The Cost of Perfect Teeth

On a recent trip home, around the time of Halloween, my mom made me a dentist appointment as I hadn't been in a while. The appointment was a for a cleaning, but as the lovely dental assistant cleaned away at my pearly whites she exclaimed, "Umm.... what's with your second to last molar on your right lower jaw?" Confused, I said, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't how you wouldn't have noticed this, but it's majorly chipped," she told me. "I think the doctor should take a look at this."

"Oh that," I responded in an almost nonchalant manner. "That's been like that for about five years now. No one ever said anything before about it when I used to go to my other dentist."

After giving me a disbelieving, quizzical look, she responded with, and I'm paraphrasing here, "What the crap?"

The doctor came over and took a look. Besides having a cavity on that tooth, as one would expect, the chipping led to a cavity on the lower corner of the adjacent tooth, a place that normally wouldn't have a cavity unless it was exposed as it was. Also, the tooth was slowly decaying. I needed to get it fixed ASAP. If not, I could lose the tooth which could led to tons of other problems, which would ultimately destroy my "perfect smile" (their words, not mine. well....mine, too). Understand, I have a teeth thing. I have reoccurring nightmares about losing my teeth. So, needless to say, I was ready to get this stuff fixed that day. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. They could fill my cavities, but they needed to take a mold of my teeth and send it off to get a proper ceramic cap for it. So, it would take at least a week to get that back. Either way, I was in. I had to save my teeth. But let me tell you, preserving a great smile costs quite a bit.

At first the cost came out to $950, but since I was a new customer, I had no insurance and because these guys were extremely nice people, the doctor decided to not charge for the fillings. The cost dropped to $700--still expensive for someone like me, but reasonable from what I understand. So, I got my cavities filled and for now have a temporary cap on the tooth to keep it safe until they get they permanent one in.

What do you all think of this? Was that a reasonable price for what I'm getting done? Also, seriously, who flosses? Cause apparently, I need to.

Comments

[Bridget Carey]

You're lucky you didn't need a root canal, cause that is really serious. Never let a tooth issue (or car issue) go for long, cause it just gets more expensive to fix!

[Richard]

Yes that sound pretty reasonable to be considering the cost of dentistry today. I had to get an implant & that new jewel was 3,000. so i think you got off cheap. Or perhaps i got ripped off? humm

[Ashley Labrie]

That seems reasonable to me. And the smart thing to do. I did NOT have my tooth capped and even with insurance ended up spending over $1k after the tooth got infected repeatedly leading to an ER visit complete with IV antibiotics, and finally pulled. Not to mention missing work from being out sick for a week and the unbelievable pain from the infected tooth that went up into my sinus (diagnosed courtesy of a pricey CT scan).

[Emily]

That's a relative bargain. You too have nightmares about your teeth falling out? I wonder what the meaning of that is.

[tooth jewelry]

Well, you really need to invest in your tooth problems. I also have dental problems but still don't have the money.

-ja