paying for a root canal....?

Question

Ok, so i take care of my teeth but when i was a teenager i had problems with my teeth, now my dentist wants my to have 4 root canals, it is going to cost approxiamatly $6500 after crowns are done also, my insurance will only pay about 2500, i can not get a loan, is there any way my medical insurance will help pay for some of the work, i have john deer med insurance....

Answer 1

HELLO AMY,
YOU ARE NOT ALONE WITH THE NEED FOR MULTIPLE ROOT CANALS. IF YOU WANT YOUR DENTAL INSURANCE TO AID IN PAYING FOR THIS WORK THEN YOU MAY HAVE TO SPACE THE WORK OUT AND DO SOME EVER YEAR BECAUSE IN A NEW YEAR YOUR BENEFITS WILL RENEW.
IF YOU NEED TO HAVE THE 4 ROOT CANALS DONE EXPEDIENTLY, CONSIDER SEVERAL OPTIONS.
THE FIRST IS WORKING OUT A PAYMENT ARRANGEMENT WITH YOUR DENTIST.
THE SECOND IS HAVE A DENTAL SCHOOL DO THE WORK--WHERE THE COST IS MORE REASONABLE.
THE THIRD IS WAIT TO HAVE THE CROWNS PLACED AT A LATER DATE ONCE THE ROOT CANAL IS DONE.
MEDICAL AND DENTAL ARE DIFFERENT AND ONE DOESN'T PAY WHERE THE OTHER WON'T. GOOD LUCK.

Answer 2

Medical insurance will only pay if it also does dental. Since you mentioned that your insurance will pay 2500, I guess that my first sentence is moot.

Talk to the bill person at the dentist office. More often than not, they deal with this issue everyday. When I needed two root canals, I made payments on one root canal at a time, along with my dental insurance. Frankly, I doubt the dentist will do all 4 root canals at one time; that sounds barbaric.

Answer 3

Does your work offer a healthcare savings plan? With ours, we tell them how much to deduct from our paycheck per year (we did $1000). At the beginning of the year, if you've tokd them that you're going to have them take that money out, you immediately have access to it. For instance, they are going to take out about $90 a month for us. Even though we haven't done this for the entire year yet, we still have access to that $1000 right now. This money also comes out of our paycheck before taxes, so it costs us less.

I believe that these plans usually start with each new year, so if your work offers it, and you can wait until January, look into it. You might also find out if you can get a medical savings plan elsewhere, such as a bank or insurance company; I'm not sure who offers these, but they're pretty popular.

Answer 4

An affordable dental discount plan (not dental insurance), can save you much money. Most of these plans allow for pre-existing conditions. Find out which plan is the best in your zip code by going to http://www.lowpriceddentalplans.com

Answer 5

If I was in your delimma I would do one of 2 things. 1 see if a dental school could do it for less or 2 go overseas and have a foreign dentist do it for less like India, Mexico maybe even Canada or Philippines.