Going to the dentist for the dyers time in a while and am both nervous but relieved (teeth, pulled)

[JMAN723]

Regrettably I put off going to the dentist for a long time. I did make an appointment for April but obviously Covid happened. I finally got an appointment for next week but had to book it about two months ago. To be honest I havent always been great with my oral care. I always brushed twice a day but didn’t floss as much and I ate and drank pretty much anything both healthy and sugar filled. During the pandemic i finally started taken it really seriously and on top of brushing I floss every day. I also bought Sensodyne toothpaste because I started feeling some sensitivity in some areas. I also cut off sugar and have been drinking mainly water. I still know I probably will need work done because I have gotten obsessed with looking at my teeth and can see some cavities and other fillings I need. I also have some translucency on some teeth. I know it’s common but my front top teeth have a lot of translucency on the bottom which worries me. I also know that I probably need to remove wisdom teeth. They don’t hurt but I just have a feeling. So on one hand I’m glad I am finally getting to my long awaited appointment and now have a good oral routine but I am still nervous. My biggest worry is obviously cost. I just got a new job which is great because I was laid off before the pandemic but the insurance won’t kick in until March. I have Medicaid right now do it will only cover a little. Anyway sorry that this was not a real question but I would love any pointers anybody might have from anything I said. Thanks!!!

[SanyBelle]

Good luck at the dentist. Ask if they will give you a discount until your insurance kicks in.

Awesome that you are now taking care of your teeth, better late than never!

[JMAN723]

Originally Posted by SanyBelle

Good luck at the dentist. Ask if they will give you a discount until your insurance kicks in.

Awesome that you are now taking care of your teeth, better late than never!

Thank You. The place I’m going to supposedly gives good deals if you need work done.

[Deserterer]

You're unlikely to cause severe damage between now and March if you are taking care of your teeth now. Its only 10 weeks till March. If you have difficult spots get a water flosser and use that too.

[Hemlock140]

If they find anything requiring repair, such as cavities, ask if it would be safe to wait until the insurance kicks in to do the work. Some conditions require immediate attention to avoid losing the tooth, others do not. I just went two years without visiting the dentist due to a medical condition making it unsafe, and finally went a couple of weeks ago. The result is one old crown wore out and has to be replaced, and one tooth has decay and needs a filling. With my insurance plus being on my wife's, it looks like about $400 total.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Originally Posted by JMAN723

Regrettably I put off going to the dentist for a long time. I did make an appointment for April but obviously Covid happened. I finally got an appointment for next week but had to book it about two months ago. To be honest I havent always been great with my oral care. I always brushed twice a day but didn’t floss as much and I ate and drank pretty much anything both healthy and sugar filled. During the pandemic i finally started taken it really seriously and on top of brushing I floss every day. I also bought Sensodyne toothpaste because I started feeling some sensitivity in some areas. I also cut off sugar and have been drinking mainly water. I still know I probably will need work done because I have gotten obsessed with looking at my teeth and can see some cavities and other fillings I need. I also have some translucency on some teeth. I know it’s common but my front top teeth have a lot of translucency on the bottom which worries me. I also know that I probably need to remove wisdom teeth. They don’t hurt but I just have a feeling. So on one hand I’m glad I am finally getting to my long awaited appointment and now have a good oral routine but I am still nervous. My biggest worry is obviously cost. I just got a new job which is great because I was laid off before the pandemic but the insurance won’t kick in until March. I have Medicaid right now do it will only cover a little. Anyway sorry that this was not a real question but I would love any pointers anybody might have from anything I said. Thanks!!!

First, good luck going back to the dentist.

I am pretty dental-phobic although I, too, have generally been very good about dental hygiene since I was a teenager (i.e. brushing, flossing, WaterPik, mouthwash, etc.) and I'm now 61. I bolded your comment about your wisdom teeth. You didn't say how old you are, but I had my wisdom teeth out when I was in my late 20s and that was probably a decade after I SHOULD have had them out. The bottom ones came in sideways and were horribly impacted, which somehow led to cavities in the 2 teeth right next to them; before then, I had had zero cavities my entire life. I ended up finally having the wisdom teeth pulled (the bottom ones in one year, the top ones the following January when my insurance "reset" for the year) and had to have root canals in both of the teeth that had cavities. (Honestly, the root canals were not a big deal; I was terrified because of what I'd heard about root canals, but there was very little pain and the recovery was fine.)

