healing process to the uninsured would have been $150 a week. I wondered how the estimated 50m Americans who have no private medical insurance cope. They don't, of course.

But they weren't on my mind at this stage. I was planning another getaway. A fugitive from medicine... twice over.

Midlife crisis

Four months later I was reading the New York Times and my then seven-year-old son asked me: "Dad, why are you holding the newspaper like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like that... so far!" he said and stretched his little arms straight out.

Man has his eyesight tested

Perfect vision - just in one's dreams

I hadn't even noticed how my reading arm had got longer and longer.

So my eyes were next. At least the optician was a "walk-in". No appointments, no waiting room, no dog-eared copies of last month's Time Magazine and Yachting Monthly.

The verdict: long sighted.

"Why?" I asked the optician, whose name escapes me. "I have always had perfect vision!"

His nose crinkled and I knew I should have kept my mouth shut. No optician believes in perfect vision. It's presumptuous and it's not good for business.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Forty-one," I replied.

"Ahhhhh," he said in a voice oozing pity, understanding and wisdom all coated in glee. "It's the age."

And with those three words my midlife crisis started.

The healthcare industry had officially declared me fair game, easy prey, a rich seam of never-ending profits.

I had hit rock bottom. What could be next?

I left the opticians and stumbled, diminished, into the glare of a Washington summer's day.

I walked down the road fingering my new glasses - frames so sleek, lenses so petite they were almost invisible - almost - when I felt my Blackberry buzz to life in my trouser pocket.

I put on my new specs clumsily, half enjoying this pompous new prop, and allowed them to slide professorially to the tip of my nose. I glanced down at the tiny screen. It was a joy to see so clearly.

An e-mail flashed up from someone called Kevin. I assumed it was work and clicked to open.

"Need Viagra, Cialis, Levitra?" Kevin asked. "We can help! You can perform!" It wasn't the Kevin I thought it was.

Metatarsal hell

I had hit rock-bottom. What could possibly be next? A few months later I got the answer: my feet.

I have always had feet so wide they defied even the most comfy Hush Puppies. To me, Birkenstocks felt like winkle-pickers.

Victoria Beckham sits in the crowd watching the English football team play

Fellow bunion sufferer Victoria Beckham opts for sensible boots

The pain was beginning to make me hobble and I was about to learn a new word: podiatry.

My podiatrist, a tower of a man who wears disconcertingly orange clogs with his blue surgical jump suit, eased me into the wonderful world of podiatry.

"No surgery, yet, Matt. Foot surgery is a serious business... we'll give you some orthotics first."

These specially moulded soles were the most expensive shoes I have ever bought and they didn't work. Six months later the pain was so bad that I had to go under the knife.

I would like to say that I have joined the hallowed order of the broken metatarsal, just in time for the World Cup.

Rooney, Beckham, Owen, Frei... even if I was nursing MY metatarsal on the sofa watching them test theirs on the pitch. But unfortunately I shared my pain with the other Beckham, not David, Victoria.

And it wasn't the metatarsal per se... it was metatarsal-related. I am talking about an excrescence of the bone resulting in a serious realignment of the toes. I am talking about a... bunion.

Posh Spice has one, a whopper that sticks out of her golden lace thong sandals like a raw pink golf ball. And I have two. One on each foot.

Hobbling hordes

"Bunion?" Isn't that what women get for wearing the wrong shoes?" a friend asked. True.

About 50% of American women get bunions, a statistic that didn't make me feel any better. I owe mine to my mother. Yes, they are hereditary and no, I have never worn stilettos.

"Bunion?" I asked the doctor. "Is there no fancier word? Something in Latin perhaps. Something complicated, more interesting?"

"Well, bunion is the ancient Greek word for turnip. Does that help?" the doctor with the orange clogs asked. (*)

No, it didn't.

The worst thing is that the surgery necessary to remove a "turnip" is long, complicated, painful and could end in failure.

It involves hobbling around for eight weeks with a surgical boot that could have been invented by a workshop of medieval torturers on attachment to the Ministry of Funny Walks.

I hit my low point last week. I was waiting in the surgery for my post operation check-up.

I was surrounded by middle-aged women wearing the same boot. My fellow patients. The hobbling regiment of hop-alongs.

A lady with a magenta rinse turned to me and said: "Honey, I feel so sorry for you. You are the wrong age and the wrong gender to have a bunionectomy!"

She recommended I check out an internet talk show called Life Beyond Bunions. I didn't know whether to feel flattered or flattened.

*bunion: medical condition known as hallux valgus. Origin early 18th century, unknown origin, perhaps Old French buignon, from buigne, bump on the head (Oxford English Dictionary)

[Lizzy 0]

Well..i have 5 teeth in the front of my mouth that are in need of caps. I can tell you now, they really do...2 are caps already...one of which keeps falling out..thank god for Fixodent!!!

The other 3 are built up with fillings and are crumbling....so i can see why this needs to be done so theres the 5 caps already!... at $1400 dollars a cap. (included in this price are root canals, lab work, etc.

I may need root canals for the other crowns, they said they would exray and check that.

I have a calcium deficiancy, thats why this is happening to me.

This is my second opinion

Edited July 21, 2006 by Lizzy

[irishgirl73 0]

Well..i have 5 teeth in the front of my mouth that are in need of caps. I can tell you now, they really do...2 are caps already...one of which keeps falling out..thank god for Fixodent!!!

The other 3 are built up with fillings and are crumbling....so i can see why this needs to be done so theres the 5 caps already!... at $1400 dollars a cap. (included in this price are root canals, lab work, etc.

I may need root canals for the other crowns, they said they would exray and check that.

I have a calcium deficiancy, thats why this is happening to me.

This is my second opinion

that sounds a bit expensive but the place I worked did charge about $900 for a cap...........with all the other lab costs...........I guess it was around $1400. You should look into that care-credit program, I do think most dentists have it, you would pay around $125 a month-which is better than having to pay it all at once God dental work is SO expensive. Gavin needs a root canal & I told him to take care of it in Dublin because even though I have insurance, it is still VERY expensive.

[Lizzy 0]

Oh yeah i hear ya! get him to get it sorted before he comes home!!

hey hows it going BTW, with the delay at the interview??

[Lou Lou 1]

If you're teeth are that bad because of a medical problem, there may be some way of getting it covered more via your health insurance. My friend had the same problem and opted for inplants rather than spending so much on the teeth that will crumble away anyway.

[irishgirl73 0]

Oh yeah i hear ya! get him to get it sorted before he comes home!!

hey hows it going BTW, with the delay at the interview??

well.......................Gavin was working this week, so he is going to try & go to the court next week to request the transcript. I spoke to someone the other day & said that he really doesn't even have a record-just one drunk & disorderly charge. His police report has two chrges but apparently one was thrown out. So..........................once he orders the report he has to ring the embassy & they will give him a new date. I think once they see this report they will give him the visa(they better for christ sake).

I think we will know in another couple of weeks. Swear to God it seems like the longest 8 months of my life-can't wait til he gets here.

Hope you are settling in ok

Colleen

If you're teeth are that bad because of a medical problem, there may be some way of getting it covered more via your health insurance. My friend had the same problem and opted for inplants rather than spending so much on the teeth that will crumble away anyway.

good point