No dental insurance - what do you do?

[Plumeria9]

OK so I'm totally on my DH's case to get a new job anyway. His current one is just too stingy salary-wise anyway, and we don't buy into their dental ins. because it would probably cost more than it's worth. Today I took my girls to the dentist for their 6 month checkup. 11DD has SIX cavities, and 8DD has two. 8DD has never had any cavities, so I am sort of ok w/ hers. But the 11 year old has had a problem with them. My DH flosses her teeth for her, and I bought her an Oral B electric toothbrush. I see her brushing w/ it and not doing a very good job, and the end result is cavities. So we don't have dental insurance. I get 10% off at the dentist's for paying w/ a check but w/ all of these cavities, anesthesia, etc. it's going to still cost me over $1300. And 8DD is going to start orthodontia next month, that is yet another dental expense. So I know we are not the only family without dental insurance. What do you all do?? I can't afford this! I already told the kids "there goes our vacation". This has just pushed me over the edge. Of course for sure now we are not drinking any more sodas. We already don't eat anything sticky or sugary. My oldest just has those kinds of teeth that are high maintenance. Help! TIA

 

[mjkacmom]

Do you have any dental schools by you? We have insurance, and we still had to pay about $5000 for a root canal/crown last year. Why anestesia?

 

[minnie1928]

I also have high maintenance teeth and the thing that completely turned that around was buying a Sonicare toothbrush. Best investment in my mouth EVER! You can catch them on sale and they also run coupons & rebates occasionally. I bought 3 last year from Target for only $13 after deals/coupons/rebates.

2 minutes with it, twice a day and I've been basically cavity free (small one just formed, but I hadn't been to the dentist in a year) for several years.

As far as your existing situation, I'd try a dental school or clinic. You can get excellent care at either one of those.

 

[klynn]

Having dental insurance does not guarantee good coverage. We have dental insurance and we still paid about $5,500 out of pocket last year for our dental expenses. This did not include orthodontia.

 

[Planogirl]

I'd add on dental insurance when you can. You also have to worry about periodontal problems which are chronic in our family. That is also very pricey!

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

That doesn't seem that bad for 8 fillings and no insurance. My dental insurance through DH (he's military) doesn't cover resin fillings and since no one near me does the silver I ended up paying out about $100/per filling WITH insurance (had to pay the difference).

Some people are just more prone to cavities. I never had a single cavity until I had gone through chemo and had kids... then I got nine.

 

[ccgirl]

OK so I'm totally on my DH's case to get a new job anyway. His current one is just too stingy salary-wise anyway, and we don't buy into their dental ins. because it would probably cost more than it's worth. Today I took my girls to the dentist for their 6 month checkup. 11DD has SIX cavities, and 8DD has two. 8DD has never had any cavities, so I am sort of ok w/ hers. But the 11 year old has had a problem with them. My DH flosses her teeth for her, and I bought her an Oral B electric toothbrush. I see her brushing w/ it and not doing a very good job, and the end result is cavities. So we don't have dental insurance. I get 10% off at the dentist's for paying w/ a check but w/ all of these cavities, anesthesia, etc. it's going to still cost me over $1300. And 8DD is going to start orthodontia next month, that is yet another dental expense. So I know we are not the only family without dental insurance. What do you all do?? I can't afford this! I already told the kids "there goes our vacation". This has just pushed me over the edge. Of course for sure now we are not drinking any more sodas. We already don't eat anything sticky or sugary. My oldest just has those kinds of teeth that are high maintenance. Help! TIA

Bolded is a relative term. To me, clean healthy teeth improves their medical health as well. My health insurance covers the cleanings and xrays for the children. They bill my dental insurance first (they only cover 80%) then bill my medical insurance as my secondary insurance. That way, cleanings and xrays are covered at 100%. I still pay between 80 - 140 a filling (depending on the # of surfaces) because my dentist only uses the resin fillings.

Why do you need anesthesia? My DS4 just had 5 cavities filled over 3 appts. Did great with just the novacaine.

As far as braces...to me...those are a cosmetic thing and not a necessity. If I couldn't afford them; my children would not get them.

That is just my opinion. YMMV.

ETA: Maybe it's not her teeth that are high maintenance. You admitted she does not brush very well. Add to that a sugary diet (if she does have one) and there you have it. Fruit juices are loaded with sugar.

My DD started getting cavities due to poor brushing. I had her pay for 1/2 of the cost of the filling (after insurace) after repeatedly telling her to brush properly. She never had a cavity again.

