Dental Savings question

[avengerki]

Ok so I just went to the dentist the other day and I have some major dental work needed. I checked my dental coverage and it will max out at $1500 for the year still leaving me with ~$5k out of pocket. I have started looking into the discount dental plans out there and am trying to find one that will work with my insurance and my dentist. Any ideas? I live in Oregon btw. I keep finding sites that sell and list multiple plans but they don't give the complete details on the plans like the fine print.

I will be trying to space out the work on into 2009 so as to take advantage of the insurance again.

[garilon]

I completely sympathise - I am in the same boat but live in NZ - you can't get dental insurance here. When we lived in the UK, I knew some people who went to eastern europe to get their teeth done - the flights, accomodation and dental costs were cheaper than having it done at home. Is there somewhere closer to home that would be cheaper. Might sound drastic - but if you have future bills also looming ...... might as well get a holiday out of it??

[PrincessPerky]

You might want to get a second opinion..not all dentists are totally legit, and 6.5K is a lot of work to have done all at once. Have you been neglecting any work at all? (not an insult, we certainly neglected ours)

If you have been consistent with checkups and care, I find 6.5K out of the blue to be totally unlikely.

As to savings plans....they tend to be scams way often, though not all. I just haven't heard of the name of one that isn't a basic scam..if you try one read the fine print for how long you have to be a member before you can get coverage for different proceedures.

[leighangela]

My aunt lives in Pheonix and she went to Mexico to have her teeth done!!! Sounds scary, but she looks great and hasn't had any trouble.

[JBinKC]

If you have the time and patience you could get your care done at a dental school for a reasonable price. The other option is to go on an overseas on a trip. I think India has excellent dentists as many of them end up teaching in the schools here.