I went to get my bleeding gums checked yesterday and sure enough, it’s time to get a deep scaling. I had a bunch of pockets in the 4-5 range but nothing past that and he said that nothing had reached the bone yet, although it was close.
The dentist is really strongly recommending Arestin injections at the time of the scaling. Problem is, that’s an additional $700 that is not covered by my insurance. I don’t want to spend that kind of money unless it’s truly essential. They say it is important, and have all sorts of gloom and doom stories about what will happen if I don’t get it. In fact, they kind of hinted that they might not do the scaling without the Arestin…made vague references to seeing if the dentist would agree to me signing a waiver to not do the Arestin…all sorts of pushy stuff that made me nervous.
So am I getting pressured by the dentist so they can get the extra dough, or is it really, truly going to make a difference in my world?
And, is it okay that they can’t get me in for a month? I mean, it’s been 4 years since my last cleaning - my teeth won’t go falling out in a month, will they?
If they’re being that pushy about it I think they’re looking to line a pocket or two; if it was THAT critical, really, wouldn’t your insurance company pay for it?
Perhaps you should look for a second opinion. It sounds to me like you’re being upsold.
Agreed. 4-5 is really getting too eager; five has been considered the borderline in many places for decades. Consider age and family history. If you are young, three or four preventive maintenance cleanings a year might buy you many years. If you are over the hill age wise and/or have a family history of gum disease then you may want to watch for pockets over 5 and reconsider.
Also reconsider your general over health of your mouth. Dental procedures aren’t guaranteed and if in ten years you’re likely to wind up in dentures, why bother?
I had a lot of dental work and I found very few dentists want to treat the whole mouth. They focus on immediate problems. That was my problem. Because I lacked insurance, I wasn’t able to get my work done at once. And teeths shift and move, and even if you fix one if you can’t fix the one next to it fast enough you can wind up ruining the fixed tooth, rendering that treatment a waste.
