Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
KK there are many good discount dental plans available. You have to pick a dentist from their list that participates. Research before choosing, ask friends what dentist they can recommend. American Dental Plan is one (we used to call it Amdent when worked in dental field). They negotiate lower fees for services they provide to patients, pretty much in the same way group plans do. Aetna has a very good plan you might want to get that one & then just cancel after work is finished.
As for root canals most general dentists do it on their own or refer to Endodontist not Oral Surgeon. Why would they send $ to a specialist? For wisdom removal always go to Oral Surgeon! Do not allow anyone else to extract a wisdom tooth. Complications always seemed to arise from that.
Again KK you would be (& even your friends) surprised to see that a great dentist that your friends & family use do take these discount plans. Many wonderful dentists do take them as a supplement to their income & practice. The dentist I worked for took 2 of the plans & treated all patients the same. They were very unique & there are far few honest dentists like them around anymore.
and how much is your time worth? Save yourself, it's not worth it to go to a university program. And if you do you should be going to Columbia not NYU
IHHO NYU's dental clinic can be little better than a Medicaid mill dentist. Work can be hit or miss and you'll spend most of your time being a guinea pig than actual work done.
If you have a decent job and credit rating look for a dentist that does GE "CareCredit" plans. This is *ONLY* for those that understand how to use credit wisely and can handle the terms. That being said they offer 12, 18 or longer months of interest free financing which works out great long as you PAY THE ENTIRE BILL OFF BEFORE THE PROMO PEROID ENDS!. Had to use caps because many either do not understand this or otherwise don't bother to read the fine print and later find themselves being hit with interest rates of nearly 30% back dated to the entire amount.
Went to NYU's dental clinic when in college as part their "Stu-Dent" plan which came through my own school's health service. Had one or two issues that my home town dentist would have done in one appointment. But No, the NYU persons kept dragging things out sending me to this or that department for more X-rays or whatever. Final nail in the coffin was that someone looked at my chart one day and screamed "you haven't had an oral cancer screening". That brought all work to a halt until I could be scheduled to see yet another different student for that test. Happily I graduated that June and went to work and found a regular dentist.
Never ever use "Care Credit" if you can help it!!! They have the interest free promo (scam) then most people who are desperate enough to apply are the ones they know will not pay it off then interest rates skyrocket!! Try getting regular credit card instead solely for this purpose. As I said I have worked in dental offices that do use this as help for themselves..the dentist gets paid that is all they care about!! Then they don't care that they (care credit) destroys their patients credit. They are horrible stay away! Like Bugsy was kind enough to add to his post they will rob you do not pay in full...they have many tricks up their sleeve to screw people over. Even if you send the money and think it is paid in full you later find out it was not1 We had many patients complain about it.
Also try this wonderful organization called Dentistry from the Heart. They are a wonderful organization.
Never ever use "Care Credit" if you can help it!!! They have the interest free promo (scam) then most people who are desperate enough to apply are the ones they know will not pay it off then interest rates skyrocket!! Try getting regular credit card instead solely for this purpose. As I said I have worked in dental offices that do use this as help for themselves..the dentist gets paid that is all they care about!! Then they don't care that they (care credit) destroys their patients credit. They are horrible stay away! Like Bugsy was kind enough to add to his post they will rob you do not pay in full...they have many tricks up their sleeve to screw people over. Even if you send the money and think it is paid in full you later find out it was not1 We had many patients complain about it.
Also try this wonderful organization called Dentistry from the Heart. They are a wonderful organization.
Like I said you have to know how to use credit and what you are dealing with when it comes to "GE Credit" who owns Care Credit.
GE credit is basically a very well dressed vampire when it comes to consumer credit. They are behind Sears and many other high interest credit schemes that will bleed you dry if you do not understand what you are getting into.
As stated before if you can handle paying off the entire promo balance with Care Credit then you are basically getting interest free money to get dental work done. OTOH if there is any sort of doubt as to doing this then put that pen down and back away from the paperwork.
Myself and a few friends simply paid off as much as we could before the promo period ended then put the remaining balance on various interest free promos our credit cards were offering for balance transfers. Yes, there are usually fees associated with such offers but they run less, much less than paying the nearly 30% interest rate Care Credit charges.
New York and a few other states have taken GE/Care Credit to task and caused them to make some changes. However the bottom line still rests with the consumer. You have to know what you are getting into and your rights along with what they are supposed to do. If your dentist or whomever is not performing services you've paid for under CC then you need to get in touch with them AT ONCE and start a document trail going.
Care Credit isn't ideal but it beats many of the alternatives including the dental insurance offered by AARP which many of my senior friends say is almost worthless.
Thanks everyone I appreciate the tips.
I have a lot of experience With NYUCD and thus I really don't want to go back there. Everything goes at a glacial pace and most of their work doesn't hold up.
If anyone has experience with a good dentist who is on one of these discount insurance plans, please consider PMing me his name and address.
TIA.
I think most people living in Manhattan have no dental insurance. Medicaid is for the desperately poor and in fact it us the only insurance that NYU accepts.
My medical plan has a dental provision that is basaically a joke covereing only an annual cleaning and exam. Like I said, a joke.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