I discovered the wisdom teeth problem only after the cavities started causing pain. I had never had a toothache before and it was pretty miserable.

These days I try to be better about going to the dentist, but I had 2 major surgeries this year that wouldn't allow a dental visit (I went before the 1st surgery, just in case) so I will be going back early next year. I have one weird back tooth that will likely need a root canal. Oh, well.

[Coolair]

Though visiting a dentist can be expensive but postponing the dental issues might cause inflammation and you will have to book an appointment nonetheless.

[Coolair]

Hope you have visited the long postponed appointment to the dentist. No update so far about your expereince.

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by JMAN723

Regrettably I put off going to the dentist for a long time. I did make an appointment for April but obviously Covid happened. I finally got an appointment for next week but had to book it about two months ago. To be honest I havent always been great with my oral care. I always brushed twice a day but didn’t floss as much and I ate and drank pretty much anything both healthy and sugar filled. During the pandemic i finally started taken it really seriously and on top of brushing I floss every day. I also bought Sensodyne toothpaste because I started feeling some sensitivity in some areas. I also cut off sugar and have been drinking mainly water. I still know I probably will need work done because I have gotten obsessed with looking at my teeth and can see some cavities and other fillings I need. I also have some translucency on some teeth. I know it’s common but my front top teeth have a lot of translucency on the bottom which worries me. I also know that I probably need to remove wisdom teeth. They don’t hurt but I just have a feeling. So on one hand I’m glad I am finally getting to my long awaited appointment and now have a good oral routine but I am still nervous. My biggest worry is obviously cost. I just got a new job which is great because I was laid off before the pandemic but the insurance won’t kick in until March. I have Medicaid right now do it will only cover a little. Anyway sorry that this was not a real question but I would love any pointers anybody might have from anything I said. Thanks!!!

My daughter and grandson have NJ state medicaid dental insurance that pays 100% of everything.

Your new insurance may not cover much of anything until you're with them for a year. I just replied in another thread and will paste it in here because my advice was to find a dental school university to do the work because it's a 3rd cheaper.

Originally Posted by Roselvr

I'm 1st generation Hungarian born in the US. I guess my parents didn't know what dental care was until I was 11 around 1976. Like you, the dentist drilled without anything. It hurt like heck! The only time I had anesthesia was when they pulled 4 teeth.

Eventually I found a really good dentist, I had insurance. I had bad teeth but paid to fix them. I did what I could such as root canals and caps.

I made sure that my kids have always had dental care from the time they had teeth.

Lost dental insurance in 2011. I have health issues, one is a connective tissue disorder (CTD) that affects my teeth to where they break at the gum line. My daughter who I spent over $10,000 on her teeth with braces ended up getting my bad teeth. Getting braces is the worst thing to do for people with a CTD. She's 27, her teeth are also breaking at the gum line.

I finally got Delta Dental insurance. I was hoping to be able to save my teeth like you're hoping but they're too far gone. Hopefully yours are not.

Insurance only pays so much. I decided to try the local dental school. They sent me to Penn University Dental in Philly saying that if there's any hope for my teeth, they would have the newest technology. There is an issue where my bite is off that the local dental school is not comfortable with.

Philly wants to do snap in dentures which cost $14,000. COVID hit before I could find out the true price after insurance kicks in.

Since I have health issues that include allergies to medications and vaccines, I've decided I'm not going to push my luck with implants because I could end up being allergic to the implant metal. I mention it because some people do have issues with it, some also have issues with some caps due to the material they're made out of if not porcelain. If I remember correctly, there were posts in this section.

Best advice I have is to see if you can find a dental university in California because it will be a lot cheaper and they may have the newest technology too. I did a google search for you 92627 dental university school, I also see Top 10 Best Dental School in Orange County, CA
University of California, Irvine


To give you an idea of prices, they charge $100 per extraction. The oral surgeon that I normally use charges close to $400 per tooth.

If you have insurance, it will only cover so much every year, with needing so much work, your insurance dollars will go farther at the dental university. If you saw a regular dentist, you may have to start work now, then wait until January 1st to do more.

Lastly, find a Facebook group for your local area. We have one in our town called town talk. There's also one for my development that I run. Make a post saying you need a lot of dental work done asking for referrals, then go to google and read reviews. You can do the same on the NextDoor site.