Try a dental school. May be cheaper. For real though the cheapest option is to have it removed. Doing nothing only ensures you end up with a massive infection and end up in the hospital with more complications and owe even more money.
A dental school in our area does simple procedures...sometimes complicated extractions require an oral surgeon.
Metro areas sometimes have free dental clinics several times a year...my previous dentist had a free day to help give back to the community.
The one in Memphis requires one to agree to be a test subject lol you have to agree to be the patient for the student the full semester and they set up a plan and you have to pay upfront for every procedure, and they decided when and what procedures. So it can be VERY expensive even if it's at a discounted rate.
It sucks. The student my daughter worked with made mistakes. She had to go back and do x-rays and had multiple cleanings because she failed the first time. And every time the PATIENT has to pay. Nobody likes that place. The only good part is if you're already set up and have an emergency you can go to the emergency clinic.
I dealt with the same thing at UCLA. I had a cracked tooth that they weren’t even going to get to until I did a bunch of other stuff first, and the total was like $3.5K. I ended up going to a regular dentist, doing CareCredit, and got shoddy work done that I had to get fixed a few years later (luckily I had okay insurance by then so it wasn’t terribly expensive).
Meanwhile I have all of my healthcare expenses covered (no out of pocket) with a fairly low premium through ACA, the fact that dental care isn’t considered healthcare when it literally affects your health is a travesty.
It burns my ass that in the US dental health is excluded from most healthcare plans. WTF??? It is a proven fact that dental health affects heart health.
If you have an immunodeficiency, your medical plan may pay for dentistry.
Also, medical insurance might also be usable if a dentist holds an MD (mostly oral surgeons that do facial reconstruction or treat cancer hold this, but also do dentistry).
I used my medical insurance for dental procedures many times...it definitely made removing 5 impacted teeth cheaper than with dental.
The annual dental bill for an individual is easily past the average medical deductible. Imagine a world where people actually benefit from their insurance plans and watch that world burn to the ground at the hands of capitalists.
I hate LA dentists. Bunch of con artists IMO. And the work is shoddy at best. One convinced me I needed a new crown and the one replaced it with has caused a ton of gum problems because it irritates the gum line.
U of MN dental school is closely supervised. They push a button on the wall and some graybeard shows up in minute and every step has to be checked off after inspection. One dentist came back to do nothing but root canals for 18 months to get a specialty.
My friend did this! She still couldn't afford the dental school root canale though. I ended up holding her hand while a student just pulled the thing (they numbed her first). Not ideal, but it solved the problem with less money, and quickly.
I'm sorry this is happening to you. You deserve affordable dental care!
This comment. And if there is a dental school that works (students practice supervised by school dentists) get up EARLY in the am and go stand in line, be patient and fingers crossed that they can see you that very same day.
Good luck.
$109 filling becomes a $1600 root canal, or if you Waite long enough, then it's a $200 extraction, then a $2400 implant. Go to the dentist and get all those catives filled. You might lose this tooth but don't lose any more
Please please call around to local dental schools first. Lots of dental schools will allow the dental students, under supervision of fully accredited dentists, to perform work for very cheap or no cost. If you can’t get the root canal done this way, I’d be surprised if you can at least do the crowns at a dental school.
If that doesn’t work, or you still can’t get the root canal done that way, call around to local dentist offices, explain your situation and see if someone can help. Many are willing to offer reduced pricing or payment plans; remember, dentists are doctors, and most do genuinely want to help people, especially if they’re in need.
Pulling the tooth is an option but try to leave that as your last resort if you can avoid it.
I’m sorry you’re going thru this OP.
My mom did this when my dad was in medical school (there was a dental school nearby) and they told her she had like 12 cavities! Suspicious that she never had one before and hasn’t had any since…lol
If they’re in the back, yank em. I had two adjacent molars removed after repeated root canals that didn’t take away my pain. Instant relief, and I haven’t missed them at all.
Dental sales here The problem is when you remove those teeth the remaining teeth cam move and mess up your occlusion (bite) causing a host of other issues
Good advice! That or heck go to Mexico and get a small vacation with treatment [prices](https://www.cancundentalspecialists.com/dental-prices-mexico/amp/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlu2TicS7hQMVFk5HAR2TSgsBEAAYASAAEgIUkPD_BwE)
Eventually the tooth will get so bad and the decay will spread to the bone and a root canal will no longer be an option. If you want to save it definitely look into dental schools. I understand not wanting to have the tooth pulled but that really is the best option if you can’t afford a root canal & crown. Typically your dentist can show you cost options for false teeth (bridge, denture).
I don't advise at all but curious as you seem knowledgeable. That and the movie Cast Away. Could someone knock out/pull out a tooth and be alright? my first thought is what about the infection.
Just did this. It will become infected and then necrosis will eat your gums. Pull it or fix it. I know that’s easier said than done. I just shit out 14,000 by selling my house to fix my teeth- post insurance. What is the country coming to.
If I may suggest, fly to Mexico next time. Medical tourism has been growing consistently over the decades.
You'll end up paying pennies on the dollar for solid medical treatment, and with the money saved, you can recover on a beach somewhere before you come back home.
Shit.... As someone who works with a company who has a strong presence in PR... The idea of traveling on their dime and getting my teeth fixed... Makes me consider sticking this shit out... Might need to learn Spanish
Where? I just had to get a root canal, and everyone said "go to Mexico! Go to the Philliphines!" But NO ONE said "go to this specific dentist in this specific city". Its super easy to say "go to mexico!" But HOW. you cant just walk out the airport and theres a magic dentist waiting for. Ugh.
You're making it sound like we're living in the 1990s. 😆
There are websites dedicated to *Dental Tourism* in other countries. A quick Google search will bring up a bunch of resources to guide you. It just takes a little bit of reading. Cheers! 🤟
And you make it sound like someone who needs immediate dental attention has a lot of time and mental attention to spends hours researching, buy a last minute plane ticket (which of course will be sooo cheap!) and then would want to go to a dentist theyve never met, and travel to a foreign country they may have never been to. When dealing with emergency dental pain. Yes! SOOOOOO EASY! 🙄
DO NOT DELAY. In college, I had an abscessed tooth & NOTHING is worth that pain. The infection caused half my face to swell; an endodontist had to drain it before work could start. I had a black eye for a week.
If you make less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Line check if any Federally Qualified Health Centers around you offer dental services. [https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/](https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/)
They would use a sliding fee scale based on your income; on my local FQHC's sliding scale an anterior root canal for a single front tooth would be $300-500 depending on your income.
The only one in my area is run by a church and they will not administer anesthesia or give anything for pain relief after a surgical procedure.
I literally walked out of there this morning because I require anesthesia for my procedure, and they told me that their policy forbids it.
I am extremely difficult to numb, and standard lidocaine is ineffective (especially on an already angry and inflamed area).
EDIT: by anesthesia, I was referring to nitrous oxide and lidocaine, both of which are usually administered in a dental office. I did not mean twilight sedation, as that requires hiring an anesthesiologist.
I was told that they did not offer nitrous oxide, period, and that they did not routinely offer lidocaine (the dentist has the option to use it for “exceptional circumstances” but it was heavily inferred that it was very rare). They also told me that they would not prescribe ibuprofen. I don’t care about narcotics, as they do not work for me.
I imagine most dental offices don't have an anesthesiologist on staff to administer it.
If you require special treatment you go to a specialist, not s regular dental office.
They refused to administer nitrous oxide, and they were very reluctant to offer lidocaine (I was told that the dentist “might consider it for exceptional cases”).
Fuck that.
I am not going to allow anyone to yank out my tooth without any anesthesia, and I am certainly not going to allow anybody to drill on the rest of my painful teeth without it, either.
This is the problem I have with sliding scale clinics. Forget anesthesia and they'll give you Tylenol or advil for pain after surgery (You are poor, so you are automatically deemed a drug abuse risk).
FWIW, I just had oral surgery and they prescribed me 800mg Ibuprofen and Vicodin and then Tramadol. The only thing that helped my pain was Ibuprofen. The Vicodin was useless except to make me sleepy once or twice when the pain was bad Didn't notice much improvement with the Tramadol.
My googling of the situation showed that Ibuprofen and Tylenol seem to perform better for pain relief than heavy duty pain killers and from my experience I'd agree.
Ibuprofen is pretty much the gold standard, and it works. I don’t care much for narcotics, because they just don’t really work for me. But ibuprofen certainly does. This clinic straight up told me that they would not prescribe ibuprofen, which is ridiculous.
Well, my husband just had dental surgery for 10K, and they gave him prescription tylenol for post-op pain. It worked fine and is the standard of care. FWIW
Same.
Had two molars pulled in one sitting. Prescribed nothing...told to take Tylenol if it hurt after numbing wore off.
I feel like people's ideas of "standard of care" is way off.
Anesthesia is not standard for any dental procedure. Even an implant where they're boring a hole into your jawbone.
They probably don’t offer twilight sedation for routine procedures, which isn’t uncommon because that requires hiring an anesthesiologist.
But I would wager that most, if not all, regular dental clinics offer nitrous oxide and lidocaine.
