Nymeria

Hi everyone, wondering if you could help me?

For the past few months now I've had a problem with one of my teeth. I went for a check up back in January here in Canada and they gave me some bad news. I need a root canal that is going to cost over $1000. They prescribed me anti-biotics to get rid of the infection and it calmed down a bit. Now it's flared back up again and it looks like I'm going to have to go back.

Thing is, I can't in any way afford that root canal (I'm living in Whistler so dental fees along with everything else are sky high). I'm visiting home in July where I plan to get it seen to for much cheaper so if I can get some more anti-biotics to hold it off until then, that's what I'm going to do.

My question is, does anybody know of any reduced fee dental clinics, preferably based on income, in the Vancouver area I could try if the worst comes to the worst and I can't go without treatment until I go home? I'm on an IEC WHV too.

Any advice would be very much appreciated. I've contacted my travel insurance and they only cover dental care for up to £100

withabix

Try these ones:

Reduced Fee Services - Adults - Vancouver Community Dental Health - Programs & Services - Vancouver Coastal Health

MarkG

Are you sure it will be cheaper there? $1000 is about what I paid for a root canal in the UK.

withabix

NHS is about 225 quid including a crown.

Seriously though, I would bite the bullet and get it done here as soon as possible. Have you got any space on a credit card or any relatives at home who could lend you the money?

Infections like this can actually result in blood poisoning and can be FATAL.

SchnookoLoly

This is a long shot, but look into the dental schools in your area. Sometimes you can get dental care at one of the dental training schools for much cheaper rates. Long shot, but might be worth looking into!

MarkG

Yeah, but is someone living in Canada going to be able to get NHS dental treatment? Even living in the UK, there was no NHS dentist near me that I'd have trusted with my teeth.

wats123

I doubt it either!

I would just suck it up and get it done! the longer its left the worst it's going to be!

SchnookoLoly

Agreed, root canals are nothing to screw around with. Leaving them can be awful. And yeah, they're expensive, but leaving it untreated and then letting it get worse is going to cost more.

withabix

She is going home to the UK in July. She was considering leaving it until then.

Not all NHS dentists are bad. Only most of them...

Dentists here are far superior. And I hate dentists.

SchnookoLoly

Agreed 100%. I went for a "cleaning" with an NHS dentist, it was pretty comical.

My husband then changed jobs and got private dental coverage, so we were going to a private dentist for a few years. That was much closer to Canadian standards but still not quite as good. But acceptable.

My husband's first dentist appointment in Canada was hilarious, he was shocked. It also resulted in him getting two of his four wisdom teeth removed... the dentist here told him first of all that he only had two of his four, which he never knew, and then also that the two he did have were growing sideways, and while it was not currently causing an issue was likely to cause a problem down the road and thus the recommendation was to have them removed while he could control the timing and recovery, instead of being forced into it if they were to become infected or whatever. He had them out not long after that first appointment.

I just had my teeth cleaned about two weeks ago. It was awesome - I'd forgotten that my teeth actually hurt for most of the day after a cleaning, something that never happened in the UK. Happy to be back here as far as tooth care goes!

Nymeria

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I'm going to apply for a credit card today at the bank and pay for a check up on Monday.

I'm going to a different dentist to the one I went to last time to see if the quote I get is any better and I may just have to get it done on the credit card. You guys are right about if I leave it it could get worse. That's the last thing I want.

I'm lucky I have a secure job with full time hours which will allow me to pay the card off month by month.

Just sucks so much that it had to come to this. I ha my tooth checked out in the UK before I came to Canada and the dentist told me it was nothing to worry about >

SchnookoLoly

Not overly surprising, if I'm honest -- read what I just posted about my husband's experience with CA vs UK dentists!

Glad you are getting it sorted, though, it's far worse to leave it. Sucks a bit for sure, but will suck far more if you put it off and it gets worse!

JamesM

I don't have medical insurance at the moment.

I attend the Steel Workers Union Dentist in Toronto that is a non-profit. Not only am I spared ridiculous up sells but knowing that I don't have medical insurance they cut me slack on my routine cleaning and check up cost.

If I were you I'd look up something similar in Van. Once the profit element is gone you can probably shave $300 to $400 of the cost you have been quoted. I'd rather get it over with than live with the pain. It won't be as fancy a clinic but you'll get the same end result and expertise.

JamesM

I don't want to get drawn in a debate on this but in Canada the policy is for everyone to have their wisdom teeth removed. I'm not sure if it is for health reasons or simply cash.

In your husbands case it sounds like good advice.

But having had four wisdom teeth removed here in 2005 and returning to the UK I had several dentists from different dental systems (UK and Sweden) tell me that taking out all 4 wisdom teeth was unnecessary and old fashioned.

You don't need your wisdom teeth but whether that is grounds to get them removed is odd.

I do agree that in Canada they give you a good thorough cleaning at the dentist but that is by the hygienist. The dentist usually just pops in for a couple of minutes at the end.

In the UK you have a quick scraping with the dentist and are on your way.

Now the fine people of BE may question my post but let me tell you all this. My dentist in Canada says I have the best teeth in the practice and I've done the NHS proud. I am fortunate having been a braces kid for some years that I have always exposed myself to high quality dental treatments.

None the less be very weary of private dental advice which is the morale of this long winded post. Prevention is indeed better than cure but unnecessary prevention equals unnecessary cost or profit for the other side.

SchnookoLoly

Oh I agree about wisdom teeth. As I said, the dentist actually said to my husband it was NOT required for him to have them out - they were not really causing any problems and he'd clearly lived with it for ages. However, because they were sideways and close-ish to the surface, an infection down the road would for sure result in them having to be removed... of course, there was a chance he'd never develop said infection and he'd be totally fine, but in the end he opted to have them removed mainly to do it on his own schedule, not to mention that if there was an infection, he'd have to clear the infection before going in for surgery, which would have just been far worse, so we opted to have them removed now instead. It also helped he didn't need general anaesthetic to have them removed, just deep sedation, then a few days to recover. He took a half-day off on a Friday, and was back at work on Monday feeling generally fine albeit a bit swollen.

I also had mine out when I was 18. Mine were way down and impacted and were actually causing some pain in my jaw. I had to have general anaesthetic and my bottom teeth had to be broken in half to be taken out - there was not enough room in my jaw to pull the bottom teeth out in one piece. Took about a week to recover from that. Again, that was deemed to be a required surgery because of how deeply impacted they were.

But I do generally agree that some people seem to have them pulled for the fun of it.

I like that our dentist seems to be pretty sensible when it comes to treatment. My husband's bottom teeth are a tiny bit crooked, and he was worried when he went for his first checkup that they were going to harp on about it. The dentist ended up just saying that if he was self-conscious about it then he could have something done including very discrete solutions, but in terms of dental health, the teeth were not causing any issues and were otherwise just fine. My husband appreciated that approach. They don't really bother him at all, so the dentist just gave him some pointers on making sure he cleans in there quite well, and that was that. He's pretty sensible that way, which is nice.