I am feeling hopeless because I can't afford the dental work I need. Please, if anyone has any information ?

Hello. I am a 43 yr old female who has been told by a dentist that I need full dental implants. He said that I probably had Juvenile Periodontal Disease from an early age that was not very common or diagnosed when I was a teen. I have already lost teeth from this problem. The teeth start to get loose and eventually fall out. I have some temporary denture like appliances to make my teeth look complete. But, more teeth are shifting and loosening and I know that I am going to have to do something drastic, like dentures or implants. The implant cost is so astronomical. I don't know what to do. I live in Los Angeles and I was wondering if anyone knew of any dental schools or other means of finding a more affordable alternative in this city. Please help, if you can with any information. You know, I used to take my great smile for granted when I was younger, and now I would be grateful just to bite into an apple again.

I am feeling hopeless because I can't afford the dental work I need. Please, if anyone has any information ?
try calling local dental colleges or dentists and see if there are any low cost clinics avail
Reply:Ask your doctor if you can go on a payment plan to pay "off" your dental work.





or try getting health insurance to pay for this.





Go to another dentist and get another quote.
Reply:Contact USC dental school. They may have low cost programs for dentist in training. UCLA also has a dental school.
Reply:Check out this site it could help!
Reply:You should look into this insurance. I got it for us when my husband was in a lot of pain. It's $15.50 a month for 1 person . The receptionist said it was a very good insurance because you don't have a yearly limit like most other dental insurances. And there is no waiting period before having major dental work done. You can start using it right away. Just take a look at it. It tells you how much you would pay. And most dentist will let you make payments for the co-payment. But they are very good prices. My mom had work done and payed $2000. With this she would of payed about $400. But I didn't know about it yet.





click on Pacificare Signature Value...not the Savings one...


It has the application and the co-payment amounts.
Reply:Really don't know, because I don't live in America, but as you say you'll need a lot of work. The best would be implants but not the only one solution.





How much cost implants and dentures at your dentist. Here where I live in Europe one implant cost about 1000€ and one denture about 700€. I think the prices are very low and quality is top.





I don't know your teeth status, but I think you don't need implants at beginning.
Reply:Dental implants are the Hollywood version of replacement teeth- they may be the best thing overall for replacements but regular removable dentures can also work very well as long as they are fitted properly and you, the patient has a realistic expectation of how they will function.





Implants do pretty much totally replace the teeth and can be a huge boost to ones self esteem but they are also a very high ticket item and can line the dentists pocket with gold.





I wear full removable dentures and I am your age- they work well for me and they look very natural. I do not have any eating issues and have learned to eat apples!





Feel free to contact me off the board if you want to discuss this.





Sandy