Major Surgery: Part II
Argh! So I was writing in jest about my cavity filling being major surgery last week. But now it truly does feel like major surgery – at least from a financial perspective.
I received the pre-estimate yesterday from my insurance company (Delta Dental). Apparently the cavity (determined to actually be between teeth, so technically two teeth receiving a filling side-by-side) is located in what’s called a pre-molar. The dentist proposes using the white fillings, but the insurance will only cover silver fillings on “back” teeth.
The teeth in question are the FIRST teeth beyond the scope of what the insurance will cover for white fillings. Consequently, my out-of-pocket expenses are to be $404.85 versus about $50.
Now I’m in decision mode:
Do I fork over the money for the white fillings to maintain my beautiful smile (barf)?
Do I go cheap and get silver fillings?
Do I just wait and deal with it later? (which feels ghetto and makes me imagine myself 20 years from now letting all my teeth rot because I’m afraid to get work done).
This isn’t something I’d planned on for this year so I didn’t take out extra money in Flexible Spending. Maybe I’ll schedule it for January and budget appropiately for next year. Besides, I already have a huge gap in my front teeth…what would be the problem with a few more gaps?
Otherwise, life is good. I’m still in trip planning mode. Now that our next schedule trip is finalized (Hawaii in July/August) I’m working on the next one. We were thinking of Chile in November, but are now thinking perhaps California Gold Counrty and saving Chile for next year. And possibly London for Christmas break. I don’t know…decisions, decisions.
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I have a mix of fillings, approximately 20 of them. Most are the cheap kind. Did you notice them?
I have to agree with Jeffrey, I have a mix of fillings plus two gold crowns. Did you ever notice them before? I say go the cheap way and get the silver fillings. That way when you are old and need some extra money you can pry the silver fillings out and sell them. LOL 🙂
Hey Karl!
I have something of the same dilemma, but I’ve gone a bit more ghetto (my front teeth look kinda ok, but my molars…shudder). I finally found a good dentist after about 15 years of avoiding all contact – precipitated by one old very-filled tooth cracking apart, but above the metal. Well, she’s great, but ONLY does the white ones, and I have no dental insurance anyway. I tested her out on some minor white ones, and she did a BEAUTIFUL job – they can’t be felt and it looks like a whole/perfect tooth again, which is pretty amazing…but there’s now so much other work she found that needs doing (including some truly major surgery to save a gold post the arsehole profiteering creep who scared me off dentists years ago put in (funny how only his work fails on me…)), at vast expense, that I’ve not managed to get back to deal with the more seroiusly shattered tooth, since it’s kinda (but only kinda) superficial. So, I guess I’m saying it’s a slippery slope – so get it done, and fer chrissake, if you have a good dentist you like, have the white filllings done – they FEEL better as well as just being a looks thing. I have no idea whether they last any better (though I would think the smooth perfection of them and the more modern materials would be good for something) – I’m not a believer in this very Cambridge-y scare BS about metal fillings poisoning one or anything – besides, there are bigger things to worr about, but for something that’s going to be in your head for the rest of your life, is $400 so bad? The front gap, of course, is part of your charm (you and Lauren Hutton!).
In any case, hope you guys are doing great and hope to see y’all and catch up soon!
Cheers,
F.
Realistically speaking, what is the chance that anyone other than yourself and your dental hygienist is ever going to see those fillings? I’d recommend saving yourself $354.85 and do something nice for yourself and Randy on your next trip together.
im so saddened by the loss of your blog
I agree with you Randy. Very sad that this blog seems to have died. 🙁