Dental Crowns....what a budget buster!!.....

[doclegler]

I just recently had a root canal and crown, and have maxed out my insurance for the year. Now I went back for another visit, and I will need all 4 of my silver fillings removed b/c they are cracking my back teeth, and have crowns put on all 4, for a whopping total of.... $5300!!!
No idea where to start with all this. I sure wish they would've known about silver amalgam fillings 25 years ago when I got all the fillings. I wish I felt that my dentist was wrong, but he showed me the large cracks forming (that my previous dentist IGNORED year after year!!) and I have to agree something needs to be done.
Anyone have any advice? I'm really at a loss and stressed out over the entire situation. Guess I'll be getting another job and skipping a few years at WDW....

 

[dawson5]

Just had a root canal and crown last month, I know your pain. Look on the bright side, it could have been worse. You get to keep most of your own teeth, no extractions or dentures.

 

[Coll0610]

It's probably worth getting a second opinion. Maybe some of the work could wait until your next insurance year starts?

 

[cari12]

You should be able to get the root canals and have posts put in and then you can wait for the crowns for your insurance to kick in again. Then you are not out of pocket so much right now.
Also, are you sure it is just the filling material that is causing the cracks? I cracked a couple of teeth before the dentist realized I must be grinding them. I now have a mouth guard I wear to bed at night. Teeth grinding is quite common.

 

[goofystitchfan]

I too feel your pain. In the past few years, I have had 4 crowns (luckily I did not have to have root canals along with them) and have been having my silver fillings replaced as well. It is a BIG hole that is left in the wallet for sure. I have been using my Disney Visa. A lot of dentists accept that card (Carecredit) that has no interest for usually up to 12 months.

 

[doclegler]

You should be able to get the root canals and have posts put in and then you can wait for the crowns for your insurance to kick in again. Then you are not out of pocket so much right now.
Also, are you sure it is just the filling material that is causing the cracks? I cracked a couple of teeth before the dentist realized I must be grinding them. I now have a mouth guard I wear to bed at night. Teeth grinding is quite common.

I don't think I need anymore root canals (not yet anyway!) but I do have to have all the fillings replaced. He did say those were cracked due to the fillings, but I have 1 other tooth that has cracked due to grinding at night. I used to use a splint, but it no longer fits my teeth, so I'm sure that's another few hundred!!

 

[doclegler]

I too feel your pain. In the past few years, I have had 4 crowns (luckily I did not have to have root canals along with them) and have been having my silver fillings replaced as well. It is a BIG hole that is left in the wallet for sure. I have been using my Disney Visa. A lot of dentists accept that card (Carecredit) that has no interest for usually up to 12 months.

Sorry to hear you're in the same boat! I never thought about Disney Visa which would be nice for the points, but not the interest. I have used the Carecredit to pay off my first visit. Wish they gave Disney Rewards for that too!

 

[OhMari]

Chase does have a medical credit card. I had to use it on my first root canal, and cap. They give you 6 months of free financing per year. So I have to get $800 paid off in those six months. My insurance pays the other half.

Can you do one yearly?
This is what I have been doing.

My dentist told me, the silver filling pushes the tooth apart, thus cracks it.
So maybe you have some time.

 

[stacy2197]

I know we have spread our treatment out over two years. Do all your teeth hurt? Maybe do one or two a year. It is already May so it should be doable.

 

[Disney_Freak56]

I so feel your pain. My "new" dentist has told me I have 7 teeth that have issues. He wants to crown 5 and replace the crown on another one. I have explained that I do not have an endless supply of money. And his dental tech said that perhaps they could replace the silver fillings with the "newer" tooth-colored fillings instead of doing the crowns. They would rather do that than have me say I would do nothing. Of course, they would prefer the crowns. Yeah. $900 versus $175 -- I guess if I was the dentist, I would prefer to do crowns, too.

I have Delta Dental and plan to max out my $1000 per year plan and do a few fillings. Then next year, we'll discuss replacing the old crown. Delta pays 80 percent on the fillings and only 50 percent on crowns. So my $$$ will go farther with the fillings than another crown. I just had a crown done within the last month -- so half of my insurance money is gone for the year.

No great words of advice, but you might ask which teeth are the ones that need to be done the most. And then go from there. Don't feel pressured to get the work done quickly. It is your money and your mouth.

 

[LorieDisneyLover]

I just recently had a root canal and crown, and have maxed out my insurance for the year. Now I went back for another visit, and I will need all 4 of my silver fillings removed b/c they are cracking my back teeth, and have crowns put on all 4, for a whopping total of.... $5300!!!
No idea where to start with all this. I sure wish they would've known about silver amalgam fillings 25 years ago when I got all the fillings. I wish I felt that my dentist was wrong, but he showed me the large cracks forming (that my previous dentist IGNORED year after year!!) and I have to agree something needs to be done.
Anyone have any advice? I'm really at a loss and stressed out over the entire situation. Guess I'll be getting another job and skipping a few years at WDW....

Are your teeth causing you pain? It's hard to believe another dentist would have 'ignored' cracked teeth .... and if indeed cracked they would be causing considerable pain.

Get a second opinion.

 

[doclegler]

Are your teeth causing you pain? It's hard to believe another dentist would have 'ignored' cracked teeth .... and if indeed cracked they would be causing considerable pain.

