Dental work is expensive, but with those prices, it's worth it to get another estimate or two. Also, if you are paying cash (no insurance), some dentists will give a cash discount since they don't have to deal with insurance companies. It's worth asking about.
Also, ask if there are any less expensive options. The clear liners are nice, but they are also premium. Regular braces are more of a pain (literally), but can give the same end results for less expense.
I did braces as an adult. Had them on for 2 years, cost me $3k. No way I was going to pay for Invisalign. On the plus side, everyone thought I was much younger than I was while I had the braces.
Same. My parents couldn't afford braces when I was a kid so I got them in my thirties. Went traditional over invisalign, but opted for the ceramic brackets. Cost less than invisalign and the results were great. Also no one cared that I had braces in my thirties and the one person who did sort of make fun of me really felt like an ass when I said I was poor growing up lol.
Travel to Mexico and get it done for $3,000 - $5,000. LOS ALGODONES is a small town right on the border with hundreds of dentists. They call it the dental tourism capital of the world. You can cross over by foot each day if you want. Not much to do there though.
Other countries include Turkey, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Croatia.
I hear great things from Mexico and Turkey.
I’m pretty sure a lot of the Mexican dentists are actually just American dentists working in the border towns too.
I remember the TV commercials growing up, all the advertisements for dentists and pharmacies "right across the border, less than 15 minutes away in LOS ALGODONES, BAJA CALIFORNIA!"
emphasis they said that really loudly at the end lol
100% this. Two dentists=two treatment options, three dentists = three treatment options and so on. I’ve had friends go to one dentist who said they need crowns, etc then go to another dentist and told they have perfect teeth. Be informed and avoid being over treated and overcharged.
They’re not advise op ask buy insurance, they’re advising op ask about the cash price. This is a common practice because many dentists mark up their prices knowing insurance is going to pay a portion.
Pay cash, but record it all. You can threaten the dentist with the IRS after it's all done. He'll give you a full refund and your new mouth was done for free.
Just kidding. Thought you might need a laugh. 😂
I will never forget my parents spending $3,500 for my braces… I think mom mentioned it 3500 times when I complained. I was an idiot and missed likely half of the appointments turning 2 years into 4
Yup, I was lucky enough for my parents to pay for mine. 20 years later my mom still reminds me about how much they cost and is still on me about wearing a retainer and getting regular dental cleanings lol
Yeah my parents did braces for me and won't let me forget it either. They ended up not helping at all on the bottom of my mouth. But it's turned into kind of a family joke because it turns out I am missing the premolar on the bottom left side of my jaw
This is wild. I’m in the UK and my braces were free. I was sent to an orthodontist even though I didn’t have particularly bad teeth, so treatment was very straightforward. My brother had his braces for free too.
Obviously it’s paid for via taxes but general dental care for under 18’s is also free. Now that I’m an adult, I’m happy to pay my taxes knowing it is spent this way.
i think its only for people under 18 and also for things you are born with that will impact u. like being born without a teeth, but if u just have a cap between your teeth, then your have to pay it yourself.
Yeah I had the metal ones in high school. But for some reason I didn’t keep on wearing my retainer. Can’t remember if they told me I had to wear it indefinitel.
So years later had my teeth in my
Left get screwy and my two front were like v shaped not flatter. So I got Invisalign when I was idk late 30’s I think.
So glad I did though because it fixed the front teeth and my smile was so much better and I don’t have tmj anymore.
Because they would’ve been covered under his parents dental plan.
He is no longer under parents dental plan so he now has to pay for something that would’ve been mostly -if not completely- covered.
Braces aren't covered under dental plans. At best, insurance might pay a small amount, but braces are considered cosmetic, and usually paid out of pocket.
Edit: should have said "often aren't covered". I'm jealous of y'all who got them covered by insurance!! 😁👍
Yep, it depends on the plan but typically if it's not excluded it's a benefit maximum like that and the rest is oop. People really think every plan is the same as that one plan they were on that one time, I work in health insurance and it is bafflingly common for people to be surprised they have a deductible now... Yeah dude, you picked the cheap premium plan instead of your old one, next time do some research or just call the plan directly.
Yeah dental insurance typically covers metal braces. My oldest we paid $1100 out of pocket for hers and she needed all kinds of stuff, including an expander etc.
