You’ll be a dentist!
You’ll have a talent for causing things pain!
Yesterday I ended up blowing off a days work to go to the dentist, which didn’t amuse me much mostly because I had put it off so long.
See, I had what I thought was a chipped tooth but turned out to be a cavity. This guy, though, is pretty amazing. I went early(1:30) for my cleaning appointment(2:15) and he decided to look at my tooth first instead of afterwards; He took one look, grabbed a syringe, jammed my mouth full of novcaine so hard and fast my forehead was numb, ground, drilled, filled and five minutes later I was sitting in the reception area still early for my cleaning.
And though it is not my personal habit to endorse insurance, let me highly reccomend dentalplans.com.
Actually it’s not insurance, it’s what’s called a “Managed care” plan, where you go to a dentist that works with this or that plan and you get a discounted rate. Yesterdays’ visit was well over $350 and my out of pocket cost was $150. The plan costs $169 a year for the family and they usually have a deal where you get two or three months extra. So it more than paid for itself in one visit, and the wife and daughter get regular cleanings etc. there as well. The one I use (There are many on that site, pick one your doctor accepts) is Unicare 200. Our company offers dental insurance; it costs $85 a MONTH for EACH INDIVIDUAL and doesn’t cover what this plan covers.
dental care insurance is a good product if you spend any time maintaining your teeth. As I get older I am spending more time on them as they hurt like hell now when I ignore them. Delta Dental is pretty good where we are, but 169 a year is pretty hard to beat.
So far price escalation has been pretty modest in the dental area.
I had dental insurance through my small Local Union for over 35 years. It was good, not perfect, and I liked it. Now I’m retired and have no dental insurance. I dickered a deal with a dentist who opened a practice about four blocks away. He has a price schedule for uninsured patients, and discounts 15% for cash or debit. He’s good, fast AND affordable. Oh yeah, appointments are usually two or three days out unless you’re in pain, then it’s “Come on in, we’ll work the schedule for you.”
There are good health care practioners if you either look for ’em or, in my case, get lucky.
I wonder how many physicians are going to refuse insurance in favor of cash in the near future? The clinic I use no longer accepts new medicare or most insurance plan patients, preferring cash at seriously discounted rates.
Gerry N.
Dental procedures can be expensive, so we encourage all of our patients to purchase an individual plan if their employers don’t provide one.
Also, I think this blog highlights the importance of preventive care. Patients often don’t feel pain or ever truly realize what’s going on in their mouths until it’s too late. Regular visits to the dentist allow for trained professionals to get in there and spot problems before they balloon into painful (physically and monetarily) experiences.
Sounds like you have a dentist that is both quick on the draw and thorough!
Great points about DentalPlans.com – signup and save on dental care: http://goo.gl/yWrNXn