Dental work

[co_delphi]

A recent discussion about dental work and the prices to have it done has brought up a interesting possibility. I had gone to a bad dentist who told me I would have to get 16 root canals with crowns and the total bill would be around $15K USD. Apparently a teacher of my girlfriend had to go in for emergency dental work while in France and the cost of a emergency root canal and crown cost him only $150. Now if this is true, I can see myself getting a flight to France and making a special point to not enjoy my vacation just to have cheap but good dental work done. So I ask anyone ion a foreign country, what are dental prices like in your area?

[Idlethought]

16 root canals wtf? Did you coat your teeth in molasses since you were born or something?

[co_delphi]

As I stated before this was the report from a bad dentist. I apparently had the words cash cow written across my forehead and he thought he could milk me for all I had. Upon going to a different dentist it was reported only 6 root canals were needed.

[ellie]

That is still a heck of a lot of root canals!

I live in the USA and don't pay for my own dental stuff (yay for parents). I had braces when I was younger, which was apparently pricey, and then had my wisdom teeth out this last summer which was a couple thousand dollars, as well. Other than that, though, my teeth have been fairly cheap (just yearly dentist visits) never even a cavity.

I think health care and dental care SHOULD be cheaper here, many people can't afford it and I believe that health care is a RIGHT.

[mugen]

wtf?... I knew healthcare in America was expensive, but wtf.... A quick search on google showed me the following information(the Netherlands):
root canal ____47,14 ____________________________9,07 if insured
removing root 27,49 ____________________________6,87 if insured
removing multiple roots on one tooth 36,65 per tooth _9,16 if insured
removing tooth 35,36 and 8,84 if insured
per extra tooth 7,07 and 1,76 if insured


so all I have to say is wtf America?
edit: oh it's in Euro's

[co_delphi]

wtf?... I knew healthcare in America was expensive, but wtf.... A quick search on google showed me the following information(the Netherlands):
root canal ____47,14 ____________________________9,07 if insured
removing root 27,49 ____________________________6,87 if insured
removing multiple roots on one tooth 36,65 per tooth _9,16 if insured
removing tooth 35,36 and 8,84 if insured
per extra tooth 7,07 and 1,76 if insured


so all I have to say is wtf America?
edit: oh it's in Euro's

The commas are throwing me off. Does this essentially mean that a root canal with insurance is $9.07?

[mugen]

yes in euro's that is

[mugen]

just found out return visits and and x-ray pictures are a bitch. ad an extra 150 euro's for someone without insurance

[co_delphi]

Well as far as insurance in the states go the initial checkup is free which includes one full set of mouth X-rays (typically valued at $80-$130). So Go in for the initial checkup, find out what needs to be done, Take the x-rays and the prognosis to a foreign dentist and get the actual work done for cheap.

[co_delphi]

yes in euro's that is

When you figure that a root canal in the states is typically around $700 not counting the crown afterward you can see why I would look elsewhere for cheaper.

[CNagy]

Most of my family goes back to Romania to get serious dental work done. It is cheap as dirt, and Romania has some of the finest medical/dental schools around.

[Frankey-eh]

our dental covers the x-rays and two yearly cleansing for free. In addition to toothpaste, floss, toothbrush ^_^

but I generally have good teeth, so I don't need to pay anything extra. Never had braces, never will.

strawberries are supposedly good for your teeth.

[NERD]

I go pay a visit to the dentist whenever I go back to Korea, it's less than half of what I'd pay in the States, including the airplane ticket. I've heard of people going to Canada/Mexico for dental work, people just get ripped off here in the States.

At the same time, my father was commenting that European nations have better welfare/health care because they tax a lot and takes up a lot of money from the national budget. We Americans prefer to spend that cash on weapons. A transcontinental missle that has accuracy within 3 meters? Hell yea!

[General_Failure]

Go go military... one of the few things I do like about it...

Busted out front teeth on a quad: Free
Root canals: Free
Caps: Free

But, other than that, I've never had any problems with my teeth, which is funny since I've dipped for 6 years now ._.

[Kass]

^The dip will more likely give you throat cancer than cavities.

