Elizabeth Davies on dentist bills and whether money and age directly translate to power and respect in the same way youth and pennilessness translate to vulnerability

Wait til your 50+ and face 3k a pop for caps.

regards

Elizabeth I consider the most valuable thing I own as being and inquisitive mind. Unlike most that settle at what, I want to know why. With your teeth I suggest you look up the work of Dr Weston Price, I have successfully followed his recommendations. One caveat though is make sure your approach is comprehensive if you want to be successful. The few vitamin and mineral supplements you may need are a heap cheaper than the dentist. It may not fully address your hereditary condition but I am picking it will.

This is the third article in a row where this writer has moaned about her life.

I am sure you have explored/exhausted all your options with respect to the public health system footing the bill for the deep cleaning?  It never ceases to amaze me that dental isn't covered by the health system - a healthy mouth is absolutely vital to overall health.  Yours is a gum/bone condition as opposed to a teeth one in my opinion. Oesteoarthritis as a bone condition is covered by the health system - as would most gum diseases be, so I think it really unfair that your condition is not.  Public hopsitals do have dental clinics - where folks who cannot afford dental work can get urgent stuff done.  I think there are some user-pay charges, but they are much less than retail dental work.  Your friend who went to the 'back street' dentist (I didn't even know we had any!) should have gone in to see WINZ, even if she is not an existing client - as again, they provide interest free loans (up to $1,000 I think) and I don't think you need be on a benefit to qualify - you just have to prove you have no money in savings and that the work is urgent. That friend might also have qualified for the hospital dental clinic - I think one requires a referral from a GP for that.

My husband had lots of problems during middle age. He just got all his top teeth pulled at about age 35. I was overseas at the time he made that decision (he didn't tell me) and wanted to throttle our dentist afterwards. He now swears if you can save a tooth, do so - but on the other hand he's also not complaining about not needing to visit the dentist regularly!

I hate the dentist (well actually I really like my dentist - but hate having to go there).  It's a phobia thing. So if I need dental work I first trot off to my GP - tell him I need a few valium to get me through the appointment .. which I happily get on the public health!! It just seems ridiculous what is and isn't covered under our socialised medical system.  In my opinion - yours is a medical problem. I'd be speaking to your GP again if you haven't already done so.  Seems ridiculous that your work is not covered.

I expect more informed comment in the articles presented in Interest.co.nz than the "poor me" diatribe presented above.

 My wife and I, both in our late 70's, still have our own teeth, albeit a bit worn and broken in places.  We both had regular dental treatment (at least yearly), and have always eaten a good well-balanced diet.  Our oral hygiene has been good, brushing 2/3 times a day, soft brush, teeth and gums.  And it works!   Our 3 children, now in their 40' s and 50's, with our reasonable early care, and a little help from Fluoride, all have healthy unfilled teeth - no fillings, none, zero!  It can be achieved, there is no magic  Don't shoot the dentist, look in the mirror at the person you should be berating.

And as for 'a few' vitamins and minerals curing an hereditary disease.... please.....

Garfy

There is a reason why a significant number of dental practises go bust.

When you have to pay a receptionist, nurse, pus provide equipment and pay the rent etc etc, a lot of dentists find it hard to make ends meet.

Sure, there are those at the other end of the spectum also, but not all.

I know of a dentist who is earning less than the minamum wage, and others that have lost everything trying in vain to make a practise work.

They are not all the money bloodsuckers you think they are. They have families to feed too.

Dear Elizabeth, I hope you did not read the greedy, pompous and down-right nasty comments of Garfy. That person is either illiterate or really just wants to tell us all how he has been a really 'good brusher' all his mean-spirited life haha ( he has ignored that yours is hereditary gum-shrinkage )

 Consider Thailand Elizabeth... I did and was delighted with the care and work to my teeth that I recieved. It is 30% of the cost of NZ dentistry.

Be very careful in 3rd world countries. It's surgery after all, and it can, and has, gone badly wrong.

Also there is no warranty - whacha gonna do if you have an issue? Better to find a well priced practitioner in NZ that will stand by thier work.  

Apologies for the thread necro, but I've found myself in the same predicament.

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with external resorption, a dental condition so rare that only a few dozen people around the world have been diagnosed with it. It causes erosion of the teeth from the root, defies all brushing and flossing and mouthwashing, and eventually causes the teeth to break off. There are no obvious causes, and not even my dentist could identify them. Blood tests came up negative, and the only plausible explanation was that my immune system had gone paranoid and declared my teeth a dire threat.

I was quoted anywhere from $8,000 to $15,000 for a new set of implants - enough to make me an American-style medical debt statistic. I thought of listing my cause on Give A Little, only to find lots of others had the same idea for rare conditions not covered by the DHBs, and charity fatigue would have been the likely response. To make matters worse, I was rejected for a place on the DHB waiting list because I wasn't sick enough, despite the possibility that I could be considered as a special case. On top of that, private insurers don't usually cover conditions like mine because they're pre-existing. This was enough to give me PTSD, to the point where I even contemplated ending it all.

I saw my local MP about the issue, and I was told I might still be able to get removable dentures - not the most convenient solution, but it would only cost hundreds, rather than thousands. Even then, it goes to show that I've fallen through the cracks in the health system.

PS. I should add that I'm in my mid-30s.