I am shopping for pet insurance am trying to decide whether I want routine care (which includes dental and routine shots) added onto the insurance coverage or if I should just pay out of pocket.

Thus far, my dog is in good health.

Assuming no extractions or drilling, for basic vaccinations and dental I pay about $300-$500 a year for my small dog.

Of course, this doesn't include the extra $500 a year in random vet bills or heartworm meds.

I am a student supporting myself in New York. I am very limited financially and I need to get dental work done (mostly cosmetic. I never had braces in high school, but I should have). I don't have any insurance. Is there cheap dental insurance available? or some way of getting big discounts?

I would strongly encourage you to visit this great website : www.healthsavings.ourperfectcard.com I signed up online over 5 years ago when I was in college and they have saved me thousands of dollars since on all dental services. From bridges, root canals, fillings, Xrays, exams, cleanings, …etc. They even had my extremely affordable benefits active in 2 hours and was able to use it the very same day. Good luck and Hope this helps

I don't know if diabetes makes things worst on a persons teeth it seems to destroy everyting else. I just happened to look at my teeth in a really good mirror & it looks like the tooth next to my front teeth has a cavity….I don't want to be toothless. Do I have any alternatives or hope that something I can afford will be made available in the future?

One of the programs the previous person is referring to is care credit (http://www.carecredit.com). Most dental offices accept this.

The other thing you may want to check is if there are any dental schools or public health clinics in your area. They will both see patients for a fraction of what a private dentist charges.

The worst thing you can do is neglect any dental issues because they will not go away, but will only get worse. For example, if you have a cavity now, it probably just requires a filling, which may be like ~$100-$200. If you wait and the decay progresses, you may end up needing a root canal and or a crown (both of which may be in the $1000 range EACH), or if you ever lost the tooth, you'd need either an implant or bridge, both of which are in the thousands.

If you look at it that way, $100-$200 doesn't seem like that much anymore, does it?

We see this everyday. If people got their problems fixed early, they'd save thousands of dollars.

Recovering from a eatting disorder, Bulimia. Acid ate away at the teeth. Medicaid want help in my case. Need cosmetic help.

If you live in Wisconsin DDS Donated dental services. Other states have low income, free clinics. Dental schools have programs. Check with the Dental Society in your state to find information and also social workers may be able to direct you for help. Good luck.

i need some dental care where can i go for low cost to nothing?

There is a dental school in Chapel Hill…

My step daughter is 13, is she still entitled to free dental care?

Many Thanks

yes she is.
16 years old if they leave full time education and go into work or 19 years old if they stay in fully time education.

When it comes to taking care of your teeth, purchasing the proper dental insurance is essential. Dental insurance really comes in handy for those who cannot deal with the increasing costs of seeing a dentist. The decision to select dental insurance that is right for individuals or families (depending on the situation) becomes an important task to conclude.

Whether you are buying dental insurance through your place of business or looking for independent options, it is vital to analyze a variety of plans to ensure you are getting the best deal. Many different factors listed below may come into play when making a final selection.

Affordability

When selecting dental insurance, it is important to compare yearly maximum coverage on a regular basis. The amount in benefits that a plan will pay in one full year is one of the most important aspects to choosing the best dental insurance plan. Yearly maximums also renew on an automatic basis every year. It is also important to know that anything not used within a year will not roll over into the next. Many dental insurance companies only allow an average yearly max of $1000.

Dentists

In the case of independent dental insurance, most plans will only cover your dental services if they are administered from a dentist that is contracted or participating in their network. It is important to find out if you are required to receive your dental work from a participating dentist. Some plans may allow individuals to stay with their current dentists, but checking the policy for these allowances is essential.

Major Coverage

Dental insurance companies separate their dental procedures into three different categories. When comparing plans, you should ask about their policies regarding preventative, major, and restorative work. Varying dental companies will view different dental procedures in many different ways. For example, one dentist may consider root canals and crowns a major procedure while another will not. This is important to know before choosing a dental insurance plan.

