Am I over-reacting? (dental experience)

[Notorious Honey Badger]

So it's been years since I've been to the dentist and I finally went. The assistant did some cleaning for me, X-Rays, and looked at my teeth. Mostly in good shape, but a lot of plaque build up and that's no biggy I guess they just clean it off.

So then the Dentist himself shows up for 3 minutes at the end. Looks at X-Rays, asks me if I have any pressing concerns. I say no just cold sensitivity mostly solved by sensidyne. He then talks about the X-Rays with the assistant and then leaves saying that one of my teeth might be a little beyond repair.

I then go in the small office with what I can only compare to car dealerships credit manager. She then tells me I have to get 2 maybe 3 root canals and adding it up it costs 12,000. My insurance would cover about half that. She then goes over options of using my annual benefits to their maximum by distributing work over this year and the next.

What really bothers me is the dentist didn't explain to me why root canals were needed or how urgent it was. He spent 3 minutes with me speaking gibberish and I go from "just need a cleaning and wisdom teeth to come out" to 12,000 dollars in work. No explanation, no discussion, nothing. I had to ask their .

Am I out of left field or here is this typically how dentists work?

[kirant]

It seems to happen a lot to people who haven't seen a dentist in years.

My mom had a Root Canal when she as a kid when she hadn't seen a dentist in 5 (?) years. The same happened with the kid of one of my bosses...their family moved from Korea about a year before I took a summer job with them. Their daughter, who was about 12 at this point, hadn't seen a dentist in her life and had ~10 cavities and a Root Canal...which needed fixing or to remove the tooth (I had to translate this from the doctor to my boss to simpler English, which is why I know this).

Never seen that dramatic a turn around though. Most of the time you can get an indication of how good your teeth are based on the reaction of your teeth to scaling.

Though, Root Canals are harder to detect until x-rays are looked at if memory serves because of their nature of going so close to the tooth and existing in non-visible locations.

[Short Shift]

If you don't trust the dentist you saw, get a second opinion.

[sa226]

I'm certainly no expert, but typically yeah.

Just sounds like a crappy dentist. As in poor "chairside manner". Those "checkups" are a friggin ripoff depending on how much of a crap your dentist gives.

And either thats a typo or you are getting ripped off on the root canal pricing.

Usually root canals are about 1500-2000 per tooth, depending on tooth and what needs to be done (Molar more expensive). About 800ish for the root canal, and about 800ish for the cap.

If your insurance covers the cost of checkups, I would find another dentist.

[Erick Estrada]

Get a second opinion. As for the dentist I wouldn't take it too personally as a lot of social misfits become dentists.

[psicodude]

My dentist goes over everything in detail including showing me the X-rays and pointing out the problems. There is no gibberish or rocket science involved...white is good, black is bad. Get a second opinion, but be prepared to pay for the x-rays yourself the second time around as most insurance plans have limits on them.

I can give you the name of my dentist if you are in the deep S.E.

[sa226]

If you don't know anybody that you trust to give a good reference,

Have a look at ratemds.com. I think people in the field hate stuff like that, but if you're unsure it doesn't hurt.

[First Lady]

My dentist is awesome. Having been self-employed with no coverage for many years; he never pressured me into "nice to have done". He is always very open about saying "no, that can probably wait." or "here's what you need to watch for and then we might have to do it sooner." And for things that must be done, he was very fair in his pricing.

His name is Dr. Rapske, at Deerfoot Dental; highly recommend him. They are awesome with kids too, all mine went there and it's been nearly 30 years. Surprisingly he's not that old. I think we must of started going to him when he was fresh out of school.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Get a second opinion. As for the dentist I wouldn't take it too personally as a lot of social misfits become dentists.

Anti-Dentite

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Originally Posted by psicodude

My dentist goes over everything in detail including showing me the X-rays and pointing out the problems. There is no gibberish or rocket science involved...white is good, black is bad. Get a second opinion, but be prepared to pay for the x-rays yourself the second time around as most insurance plans have limits on them.

I can give you the name of my dentist if you are in the deep S.E.

Thanks for that. I think I'll finish my cleaning at the place I'm going to now and get more information about what they want to do. I think they want to fix some chipped teeth but they've been chipped for a while. I'll finish my cleaning and then go to a place my mom recommends in December. Shoulda went there to begin with. I googled the place I went to and a lot of people have said the same thing; this place tries to upsell and have unnecessary work done. Seems really shady for a dentist. Like a god damn car dealership.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Gotta get that done now. The longer you wait the worse its gonna get, and believe me when it gets to the point where you start experiencing the tooth pain, it literally becomes as bad or worse than a migraine.

I would have been pissed. Definitely bad chair side customer service.

You know it will need to be done eventually... But I would find another dentist. Maybe someone that is in the business because they like it, not because they think it'll get them rich.

[keenan87]

The same thing happened to me. Being a student, I simply cannot afford 10 thousand dollars for a couple of root canals.

Then they tell me how dangerous it is and how I can end up in the hospital. The receptionist told me she will follow up with me in 4 days but seriously, 10k??! How does a starving student come up with that cash

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by keenan87

The same thing happened to me. Being a student, I simply cannot afford 10 thousand dollars for a couple of root canals.

Then they tell me how dangerous it is and how I can end up in the hospital. The receptionist told me she will follow up with me in 4 days but seriously, 10k??! How does a starving student come up with that cash

So if you end up in the hospital would it be free?

Win-win

[keenan87]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

So if you end up in the hospital would it be free?

Win-win

Haha that's a different way of thinking about it haha..

I guess I gotta go to mexico

[Byrns]

Definitly get a 2nd opinion. I was going to one such "deluxe" dentist that wanted to remove all my amalgam fillings and showed me videos in the consultation office about why they're so bad. I got a 2nd opinion and switched dentists, and my cleanings dropped in price by a lot. I also still have my amalgam fillings, and the new dentist has never brought it up and its been almost 3 years with him now.

[wooohooo]

I'm a dental student but only in first year so my knowledge is very limited. Regarding root canals if not taken care of it can lead to losin your teeth and even severe infections. You should probably get it looked at by another dentist. A lot of dentists run somewhat shady business and this is known within the profession.

[Jake]

Never listen to dental hygienists/assistants. They don't know what they are talking about, yet they still love sharing their opinion.

Originally Posted by sa226

I'm certainly no expert, but typically yeah.
Usually root canals are about 1500-2000 per tooth, depending on tooth and what needs to be done (Molar more expensive). About 800ish for the root canal, and about 800ish for the cap.

The price of dental work varies between provinces. I'm not sure about Manitoba, but BC dentists are quite a bit less expensive than Alberta ones.

[burn_this_city]

12k seems extreme for some fillings and root canals. Unless they are going 6 crowns there is no way it should cost that much. IMO the worst thing you can do is tell them you have insurance. Just get the claim form for "tax" purposes and claim it yourself after the fact. They jack up the rates when they know you have insurance.

[Champion]

This happens. I have never had a cavity in my life. I just went to the dentist 2 weeks ago and I was shocked to learn I had to get three root canals. I cannot see that I had any cavitys, but I haven't been to the dentist in 2.5 years. I don;t have pain or anything. Main sugar I have is lots on coffee everyday.

$12 000 seems like a crazy amount. My dentist, a family member, showed me the x-rays and went through everything for a while.