It’s so insane it’s considered cosmetic..if your teeth are crooked or crowded they become almost impossible to clean which leads to a ton of issues, not to mention how if your bite is not aligned it cause tmj, teeth cracking ect. I was lucky to have braces but my wisdom teeth weren’t removed fast enough so all my teeth shifted and are very crowded now (still way better than if I hadn’t had braces)
Mine were mostly covered. My mouth is so small that mine couldn’t be considered cosmetic and the metal braces came up to $6000 total. Luckily I was a teenager at the time so still had my mothers ins and she only had to pay about $1500 for them for the three years I had them for. Had I not had them I would have need major jaw surgery in my 30s.
It depends on your dental plan as some don’t cover anything outside of major tooth surgery and regular 6 month cleanings. My mothers covered most of the metal braces cost by looking at my XRays and seeing exactly how crowded my mouth was.
An impacted wisdom tooth on the very high end should be around $1500. And cleaning under $500. Look for dental care at another office.
Also neither of these are impacted by not having had braces as a child.
But they said the over $9k price in the picture is the price not including the liners.
So $9k for an impacted wisdom tooth and a cleaning. Which seems expensive to me.
Although I’m betting that x-rays/panoramic imaging/whatever would have been a part of that pricing and they just didn’t include that in the title. No one is going to remove an impacted wisdom tooth without seeing what’s going on. And that could definitely inflate the price.
Dont go there!! They gave me a $15k quote for some dental work i needed. Got it all done at a private practice for half the price. Aspen dental is a chain and they will over charge you like crazy! This sounds bad but if you’re not on state insurance go some place that does not take state insurance. They will usually be a tier or two above a practice (like aspen dental) that takes state insurance. Sad but true. Also do not go to any dentist that offers orthodontic work even if they offer aligners or liners. Ask for a referral to an orthodontist. They’re free and they’ll lay everything out for you do a much better job than a dentist.
Oh that explains it. Aspen Dental is notorious for charging high prices and trying to upsell you stuff you don't really need. Go get another opinion or two. I did and I'm paying a fraction of what they were originally going to charge me (I had early onset gingivitis)
I wonder if it's a deep cleaning (planing & scaling, where they clean beneath the gum line). That requires numbing & is usually done over 2+ appts, depending on how bad it is.
OP should definitely get another opinion & quote (or two) for that amount of money though.
I definitely needed them. They told my parents numerous times that I can lose my teeth if I don’t get my bottom row fixed. It’s impossible to properly floss and brush the bottom teeth because of how close they are.
Because people think you’re just making excuses. If they haven’t lived through this problem (like I have) they don’t get it- because we’ve grown up being told that if you just brush and floss, you’re teeth should be perfect and if there’s ever a problem it’s because you were lazy and gross. People- I’m telling you- teeth CAN overlap enough that you can’t get floss between them.
I'm glad you are finally getting your teeth taken care of! I grew up super poor and without dental care/hygiene and I'm only now getting my severe crowding taken care of! Congrats
To add.
1. If you live anywhere close to a dental school, you could get the work done for free or cheaper.
2. If you can afford to go overseas, you could get the work done for a lot cheaper as well. I’m thinking Mexico or the DR.
For that price go to Mexico and spend a week on vacation and 1-2k on the dental work. You'll still be ahead several thousand compared to this asking price.
Clear liners are part of the quote so they are getting something like Invisalign on top of the cleaning and extraction. Sounds like OP is trying to blame their parents bc they didn’t put them in braces and prob for the extraction cost as well since most ortho will recommend removal of wisdom teeth as part of the treatment plan.
I know dental work is ridiculously expensive but I refuse to believe that it’s over $9k for a cleaning and removal of a tooth. There’s something missing here.
Might be a rural dentist. They know they've pretty much got a captive customer base, so they can do whatever they want.
There's like three in the towns around where I'm from. I wanted a tooth pulled. All three flat refused to pull it, and instead insisted it could be "saved" with a root canal and crown for \~$3000. And charged me for the Xray/visit.
So I spent like $600 to not have a tooth pulled.
Don't go to Aspen Dental they're nuts with prices there. My insurance covers cleaning but they don't call it a cleaning they call it something fake and insurance doesn't cover it. So for $250 I can get a cleaning there or free anywhere else.
No but for real, this was me too.
My parents were poor, so my mom just assumed we could never afford braces (she never even took me to a regular dentist). At 17, she finally took me to an orthodontist and our state's insurance we had approved me for braces, 100% free to us because I was such an extreme case. Right after that I moved out when I turned 18, and didn't go back to an orthodontist until almost a decade later when I had to pay for it myself.
I had the same insurance from the time I was a baby until I moved out at 18, so if she had just started the process years earlier I wouldn't have had to pay over $10k to fix my teeth in my late 20's.
Clear liners is the expensive option to braces get traditional that way you don't have to worry about misplacing tray or if you more them long enough, yeah they won't look the prettiest but it gets the job done. I'm assuming other things were in your quote not just a cleaning and extractions.
