Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Crown Me

I finally got a temporary crown today after my root canal 2 weeks ago.  I don't remember root canals being painful for a whole week after but, wow, I almost regret doing it.  I still have some strange cold sensitivity so it didn't even fix the problem.  I have to wait 3 more weeks until the final crown arrives but at least I can chew normally again.  Now I can eat all those chips and crusty bread that I couldn't chew before.  There goes the diet.

I was only charged $450, assuming I have enough insurance for the year to cover the other half.  my yearly benefits for dental are $1500 or something tiny and unreasonable like that.  When my work switched to a health savings account, I was skeptical but so far it has worked out well.  Work puts in a quarterly amount in my account and I have money deducted every paycheck so I don't even notice the money going over to the HSA.  It sure is nice to have money in that account when I need it.  I can use it for medical, dental, and prescriptions.  I don't know how many times I have panicked a little when I got a bill and then I remember that I have money in the account just for this reason.  So, today, when I got the $450 bill for my crown, I just handed them my HSA credit card.  Finally, one part of this whole ordeal that was relatively painless.

4 comments:

Dave said...

I have had 2 crowns in the last 10 years. Both time it took a week tops for the permanent crown to come back from the lab after finishing although there were 2 separate visits each a week apart before the permanent one got cemented in. Both crowns had some secondary discomfort from jawbone chips poking through the gum. Both crowns also cost me at least $1,000 with 50% covered by my insurance at the time; I had no HSA. (At least I didn't need any root canals.)

I have had some cold sensitivity after large fillings so I had to be careful with drinks with ice (ask for No Ice). Otherwise, I felt like I'd hit the ceiling LOL! It passed after a week or two.

Good luck, Daizy.

Lizzie@her MFW Homeworld said...

wow, that seems expensive but on the other hand you can eat yummy things again, so worth it!

Daizy said...

Dave, it is amazing how expensive dental work is. I guess I could have just had it pulled but it was so painful to get my 2 wisdom teeth pulled. On the other hand, it was painful to get this root canal and crown and twice the cost so I'm not sure I made the right choice. 1 week for a permanent crown is fast. I don't know why it takes these people 3 weeks. Maybe their lab is in New York and it take one week to ship it there and back. haha.

Daizy said...

Lizzie, I had chewy bagels, cheetos, and potato chips today. I need to slow down!