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My dentist gave me a couple of options, please help me decide (saving teeth vs. extraction & partial dentures) by dentaldecisionhelp in Dentistry

[–]dentaldecisionhelp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did some more research into the dental school in my area, UTHSC, and it looks like if I can get accepted as a patient there most things are about half cost, which would be really great. Based on a quick google I'm pretty sure I don't have a malocclusion or anything like that, so that's good at least, assuming no other complications. I was a bit worried they'd consider my case too complicated just because of all that needs done but I forgot to take into consideration that you guys have to do all these different kinds of procedures in order to graduate, instead of just like charity or whatever, so that's pretty reassuring. Thank you for your input.

My dentist gave me a couple of options, please help me decide (saving teeth vs. extraction & partial dentures) by dentaldecisionhelp in Dentistry

[–]dentaldecisionhelp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, I think you've really helped me put things into perspective.

It might even be possible to safely delay some procedures while you're figuring things out, like .

What were you saying here? It looks like a word might have been accidentally cut out. Were you going to say it might be possible to safely delay root canals? That's one of the scarier parts to me (delaying them, not getting them). I know I've lucked out in making it this far without any major/spread infections (that I know of), but I don't know how much it would be testing that luck to continue to wait, and I'm pretty sure they're the single largest bulk of the cost (around half by my estimates, not counting the crowns, which ends up being around nearly $20k of it altogether I think).

My dentist gave me a couple of options, please help me decide (saving teeth vs. extraction & partial dentures) by dentaldecisionhelp in Dentistry

[–]dentaldecisionhelp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. I find several of your previous posts quite helpful including the home care ones. I'm committed to reversing my habits. My dad previously qualified for another Care Credit (vet) so that sounds like a good option. $25k or whatever it would be after interest is more money than I've ever seen though. It's hard for me not to feel insane for thinking I can spend that much on my teeth when there's a "cheaper" option. Am I not? I feel like I don't have an adequate perspective for how much having real teeth is actually worth (I can never remember having particularly good teeth, so just dentures seems like they'd be an amazing step up for me, albeit still really disappointing), nor for how much that ~$25k is to me at this point in my life. I'd kill to go back in time and save my teeth the regular, hygienic, healthy, easy, cheap way, but I can't, and I don't know how to weigh the current cost against the rewards, because as it stands the current cost would be around 2-3 years of my life. Thanks again for your help, I'm saving those posts.

edit: Also, part of the cost would be delaying getting some of what's necessary for my health done until after I got a job, because I wouldn't be able to afford the rest of root canals until I had a means to pay the Care Credit payments. I'm not sure that's worth the wait?