Venting Dentists in the US

[Shakespear's Brother]

Healthcare in the US is a big fucking scam for sure, but dental is not far off.

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Dentist: You need a $1800 crown on this tooth and also a $350 filling on another tooth​

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Me: I don't have $1800 for the crown but I do have exactly and only $350 so can I just get the filling? I am on a fixed monthly income that is below the poverty threshold for our state. I don't have insurance. I am paying cash from pocket.​

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Dentist: Well I can discount the crown to $1600.​

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Me: I literally only have enough money for the $350 filling.​

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Dentist: I am giving you a really good discount on the crown. $1600 is a really good price.​

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Me: Okay, but all I can afford is the filling. I only have $350​

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Dentist: You need the crown as well.​

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Me: So you're not going to fill my cavity? You said the hole is very deep and it should be filled right away.​

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Dentist: You need a crown.​

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Me: But my cavity?​

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Dentist: CROWN CROWN CROWN CROWN​

I get it, basically the dentist is telling me to fuck off. Obviously crowns are where she makes her profit and she can't bothered with cavities, as there's no money in it. This shit is annoying. Already spent a couple hundred on the exam so now I have to go try another dentist and shell out of some money for someone to assess my mess of a mouth. Jesus.

 

[Rachel74]

Very similar in the U.K. unless you find a NHS dentist but they are like gold dust here. I pay monthly for Dental insurance as where I live there are no NHS dentists as everyone is rich!

 

[Shakespear's Brother]

Very similar in the U.K. unless you find a NHS dentist but they are like gold dust here. I pay monthly for Dental insurance as where I live there are no NHS dentists as everyone is rich!

That sucks – sounds very frustrating.

 

[c824767]

Interesting that you should bring up dentists. I promised myself no more dentist visits, I will ctb rather than go there. https://www.interesly.com/suicide-toothache/

 

[Soulless_Angel]

despite the fact that one treatment makes her more money, some money even on a lesser service is better then none at all?!
I am lucky to be with a fantastic NHS dentist, but would happily pay for private if it came to it

 

[Shakespear's Brother]

Interesting that you should bring up dentists. I promised myself no more dentist visits, I will ctb rather than go there. https://www.interesly.com/suicide-toothache/

That's so understandable. Dental-related pain, distress, discomfort is fucking maddening.

despite the fact that one treatment makes her more money, some money even on a lesser service is better then none at all?!
I am lucky to be with a fantastic NHS dentist, but would happily pay for private if it came to it

I'm making an educated conjecture, but probably because she's already in there doing the more expensive crown, then it's not so bad to also just do a filling, as like an add-on. Like, just doing the filling by itself there is maybe no profit in it or perhaps maybe it is even a loss, in terms of time to do it, set up, clean up. But added on to another service, it doesn't affect her so much.

That's great that you have a NHS dentist you like.

 

[Asta]

@c824767 - I thought I was the only chicken here (not that you are). My last visit to the dds became the final straw for me. - not paying thousands of $ and going through all the misery involved at my advanced age, so when the pain begins that will be my cue and excuse to fly the coop. (Interesting link, thanks. Now I don't feel like such a wuss!)

 

[gingerplum]

I need a couple of implants and some other work... I expect it to cost at least 5 grand

 

[mattwitt]

Last time I went to the dentist they wanted to do 14K worth of work on me. And they also wouldn't refund any money I gave them for a partial I changed my mind about until I left a complaint on Google and when they finally gave me the refund money like a year later they shorted me around $300.00

Right now I have a small gum infection I'm treating with hydrogen peroxide and oil pulling with coconut oil hoping it goes away so I don't have to pay for that to be treated by them professional pick pockets.

 

[Final Escape]

Not being able to afford getting dental care is so scary. I realize health care is not a human right but it should be a lot more affordable so it's accessible for most people. Like a lot of therapies are out of reach for the average person because we don't have free market in healthcare which causes it to be so outrageously expensive.

 

[Shamana]

Not being able to afford getting dental care is so scary. I realize health care is not a human right but it should be a lot more affordable so it's accessible for most people. Like a lot of therapies are out of reach for the average person because we don't have free market in healthcare which causes it to be so outrageously expensive.

Personally I think healthcare should be a human right in developed socities.

 

[Life+me=error]

Consider going to a developing country like Mexico, a Central American country, or the Philippines. So much cheaper there and the quality isn't so much worse than that in the US. As a added bonus, you get to visit a foreign country and enjoy some off time there.

 

[Final Escape]

Personally I think healthcare should be a human right in developed socities.

It can't be though. You cannot remove the profit motive or those doctors and workers will have little incentive to give u service or work. Nothing is actually free although government programs give the illusion that u can get free stuff. But the money is not given voluntarily for programs like Medicaid and Medicare. It's forced at gun point off the productive people through force, which crowds out private charity that might otherwise be there for people who cannot afford basic healthcare services.