Waiting Periods

The length of time that an insurance company will make you wait before you can enjoy coverage is called the waiting period. For example, some plans hold policies that make you wait 12 months or longer before you are covered for a crown.

Cosmetic Dentistry

If you are interested in seeing your dentist for any cosmetic procedures, such as teeth whitening or bleaching, you should know dental insurance companies rarely cover cosmetic dentistry. For the few that do, prepare for high rates.

Gabriel Adams
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/5-things-to-look-for-when-buying-dental-insurance-118273.html

Do you need a hand finding an affordable dental plan? Join the crowd. You know, it seems that all the dental insurance companies want to do is collect their monthly premiums and then, when it comes time to pay for something substantial, spring the old “sorry, but you’ve got a twelve month waiting period before we can cover that condition” excuse. They don’t cover any current problems for a full year! Sorry, Charlie

I’m wondering what the point is of having it in the first place if they won’t cover a “pre-existing” condition? Basically, what I’m being told is to buy dental insurance in advance of having a problem. This way I’ll have “some” coverage down the road when I need it. Interesting. I have to crunch some numbers here. The average cost of dental insurance is around fifty dollars a month for an individual and one hundred for a family. That’s too much money, especially for as little as they pay for.

Let’s say that I have a toothache and need to have it pulled. So let me get this straight, I have to pay a year in advance to get my teeth covered? Gee, let me see. What do you mean I’m still not 100% covered after a full year? I still have to pay twenty percent out of pocket. Gee, I’m happy.

So do affordable dental plans really exist? Let’s find out.

Another option you might look at is called a “discount dental plan.” I’ve heard so much about them that I thought I’d see what all of the fuss was about, Interesting.

Discount dental plans are, for one thing, affordable. You can get several of these plans for under twenty dollars a month for the entire family. Dental discount plans are not insurance, but a flat rate discount for paying cash at the dentist.

Discount dental plans work like this.

Pay to start the plan. This enables you to see any dentist within their network. These are the same qualified dentists that you’re accustomed to seeing. Your dentist may even be a member!

Discount plans simply offer you a much better price for each procedure, but the catch is that you must pay for the procedure

at the time of your visit. You can most or all of your dental issues taken care of in one visit, if you’d like. Dentists find

that it’s a good deal because they get paid cash on the spot instead of having to pay their accountant to bill the insurance

company for their money and wait up to 45 days for payment.

There’s also strength in numbers. They also take advantage of some great savings on equipment that they must have in order to operate their practice.

So there it is. Is this an affordable dental plan or do you think it’s a scam of some kind? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Joe Stewart
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/helpful-tips-for-those-that-need-an-affordable-dental-plan-120261.html

Well, scientific technology has advanced so much that nothing seems to be impossible for specialists in any field. The effect of enhanced technology can be seen everywhere, even in the field of dentistry too. Though there are numerous dental defects that may occur to anyone in a given period of time, scientific developments in this field have created options for curing all the dental defects. Some of the dental defects that may crop up are missing tooth, misaligned teeth, broken or chipped teeth and stained yellow teeth. Dental implant is a treatment that can be used for curing the dental defect of missing teeth. This is a problem that can occur to anyone in this world and dental implant is the right way to go about it.

It is said that when it is the matter of your health, then you should always consult a specialist rather than going to a general practitioner. Well, your health is something that you cannot compromise with. Dental implant would definitely help you in curing your dental defect to perfection. As far as the treatment process of dental implant is concerned, titanium roots are placed in the jawbone of the patient and that too in place of the missing tooth. After carrying out this procedure, certain time period is being provided for letting the place heal. Then, the metal anchors are being placed on them for the growth of teeth. One thing that needs to be taken care is that you ought to have strong jawbones and a good oral health.

The entire procedure of dental implant is a surgical process and metal anchors are placed with the help of machines. Usually, the time period given for the bonding of titanium roots with jawbone is around 4 to 6 months. And the entire process takes around 1 year and you will get to see a new development in your smile. After all, smile is the biggest asset and you would take every effort or pain to make it healthier. It is one of the most attractive things that fetch compliments and you would definitely adopt different methods to make it even more attractive.