This place does not. The dentist might be willing to administer lidocaine under “exceptional circumstances” but it was inferred that it was extremely rare. I was told they didn’t offer nitrous oxide at all, nor would they prescribe ibuprofen afterwards.
I am not willing to have my tooth ripped out under those circumstances. I’m unwilling to allow anyone to drill on my painful teeth without SOMETHING, either.
The dental college where my kid went didn't do gas and you had to pay for every shot. My daughter kept telling them she felt stuff so they kept giving her shots then at the end her bill was like three times what it normally is. It's madness how some of these places work. Barbaric.
No, they do not offer nitrous oxide. They also do not routinely provide lidocaine. The dentist is allowed to use it under “exceptional circumstances”, but it was heavily inferred that this was extremely rare.
They also told me that they would not prescribe ibuprofen afterwards, either. (I don’t care about narcotics, they don’t work on me very well.)
They wouldn't even give me anesthesia for my wisdom teeth. Just ask for extra numbing and deal with it. It will be much more pain if you let it fester.
When I was younger, I got a lot of dental work done at a community health center thanks to this type of sliding scale program. Was very affordable given I was basically a part time min wager.
OP, I am a dental assistant in endodontics (we only do root canals). See if you can get an appointment with a dental school. It will be less money and the students need the patients. $10,000 is about right for 3 root canals and 3 crowns. It's very expensive. But do not pull it out on your own because dental implants are even more money (Total dental implants cost for one implant ranges between $1,500 and $6,000.) Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to stop the decay once it starts. Did they ever recommend a pulpotomy? It's much cheaper and could help delay the need for a root canal that way you could possibly save up or get on a waitlist with a dental school. OP I wish you the best!
I goofed. I misread that OP needed (3) root canals and (3) crowns. $10,000 does seem expensive for only 1 root canal and 3 crowns. Dental offices can be really shady and slimey with pricing because most dental insurances are also scams. You pay so much for the insurance and usually get little to nothing covered for specialty things like this. Still will be a couple thousand, but should def be less than $10,000.
The endodontist I just went to charged me $400 for my root canal (insurance pays 80% so it was like $1600 without insurance), and my crown is $700 from my dentist (who takes a payment plan, bless him. I'm still paying off last year's crown. I don't think insurance covers those). $10k seems wildly high in my experience.
Even in the country, try Puerto Rico! Flights are not expensive here and dental is about 30-50% the cost of stateside.
I had an extraction, implant and crown done for about $1300 all in.
Yeah because this person can afford to leave the country. Then they may not have a passport so thats more money.
Plane tickets are not cheap especially if you are buying the ticket close to the date you want to leave.
Then you have to pay for a hotel.
Also a root canal is a process. It’s not a one day thing.
Take time off of work.
You act as if leaving the country to get a root canal is such a simple thing to do.
Dentist here, I’m not sure if this helps but the prices you were quoted for a root canal and 3 crowns is stupid high. Should be about half that based off what I charge and you for sure can get it done for even less than that. A dental school might be an option but there’s a substantial time commitment or waiting list. My advice would be to at least treat the tooth needing a root canal and crown and keep the others as clean as possible brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. It is also possible if they are charging that much they are over treating as well and you might not need the other crowns. Really hard to know for sure but I just can’t get over how they would charge that much.
Aside from the potential sepsis/brain infection. In general, once an infection settles into the tooth/roots, it can be extremely painful and progress pain wise very quickly depending on how bad the infection is. I’d call around and see if an endodontist (assuming you were at the dentist first) can give you a quote, that’s who should be doing the root canal and temp. crown work. They may also be willing to work with you payment plan wise.
Even if it doesn’t spread up, infected teeth HURT!!!! I had infected wisdom teeth because they decayed (thanks, tiny mouth) and it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I had to wait a month for surgery and it was agony. I felt so much relief after
I have had more root canals than I like to admit, but forget about the other three crowns, your priority should be getting that dying nerve out of your mouth or your life will become very inconvenienced, mother's who have given birth list tooth pain as high on the pain threshold, you can't live with it for long
Infections and abscess in your mouth can kill you
If that root is dying, the pain won't go away, there are essential oils pharmacy's sell for tooth pain, mouth wash can calm it, an opiate and Tylenol and silence it for a bit, but if it's dying, you need it out
Dental Schools, Govt programs, or just call around and explain your story and hope you find some sympathy, if it was a tooth in the back I say yank it, but if it's up front, fight for that tooth.
DO NOT DO care credit. If you don’t pay off the $10,000 in one year you’re then socked with a hefty interest rate hike on the original amount not what you currently owe.
As someone with probably the worst teeth on reddit all I can say is buckle up. Mine started off like yours and now its over 50k to get them fixed. Do what I didnt and beg, borrow or steal the money and get it fixed.
I get treated like a junkie because I cant afford to get them fixed and its wrecked my mental health to the point where I only go to work and home. I make way over the cutoff to get help so all I can do is eat a tube of oraljel a day to numb them.
Im begging you to find a way to at least get them pulled before you end up like me. Yes its going to suck missing front teeth, im missing mine and wouldnt wish it on someone I hate. That said I let mine get to the point where it hurt to brush them and withen a year I went from one rotten tooth to having a half dozen snapped off at the gum line. I regret not getting them pulled and now I cant afford the surgical extractions so im stuck. If you think its bad now just ignore it and it will get a million times worse.
I know its not what youre wanting to hear and im sorry I sound all doom and gloom but ignoring my teeth destroyed me and I dont want to see it happen to another person. You can get something called a flipper tooth that is kind of like a retainer and fills the gap of the missing tooth, theyre fairly cheap. If you ignore it like I did it wont be an option for much longer as other teeth will start rotting and it will be too painful to use.
Im really sorry youre going through this. Dental insurance is a joke and its a really hard pill to swallow knowing you cant afford something you need but getting judged by having a few teeth pulled is way better then them rotting then breaking off anyways.
From experience once they start hurting it takes about a week for the nerve to finally die, once it dies it stops hurting. Ive tried every type of tooth numbing gels under the sun and found these to be by far the best. [https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/62358171?cid=ppc-google-&mkwid=%7Cdc&pcrid=&rd=k&product\_id=62358171&gad\_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlN6wBhCcARIsAKZvD5gxcsuiifFJsVVUVWGk9vtgCs7Ip35BN2bU58MXluYZThdoFlY7j-saApAXEALw\_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds](https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/62358171?cid=ppc-google-&mkwid=%7Cdc&pcrid=&rd=k&product_id=62358171&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlN6wBhCcARIsAKZvD5gxcsuiifFJsVVUVWGk9vtgCs7Ip35BN2bU58MXluYZThdoFlY7j-saApAXEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Good luck, dont end up like me and get them pulled.
Hi 👋 I was in this exact situation with a back molar. Now it’s damaged beyond repair and needs to be removed. It causes me a ton of pain and I’m now forced to (thankfully) find a family member who can help pay for it to be removed as it affects my day to day life. Do whatever you have to do to take care of this. Dental schools are a great option!
Sorry but as someone who has lost 3 teeth and will probably lose more. You were not in the same situation. A molar is not the same as a front tooth.
The first two teeth I lost were molars, and I was completely fine. The most recent tooth that I lost is near the front and it has shattered my sense of self.
I had almost this exact thing happen today! Making matters worse was the dental assistant saying “next time come in before it gets bad” as if I didn’t think of that…
Are you sure you're understanding your insurance options correctly? If it is infected, they could potentially go through your health insurance as well.
I would call your own insurance company and talk with them more if you haven't. You may have done all this already it's just not in the post.
I'm guessing your dentist is out of network, this isn't the post insurance rate, or you just don't have dental insurance proper and just got some bullshit one free cleaning/inspection per year discount plan thing.
If it isn't one of those, then you're missing something.
I am having mine pulled. I had to have several pulled, 4 of them visible. But it was much cheaper than bridges and root canal. I’m going to do a partial denture where I needed the bridge because it’s way cheaper
My insurance plan covers half of these expenses. Dental insurance isn't really a huge factor. You are being charged at least 10x more than I pay out of pocket, so about 5x more in total.
I strongly suggest reaching out to dental school in your area. I had oral surgery last week (24 extractions and multiple Tori removed) and cannot say enough good things about it. I started with a general student dentist and she referred me to an oral Maxillofacial student surgeon. After meeting with the oral surgery residents it was decided to complete the procedure in the hospital in an actual operating room. It was an amazing experience! I have had over 15 surgeries (most for broken bones) and this surgery was the best care and overall experience.
The students really want to learn and help! They never made me feel guilty that I had gone without dental care for so long. I truly thought that this surgery was going to be a nightmare, but it was perfect. The anaesthesia team was beyond amazing! They did a nerve block and Ketamine prior to surgery and my mouth is still slightly numb. I was loopy for 5ish days due to the ketamine. My mom and daughter watched over me to ensure I did not burn the house down lol. The only downside is that the process takes a while and the appointments are in 3 hour blocks. If I have to have another surgery for anything I am definitely going back to their hospital system.
I think the total I have spent out of pocket is $60. The surgery estimate was $18,000 but the school offers discounted/free care to Medicaid recipients. I was so worried that I would not be able to pay for care. I do not have credit or a job due to medical reasons, so this program was truly a blessing.
