Dental costs U.S. vs. Mexico 65K vs 3K WoW! (1 Viewer)

[jwb]

When I read these kinds of threads, it makes me want socialized medicine in the U.S. all the more. Who gives a rip about Rolls-Royce level care, when Kia care is out of reach for 80% of Americans (made-up stat). Wouldn't even care if the standard care had to roll back 30 years to make sure anyone could get dental care without a second though to their pocketbook.

Never have understood why dental insurance works the way it does ... why doesn't it work more like medical insurance? Preventative visits are great ... but I never had dental insurance from a job until I was almost 30. A lot of the damage had been done by then.

Stat to blow Dentist's mind -- none of my brothers and sisters nor myself ever saw the insides of a dentist's office until we were adults. My mom said I went once when I was 2 ... I'll take her word for it. But the next time I went to a dentist after that was when I was 37. There was no way my dad (sole earner) was going to be able to swing preventative dental care for five kids. No injury? No pain? No visit.

My dentist told me that it would never fly because of all the people who have either a few missing teeth or need work. So the second people got it, they would run to get thousands of dollars worth of work done. Space from a pulled tooth when you were broke? Bridge. Old filling fall out? Crown.

Medical insurance works because people generally don't use it much - mostly for prescriptions. Dental insurance would get used and used and used.

 

[Dentist]

When I read these kinds of threads, it makes me want socialized medicine in the U.S. all the more. Who gives a rip about Rolls-Royce level care, when Kia care is out of reach for 80% of Americans (made-up stat). Wouldn't even care if the standard care had to roll back 30 years to make sure anyone could get dental care without a second though to their pocketbook.

Never have understood why dental insurance works the way it does ... why doesn't it work more like medical insurance? Preventative visits are great ... but I never had dental insurance from a job until I was almost 30. A lot of the damage had been done by then.

Stat to blow Dentist's mind -- none of my brothers and sisters nor myself ever saw the insides of a dentist's office until we were adults. My mom said I went once when I was 2 ... I'll take her word for it. But the next time I went to a dentist after that was when I was 37. There was no way my dad (sole earner) was going to be able to swing preventative dental care for five kids. No injury? No pain? No visit.

My dentist told me that it would never fly because of all the people who have either a few missing teeth or need work. So the second people got it, they would run to get thousands of dollars worth of work done. Space from a pulled tooth when you were broke? Bridge. Old filling fall out? Crown.

Medical insurance works because people generally don't use it much - mostly for prescriptions. Dental insurance would get used and used and used.

And then subsequently drop the insurance once the work is completed.

People think this magical insurance they buy is going to pay all their bills. It's just not going to work that way.

Most individually bought insurances are also going to have "waiting periods" so that you can't just buy and start using.

It's almost sad that people think they are going to pay for something like dental insurance and that somehow the ins. co. is going to willingly sell you something that you're going to profit off of them for.... yeah... they want to take a loss.... lol.

 

[jwb]

The answer is to somehow factor dental into regular medical insurance. But that would definitely raise premiums.

 

[[icon]]

Recently, I aimed to start up with flossing** regularly, in earnest. I know it's 40 years too late, but I feel like it can't hurt, and - heck - it might help.

First time I did it, my lower left gum started bleeding like a stuck pig. No pain, just blood. The bleeding stops relatively quickly, but I was thinking "Really? REALLY?!?"

So ... yeah. That was about two months ago. Got a drawer full of floss. Will try again the future, but need to visit my dentist first. Get a free checkup every year, so I'll go for that soon and ask about the flossing.

Dentist can confirm/contrast, but IMO:

• Stannous Flouride oral rinse right before bed nightly for 2 weeks then 2-3x a week afterward.

NO that doesn't replace flossing, but that should help improve your gum health a bit so they won't bleed/hurt as much when you do floss. Hopefully you're only early stages of gum disease and proper treatment can reverse it. If you don't do something eventually, well, we look forward to having you as a customer at $20-30k per arch.

 

[Dentist]

The answer is to somehow factor dental into regular medical insurance. But that would definitely raise premiums.

Good luck with that.

Medicine has never wanted to be lumped in with dentistry

And dentistry sure as heck doesn't want to be lumped in with medicine.

The ADA would fight tooth and nail.

And even if they did get included in with medical.... medical would cover basic services, but if you wanted anything above basic service it would still be out of pocket.

Really basic dentistry, getting teeth pulled, dentures, no implants... that can still be had relatively affordably.

But when you know there is better, more cosmetic, better options... well then basic isn't as satisfactory anymore.

