My dentist bill

[Uncle Ted]

I've seen this and I'm curious as to the details.

It may well be that Medicaid does not/did not cover posts or even the root canals and the dentist did this as a way to preserve the tooth rather than extracting it knowing he would not be compensated. The thinking would be that this would be a provisional fix and maybe down the line medicaid might start paying for posts and or the person would find a way to fix it definitively. Essentially, buying the patient and the tooth some time....holding out hope.

I'm also doubtful that the paper clips caused the infection. My guess is that the root canals failed (there can be several reasons for this...and, yes, poor technique could be one of them) and the paper clips were discovered upon examination. The root canal filling material (gutta percha and sealer) generally seal the tooth and would keep any weirdness from the paper clip from causing a problem. The main issue with the paper clip would be, I imagine, corrosion and failure of the restoration but not the direct cause of infection.

Oh, great... the next thing we'll find out is they teach students in dental school how to use duct tape to save money on cavity filling material.

[Art Vandelay]

Dentists are (usually) mean, and spurned women (are often) spiteful!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Dentists are (usually) mean, and spurned women (are often) spiteful!

She should serve jail time and lose her license.

[Viking]

I am pretty sure I'm in need of a crown right now but I won't be back in the US until mid may and I'm trying to anesthetize the pain with a steady stream of overworking myself, 5 miles a day of running, and two caipirinhas a night. It seems to be working for now.

[Viking]

Oh, not the tourist caipirinha but the straight up cachaça tradicional version. It's like drinking rubbing alcohol with lime and sugar.

[Portland Ute]

She should serve jail time and lose her license.

No doubt about that.

[DrumNFeather]

She should serve jail time and lose her license.

Ain't that that the tooth!

[YOhio]

Oh, not the tourist caipirinha but the straight up cachaça tradicional version. It's like drinking rubbing alcohol with lime and sugar.

Thank you for clarifying.

[Surfah]

Time to bump this thread. We have a great family dentist. He has a really nice practice and his staff of hygienists are terrific. We've never had any issues at all with them. Last month our family went for our annual 6 month cleaning and checkups. This was just the second visit for our 3 year old. She has a spot that concerned him between her front two teeth that he said would require work but that we'd be best served going to a pediatric dentist. So he referred us to one with a nearby practice.

Monday morning I took my daughter to this dentist. A hygienist brushed and flossed her teeth and gave her a little fluoride treatment. Afterward the dentist came to take a look. He just used a mirror and his fingers to look around my daughter's mouth. I explained our family dentist referred us to him to take a look at the issue between her front teeth. He then says to me that she has a lot more going on besides her front teeth and proceeds to tell me that she 6 cavities besides the one in her front teeth. Basically all of the molars are decaying he says. She needs work on A, J, K, L, S, T and E, F. S requires a crown. Mind you, this is all with just a visual inspection. No X-rays were taken and he didn't even use an explorer to probe. Because she is 3 she will have to be put completely under with general anesthesia. All of this work comes in at $3300. I was surprised because our family dentist never mentioned anything about the other teeth needing work.

Because of my previous experience with a dentist in Salt Lake City (see my first post in this thread) I had Gidget immediately call around to get a second opinion. After talking with a few people, most of them referred another pediatric dentist. One of them even told Gidget that the pediatric dentist we saw was what she called "very aggressive" in his treatment and they no longer sent people there as a result. So we scheduled an appointment with this other ped dentist and I took my 3 year old there today. This guy was great. He completely comforted my daughter. He allowed me to lay in the examination chair with my daughter laying on my chest (this was forbidden at the previous dentist's office). He did a thorough inspection using the typical dental tools you'd expect and he took an x-ray of her front teeth to get a better picture of what was going on. My daughter had some trauma to the front teeth before they even erupted and as a result she has barely any root. He showed us all of this in the x-ray and explained that they'll likely fall out very early. She has a cavity behind them as well and he said S required a filling. No crown. The other teeth he said were fine. We go back next week to have the work done. No general anesthesia is required. Our dental insurance will cover it all.

Like I said before, dentists are like mechanics.

[cougjunkie]

Time to bump this thread. We have a great family dentist. He has a really nice practice and his staff of hygienists are terrific. We've never had any issues at all with them. Last month our family went for our annual 6 month cleaning and checkups. This was just the second visit for our 3 year old. She has a spot that concerned him between her front two teeth that he said would require work but that we'd be best served going to a pediatric dentist. So he referred us to one with a nearby practice.

