Long in the Tooth

long in the tooth

Last year my husband and I were both told by our dentist that we needed crowns. In fact, I was informed that I had a crack in my lower left back molar as well as my upper right back molar. The hygienist went over the cost of the crowns, stating that we had great dental insurance that would cover half of the expense.

My husband had his done, and I only had them do the back left tooth. It was no picnic, that's for sure. But what was less enjoyable is that our dental insurer denied both of our claims, saying that the crowns had not been necessary. We went back and forth for months on this. Finally the insurer covered mine but not Jim's. He refused to pay the balance since they had inferred that they had gotten authorization for the crown. As it ends up, they did not. In the end, they waived the balance on his account, but we both decided to change dentists. The billing issue was only one of many, but it was the final straw for us.

We knew we were changing Medicare insurance companies beginning January 1 of this year, so we waited to find a new dentist until we were able to see who was in network. (The old practice was, of course, since we no longer wanted to see them.) Upon a friend's recommendation, we selected a female dentist who is in network and reasonably close to us.

We both saw her on different days last week. There are things I liked and didn't like about my visit. The paperwork could not be filled out online, and it was ridiculously long. Good thing I got there plenty early! The dental hygienist was pleasant and thorough. I had to get all new x-rays taken since they don't have access to my old ones. But the dentist barely spent 2 minutes with me, after dropping the bomb about all the cracks in my teeth. What?!? She then hustled out of the room.

The hygienist showed me the x-rays, indicating I have two crowns needed on the bottom left molars, and two on the upper right molars. Wait a minute! The back bottom left was just done last year, as outlined above. She said there is a gap in the crown where bacteria can get in, and it needs to be redone. I asked if it could just be filled or something. Nope. Then she kind of rushed me out to the front desk for checking out. The gal behind the desk said she has to submit these for pre-approval due to Medicare. Huh, that's probably what the prior dentist forgot to do.

At this point I'm not sure what I will do. Do I really need four crowns? Is the gap in the one crown really that big of a deal? All I know at this point is that I am obviously getting long in the tooth!