Missing teeth is one such dental defect that usually occurs when you face any accident or happen to be in your old age. It is the right time that you tend to call for a specialist orthodontist and opt for dental implant. Dental implants have inculcated a fresh life to the smile of the patients with missing tooth. Such people have started living a healthier life, after undertaking this treatment. In fact, the result of the dental implants seems to look so real that you will not be able to distinguish between the real and the forged teeth. What more can you ask for, when dental implant gives you a healthier lifestyle?

Dental implants are one of the most suitable treatments for missing teeth. After all, your health is the most important thing in your life. Moreover, more and more people have been moving towards being healthy. The reason behind this is increasing consciousness for the same. One of the best advantages of dental implant is that you can restore your smile. All you need is the help of a dentist who is registered with American Dental Association, so it becomes sure that the dentist is really experienced.

Brad Taylor
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/dental-implant-is-the-best-treatment-for-missing-teeth-123801.html

Alvin Starkman  M.A., LL.B.

 

When I first gave up the practice of law in Toronto in favor of early retirement in Oaxaca, I assumed that the years I would add to my life by leading a much more stress-free existence in Mexico, would be lost by the inferior health care system to which I would be exposed, subjected and restricted.  This, then, is my assessment of the extent to which my presuppositions have been accurate, together with information and advice for both vacationers to and would-be ex-patriot residents of Oaxaca.

 

Aside from the small, private hospitals, often referred to as clínicas, there are four publicly funded and insurance - based hospitals in the city, as well as a hospital just outside of the city offering specialized treatment for a number of serious ailments. There is the Red Cross facility available to all, often used for emergency treatment only.  The civic hospital provides free services or treatment at a modest cost based on a sliding scale respecting means.  ISSSTE is a federally funded facility restricted to government employees who are members of a union.  Finally, there is IMSS, a federal insurance program available to ex-pat residents and Mexican citizens alike, with an extensive network of clinic doctors and a large hospital.  It’s funding is provided in large part by business owners. Aside from these hospitals, there are several, small, easily accessed clinics scattered throughout suburban and rural neighborhoods. 

 

For the vacationer, and the ex-pat with a VISA permitting residency in the country, the most common means by which to obtain emergency treatment is through Red Cross, IMSS (which accepts patients without coverage on a pay-per-service basis) or a private hospital.  However, the last of these three is the only one in which you can be reasonably reassured of being attended in a timely fashion by extremely competent and efficient personnel.

 

WHAT TO DO AS A VACATIONER

 

If you do not have out-of-country healthcare coverage, by all means go out and buy it before leaving for your trip.  However, it’s advisable to first inquire of your credit card company, to ascertain if in fact you already have at least some coverage simply by virtue of, for example, having a gold or platinum card.  You can then make a more informed decision concerned whether or not to purchase coverage, and if so at what level. On the other hand, a broken leg, gastrointestinal problem or other non-life threatening ailment can be attended by a private doctor or clinic without breaking the bank.  Of course for an outlay of more than $100, it’s nice to be reimbursed.

 

If you intend to make a claim to your private carrier, credit card company or government funded health care plan, ensure that you not only keep all receipts, but request a written diagnosis and treatment plan, and that the prescriptions you are given indicate for what purpose each medicine is being prescribed (i.e. antibiotic, analgesic, etc.).  Many doctors provide all required information simply as a matter of course.  Accepted practice, at least except for when narcotic medications are being prescribed, is for the pharmacy to return prescription forms to you.  Often medical plans require translations of each document that is presented to them as a prerequisite for processing and reimbursement.  When in doubt, submit all documentation with your claim, making sure to determine if originals are required, and keep copies.  Frequently, as is the case with Ontario, it’s a two step process. Treatment receipts and diagnosis is submitted to the provincial plan.  Once you’re notified of the portion not covered, prescription receipts together with a request for reimbursement for the amount not covered by the province, is submitted to one’s private plan.  In theory, between the two plans, 100% reimbursement is achieved. 

