AlienUk

Standard cost of a cleaning runs

$115 - actual cleaning
$85 exam
$80 x rays

For a filing, you can decline everything but a limited exam, one xray and the actual filing. Some dentists require a cleaning and x-rays first. other don't.

What can work for you is joining an insurance discount plan like Aetna Vital Savings which will give you the prices the dentists charge the insurance companies. Plan costs about $100 for a year, discounts normally run about 40 - 50 %.

Ie, cleaning is $115 standard at our office and with the Aetna plan is about $50.

tamms_1965

Go to a dental school. When my friend from the Ukraine first arrived she had a lot of work done at one. It was free except for the cost of materials (dental amalgam is cheap). You have to pay for anesthesia though, but she refused any citing that they don't give you anesthesia for it (or childbirth) back home....she could handle it.

Poppy girl

I suggested that to her the other day and as far as I am aware she could not find one in her area.
But you are right they are great for a freebie filling

Bluegrass Lass

I have to say, I have no idea what 'deep root cleaning' is and have never had a dentist say I needed it.

Jerseygirl

Neither have I but my husband has. He had dental problems when we lived in the UK but the dentists failed to solve the problem. Thankfully our dentist here was all the ball. Our US dentist also told me I would be wasting my money having my teeth whitened because I wouldn't see a significant difference. He also tried to talk me out of having a wisdom tooth crowned because it would cost me more than an extraction.

Poppy girl

I live in CA they are money grabbers here.
Its the normal to want you to cough up for something that is not really necessary, I am surprised you have not heard of it its the mandatory thing in California...ie get it done or sod ya lol.

candy wy.

Thanks I will check into it....

Bluegrass Lass

That must be why I haven't heard of it. I've only spent a few days in CA. That trend hasn't made it's way out here to the midwest yet.

Poppy girl

I am flying to KY next for a dentist it will be cheaper lol.

Poppy girl

I tried these guys same kinda thing 2 years ago http://www.smilecare.com/

And again they still wanted to do the work they wanted to do... before what you want

The prices that you quoted are about the same as I was quoted but thats only regular scale and polish not deep root cleaning.

I ended up paying $75 membership fee and then Xrays exam etc another $193 and had nothing done plus it was one of those horrible but clean dentist where you all lay there side by side with no privacy

Michael

During a normal cleaning, the dentist only removes the plaque slightly below the gum line. Deep cleaning requires novacaine so that the dentist can clean well below the gum line. If the plaque builds up below the gum line, the gums can start to recede and the teeth can start to loosen. That buildup is one of the main causes of periodontal disease.

If you floss well (below the gum line) or that buildup does not normally occur (less likely to build up as you are younger because the gums are tighter around the teeth), deep cleaning probably is not be necessary. As you start developing periodontal disease, the build up is more likely

If you don't remove that plaque as you get older, periodontal disease will likely accelerate more quickly to the next stage (typically done about every two years once periodontal disease starts).

http://www.gumsurgery.com/stages_of_the%20disease.htm

The stage of periodontal disease is determined by the dept of the pocket around the tooth.

AlienUk

The trick is to call around a few dentists and ask. At my dentist now, they will happily do JUST the filing with no cleaning etc. My last office, they wouldn't even examine you until they had done a cleaning. Also check that they accept the plan you want to buy! Another thing thing that MIGHT fly is you cheekily asking for the insurance discount without actually buying the plan, I know my office sometimes will do it!

tamms_1965

That makes sense. Hubs had to have this done before my dentist (the parent of a student) would even see him. When he first moved here he went to my dentist for a regular cleaning. My dentist took one look in his mouth and said he really couldn't do any proper cleaning until he saw a periodontist (another parent of a student) and had the above completed. Hubs went to the dentist faithfully in the UK 2X a year for a cleaning but always had a gum problem that his dentist there said was "something that comes with age.....learn to live with it." Well, everything has almost been taken care of. He is now getting a root canal to fix another problem that he has had for quite awhile and then he'll be done. Thank goodness we have both have dental so what one doesn't carry the other picks up.

Michael

Normally a normal dentist does deep cleaning. Generally someone would only be referred to a periodontist to see if gum surgery is necessary to tighten the gums around the teeth.

Even if gum surgery is performed, it will not likely last if correct flossing and deep cleaning isn't done regularly and then will likely return back to the original condition fairly quickly.

tamms_1965

Well, maybe for routine (if there is such a thing) scaling, but not for what hubs needed. The family dentist usually refers one to a periodontist for this. Now I've had several dentists in my 45 years here and have never had to be referred to a specialist except for a surgeon to remove a potentially difficult wisdom tooth. As for hubs, he's only been here 3 years and has been referred to two different specialists. Like I said his dentist in the UK didn't think there was a problem and so hubs had years of no flossing (he didn't know what it was!!) or other treatment except "routine cleaning."