Dental Implants?

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  • warthog

    Shooter
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    Feb 12, 2013
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    OK, I need implants, my teeth have ben removed but Aspen Dental wasn't as honest about things. They never told me my lowers wouldn't stay on without implants. I personally thought any decent dentist could tell from the examination and X-Rays that the lower area would need implants.

    SO, my Dad, God bless him, says he will see about paying what my insurance won't so I can finally after four years, get implants so I can again eat sandwiches and peanuts…I love peanuts and because i have diabetes, they are good for me…mostly protein and so I don't get a lot of rise to my blood sugars….but I digress.

    Now I have been around my area, Terre Haute already and no one will take my insurance. So I am asking ING, do you know a good dentist that isn't more than an hour or so from me? PM Me the phone number so I can contact them about my insurance or post here. I will then do the rest like my insurance and all of that…maybe the indy Folks know one?

    Thank you :ingo:
     

    Expat

    Pdub
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    go to your insurance company's website and they should have a list of providers in your area that are in their network.
     

    BugI02

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    Hey warthog, how close is the nearest university with a dental college. I know here in Columbus, the OSU college of Dentistry has a clinic where students work on the general public for clinical experience. A gentleman I knew from consulting had used them to get an implant supported full lower denture and he raved about it. He said that he was only worked on by postgrads (likely due to the advanced nature of the care) and he saved 1/3 on the cost over private practice. He said even the postgrads were watched over very carefully by faculty, who also spoke with him regularly about the plan of care and that the clinic seemed to accept most types of insurance


    Edit: a quick goto shows IUPUI has an implant clinic attached to its college of dentistry. That appears to be a little over an hours drive away from TH on the near west side of Indy. I also texted a friend who is a dentist in the west suburbs of Cleveland, he says 4 to 6 implants for a full lower, if your current lower was not designed to be implant stabilized it will need to be redone, and not to be sold the so-called mini-implants which are cheaper but unlikely to be able to bear the load
     
    Last edited:

    Hoosierdood

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    Your first mistake was going to Aspen Dental.

    I work in Sales, and can see a sales pitch a mile off. My wife went to Aspen for their "free cleaning" promotion that they had going on. I sat through them giving sales pitch after sales pitch of all the things that they needed to do to her teeth. She had 2 cavities and they refused to do any fillings unless she paid for all sorts of other "services". The total bill for 2 fillings was over $2000. I said "no thanks" and we went to a different dentist who was happy to do her fillings.


    ETA: Of course, they were more than willing to offer their special financing. :rolleyes:
     

    warthog

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    Yes, Aspen sucks, I regret that, I really should have checked them out better. I didn't get much free except X-rays from Aspen…went back to tell them I wanted my money back, since they give a money back garauntee, they told me sue us. I just let it go though, it wasn't worth the bother to me.

    Thanks folks, I will check out the Universities and see, good idea. Thanks for the PMs too, all of you thank you. Keep it coming and when I am able to find someone, I will let you all know!

    Insurance company wasn't much help either.
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    Yes, Aspen sucks, I regret that, I really should have checked them out better. I didn't get much free except X-rays from Aspen…went back to tell them I wanted my money back, since they give a money back garauntee, they told me sue us. I just let it go though, it wasn't worth the bother to me.

    Thanks folks, I will check out the Universities and see, good idea. Thanks for the PMs too, all of you thank you. Keep it coming and when I am able to find someone, I will let you all know!

    Insurance company wasn't much help either.
    DoggyMama has gone to the School of Dentistry at IUPUI for other things (no dental insurance) and they've been reasonable.
     

    warthog

    Shooter
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    I will check with the UIPUI people too. I used to know someone who went there back in my own college days. I have insurance but I don't really know who will take it since it is from my disability in the State of IL when I was able to work. If you have teeth, it is pretty good, if you don't though, it really isn't but my heath insurance will cover some of this since it is a surgical thing. Just gonna keep on trying until I am able to get this done so I can east sammiches and pizza again…and peanuts or pistachios, I love those things too.
     

    hoosierdoc

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    Have you looked at turning point? It’s in Indianapolis.

    https://www.turningpointdentalimplants.com/

    mini implants are an option too. My wife doesn’t do them. Her boss in Shelbyville does mini implants, about half cost of full ones and she said she thinks it would hold dentures just fine.