 

[Shamana]

It can't be though. You cannot remove the profit motive or those doctors and workers will have little incentive to give u service or work. Nothing is actually free although government programs give the illusion that u can get free stuff. But the money is not given voluntarily for programs like Medicaid and Medicare. It's forced at gun point off the productive people through force, which crowds out private charity that might otherwise be there for people who cannot afford it.

Tax paid healthcares works fine in welfarestates. We actually end up paying a lot less individually than you do in the US who spend the most on healthcare pr. captita thanks to your system.

You can't say it isn't possible when it is in many countries. And the doctors do get paid of course.

 

[Final Escape]

Tax paid healthcares works fine in welfarestates. We actually end up paying a lot less individually than you do in the US who spend the most on healthcare pr. captita thanks to your system.

You can't say it isn't possible when it is in many countries. And the doctors do get paid of course.

Which country are u in?

 

[Shamana]

Which country are u in?

I'm in scandanavia. There's welfare in all countries here and it works just fine.

 

[Shakespear's Brother]

Right now I have a small gum infection I'm treating with hydrogen peroxide and oil pulling with coconut oil hoping it goes away so I don't have to pay for that to be treated by them professional pick pockets.

Oh shoot. That sounds unpleasant. Hope it heals it up for you.

 

[Final Escape]

I'm in scandanavia. There's welfare in all countries here and it works just fine.

https://billmuehlenberg.com/2018/08/13/scandinavia-socialism-and-the-welfare-state/ this might explain why it's working there. I mean it works in the US for the time being, but with all the third world immigration and the push towards socialism I doubt it will last that much longer. I guess Scandinavia still has a lot of free market even though they have a welfare state.

 

[gingerplum]

Last time I went to the dentist they wanted to do 14K worth of work on me. And they also wouldn't refund any money I gave them for a partial I changed my mind about until I left a complaint on Google and when they finally gave me the refund money like a year later they shorted me around $300.00

Right now I have a small gum infection I'm treating with hydrogen peroxide and oil pulling with coconut oil hoping it goes away so I don't have to pay for that to be treated by them professional pick pockets.

Matt, do you have health insurance?

 

[mattwitt]

Matt, do you have health insurance?

No. I haven't worked anywhere in almost 2 years now.

 

[gingerplum]

No. I haven't worked anywhere in almost 2 years now.

Sorry, I wasn't sure. I thought maybe you could get some antibiotics from your primary care physician if necessary for your gum infection. Otherwise, I guess urgent care if you can afford it. How is it doing? I hope it's getting better.

 

[mattwitt]

Sorry, I wasn't sure. I thought maybe you could get some antibiotics from your primary care physician if necessary for your gum infection. Otherwise, I guess urgent care if you can afford it. How is it doing? I hope it's getting better.

Thanks for caring and asking. Right now it's not too bad. None of my teeth in that area are loose yet. If it doesn't go away in the next couple of weeks I'll have to see a dentist to get my whole mouth deep cleaned and get antibiotics.

I had this problem back in 2013 and I saw a dentist and they put me on antibiotics for 10 days and those antibiotics didn't work so I went to the emergency room and they put me on a different antibiotic and it got rid of the infection in less than 24 hours. So it was another example of how dentists can cost you money.

Last time I had this problem was in 2017 and I did go to an urgent care place hoping to save money by just getting some antibiotics and hoping that would do the trick like last time. Instead the doctor who looked at me got mad that I didn't go to the dentist first. refused to give me antibiotics and then charged me $175.00 to look in my mouth with a flashlight for 5 seconds and recommend me to some emergency dental place. So I go to the emergency dental place and they tell me to come back the next day so I did. They took x rays to charge my insurance company 250 bucks then told me they don't treat gum infections !!! That's why I went there !!! They gave me an antibiotics prescription and recommended that I have the infection treated by college students at a college like 10 miles away and told me if I wanted my teeth cleaned I'd have to make an appointment and come back some other time. It's like what kind of emergency dental place doesn't treat gum infections !!! So then I went my old dentist office that moved and they took care of the problem for about 500 bucks. So it basically ended up costing me probably around 700 dollars when all I needed was 10 dollars of antibiotics.

 

[Final Escape]

Thanks for caring and asking. Right now it's not too bad. None of my teeth in that area are loose yet. If it doesn't go away in the next couple of weeks I'll have to see a dentist to get my whole mouth deep cleaned and get antibiotics.

I had this problem back in 2013 and I saw a dentist and they put me on antibiotics for 10 days and those antibiotics didn't work so I went to the emergency room and they put me on a different antibiotic and it got rid of the infection in less than 24 hours. So it was another example of how dentists can cost you money.

