Tuesday, August 2, 2011
I know I'm going to catch a LOT of heat for this post but I have to vent!!! I'm outraged because I KNOW there has to be millions of other people out there going through the same thing I am right now!
I HAVE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHY, a person living in AMERICA, needs to suffer with tooth pain because they just can't afford to pay to go to a Dentist!!!
I have had a toothache for over a year!!!
No joke, no exaggeration!! Over the last few weeks it has gotten a lot worse though and I simply can't afford to go to the dentist!!
It's pretty bad when you contemplate drinking a bottle of whiskey and giving your husband a pair of pliers, and begging him to just pull it out once I pass out!!!! They did it back in the olden days, why can't we do it today?
I wish I bought stock in Orajel products before all of this happened because I would have made myself rich over the course of a year!
 | |
| BEST TOOTH PAIN PRODUCT, EVER!! |
Orajel has been my friend, my true love, and only hope with this tooth pain!
It takes that, " I want to smash my head into the wall until the tooth falls out", pain away for a while.
Which, by the way, I am indebted to them for the rest of my life for!!! They are third on the list of my all time favorite people in the world right now! Orajel comes right after the 2 anaesthesiologists that gave me my epidurals when I was in labor with my kids! Sorry guys, that pain was a lot worse! Thirds not bad!
This servere PM cream that they make is as close to getting a Novocaine shot into your mouth as you can get!
A product sent from GOD, as I see it! I'm telling you, you can squeeze it right into the hole that's in your tooth or on a crack at the top or sides and because of how thick it is it just kind of settles into those areas that are making your brain ache from the pain!
I seriously LOVE the makers of Orajel for making this product!! I could NOT have made it through pain, without their product! Thank God someones looking out for us!
I'm not sure if its the same in the entire country but our state does not regulate dentists or the outrageous fees that are charged for dental work! There are a few different plans that you can choose from in NJ! One is "ACTUAL" dental insurance and the other is the tricky "DISCOUNT" insurance. Both of which are expensive and have a LOT of out of pocket expenses. Even if you are one of those fortunate people to have dental insurance in this state, the co-pays and deductibles are SO high that most people can't pay them either so even insured people can't go to the dentist in this economy! For our family, of course, our priority was making sure we had medical insurance! We couldn't afford both so it was one or the other!
Riddle me this Batman!!! Why is the cost to have a tooth pulled SO much money today?
Here are the approximate fees that I was told I would have to come up with to get ONE tooth pulled that MUST BE PAID 100% before any work is done at all!!!!!
$180 - Be graced, to walk in the door, of our pretty office fee!
$ 95 - Doctor assessment fee to see what work has to be done so that we can force you to pay 100%-of the bill before they even put that little bib on you to start work!! THEY WILL SHOW YOU THE DOOR IF YOU DON"T HAVE IT and you are still required to pay the 180+95 fee!
$500 - For MANDATORY FULL MOUTH X-RAYS "Just because we CAN fee"!! That's like having a hospital say we're going to XRAY your whole body even though we know just your little toe is broken? It wouldn't happen? This one really gets me mad.
100% - of any work that actually has to be done! which could run from $85 into the thousands depending on whether or not they consider it a procedure if the tooth breaks apart since you had to wait so long to get up enough money to have a professional pull it!
I KNOW for certain that this tooth is not a simple pull and go! This is a molar tooth that has a SILVER filling in it from 900 years ago. One side has a large piece of tooth missing, and the filling on the top of the tooth is cracked and the nerves are exposed there as well! The pain is almost unbearable at times! This tooth will definitely crumble into pieces if they tried to just pull it. They will consider this a surgical pull which means I can expect this bill to be up to 4 times this amount!
I found a site www.Costhelper.com that lists some averages of dental costs across the country. Again, dentists aren't regulated so they CAN and DO charge you what ever they want to! Some of the stories that people wrote as responses brought tears to my eyes.
I would LOVE to have a dentist leave a comment below to help us understand why its like this!
I could have sworn that Dentists took oaths too?! Am I wrong?
I get that you stopped billing people because you weren't getting paid, but come on, not every person doesn't pay!!! Do you realize how much more business you would get if you let people get their teeth fixed and let them make payments?
People can't come up with that kind of money today!!! Not everyone qualifies for FINANCING, and not everyone has a CREDIT card to put your services on!!! A parent is NOT going to let their kids go without eating to pay for a dentist appointment!! It's just not going to happen!
Our state has ONE college hospital listed that you can go to that's in Newark NJ (VERY FAR from where I live) and was told that I had to show up and pray that I got in that day because they don't make appointments! Also, they won't do the work that day! They will then tell you when to come back for the appointment so that they can schedule a student to do the procedure!! And you still have to come up with a substantial amount of money!
I would love to get your feedback on these questions if you have a chance!
1. Have you or a loved one ever gone through a similar experience?
2. What did you have to do to get the problem fixed?
3. Do you know of a special dentist in your area that goes above and beyond to help his fellow man? Please let us know where to find them!
I would love to hear about the good guys too, I haven't had any luck finding one in NJ and would love hear about them if you found one in your area!!
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Unforunately, this is a HUGe problem in our country. Bad teeth can lead to major health issues. I do not know why it's just not covered under regular insurance.
That being said... Have you looked into the dental school at University of Pennsylvania. They have students working on you but they are closely supervised and it's very inexpensive from what I've been told... Here's the website... http://www.dental.upenn.edu/patient_care/dental_school_clinics/patient_information/
How absolutely horrible!
Ironic that I was talking to a friend not long ago, who had a friend who's daughter (stick with me) had just graduated from dental school and was having trouble finding a job. The reason - when the economy is bad, people are forced to skip the dentist.
I avoid the dentist like the plague - my husband just went through similar - he had a tooth that was bothering him but he was ignoring it - Friday afternoon it started getting worse - by Saturday evening he was ready to shoot himself it was hurting so badly. Fortunately he was able to get in with the dentist and they pulled it.
My dentist will do payments for existing customers - it might be because there are so many indigent people down here - they wouldn't have a business otherwise. The company I work for also includes dental in with the medical plan - a blessing 'cause I don't think I would sign up for it if it was extra.
Oh - one other time when my husband was trying to ignore a bad tooth - he found a temporary filling product at one of the drug stores. It's nothing glamorous by any means - basically some kind of material that you can put into the cavity to help shield the nerve - that seemed to help him for a while.
So sorry you're suffering.
I am feeling sorry for you. This is absolutely true in some cases. I have seen some people who have faced the same problem. It is not happening in the field of dentistry only; it is happening in the practice of all sorts of treatments.
But I myself have seen some exceptional dental offices that do the business with a human face.
They truly take care and keep in mind the limit of patients' affordability.
Thanks Colorado dentist! I am quite sure you won't see a dentist from NJ post their reasoning behind the costs here! At least they wear masks on their face when their robbing people!
I'm sure there are some good dentists, hence this post! I need to find them! I need someone to come on here and tell me where I can track them down or have himself post on here to let me know that he exists so that I can go see him/her and not be in pain anymore and still feed my family over the next few months!
I just found your blog, I just want to ask that how are you now. Had you gone to any dentist? I understand your problem. This is really sad. Don’t worry, if the problem is still there, you’ll surely find a good dental center where you can do your treatment. I wish the best for you.
Who is a really good dentist in Colorado Springs CO? I have gone to 3 of them, but they can not seem to get this pain to go away completely.