I have wondered that about dental insurance - why it is so separate. Especially when you hear about how connected it is to the health of the rest of your body.
I hear you on the baby teeth thing. You don't know how many friends I know with small kids getting braces and fillings and other procedures. That was just unheard of a generation ago. Remains to be seen if it is good or bad. maybe this is good overall.
The things I have been told (all different with each subsequent dentist) is I need root canals, root planing, all my fillings replaced. The whole "unless you were homeless for decades" was to response to root planing. my dentist looked in my mouth and said there was no way that would be covered by my insurance because I did not have enough buildup (which got me started thinking that was why they were praying on me without insurance - how would I know that since I don't have it). Same with the root canal. Fillings - my dentist said they have plenty of life left and the less often you redo them (& drill down the teeth more) the better. Well I Was told I needed all my filling replaced about 3 years ago and they are going strong - I have had 1 replaced since. Root planing and root canals - some dentists feel this is beneficial to your health I guess but there is a lot of debate out there that these are questionable procedures. I just throw this out because a big part of being frugal is being skeptical with professionals and shopping around. If you are getting sold many of these procedures I think it is beneficial to shop around, and this is where dh's friend got into that dentists who went to private school tend to be very aggressive and push all these procedures whereas public school dentists are more likely to say, hmmmm, this is not necessary and feel it will do more harm.
But like I Said I was starting to wonder if my dentist of 30 years was a quack and I Really needed a ton of work. I Feel more confident today with a 3rd opinion that he is just fine.
What we need is more dentists on this board - hehe. just curious for their 2 cents.
It probably wouldn't be bad to try the dental schools for cleaning - an idea - but I am not sure I would want to get more work done there... I will pay for some experience.
