Should I get second opinion?

[tuxedodragon]

I had tooth pain in my left front tooth. Its fluctuated and isn't unbearable. But there is puss coming out of it.

So I went to aspen dental and discovered I have early gingivitis. My four front teeth also need root canals due to infections. They gave me a quote for 10,000 dollars.

The problem is my dental insurance only will give me a 1000 dollars for dental work. I qualified for 5400 in financing. Because I still had to pay a signifant amount in out of pocket expenses that I didn't have, they told me I could save money by just taking care of the two really bad ones.

So now my insurance and the financing will cover everything. But I will have to pay 110 dollars a month for 60 months. Which is hard for me. Not to mention that they will probably treat me for other things. Which I just don't see how I will afford.

The first apointment was free. But I have heard bad things about aspen dental, so I went in skeptical. I don't doubt that I have serious issues that need to be dealt with. I just want to make sure they aren't over charging me.

I was gonna make an appointment for next tuesday but they had to put a 2000 dollar deposit from my finacing. The finacial person told me I could get that refunded if I cancelled. When I told her I wanted to get a second opinion, she assured me that the dentist was the one who owned the local chain was was very experianced. Also their prices are very competive. She ended up going back to talk to the dentist and he told her to tell me that he didn't want to make me wait a week with the infection, so he offered me an appointment on Wednesday ( just a few days from now). I am officially booked but I told the financial person that I would tell her if I was canceling tommarrow. .

I would like to get a second opinion. But with my work schedule and the the holiday this Monday, I am worried it would take a few weeks to get looked on. I don't know if I'd be risking things getting worse. I am not in unbearable pain right now and I did get my x-rays at Aspen printed out just in case. But I also don't want to burn my bridges with them if the other dentists aren't any better. They did give me a prescription for antibotics

 

[MattKW]

1. Ask them for digital copies of your Xrays so that you can put them up here properly. A photo is useless. The Xray software can easily export images to a flash drive (or CD) as JPG or TIFF.
2. You can also then take those images to another dentist for 2nd opinion. Don't take that printout and expect anyone to be able to see a good image.
3. They're putting the hard sell on you because you think you're in a corner. Don't rush in - would you buy a car from the first car lot you went to?

 

[honestdoc]

Aspen will send you digital x-rays through your email. You need to go there to fill a form to request them.

 

[Busybee]

That's a lot of money for four front teeth because root treatment in a front tooth is less complex as there's just one root. Presumably they plan to crown them. You should definitely get a second opinion because you don't want to waste your money but more importantly it's a lot of trauma to have so much work done at once. Get the x rays, post them here, but also get a second opinion. Did they not even give you some antibiotics? It's important to get this treated but don't be rushed into something, be informed and be sure you need so much work done. Get a proper diagnosis from at least two other dentists. Experience means nothing. Reputation is what is important.