What Americans pay for dental work varies depending on your insurance. My daughter's root canal and crown will cost me about $500 total after insurance pays their portion. The root canal is done, but her baby teeth on either side of the tooth that needed the root canal fell out and the permanent ones are coming in. The dentist wants to wait until they are in so that they don't push the crown off the post, which would be A Bad Thing.

Our insurance is pretty good too. Free cleanings and x-rays. Fillings are super cheap, about $20 for the white resin fillings. No metal amalgam. :) Very low family deductible.

I have to have an implant for a tooth that abcessed and was removed (short version: it was a baby tooth I still had at age *noneofyourbusiness* because there was no adult tooth behind it. The baby tooth did what baby teeth do and fell out.). Unfortunately, implants are a fairly new dental procedure so they are not yet covered by insurance. I won't get a bridge because it destroys the teeth on either side of the tooth. They have to be filed down in order to wrap the bridge around them. Over time, the filed down teeth develop problems and themselves need to be filled or replaced. So, instead, I am setting aside money to do the implant. They are expensive, but are actually less costly than the bridge work.

The bad thing about military dentists? Every single bit of work they did on my mouth has fallen out or had to be replaced because it was less than stellar dental work. I've had to pay to replace or fix every single thing they ever did to my mouth, including now needing the implant.

[General_Failure]

Ouchy, yeah, I've had a lot of people bitch about the military's shitty work when it comes to the dental aspect, however I didn't get my teeth done by them, it was just paid by them ^^ Got my teeth done down town here in Vegas.

Yes, I know /bap bad me for dipping and wanting my lips and gums to fall off... Oh well, I can't stand smoking or being around it, but I want my nicotine damnit >.<

[Aria]

Oi, dental work. I've run my parents out of house and home with all the dental work I needed and probably will need. My old dentist filled I think...6 of my molars, root canaled one of them then even then, they all had to be refilled by my recent/current dentist. And THEN 4 had to be crowned...that includes the one that had to be canaled.

But 6 root canals? Oh damn, that's crazy. How did you ned up needing that many? I've never even had to have 6 cavities at a time, my record is like...5. Did you not go to the dentist since...never? Remember, you only get one set of teeth. And dentures suck.

[MNJetter]

I think health care and dental care SHOULD be cheaper here, many people can't afford it and I believe that health care is a RIGHT.

Health care, yeah. If something is in danger, you should be able to get it treated whether you can afford it or not. But dental care? Isn't most of that kind of cosmetic? Insurance won't cover rogaine if your hair starts to fall out. And unlike most tooth problems (other than crooked ones), hair falling out isn't even your fault to begin with. It's great that some insurance companies do, but if they don't cover dental work, that totally shouldn't be counted in the same boat as if they denied you cancer treatment.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but it's one of my pet peeves when people misuse the word "right." That's a powerful word, meant for things that would be inhumane if they weren't available to everybody. Like the right to disagree with the government without being arrested, or the right to a public education. Dental work for medical reasons are different, but the right to have teeth like Catherine Zeta-Jones is no more a right than the right to have bigger boobs through plastic surgery.

[Kass]

Most dental work is necessary. Root canals and crowns are. They are just the most extreme ways to treat severe tooth decay--decay to the point that you can't fill it, but have to reconstruct it. Bad bites can displace the jaw and cause bone problems and headaches, etc.

As for the military dentists, there was no choice when I had the work done. This was before the military's health care became an insurance type system.

[co_delphi]

needless to say my teeth suck. I do all the proper care that everyone else does, but for some reason my teeth seem to be more troublesome than most peoples. I have tried to get as much dental work done as possible, but a root canal followed by a crown takes alot out of your insurance. The last time I had work done it was for a cavity on a tooth that had broken that when filled turned abcessed and I ended up having the tooth extracted. Not my favorite course but my only alternative was to get a root canal on the abcess and there was not much actual tooth left.... so I got rid of it. Many of the teeth that need the root canals are because they had fillings in them, but got worse and can't be fixed by a simple filling anymore.

[Ronette]

just found out return visits and and x-ray pictures are a bitch. ad an extra 150 euro's for someone without insurance

This info is actually handy as right now I have no insurance. I need caps on my two front teeth repaired and all my wisdom teeth removed.
Hope I can find a dentist here that is reasonably cheap but good. In Australia I ended up going to the government dentist to get a broken tooth fixed (for $20 AU)and I think they did a bad job of it as it always aches.