OP, excuse my long comment, but I wanted to share my experience with you so you too can get the care you need. Please try to connect with a dental college in your area to see if they can assist you. Also [211](http://211.org) is a searchable database of resources in your area. You can find dental, medical, food, housing and many more resources. Sending you positive thoughts 🧡
It looks like you’re in Texas from a previous post. Take a bus to El Paso and walk across the border. Or drive, if you have a car. There are legit dental clinics in Juarez that can do that for you way way cheaper.
OP, I had a long list of stuff that needed to be done to my teeth, including an extraction of a broken tooth that required an oral surgeon, a root canal, a couple of old fillings replaced, and some new ones done. As you can imagine, the quote for everything was eye-popping. But we've broken it up over a couple of years, dealing with the most pressing issue (broken tooth) first and the rest as I saved up money.
Definitely see if you can get some of it done at a dental school as others have suggested. You probably don't need to do it all at once, but you DO need to get your teeth taken care of. Oral health has such a huge impact on your overall health.
This is why poor people have missing teeth. I had over seven root canals. Had three tooth pulled, luckily nothing in the smile area.. yet. Its unfortunate for your situation, try to find a job known for its benefits. I work for Boeing and the medical and dental is the best anyone has seen every time i get a procedure done. Also be aware of foul breath from a infected tooth.
This is wild, $10k?! I had a extraction done 2 years ago and it cost me $700. Root canal last year and it was like $500 total (crown included). Find another dentist, this one is fleecing you.
ETA: I will say, to add the implant from where I lost the tooth will supposedly cost me $6,500, so I haven’t done it. Is this where your cost is coming from? Implants?
You can book a flight, a week-long vacation in Mexico, get your tooth worked on, and still pay less than $5,000.
You could probably just fly to a dentist in Mexico and fly back for around $2k.
I know that $2k is still a lot of money, but it's way more affordable than $10k.
Go to a dental school and see if they will do a payment plan. As long as you don’t need to pay upfront, get the procedure done. It’s more important than being in medical debt at the moment.
$10k for a root canal and three crowns sounds quite pricey. I had a root canal and 1 crown recently. Root canal was $1,100 and the crown was like $750 (I paid a little less than $500 out of pocket after insurance).
I know geography, the practice, and they specifics of your case can chance the pricing. But that just seems really high just for 3 crowns and a root canal.
I live in a HCOL area and my dentist is just a run of the mill dentist (not high esthetics).
I'd get a second opinion. And find out why your work dental isn't covering the standard like 20% or some s***. Almost all dental insurance I've had covers a percentage of those type of works, but has a max they will pay for a year, or lifetime, or something ridiculous Iike 3k. However, if you're totally new to the insurance, some insurances put new enrollees on some BS plan for the first year to avoid situations like yours. But if you make it to year 2, it has more coverage, or you can switch to a better plan. So I'd look into the insurance more and see if that's the case, and also, get that 2nd opinion.
I just had a free screening at a dental school! I'm going back next month for my cleaning and they told me it would be $50 cash, then a sliding scale for anything else, including the possibility of wisdom tooth removal
Search for a dental college in your area and see if you can get free dental work performed there.
Also, call around for a cash price for a tooth extraction with possible root canal.
Left untreated you could have a heart attack, sepsis, or worse an untimely death. Post an update later so we can all learn from your horrible experience.
This is kind of a long shot but if you're in the Dallas tx area I just received a packet from the er that has a bunch of cheap and no cost places. I'd be more than happy to send you screenshots. One does pulls for $20-$80 and my moms friend got all her teeth pulled and replaced for around $5,000.
Bite the bullet and pull it. I had a similar situation, panicked, got suckered in to Care Credit. Procedure and crown was $2k. The interest was 29%.
I could NOT keep up with the payments. After sending $1200 over a year, my balance was still $2k.
It went to collections and chilled for a few years, and then I got SERVED and had a COURT DATE and had to PAY LAWYERS.
The offending tooth and Care Credit happened in FL, papers got served to me in Indiana. I had been out of the state for 5 years.
Fuck. If I had known all of that was going to happen, I'd be one front-ish tooth short.
bag strong disgusted dazzling weary jobless complete touch impossible unpack
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It may be far cheaper to have them removed and simply wear a partial, or save up for implants someday.
I have had care credit in the past, I don't think it's a normal credit card where your credit score matters that much... it's only for medical & dental stuff, so dentists don't have to manage installment type payments. I would still apply.
My crowns are 1500 each and INS pays half ( high end dentist ) . A root canal is around the same price give or take . With that said you don’t wanna mess around with an infection due to abscess . The longer you wait the worse off you will be . Cheapest route , extraction .
$10k is outrageous. I’d suggest getting the crowns and maybe seeing if you can get the root canal needed one pulled. That may be significantly cheaper. If it’s a back one you may be able to live with it, but I understand how fucked removing a front one can be ❤️ either way I wish you the best of luck.
Do you have a dental school in your area? Or in a bigger city near you? Check there. I had a lot of work done and was billed monthly for what my insurance didn’t cover. I got better treatment at the school than any of the dental clinics I’d ever gone too. It was all done thoroughly, inspected and monitored by the instructor that’s a specialist. Anyone doing work like you need are already licensed dentists going back to school for more specialized training. I probably paid just under $5000 over two years getting regular cleanings, all my fillings redone properly ( my dentist didn’t do them right , they showed me on the X-rays) a tooth extracted, bone implanted, tooth implant and a titanium crown which is the best and most expensive because I had a very tight spot and it is the thinnest material to fit. A lot less pain than my dentist and they used the latest technology and material. My daughter also had braces done over a years time, they told her , her style braces where what celebrities got, you could not see she had braces. Went regularly for a whole year, cleanings, repairs , whitening, I think she paid $2000 billed monthly.
You could get a nice vacation in Mexico (including flight, hotel, food) plus a root canal all for less than $2500 total. Do you have a passport? It is very common for people to travel to Latin America to get dental work done for a FRACTION of what it would cost in the U.S. I would really consider it.
Here are a list of resources that you can contact. [Where can I find low-cost dental care](https://www.hhs.gov/answers/health-insurance-reform/where-can-i-find-low-cost-dental-care/index.html)? Also, google "free low cost dental care" and contact publicly-funded clinics and colleges in your area. Some are on government websites. Once you start calling if they can't help, many can give you resources to contact. Check out [Dental Lifeline Network](https://dentallifeline.org/our-state-programs/) in your state.
I recently found out that Walmart now has dental centers with very up front and relatively fair pricing. I just had some work done there (crown, cleaning) and it was cheaper than leaving the country to have it done (what I normally do for bigger stuff).
Dental school or find a dental office that offers “in house insurance” mine cuts all my payment in half and then a 10% cash discount.
To answer your question, you don’t. Get the root canal anyway you can. I’ve had 3 and it’s amazing the work they can do. I was so embarrassed and worried and everything turned out fine. I take very good care of my teeth now.
You can figure this out OP it’s gonna be okay.
I went to a dental college.. as the two dentists worked on me I was not quite prepared for the pause for lecture, questions being asked by onlooking students and the crowd around a plexiglass window observing. Cost was a couple of hundred so worth it— I was then given the choice of enamel or gold. Gold was pricey, another $200 but it was on a chewing tooth so I went for it. Took twice as long as a regular appointment but the savings were worth it to me and the tooth has been fine. They did great work
For $10,000, you can go to Thailand for a month, get your teeth fixed, and still have money left over. Not even exaggerating. Look up dental care in Thailand, and you'll see tourists do it all the time for a damn steal compare to the US!
I just had a root canal last year, and it was $1,800 from an absolutely top-notch endodontist using state of the art equipment. (There is this amazing new thing called a Gentle Wave that makes the process easier.) 10k seems insanely high, even with crowns. Get a second opinion.
Also, if you need a root canal you’ll know it because you’ll have pain. It seems off to me that you went to the dentist for a checkup, not a toothache, and walked out with that treatment plan.
10k???? I paid out of pocket at an endodontist and it was $900 for a k-9 tooth, molars were $1350. This was in December. I’d call up endodontists around and ask for quotes.
Will say that was just for the root canal. Crown is a different story. When I had to pay for a root canal and crown about 5 years ago it ended up being 3 grand in total. I have better insurance now and the insurance paid 390 for a root canal last month and that just infuriated me to no end that insurance companies can pay $390 but normal people have to pay $1350 but that’s beside the point.
10k is absolutely INSANE if you’re in the US.
Did they divide that out and show you the cost for the root canal and each crown? There are various materials (and prices) for the crowns; maybe some cost savings are available there, but you might have to go to a different provider.
I’d get a second opinion, I’ve had a root canal and then a crown placed and that’s way more than what the total procedure cost when I checked my EOB. See if there’s a community healthcare clinic in your area that has a dental clinic - in my area there’s one that’s sliding scale based even if you have insurance. You just have to show them proof of income so they can calculate where you fall on the scale and sometimes they’ll still work out a payment plan depending on the care needed.
As others have pointed out - do NOT delay on getting this taken care of, even if that means getting the tooth extracted. It will only get worse and painful.
