Is there such a thing...

as "affordable dental care" here in the U.S of A?



Let's face it - with or without insurance, you still have to fork out a hefty sum of money to get pretty good Dental care here.

The reason for this sudden outburst about dental care was sparked by a 3HOUR drive around the valley searching for Emergency Dental care for Sa last night-which I might add ended back at home with no luck.

The issues were plenty really. First off, he got sudden pain on Independence Day weekend! A million and one places were closing for the entire weekend. Second of all, we had to check if they took his insurance-which was another hassle because some did but didn't provide ER dental care; others didn't but would be okay with billing the insurance company which would give us the risk of their not providing any percentage at all if we had gone through with everything... and lastly, it was midnight and we had the girls in the car with us trying their best to sleep comfortably but I'm sure you all know how that went.

I think it's so frustrating how "insurance" as a whole works; and how it's just frustrating here in the U.S. it is to get things as simple as a tooth being pulled done! Don't get me wrong - I'm no dentist or expert in such fields but if we were back home in Samoa - things would've been a whole lot more different.

Here's an eyeopener... Just incase anyone would dare to challenge me on this before knowing the facts. It's either a hit or no back in Samoa. If you have the money to pay for the care, you get it... if you don't, you'll probably get money from relatives at home or abroad and then you'll get it. We DON'T have hideous ghorry hospitals as most would think to be in a developing country. Though I would only agree we have "LIMITED" supplies, and means to provide the best we can... And by "best" I mean... we don't have the luxury of having one patient per room and music playing in the background, and a tv in our rooms and extra seating for our families who want to come visit. We do have the basic necessities though.
Another fact is simply that healthcare back home is cheap! Once again "limited" in many aspects but STILL cheap - in the sense that it's affordable!
I've had a molar pulled in like 10minutes... and guess what - it only cost me 50CENTS!!! (and that's in Samoan currency too!!!) So that would be like 20CENTS U.S.!!!

I probably would've opted for a more personable dentist, maybe even a little music...and maybe even my own room....(there were about 10 dentists' chairs in a quite spacious room) - Don't worry they were pretty particular about hygiene... But they got the job done.

It took me almost 2wks to heal up pretty nicely...


Note: I didn't have to suss out insurance issues... (How much of 50cents would you like to cover...really??) And I got it done in no time and close to no amount of money!

There are some times when I really wish Samoa was just a tad bit closer!!! I'd go there any day of the week to get all my dental work done then call it a day.

Frustrated? maybe... But boy do I feel sorry for Sa.

Hopefully, I will learn to tolerate the complicated system of the american dental world. This could probably influence me to become a dentist - who knows! Anything is possible. I don't know if I'll be able to offer 50cent jobs worth thousands in today's dental care but I'd certainly hope to run into less obstacles before it's too late.
I certainly appreciate dental professionals but when you try to get your retirement all at once from one person or few more - then there's gonna be more and more frustrated people out there like me to blog about it.



....hmmm.... how much do dentures cost???....hehe...