In America????

[Argranade]

OMG that's horrible!

I'm scared now! I have like not a tooth ache but when I eat sweets 2 of my teeth hurt, this can't kill me right .. what are the chances?

I'm going to the dentist this week 0.o

[Marigold2]

We have no dental either because my husband works for a small company that is too cheap to get dental. Poor people get Medicaid middle class get the shaft. It's sad but true. Dental work is very expensive, and not everyone can pay $3000.00 for a bridge. However if it was this bad for the poor kid the parents need to step up more.

[wombat2u2004]

Wow....what is up with your dentists ??? What is up with your SYSTEM ????
It's greed....right ????
I had a wisdom tooth extracted only a few months ago by my dentist....a bloody good dentist to.
The cost ??? A whopping great $150.
And this dentist is rich rich rich.
Now really folks........US dentists can justify the charges they make ???
If they can, then they must be magicians.
Well...I guess if you all keep paying....they are just gonna keep taking.
Wombat

[Edwina's Secretary]

We have no dental either because my husband works for a small company that is too cheap to get dental. Poor people get Medicaid middle class get the shaft. It's sad but true. Dental work is very expensive, and not everyone can pay $3000.00 for a bridge. However if it was this bad for the poor kid the parents need to step up more.

I think you miss the point.

1. It is diffiuclt to find a dentist who will accept you as a new patient unless you have dental insurance. I know because we did not have it until this year. She, of course, did not have it. Dentists did not want to accept her son as a patient because she was on medicaid.

2. She DID step up more...the dentist would not see them.

3. You cannot afford a bridge. Her son died. And YOU get the shaft???

[lizbud]

I think you miss the point.

1. It is diffiuclt to find a dentist who will accept you as a new patient unless you have dental insurance. I know because we did not have it until this year. She, of course, did not have it. Dentists did not want to accept her son as a patient because she was on medicaid.

2. She DID step up more...the dentist would not see them.

3. You cannot afford a bridge. Her son died. And YOU get the shaft???

It is sad, that a child died because of one bad tooth. I don't think a lot
of people can relate to this families poverty.Their everyday poverty and
that's sad too.

[Catlady711]

While it's sad that things like this do happen in this day and age.

This is also a good time to remind ourselves how important dental care is, not only for us but also our 4 legged furry children too!

[wombat2u2004]

I think you miss the point.

1. It is diffiuclt to find a dentist who will accept you as a new patient unless you have dental insurance. I know because we did not have it until this year. She, of course, did not have it. Dentists did not want to accept her son as a patient because she was on medicaid.

2. She DID step up more...the dentist would not see them.

3. You cannot afford a bridge. Her son died. And YOU get the shaft???

This is not REALLY the ES from previous posts is it ???
Nawwwww....couldn't be. For if it is......she is a walking / talking contradiction.

[Twisterdog]

What a horrible situation.

One of my employees called every dentist in our entire county last week, because her daughter's tooth broke off, with the root exposed. Guess what ... not one dentist would see her - they either were not taking new patients at all, or not taking Medicare patients at all. She took her to the emergency room, where they waiting six hours, finally saw a doctor, who gave her some Tylenol, and said he would try to find an on-call dentist. Four hours later they left, still unseen. They ended up getting a $500 loan from me for gas and dentist bill, and driving to the next state to get the tooth pulled. Seriously. And the area I live in is by no means poverty stricken.

So I have no doubts whatsoever that this poor woman did indeed try to get her kids in to see dentists, and was denied time and again.

[wombat2u2004]

What a horrible situation.

One of my employees called every dentist in our entire county last week, because her daughter's tooth broke off, with the root exposed. Guess what ... not one dentist would see her - they either were not taking new patients at all, or not taking Medicare patients at all. She took her to the emergency room, where they waiting six hours, finally saw a doctor, who gave her some Tylenol, and said he would try to find an on-call dentist. Four hours later they left, still unseen. They ended up getting a $500 loan from me for gas and dentist bill, and driving to the next state to get the tooth pulled. Seriously. And the area I live in is by no means poverty stricken.

So I have no doubts whatsoever that this poor woman did indeed try to get her kids in to see dentists, and was denied time and again.

You have to be kidding !!!! Are these dentists supposed to be members of the human race or what ????
I tell you what...if that happened here in Australia, those dentists would be out of business so fast they wouldn't know what hit them.
There's a little thing here called professionalism.....and it's all too obvious after reading your post that it doesn't exist in your country.
How disgusting.
Wombat

[Pam]

Sadly, I am sure this goes on more often than we will ever know. Years ago I worked for a dentist. When I first started with him he was seeing Medicaid patients. Shortly after that he stopped seeing any new Medicaid but still saw his old Medicaid patients and anyone who was already a patient but now unfortunately found themselves on Medicaid. If my memory serves me right, a routine cleaning under Medicaid provided a reimbursement of something like $6 while a regular insurance provided a reimbursement of $30. Remember this was years ago so the numbers I am sure have drastically changed, but you can see the huge difference in compensation. It is a matter of greed for sure.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

There's a little thing here called professionalism.....and it's all too obvious after reading your post that it doesn't exist in your country.
How disgusting.
Wombat

Not one for making sweeping generalisations are you??? I doubt that America is the only country where this has happened, its virtually impossible to get on a dentist list over here unless you want to pay privately...

[IRescue452]

What about this http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=122267

I thought all you people didn't want to help the poor? I thought public healthcare would be an injustice to you? Why are you now wanting to take the kids away from parents who can't afford proper care? You aren't going to take care of all of them. Trust me. And not many people know you can die from a toothache. She probably gave him some aspirin to cover the pain as the other kid was worse off and she thought he needed care first. Either way if BOTH kids weren't treated, one of them was going to die.

Thankfully in my county we have a county dental clinic for those who need it. No turn-down unless you have insurance. I pay $10 a visit. But they are so busy that if you are late by 5 minutes they won't accept you for a year. I've got 3 more months before I can get a tooth pulled as I was sick and missed an appointment last year. They still accept walk-in emergencies in the mornings. You can sit all day and not get in, then come in the next day and do it again. The problem is that most people can't skip work, so they can't do that either. They only do extractions too, no root canals. I'd love for a root canal over losing the tooth.