February 19, 2014

Just Got the Dental Bill and it's Not Pretty

I just received the insurance statement for Big R's December dental bill.  I don't remember all she had done.  The problem is that there are NO children's dentists on our insurance policy.  It's been a couple years, so I should check again but last time I called our insurance they did not have any in-network children's dentists. The insurance won't cover the laughing gas and they'll only pay up to certain amounts for dental work.  And this dentist is expensive.  She's also one of the greatest dentists I've ever met and has amazing energy and patience with the kids.
So......... The total bill for December was $1361.00.  The insurance paid $736.60.

We owe $624.40!  Ouch.  

I think I'll be going back through the tax return and cutting back on a few things we had planned to spend the money on to come up with extra money to pay this bill.


7 comments:

  1. Yikes!
    What all did she have done for that? Must have been fillings, right?

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    1. She had a tooth pulled and retainer put in and I think a crown. When she was younger we apparently gave her too much juice. And grandparents would sneak her pop and chocolate milk. We just recently had her first set of good xrays done since she is finally old enough to sit still for them. She had one more filling done last week but the dentist thinks we have everything taken care of now. And we intend to keep it that way.

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  2. Dental insurance seems to be a lot less reliable than medical insurance, the more I look into it... scary!

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  3. Wow. I know there's a program called "care credit" that is a no interest kind of deal. I don't know much about it, except 's monthly payments. I had the same problems with my kids when they were little....lots of apple juice and milk. It does get better as they get older.

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    1. I actually have a care credit card that years ago when Big R was born. I'm waiting to get the real bill from the dentist. After I thought about this awhile I remembered that I did pay some money upfront that was supposed to be my portion after the insurance. That amount wasn't reflected on the statement from our insurance.

      I checked my credit card statement and I paid them $190 that day they did the work so hopefully when we get the real bill it will only be for $434. Ha - Only!

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    2. I'm glad to hear that there is a smaller balance. My dental insurance doesn't cover any sedation for my kids procedures. My daughter needs some form of sedation to cooperate with the dentist. She's had a rough time with her teeth and multiple procedures. At 16 now, she still needs nitrous with any procedure, except the basic cleaning.

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  4. My daughter is 4 and she had 3 cavities last year and one this year. Not to place the blame elsewhere but I wish somebody had talked to me about juice and sippy cups. I had no idea that what I was doing was so bad foe my kids teeth.

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