Need some guidance (implants and insurance) (teeth, dentist, side, cost)

[rezfreak]

So I was born without two permanent teeth in the front of my mouth. The ones next to my front two were missing, and the permanent canines moved to that spot. So currently, I have 2 front teeth, then canines on each side, then blank spot (currently filled with a flipper).

I've had this flipper for about 10 years now, so its really getting old. My best friend's husband is a periodontal dentist. He can obviously do this procedure for me, but regardless of how much of a friend we are, he still has to bill me obviously. We did a quote via insurance, and didnt even realize that I had a maximum. My military benefits only cover 1200 of this procedure. He (as a friend AND dentist) recommends implants. Total cost of the procedure is 9,300 with my out of pocket costs after insurance negotiated price and discounts is still about 4700.

So, is there perhaps insurance out there that I could buy as an individual with no maximum and use my military as secondary (my husband is the primary and I am a dependent)? If there is, is there usually a waiting period before you can use it for major services? What would stop someone for using it for a large procedure and then canceling it?


If I cant find a no maximum insurance, I have a feeling this will end up being put off another 3-5 years while I save up the nearly 5k in costs. :/



Edit to add: Is it possible to have the large portion billed to medical for the oral surgery? The surgical placement (code 6010) is half the cost, so if i can get medical to pay for that portion, that'd reduce my out of pocket costs down to only about 1k.

[AnonChick]

You're asking about insurance, not about dental care. You'll probably find better answers in the insurance forum.

My answer would be - find a different doctor. Friend or not, that's really REALLY high. The average implant procedure is under $3000 per tooth. Insurance generally doesn't cover any of it at all; I've heard that there are some plans that cover it, but they're group plans, and you have to be a member of the group to benefit from it.

The more benefits you get from a dental plan, the more expensive the premiums. So you could possibly find one that covers what you need, but it'd cost you MORE than that just to pay the premiums.

In short, dental insurance sucks, nationwide. It's just how it is. But your doctor is ridiculously expensive, and you could probably get those implants for around $2500 per tooth, so that'd be $5,000 total, with the military knock-down of $1200 to a total sum of $3800 for the pair. That's probably going to be as good as you'll find.

[rezfreak]

The negotiated insurance rate is about 3k per tooth, so just slightly above what you're saying other docs would pay. I guess from my point of view, if i'm still paying 3800, i might as well go for the extra bit more and have it done by someone i absolutely trust with my life. Its kind of a damned if you do, damned if you dont situation from my point of view

[SoCalTwinkie]

there are some dental discount plans out there that reduce the cost of dental work including implants. check them out on the internet.