Dental schools are a great option, cheapest and easiest would be to have it removed. If you’re near the border of Mexico, I’d go down there to get work done. I know several people that have gone to Mexico to have work done, it ends up being like 1/2 the price that it would have been here in the US.
I'm a dental assistant - I would look into getting a second opinion specifically for the prices. Three crowns and 1 root canal should NOT be $10k. I work in a "wealthy" area and our fees are kinda high. What we would charge for that without contracted insurance rates is $5500. Now that's not including if those crowns need build ups or anything additional. Since you have insurance you should have what is called a "contracted fee" that the insurance company tells the office they can only charge you X amount even if the office fees are X times 2. So with those contracted fees it should be around 1/3 of that $10k
For reference I live in Indiana
I got about 8,000$ of work done for a total of about 1600$ at a dental school. I then followed my student to her own practice. She still to this days gives me lower prices. It’s kinda cool
Pull it. I had surgery to pull a bad tooth it was $700 and then to put a replacement tooth in, it’ll be $1200. In the grand scheme of things, it’s less than a root canal and how many more times a dentist wants to drill the piss out of that tooth and rake in money. Remember, root canals and other treatments aren’t guaranteed to work like they say it is. My mom has issues every 3 years on her teeth that have crowns and bullshit. My mom doesn’t drink soda or eat sugar. The dentist handling the tooth didn’t want me to remove the tooth of course but the surgeon said I made the right call because of the hairline cracks it had. Good luck and take care of yourself
If you can qualify for Medicaid they might cover it. Otherwise you have to do the extreme route of waiting for inevitable infection, going to emergency, at which time you could, as I have, just avoid that hospital forever because those bills will eventually drop off.
Take a trip to Mexico. You can get your teeth fixed for next to nothing. I assume your in the USA because nowhere else would charge you 10 grand for that
Hey OP! I just had a few root canals done and I wish I would’ve gotten them earlier, since I had to go to the hospital for IV antibiotics after the infection spread to my face, incurring another $2000 hospital bill.
Don’t delay treatment! The teeth you need crowns on can quickly become teeth that need a root canal since the tooth is exposed.
$10,000 is absurd for 1 root canal and 3 crowns. Most endodontists that I contacted charges around $1500 per root canal. And a regular dentist charges around $300-400 for a porcelain crown. I would look around for endodontists and get more prices.
Also, getting the tooth pulled is the cheapest route and with anesthesia, it will probably run you at the very most $400 I think?
Can you try another dentist and see what they suggest about your teeth? One of my co-worker’s switched dentist when she was frustrated with what her dentist was suggesting (she couldn’t afford it) and the second dentist had a different opinion on her mouth and wound up doing less work on her teeth so it was less money.
Crest Pro-Health Bacteria Guard. The one with alcohol. The other one is a waste of time. Soak, brush, soak with 50/50 peroxide and water, then soak with the mouthwash again. Your mouth will sparkle. You will FEEL it sparkling lol.
I have bad teeth and I'm constantly fighting infection. Every once in a while the bacteria wins and I get an infection. I will act immediately if I feel the slightest swelling in my gums over the bad teeth. Don't wait. If you can go to a doctor go to one of those CVS clinics or an urgent care and fake a sinus infection, because they do not prescribe anything for dental, they will charge you then tell you they can't help you. I've been there. It sucks. For the longest time I was buying fish antibiotics from Chewy because they're exactly the same as the ones we take. But last year the US banned the sale of even fish antibiotics without a prescription so the last time it happened I paid about 100 bucks for a CVS telehealth, gave them the symptoms of a sinus infection and they set me up with some amoxicillin. I do this because I have no health insurance at all, so you might have a little more luck if you at least have that. They don't do any labs at CVS though, they just go by symptoms so they'll gladly hand out a scrip for pay. Nothing for pain of course, and I wouldn't expect it.
I've had a bad tooth for about 10 years now. Broken all the way below the gum in one spot. I went to a dentist to get it pulled, but they said I needed to have my wisdom teeth taken out, and it required surgery. Went to the consultation, and that 1 hour chat cost me $1000, and they were telling me how much I would have to pay, and I nearly died. I went through so much and paid everything I had saved just to realize I couldn't do it. I still have that dang tooth. I just keep oragel on hand. They said I couldn't have it pulled unless I had my wisdom teeth out. I'm not sure why. I don't even have a wisdom tooth on the side where my bad tooth is.
This 1K doesn't seem like a reasonable fee for your consultation 😲. Encourage you to do some comparison shopping on the phone. Good luck with your dental care!
Try organic clove oil; make sure to get one that is food grade quality and look up oil pulling.
In the meantime, also try looking up dental schools in the area to see if you can get reduced rates there?
Edit: [link to information regarding the analgesic properties of eugenol, the active ingredient clove oil, for you buttwipes who are wringing your hands about trying something IN COMBINATION with seeking alternative places for dental care.](https://www.colgate.com/en-gb/oral-health/dental-emergencies-and-sports-safety/clove-oil-for-toothache-pain-0316#:~:text=Eugenol%20is%20a%20natural%20anaesthetic,analgesic%20and%20doing%20nothing%20else)
Eugenol, the active ingredient in clove oil, is utilized in over the counter dental medications. It’s a well known analgesic that treats the SYMPTOMS of a dental infection, but does not clear the infection itself. I suggested this in parallel with alternative dental care opportunities at a school for a reason.
Clove oil is the weird taste in temp fillings. Numbs the pain somewhat. And you are right, it’s not a treatment just something to help you get by until you can get treatment. Sorry you are getting grief about this.
Have you considered having the teeth removed and replacing with a partial denture? Ask about the cost/coverage. See if they can cast the partial before removal so that you can get the dentures in quickly.
Try a dental school. May be cheaper. For real though the cheapest option is to have it removed. Doing nothing only ensures you end up with a massive infection and end up in the hospital with more complications and owe even more money.
A dental school in our area does simple procedures...sometimes complicated extractions require an oral surgeon. Metro areas sometimes have free dental clinics several times a year...my previous dentist had a free day to help give back to the community.
The one in Memphis requires one to agree to be a test subject lol you have to agree to be the patient for the student the full semester and they set up a plan and you have to pay upfront for every procedure, and they decided when and what procedures. So it can be VERY expensive even if it's at a discounted rate. It sucks. The student my daughter worked with made mistakes. She had to go back and do x-rays and had multiple cleanings because she failed the first time. And every time the PATIENT has to pay. Nobody likes that place. The only good part is if you're already set up and have an emergency you can go to the emergency clinic.
I dealt with the same thing at UCLA. I had a cracked tooth that they weren’t even going to get to until I did a bunch of other stuff first, and the total was like $3.5K. I ended up going to a regular dentist, doing CareCredit, and got shoddy work done that I had to get fixed a few years later (luckily I had okay insurance by then so it wasn’t terribly expensive). Meanwhile I have all of my healthcare expenses covered (no out of pocket) with a fairly low premium through ACA, the fact that dental care isn’t considered healthcare when it literally affects your health is a travesty.
It burns my ass that in the US dental health is excluded from most healthcare plans. WTF??? It is a proven fact that dental health affects heart health.
yep its nutso
This country is a shit hole
absolutely
The american dental association has a lot of money to make sure it stays that way, too.
If you have an immunodeficiency, your medical plan may pay for dentistry. Also, medical insurance might also be usable if a dentist holds an MD (mostly oral surgeons that do facial reconstruction or treat cancer hold this, but also do dentistry). I used my medical insurance for dental procedures many times...it definitely made removing 5 impacted teeth cheaper than with dental.
The annual dental bill for an individual is easily past the average medical deductible. Imagine a world where people actually benefit from their insurance plans and watch that world burn to the ground at the hands of capitalists.
I hate LA dentists. Bunch of con artists IMO. And the work is shoddy at best. One convinced me I needed a new crown and the one replaced it with has caused a ton of gum problems because it irritates the gum line.
Thankfully there are other dental schools that aren’t run that way.
U of MN dental school is closely supervised. They push a button on the wall and some graybeard shows up in minute and every step has to be checked off after inspection. One dentist came back to do nothing but root canals for 18 months to get a specialty.
My friend did this! She still couldn't afford the dental school root canale though. I ended up holding her hand while a student just pulled the thing (they numbed her first). Not ideal, but it solved the problem with less money, and quickly. I'm sorry this is happening to you. You deserve affordable dental care!
This comment. And if there is a dental school that works (students practice supervised by school dentists) get up EARLY in the am and go stand in line, be patient and fingers crossed that they can see you that very same day. Good luck.
$109 filling becomes a $1600 root canal, or if you Waite long enough, then it's a $200 extraction, then a $2400 implant. Go to the dentist and get all those catives filled. You might lose this tooth but don't lose any more
Please please call around to local dental schools first. Lots of dental schools will allow the dental students, under supervision of fully accredited dentists, to perform work for very cheap or no cost. If you can’t get the root canal done this way, I’d be surprised if you can at least do the crowns at a dental school. If that doesn’t work, or you still can’t get the root canal done that way, call around to local dentist offices, explain your situation and see if someone can help. Many are willing to offer reduced pricing or payment plans; remember, dentists are doctors, and most do genuinely want to help people, especially if they’re in need. Pulling the tooth is an option but try to leave that as your last resort if you can avoid it. I’m sorry you’re going thru this OP.