Similar problem with medical really.. if we didn't fight to the end to keep people alive well past their time and didn't spend all the money to raise these low odds super premie newborns and kids with weird defects... premiums sure could be a lot lower. Death panels.

 

[Dentist]

Stat to blow Dentist's mind -- none of my brothers and sisters nor myself ever saw the insides of a dentist's office until we were adults. My mom said I went once when I was 2 ... I'll take her word for it. But the next time I went to a dentist after that was when I was 37. There was no way my dad (sole earner) was going to be able to swing preventative dental care for five kids. No injury? No pain? No visit.

I've heard stories like that before. It's always interesting to see an adult who's never been and basically we have to start from ground zero.... what is an x-ray, why do we need it... what is a cleaning, what's going to happen during a simple filling.. It's strangely enjoyable to get someone started.

As an aside though. I really don't understand the concept of having children you can't afford to properly pay for.

For instance, maybe if your parents only had 2 kids they could have paid for the preventative dental care visits, and gosh knows what other things you had to sacrifice on as a child.

Why have 5 kids you when you have to compromise their experience, when you could give 2 or 3 a very nice experience?

Seems kind of selfish or just mean

 

[BowieMercs]

Stat to blow Dentist's mind -- none of my brothers and sisters nor myself ever saw the insides of a dentist's office until we were adults. My mom said I went once when I was 2 ... I'll take her word for it. But the next time I went to a dentist after that was when I was 37. There was no way my dad (sole earner) was going to be able to swing preventative dental care for five kids. No injury? No pain? No visit.

I've heard stories like that before. It's always interesting to see an adult who's never been and basically we have to start from ground zero.... what is an x-ray, why do we need it... what is a cleaning, what's going to happen during a simple filling.. It's strangely enjoyable to get someone started.

As an aside though. I really don't understand the concept of having children you can't afford to properly pay for.

For instance, maybe if your parents only had 2 kids they could have paid for the preventative dental care visits, and gosh knows what other things you had to sacrifice on as a child.

Why have 5 kids you when you have to compromise their experience, when you could give 2 or 3 a very nice experience?

Seems kind of selfish or just mean

Or catholic at the very least.

I'm the youngest of 7. My father could have been very well off... but he & my mom would rather have kids than a pile of $.

Eejits!

 

[Dentist]

Stat to blow Dentist's mind -- none of my brothers and sisters nor myself ever saw the insides of a dentist's office until we were adults. My mom said I went once when I was 2 ... I'll take her word for it. But the next time I went to a dentist after that was when I was 37. There was no way my dad (sole earner) was going to be able to swing preventative dental care for five kids. No injury? No pain? No visit.

I've heard stories like that before. It's always interesting to see an adult who's never been and basically we have to start from ground zero.... what is an x-ray, why do we need it... what is a cleaning, what's going to happen during a simple filling.. It's strangely enjoyable to get someone started.

As an aside though. I really don't understand the concept of having children you can't afford to properly pay for.

For instance, maybe if your parents only had 2 kids they could have paid for the preventative dental care visits, and gosh knows what other things you had to sacrifice on as a child.

Why have 5 kids you when you have to compromise their experience, when you could give 2 or 3 a very nice experience?

Seems kind of selfish or just mean

Or catholic at the very least.

I'm the youngest of 7. My father could have been very well off... but he & my mom would rather have kids than a pile of $.

Eejits!

If you have the means to adequately provide for 7 go for it.... but damn these days you'd need probably a 150K household income to do it.

I'm not talking about the difference between multiple kids and a pile of cash.

I'm talking about having the number of children that you can adequately afford.. meaning basic services... health and dental care, clothing, food, education, safe clean shelter, safe transportation and a decent life experience.

Seems like the people having the most kids are the ones without the means to take care of half the number they have.

 

[Rayderr]

Stat to blow Dentist's mind -- none of my brothers and sisters nor myself ever saw the insides of a dentist's office until we were adults. My mom said I went once when I was 2 ... I'll take her word for it. But the next time I went to a dentist after that was when I was 37. There was no way my dad (sole earner) was going to be able to swing preventative dental care for five kids. No injury? No pain? No visit.

I've heard stories like that before. It's always interesting to see an adult who's never been and basically we have to start from ground zero.... what is an x-ray, why do we need it... what is a cleaning, what's going to happen during a simple filling.. It's strangely enjoyable to get someone started.

As an aside though. I really don't understand the concept of having children you can't afford to properly pay for.

