So I dropped by the good Dr. Davis’s office yesterday afternoon, parking illegally in the menacingly signed parking lot of the mall across the street.
He opined that there is no reason to replace the ancient crown in the lower jaw. The chip on it, as he has opined several times in the past, is cosmetic and in no way affects the crown’s functionality.
The newly busted tooth in the upper jaw, however, does need a crown. He says it’s broken down to the dentin and should be fixed before anything else happens to it.
He proposes to charge $1,246 for the crown and a new night guard. That is less than half the $2,695 the other dentist wants to charge for two crowns and no night guard.
At first he couldn’t figure out why the guy wanted to install two crowns. When I said Other Dentist’s preference is for gold crowns, Doc Davis said a gold crown in the upper jaw would do in the porcelain crown in the lower jaw; that would explain the plan to replace the old crown when the new one goes in.
I will say I’ve had better luck, in the comfort department, with gold, and they’re likely to last the rest of my lifetime. However, I’ve already got two gold crowns; two more will make me look like some bizarre character out of a Batman movie.
Given the cost of this adventure, it seems to make sense to go with a porcelain crown on top and use a night guard to protect them both against my gnashing habit. Then take the rest of the tax refund that Other Dentist proposed to consume—$1,750 saved! more than that, actually, because O.D. would have charged another $350 to make a night guard—and turn it into a sinking fund for future restoration work. If I start adding the equivalent of a monthly Delta Dental premium to that stash, by the time one or both of these white crowns need to be replaced (which they certainly will), the money should be there to cover it.
“However, I’ve already got two gold crowns; two more will make me look like some bizarre character out of a Batman movie.”
That made me laugh out loud.
Good plan, especially keeping money on hand for their eventual replacement. I’ve always thought that the government should have applied this philosophy for ever road or highway built. Stick 5% of the original cost away every year following construction and every single road and bridge in the country would be replaced without trying to scramble for funding. But what do I know *lol*
The dentist is always a budget breaker for me. It seems like i can never leave without spending at least $250. i used to go every six months for a cleaning, but i’ve ben postponing it longer because i really don’t want to pay for it.
i also have to get a a cap replaced on 1 tooth and i’m very positive that it isn’t going to be cheap;)