Dentist Treatment

[redrabbit29]

Hey,

Believe it or not I haven't been to the dentist for about 6 years now. Pretty bad I know. I haven't had any pain with my teeth, and brush twice a day always, and my diet is good, not much sugar.

Of course, that doesn't mean that they don't need any treatment, so I was wondering what you guys do for treatment? I know a friend who said they pay £12 a month for their private dentist. That includes ALL checkups, and ALL fillings and treaments, unless it's something special like a crown or something.

Obviously NHS dentists are in short supply, so not sure if that's an option. What do you guys do for a dentist?

Thanks.

[Toothsmith]

That sounds like Denplan or a similar scheme.

To join Denplan, you have to be dentally fit, ie you need to go for a check-up (which you'll have to pay for) and should you need any work doing, you'll need to pay for that too.

Once it's all done, then you can sign onto one of these schemes, and it works exactly as your friend described.

The monthly payments are variable dependingon how much existing work there is in your mouth. (The more fillings there are, the higher risk you are, so the dearer it will be). 12 quid sounds like one of the lower categories, but if you have less than a handful of fillings, you'll probably be in the same category.

Recommendation is by far and away the best way to find a dentist. If your friend is happy with that one, then I would make an appointment. When you go, menton that it was this friend who recommended him/her. It gets the relationship off to a nice friendly start.

[aurora borealis]

I joined HSA dental plan more than 6 months ago.
In theory, now that the qualifying period is up I will be covered for 75% to 100% of costs up to £2000 per year.

Wrong.

I went for a check up and hav been told that I need £5000 ...

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *faints* ... *is sick* )

...of treatment.

Having read the policy, I now realise that all treatment arising as a result of the first check up following commencement of cover is not included.

I am too shocked to have considered further options yet.

[Toothsmith]

Have you asked the dentist for options?

It would be pretty rare to need £5000 of work urgently.

Maybe there are things that need doing right away, and things that can be done later on?

I would have a deeper discussion with the dentist (Unless your mouth really is a disaster area!)

[aurora borealis]

He's given me a treatment plan. Basically it's to replace all of my many amalgam fillings with procera and some composites - inlays and fillings.

A procera is £650, inlay is £450 and filling is £120.

He says they are cracking my teeth (they are massive fillings - thanks mum).

I should probably get a second quote?

[Scrounger]

I went for a check up and hav been told that I need £5000 of treatment.

Having read the policy, I now realise that all treatment arising as a result of the first check up following commencement of cover is not included.
Relax, you are covered for treatment following the 3 month exclusion period (excluding pre-existing conditions).

Simply have the most important work done up to £2000 first, especially any crowns and veneers (since the terms will change for these to £500 max/year at your next renwal); and have further work done the following year when you will have another £2000 of cover.

Scrounger

[Toothsmith]

He's given me a treatment plan. Basically it's to replace all of my many amalgam fillings with procera and some composites - inlays and fillings.

A procera is £650, inlay is £450 and filling is £120.

He says they are cracking my teeth (they are massive fillings - thanks mum).

I should probably get a second quote?


Sorry - I seem to have missed this post.

There are dentists that like to pre-empt every single possible problem, and fix it before it becomes a problem, and there are others that prefer to wait and see.

Obviously, I haven't seen your mouth, and so am not best placed to comment, but I would guess that there are a fair few dentists out there that would take the view that teeth with large fillings in them do have cusps break off from time to time.

But there are also times when teeth can appear to have little cracks in them, but nothing at all happens for years.

If a cusp breaks off, you can have a bit of a rough edge for a few days until you get to the dentist to get it fixed, but it rarely causes any more problem than that.

So, that sort of dentist might well think, "I'm probably doing more harm than good by taking a drill to all these old, but functional fillings. Why not wait and see if anything happens to any of them (Providing they all look fine on X-Ray as well) and deal with any problems as they arise."

So - it might be as well to see if a second opinion might just follow that sort of line. It might also be, that if you put those points to your original dentist, he might follow that philosophy as well, or give you a better explaination of why he thinks it all needs to be done now.