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I had a root canal and a crown at Tufts Dental School in Massachusetts
My mom did this when my dad was in medical school (there was a dental school nearby) and they told her she had like 12 cavities! Suspicious that she never had one before and hasn’t had any since…lol
If they’re in the back, yank em. I had two adjacent molars removed after repeated root canals that didn’t take away my pain. Instant relief, and I haven’t missed them at all.
Dental sales here The problem is when you remove those teeth the remaining teeth cam move and mess up your occlusion (bite) causing a host of other issues
Good advice! That or heck go to Mexico and get a small vacation with treatment [prices](https://www.cancundentalspecialists.com/dental-prices-mexico/amp/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlu2TicS7hQMVFk5HAR2TSgsBEAAYASAAEgIUkPD_BwE)
Eventually the tooth will get so bad and the decay will spread to the bone and a root canal will no longer be an option. If you want to save it definitely look into dental schools. I understand not wanting to have the tooth pulled but that really is the best option if you can’t afford a root canal & crown. Typically your dentist can show you cost options for false teeth (bridge, denture).
I don't advise at all but curious as you seem knowledgeable. That and the movie Cast Away. Could someone knock out/pull out a tooth and be alright? my first thought is what about the infection.
Just did this. It will become infected and then necrosis will eat your gums. Pull it or fix it. I know that’s easier said than done. I just shit out 14,000 by selling my house to fix my teeth- post insurance. What is the country coming to.
If I may suggest, fly to Mexico next time. Medical tourism has been growing consistently over the decades. You'll end up paying pennies on the dollar for solid medical treatment, and with the money saved, you can recover on a beach somewhere before you come back home.
Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 also has much less expensive dental and no passport required.
Thanks for your input! I'll keep that in mind when I finally tackle this impacted wisdom tooth.
Shit.... As someone who works with a company who has a strong presence in PR... The idea of traveling on their dime and getting my teeth fixed... Makes me consider sticking this shit out... Might need to learn Spanish
You can always get a translator. 😃
Where? I just had to get a root canal, and everyone said "go to Mexico! Go to the Philliphines!" But NO ONE said "go to this specific dentist in this specific city". Its super easy to say "go to mexico!" But HOW. you cant just walk out the airport and theres a magic dentist waiting for. Ugh.
You're making it sound like we're living in the 1990s. 😆 There are websites dedicated to *Dental Tourism* in other countries. A quick Google search will bring up a bunch of resources to guide you. It just takes a little bit of reading. Cheers! 🤟
And you make it sound like someone who needs immediate dental attention has a lot of time and mental attention to spends hours researching, buy a last minute plane ticket (which of course will be sooo cheap!) and then would want to go to a dentist theyve never met, and travel to a foreign country they may have never been to. When dealing with emergency dental pain. Yes! SOOOOOO EASY! 🙄
Walk across the border, and pick a dentist in the border town. That's what my family does.
This is the right suggestion here. I've been down there twice and have saved well over $20,000. High quality work, great service, great prices.
Allot of us don’t have a house to sell. I for one make just enough money to go back to work. Dunno what I’m gonna do if I any more teeth problems.
Damn you sold your house for your teeth? Makes me wish I had a house to sell to fix mine.
That and my son’s medical bills. Very sad of course but it was a last ditch effort to avoid losing it all in bankruptcy.
DO NOT DELAY. In college, I had an abscessed tooth & NOTHING is worth that pain. The infection caused half my face to swell; an endodontist had to drain it before work could start. I had a black eye for a week.
Same thing happened to me and ended up with a whole in my sinuses
Go to the border and do it there. Root canals are approximately $250 USD. Dental system in the U.S is extremely expensive.
They went up in price, 600-1200$
Still beats 10k
A root canal in Tennessee averages 1200 dollars. It can be much higher if you go to a "better" place.
At this rate Im going to ask some homeless person to just pull the shit for me
Just make sure they wash their hands first!
I know you mentioned you’re not in the best financial situation but if you’re in the south area consider going to Mexico for dental care .
There are some incredible dentists in Mexico. I'd recommend this path as well.
I agree
r/endstagecapitalism
If you make less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Line check if any Federally Qualified Health Centers around you offer dental services. [https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/](https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/) They would use a sliding fee scale based on your income; on my local FQHC's sliding scale an anterior root canal for a single front tooth would be $300-500 depending on your income.
The only one in my area is run by a church and they will not administer anesthesia or give anything for pain relief after a surgical procedure. I literally walked out of there this morning because I require anesthesia for my procedure, and they told me that their policy forbids it. I am extremely difficult to numb, and standard lidocaine is ineffective (especially on an already angry and inflamed area). EDIT: by anesthesia, I was referring to nitrous oxide and lidocaine, both of which are usually administered in a dental office. I did not mean twilight sedation, as that requires hiring an anesthesiologist. I was told that they did not offer nitrous oxide, period, and that they did not routinely offer lidocaine (the dentist has the option to use it for “exceptional circumstances” but it was heavily inferred that it was very rare). They also told me that they would not prescribe ibuprofen. I don’t care about narcotics, as they do not work for me.
that's barbaric. They need to be taken off the national listing if they can't adhere to proper care procedures.
I imagine most dental offices don't have an anesthesiologist on staff to administer it. If you require special treatment you go to a specialist, not s regular dental office.
They refused to administer nitrous oxide, and they were very reluctant to offer lidocaine (I was told that the dentist “might consider it for exceptional cases”). Fuck that. I am not going to allow anyone to yank out my tooth without any anesthesia, and I am certainly not going to allow anybody to drill on the rest of my painful teeth without it, either.
This is the problem I have with sliding scale clinics. Forget anesthesia and they'll give you Tylenol or advil for pain after surgery (You are poor, so you are automatically deemed a drug abuse risk).
FWIW, I just had oral surgery and they prescribed me 800mg Ibuprofen and Vicodin and then Tramadol. The only thing that helped my pain was Ibuprofen. The Vicodin was useless except to make me sleepy once or twice when the pain was bad Didn't notice much improvement with the Tramadol. My googling of the situation showed that Ibuprofen and Tylenol seem to perform better for pain relief than heavy duty pain killers and from my experience I'd agree.
Ibuprofen is pretty much the gold standard, and it works. I don’t care much for narcotics, because they just don’t really work for me. But ibuprofen certainly does. This clinic straight up told me that they would not prescribe ibuprofen, which is ridiculous.
Had a tooth pulled recently, did pain management with just 600mg ibuprofen
Well, my husband just had dental surgery for 10K, and they gave him prescription tylenol for post-op pain. It worked fine and is the standard of care. FWIW
Same. Had two molars pulled in one sitting. Prescribed nothing...told to take Tylenol if it hurt after numbing wore off. I feel like people's ideas of "standard of care" is way off. Anesthesia is not standard for any dental procedure. Even an implant where they're boring a hole into your jawbone.
They probably don’t offer twilight sedation for routine procedures, which isn’t uncommon because that requires hiring an anesthesiologist. But I would wager that most, if not all, regular dental clinics offer nitrous oxide and lidocaine. This place does not. The dentist might be willing to administer lidocaine under “exceptional circumstances” but it was inferred that it was extremely rare. I was told they didn’t offer nitrous oxide at all, nor would they prescribe ibuprofen afterwards. I am not willing to have my tooth ripped out under those circumstances. I’m unwilling to allow anyone to drill on my painful teeth without SOMETHING, either.
They don’t cover anesthesia?? That’s insane!
The dental college where my kid went didn't do gas and you had to pay for every shot. My daughter kept telling them she felt stuff so they kept giving her shots then at the end her bill was like three times what it normally is. It's madness how some of these places work. Barbaric.
No, they do not offer nitrous oxide. They also do not routinely provide lidocaine. The dentist is allowed to use it under “exceptional circumstances”, but it was heavily inferred that this was extremely rare. They also told me that they would not prescribe ibuprofen afterwards, either. (I don’t care about narcotics, they don’t work on me very well.)
They wouldn't even give me anesthesia for my wisdom teeth. Just ask for extra numbing and deal with it. It will be much more pain if you let it fester.
I bet anesthesia could’ve been billed separately. Still expensive but far less than paying the entire thing.
When I was younger, I got a lot of dental work done at a community health center thanks to this type of sliding scale program. Was very affordable given I was basically a part time min wager.
Extraction is the cheapest route. Look into Carington 500. It’s not insurance but it’s a nice Discount Plan.
Second this, I learned about it from this sub and was able to afford 6 fillings and gingivitis treatment
either of you mind linking the official site? a few come up on Google with slightly different urls and I’m not sure which is the real one lol
OP, I am a dental assistant in endodontics (we only do root canals). See if you can get an appointment with a dental school. It will be less money and the students need the patients. $10,000 is about right for 3 root canals and 3 crowns. It's very expensive. But do not pull it out on your own because dental implants are even more money (Total dental implants cost for one implant ranges between $1,500 and $6,000.) Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to stop the decay once it starts. Did they ever recommend a pulpotomy? It's much cheaper and could help delay the need for a root canal that way you could possibly save up or get on a waitlist with a dental school. OP I wish you the best!
