OPINION: Dental care essential to good health, but who can afford it?

We are told constantly that a secret to a healthy life is good dental care. There are discussions in the news about medical health care cost and virtually nothing on dental care for people.

I am mad as hell about this. I recently cracked an aging tooth that had served me well for over 50 years. My dentist informed me that I would need an implant instead of traditional bridge work. He stated that not replacing the tooth was not the option. It would cause problems for the remaining teeth and causing health issues later.

I started researching places in the area that specialized in the implant procedure since my general dentist was unable to do implants. I located a national company that specialized in dental implants which happened to have an office in Northern Virginia. Little did I know what I was about to discover when I walked into the beautiful offices with walls of pictures of the many smiling people showing off the handy work of these talented dentist.

I was taken into the office of my dental coordinator for a consultation of the procedure and then quickly taken in for my free X-ray. The next discussion was with the dentist who gave me an evaluation of what needed to be done for my situation followed by the dental coordinator telling me the cost to replace the tooth. Things took a turn for the worse.

I was informed that they required payment 80% up front with the balance due after the tooth has been placed. They do not submit insurance claims but will give you dental codes that your insurance company might agree to reimburse. The entire cost for my one tooth implant would be $4500.

Being taken aback at he cost, I did more research and confirmed that it was the going rate nationally. I immediately contacted my dental insurance company for what was covered. The dental insurance company confirmed that they would cover up to $1600 dollars and that would wipe out all other dental coverage for the year.

It was upsetting. I started to research other countries to get reasonable dental care and discovered a BIG secret. One of the fastest growing businesses in Mexico is providing high quality dental care to US and Canadian citizens. I contacted the best dental care offices located in Cancun, Mexico and was given references to contact about the quality of the service.

I was amazed at the compliments from these people who were very satisfied with the service, and more importantly at one third of the cost even after you include the airfare. You are looking at $1500 including airfare versus $4500 for the same procedure here.

I am writing this because something is really wrong with medical health care and dental services in the US.

There should be no reason for these inflated dental costs and lack of good dental insurance coverage. It takes away the opportunity to obtain these critical services for a large part of the citizens needing it in our country. Maybe I missed it but I am not aware of any discussion from our elected leaders addressing this critical issue.

I’m mad as hell and I don’t know what to do.

Maybe I should stand outside with Mr. Sherp with my sign saying, “Dental care”.

By:  Michael Graham, Front Royal