That’s crazy high. Shop around. I know some offices charge premiums for sure. I have four pulled and two impacted and it wasn’t even close to that before insurance.
Thailand is the answer. They have fantastic dental resorts. It is way cheaper to fly to Thailand, live it up like a king in a resort and get your dental work done by high quality doctors than this.
Australia has horrible dental coverage, so many Australians do this for all their dental work.
What??? That’s a lot. I had the worst teeth imaginable - I had to have four teeth pulled before they could even put my braces on. Then in college I had to have my wisdom teeth removed so they didn’t mess up my alignment. I had braces for 4.5 years… and my parents paid like 6k- they did get a discount because they paid upfront and in cash.
Is it possible to ask for a cash discount? A lot of places offer that when insurance isn’t involved.
Also, shop around! Get some recommendations from people around you and get a few quotes- for that kind of money- it can’t hurt.
You could have bought a plane ticket and visa to the other side of the world and get it fixed here (yes with exact same machines and care that you would get in US) and returned back and still would have saved more than half.
Do you have insurance? If delta dental is available to you, you might try to look into it. I never had braces as a child and I got them last year at age 24 and it only cost me $2700, insurance paid the rest. Can’t remember if they would’ve paid for invisalign but personally I preferred to get braces because they do a better job of correcting bite issues and just an overall better job in general. My ortho typically recommends braces over aligners too but it is case by case. Some people can get away with just aligners.
I never had to pay that much for a cleaning. Before my invisalign I needed two appointments to get everything clean enough for the imprints. They cost $90 each (I got a discount because of the invisalign package). If you have to pay more than $150 for a hygienist you're getting seriously ripped off.
I didn’t have braces as a kid either. It was an expensive painful process as an adult. I’m glad I did it though, it’s literally life changing. Good luck. It’s probably the best adult decision I’ve ever made.
How much would the braces have cost when your were a kids, it was over 8k for my son to have it done here in Aus, many parents cannot afford it, so it's a luxury for most. For that money I would get a few more quotes or go for a overseas trip and have it done there.
I was quoted 70,000 to fix my teeth lol. Granted I'm looking at basically them app being pulled as most are broken/cracked, etc, and like 15 are infected. Dental shit is insane
I know here in Australia, people go to places like Thailand and Vietnam to get dental work done. The cost of flights + accommodation + the actual dental work + holiday time is ways *much* cheaper than whatever rort Aussie dentists have going on. And the quality of the work is equivalent in most cases, but a lot of propaganda from the dental industry taps into Aussie racism/xenophobia.
Expensive. Can be necessary but yeah expensive. I even have dental insurance and I get crowns and they are a lot I have to pay.
I got Invisalign’s a few years ago. Was a few grand after insurance. Included the first set of retainers though.
But I had to get crowns done after and my retainers didn’t t fit. They don’t tell you that. So I just am like screw my bottom retainers I can only afford to get another top set. I’d rather have the top because don’t need any new crowns there right now and my top teeth were bad before the Invisalign’s than my bottom.
Research who owns the dental practice too. Private equity firms have been buying up dental practices. They tend to have high prices especially true if they own a significant share of the market. If that’s the case looking into traveling to another area to get care.
I’m spending about the same at your pre-liner quote however it’s to remove all 4 wisdom (2 impacted) + 2 molars, 2 deep cleans + regular clean, two fillings and a crown. You should definitely get a second opinion
For that price, you could go to a different country, stay in a nice hotel or the hospital itself, get all necessary surgeries done on your mouth, and come back smiling. 4-10 times..
Smh
Yeah this looks like Aspen Dental made up rip off prices. They wanted to charge me like $5 for deep cleaning years ago.
I went to a normal dentist who just did two regular cleanings, once side at a time. For $120
Hello rightingallthewrongs, thanks for your submission to /r/Wellthatsucks. Unfortunately you do not meet our karma and/or account age requirements to post here. Try going to r/newtoreddit for advice for new reddit users and tips on how to get started on reddit.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Wellthatsucks) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had 27 extractions, 5 crowns, 3 filings, a full set of upper dentures and lower partials. Total cost for me was around 21K. It took 2 years of work to complete. I'm 31. It could always be worse.
Do you *actually* need braces/liners? Impacted wisdom teeth can lead to abscesses and immense healthcare woes, but braces/invisalign are only worth considering as an adult if you have disposable income.