 

[Kellydelly]

https://www1.careington.com/index.aspx

When we were without dental coverage I paid $69 for this Careington discount dental plan. It made our cleanings and x-rays half the price. Well worth the annual fee for the five of us (dh insists on seeing the same dentist in his hometown so didn't take advantage of the program). There would be discounted fees for most services. Something to look into! Not sure what to tell you about orthodontics, that is going to cost you $$$ no matter what. We have dental insurance and it only covers $1500 for orthodontics, treatment will end up costing us at least $4500 out of pocket per kid, if not more. I did look into taking one of my daughters to a dental college for orthodontics, but they did not take my insurance, were 60 minutes round trip, and would have still cost me at least $3500 if not more and the office hours weren't great. It wasn't a huge discount, at least not in my opinion. If you have a school near you it wouldn't be a bad idea to check it out, of course.

 

[JoyG]

Can you set up a flexible speding account for the dental expenses? It uses pretax dollars to pay for medical and dental expenses. I set one up in November through my job since I knew the twins would be getting braces this year. Maybe you want to hold off on the braces until you've set one up.

We are also getting the braces put on at the dental school.

We've gone longer than we should without dental exams. With the paltry insurance we have and no cavities a regular exam and cleaning is about $100. There are five people in our family. I can't afford $500 every six months! Add a cavity or some xrays and it's even more.

So DH and I prioritize the kids, be we are pretty overdue. I notice in February, sometimes there are free cleanings offered at the dental schools. I've taken advantage of those too.

 

[Kellydelly]

Can you set up a flexible speding account for the dental expenses? It uses pretax dollars to pay for medical and dental expenses.

Good advice . We have a HSA account through dh's work and it saves us about 30-40% for orthodontics, dental, or medical. It makes paying the ortho a little less painless . Just a little .

 

[Plumeria9]

Thanks for all of your responses so far. So from what I've read, basically I'm just screwed for now!
As far as anesthesia, that term only means laughing gas or novacaine, not a knock out. If we can do 11DD all at once (all 6?!) I could save $58 by not having to do the anesthesia twice.
We are already getting $1500 taken out for the year from my DH's salary for FSA. Since his salary isn't that much, to take out any more would really be painful. What's really depressing here is that he's an attorney! I thought by now (he's been one for 20 years) we wouldn't be stressing over this stuff still. But I digress. So pretty much, our FSA is already used up for the year, and it's not even the end of February. So much for that.
Actually, both kids NEED orthodontia. Both DH and myself needed them when we were kids, so there's no surprise there. At least the ortho. will break down the costs into monthly payments w/o interest fees.
I'll look into that careington insurance. Maybe something is better than nothing.
I don't let the kids eat things most other kids eat regularly: Fruit snacks (those gummy/rubbery sticky things), gummy candy, sour candy, sugar sodas, Skittles, Starbursts, lolipops, etc.. The only thing they WERE allowed was sugar free soda, occasional juice, and plenty of water. We carry water bottles everywhere and swish w/ water after eating or drinking anything. So I'm sort of wondering how they could have so many cavities between them.
I did have 11DD using a Sonicare, and that didn't seem to be doing what I had hoped, so I got the Oral-B. I just think it's her poor brushing. I have used a Sonicare for over 15 years and love it! Starting tonight, we are brushing her teeth for her. Fun! Not. Thanks, everybody!

 

[kirstenb1]

I'm sure you already have the kids do this, but our dentist always reminds me to get them rinsing with a fluoride rinse, like Act. Our 13 yr old isn't the greatest with brushing her teeth either, but she does seem to remember the rinse.

 

[clh2]

As far as braces...to me...those are a cosmetic thing and not a necessity. If I couldn't afford them; my children would not get them.

While braces do fix cosmetic things - they often fix bite-problems. the totaly nice-looking teeth afterwards are a bonus.

 

[Swimalie]

Having dental insurance does not guarantee good coverage. We have dental insurance and we still paid about $5,500 out of pocket last year for our dental expenses. This did not include orthodontia.

Same here. They pay $17 of a check-up and nothing on fillings, root canals, etc. I paid $4000 one year, out of pocket for issues I had (I have high maintenance teeth as well).

 

[sksjasams]

Will the dentist allow you to make payments? Our dentist allows us to make payments on the balance we have left after insurance if we need to.

