by Beks
This will come as a surprise but… I broke a dental crown and needed emergency dental work.
Oh who am I kidding? I ALWAYS need dental work.
Was I eating a steak? Nachos? Rocks? Nope. I was eating a slice of warm fresh bread from the oven. Leave it to me to break a crown on a silly slice of bread.
After spending approximately 10 seconds popping the rest of the crown out, my dentist informed me that whoever put in the crown, simply glued down a temporary. ‘This is some pretty bad work’ she said from behind her mask ‘Hopefully it didn’t cost you much.’
‘I paid $1,100 for that crown. I remember. I had to finance it’ I said.
How much is the replacement? $800.
Thankfully insurance is covering $500. Ugh. But that still leaves me with a $300 bill.
I hate teeth.
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
As a person who, unfortunately, deals with this on an almost daily basis I’d recommend putting in a complaint to the Better Business Bureau and the American Dental Association about the dentist who placed that crown. If anyone wonders how dentists who pull this kind of crap get away with it, it’s because people just let it go. Please report them! I encourage everyone before going to a dentist check online reviews and their BBB record.
You didn’t go back to the same dentist who put the crown in the first time did you? If it’s not too late, you should find someone else, whose work doesn’t suck.
I hate the dentist…it’s way expensive and frankly it’s just wierd to have other people stick their hands in your mouth. ick.
Ugh!! I feel your pain! And $1100 for a temporary crown?!?!?!? WRONG! I hope that at least some of that covered the root canal and post, not that it helps much that you were given a temporary. Blech.
Well, hopefully the new dentist has given you a crown that will last a lot longer!
Oh, crud… That reminds me – I have to pay my dentist bill!!
Agreed – make some noise about this!
I am shopping for a new dentist after having one for 30 years. It’s a minefield of scam artists out there. I wish more people would complain. I think most people don’t even know they have been duped.
P.S. To clarify – my awesome and ethical dentist has retired. It really sucks.
I just had my first dental implant on a back tooth. Talk about expensive. And it requires a “special” crown, which is also more expensive than the normal one.
Aren’t you supposed to have a temporary crown first? When I got a root canal, I got a “temporary” crown until the permanent one was ready.
I put temporary in quotes because I had such a traumatic visit that I wouldn’t go back for the permanent crown. And actually, the permanent crown had to be redone. All different dentists. My current dentist is great and i think I may stick to female dentists!
Let’s just say with all of my crown trouble this month, it definitely runs in the family!!! 🙂
do you use a flexible spending account? may be worth looking into if your company offers it. especially since you will be having a baby. you have to enroll during enrollment period but since you are experiencing a qualified life changing event this year you will be able to enroll when the baby comes.
i put $5K in mine this year because i was giving birth also. saves you the fed and state taxes as well as FSDI and medicare….we do the same for daycare called a depending spending account.
It’s the worst feeling when things are going really well for the month and then something unexpected like car repair or medical issues come up and ruin all the work you did for the month.
Last month i had car problems and had to go to a specialist for wrist pain. I have been working hard to keep my expenses down, but then something interesting always happens. 😉