    The crown is same size but it has a smaller post going into bone than a full implant
     

    warthog

    Shooter
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    Hosierdoc, I will check them out too. I don't get to Indy much anymore so I really haven't done a lot of exploring and my computer is kinda old now, not supported, so checking places online sometimes doesn't work well for me….:(

    Thank You! I will check the thread and eventually save the thread for future reference until I get this worked out and get to a point to finally decide. I can say I learned things like the at least four implants, not the two that Aspen wanted to do for me, for more money of course. I will keep you all updated, thanks again.
     

    hoosierdoc

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    Good luck. Turning point only does implants and they get big discounts from the suppliers. May be cheapest people around Indy and worth a drive
     

    NKBJ

    at the ark
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    Have you looked at Costa Rica. From what I've heard over the last ten years you can get better service, patient care and end results for much lower costs.
     

    hoosierdoc

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    I’d be careful saying “better results”. You can find cheaper care there and it’s a concierge practice so of course you are treated like a king. But better outcomes? I’d like to see evidence of that.
     

    SmileDocHill

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    Have you looked at Costa Rica. From what I've heard over the last ten years you can get better service, patient care and end results for much lower costs.

    I’d be careful saying “better results”. You can find cheaper care there and it’s a concierge practice so of course you are treated like a king. But better outcomes? I’d like to see evidence of that.

    Yeah I've seen 2 horrible cases out of Costa Rica. Ive seen a couple good cases from "somewhere south of the US" that looked like they could have been done by a prosthodontist in the states. My experience is 100% bad for CR and 2 for 6 overall for dental tourism south of the US. I'm talking about, bridge work that of course looks ok to good on the surface but margins that fit like boots on a rooster and materials that suggest they melted spoons.
     

    Dirtebiker

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    Yeah I've seen 2 horrible cases out of Costa Rica. Ive seen a couple good cases from "somewhere south of the US" that looked like they could have been done by a prosthodontist in the states. My experience is 100% bad for CR and 2 for 6 overall for dental tourism south of the US. I'm talking about, bridge work that of course looks ok to good on the surface but margins that fit like boots on a rooster and materials that suggest they melted spoons.
    Of course it’s melted spoons. How do you think they're so cheap?
     

    NKBJ

    at the ark
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    I’d be careful saying “better results”. You can find cheaper care there and it’s a concierge practice so of course you are treated like a king. But better outcomes? I’d like to see evidence of that.

    By all means, find the evidence.
    I haven't been there and as stated can only tell you what I've been told.
    One fellow I worked with in NE Texas had all of his done in Costa Rica with excellent results.
    Others heard of have not included problems so that's better than what I'm hearing here.
     

    hoosierdoc

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    But Consider your sample size. How many of your friends walk around saying what great dental work they got? But if you got bad dental work, you tell anyone who will listen.

    One bad outcome spreads like gossip through dozens or hundreds of people. And then everyone “knows of a friend who“. Sure, there are people doing bad work out there. Based on the size of our country probably a lot of them. The vast majority of care I’m sure is above board.

    In theory if you look at medical tourism, these places rely enormously on word-of-mouth and reputation. So they will have their own quality control in place to make sure the providers are doing a good job. A random dentist on the side of the road is just trying to do his or her best and is self regulated.

    There of been plenty of stories of medical surgeries done somewhere else and then there’s a complication and the person cannot get any local surgeon to take over the case. At least not until the complication becomes an emergency and they show up in an ER needing something done immediately and the law mandates they get involved.
     

    WebSnyper

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    By all means, find the evidence.
    I haven't been there and as stated can only tell you what I've been told.
    One fellow I worked with in NE Texas had all of his done in Costa Rica with excellent results.
    Others heard of have not included problems so that's better than what I'm hearing here.

    Personally, I try to avoid going places that I don't want to go for medical care should the need arise while there, I'm definitely not going to places like that just to get medical care...
     

    BugI02

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    Personally, I try to avoid going places that I don't want to go for medical care should the need arise while there, I'm definitely not going to places like that just to get medical care...


    THIS ^^^^ I don't even like to vacation in places where I wouldn't want to be in their hospitals should I be injured
     
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