optimized living

I certainly learned a lesson on this one. After moving from the East to the West coast last year, I finally got around to visiting a dentist earlier this year. Well, I ended up visiting about a year after I had last been to the dentist. Since I was on a new insurance plan, they requested to take a full set of mouth x-rays. After an uncomfortable 20 minutes of x-rays, the dentist sat down with the x-rays and went over them. Things were not looking good. He was able to identify about 12 cavities and I’d never had a cavity up to this point.

So this had me thinking that maybe he was taking too agressive an approach. I visited another dentist who reviewed the same set of x-rays and suggested treating the same set of cavities but thought that the first dentist was a bit agressive. So instead, he suggested only doing 2 sides of a tooth when the first dentist suggested 3 sides. At this point I was very comfortable with the treatment plan so I went over what it would cost with the dental office.

This dentist gives you an exact cost sheet with estimated insurance payments. My dental covers up to 80% up to $1500/year. Here is the mistake I made. Since treatment would pass the $1500 threshold, beyond that point it all comes directly out of pocket. Had I made sure to get to the dentist in 2004, I would have been able to spread it over 2 years or $3000. Instead, I now have to decide whether to pay the remaining treatments out of pocket or wait until next year.

Moral of the story… get to your doctor, dentist, and eye doctor appointments as soon as possible, especially before the end of your insurance year.