Question:
My mom just broke off about a quarter of her front tooth. She says
she feels no pain. Of course she has no insurance and I will need to
pay. I have read about bonding and veneer. Can someone (hopefully a
few) post some options and an approximate cost? And what kind of
questions to ask the dentist? Should I get two opinions?
Answer:
If you get to a marketing-intensive place, such as All About Teeth in the Mall (made up by me) or something it could cost thousands,
or if you get to the neighbrohood doc who has a spot attach to his house it could cost say $45 or $75 depending ........
OR the reverse!
There are no gurarantees about cost/services/value/ quality.
Know anyone who has a good dentist? Ask them what is up with the Doc.
Couple of ideas:
1. Quick composite class IV restoration ........ 20 minutes to 60 minutes time ....... $45 to $200.
2. Porcelain Veneer (a thin fingernail facing if you will) Lab prepared ..... $500- $1,000.
3. Crown, either precisous metal plus porcelain or other metal $600 to $1,000.
Plus maybe root canal ... $500 - $1,000 and .....
post? ...more!
4. Or implant ?? $3,000.
Well, it costed (ha!) me 342.00 for the bonding and the visit. It was
172.00 for the bonding veneer part, and the rest was office visit and
x-rays I think. I will get the bill in the mail in a few days and let
you know what was done.
I am going into dentistry ~ really?? ~ I am a dentist, for newbies.
$342? Unbelievable!
You might want to try some of the discount dental plans, but you need to be very strong-willed to stand up to bait-and-switch
tactics ~ but perhaps you might have found some friendly doc to help.
As long as we are here, I should report that patients by and large do not appreciate the "kinder-and-friendlier" approach.
I had an elderly woman in today with a broken upper lateral. She only
had 6 teeth remaining in the upper arch and none of them were in very
good shape.
A PFM crown didn't make sense so I placed a composite and hope it will
last as long as the rest of the teeth. A denture isn't far off.
Well, it's a little late now, tooth already bonded or whatever and the
bill paid. I believe (I don't have it right in front of me,) that it
was actually 272.00 for the bonding and repair and 70.00 for the rest.
Joel, stop kidding me. Was it an okay price? I just want to know so
that if I need to have something done for her in the future, that it's
not hugely overpriced. According to my mom, he was really nice and
took really good care of her, so I guess bedside manner counts for
something as well.
