A friend of mine just landed a job, and has some extra income, and decided to go to the dentist again after four years for a cleaning. They told him he has good teeth/no cavities, but the x-rays showed bone loss under the gum line (?) and that he would need a planing [I think this is a procedure I had a few years ago where they numb your gums and go under the gum line to scrape out gunk and put in antibiotics].
Anyway, they told him the cost would be $1100, and they said they cannot do a normal cleaning, that it would be malpractice. He doesn’t have $1100, and he doesn’t have dental insurance, and now he’s upset that he can’t get the crap off his teeth. He was asking me about it, but I don’t know anything about dental issues. But I thought I’d check here. He figures even if he can’t afford the $1100, a simple cleaning is better than nothing, but it appears he won’t even be able to get that.
Any ideas for options I can suggest to him? I assume the dentist isn’t pulling a scam or something. I vaguely recall that some dental schools will do cleanings for free or discounts but will they do this planing thing too?