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Tourmeister

Tourmeister

Keeper of the Asylum
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Scott
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Friday
Howdy,

:tab I'm going in to have a root canal evaluation in the morning (Wed). If the tooth is not cracked too bad, they will try to do a root canal job and crown it. If they can't, it gets yanked. Either way, this is gonna set us back some serious $$.

:tab We have been working hard to get out of debt. Between school loans and some other unplanned debt, it has been a LONG trek. We are finally starting to see the pay off date in the near future. I don't have dental insurance and will be paying for this out of pocket. It is very frustrating because it seems like every time I get some extra money saved up or get a bonus at work something like this happens. I appreciate the fact that I usually am able to cover it without going deeper into debt, but it just means that debt free date keeps getting pushed back. I am sick of being in debt and REALLY want to get it all paid off!

:tab So I guess this is really two requests. First, the issue with the tooth is resolved in the best possible way for the least possible cost. Second, that we might manage to get the debt paid off without any other "unplanned" events postponing it.

Thanks.
 
Done :pray: and Done :pray:!

Relax Scott!
It's out of your hands anyway.
 
Prayers and good thoughts for you, Scott, for your tooth as well as reaching your financial goals. I was up against the same decision a couple of years ago. I had some pain in a tooth, the dentist saw a crack (on xray) and planned a root canal and the whole works. Me, being stubborn as I am, said no and got a second opinion. Another dentist (who came highly recommended so I trusted him) said let's try redoing the filling and see what happens. All good now, I just know not to crunch down on anything with that tooth, or I do get mild pain that lingers a little while. So, it may not apply in your case, but a second opinion helped me. It probably just put off the inevitable but I'll take it as long as I can.
 
If I may T, in 09 the dentist wanted to do 2 root canals... with insurance I was still looking at a huge chunk of $, I inquired though... and each extraction would be considerably less (try $40.00 for an extraction).

I let them talk me into planning for the root canals....and after 30 minutes of looking and prodding at it they to do the extractions instead. I did some research, and I don't 'like' the idea of root canals. Granted I'm not a dentist, but there seems a lot of possibilities in quality of results with little guarantees with root canals.

Regardless, good luck and god bless T.
 
Scott,

Yours is a worthwhile goal. One of the things I do is to work with people to help them formulate a plan to get out of debt. I will tell you from both personal experience, and having watched others work through this, that there will be setbacks and they will be disheartening, but I can assure you that you'll get there if you keep the goal in mind.

With that said, we're hoping for the best possible outcome with the tooth.

I'll help anyway I can. Best wishes on the tooth,

Mike
 
Scott, My last (as in final also) root canal set me back $800 for the root canal and another $600 for the crown. I, in my ignorance, did not realize the crown was not included. Every cracked tooth since has been an extraction.
Prayers sent. I'm on the same out of debt path. LOOONG way to go.
 
:tab Theresa, I went with the filling option a few years ago, same tooth. The filling was too deep to redo it. There was a cavity under the filling and it was getting into the nerve this time. Also, one root of the nerve was already dead and the other on its way out. There was quite a bit of infection under the live root and that was causing intense pain! They cleaned it all out this morning, stuffed it full of antibiotics, and put a temp filling in it for a few weeks. When I go back, they will clean it out again and seal the canals to prevent (hopefully) any future infection. Then I get fitted for a crown shortly after that. So they were able to save the tooth. All said and done, I am looking at right around $2K for the whole mess. Beth was talking with a friend of hers after she picked me up and her friend's hub is looking at about the same out of pocket cost for the same thing and he has insurance! A lot of good that did him...
 
My wife and I both had to have root canals (my first and hopefully my last) in 2010, the first year in many when we didn't have dental insurance. :doh: Insurance would have covered about half of the costs.

My son, who has no insurance of any kind, is having terrible trouble with his teeth, because the radiation treatments he had when he was 15 weakened, them, and he didn't keep up with his flouride treatments. As a result his teeth are very fragile. I'm afraid he's going to lose them all before he's 25.
 
Scott,

Although you may be disheartened that just as soon as you get a bit saved something comes along, I praise God that you had that bit saved! He does provide but sometimes not the way we want. I believe all things are important to God so praying about the finances and this tooth situation is important. The main thing is He wants us coming to Him for all things! Hang in, either with or without the tooth! God Bless!
 
Scott, I just re-read and realizes this was first posted in Feb.:doh: So what was the outcome?
 
:tab Got the root canal done. They injected a mess load of anti-biotics and put on a temp filling. I go back in a few weeks to have the temp filling removed, the canals cleaned out and sealed, then it is off to my regular dentist to have the tooth prepped for a cap. Then a few more weeks before the cap arrives and is installed. Grand total will be just over $2K...

:tab I hear you on being happy that we've been able to cover stuff like this when it happens. But man it gets old having it happen pretty much every time we try to get ahead on something! I am sure God has things figured out better than I ever could, but it would be nice to be privy to that info occasionally... ;-)
 
Despite what I pay for insurance, my little out-patient surgery will cost me over $1,000 out of pocket. I'm almost better off not having insurance.
 
My dental coverage is like most - root canals, caps, and bridges cost so much out of pocket that I wonder how much benefit I'm getting from the paycheck deductions. One year I paid almost $10k out of pocket, but it was for three bridges and plenty of work. I often wonder if extracting them ALL and just getting dentures might be easier.
:giveup:



On the opposite end of the spectrum, my infusions cost me $30 out of pocket - but without insurance they would be $7k+. Multiply that by the six I need a year and I quickly see that I can never, ever, ever be without insurance.
 
:tab Well, as of last Monday morning, this is all done now. Got me a nice shiney gold crown. As luck would have it, about three weeks ago, the front of another tooth just snapped right off while I was standing out front watching the kids play. I wasn't even eating anything :doh: Anyway, the dentist was able to fix that the same time he did the final crown install on the other tooth. Final bill for everything was just around $2300.

:tab Now if we could just go another year or so without some other major unplanned expense... :wary:
 
Tourmeister said:
:tab Well, as of last Monday morning, this is all done now. Got me a nice shiney gold crown. As luck would have it, about three weeks ago, the front of another tooth just snapped right off while I was standing out front watching the kids play. I wasn't even eating anything :doh: Anyway, the dentist was able to fix that the same time he did the final crown install on the other tooth. Final bill for everything was just around $2300.

:tab Now if we could just go another year or so without some other major unplanned expense... :wary:
Click to expand...

Frankly its not likely to happen, but as you continue down the road you are on, you will gradually find them to be less and less of a problem and just a part of life. In many ways you will have planned for those unplanned expenses.
 
2300? Think I woulda' headed to Mexico. Probably could have had it done, had a fun trip, and still saved some moola.
 
It is discouraging to be close to done with debt and have something happen. Ours is our never-ending *** car. Actually, I've got an uncrowned tooth now. The root canal happened just before I lost my job two years ago. There was no way I could afford the crown after that. The permanent filling has been holding up well enough so it's become less important to me to get one now. But I will. I just wanted a motorcycle more. :mrgreen:

I hope it all goes well! Just getting the pain gone from that infected nerve is a huge relief.
 
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