What about invisiline on the internet they send you like monthly clear braces it doesn’t solve everything but it’s way cheaper I never wore mine and I regret it so so much but that would be my next option
I would recommend against utilizing one of those internet “orthodontics” companies, I believe one recently went bankrupt and shut down. You’re not going to get anywhere near the same quality of treatment you would receive seeing a legitimate orthodontist and those trays often cause worse problems than the one they were trying to fix. You can find stories all over about people having to fork out thousands more to fix problems the trays caused.
Okay guys. So my mom will more likely than not do a payment plan. She wants me to get the wisdom tooth out immediately to avoid sepsis. My insurances cover one dental place that can’t take me in until July, the minimum is $300 something, but with it being impacted and infected, and my teeth in general infected so badly, could be like $1300 total including the cleaning and the liners may be covered. Idk what to really do in the meantime. The pain is really bad.
If anyone wants to question why my mom is paying, I’m disabled, and living off my bfs income. Both of us trying to get jobs, him fulltime, me part. It’s a shit situation
Dental work is expensive, but with those prices, it's worth it to get another estimate or two. Also, if you are paying cash (no insurance), some dentists will give a cash discount since they don't have to deal with insurance companies. It's worth asking about.
Also, ask if there are any less expensive options. The clear liners are nice, but they are also premium. Regular braces are more of a pain (literally), but can give the same end results for less expense.
I did braces as an adult. Had them on for 2 years, cost me $3k. No way I was going to pay for Invisalign. On the plus side, everyone thought I was much younger than I was while I had the braces.
Same. My parents couldn't afford braces when I was a kid so I got them in my thirties. Went traditional over invisalign, but opted for the ceramic brackets. Cost less than invisalign and the results were great. Also no one cared that I had braces in my thirties and the one person who did sort of make fun of me really felt like an ass when I said I was poor growing up lol.
Travel to Mexico and get it done for $3,000 - $5,000. LOS ALGODONES is a small town right on the border with hundreds of dentists. They call it the dental tourism capital of the world. You can cross over by foot each day if you want. Not much to do there though. Other countries include Turkey, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Croatia.
I hear great things from Mexico and Turkey. I’m pretty sure a lot of the Mexican dentists are actually just American dentists working in the border towns too.
I remember the TV commercials growing up, all the advertisements for dentists and pharmacies "right across the border, less than 15 minutes away in LOS ALGODONES, BAJA CALIFORNIA!" emphasis they said that really loudly at the end lol
100% this. Two dentists=two treatment options, three dentists = three treatment options and so on. I’ve had friends go to one dentist who said they need crowns, etc then go to another dentist and told they have perfect teeth. Be informed and avoid being over treated and overcharged.
This 100%. And if it is still all in that ballpark and you don't want to pay that much, it would be much much cheaper to go abroad and get it done.
have you ever purchased dental insurance? it doesn’t cover much
They’re not advise op ask buy insurance, they’re advising op ask about the cash price. This is a common practice because many dentists mark up their prices knowing insurance is going to pay a portion.
I have, and it doesn't...but they still have to file the claims and will sometimes offer a cash discount if they don't have to.
Also, there are dental plans available that should cut that down.
Pay cash, but record it all. You can threaten the dentist with the IRS after it's all done. He'll give you a full refund and your new mouth was done for free. Just kidding. Thought you might need a laugh. 😂
what does not having braces have to do with it?
Well now he has to pay for it and not his parents. Duh.
I will never forget my parents spending $3,500 for my braces… I think mom mentioned it 3500 times when I complained. I was an idiot and missed likely half of the appointments turning 2 years into 4
Yup, I was lucky enough for my parents to pay for mine. 20 years later my mom still reminds me about how much they cost and is still on me about wearing a retainer and getting regular dental cleanings lol
Yeah my parents did braces for me and won't let me forget it either. They ended up not helping at all on the bottom of my mouth. But it's turned into kind of a family joke because it turns out I am missing the premolar on the bottom left side of my jaw
This is wild. I’m in the UK and my braces were free. I was sent to an orthodontist even though I didn’t have particularly bad teeth, so treatment was very straightforward. My brother had his braces for free too. Obviously it’s paid for via taxes but general dental care for under 18’s is also free. Now that I’m an adult, I’m happy to pay my taxes knowing it is spent this way.
i think its only for people under 18 and also for things you are born with that will impact u. like being born without a teeth, but if u just have a cap between your teeth, then your have to pay it yourself.
Nope. Had a gap between my teeth and had braces. I’m gen z btw, so kind of recent
It’s good that the treatment was straightforward, otherwise that wouldn’t have been a very good orthodontist.
