I guess I'm about to tell a story that many, if not all, of you are already well familiarized with.... but still it's my story, my plight, my plea and I'm going to tell it.
I always had pretty good teeth growing up, or so I thought. When I was in my mid 20s my teeth began to break - and they were black on the inside. We obtained dental insurance and I began the arduous 3 year journey of having a root canal on almost every single tooth on the top; the dentist recommended pulling all of the lower back teeth and crowns on the upper, front 4. I had all the work done. Less than a year later the crowns began to crack - I called the dentist and when I asked if there was a possibility that he had used a new material (infering the material used was not of good quality), he got mad and told me to find a new dentist.
I could no longer afford the same dental care as previous because I had in the year following the completion of my dental work I had a stroke and was diagnosed with and AVM, was confined to a wheelchair and was awaiting brain surgery.
During the following 5 years the teeth I had spent so much time and money on continued to crack, chip and break until finally one broke off completely at the gum-line; leaving a "previously canaled root" exposed. (Turned out that the root canal I was charged for on that tooth was never performed), which led me to ask "what DID he do to my teeth?" If I had paid for root canals and sat in the chair and felt the drill, but the root was still there, what had he done.
I was forced into a situation where I had to have a Marilyn Bridge put in (as it was my eye-tooth that had broken off); which also meant that the teeth on either side of the eye tooth had to be ground down to hold the bridge - so one broke tooth cost me three.
During that visit was when I learned that what I believed were crowns, were not crowns at all, but were overlays of buildup material. Exrays showed that 4 teeth thought to have had root canals did indeed still have roots.
I had waisted three years and thousands of dollars.
Now, 10 years later I find myself with dental insurance (with a $1000 yearly max), two teeth that have broken and fallen out, NO back teeth on the bottom, a front tooth that is still hanging by the buildup put on it 10 years ago, and the need for over $10,000 out of pocket dental work needed.... and after a divorce; bad credit.
I have applied for all of the lines of credit I can find, CareCredit, All Care, Prosper, Capitol One, you name it - I've been turned down for ALL. I have even talked to EZpay Solutions - but not one single dentist in my area accepts payment from them.
I have called every dentist in my area and cannot find a single one that will accept payments without approved credit - which I don't have, even though I have the ability to pay!
Our income exceeds $5000 monthly, our DTI ratio is 11% (far below the national average of 36%) - yet as I sit here I cannot get my teeth fixed. I've consulted 3 different dentist and they have all taken xrays and told me the same thing - my teeth are not strong enough to hold themselves. With no lower back teeth all the chewing in done on the front of my mouth, placing extra pressure on my upper front teeth, expediting the breaking process. Otherwise I have contacted EVERY SINGLE dentist in our phone book to no avail.
I am in constant pain, what I can eat has been reduced to some vegetables that can be cooked soft; I can no longer eat any kinds of meats, nuts, chips, raw fruits, anything fried, anything with sugar (natural or otherwise), all of my drinks have to be sugarless and room temperature. I brush my teeth with a baby toothbrush, as to not be any harder on them than I have to be, I rinsed with an oral rinse up to 5 times a day (until I finally figured out that my mouth hurt afterwards because of the sugar in the damn rinses), so I switched to peroxide and water.
Is there a single resource out there for someone like me - someone with dental insurance (even though it's limited), someone who has decent income and can pay (just not $10,000 all at one time) and someone who has bad credit??