Get a second opinion.

They aren't really bothering me a lot, but one acts up on occasion. The reason I believe the dentist to this point is that he takes individual x-rays of EACH tooth (VERY strange to me) and then uses a camera to show me what each tooth looks like on a screen. I could see the cracks in all the filled teeth unfortunately. Quite a depressing experience! Apparently the teeth with cracks only cause pain if the crack goes below the gum line.
I think new technology is a win/lose situation in my case. My old dentist didn't have any digital x-rays or cavity detection tools. He did tell me numerous times he was "watching" certain cracks, but never wanted to fix them. (He also doesn't do crowns/extractions/root canals so I'm sure he didn't want to send my business elsewhere. He's ready to retire).

Thanks for all the support from everyone. At least I'm not alone! I just hope my teeth can hold out a year or so to wait for insurance coverage on 2 more!

 

[rhiansmom]

A big Ouch to the OP sorry about this huge expense but I'm feeling 100 times better about my $238 estimate for a crown. Besides cleaning it is my first time using my dental insurance.

 

[3boymthr]

Oh, I feel your pain...

Youngest DS has been diagnosed as having a rare condition with his front teeth. We've been to several dentists about it, and all are unsure what exactly is wrong - just that it's major - they can't decide if he has extra teeth or teeth within teeth or something else - no matter what it's rare (it's kind of scary to see dentists get excited about your kid's x-rays) and no matter what the final determination is all the dentists have been very clear - it's going to be very involved and very expensive to fix his teeth (there's a good chance he may have to have implants ).

A friend suggested going to a local college of dentistry. She said that the one she used to go to would give discounts if you allowed the students (under supervision of course) to do the dental work. I'm planning on calling tomorrow to see if this is the case.

Maybe you could investigate and see if this is an option where you live.

 

[scbelleatheart]

I have 14 crowns and my dentist was laughing last week about how much they would cost me now versus 19 years ago. But they are all still good after all these years. Gotta love your kids when you realize how much morning sickness hurt your teeth!

 

[Swimalie]

I'm sorry. I can relate. Our dental insurance doesn't cover crowns or root canals and only covers 10% of fillings. One year I had a root canal re-done (it didn't take when I had it done originally 6 years earlier), root canal, crown and 5 fillings - $4000 out of pocket.

One thing you can do is offer to pay cash, if you have it, and most dentist will give a discount. Mine knows how bad our insurance is so he discounts all non-routine work for me. The endodontist gave me a 5% discount for paying in cash for the root canal.

 

[cvjw]

GET A SECOND OPINION!!! I needed a new dentist a few years ago, and went to one with all of the newest technology. He did the individual X-rays on my teeth, and told me all of the things that were wrong with my teeth that my old dentist (that I had gone to for 15 years) had ignored. He had me scared to death when I left there - he told me I needed root canals, and all of this expensive work. After I calmed down, I went back to my old dentist who fixed the tooth that was "about to break apart" with a filling, not a root canal. I have since found a new dentist that is honest and ethical - and doesn't try to scare me. I have had almost all of my silver fillings replaced with white fillings. I had the silver fillings for over 30 years, and they all have been easily replaced with no root canals or caps. Just an FYI - my new dentist told me that the individual X-rays make even the slightest problems look dire.

 

[QVCshopper]

I just had a cap placed on a large previously filled cavity. It was huge, spanning the entire tooth. Anyway, my BIL (a dentist) said I had more decay growing in one area on the tooth near the filling, and that was bothering me. It hurt to chew hard stuff on the tooth, but the roots looked fine.

I would get the one tooth that bothers you fixed for now. You don't want it to lead to a root canal. Who you get to do it is up to you. I'll have to ask my FIL and BIL about cracks from silver fillings (three dentists in my family; with my teeth, I married very well!).

 

[rsschneck]

It's probably worth getting a second opinion. Maybe some of the work could wait until your next insurance year starts?

I agree. I have been a dental hygienist for 20 years and there are all sorts of dentists out there. Some very conservative and some that will give you a new treatment plan at every cleaning appointment. Amalgam fillings hold up probably better than a lot of composite fillings of the past. If you trust him and you are having no issues then choose 1-2 teeth per year (if that is what your insurance will cover) and have them crowned. As long as you are not having any pain use up your insurance and don't go into debt. I would suggest a second opinion to see what another dentist says.

Food for thought: If your dentist has all the latest equipment, flat screen tv's in every room, digital x-rays with computers in every room and an espresso machine in the waiting room he needs to pay for it some how and guess how he is paying for it?

 

[ceecee]

Beware and get a second opinion. I have seen dentists crown virgin teeth because of a "crack". Mostly when our production was down for the day! I have worked in the dental field for 20+ yrs and some dentists will do inlay/crowns instead of fillings, we had a consultant tell us that every time you do a filling you are losing $700-$1000, is that ethical? No! But all dentists aren't. We did a second opinion exam on a guy who "needed" four crowns. His old dentist sold the practice and the new dr told him he needed the crowns. We couldn't see anything on the xrays or photo to warrant even one. Two of the teeth had perfectly good (and small) fills in them. Funny thing is we have gotten a lot of his patients.