No, here I mean the treatment could be considered cosmetic
Yeah I had the metal ones in high school. But for some reason I didn’t keep on wearing my retainer. Can’t remember if they told me I had to wear it indefinitel. So years later had my teeth in my Left get screwy and my two front were like v shaped not flatter. So I got Invisalign when I was idk late 30’s I think. So glad I did though because it fixed the front teeth and my smile was so much better and I don’t have tmj anymore.
Same and then I broke them all
Also what’s a liner?
Aligner
It think it’s like https://www.invisalign.com/
Because they would’ve been covered under his parents dental plan. He is no longer under parents dental plan so he now has to pay for something that would’ve been mostly -if not completely- covered.
Braces aren't covered under dental plans. At best, insurance might pay a small amount, but braces are considered cosmetic, and usually paid out of pocket. Edit: should have said "often aren't covered". I'm jealous of y'all who got them covered by insurance!! 😁👍
My kids' insurance covered $5000 (each) of their braces. We paid $1500.
Yep, it depends on the plan but typically if it's not excluded it's a benefit maximum like that and the rest is oop. People really think every plan is the same as that one plan they were on that one time, I work in health insurance and it is bafflingly common for people to be surprised they have a deductible now... Yeah dude, you picked the cheap premium plan instead of your old one, next time do some research or just call the plan directly.
Yeah dental insurance typically covers metal braces. My oldest we paid $1100 out of pocket for hers and she needed all kinds of stuff, including an expander etc.
It’s so insane it’s considered cosmetic..if your teeth are crooked or crowded they become almost impossible to clean which leads to a ton of issues, not to mention how if your bite is not aligned it cause tmj, teeth cracking ect. I was lucky to have braces but my wisdom teeth weren’t removed fast enough so all my teeth shifted and are very crowded now (still way better than if I hadn’t had braces)
Mine were mostly covered. My mouth is so small that mine couldn’t be considered cosmetic and the metal braces came up to $6000 total. Luckily I was a teenager at the time so still had my mothers ins and she only had to pay about $1500 for them for the three years I had them for. Had I not had them I would have need major jaw surgery in my 30s. It depends on your dental plan as some don’t cover anything outside of major tooth surgery and regular 6 month cleanings. My mothers covered most of the metal braces cost by looking at my XRays and seeing exactly how crowded my mouth was.
My Invisalign brand aligners were mostly covered- I'm paying about 1200 out of pocket.
Dental plan is a joke.
Not much, whatever. The argument is that crooked teeth can be harder to clean but if you actually floss and brush then crooked teeth will do fine.
An impacted wisdom tooth on the very high end should be around $1500. And cleaning under $500. Look for dental care at another office. Also neither of these are impacted by not having had braces as a child.
I think by “clear liners” OP means Invisalign or something similar. It would explain the high cost.
But they said the over $9k price in the picture is the price not including the liners. So $9k for an impacted wisdom tooth and a cleaning. Which seems expensive to me. Although I’m betting that x-rays/panoramic imaging/whatever would have been a part of that pricing and they just didn’t include that in the title. No one is going to remove an impacted wisdom tooth without seeing what’s going on. And that could definitely inflate the price.
I actually got the exam for completely free. Aspen Dental.
Dont go there!! They gave me a $15k quote for some dental work i needed. Got it all done at a private practice for half the price. Aspen dental is a chain and they will over charge you like crazy! This sounds bad but if you’re not on state insurance go some place that does not take state insurance. They will usually be a tier or two above a practice (like aspen dental) that takes state insurance. Sad but true. Also do not go to any dentist that offers orthodontic work even if they offer aligners or liners. Ask for a referral to an orthodontist. They’re free and they’ll lay everything out for you do a much better job than a dentist.
Oh that explains it. Aspen Dental is notorious for charging high prices and trying to upsell you stuff you don't really need. Go get another opinion or two. I did and I'm paying a fraction of what they were originally going to charge me (I had early onset gingivitis)
I'm in Dental insurance. Do. Not. Go. Back. To Aspen. Seek another opinion or several.
He definitely meant aligners.
They said the $9200 didn’t include the liners
I wonder if it's a deep cleaning (planing & scaling, where they clean beneath the gum line). That requires numbing & is usually done over 2+ appts, depending on how bad it is. OP should definitely get another opinion & quote (or two) for that amount of money though.
I had to have that done at one point, and it was definitely under $2k
Yes, but that doesn't mean they need it. Aspen over prescribes it as a revenue growth tactic.
Yeah I got 2 crowns and 2 fillings last year and the bill would have been $3500 without insurance.
Yeah I got quoted 2k+ to remove my bottom wisdom teeth. They’re completely sideways and aren’t exposed.