For instance, maybe if your parents only had 2 kids they could have paid for the preventative dental care visits, and gosh knows what other things you had to sacrifice on as a child.

Why have 5 kids you when you have to compromise their experience, when you could give 2 or 3 a very nice experience?

Seems kind of selfish or just mean

or you all could just lower your prices.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

The only bad experience I had with a stateside dentist was a chain.

I actually submitted a formal complaint to the Texas Dental Board or whatever and they strung me along. Basically this outfit was trying to make certain procedures mandatory before doing other procedures, whether you needed the mandatory procedure or not. I said no, so they said they wouldn't see me again.

Small dental firms is the way to go, my current dentist is the best I've ever had.

 

[Spin]

What I'm getting from this thread is that I wish I was closer to KC, I can't find a dentist I really like here in Nashville.

 

[Dentist]

What I'm getting from this thread is that I wish I was closer to KC, I can't find a dentist I really like here in Nashville.

I'm sure there are plenty of good dentists in a big city like that.

It really depends on what you are looking for. There is someone out there for everyone. Plenty of people love our office, but plenty of people leave our office to.. mostly from insurance changes because I choose not to participate in a number of plans, but also because they may not like our hours, or our payment plans, or our style of practice.

Online reviews are mostly reliable, as are the recommendations of family/friends.

The only thing I can reliably tell you do to is to stay out of chains. And it is getting harder and harder to identify which businesses are chains because the biggest chain is Heartland Dental... but there is no office named Heartland Dental... they name their offices just based on the area they are in... so like "Nashville Dental" So that could be anyone.. private practitioner who chose a generic name, or it could be a franchise... it's hard to know... and that sucks as a consumer to not know really who you are dealing with.

 

[Doug B]

As an aside though. I really don't understand the concept of having children you can't afford to properly pay for.

Define "properly pay for". It's not that we grew up poor, just working-class. Didn't really lack for anything in most senses. We'd never get the latest greatest toys or clothes or shoes. Had a lot of cheap dinners. Never went on a real vacations. But that was about it.

Though I typed "couldn't pay for" ... I believe the mindset was more that going to the dentist prophylactically was a "luxury item"**. Even with teeth straightening ... my personal impression growing up was that only upper middle-class kids and up got braces. Anecdotally: the braces kids lives in bigger houses, were the first kids in class to get an Atari or whatever, nicest shoes, etc.

** a lot of things that many today feel like "you HAVE to do" were considered luxuries. Bringing pets to the vet. Family vacations. Going to the zoo, movies, etc. My dad grew up "country" and just came from a different place mentally and socially. I don't fault him at all.

 

[Dentist]

As an aside though. I really don't understand the concept of having children you can't afford to properly pay for.

Define "properly pay for". It's not that we grew up poor, just working-class. Didn't really lack for anything in most senses. We'd never get the latest greatest toys or clothes or shoes. Had a lot of cheap dinners. Never went on a real vacations. But that was about it.

Though I typed "couldn't pay for" ... I believe the mindset was more that going to the dentist prophylactically was a "luxury item"**. Even with teeth straightening ... my personal impression growing up was that only upper middle-class kids and up got braces. Anecdotally: the braces kids lives in bigger houses, were the first kids in class to get an Atari or whatever, nicest shoes, etc.

** a lot of things that many today feel like "you HAVE to do" were considered luxuries. Bringing pets to the vet. Family vacations. Going to the zoo, movies, etc. My dad grew up "country" and just came from a different place mentally and socially. I don't fault him at all.

I'm not talking about any luxury items. I defined properly pay for in another post.

I'm probably biased because of what I do, but I consider prophalactic dental visits part of properly paying for a child and treating any cavities/infections, etc. (yes, even teh ones on baby teeth that are going to fall out).

Braces can be cosmetic and optional. Although I've seen plenty of kids with such horrific occlusion and tooth placement or congenitally missing spots that I would darn near consider that mandatory for braces.

The adults I see that desperately needed braces and never got them are often just completely screwed later in life as the burden to repair their mouth and give them something normal later on becomes extreme.

Some people are truly dealt a really bad hand with their teeth.

 

[Spin]

My parents never took me to dentist growing up, they never went themselves. My first dental visit was at age 24 and it was a root canal. Followed by 3 visits and fillings. My parents combined made 50k, and I was one of 4. About the most attention that they paid to our teeth was brushing with baking soda once a month. Never floss til I about graduated college. It was just never ingrained in me.

It really is the parent responsibility to teach good dental hygiene early. I wish mine had. My dad still has never gone to the dentist.