So yesterday I went to the dentist and had a check-up after some 3+ years. Being a student with no full time employment that provides health and dental insurance tends to make it more challenging to go. Anyway, it was becoming much more necessary to go as time went on. One of my old fillings fell out and my tooth broke. Well, at the dentist they told me it was going to require a root canal or extraction (back bottom tooth). So, I might have done the root canal, but apparently I have a bunch of other work that needs done. How soon, I don’t know. I don’t know if the dentists are like car salesman and tell you exxagerations to get you in and spend your money, but I am looking at 7,000 dollars worth of work. Two crowns, a root canal, some fillings, etc. So yeah, doing an extraction will save me 1500 dollars or so (guessing the extraction will run 2-3 hundred).
Problem is, my budget is severely limited. The offer financing, but it looks like it will be 200 more a month for me, something that is hard while going to college full time. So should I talk to my parents and look into getting a private student loan in which the interest is deferred until graduation? (two years)
Should I put it off another year, and hope better employment comes along, or what?
*already put stuff on ebay to sell to get a few extra bucks for the extraction and check up. Sigh.
For what it’s worth, I too, went to the dentist after a 3 year delay (I was not having any specific problems.) The bastard told me that I had 15 cavities, one of which was very bad and had been missed for the past 10 years and might require a root canal. Now, before my 3 year hiatus I had been going to the dentist every 6 months, with x-rays, etc., and have always had good oral hygene. I thought the 15 cavities (which were going to cost a couple of thousand to fix) were unlikely, and decided to get a second opinion. Second opinion dentist found only one minor cavity, fixed it quickly, and no more problems. I say get a second opinion. ymmv.
Get the to a dental school! Seriously. It takes longer, and it sucks. But it will save hundreds if not thousands of dollars. ANd you can really really trust them- all the work is checked and your student dentist’s career depends on how well they diagnose things and take care of them. How many real dentists have their career on the line for your teeth?
I came in to say the same thing as even sven. If your college has a dental school, that’s absolutely your best bet. Otherwise I’d agree that you need to get a second opinion. Good luck!
Also, for each of the separate procedures, ask to have the reasons for the procedures explained in detail. For each one, ask “What will happen if I don’t get this done at all? If I wait until next year? If I wait 4 years?”
If the dentist can show you cavities on an xray, it is probably correct that if they are ignored for a long time they will only get deeper and cause you a toothache and more bills later. Caps, crowns, I don’t know.
If the dentist resists explaining things to you, get a different dentist anyway.