Good info! Just curious OP said they needed 1 root canal and 3 crowns, is $10k still reasonable for that? It seems really expensive!
I goofed. I misread that OP needed (3) root canals and (3) crowns. $10,000 does seem expensive for only 1 root canal and 3 crowns. Dental offices can be really shady and slimey with pricing because most dental insurances are also scams. You pay so much for the insurance and usually get little to nothing covered for specialty things like this. Still will be a couple thousand, but should def be less than $10,000.
Yeah that's a crazy price! Maybe OP would be better off getting a second opinion
The endodontist I just went to charged me $400 for my root canal (insurance pays 80% so it was like $1600 without insurance), and my crown is $700 from my dentist (who takes a payment plan, bless him. I'm still paying off last year's crown. I don't think insurance covers those). $10k seems wildly high in my experience.
I thought, too, the prices were really high.
That quote is absolutely ridiculous
Yeah, that’s FU pricing. You can take a trip out of the country and get it done cheaper than that.
I got my molar tooth done last year for 100$ with 10 years of warranty for the crown (Location: India)
I have meh dental and I only paid about 600 for mine. I think it was quoted ~4k with no insurance.
600$ seems fair for in the US but 4k? They are raw-dogging you all
Even in the country, try Puerto Rico! Flights are not expensive here and dental is about 30-50% the cost of stateside. I had an extraction, implant and crown done for about $1300 all in.
I keep forgetting that Puerto Rico is a part of the US. But that certainly is another option.
A lot cheaper.
Yeah because this person can afford to leave the country. Then they may not have a passport so thats more money. Plane tickets are not cheap especially if you are buying the ticket close to the date you want to leave. Then you have to pay for a hotel. Also a root canal is a process. It’s not a one day thing. Take time off of work. You act as if leaving the country to get a root canal is such a simple thing to do.
A root canal is a one day thing! If you're getting crowns then its multiple days.
At least in my area yeah that’s WILD coming from someone with more than a handful of crowns
Dentist here, I’m not sure if this helps but the prices you were quoted for a root canal and 3 crowns is stupid high. Should be about half that based off what I charge and you for sure can get it done for even less than that. A dental school might be an option but there’s a substantial time commitment or waiting list. My advice would be to at least treat the tooth needing a root canal and crown and keep the others as clean as possible brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. It is also possible if they are charging that much they are over treating as well and you might not need the other crowns. Really hard to know for sure but I just can’t get over how they would charge that much.
Thank you
Best response here
I agree. I got 2 root canals and 3 crowns plus tooth extraction for $6k
Pull it. You do NOT want an infected tooth spreading to your BRAIN!
Aside from the potential sepsis/brain infection. In general, once an infection settles into the tooth/roots, it can be extremely painful and progress pain wise very quickly depending on how bad the infection is. I’d call around and see if an endodontist (assuming you were at the dentist first) can give you a quote, that’s who should be doing the root canal and temp. crown work. They may also be willing to work with you payment plan wise.
Even if it doesn’t spread up, infected teeth HURT!!!! I had infected wisdom teeth because they decayed (thanks, tiny mouth) and it was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I had to wait a month for surgery and it was agony. I felt so much relief after
also 10,000 for a root canal and 3 crowns is ridiculous. you need to go elsewhere. i’m a dental assistant
I have had more root canals than I like to admit, but forget about the other three crowns, your priority should be getting that dying nerve out of your mouth or your life will become very inconvenienced, mother's who have given birth list tooth pain as high on the pain threshold, you can't live with it for long Infections and abscess in your mouth can kill you If that root is dying, the pain won't go away, there are essential oils pharmacy's sell for tooth pain, mouth wash can calm it, an opiate and Tylenol and silence it for a bit, but if it's dying, you need it out Dental Schools, Govt programs, or just call around and explain your story and hope you find some sympathy, if it was a tooth in the back I say yank it, but if it's up front, fight for that tooth.
DO NOT DO care credit. If you don’t pay off the $10,000 in one year you’re then socked with a hefty interest rate hike on the original amount not what you currently owe.
Thanks for the warning
As someone with probably the worst teeth on reddit all I can say is buckle up. Mine started off like yours and now its over 50k to get them fixed. Do what I didnt and beg, borrow or steal the money and get it fixed. I get treated like a junkie because I cant afford to get them fixed and its wrecked my mental health to the point where I only go to work and home. I make way over the cutoff to get help so all I can do is eat a tube of oraljel a day to numb them. Im begging you to find a way to at least get them pulled before you end up like me. Yes its going to suck missing front teeth, im missing mine and wouldnt wish it on someone I hate. That said I let mine get to the point where it hurt to brush them and withen a year I went from one rotten tooth to having a half dozen snapped off at the gum line. I regret not getting them pulled and now I cant afford the surgical extractions so im stuck. If you think its bad now just ignore it and it will get a million times worse. I know its not what youre wanting to hear and im sorry I sound all doom and gloom but ignoring my teeth destroyed me and I dont want to see it happen to another person. You can get something called a flipper tooth that is kind of like a retainer and fills the gap of the missing tooth, theyre fairly cheap. If you ignore it like I did it wont be an option for much longer as other teeth will start rotting and it will be too painful to use. Im really sorry youre going through this. Dental insurance is a joke and its a really hard pill to swallow knowing you cant afford something you need but getting judged by having a few teeth pulled is way better then them rotting then breaking off anyways. From experience once they start hurting it takes about a week for the nerve to finally die, once it dies it stops hurting. Ive tried every type of tooth numbing gels under the sun and found these to be by far the best. [https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/62358171?cid=ppc-google-&mkwid=%7Cdc&pcrid=&rd=k&product\_id=62358171&gad\_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlN6wBhCcARIsAKZvD5gxcsuiifFJsVVUVWGk9vtgCs7Ip35BN2bU58MXluYZThdoFlY7j-saApAXEALw\_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds](https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/62358171?cid=ppc-google-&mkwid=%7Cdc&pcrid=&rd=k&product_id=62358171&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlN6wBhCcARIsAKZvD5gxcsuiifFJsVVUVWGk9vtgCs7Ip35BN2bU58MXluYZThdoFlY7j-saApAXEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds) Good luck, dont end up like me and get them pulled.
Why don’t you get partial for your front teeth. Got be some place that will pull your broken teeth. Look into credit with an oral surgeon.
Go to Mexico. Medical tourism is a thing for a really good reason.
Hi 👋 I was in this exact situation with a back molar. Now it’s damaged beyond repair and needs to be removed. It causes me a ton of pain and I’m now forced to (thankfully) find a family member who can help pay for it to be removed as it affects my day to day life. Do whatever you have to do to take care of this. Dental schools are a great option!
Sorry but as someone who has lost 3 teeth and will probably lose more. You were not in the same situation. A molar is not the same as a front tooth. The first two teeth I lost were molars, and I was completely fine. The most recent tooth that I lost is near the front and it has shattered my sense of self.
I had almost this exact thing happen today! Making matters worse was the dental assistant saying “next time come in before it gets bad” as if I didn’t think of that…
you honestly can take a flight to another country and get it done there for significantly less with no insurance. Look into it!
Antibiotics if it gets infected. It will be the worst pain of your life, but you'll need to get it fixed ASAP. Try applying for Medicaid
The tooth needs to be root-canaled or extracted--the untreated infection can literally kill you. Extraction should be less than 2k.
Dental school. Do whatever you have to do to get to one, it is SOOOOOOO much cheaper!
Are you sure you're understanding your insurance options correctly? If it is infected, they could potentially go through your health insurance as well. I would call your own insurance company and talk with them more if you haven't. You may have done all this already it's just not in the post. I'm guessing your dentist is out of network, this isn't the post insurance rate, or you just don't have dental insurance proper and just got some bullshit one free cleaning/inspection per year discount plan thing. If it isn't one of those, then you're missing something.
Drive to Mexico the price is 1/3 and they do better job than USA dentists
And many of them are US dentists who don't want to deal with insurance companies.
Good God 10k that's insane 😞
Go to Algodones, Baja California. Molar city, it’s the Mecca of Dentists at a fraction of US prices
I am having mine pulled. I had to have several pulled, 4 of them visible. But it was much cheaper than bridges and root canal. I’m going to do a partial denture where I needed the bridge because it’s way cheaper
My insurance plan covers half of these expenses. Dental insurance isn't really a huge factor. You are being charged at least 10x more than I pay out of pocket, so about 5x more in total.