I would really look into the dental insurance the next time they have open enrollment. I know its not amazing, but it does help. We get free cleanings and xrays. It pays 50-80% of everything else, up to a certain dollar amount per person. Plus it pays $1500 life time per person towards ortho.

Ortho is not always just cosmetic, and sometimes it is necessary. For my DS I payed $400 down, then I am flexing $100 per month for 3 years (I pay $1200 in jan each year for 3 years). That covers our $4000. The insurance covers $1500. We ended up with no monthly payment, which was really important to me.

I think you should talk to your dentist for advice on cavity prevention. I have read that some sugarless gums help fight cavities between meals. There are fluoride treatments (also covered by insurance) the dentist can do. There are also special pastes available only through the dentist.

Good luck!

 

[Plumeria9]

I'm sure you already have the kids do this, but our dentist always reminds me to get them rinsing with a fluoride rinse, like Act. Our 13 yr old isn't the greatest with brushing her teeth either, but she does seem to remember the rinse.

Oh yeah, they both use Act. 11DD started being much better about it in this school year, I don't know why that didn't help.

 

[stephe1987]

Some dentists have things like CareCredit, which will allow you to make monthly payments. I would ask them about payment plans.

As for braces on an 8yo, putting them off for a while might save you money in the long run. I know the dentists/orthodontists often want kids to get braces ASAP, but my cousin got braces when he was a pre-teen and since he got his braces off, he's gotten more teeth in (he has the same teeth as his mom, she told the dad this would happen, but he insisted and she still had to pay half of it even though she knew it wouldn't do any good to get braces that young). So now he is 18 and is going to need to get braces again. You might want to wait till your kid is in high school, or at least middle school, before thinking about braces. I got my braces a couple days before I turned 12, but then again I lost all my baby teeth by the time I was 9 1/2, which I know is pretty unusual, since a lot of people still have baby teeth when they are 11, 12, 13, even 14 sometimes.

Also, something to watch out for, is headgear! Of course straighter teeth will help you chew food better, better for your health, etc.; many studies have shown this to be true. But there have been recent cases where jaws have had problems and people had problems chewing later in life because the headgear pulled their jaw forward when their back teeth actually lined up when they did have that overbite... something else you might want to talk to your orthodontist about *if* your child has an overbite.

 

[GAGirlInVA]

Does she have deep grooves?

I got in so much trouble as a child for cavities, until FINALLY we changed dentists and he figured it out. We did sealants on my back teeth and it was AMAZINGLY better!

 

[ilovemk76]

OK so I'm totally on my DH's case to get a new job anyway. His current one is just too stingy salary-wise anyway, and we don't buy into their dental ins. because it would probably cost more than it's worth. Today I took my girls to the dentist for their 6 month checkup. 11DD has SIX cavities, and 8DD has two. 8DD has never had any cavities, so I am sort of ok w/ hers. But the 11 year old has had a problem with them. My DH flosses her teeth for her, and I bought her an Oral B electric toothbrush. I see her brushing w/ it and not doing a very good job, and the end result is cavities. So we don't have dental insurance. I get 10% off at the dentist's for paying w/ a check but w/ all of these cavities, anesthesia, etc. it's going to still cost me over $1300. And 8DD is going to start orthodontia next month, that is yet another dental expense. So I know we are not the only family without dental insurance. What do you all do?? I can't afford this! I already told the kids "there goes our vacation". This has just pushed me over the edge. Of course for sure now we are not drinking any more sodas. We already don't eat anything sticky or sugary. My oldest just has those kinds of teeth that are high maintenance. Help! TIA

We do not have dental insurance. We get a discount that is greater than 10%. Maybe you need to shop around as right now dentist are not getting the business they are use to due to the economy.

Do your DDs use a mouthwash with fluoride? Listerine makes a child's mouthwash that shows where they did not brush well. Maybe this will help.

Flossing is more for the gums than for cavities.


Bolded - Do you work outside of the home? If not, then a job for you to pay these bills or to get dental insurance may be the way to go.

I really hate it when I hear women complaining about their DH's salary but do not work. This maybe the best job he can get or he might really like this job, and that does count for something that you have to do for 40+ hours each week.

 

[sksjasams]

Does she have deep grooves?

I got in so much trouble as a child for cavities, until FINALLY we changed dentists and he figured it out. We did sealants on my back teeth and it was AMAZINGLY better!

Yes!! I forgot about sealants - DS has these on his back teeth. They make a huge difference and are totally worth it. These were also covered 100% by our insurance.