[denjin]

My dental insurance is pretty good, but it only seems to cover 50% of crowns or something, so if you need a root canal, it still costs a lot in the end.

Still beats Japanese dental work. My dentist here when he saw the work done there was like "OMG, WHO THE HELL DID THIS???". Not to mention the dentist kept telling me that Americans were strong and that I didn't NEED NOVACAINE!!!! And then talking behind my back in Japanese while I understood them was fun, too. :|

At least that care was free I guess. lol

[Kass]

You get what you pay for.

[Aria]

Most dental work is necessary. Root canals and crowns aren't. They are just the most extreme ways to treat severe tooth decay--decay to the point that you can't fill it, but have to reconstruct it. Bad bites can displace the jaw and cause bone problems and headaches, etc.

As for the military dentists, there was no choice when I had the work done. This was before the military's health care became an insurance type system.

Well, root canals and crowns are also necessary. Cuz if you let the decay go too far, you end up with infections of all sorts and in the end you lose all your teeth, then it's liquid diet for you 'till you die or can afford dentures. Headaches would be the least of your problems at that point. Not everyone who needs braces or dental appliances get them, so it leads me to believe that they're not THAT necessary. Only in extreme cases, when bone problems and headaches can happen. Unfortunately, a decaying tooth is always an extreme case because it ALWAYS leads to the same thing, a dead tooth. So I guess I wouldn't say that one is necessary while the other is not. It just depends on what you want to put up with in the end. No teeth or alignment problems.

[Masa the Masta]

Well I don't know how much it is to get a filling in the states is..even if I live here..

But I got my fillings in Mexico for 20 bucks. Go me. ;)

[Lea]

I've never had any cavities before so when it comes to the actual tooth needing treatment, I haven't had any experience there. I've had braces, a pallet separator (Spell?), and once every few years have my back teeth sealed to prevent cavities. I’m sure all that was extremely expensive though.

[co_delphi]

The typical cost of a filling around here is $150 for a 2 surface composite filling. (surfaces are basically if you imagine your tooth as a block, the number of faces the filling will encompass determine how many surfaces it is.)

[Spy]

approx. $7200 in insurance for total removal, so far I'm $300 from having my dentures: http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6176/memouth4yp.th.jpg (http://img523.imageshack.us/my.php?image=memouth4yp.jpg)

[KelliShaver]

I need so much dental work done it would require a 2nd mortgage. :P I've been avoiding it for years, and I know this is only making it worse, but when you don't have the money there's not much you can do. I went through a long period of depression after my mom died, during which I didn't take good care of myself, and my teeth suffered the brunt of that. The last time I was looking about getting any work done, the dentist wanted to charge me over $200 just to look (not counting x-rays) and tell me what needed to be done.

One of these days, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and just go in and have them knock me out and fix everything at once, then it'll be pain from hell for a week and it'll be over.

[Acolyte]

You know, my dad's job may have had me shipped up here (I'm north of 60! I'm cold!), but DAMN does it have a good dental plan. When I was...5? 6? Whatever. Anyways, I had my two front teeth ripped out in a horrible hammock-related accident. It took 3 years of braces-well, and some natural movement before that-to yank my eye teeth to the front of my mouth, and then I had to get caps on them.
Fun fact-I'm short two teeth, my whole toothline got dragged fowards, but now I'll likely not have to worry about wisdom teeth.

[Kass]

Well, root canals and crowns are also necessary. Cuz if you let the decay go too far, you end up with infections of all sorts and in the end you lose all your teeth, then it's liquid diet for you 'till you die or can afford dentures. Headaches would be the least of your problems at that point. Not everyone who needs braces or dental appliances get them, so it leads me to believe that they're not THAT necessary. Only in extreme cases, when bone problems and headaches can happen. Unfortunately, a decaying tooth is always an extreme case because it ALWAYS leads to the same thing, a dead tooth. So I guess I wouldn't say that one is necessary while the other is not. It just depends on what you want to put up with in the end. No teeth or alignment problems.

Argh. That was a typo on my part. I meant to say "are necessary." I'll fix it.

[BlueNile]

I have to have an implant for a tooth
One thing that sucks about implants is that once they are in you can't have an MRI done.
Rips them straight out of your head...

Sometimes the docs don't always mention this...