Dental Economics
In today’s financial climate, everyone is boarding up their windows for the storm. Budgets are tightened and spending is restricted to the essentials. At the store, we stick more to the necessities and look for bargains. We are cutting back on travel and entertainment and other things we can get by without. Rent, utilities and taxes are unavoidable, but what about healthcare?
Personally, I rate healthcare very high in the list. You might suspect that I am a little prejudiced on the subject, but few things are as important to me as the health of my family. Dental care is definitely as important as ever. However, here are some tips that may help you budget this necessity.
Number one in anyone’s book would be prevention. Dental insurance is generally pretty worthless, but why do you think they usually pay 100% on exams and cleanings? It’s because they are trying to save money! Statistics show that dental treatment is much less complicated and expensive if you discover the problem early, and the cleaner and healthier your gums are, the fewer problems will arise. So for you, the way to save money is to get in for your regular exams and cleanings. Healthy gums have even been shown to save on your medical needs, and any dental problems that occur within a year are usually minor. A typical example is a small cavity that might cost $150 to fix, but if you wait long enough, it may need a root canal and crown for $1500, ten times as much.
Don’t forget that home care is also a preventive activity. Diligent brushing and especially flossing make a bigger difference than anything else, but they can’t compensate for smoking. One more note on prevention: Start your children out early. In addition to discovering problems early, the child becomes more comfortable with seeing the dentist and may not need to see a specialist down the road. To help out, we provide all treatment at no charge to any children three years and younger.
For those that need a lot of dental work, take some tips from the consumer’s guide: 1. Shop around. I encourage my patients to get other opinions. It’s in their best interest to find out as much as they can about their condition, and methods and fees could vary quite a bit. 2. Get financing options. We have several programs that allow patients to finance up to 24 months with no interest, or longer with interest. Health savings accounts can also be used for dental expenses. Another suggestion is to be conservative. Find out if there are any simpler options, and take time to consider them or discuss them with your spouse. For instance, a tooth with a chip or crack is often scheduled for a crown. Ask if it is possible to get by with a white filling for a while. The ceramic filling materials available now are much more durable than they used to be, and they are bonded to the teeth, leaving a stronger finished product. Plastic veneers cost about a third as much as the porcelain. A removable partial denture might be used instead of fixed bridges or implants. Although these solutions may not be ideal, they are much less expensive, and they don’t interfere with your ability to upgrade later. Finally, don’t panic! Every economist will tell you that prosperity is a state of mind. If people are afraid, they sell their stocks and pull their money out of circulation. That creates a self-fulfilling result. The decline of the stock market is simply the result of everyone selling out, and it’s being fueled by all the politicians trying to scare people into socialism. I suspect it will settle down as soon as we do another type of cleaning: a political house cleaning!
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, October 2008
This entry was posted on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Dentistry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.