So I go to the dentist. Aspen dental to be precise. I get enough xrays to give me super powered cancer. One full head and 20 others. They were taking picture upon picture. So finally it comes to them giving me the estimates for my mouth. According to them they have to pull every crown I have and redo them all because there is decay underneath. However, none of this decay shows up on the xrays. There are three of them in there telling me how they have never seen that before and it is some amazing thing they need to document. My bullshit sensor is just ringing. Crowns are expensive and that is about 8 grand to do. So I look at them and ask them if I can get all this work done for free if they can use me to do some research on why my decay does not appear on xrays. Of course it does not work like that. Then to make matters worse they give me the full estimate of 23000 dollars for all the work that needs to be done now and I will have to come in for some advanced gum treatment every 3 months for the rest of my life. They did not even give me a complimentary oxy before springing that price tag on me. They would not even give me a prescription even if I dropped half the cost down. I might just have to go to Charlotte to see my favorite dentist.
Yes, do that. It's like computers, cars or anything one can't deal with oneself ---- you're paying somebody to diagnose and treat something you yourself don't understand as well as they do. I've been there with dentists, until I finally found an Angel. Worth the search.
I must say I was very, very hesitant about opening up this thread as soon as I say "my mouth" until I realized that it's not the Red Room. Anywho 23,000 is astounding! That'a fucking brand new car worth of dental work.
It is a crazy amount of upsell. They want to do a ton of work at the highest price. If I were a teen it would be worth it. Still, about ten grand if it is repetative.
I just had an implant done for about 4 grand for a 1st molar. At the time they were selling it to me the comely young wench was telling me how I was young and should have it done. I thought (but did not verbalize) that there were few bodily features I would pay 4 grand for and didn't think the tooth was worth it but went ahead anyway. She was pretty. Go see the guy in Charlotte. Good luck.
$23k??? how many crowns have you got? Im in the process of getting one. Its costing £300. Thats supposedly a good one with high quality materials and not a metal NHS crappy cap.
The talk of me in college tends to fly u dear my radar as I still look that age, but you just reminded me it was there with the people who had my damned medical records. Maybe they cannot see?
They were talking about 8 but I cannot recall that many. My front top teeth were wiped out in my teens because I tripped and bit the sidewalk on a vacation while chasing down my sister. If they cannot show me decay under the crown then they need to find someone else to pay for their college. The big part of the bill comes from gum disease treatment which seems to make all the other work a lot less valuable because my gums may just keep on going to shit. That seems to run over ten grand and then they want me in every three months for the rest of my life. Here I was thinking the people smoking crack were supposed to be the one with huge dental problems.
I'd get a second or third opinion. The oral surgeon I went to for the implant was careful to steer me away from dentists who were money machines. I had mentioned the guy I'd been going to and he implored me to stay away, he'd seen too many of that dentist's patients. He specifically mentioned another guy to avoid that sold repetitive gum treatments. On the crowns that have gaps, the dentist I saw to complete the implant noticed a crown I had done 5 years ago had a gap between it and the underlying tooth. He said it was prone to decay and should be replaced but wasn't all gloom and doom. If all your crowns have gaps, I'd consider a malpractice suit. I got the impression it was malpractice. X-rays don't lie.
Yeah, that can't be right. I had to have the thing where they lift up the gums and deep clean under there and even with the optional IV sedation it was under $1000. Then I went to a specialist and got some hard core antibiotics and that was like $50. Totally fixed my gum issues though. Shop around. It's not cheap, but it shouldn't be THAT expensive. That's insane.
Ashen in a well advertised chain dentist. I figure they have to make that extra money somehow. The gum disease problem is real, and this is Florida so there are plenty of other dentists. The extractions get done today, and they are reasonably priced as they need to be surgically extracted. Either they lower their prices or this will be the last I see of them and their chain.
