Free dental care or grants or something, anything???

[smeep]

I just lost a piece of one of my incisors. As in, more of that tooth is gone than remaining. One of my teeth on the bottom has already gone that same route and it has resulted in at least four major abscesses in the last year.

I'm desperate. I can't afford anything. I have no job, no money, a baby on the way and the child's father has royally screwed me over.

I LOVE the fact that no one considers dental care to be health care.

[LionessMom]

have you applied for medicaid for pregnant women?

https://www.yourtexasbenefits.com/wps/portal

[smeep]

Originally Posted by LionessMom

have you applied for medicaid for pregnant women?

https://www.yourtexasbenefits.com/wps/portal

Yes, I'm on it now, but they only cover basic exams and cleanings.

If I don't find something soon I'm going to go into Monarch Dental and pay the $39 for the intial exam and then when I go in for my treatment I'm just going to "oops, I guess I have no money" and be in debt forever. I haven't done that yet because I didn't want to be in debt forever, but now it's starting to look like that's my only choice.

[LionessMom]

Originally Posted by smeep

Yes, I'm on it now, but they only cover basic exams and cleanings.

If I don't find something soon I'm going to go into Monarch Dental and pay the $39 for the intial exam and then when I go in for my treatment I'm just going to "oops, I guess I have no money" and be in debt forever. I haven't done that yet because I didn't want to be in debt forever, but now it's starting to look like that's my only choice.

what?!? in iowa you can get crowns and everything bc bad teeth can be bad for the pregnancy.

have you checked a local dentla hospital? ours has a program but you have to let dental students do it.

http://www.freedentalcare.us/nearby_...earch+for+city

how far away can you go?

http://www.freedentalcare.us/st/texas

http://www.tellinitlikeitis.net/2010...-services.html

i would start with these sites. esp the last one. it seems to have more info. I hope you find something! i know that i have dental problems and not having them fixed feels awful.

[smeep]

Originally Posted by LionessMom

what?!? in iowa you can get crowns and everything bc bad teeth can be bad for the pregnancy.

have you checked a local dentla hospital? ours has a program but you have to let dental students do it.

http://www.freedentalcare.us/nearby_...earch+for+city

how far away can you go?

http://www.freedentalcare.us/st/texas

http://www.tellinitlikeitis.net/2010...-services.html

i would start with these sites. esp the last one. it seems to have more info. I hope you find something! i know that i have dental problems and not having them fixed feels awful.

Thank you! I'll have to make a whole bunch of phone calls. Thankfully I'm going to at least get one filling tomorrow. There's a practice not too far from here that's holding an event for dentistryfromtheheart.org and they can't fix any of my broken teeth but they'll do one extraction or filling...I'm going for filling. At least it'll be one less tooth I have to be worried about breaking. Unfortuantely it means being there at 4am and being pregnant (therefore sleepy/small bladder) doesn't help. But I'll do what I have to do, I suppose.

[LionessMom]

i hope some of those places can help you!!

[smeep]

I called all of them. Nada. Everyone wants money...boo!

On the positive side, I went to a Dentistry from the Heart event today and got two fillings! (Plus a third temporary filling because when she drilled in she realized that I needed a root canal, boo!) They were only providing ONE filling, extraction or cleaning per person but because it was really super slow (no clue why!) I was able to go back for a second round.

So, I didn't get my two super broken teeth restored, and I have one that's just a temporary filling now (so, IMO, worse than before, blah)....but it's still two fillings down that I won't have to pay for. I'll probably just do the Monarch thing for the root canal and the two restorations and just hope I can eventually pay off the bill one day. I'm just happy I got some work done! And there's another event in February, so I'll hopefully get at least one more tooth filled then.

[karanyavel]

I've got the same problem and here in TX, dental care is not included AT ALL in Medicaid for pregnant women. There are sliding scale clinics here that do dental work, BUT there's an extremely long waiting list (years).

To make matters worse, for ages there was a racket going on in my part of the state, where if you went to a dentist with a serious problem (e.g., an abscess) -- especially if you still have wisdom teeth, which I do, and they're fine -- they would immediately refer you to a particular oral surgeon. The first time this happened, I went to the oral surgeon and he gave me an estimate for $3,000 to extract two teeth (one of which was a wisdom tooth that was perfectly fine) or $8,000 to take out the problem tooth and all of my wisdom teeth. I went to Mexico (I live right on the border) and got the problem tooth done for $15.

But now you have to have a passport to go to Mexico and I've heard that since that oral surgeon got shut down, they're all referring to a different one who is paying kickbacks...

I feel your pain (quite literally).

I've always been a self-sufficient person but never thought I'd have to do my own dental work, which I have been doing for a couple of years now.

--K

[LionessMom]

i am sorry those places couldnt help you. i hope you find womeone to hep with those 2 broken teeth.

[smeep]

Originally Posted by karanyavel

I've got the same problem and here in TX, dental care is not included AT ALL in Medicaid for pregnant women. There are sliding scale clinics here that do dental work, BUT there's an extremely long waiting list (years).

To make matters worse, for ages there was a racket going on in my part of the state, where if you went to a dentist with a serious problem (e.g., an abscess) -- especially if you still have wisdom teeth, which I do, and they're fine -- they would immediately refer you to a particular oral surgeon. The first time this happened, I went to the oral surgeon and he gave me an estimate for $3,000 to extract two teeth (one of which was a wisdom tooth that was perfectly fine) or $8,000 to take out the problem tooth and all of my wisdom teeth. I went to Mexico (I live right on the border) and got the problem tooth done for $15.

But now you have to have a passport to go to Mexico and I've heard that since that oral surgeon got shut down, they're all referring to a different one who is paying kickbacks...

I feel your pain (quite literally).

I've always been a self-sufficient person but never thought I'd have to do my own dental work, which I have been doing for a couple of years now.

--K

I am in Texas as well. If I could figure out where to go in Mexico and how to get down there, I would totally do that in a heartbeat. Gah! What a horrible scam going down there...unfortunately, so much of "dental care" is a big, fat scam. I have a tooth that regularly causes abscesses and last Halloween I had one that was so bad that I HAD to get it drained. One of dental offices I called actually told me that I would need a root canal in addition to the draining and that it would be over $3,000 - and this was over the PHONE, without even being seen. I finally found a dentist who was willing to see me and, if it was doable, would do a simple incision and drain for a mere $300. When I told him what the other office said his jaw dropped and he said that under no circumstances can you do a root canal with a major active infection like that. It's just plain dangerous. And that it was clearly just a ploy to get money from me when I was desperate.

What do you mean by do your own dental work?