Mandy needs an absolute ton of dental work. She is meticulous about her teeth and has never had a cavity. But, when she was 9 she fell off of her friend's bike and knocked out her two front teeth. Over the years she has had them put back in, had a root canal, had both extracted, had dozens of temporary replacement devices. One year the flipper broke during her birthday slumber party. One broke on safari in Kenya. They break at all the wrong times.
In order to get her teeth fixed permanently we needed to wait for her to stop growing. She also needs to have braces. The loss of the two front teeth caused the bone on the top jaw to deteriorate and it is now much shorter than the bottom jaw. She has to have this repaired with braces. For the past seven years we were not living in America. Supposedly when you live overseas with the military you get free dental and orthodontics, however, the orthodontist gets to choose his patients, and he did not choose Mandy. We tried and tried for seven years, but they refused to treat Mandy and we had no other dental options, except to pay out of our own pocket for an Italian or Japanese orthodontist to treat Mandy. Have you ever heard of such nonsense, the orthodontist gets paid the same no matter how many patients he choses to treat, and he only has to treat the people whom he wishes to treat.
Now we are back in America and we have crappy dental insurance. We have been here for nine months. We started the process of getting Mandy's teeth fixed on day one. We found a local orthodontist who has a great reputation, his office can do everything we need, dentist, orthodontist, oral surgeon, implants, etc. We went to several appointments. Paid hundreds of dollars. They took xrays, impressions, did a work up and decided that they couldn't treat Mandy because her case is too severe. If it had been treated when she was nine, it would have been no problem but waiting all these years the tooth loss created bone loss etc. He sent us to a specialist about 45 minutes down the street.
We had to redo all the appointments. The xrays, the impressions, the consultations etc. Finally we have a plan. Yesterday was day one, Mandy got her spacers to get her mouth ready for the next set of impressions, followed by actually getting braces. Yesterday was also when they told us the price. Holy crap. They did give us a $500 discount if we paid up front in cash. Which took about 1/2 our savings. Now we are truly poor.
This past year we spent a whole hell of a lot more than we earned. This next year we have to cut back. Can't spend any money. At least the braces are paid for. But, the day after Christmas, wow that was awful. We now have two and a half years of braces and then her mouth will be ready for implants or a bridge depending on a lot of things. So it begins. Poor Mandy, I had braces, they hurt.
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10 comments:
I know how this must hurt the family budget. We were lucky with our first son who only needed his wisdom teeth out. Our second son needed braces and we were able to pay monthly and that with some insurance got us through it. Still, insurance is never enough. What a shame that Mandy couldn't get the care she deserved earlier.
We finally got decent dental insurance this year. I don't know why it isn't just part and parcel of every insurance package. My daughter needs braces -- I'm glad we finally have the insurance for that.
Also -- I've enjoyed getting to know you this past year too.
good god, i haven't even thought about the cost of my kids' future dental work yet. ugh. i'm sorry this is wiping you out financially. there's really no other option, though. gotta fix the teeth.
poor mandy. that sounds like many years of icky dental appointments ahead of her. i would surely need to be sedated!
Don't believe that "if you had done it when she was nine everything would have been fine" crap. We were told when DS was nine that if he got braces it would prevent him from having to have them when he was in high school (when no one wants them). So he endured years and years of braces and NEVER was able to take them off. Finally last year he had had enough and told them to take them off even though his teeth are still a mess. I don't blame him, but one day he will regret not sticking with it I think. We had to pay for two full sets of braces, a few retainers, lots of impressions and xrays, etc from when he was nine until 15! I never had them, but watching him go through it I felt so sorry for him. And then it was all for nothing anyway.
Poor Mandy. I hope she gets fixed up quick and I know she will be so grateful you did this for her.
Oh poor Mandy. I hate this for her and I know this has killed your savings but it'll be worth it.
Ouch...both to your pocketbook and to Mandy's mouth. But oh how the results will be worth it.
Both the medical and dental in the military has changed drastically in the past 20 years. Besides excellent free dental overseas, we were also able to get teeth cleaning, x-rays and exams done at the base Dental Health Clinics and also get some work done on a stand by basis. Oh, yeah, and it was all free unlike the Tricare charges now. Sorry, one of my soapboxes.
Oh, poor Mandy is right. :( My daughter had braces from age 10 to 15 and, while they were worth it, they are no fun. I hope the first orthodontist was able to refund you some of the $$. We had to make a down payment of 50% and then pay the rest in monthly installments over the next three months. They only gave us three months to cough up $2500. Errgggh... She is grateful for it through. Our insurance was crap too. It paid exactly $800. I hope the time passes swiftly for her.
Shelia: They offered us monthly payments, we opted for the cash up front because it saved us almost $500 in the long run. Our insurance will pay a max of $1500 when they chose to dole out some money the orthodontist will cut us a refund check. In the past couple days our car has had to get new brakes, wipers, and a muffler, and our toilet seat broke. We are hemorrhaging money.
Katya: Nice to hear you got some good dental insurance before the braces.
Mamadaisy: Hopefully your kids wont need a lot of dental work.
Lorelei: Maybe I lucked out being denied orthodontics all those years.
Dixie: Yes, it is worth it. Mandy is a trooper, she has been through a lot over the years with her teeth. She has always been very brave and uncomplaining.
Lynn: Yes, it is surely will be worth it.
Luckyzmom: It was free while we were overseas, however they would chose not to serve us very often. Even when I had to have my wisdom teeth out they said no. Once I had a cavity and they said that it wasn't a bad enough cavity and they were choosing not to fill it. Even though they had scheduled me an appt and Jeff had taken the day off from work to take care of Mandy, I got into the chair and the dentist sent me home. Perhaps the difference is between how officers and enlisted are treated?
Laura: I want your orthodontist. Here it costs more than $6000. I had braces and know how much it hurts so I can sympathise.
Dental care is a big issue here in England at the moment Marsha. Everyone here used to get NHS (free dentalcare). But now there are less and less NHS dentists and the majority of people here are having to go private which can be very expensive. I've always had problem teeth and had braces for many years. I hated them! Mandy has my sympathy. I know what she's going through and hope she's ok Marsha. It cost my parents a fortune when I had to have orthodontist care.
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