Financing Teeth!

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Noor77

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I have been told I need 6 veneers and 9 fillings (long story, hadn't been to the dentist since I was 12 due to a nasty experience, have perfect top teeth but need to sort my bottom ones out). Anyway, I have been quoted €100 a pop for the fillings, €400 for the bleaching and €500 per veneer. All the work comes to approximately €4,300 (less consultation charges). I don't have any savings but I will get €8,000 from a maturing SSIA next year. I don't want to wait until next year to get the work done as it took me long enough to get over my dentist phobia so I want to go with my newfound momentum. My question is, do I:

(i) try and get a low interest loan for about €4,500 (on the "strength" of my maturing SSIA) and get all the work done in as few sessions as possible, or

(ii) get the work done in financially manegeable lumps - i.e. a a trip to the dentist every month which I could probably finance without going into the red

I'm tied between the two options. The real problem with (ii) is that I would end up paying more in consultation charges
 
Do you have any sort of insurance like VHI?

Keep any receipts for what you pay and submit a Med 2 form to revenue. . Depending on your tax rate you can get 42% back.

Check also you PRSI entitlements.

From Revenue.ie
Dental Treatments Which Qualify For Relief

Bridgework
Dental treatment consisting of an enamel-retained bridge or a tooth-supported bridge is allowable.
Crowns
These are restorations fabricated outside the mouth and are permanently cemented to existing tooth tissue.
Tip Replacing
This is regarded as a crown where a large part of the tooth needs to be replaced and the replacement is made outside the mouth.
Veneers/Rembrant Type Etched Fillings
These are a form of crown.
Endodontics - Root Canal Treatment
This involves the filling of the nerve canal and not the filling of teeth.
Gold Inlays
These are a smaller version of a gold crown. (Only allowable if fabricated outside the mouth).
Gold Posts
These are inserts in the nerve canal of a tooth, to hold a crown.
Orthodontic Treatment
This involves the provision of braces and similar treatments.
Periodontal treatment
Root Planing - a treatment of periodontal (gum) disease. Currettage and Debridement - part of root planing.
Gum Flaps - a gum treatment.
Chrome Cobalt Splint - if used in connection with periodontal treatment. (If it contains teeth, relief is not allowable).
Dental implants following treatment of periodontal (gum) disease, which included bone grafting and bone augmentation.
Surgical Extraction of Impacted Wisdom Teeth
Relief is allowable when undertaken in a hospital, or by a dentist in a dental surgery. Certification from the
hospital/dentist will be required to obtain tax relief. The removal of teeth in any other circumstances does not qualify.
 
Got to Budapest and get the work done for about a third of the price. I just came back from there after having work done and cannot say enough good things about the dentist there.totally professional, great honest advice and all very very nice genuine people. check the site www.innodc.com Dentist name is Susanne (well its actually Zsuzsanna in hungrary!). they will pick you up from the airport, collect you every day from your hotel etc for your appointments.Good luck
 
Thanks a million for your advice Spudz and D8Lady. You've both given me a lot to think about. I wasn't even aware that veneers could qualify for tax relief. I haven't really considered getting treatment abroad, I suppose my biggest worry would be the language barrier...but I speak Spanish and Catalan, so maybe I should check out the prices in Barcelona and Madrid! I don't feel as overwhelmed now :)
 
Noor77 as a dentist this crowd are marketing pretty heavily [broken link removed]
rate seems very high!....but suppose cater specifically for healthcare market.
Lot of clients get expensive work close to end of tax year in order to limit the wait for money from revenue.
Could be worth deferring the more expensive stuff closer to end of tax year if you have cashflow issues.
Other option could be to apply for credit card with 6 months interest free........think bank of scotland plastic card has this offer at present.
If you were really smart you could get the money from revenue whilst still in interest free period so you would be in a positive cashflow situation rather than forking out interest!
Where to go?
This has been discussed elsewhere.
Only comment I would make is that veneers can and do chip.
Getting 6 done is advanced dentistry and needs very careful construction and analysis of the bite.
good luck.
 
markowitzman said:
veneers can and do chip.
Getting 6 done is advanced dentistry and needs very careful construction and analysis of the bite.
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Thanks Markowitzman. The whole thing about veneers chipping is a worry for me. I have decided I might get a second opinion and see if a brace on my lower teeth might me an alternative option. I'm absolutely petrified of dentists so the thought of any kind of "advanced dentistry" has my stomach in knots. The nine fillings are the most important things to rectify really. The veneers are cosmetic so perhaps if a brace was an option, this might be a better route to go as I wouldn't just be "masking" the problem. Also, I wonder about the maintenance factor with veneers.
 
Get a second opinion. One dentist might think you need a filling, whereas another might decide it's okay.

Also, I too had a dentist phobia. Consider healozone for your fillings. I got this done 3 or so years ago.

