Must have been 1 crazy Memorial Day weekend!

[drjeff]

Based on my unofficial survey of folks coming in with freshly broken of pieces of tooth/teeth, this must of been quite the weekend. I'm at 3 broken teeth dealt with so far today and about another 1/2 dozen or so coming in over the next couple of days. Usually a holiday weekend will generate 2 or 3 broken teeth, but this one was something else :beer:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Wow so broken teeth are pretty common? I chipped a tooth wrestling once but it was very minor so it got filed down...dumbdicks must have used their teeth as a bottle cap opener..

How do you fix broken teeth??? Cap...expoxy??

 

[drjeff]

There's gold in them there Holidays ..

Or atleast there will be some gold in those teeth!

 

[drjeff]

Wow so broken teeth are pretty common? I chipped a tooth wrestling once but it was very minor so it got filed down...dumbdicks must have used their teeth as a bottle cap opener..

How do you fix broken teeth??? Cap...expoxy??

Depends on how big of a chip it it and how that broken area of the tooth contacts the opposing tooth. Sometimes it's just smooth out the chip, sometimes a filling to repair and sometimes the tooth needs a crown(a.k.a. "cap") - A case by case/chip by chip situation

A the "causative agents" so far today have been some barbequed ribs, an ice cube and some peanuts.

 

[Paul]

In your neck of the woods, I would expect most broken teeth to be preceded by the phrase, "Hey everyone, watch this!"

 

[drjeff]

That reminds me .. I have a crown that needs to be replaced should I ask for the gold back?

Depends on how they'll be replacing it. If it needs to be cut off, well often there's not too much left to be salvaged. Also, a "gold" crown isn't pure gold (way too soft a material in it's pure form to withstand normal chewing forces), and it's an alloy that's usually in the 60 - 70% range gold and then the remainder typically of platinium and paladium, and occasionally some titanium depending on the manufacturer of the metal alloy.

 

[drjeff]

In your neck of the woods, I would expect most broken teeth to be preceded by the phrase, "Hey everyone, watch this!"

Watch at your own risk

 

[campgottagopee]

Watch at your own risk

That chit ain't right---I'm going for a cleaning tomorrow

 

[Paul]

Wow, you do that right in the kitchen, eh?

I guess it cuts down on office overhead.

 

[drjeff]

Wow, you do that right in the kitchen, eh?

I guess it cuts down on office overhead.

I also don't need any of them fancy surgical stainless steel tools for yankin' out teeth, just my good 'ol 10 year old walmart special wrench If it's a fancy patient, I'll get my Jack Daniel's logo wrench for them!

 

[deadheadskier]

What I want to know is why most insurance companies that I've had won't cover the full cost on crowns; most at best it's 50%. Considering the last time I priced one out it was $1300, it's a hefty bill to have to cover $650. I believe the reason is they consider crowns 'cosmetic'. BS if you ask me.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

What I want to know is why most insurance companies that I've had won't cover the full cost on crowns; most at best it's 50%. Considering the last time I priced one out it was $1300, it's a hefty bill to have to cover $650. I believe the reason is they consider crowns 'cosmetic'. BS if you ask me.

Yeah crowns/caps are considered cosmetic...why did you need one? But I assume if you don't get one if needed it can be adverse to your oral health..knock on wood but if I have need dental surgery..I'm glad there are payment plans..someone I know had a $10,000 procedure done..good thing I never got into Meth..

Oh yeah and you can often haggle for dental procedures..that $1300 crown becomes $900 if you pay in cash...maybe..

 

[Hawkshot99]

Oh yeah and you can often haggle for dental procedures..that $1300 crown becomes $900 if you pay in cash...maybe..

BS....who want to take a 31% cut on their profit because you have cash?

 

[deadheadskier]

Yeah crowns/caps are considered cosmetic...why did you need one? But I assume if you don't get one if needed it can be adverse to your oral health..knock on wood but if I have need dental surgery..I'm glad there are payment plans..someone I know had a $10,000 procedure done..good thing I never got into Meth..

I had to get a root canal and generally those result in a cap; at least mine did. Worst experience ever as I had a hyperactive nerve. They literally shot me up 20 times and couldn't numb the damn thing. So, the resulting experience was me in the chair with the doctor saying grit it and bare it buddy, nothing I can do. He tried his best, but it was 90 seconds of the worst pain ever; me sweating and gripping the chair as tight as I could until he finally was able to drill straight down and kill the nerve. The crown to go over it was $1300 and that was five years ago in WV.