Last time I had this problem was in 2017 and I did go to an urgent care place hoping to save money by just getting some antibiotics and hoping that would do the trick like last time. Instead the doctor who looked at me got mad that I didn't go to the dentist first. refused to give me antibiotics and then charged me $175.00 to look in my mouth with a flashlight for 5 seconds and recommend me to some emergency dental place. So I go to the emergency dental place and they tell me to come back the next day so I did. They took x rays to charge my insurance company 250 bucks then told me they don't treat gum infections !!! That's why I went there !!! They gave me an antibiotics prescription and recommended that I have the infection treated by college students at a college like 10 miles away and told me if I wanted my teeth cleaned I'd have to make an appointment and come back some other time. It's like what kind of emergency dental place doesn't treat gum infections !!! So then I went my old dentist office that moved and they took care of the problem for about 500 bucks. So it basically ended up costing me probably around 700 dollars when all I needed was 10 dollars of antibiotics.

I hate the US medical system even though at one point it was probably pretty good back in the day, but then as usual the gov starts to meddle and you get this situation where u feel dicked around by medical doctors, no transparency, cost prohibitive, difficult to access, not honest, perverse incentives. I can't believe how awful they treated you. Things like this have happened to me as well in the medical system.

Many doctors have god complex. I remember as a young girl thinking doctors will care about me and do everything possible to help me lol! Hahahaha! I was incredibly naive. Until I learned we don't have a free market so the incentives will be perverse. Then I viewed them quite differently. Basically you need to look out for yourself and research because you could get screwed otherwise. They might give u meds u don't need or invasive ways of treating something that could be treated naturally.

 

[mattwitt]

I hate the US medical system even though at one point it was probably pretty good back in the day, but then as usual the gov starts to meddle and you get this situation where u feel dicked around by medical doctors, no transparency, cost prohibitive, difficult to access, not honest, perverse incentives. I can't believe how awful they treated you. Things like this have happened to me as well in the medical system.

Many doctors have god complex. I remember as a young girl thinking doctors will care about me and do everything possible to help me lol! Hahahaha! I was incredibly naive. Until I learned we don't have a free market so the incentives will be perverse. Then I viewed them quite differently. Basically you need to look out for yourself and research because you could get screwed otherwise. They might give u meds u don't need or invasive ways of treating something that could be treated naturally.

The system and the people are horrible !

I went to the emergency room one time because my blood sugar was a high. They told me I needed to stay overnight (which I really didn't) I spent the next 12 hours just sitting in a bed (I couldn't fall asleep at all) and they ended up charging me over $ 2000.00 (which I paid) just to baby sit me for those 12 hours.

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

This is so on the money, it's been my exactly experience with anything health-related in the US. When I first suffered neurological problems and brain fog, I was sent for MRIs, CTs, the whole nine. Of course, nothing showed up, and my problems persisted. So there I was, majorly in the hole right off the bat, with no answers and no help.

A year later I thought I would give meds a try, and the psych goes "well I'd really like you to get checked out". I explained to her that I had recently had scans and full work-ups and she basically flew off the handle, accusing me of playing doctor and being difficult to work with. I told her I had no insurance and that I was already underwater to the tune of 20k. I was livid right back at her, and wanted to know why she thought something would magically show up where there was nothing only months before. It's totally insane, yet I'm the one seeking mental health treatment? Well, okay then.

 

[BangBangBang]

In my town we pay about 15-20 euros for 1 tooth filling

Minimum wage in my country: 523 euro

Tragic

 

[Boochky]

The best you can.hope for in the US is an HMO. The big one in California is Kaiser, but I don't think they exist in the rest of the country because when I've worked for out of state companies, I've only been offered PPO.

Kaiser is great. You pay a $20 co-pay and see the doctor. My hospitalizations were all free. Hysterectomy? Free. They have in-house x-ray, lab, and pharmacy. You can e-mail your doctors and not even have to come in sometimes. I miss it.

 

[Final Escape]

This is so on the money, it's been my exactly experience with anything health-related in the US. When I first suffered neurological problems and brain fog, I was sent for MRIs, CTs, the whole nine. Of course, nothing showed up, and my problems persisted. So there I was, majorly in the hole right off the bat, with no answers and no help.

A year later I thought I would give meds a try, and the psych goes "well I'd really like you to get checked out". I explained to her that I had recently had scans and full work-ups and she basically flew off the handle, accusing me of playing doctor and being difficult to work with. I told her I had no insurance and that I was already underwater to the tune of 20k. I was livid right back at her, and wanted to know why she thought something would magically show up where there was nothing only months before. It's totally insane, yet I'm the one seeking mental health treatment? Well, okay then.

The incompetence of these people is astounding, they were probably good order followers so they managed to become doctors mainly because they are compliant ass kissers lol! Not because they actually have the aptitude or competence.