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Post by crystal1588 on Mar 14, 2011 10:23:46 GMT -5
So I just got back from a consultation about removing my wisdom teeth. I have health/dental insurance, but the dental caps out at $1200/year and health does not cover wisdom teeth removal. I am getting all 4 removed, all are impacted, 2 completely under bone and 2 partially under bone.
yuck.
Anywhoo--after insurance pays a portion, I will be stuck with a $1300 balance. I know it's not the end of the world, and we have savings for these things (in addition to a small FSA), but yikes. Before insurance, the procedere was a little more than $2500 and the consultation fee was $75.
DH just had all 4 of his out about a week ago. Fortunately, his dentist is his dad's best friend, so all dental work is done no cost, so I guess it evens out?
Yuck.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2011 10:26:52 GMT -5
Can you go to your DH's dentist?
Can you wait to have this procedure done until your new FSA year starts, so you can pay the out of pocket cost 100% with your FSA?
I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth out 3 or 4 years ago. I kept putting it off, but I am so happy I had them out,.
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Post by crystal1588 on Mar 14, 2011 10:30:48 GMT -5
Can you go to your DH's dentist?
I wish..his were a simple procedure (all erupted) and he just had novicane. I am going to an oral surgeon and getting IV sedation.
Can you wait to have this procedure done until your new FSA year starts, so you can pay the out of pocket cost 100% with your FSA?
They are already giving me some trouble, so I just need to get them out..I think I waited too long already.
I was just amazed at how expensive it is. I have never had any major medical procedure, ever, so I just never realized it...
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Mar 14, 2011 10:35:38 GMT -5
Is there a dental school nearby? Ours has a clinic attached to it that the residents and professors work in (so you would not be operated on by a new student) and it costs a fraction of what the regular clinics and oral surgeons do.
It's the IV sedation that jacks up the price. Since mine are all erupted I asked about just novacine and it shaved $1500 off the price tag.
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Post by crystal1588 on Mar 14, 2011 10:38:00 GMT -5
It's the IV sedation that jacks up the price
Surprisingly that part was only $375. It was $550 for each tooth plus the $375 for sedation.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2011 10:38:21 GMT -5
My wife got all 4 taken out at once earlier this year and after insurance it costs us $756.30
Make sure to go over everything because the dentist wanted to put my wife under but our insurance would not have cover it. If we did not make sure of that, it would have been another 1k that we would have had to pay.
We are saving now to take care of mine next year.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Mar 14, 2011 10:41:00 GMT -5
Surprisingly that part was only $375. It was $550 for each tooth plus the $375 for sedation.
Mine are all erupted, that's probbaly why it is cheaper extraction for me.. It's the IV sedation that jacks it up for me.
Have you tried looking for another oral surgeon or is this the only one that is available to you?
My chain has a dentist who does them but the price was insane so I opted out and wen with the oral surgeon that DH used.
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TD2K
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Post by TD2K on Mar 14, 2011 10:41:28 GMT -5
Can you have the worse two taken out this year and defer the next two to next year?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2011 10:46:37 GMT -5
Make sure to go over everything because the dentist wanted to put my wife under but our insurance would not have covered it. If we did not make sure of that, it would have been another 1k that we would have had to pay. Wow, that's rude! I had a few molars extracted and it was messy because one had broken off an a crown had fallen off the other- unrelated, just bad timing that they happened so close together. Neither was salvageable so I decided on implants and the removal of the existing teeth was done under a general anaesthetic. I'm really glad our insurer covered that; even if it were painless I'd have hated to be awake. Sometimes I think insurers go to far in telling doctors/dentists how the work should be done. |
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 14, 2011 11:01:06 GMT -5
The reason why the OP's estimate is so high is because she has a difficult extraction. I suspect that she's getting a pretty good price because the price of a single difficult extraction at my dental school is going to be about $400.
It's a HUGE difference extracting teeth that have erupted vs teeth that are trapped by bone. Also, the IV sedation is a necessity since they'll need to cut more.
Stablest.....at this point, the dental students are not accepting new patients. The semester is going to end in less than 2 months and they'll be finising up with the patients they have. However, the faculty practice does continue to practice though the spring and summer.
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Post by cytoglycerine on Mar 14, 2011 11:16:12 GMT -5
So I just got back from a consultation about removing my wisdom teeth. I have health/dental insurance, but the dental caps out at $1200/year and health does not cover wisdom teeth removal. I am getting all 4 removed, all are impacted, 2 completely under bone and 2 partially under bone. yuck. Anywhoo--after insurance pays a portion, I will be stuck with a $1300 balance. I know it's not the end of the world, and we have savings for these things (in addition to a small FSA), but yikes. Before insurance, the procedere was a little more than $2500 and the consultation fee was $75. DH just had all 4 of his out about a week ago. Fortunately, his dentist is his dad's best friend, so all dental work is done no cost, so I guess it evens out? Yuck. Wow, so the total cost, assuming you didn't have any kind of coverage, would be $2,575?? ($2500 and fee of $75)...Somehow, that seems to be on the inexpensive side when I compare it to my bill for the same thing. I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed in 1999 (with a Maxiliofacial surgeon, IV sedation, and only 2 teeth, not all 4, were impacted), and the total cost before any kind of insurance was ~$3,000. My handy-dandy inflation calculator shows that to be about $3,800 in today's dollars. Now I'm left wondering....has the cost of this kind of dental surgery gone down in the last 12 years - or did I get totally hosed?  |
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Post by crystal1588 on Mar 14, 2011 11:34:35 GMT -5
"Now I'm left wondering....has the cost of this kind of dental surgery gone down in the last 12 years - or did I get totally hosed? "
Not sure..but I had a different consultation before this one (out of network for dental but not for medical, I thought medical was covering it) and they quoted about $3500 for the same procedure.