Dental work is crazy expensive indeed. My six top front teeth cost me 9 G's for veneers. I had an accident as a kid and damaged them in a fall. I had to have them replaced four years ago as the original work from 20 plus years prior had run its course.

To be honest, if I could afford it, I'd do all my teeth in veneers. Never a worry of cavities, they don't stain no matter what you do.

 

[drjeff]

What I want to know is why most insurance companies that I've had won't cover the full cost on crowns; most at best it's 50%. Considering the last time I priced one out it was $1300, it's a hefty bill to have to cover $650. I believe the reason is they consider crowns 'cosmetic'. BS if you ask me.

Two main reasons for your question.

#1 - Insurance companies are FOR PROFIT companies, and the way the maximize their profits is through minimizing their expenses They do things like cover (if at all) at low percentages, and they also do things that you as the plan subscriber don't realize that us in the profession have to deal with alot, and it's called down coding. What it basically is, using a crown as an example, is if there are mutliple choices for a procedure, the insurance company will reimburse at the lowest costing 1 reguardless of if it was or wasn't exactly what was done (basically depending on the type of materials used there are about 10 different types of crowns that we as dentists can choose from ranging from all gold to all porcelain) Insurance companies will just about always only reimburse at a pre set rate based on usually 80% of the theoretical average fee of the geographical area. What they then do is for a crown, no matter what it's made out of, use the least expensive crown type and then reimburse every crown that they approve at that rate - Basically if I have a patient that has a documented allergy to a certain type of metal that is in the least expensive type of crown, so I need to use a type of crown that doesn't have that metal in it, too bad for you as the plan subscriber, that fee difference is your problem

#2 - Insurance companies basically haven't increased the yearly maximum allowable amounts for most plans they offer since the 1970's No accounting for inflation, nothing.

Believe me, the amount of time and the number of staff that I need to employ/use to deal with the hassles of dental insurance is ridiculous, and it frustrates us in the dental profession as much as it frustrates you as the patient

 

[drjeff]

To be honest, if I could afford it, I'd do all my teeth in veneers. Never a worry of cavities, they don't stain no matter what you do.

Just be carefull, since the natural tooth structure that those veneers are cemented too is definately susceptable to decay, and if too much of that happens, then you get to start talking about the potential of a root canal and a crown to deal with the problem

 

[drjeff]

Where's the blood .. I say fake..

I thought that at first, but then after watching it a couple of times, I'd bet quite a bit of $$ that it's real based on what the extraction site looked like in the mouth immediately afterwards. The lack of bllod on the tooth thing can be explained in that if someone has really bad gum disease (and looking at that guy/his mouth I'm guessing that he's not exactly the post child for oral health!), basically the entire lining of the socket( what we call the area in the bone that the tooth is in) can basically become lined with the same type of gum tissue that you see in your mouth and as such has very little if any blood vessels. Based on how easily that tooth came out for how long of a tooth it was and with how the physics of the direction he used the pliers in weren't very good. I'd bet that the gum disease explanation is what's going on.

 

[deadheadskier]

Just be carefull, since the natural tooth structure that those veneers are cemented too is definately susceptable to decay, and if too much of that happens, then you get to start talking about the potential of a root canal and a crown to deal with the problem

oh I'm aware and trust me; I'll NEVER be able to afford how much it would cost to go through the procedure. If it cost 9 G's just for six teeth, I'd imagine were talking 35 for the remainder if not more. There are a lot of places I'd rather spend 35 G's in life more than in my mouth.

Even if I could afford it, I doubt I'd do it. While having them on the six teeth that I do have them has been great, the two month process I had to go through to get them wasn't fun at all.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

BS....who want to take a 31% cut on their profit because you have cash?

I get a 30% cash discount at my local dentist..that way it's off the books and he can put that cash into his wallet..instead of paying tax on it..

I hope he doesn't read this forum..

 

[Hawkshot99]

I get a 30% cash discount at my local dentist..that way it's off the books and he can put that cash into his wallet..instead of paying tax on it..

I hope he doesn't read this forum..

fraud is good. I hear the IRS is really nice people too...............