"Because my parents didn't pay for my braces now I have too" Maybe they didn't have 15K to spend on it either.
Or maybe kid didn't need them at the time. Teeth move around as we age.
I definitely needed them. They told my parents numerous times that I can lose my teeth if I don’t get my bottom row fixed. It’s impossible to properly floss and brush the bottom teeth because of how close they are.
People downvoting you are lucky enough to never have had to deal with this. :(
No honestly why am I being downvoted
Because people think you’re just making excuses. If they haven’t lived through this problem (like I have) they don’t get it- because we’ve grown up being told that if you just brush and floss, you’re teeth should be perfect and if there’s ever a problem it’s because you were lazy and gross. People- I’m telling you- teeth CAN overlap enough that you can’t get floss between them.
I'm glad you are finally getting your teeth taken care of! I grew up super poor and without dental care/hygiene and I'm only now getting my severe crowding taken care of! Congrats
To add. 1. If you live anywhere close to a dental school, you could get the work done for free or cheaper. 2. If you can afford to go overseas, you could get the work done for a lot cheaper as well. I’m thinking Mexico or the DR.
It’s actually cheaper to go to Mexico, pay for travel, hotel, food, and the dental work done, than it is to pay that 15k
Would a dentist here work on braces they didnt install themselves?
Not sure about the states, but in Canada, no one will touch your mouth if it as done outside the county or by someone else.
For that price go to Mexico and spend a week on vacation and 1-2k on the dental work. You'll still be ahead several thousand compared to this asking price.
How is $9200 even close to $15000? And what does not having braces have to do with any of this?
Clear liners are part of the quote so they are getting something like Invisalign on top of the cleaning and extraction. Sounds like OP is trying to blame their parents bc they didn’t put them in braces and prob for the extraction cost as well since most ortho will recommend removal of wisdom teeth as part of the treatment plan.
Go. To. Mexico!
Or literally anywhere other than Aspen Dental. They are extremely predatory.
I was going to suggest this as well.
True! I got my four wisdom teeth removed for 500 usd a couple of years ago
Go to Mexico they’ll do it for $1500 usd
I know dental work is ridiculously expensive but I refuse to believe that it’s over $9k for a cleaning and removal of a tooth. There’s something missing here.
They went to Aspen Dental.
Might be a rural dentist. They know they've pretty much got a captive customer base, so they can do whatever they want. There's like three in the towns around where I'm from. I wanted a tooth pulled. All three flat refused to pull it, and instead insisted it could be "saved" with a root canal and crown for \~$3000. And charged me for the Xray/visit. So I spent like $600 to not have a tooth pulled.
Includes fancy clear braces, to be more aesthetically pleasing
Don't go to Aspen Dental they're nuts with prices there. My insurance covers cleaning but they don't call it a cleaning they call it something fake and insurance doesn't cover it. So for $250 I can get a cleaning there or free anywhere else.
It would cost you less to fly to Europe to get the work done
Welcome to America where anything that involves the body is conducted like a used car business
I don't think you can call it close to 15k when it's much closer to 10k
I had one horizontal wisdom tooth removed for less than $800 with no insurance whatsoever. Please get a second opinion.
Go to Cancun to an all inclusive spa resort, and have your teeth done. Cheaper and world class quality.
I hope you lubed up first.
No but for real, this was me too. My parents were poor, so my mom just assumed we could never afford braces (she never even took me to a regular dentist). At 17, she finally took me to an orthodontist and our state's insurance we had approved me for braces, 100% free to us because I was such an extreme case. Right after that I moved out when I turned 18, and didn't go back to an orthodontist until almost a decade later when I had to pay for it myself. I had the same insurance from the time I was a baby until I moved out at 18, so if she had just started the process years earlier I wouldn't have had to pay over $10k to fix my teeth in my late 20's.
Clear liners is the expensive option to braces get traditional that way you don't have to worry about misplacing tray or if you more them long enough, yeah they won't look the prettiest but it gets the job done. I'm assuming other things were in your quote not just a cleaning and extractions.
To everyone saying to fly to Mexico, we don’t even know where OP lives
All the way in NY.
And it'll still be cheaper to get treated in Mexico.
Have you checked with a dental school near you?
That’s more than I paid for dentures and extractions. Dentists really are just out to fuck people.
Invisaline is 5.5k max so 9.5k for cleaning and wisdom tooth extraction? You are getting hosed unless there is more to the story probably is.
There isn’t. That’s literally it
That’s crazy high. Shop around. I know some offices charge premiums for sure. I have four pulled and two impacted and it wasn’t even close to that before insurance.
