Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Oh, jeeze, I just did something like that. (No more Jolly Ranchers for moi!). Broke (yanked off) a cap right off of an old, old root canal molar. <SIGH> I'm saving my pennies, as my VERY bloody expensive self-purchased health plan doesn't, of course, cover DENTAL. (There is no such thing as a good value in a dental plan any longer, unless it's a business group plan. Bugger.)
I feel for ya!
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I am fortunately past that, because I no longer have original teeth. The lower teeth are a full denture. The upper teeth are a denture except for two crowns.
I inherited bad teeth from both parents. Mom and dad both had full upper and lower dentures when they died. My original teeth were going, one by one. The final straw was when a supposedly permanent crown fell out because the root it was screwed into gave out. I told my dentist "All you are doing is delaying the inevitable. Mom and dad both had full upper and lower dentures by the time they died. That's where I'm going to end up. How about we skip the original teeth going one by one and jump directly to the end result I'm going to reach anyway?"
She agreed it made sense, and began the process of removing the few remaining original teeth and preparing for dentures. The good part was that the original teeth didn't go painfully - they just crumbled. I had very few really nasty toothaches. The process took a bit, mostly because of insurance. I had a corporate insurance plan, but essentially, I was putting aside money for dental work, up to a maximum covered by the plan, and when that max was reached there was a delay before more money was available. I'd have done better to put the money into an interest bearing account and just pay from it as I went, but that wasn't an option my company offered.
The process was finally finished and I have a full set of teeth and an attractive smile. They just happen to be false teeth. But I have no need to visit my dentist for the foreseeable future. Eventually, adjustments will need to be made, but that will be years down the road.
A friend got a replacement crown a while back and sent me digital photos. Previously, such work was farmed out to a dental lab. His dentist had acquired the capability to do it in house. He designed the replacement crown in a specialized CAD program, and a baby CNC milling machine actually manufactured it in his office. I told my dentist and she was aware of the tech but thought it expensive. I said it likely was, but the savings of being able to do it herself instead of sending it to a lab would pay for it pretty rapidly, allow her to retain the revenue stream,
and be able to charge her patients less. I expect that trend to continue till only really complex stuff gets sent to a lab.
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Dennis