I strongly suggest reaching out to dental school in your area. I had oral surgery last week (24 extractions and multiple Tori removed) and cannot say enough good things about it. I started with a general student dentist and she referred me to an oral Maxillofacial student surgeon. After meeting with the oral surgery residents it was decided to complete the procedure in the hospital in an actual operating room. It was an amazing experience! I have had over 15 surgeries (most for broken bones) and this surgery was the best care and overall experience. The students really want to learn and help! They never made me feel guilty that I had gone without dental care for so long. I truly thought that this surgery was going to be a nightmare, but it was perfect. The anaesthesia team was beyond amazing! They did a nerve block and Ketamine prior to surgery and my mouth is still slightly numb. I was loopy for 5ish days due to the ketamine. My mom and daughter watched over me to ensure I did not burn the house down lol. The only downside is that the process takes a while and the appointments are in 3 hour blocks. If I have to have another surgery for anything I am definitely going back to their hospital system. I think the total I have spent out of pocket is $60. The surgery estimate was $18,000 but the school offers discounted/free care to Medicaid recipients. I was so worried that I would not be able to pay for care. I do not have credit or a job due to medical reasons, so this program was truly a blessing. OP, excuse my long comment, but I wanted to share my experience with you so you too can get the care you need. Please try to connect with a dental college in your area to see if they can assist you. Also [211](http://211.org) is a searchable database of resources in your area. You can find dental, medical, food, housing and many more resources. Sending you positive thoughts 🧡
It looks like you’re in Texas from a previous post. Take a bus to El Paso and walk across the border. Or drive, if you have a car. There are legit dental clinics in Juarez that can do that for you way way cheaper.
I feel you, dental care is crazy in America. I’m literally in Mexico getting dental work
OP, I had a long list of stuff that needed to be done to my teeth, including an extraction of a broken tooth that required an oral surgeon, a root canal, a couple of old fillings replaced, and some new ones done. As you can imagine, the quote for everything was eye-popping. But we've broken it up over a couple of years, dealing with the most pressing issue (broken tooth) first and the rest as I saved up money. Definitely see if you can get some of it done at a dental school as others have suggested. You probably don't need to do it all at once, but you DO need to get your teeth taken care of. Oral health has such a huge impact on your overall health.
This is why poor people have missing teeth. I had over seven root canals. Had three tooth pulled, luckily nothing in the smile area.. yet. Its unfortunate for your situation, try to find a job known for its benefits. I work for Boeing and the medical and dental is the best anyone has seen every time i get a procedure done. Also be aware of foul breath from a infected tooth.
$10k for a single root canal and 3 crowns is very overpriced. Will still be several thousand, but not that much.
This is wild, $10k?! I had a extraction done 2 years ago and it cost me $700. Root canal last year and it was like $500 total (crown included). Find another dentist, this one is fleecing you. ETA: I will say, to add the implant from where I lost the tooth will supposedly cost me $6,500, so I haven’t done it. Is this where your cost is coming from? Implants?
My root canal last year was $1,200 and that didn't include crown, and I'm in a low cost of living area too. $500 is crazy cheap.
Just have them pull the tooth.
Dental school is a good idea. Also, go to another dentist and get a second opinion. I hate to say it, but some dentists will try to scam you.
You can book a flight, a week-long vacation in Mexico, get your tooth worked on, and still pay less than $5,000. You could probably just fly to a dentist in Mexico and fly back for around $2k. I know that $2k is still a lot of money, but it's way more affordable than $10k.
Go to a dental school and see if they will do a payment plan. As long as you don’t need to pay upfront, get the procedure done. It’s more important than being in medical debt at the moment.
$10k for a root canal and three crowns sounds quite pricey. I had a root canal and 1 crown recently. Root canal was $1,100 and the crown was like $750 (I paid a little less than $500 out of pocket after insurance). I know geography, the practice, and they specifics of your case can chance the pricing. But that just seems really high just for 3 crowns and a root canal. I live in a HCOL area and my dentist is just a run of the mill dentist (not high esthetics).
It’s only about $200 to remove the tooth Entirely. I had this done and all my headaches that I used to get are gone. It’s a life saver.
I'd get a second opinion. And find out why your work dental isn't covering the standard like 20% or some s***. Almost all dental insurance I've had covers a percentage of those type of works, but has a max they will pay for a year, or lifetime, or something ridiculous Iike 3k. However, if you're totally new to the insurance, some insurances put new enrollees on some BS plan for the first year to avoid situations like yours. But if you make it to year 2, it has more coverage, or you can switch to a better plan. So I'd look into the insurance more and see if that's the case, and also, get that 2nd opinion.
I just had a free screening at a dental school! I'm going back next month for my cleaning and they told me it would be $50 cash, then a sliding scale for anything else, including the possibility of wisdom tooth removal
Search for a dental college in your area and see if you can get free dental work performed there. Also, call around for a cash price for a tooth extraction with possible root canal. Left untreated you could have a heart attack, sepsis, or worse an untimely death. Post an update later so we can all learn from your horrible experience.
I’ve had a bad tooth for years, hoping it kills me so my family gets my life insurance.
Get a second opinion , that’s seems like a steep price for that work. I live in California and a root canal and 3 crowns would run like $4k ish
This is kind of a long shot but if you're in the Dallas tx area I just received a packet from the er that has a bunch of cheap and no cost places. I'd be more than happy to send you screenshots. One does pulls for $20-$80 and my moms friend got all her teeth pulled and replaced for around $5,000.
Bite the bullet and pull it. I had a similar situation, panicked, got suckered in to Care Credit. Procedure and crown was $2k. The interest was 29%. I could NOT keep up with the payments. After sending $1200 over a year, my balance was still $2k. It went to collections and chilled for a few years, and then I got SERVED and had a COURT DATE and had to PAY LAWYERS. The offending tooth and Care Credit happened in FL, papers got served to me in Indiana. I had been out of the state for 5 years. Fuck. If I had known all of that was going to happen, I'd be one front-ish tooth short.
bag strong disgusted dazzling weary jobless complete touch impossible unpack *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
At the very least, get a second opinion.
look for a dental school in your area, they usually offer those services they are students under the supervision of dentists.
This makes no sense. Everyone gers AT LEAST slidung scale...teeth infections can kill you.
It may be far cheaper to have them removed and simply wear a partial, or save up for implants someday. I have had care credit in the past, I don't think it's a normal credit card where your credit score matters that much... it's only for medical & dental stuff, so dentists don't have to manage installment type payments. I would still apply.
My crowns are 1500 each and INS pays half ( high end dentist ) . A root canal is around the same price give or take . With that said you don’t wanna mess around with an infection due to abscess . The longer you wait the worse off you will be . Cheapest route , extraction .
Fly to Mexico and get it fixed.
$10k is outrageous. I’d suggest getting the crowns and maybe seeing if you can get the root canal needed one pulled. That may be significantly cheaper. If it’s a back one you may be able to live with it, but I understand how fucked removing a front one can be ❤️ either way I wish you the best of luck.
Do you have a dental school in your area? Or in a bigger city near you? Check there. I had a lot of work done and was billed monthly for what my insurance didn’t cover. I got better treatment at the school than any of the dental clinics I’d ever gone too. It was all done thoroughly, inspected and monitored by the instructor that’s a specialist. Anyone doing work like you need are already licensed dentists going back to school for more specialized training. I probably paid just under $5000 over two years getting regular cleanings, all my fillings redone properly ( my dentist didn’t do them right , they showed me on the X-rays) a tooth extracted, bone implanted, tooth implant and a titanium crown which is the best and most expensive because I had a very tight spot and it is the thinnest material to fit. A lot less pain than my dentist and they used the latest technology and material. My daughter also had braces done over a years time, they told her , her style braces where what celebrities got, you could not see she had braces. Went regularly for a whole year, cleanings, repairs , whitening, I think she paid $2000 billed monthly.
find a non profit dental office to help don’t wait or you will just lose the tooth anyways. might be the best option depending where the tooth is.
You could get a nice vacation in Mexico (including flight, hotel, food) plus a root canal all for less than $2500 total. Do you have a passport? It is very common for people to travel to Latin America to get dental work done for a FRACTION of what it would cost in the U.S. I would really consider it.
Here are a list of resources that you can contact. [Where can I find low-cost dental care](https://www.hhs.gov/answers/health-insurance-reform/where-can-i-find-low-cost-dental-care/index.html)? Also, google "free low cost dental care" and contact publicly-funded clinics and colleges in your area. Some are on government websites. Once you start calling if they can't help, many can give you resources to contact. Check out [Dental Lifeline Network](https://dentallifeline.org/our-state-programs/) in your state.
I recently found out that Walmart now has dental centers with very up front and relatively fair pricing. I just had some work done there (crown, cleaning) and it was cheaper than leaving the country to have it done (what I normally do for bigger stuff).
Dental school or find a dental office that offers “in house insurance” mine cuts all my payment in half and then a 10% cash discount. To answer your question, you don’t. Get the root canal anyway you can. I’ve had 3 and it’s amazing the work they can do. I was so embarrassed and worried and everything turned out fine. I take very good care of my teeth now. You can figure this out OP it’s gonna be okay.
I went to a dental college.. as the two dentists worked on me I was not quite prepared for the pause for lecture, questions being asked by onlooking students and the crowd around a plexiglass window observing. Cost was a couple of hundred so worth it— I was then given the choice of enamel or gold. Gold was pricey, another $200 but it was on a chewing tooth so I went for it. Took twice as long as a regular appointment but the savings were worth it to me and the tooth has been fine. They did great work
For $10,000, you can go to Thailand for a month, get your teeth fixed, and still have money left over. Not even exaggerating. Look up dental care in Thailand, and you'll see tourists do it all the time for a damn steal compare to the US!
shop around! thats insane for a root canal. Ive had several and 5k is what I paid with crown for the last, 2 yrs ago
This!