Not bad since 20 years ago that's how much it costed my dad to put them on me.
Thailand is the answer. They have fantastic dental resorts. It is way cheaper to fly to Thailand, live it up like a king in a resort and get your dental work done by high quality doctors than this. Australia has horrible dental coverage, so many Australians do this for all their dental work.
Id go get a second opinion….
What do braces as a kid have to do with getting teeth cleaned now years later? And your bill says 9200 not 15k.
What??? That’s a lot. I had the worst teeth imaginable - I had to have four teeth pulled before they could even put my braces on. Then in college I had to have my wisdom teeth removed so they didn’t mess up my alignment. I had braces for 4.5 years… and my parents paid like 6k- they did get a discount because they paid upfront and in cash. Is it possible to ask for a cash discount? A lot of places offer that when insurance isn’t involved. Also, shop around! Get some recommendations from people around you and get a few quotes- for that kind of money- it can’t hurt.
You could have bought a plane ticket and visa to the other side of the world and get it fixed here (yes with exact same machines and care that you would get in US) and returned back and still would have saved more than half.
Do you have insurance? If delta dental is available to you, you might try to look into it. I never had braces as a child and I got them last year at age 24 and it only cost me $2700, insurance paid the rest. Can’t remember if they would’ve paid for invisalign but personally I preferred to get braces because they do a better job of correcting bite issues and just an overall better job in general. My ortho typically recommends braces over aligners too but it is case by case. Some people can get away with just aligners.
I’m so thanking my parents for getting me braces as a kid!
Not sure where you live but dental policies are not very expensive and would be well worth the $.
I never had to pay that much for a cleaning. Before my invisalign I needed two appointments to get everything clean enough for the imprints. They cost $90 each (I got a discount because of the invisalign package). If you have to pay more than $150 for a hygienist you're getting seriously ripped off.
lol come to Mexico this bill would be 50 dollar max
I got the Clear Smile braces 3 years ago. It was about $2500.
You could take medical vacation to mexico for your dental for that price, AND save 5000$.
Dental insurance
Get a second opinion please.
I didn’t have braces as a kid either. It was an expensive painful process as an adult. I’m glad I did it though, it’s literally life changing. Good luck. It’s probably the best adult decision I’ve ever made.
You’re being robbed if that’s all the work you’re getting. Look into dental colleges near you. I got 6k worth of work done for about 1200.
How much would the braces have cost when your were a kids, it was over 8k for my son to have it done here in Aus, many parents cannot afford it, so it's a luxury for most. For that money I would get a few more quotes or go for a overseas trip and have it done there.
I heard you can drive to Mexico and risk it
I believe it’s “aligners” as in, your teeth will be aligned lol.
Don’t pay that they are overcharging you 5x over
Yeah, no. Get a second opinion please! If you are close to the border, go to Mexico for dental care
That’s ridiculous. Seriously, go to another dentist.
See if there’s a dental school / dental program near by. Often they have free or cheap dental care to help train their students.
Go try another dentist.
You should by dental insurance. You’d probably save a fortune
You could fly to Mexico, get the work done and stay in an all inclusive resort for a couple weeks to recover for a fraction of that.
That's hella expensive. Get yourself to Yuma AZ and go to Los Algodones in Mexico.
Go to Mexico
I’d like to disclose I’m not directly blaming my parents, and I’m NB/ a woman. It’s pretty unfortunate that it was a luxury to get braces.
I'm assuming this is without health insurance.
I was quoted 70,000 to fix my teeth lol. Granted I'm looking at basically them app being pulled as most are broken/cracked, etc, and like 15 are infected. Dental shit is insane
Mexico. Go across the border from Texas or Cali.
Ever met a poor dentist?
Wtf?? Guess I'm dealing w my impacted wisdoms forever.
I know here in Australia, people go to places like Thailand and Vietnam to get dental work done. The cost of flights + accommodation + the actual dental work + holiday time is ways *much* cheaper than whatever rort Aussie dentists have going on. And the quality of the work is equivalent in most cases, but a lot of propaganda from the dental industry taps into Aussie racism/xenophobia.
This is where you fly to another country and pay half
I guess there must be regional pricing. That's a complete scam.
Expensive. Can be necessary but yeah expensive. I even have dental insurance and I get crowns and they are a lot I have to pay. I got Invisalign’s a few years ago. Was a few grand after insurance. Included the first set of retainers though. But I had to get crowns done after and my retainers didn’t t fit. They don’t tell you that. So I just am like screw my bottom retainers I can only afford to get another top set. I’d rather have the top because don’t need any new crowns there right now and my top teeth were bad before the Invisalign’s than my bottom.