 

You can ask the manager of your hotel or bed and breakfast to do you a favor by translating each of your supporting documents, to save you the trouble upon your return home.  Make a note of the then prevailing rate of exchange, and submit a calculation to your plan with your documentation, to more easily facilitate payment.  When a member of a clerical staff is processing your claim, he’ll be less inclined to put yours aside for another day or week if it already contains all the necessary and relevant data, organized in a readable format.

 

Concerning where to go in the event of illness or emergency, your accommodations host should be able to make recommendations for English speaking physicians with private practices, and for private clinics.   Regarding competency of the former, while there is a medical school in Oaxaca, many doctors travel out-of-state for their post-graduate training such as to universities in Mexico City or the US, and regularly attend conferences and upgrading courses.  Some travel abroad within the context of their specialization training.  Indeed the Oaxacan populace appears to take notice of and prefer those physicians who are able to display foreign diplomas.

 

Our personal experience with emergency treatment over the past 10 years has been nothing but positive for ourselves, our family and our guests, at hospitals Carmen and Molina, both downtown … in terms of competence, speed with which one is attended, and the presence of English speaking ER doctors. On the other hand, we cannot recommend the emergency departments at the civic hospital or IMSS because of delays in receiving treatment, and at minimum in the case of IMSS unavailability of competent medical personnel 24 hours a day to attend to even a commonplace emergency (i.e. suturing).  Having said this, many excellent surgeons with private practices perform surgery at the non-private hospitals where there tends to be the more state-of-the-art and sophisticated equipment. 

 

The normal range in price for a consultation with a family doctor, specialist or dentist, is $20 - $50 (all figures are stated in US dollars and are approximate for 2008 unless stated otherwise).

 

PURELY ELECTIVE AND COSMETIC PROCEDURES

 

Over the past several years Oaxaca has become a popular destination for Americans and Canadians seeking both plastic surgery and extensive dental work.  Word has spread of the competence and quality of work of both nip-and-tuck and dental surgeons, and of course of their extremely reasonable charges relative to those paid to hometown practitioners.  Many foreigners, as well as Mexicans from Mexico City and other regions of the country come to Oaxaca for face lifts, breast reductions and augmentations, liposuction and other appearance enhancing procedures.  A friend who attended for plastic surgery in Oaxaca by a well-known plastic surgeon a couple of years ago, recently commented that she had read an article in a Canadian magazine indicating the cost for the same procedure which she had performed for $500, was $3500 - $5000 at home.  In effect she had a free trip to Oaxaca, and returned home with extra money in her pocket.

 

Our personal experience with dental treatment has been extremely positive.  Cost tends to be about a third to a half of American and Canadian prices, for example for crowns and bridges, implants, root canals, gum and bone work, etc.    While the use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) has not yet arrived in most Mexican cities, a dentist with a gentle touch can more than make up for that lack of temporary high while in the chair. 

 

RESOLVING THE EX-PAT CONUNDRUM

 

Get whatever coverage is made available to you both in your homeland and in Mexico, subject of course to affordability. 

 

To my thinking, with IMSS coverage costing under $400 annually for a couple, why not go for it regardless of what other coverage you already have. Then supplement IMSS with international coverage for catastrophic injuries unless you have other similar insurance from another source. Our Oaxacan friends tend to disagree, but theirs is a different mindset where insurance in general has historically not been stressed or valued, be it home, car or health.

 

Some American acquaintances swear by IMSS since it provides regular care including preventive procedures, all dispensed by government employed physicians including specialists, together with lab tests, medication and hospitalization.  There are restrictions the first year of enrolment, and there are caveats. The level of cleanliness in the clinic environment tends to be below the standard to which most of us have become accustomed growing up in the US and Canada. Many physicians have not received the quality of medical education of their private counterparts. The medications provided through the clinic pharmacy are often not the best available in the marketplace for treatment of a particular ailment, because of cost.  Often the wait to see your designated doctor or for your lab tests can be long, requiring a half day commitment for each step in the process:  visiting a general physician, going for one set of tests, then for another, and finally seeing a specialist.

