Nurse needing Dental Care

[anj1995]

Hi. I am an LPN with no medical insurance. I am needing some dental work. I have one tooth with a really bad cavity that needs to be either extracted or a root canal. The problem is that I cannot afford to pay for a root canal no matter what the price and I can't really afford to have it extracted due to that i have had 4 extractions already and I am only 30 and do NOT want to venture to dentures this early in life, that would be so embarassing for me. Any suggestions or comments would greatly help with making my decision.

[Simba&NalasMom, LPN]

have you ever heard of care credit? i had to have some work done at the dentist (crowns) and i ended up getting a care credit card to use. with their card, you can use it for any dental or medical procedure, or even at a vets office on a pet. then, they give you a specific period of time you can make payments in with no interest added on. after that time period, they do begin to add interest. anyway, i was so glad my dentist office recommended that to me!

[color=#483d8b]you can check it out here: www.carecredit.com

[color=#483d8b]i do hope you can figure out something to do. you certainly don't want to put it off and have it get worse or get infected and make you sick!

forgive the segue (i should just say "hijack" lol)...i got care credit when one of my cats was diagnosed with diabetes. it helps a lot, but be very careful with them as they signed me up for that optional insurance that makes your payment if you get sick and can't work, etc. and it's been a pain to try to get it removed; the insurance adds an additional $40 to my payment.

[Simba&NalasMom, LPN]

Regular check ups go a long way towards saving money in the long run.Find a dentist with payment plans and make sure you go twice a year.You need to build a relationship with the practice. In my experience unless the tooth is in the front I would not go with a root canal-the tooth is weakened and has to be crowned afterwards and it's a very expensive and un-comfortable procedure. Even a huge cavity can be filled although this may also weaken the tooth making a crown necessary now or you may risk loosing the tooth and why take that chance after spending the money? My husband (and a few of his siblings) have terrible teeth-I'm more fortunate.But we all go twice a year-I do have insurance for us all now but even when I didn't we still made sure to make those appointments.

A-men to that! I have had one root canal to a large molar; thank goodness I had insurance at the time as it would have cost me a couple thousand dollars. My tooth/gum was sore off and on for 6 months after that; if I have to do it again, I will definitely think twice!

[patwil73]

You might check with your HR department and see if the they have a medical spending account - basically it works like this:

Determine how much money you will spend on procedures the coming year.

Establish a medical spending account for that amount - they provide a check to cover the costs and take the amount from your paycheck over the whole year.

Works well if you know what's coming (like dental work or lasik).

Hope this helps

Pat

[anj1995]

Thanks for all the comments/suggestions everyone has. I am working toward's getting this fixed very soon!