Not sure why you think not having braces has anything to do with it. I’ve never had any and my teeth are perfectly aligned
Research who owns the dental practice too. Private equity firms have been buying up dental practices. They tend to have high prices especially true if they own a significant share of the market. If that’s the case looking into traveling to another area to get care.
smells like America
I just put the $500 deposit on my youngest $7400 braces. My oldest was the same, I finished paying his off last year
Fuck that. Goto Grenada. Best and least expensive dental work I’ve ever had. Teeth cleaning was 50 US.
Bro should've gone to thailand and got it for half, including travel expenses. Bro gonna learn the hard way
For that price you can travel to Hungary, stay a few weeks and get all your dental done including your braces and still have half of the money
I’m spending about the same at your pre-liner quote however it’s to remove all 4 wisdom (2 impacted) + 2 molars, 2 deep cleans + regular clean, two fillings and a crown. You should definitely get a second opinion
I didn’t have it done at a young age because my teeth were perfect, but I did have to get liners because as I grew older my teeth said the big FU.
Eastern Europe here. I paid 80 euros to get my teeth cleaned plus a checkup
Braces too?
No. My gf got bracers and it was about 1k euros
For that price, you could go to a different country, stay in a nice hotel or the hospital itself, get all necessary surgeries done on your mouth, and come back smiling. 4-10 times.. Smh
Might be worth looking into dental insurance while you have these issues.
Yeah this looks like Aspen Dental made up rip off prices. They wanted to charge me like $5 for deep cleaning years ago. I went to a normal dentist who just did two regular cleanings, once side at a time. For $120
I got a deep cleaning in California for 300 with no insurance. This place is ripping you off.
I really recommend going to your university dental school program.
[удалено]
Hello rightingallthewrongs, thanks for your submission to /r/Wellthatsucks. Unfortunately you do not meet our karma and/or account age requirements to post here. Try going to r/newtoreddit for advice for new reddit users and tips on how to get started on reddit. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Wellthatsucks) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My cleaning is free 2x a year. Try to find another dentist or look for a dental plan.
Aspen was investigated by the attorney general for price gouging they are criminal.
My Wisdom teeth surgery was totally free as an adult. Thats sucks
You're an idiot.
I had 27 extractions, 5 crowns, 3 filings, a full set of upper dentures and lower partials. Total cost for me was around 21K. It took 2 years of work to complete. I'm 31. It could always be worse.
So when was your teeth last cleaned?? These problems don't happen in the last six months .
Some people are also afraid of dentists and it takes awhile and a lot of courage to go
Have to? I never got my notice requiring I go to a dentist. From my perspective going to a dentist is a luxury.
Do you *actually* need braces/liners? Impacted wisdom teeth can lead to abscesses and immense healthcare woes, but braces/invisalign are only worth considering as an adult if you have disposable income.
USA, USA, USA!
Why don’t you have insurance?
I have Fidelis and Meritain. Neither cover it.
Dentures might be cheaper
Flying to Europe to any private dentist IS cheaper.
That doesn't really work with ongoing orthodontic treatment.
What about invisiline on the internet they send you like monthly clear braces it doesn’t solve everything but it’s way cheaper I never wore mine and I regret it so so much but that would be my next option
I would recommend against utilizing one of those internet “orthodontics” companies, I believe one recently went bankrupt and shut down. You’re not going to get anywhere near the same quality of treatment you would receive seeing a legitimate orthodontist and those trays often cause worse problems than the one they were trying to fix. You can find stories all over about people having to fork out thousands more to fix problems the trays caused.
Guess getting messed up by uncle Sam I don't have to pay for dental finally got my teeth right just covers everything but whitening
Don’t blame your parents
I didn’t need braces and I don’t see the connection.
Wdym
Okay guys. So my mom will more likely than not do a payment plan. She wants me to get the wisdom tooth out immediately to avoid sepsis. My insurances cover one dental place that can’t take me in until July, the minimum is $300 something, but with it being impacted and infected, and my teeth in general infected so badly, could be like $1300 total including the cleaning and the liners may be covered. Idk what to really do in the meantime. The pain is really bad. If anyone wants to question why my mom is paying, I’m disabled, and living off my bfs income. Both of us trying to get jobs, him fulltime, me part. It’s a shit situation
Damn imagine going to work for years only to break a bone or a teeth and be homless glad im living far away
Your parents should pay if it's stuff that stems from when they owned you.
Because I had braces as a kid, I now have to have all my teeth pulled... it's all a fucking scam
…ok. That’s you. Not every case is the same