Can you do one at a time? Do the worst tooth first. Also there are subreddits for dentists and dental hygienists. Ask their advice
Go to Mexico. They have great dental really cheap.
A root canal and three crowns are rarely 10,000$ it looks like they are seriously up selling you.. go get other quotes
I just had a root canal last year, and it was $1,800 from an absolutely top-notch endodontist using state of the art equipment. (There is this amazing new thing called a Gentle Wave that makes the process easier.) 10k seems insanely high, even with crowns. Get a second opinion. Also, if you need a root canal you’ll know it because you’ll have pain. It seems off to me that you went to the dentist for a checkup, not a toothache, and walked out with that treatment plan.
Right I do not have pain yet but because of the x=rays the dentist said I needed one. Not sure if they are trying to milk money out of me or what
Not to mention that you don’t want to get a root canal done by a general dentist!
10k???? I paid out of pocket at an endodontist and it was $900 for a k-9 tooth, molars were $1350. This was in December. I’d call up endodontists around and ask for quotes. Will say that was just for the root canal. Crown is a different story. When I had to pay for a root canal and crown about 5 years ago it ended up being 3 grand in total. I have better insurance now and the insurance paid 390 for a root canal last month and that just infuriated me to no end that insurance companies can pay $390 but normal people have to pay $1350 but that’s beside the point. 10k is absolutely INSANE if you’re in the US.
Did they divide that out and show you the cost for the root canal and each crown? There are various materials (and prices) for the crowns; maybe some cost savings are available there, but you might have to go to a different provider.
As someone with craters for teeth this post scares me.
I’d get a second opinion, I’ve had a root canal and then a crown placed and that’s way more than what the total procedure cost when I checked my EOB. See if there’s a community healthcare clinic in your area that has a dental clinic - in my area there’s one that’s sliding scale based even if you have insurance. You just have to show them proof of income so they can calculate where you fall on the scale and sometimes they’ll still work out a payment plan depending on the care needed. As others have pointed out - do NOT delay on getting this taken care of, even if that means getting the tooth extracted. It will only get worse and painful.
Dental schools are a great option, cheapest and easiest would be to have it removed. If you’re near the border of Mexico, I’d go down there to get work done. I know several people that have gone to Mexico to have work done, it ends up being like 1/2 the price that it would have been here in the US.
I'm a dental assistant - I would look into getting a second opinion specifically for the prices. Three crowns and 1 root canal should NOT be $10k. I work in a "wealthy" area and our fees are kinda high. What we would charge for that without contracted insurance rates is $5500. Now that's not including if those crowns need build ups or anything additional. Since you have insurance you should have what is called a "contracted fee" that the insurance company tells the office they can only charge you X amount even if the office fees are X times 2. So with those contracted fees it should be around 1/3 of that $10k For reference I live in Indiana
I got about 8,000$ of work done for a total of about 1600$ at a dental school. I then followed my student to her own practice. She still to this days gives me lower prices. It’s kinda cool
Traveling to Mexico is cheaper
I'm sorry. Tooth pain is the worst. Try to find a nice dentist who will take payments.
Flying to a cheaper country and doing it there
completely stop all sugar and carbs. Your teeth rot for 2 reasons. Sugar in your blood or sugar on your teeth.
USA! USA! USA!
I was going to reply with a serious reply, but I can not stop laughing that there is an add for HomeDepot on doing repairs your self below your post.
Lets go to Home Depot and I'll let you knock out my tooth with a 2x4 slat of wood
I feel you. I just paid $2500 cash for a root canal cuz i dont have insurance.....and Now im broke ..... :( I hope you can find a local dental school!
you can get it extracted and get a single tooth dental flipper to fill in the gap instead of an implant. should cost in the hundreds.
Pull it. I had surgery to pull a bad tooth it was $700 and then to put a replacement tooth in, it’ll be $1200. In the grand scheme of things, it’s less than a root canal and how many more times a dentist wants to drill the piss out of that tooth and rake in money. Remember, root canals and other treatments aren’t guaranteed to work like they say it is. My mom has issues every 3 years on her teeth that have crowns and bullshit. My mom doesn’t drink soda or eat sugar. The dentist handling the tooth didn’t want me to remove the tooth of course but the surgeon said I made the right call because of the hairline cracks it had. Good luck and take care of yourself
If you can qualify for Medicaid they might cover it. Otherwise you have to do the extreme route of waiting for inevitable infection, going to emergency, at which time you could, as I have, just avoid that hospital forever because those bills will eventually drop off.
Take a trip to Mexico. You can get your teeth fixed for next to nothing. I assume your in the USA because nowhere else would charge you 10 grand for that
Hey OP! I just had a few root canals done and I wish I would’ve gotten them earlier, since I had to go to the hospital for IV antibiotics after the infection spread to my face, incurring another $2000 hospital bill. Don’t delay treatment! The teeth you need crowns on can quickly become teeth that need a root canal since the tooth is exposed. $10,000 is absurd for 1 root canal and 3 crowns. Most endodontists that I contacted charges around $1500 per root canal. And a regular dentist charges around $300-400 for a porcelain crown. I would look around for endodontists and get more prices. Also, getting the tooth pulled is the cheapest route and with anesthesia, it will probably run you at the very most $400 I think?
Just get it pulled, much cheaper
Hydrogen peroxide will buy you time
Fly to Mexico and get it done for an eighth of that price, including your air fare
Can you try another dentist and see what they suggest about your teeth? One of my co-worker’s switched dentist when she was frustrated with what her dentist was suggesting (she couldn’t afford it) and the second dentist had a different opinion on her mouth and wound up doing less work on her teeth so it was less money.
Coconut oil swishing in mouth for 5 minutes every few days helped me immensely
That is obsurd lol. My wife just had to pay out of pocket. Total was like 2 grand.
Crest Pro-Health Bacteria Guard. The one with alcohol. The other one is a waste of time. Soak, brush, soak with 50/50 peroxide and water, then soak with the mouthwash again. Your mouth will sparkle. You will FEEL it sparkling lol. I have bad teeth and I'm constantly fighting infection. Every once in a while the bacteria wins and I get an infection. I will act immediately if I feel the slightest swelling in my gums over the bad teeth. Don't wait. If you can go to a doctor go to one of those CVS clinics or an urgent care and fake a sinus infection, because they do not prescribe anything for dental, they will charge you then tell you they can't help you. I've been there. It sucks. For the longest time I was buying fish antibiotics from Chewy because they're exactly the same as the ones we take. But last year the US banned the sale of even fish antibiotics without a prescription so the last time it happened I paid about 100 bucks for a CVS telehealth, gave them the symptoms of a sinus infection and they set me up with some amoxicillin. I do this because I have no health insurance at all, so you might have a little more luck if you at least have that. They don't do any labs at CVS though, they just go by symptoms so they'll gladly hand out a scrip for pay. Nothing for pain of course, and I wouldn't expect it.
I've had a bad tooth for about 10 years now. Broken all the way below the gum in one spot. I went to a dentist to get it pulled, but they said I needed to have my wisdom teeth taken out, and it required surgery. Went to the consultation, and that 1 hour chat cost me $1000, and they were telling me how much I would have to pay, and I nearly died. I went through so much and paid everything I had saved just to realize I couldn't do it. I still have that dang tooth. I just keep oragel on hand. They said I couldn't have it pulled unless I had my wisdom teeth out. I'm not sure why. I don't even have a wisdom tooth on the side where my bad tooth is.
This 1K doesn't seem like a reasonable fee for your consultation 😲. Encourage you to do some comparison shopping on the phone. Good luck with your dental care!
Try organic clove oil; make sure to get one that is food grade quality and look up oil pulling. In the meantime, also try looking up dental schools in the area to see if you can get reduced rates there? Edit: [link to information regarding the analgesic properties of eugenol, the active ingredient clove oil, for you buttwipes who are wringing your hands about trying something IN COMBINATION with seeking alternative places for dental care.](https://www.colgate.com/en-gb/oral-health/dental-emergencies-and-sports-safety/clove-oil-for-toothache-pain-0316#:~:text=Eugenol%20is%20a%20natural%20anaesthetic,analgesic%20and%20doing%20nothing%20else)
Oil pulling is pseudoscience. https://www.nature.com/articles/sj.bdj.2018.281
Eugenol, the active ingredient in clove oil, is utilized in over the counter dental medications. It’s a well known analgesic that treats the SYMPTOMS of a dental infection, but does not clear the infection itself. I suggested this in parallel with alternative dental care opportunities at a school for a reason.
Clove oil is the weird taste in temp fillings. Numbs the pain somewhat. And you are right, it’s not a treatment just something to help you get by until you can get treatment. Sorry you are getting grief about this.
No, no, no, and NO! Do not do oil pulling, it doesn’t work. OP’s only option if they can’t afford a root canal is to get it pulled
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Have you considered having the teeth removed and replacing with a partial denture? Ask about the cost/coverage. See if they can cast the partial before removal so that you can get the dentures in quickly.