Your teeth are gassed with ozone, and then you use remineralising toothpaste and mouthwash. The only thing I felt was the dentist securing a rubber seal to my teeth. More pleasent that a whining drill and the smell of burning tooth tissue.
 
Consider healozone for your fillings.
Click to expand...
no long term research to support this treatment and is still experimental.......sorry to dampen your enthusiasm for this umop but this technology was hearlded with a blaze of publicity but results are questionable and has not been adopted by any dental schools etc.
Noor77 I think you are right to look at second opinion with an orthodontist as once teeth straight then your problems should be solved via bleaching provided no existing fillings in these teeth.
With treatments like veneers and fillings and crowns there is a finite life span. If you can avoid these treatments and go for orthodontics then you are still left with natural teeth.
I have made loads of assumptions without looking at the case but these points should help you in your decision.
Re the fillings I would advise conventional fillings rather than healozone based on current research.
 
markowitzman said:
no long term research to support this treatment and is still experimental.......sorry to dampen your enthusiasm for this umop but this technology was hearlded with a blaze of publicity but results are questionable and has not been adopted by any dental schools etc.
Re the fillings I would advise conventional fillings rather than healozone based on current research.
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Hi Markowitzman,

Have you any experience with this new ozone treatment? Is it your opinion that it doesn't work at all? (I take it that you are a dentist?)
I would be very interested to learn more, especially if you think this is snake oil.
 
Have you any experience with this new ozone treatment?
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I was actually at the conference that launched it by Prof Ed Lynch and as such have kept abreast of it's development.
Is it your opinion that it doesn't work at all?
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we try not to base our decisions on opinions but on hard science which as per the link given (NICE above) is questionable. Until clear benefit is shown would be cautious about it's use in practice.
 
markowitzman said:
We try not to base our decisions on opinions but on hard science which as per the link given (NICE above) is questionable. Until clear benefit is shown would be cautious about it's use in practice.
Click to expand...

Has anything more concrete been published in the meantime? I notice that the manufacturer's response lists a clatter of studies/papers published since this report - anything more convincing in these?
 
the most interesting study is the randomised double blind last one along with the multicenter trial second last. These do not end until 08 and 07 and probably will not be published until a year later. This seems tobe why NICE is reviewing the treatment again in 08. Other studies are less solid for comparison I feel.
 
Thanks Markowitzman. I will be going for regular white fillings ...and getting most of my old silver ones removed and replaced with white ones too. I had a look at that website - the easy finance one. I woulld normally be inclined to scepticism about these type of things but I happen to have stayed in one of the hospitals mentioned for a week - Shanakiel in Cork - when I was having my slipped discs looked at, and I had no problems there at all. It might be worth more investigation.

You seem such a nice dentist, perhaps you will cure my phobia!:)
 
sorry to dampen your enthusiasm for this umop but this technology was hearlded with a blaze of publicity but results are questionable and has not been adopted by any dental schools etc.
Click to expand...
You haven't damped my enthusiasm.
Drawing from my own empirical evidence, the procedure appears to have worked. Well a sample size of one with compounding factors :D Anyway, I'm delighted with it.

It will be interesting to see the results of the studies you've mentioned. The healozone machine is fairly expensive and in direct competition with existing expertise and methods, so it will probably be hard to get a truely independent study.

Dental amalgam is a mixture of murcury, tin, silver, copper, plumbum, tritium and other elements. Even today, there is still controversy about the use of this material;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_amalgam_controversy
 
The healozone machine is fairly expensive and in direct competition with existing expertise and methods, so it will probably be hard to get a truely independent study.
Click to expand...
not really a multicenter double blind randomised controlled trial of at least 5 years duration is the gold standard of evidence-based . Machine about 12k which is not huge in dental equipment terms!
You haven't damped my enthusiasm.
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would be delighted if it was found to work as would make my job much easier!......without long term data it is a shot in the dark.
 
I'm getting mine replaced because they are starting to come loose and chip and have probably come to the end of their life!

My big fear with the dentist is that my tongue or throat would be accidently numbed and I wouldn't be able to breathe. But I'm very determined to get everything sorted so I'm sure I will get through it. I did consider getting gold fillings as I have a few Korean friends who believe this is the best type of filling.

Noor
 
If you don't feel like travelling as far as Budapest (or Barcelona or Madrid!), you could look at several dental practices in Newry and elsewhere in NI who provide substantially cheaper dental work than here.

I had a significant bit of reconstruction done over three visits early this year. Great job (so far) and less than half Republic's prices. Don't know can I mention here the specific practice I went to, but there are several that pop up on web. E mail me privately if you want to know name of one I went to. And you can claim tax back in Republic on a Med 2 form filled in by them.

Of course it sounds like you are in Cork, so the journey may not be as convenient as the trip up the motorway is for us Dubliners.
 
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