 

So why bother with IMSS at all, with all these downsides?  It’s a failsafe, another form of assurance that you’ll be cared for in the event of a lengthy and serious illness.  As suggested earlier, often it’s the largest hospitals such as IMSS which have the best equipment, and surgeons with private practices who perform some of the surgeries.  And there is no additional cost for hospitalization once you have full IMSS coverage.  While attending a private clinic is more akin to your experiences before moving to Mexico, if you must remain in hospital for a lengthy period of time, the cost of doing so in a clinic could be prohibitive…just like back home. 

 

Visiting private physicians, and even biting the bullet and getting your tests done at privately owned laboratories, reasonably assures you of a familiar quality of care.  Coupled with IMSS coverage, you can now be confident that you’re covered in almost all respects.   In the event of a protracted hospital stay you can afford to be there for as long as necessary.  The best locally available equipment will be used in your diagnosis and treatment, and you have a reasonable likelihood that attending surgeons are those who split their time between private practice and clinic work, and performing procedures in one or more large hospitals. 

 

We maintain IMSS coverage, but rarely use it, preferring to tap our Oaxacan social networks for referrals to specialists to the extent they are required.  And in any event, after having been resident in Oaxaca for a few years, those of us who are in our fifties or older have already been introduced to a broad range of specialists.   As strange as it still is to be a Canadian and subscribe to the pay-as-you-play philosophy of medical care, it serves our purposes, with the IMSS safety net just in case.

 

Under certain circumstances you may not want to rely on even the best Oaxaca has to offer.  Indeed the stream of Oaxacans traveling to Mexico City flows briskly and wide.  The middle and upper classes with contacts in the nation’s capital, there quickly seek out the best in terms of physicians and state-of-the-art equipment, for diagnosis and for treatment of life-threatening diseases.

 

Even doctors working in Oaxaca at the IMSS and ISSSTE hospitals can make arrangements for patients to receive treatment not available here, to be attended in Mexico City or other larger centers.  However, the process can be slow.  We know of one case, that of a two-month-old baby with heart problems, who was finally sent to Puebla for surgery at ISSSTE, only to die before the procedure could be performed. 

 

The solution, unless you have quality foreign coverage perhaps as part of your retirement pension plan, is to buy insurance which will pay for treatment in Mexico City, or better yet throughout the world as long as you can make your way to one of the participating top-of-the-line hospitals.  In my case, I have a low annual premium, with high deductible which is waived in the event of accident.  Again, it’s a failsafe mechanism in the event of, for example, a serious car accident, or cancer, stroke, heart attack, or other catastrophic ailment which would otherwise not be affordable.  Oaxaca has less than the best of diagnostic equipment and treatment facilities. My plan provides for a $10,000 deductible, $2,000 annual premium, with member private hospitals in Oaxaca, Mexico City and elsewhere in the republic, and of course abroad including the US, with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester being a participant. 

 

In summary, my medical coverage and plan for treatment is the following.  We have our regular family physician, who, along with our Oaxacan friends, refers us to specialists in which we have the utmost confidence, and to whom we pay per visit. The same holds true for dental treatment.  We have IMSS coverage which we reluctantly (because we don’t use it) renew on an annual basis, but believe it’s worth the price in the event we need extended hospitalization, or to have surgical procedures performed not available in private clinics.  And I have my catastrophic coverage which hopefully I’ll never need to access.

 

Medical care and coverage can be inexpensive, and just as easily it can be costly.  It’s a matter of the individual or family having a philosophy, or set of priorities, before electing to move to Oaxaca.  You have to determine how you want to lead your life in terms of balancing having less disposable income as a result of medical and insurance costs,  with having greater peace of mind in knowing that whatever is thrown your way will be looked after as best possible given your new life in a foreign land. If you cannot achieve a level of comfort in the resolution of these issues and decisions, then perhaps the move is not for you. 

Alvin Starkman
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-tips-articles/medical-and-dental-treatment-and-coverage-in-oaxaca-mexico-579772.html