Monday morning I took my daughter to this dentist. A hygienist brushed and flossed her teeth and gave her a little fluoride treatment. Afterward the dentist came to take a look. He just used a mirror and his fingers to look around my daughter's mouth. I explained our family dentist referred us to him to take a look at the issue between her front teeth. He then says to me that she has a lot more going on besides her front teeth and proceeds to tell me that she 6 cavities besides the one in her front teeth. Basically all of the molars are decaying he says. She needs work on A, J, K, L, S, T and E, F. S requires a crown. Mind you, this is all with just a visual inspection. No X-rays were taken and he didn't even use an explorer to probe. Because she is 3 she will have to be put completely under with general anesthesia. All of this work comes in at $3300. I was surprised because our family dentist never mentioned anything about the other teeth needing work.

Because of my previous experience with a dentist in Salt Lake City (see my first post in this thread) I had Gidget immediately call around to get a second opinion. After talking with a few people, most of them referred another pediatric dentist. One of them even told Gidget that the pediatric dentist we saw was what she called "very aggressive" in his treatment and they no longer sent people there as a result. So we scheduled an appointment with this other ped dentist and I took my 3 year old there today. This guy was great. He completely comforted my daughter. He allowed me to lay in the examination chair with my daughter laying on my chest (this was forbidden at the previous dentist's office). He did a thorough inspection using the typical dental tools you'd expect and he took an x-ray of her front teeth to get a better picture of what was going on. My daughter had some trauma to the front teeth before they even erupted and as a result she has barely any root. He showed us all of this in the x-ray and explained that they'll likely fall out very early. She has a cavity behind them as well and he said S required a filling. No crown. The other teeth he said were fine. We go back next week to have the work done. No general anesthesia is required. Our dental insurance will cover it all.

Like I said before, dentists are like mechanics.

Filthy crooks all of them.

[Jeff Lebowski]

It is incredible to me how many unethical dentists there are out there.

[PaloAltoCougar]

It is incredible to me how many unethical dentists there are out there.

Agreed, and I've interacted with one. But I think most are competent and ethical (I believe the same with respect to attorneys, although I don't wish to invite dissenting opinions), and the trick is to have a back-up for second opinions, as Surfah happily experienced.

[Uncle Ted]

Time to bump this thread. We have a great family dentist. He has a really nice practice and his staff of hygienists are terrific. We've never had any issues at all with them. Last month our family went for our annual 6 month cleaning and checkups. This was just the second visit for our 3 year old. She has a spot that concerned him between her front two teeth that he said would require work but that we'd be best served going to a pediatric dentist. So he referred us to one with a nearby practice.

Monday morning I took my daughter to this dentist. A hygienist brushed and flossed her teeth and gave her a little fluoride treatment. Afterward the dentist came to take a look. He just used a mirror and his fingers to look around my daughter's mouth. I explained our family dentist referred us to him to take a look at the issue between her front teeth. He then says to me that she has a lot more going on besides her front teeth and proceeds to tell me that she 6 cavities besides the one in her front teeth. Basically all of the molars are decaying he says. She needs work on A, J, K, L, S, T and E, F. S requires a crown. Mind you, this is all with just a visual inspection. No X-rays were taken and he didn't even use an explorer to probe. Because she is 3 she will have to be put completely under with general anesthesia. All of this work comes in at $3300. I was surprised because our family dentist never mentioned anything about the other teeth needing work.

Because of my previous experience with a dentist in Salt Lake City (see my first post in this thread) I had Gidget immediately call around to get a second opinion. After talking with a few people, most of them referred another pediatric dentist. One of them even told Gidget that the pediatric dentist we saw was what she called "very aggressive" in his treatment and they no longer sent people there as a result. So we scheduled an appointment with this other ped dentist and I took my 3 year old there today. This guy was great. He completely comforted my daughter. He allowed me to lay in the examination chair with my daughter laying on my chest (this was forbidden at the previous dentist's office). He did a thorough inspection using the typical dental tools you'd expect and he took an x-ray of her front teeth to get a better picture of what was going on. My daughter had some trauma to the front teeth before they even erupted and as a result she has barely any root. He showed us all of this in the x-ray and explained that they'll likely fall out very early. She has a cavity behind them as well and he said S required a filling. No crown. The other teeth he said were fine. We go back next week to have the work done. No general anesthesia is required. Our dental insurance will cover it all.

Like I said before, dentists are like mechanics.

Christmas is just around the corner and apparently this dentist's kids want one of those new xbox and PS4's with all the games. Cut him a break.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Christmas is just around the corner and apparently this dentist's kids want one of those new xbox and PS4's with all the games. Cut him a break.

Someone should forward him the Ute BBall incentive offer. With several games coming up, problem solved (assuming the transportation thing gets worked out).

[TripletDaddy]

Someone should forward him the Ute BBall incentive offer. With several games coming up, problem solved (assuming the transportation thing gets worked out).

make sure the dentist understands that he apparently has to stay for the entire game in order to get the $100