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.
I had to have two implants, sadly not the fun kind, the dental kind.
Cost to remove the two teeth and put in the titanium implants was 3200 per tooth, for a total of 6400. My dental insurance covers 2k annually, so I paid 4400 oop on the day of the surgery.
Then came the little worthless device that they have you buy and wear for cosmetic reasons, but mine were in the back so I wore it once and it was so awful even after three adjustments I gave up. Cost for that was 550, all oop.
Fast forward, I got the two crowns, and the bill came Monday, total cost 4k, 2k per crown. So total I'm paying about 9k for two implants.
I'm in Southern California, just for reference as perhaps cost varies by area.
Does the cost seem high?
It's around $4000 per tooth on the east coast in some of the offices, for fixture, abutment, and crown. Most insurances don't cover any of it. Bone grafting would be extra, if needed.
It actually seems about right. I didn't the little device you're talking about, but the rest is about what I paid. (No dental insurance here, so count yourself lucky!)
It actually seems about right. I didn't the little device you're talking about, but the rest is about what I paid. (No dental insurance here, so count yourself lucky!)
I am in the middle of the implant process. My dentist is considered to be on the expensive side for the New Orleans area, and the oral surgeon that did the implant probably is, too.
First, the tooth removal and bone graft last December: $450
Then, the implant, a couple of months ago in March: $1800
Next, the crown, this coming August: $1200
total: $3450
This is without dental insurance, and I have been paying in cash at each step along the way. Cost of living and salaries are probably lower here than in Southern California.
No temporary tooth for cosmetic reasons since it is in the back. I only felt like a toothless hag for a month or two before I discovered that nobody was noticing it.
It really hasn't seemed that expensive because there are such LONG waits required between steps, so that the bone can grow around the implant and so on. So, I have been able to budget and save enough for each step before the time comes to get it done and pay for it.
It's around $4000 per tooth on the east coast in some of the offices, for fixture, abutment, and crown. Most insurances don't cover any of it. Bone grafting would be extra, if needed.
Bold emphasis was mine.
Another incorrect answer.
Actually, many insurances cover a portion of the procedures. Delta Dental, just one of them, prominent in California (where the OP resides) covers the amount stated by the OP (about $2000). If schedules toward the end of the year the insurance will cover about $4000 since the payments will bridge from one year to the next.
OP: You can see if you can set up an FSA account and put in pre-tax money to help defray the costs. It can work very well, you lower your taxable income and have a bucket of money to pay for health care. The result is that the actual OOP costs are significantly lowered depending on your tax bracket.
I have Delta Dental, and implants are not covered at all on my plan. It seems you're confusing insurance companies with insurance plans. Insurance companies offer different policies to different people, different groups. Delta Dental is not an insurance policy. It's an insurance company, that offers a variety of dental insurance policies.
MOST dental insurance policies currently do *not* cover implants. Some will have a scheduled fee for it, and still not cover it - which means, the dentist agrees to only charge a certain maximum to the patient - but the patient is still 100% responsible for the bill and the insurance company won't pick up any of the cost. SOME policies cover implants, specifically - and SOME will allow the patient to be reimbursed a set dollar value, regardless of what the dentist charges. The one offered by my employer is like that - if I wanted that insurance, I'd get reimbursed $300 for implant surgery, after I paid 100% of the scheduled fee myself. However, there's a $1000 per year deductible, not including co-pays for regular scheduled dental visits, and they will only cover up to a yearly maximum of $500.
I don't have that insurance, because it's not cost effective and would actually cost *more* to have that insurance, than it would be to have no insurance at all and just pay as you go.
Dental implants typically run around $4000, give or take, depending on the location. Insurance typically does not cover implant surgery. Some insurance does. But most do not.
A gal I work with has been going through the process of getting 2 dental implants. She is in the phase of waiting for the bone to heal around the posts they surgically implanted.
To anyone who has had them...what is the benefit of them? Obviously, there is a large difference between bridges and implants (costs and procedures). If you are going to have a gap in your teeth...why not go with the cheaper bridge-type appliance?
The lady I work with has only said that her dentist wouldn't connect anything to living teeth (?). I wonder if she should have gotten a 2nd opinion...
The insurance we have paid out the normal yearly coverage of $1000 and covered everything else at 50% (as per our coverage).
Implants don't leave a gap in your tooth. Implants replace the tooth entirely, all the way down into the bone. That's the biggest difference.
The posts on an implant, are fixtures. They're drilled into the bone. An abutment is then placed over the post; that's sort of a metal cap that sticks up out of the gumline. Finally, a crown is cemented onto the abutment. That implanted tooth will be stronger than the original tooth was, but will not "give" like a normal tooth does, because it is permanently fixed in place. A bridge requires that at least two healthy teeth be ground down to stubs, with the missing tooth between them - and those stubs used as anchors for a bridge to stretch over the missing tooth. There is nothing in place of that missing tooth; it's stronger than a strictly cosmetic coverup, but not nearly as useful as an implant.
Also, if one of those anchor teeth has problems down the line, you might have to remove the whole bridge just to get at the decay. Some dentists can get to the decay right through the bridge, but some need to remove it. And then it has to be replaced; bridges aren't cheap either. Also, if one anchor tooth has been compromised by decay and subsequent drill-and-fill, the dentist might advise an -additional- tooth be ground down, to provide a sturdier anchor for the bridge over the gap in that missing tooth. So now you have ground 3 teeth down, that were at one point healthy teeth, into stumps, to fit a bridge.
Whereas with an implant, nothing can go wrong with the tooth of the implant, because it's a fake tooth. If something happens to the tooth next to it, it will have no effect on the implanted teeth, or the teeth next to the tooth with problems on either side. Each tooth can be treated independent of the other teeth, with an implant. With a bridge, all the teeth that are bridged together are often treated as a single unit. Not always - but often. And what I mean by that is - if one tooth of a bridged unit has problems, then the entire bridge is affected in some way.
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.