The surgeon that is actually doing it is in network, and I actually felt much more comfortable with this doctor. He explained things a lot better and really made me feel more prepared than the other guy.
I'm sure it depends on where you live too?
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telephus44
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Post by telephus44 on Mar 14, 2011 11:46:21 GMT -5
DH had 5 teeth (4 wisdom plus another one, one of the wisdom teeth was in sideways and had ruined the roots of a non-wisdom tooth) pulled in 2004. We used up all the dental insurance allowance on getting his teeth cleaned up enough for the surgery (he hadn't been to a dentist in over 12 years, and boy was it nasty in there). Total bill was $4500, which at the time was paid by CC. He was put under, and I know it was complicated (took over 2 hours). They even had to use extra anethesia.
I'm not sure if it was a good price or a ripoff, but the surgeon was excellent and really did a good job - and since DH was scared stiff of dentists, I wasn't about to shop around if he trusted this one.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 14, 2011 11:51:13 GMT -5
Now I'm left wondering....has the cost of this kind of dental surgery gone down in the last 12 years - or did I get totally hosed?
Too many variables to determine this. A lot depends upon the overhead of the dentist and that can vary widely across the US. A friend of mine is a board registered periodontist, who practices in a large city in TX and in a smaller town on his off days.
His overhead in his large city practice is a LOT higher than that in the small town - and in fact, because the overhead is so much smaller, allows him to make more.
So differences of >50% are not unusual.
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Post by cytoglycerine on Mar 14, 2011 12:38:42 GMT -5
Riiight...Location differences...duh  Time to lay down I guess, brain is not processing info the way it should be...*tired*...  |
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Post by dragonfly7 on Mar 14, 2011 12:56:21 GMT -5
"Health does not cover wisdom teeth removal. I am getting all 4 removed, all are impacted, 2 completely under bone and 2 partially under bone."
I'm surprised your health insurance doesn't cover it. In my case, the fact that I had teeth under bone was the deciding factor in whether or not my health insurance had to cover it versus just my dental.
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Post by busymom on Mar 14, 2011 13:11:08 GMT -5
Can you get 2 teeth removed this year, and wait to get the other 2 done next year? Our ins. didn't cover all the cost of one of our kids either, and had I known, & would've checked into getting some of the work done 2 years in a row. Just a thought....
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Mar 14, 2011 17:03:50 GMT -5
I would just bear the cost and get all of them out at a time. Would you rather get sedated once or twice?
Mine were impacted as well and I made my appointment that December to coincide with the upcoming spring break (I was in my junior year of college). That January, hell broke loose with my wisdom teeth and my jaw was swollen and I was in a lot of pain. My dentist put me on antibiotics and painkillers because I still wanted to wait until spring break to get the oral surgery. It was a long two months. My oral surgeon was great, the surgery went well, and I had no complaints.
Another friend of mine got hers out one at a time because she didn't have the money to do it at once, and each extraction was painful and affected her for days after. Everyone's reactions are different, but I'd much rather get it over with than chance having pain and issues more than once.
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Post by Nazgul Girl on Mar 14, 2011 17:15:08 GMT -5
Amazingly, I still have 3 of my wisdom teeth at the age of 58 1/2, although one had to be extracted after it broke and became infected. I've never refused to have them taken out; they've just never needed it. They didn't affect the other teech around them, strangely ( or luckily ) enough. So now, I'm still 75% wiser than most people, because I still have 3 of my wisdom teeth.... ;D
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Post by katedenorm on Mar 14, 2011 19:07:24 GMT -5
Is the dentist removing them or an oral surgeon?
I'm pretty sure that when I had mine removed over 25 years ago, and covered on my parents insurance, the oral surgeon was covered under medical.
It may have changed after all of these years.
And brew some tea bags before you leave for the work. Chilled, they make wonderful "ice packs."
Good luck.
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Post by gsbrq on Mar 14, 2011 21:15:42 GMT -5
I have all four of my wisdom teeth; I'd had 4 teeth pulled before I got braces, so my dentist decided to leave them. But they are hard to clean, and I now have cavities in all of them (just found out last week). My dentist gave me the option of filling them or having them pulled.
I am leaning towards fillings because of the cost, and because my other filled teeth have held up quite well. Alternately, I could skip the fillings, get two of them pulled this year and two pulled once my new plan year starts....guess I need to get a price on the extraction so I can compare.
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bimetalaupt
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Post by bimetalaupt on Mar 14, 2011 22:39:44 GMT -5
So I just got back from a consultation about removing my wisdom teeth. I have health/dental insurance, but the dental caps out at $1200/year and health does not cover wisdom teeth removal. I am getting all 4 removed, all are impacted, 2 completely under bone and 2 partially under bone. yuck. Anywhoo--after insurance pays a portion, I will be stuck with a $1300 balance. I know it's not the end of the world, and we have savings for these things (in addition to a small FSA), but yikes. Before insurance, the procedere was a little more than $2500 and the consultation fee was $75. DH just had all 4 of his out about a week ago. Fortunately, his dentist is his dad's best friend, so all dental work is done no cost, so I guess it evens out? Yuck. I used to have a friend in Midland that was an oral surgeon.. MD.. many of the insurance would pay as he called it bone surgery.. The problem is in the bone not the teeth. He used ring compression cuter and had all four out in less then 1/2 hour. He could do 12 cases on a Saturday and everyone back to work Monday. Gave them all 12 Darvon Conp 65, 20 Tetracyclene ( escept allergies to asa or TCN ) and an old drug they do not make anymore .. Pineapple enzymes.. The most I hear about was what do I do with the 10 DC65 I did not need. He would also rebuild the bones from those who went to Mexico to save money   Just a thought, Bruce |
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