Actually shaking and fucking crying. $3,400 for five teeth. I thought there’d be a payment plan or something but no. They really expected me to pay $3,400 in full today.
I wasn’t informed of payment options. I wasn’t informed of the price before a week ago. I’ve been preparing and waiting for this for over a fucking year!
Financial worker asked how much I could afford today. Said $10. Then she told me I couldn’t get the surgery. Told her I guess I’m just too poor to fucking exist. Just left. So sick of it. I’m begging for wage slavery and begging for thousands of dollars in medical debt. I’m begging for these awful fucking things, credit cards as well. It’s like I’m going around screaming “kick me in the nuts!” at the nut-kicking convention and nobody can fucking hear me, or worse, hears me and says they’d rather kick someone who’s wasted away more of their time behind a cash register than I have in the nuts.
My teeth are gonna come in crooked, penetrating my sinuses and squeezing my other teeth together so hard I don’t go a day without bleeding and swelling. It’s only gonna get worse.
FUCK.
This is legitimately dystopian. I’m so sorry, comrade. I wish I could help.
How long do you have before they come in? Is there any chance you can get back on your feet before it starts seriously impacting your health?
Honestly, that’d probably be enough to unfixably radicalize me toward headline-making. You have my sincerest condolences, homie.
Can’t believe I stopped being a Maoist lol. I was so angry. I’m more zen now. But sometimes an apparition of Gonzalo appears faintly in the back of my mind and tells me to redacted power generators and pig stations.
Ah yes, the voice I call ‘the out-of-pocket’/‘scaring the maidens’ voice. That voice that just sits in the back of the bus with a shit-eating grin like “man, aren’t you just SICK of playing by the rules? Aren’t you just TIRED of playing nice with these muhfuckas?”
I wish I had advice to get you out of this horrible predicament.
Just knowing someone is listening helps. Thank you.
We are listening, friend. I am sorry the system is subjecting you to this.
Are there any dental/orthodontal services that work on a sliding scale/provide payment plans based on financial need? Are there any nonprofit clinics or groups that can help you find care? Could you be eligible for Medicaid in your state?
I am so sorry this is happening to you. It’s fucked up beyond words. There may be some resources available that can help you through it, even though it should not fall on you to navigate these things.
Thank you comrade. I apologized to the financial worker, said I’m not mad at her but I’m just mad that I’m too poor to afford necessary surgeries. She gave me a sticky note: “MAY xxth: FREE CLINIC 3 TEETH LOCAL ANESTHESIA” which is epic. Basically saying that they’ll remove up to 3 of the teeth for free, and I won’t get put under for the process. Which is… good that it exists I guess, I will go to it and get what I can get done done. But it’s utterly more horrifying than what I expected today, some loopy gas and an IV sleeping fluid. I get to witness the surgical destruction of my gums and the strategic removal of part of my skull :)
So I guess really I’m just too poor to afford not to be put into excruciating pain for an hour and to have all of the problem teeth removed. Seriously I’ll DM ppl an x-ray of my mouth if they want (it’s really fucked up looking and honestly kind of metal. album cover worthy), these teeth need gone.
I am feeling a little better after your and others’ responses. Thank you.
If it makes you feel better, my understanding is the local anesthetic will prevent you from feeling pain but the drilling and all that will be pretty uncomfortable rattling around in your skull. You might need to ask about getting prescribed painkillers afterward as well. I wish I knew more about the process so I could help more! Definitely talk with the people at the clinic about your options and how you could get the other two teeth removed (I have no way of knowing how likely this is, but if you explain the situation they may even remove all 5 for you. The people that work at these free clinics genuinely want to help)
Hoping all works out for you! It obviously is cruel and unjust, but if you have the ability to navigate the different services around you you should be able to get the care you need, even if under nonideal circumstances. Unfortunately, many are unable to do so :/ You could potentially try to find a health care navigator (which is free) to help you as well. Stay strong comrade!
Do you live near the border with another country that might have cheaper dental services?
Canada is maybe half the cost, Mexico is maybe half the cost. Unfortunately I live in the Midwest, so Canada’s a better bet though I don’t border it. Still have to pay ~$1800 according to a brief skim of the internet, but it’s… better lol.
Cuba pls allow me medical asylum this country is a fuck 😫 I’d do literally any type of labor, forever, for the privilege!
you should consider going over the border to mexico. There’s a whole industry catering towards americans crossing the border to get dental work done.
2nding this. Depending on the type of dental work you need, taking a trip to mexico might be your best bet.
Does your state offer any financial help?
Have you called other dentists to see what they offer in terms of payment plans/sliding scale? Sometimes dental schools have cheaper care.
Do you feel comfortable saying what state you’re in? Maybe I can search around online and find some assistance. If not, google something like “Statename free dental care for adults” or “Statename low cost dental clinic.”
Consider going on reddit and asking on your state’s/cities subreddit and ask.
Thank you for your advice, I have reiterated my financial situation to SNAP & will be asking the state about their other programs, including medical.
The last bastion of “social” liberalism in the Midwest, Pritzkerland. Communist Woke-inois according to people like my father. Not near Chicago. Subrural or whatever the hell you’d call it, large but spread out and far from the city. Austerity is horrifically apparent here. Land barons and their kin ought to just plant flags and declare independent warlord states. Maybe better than anywhere else in the Midwest (I would not have been able to get SNAP where I used to live), but it’s still hellworld. Hoping, barring revolution any time soon, Pritzker gets the presidency and immediately orchestrates a progressive self-coup. Pritzkrieg, woo…!
there should be something in that state, cheap or low cost dental care.
sorry to hear that, if it can make feel u any better, dental care is shit here in europe too, a public hospital asked me 1300€ for one single fucking fucking fucking teeth, i ended up paying under the table 350€ to a shady small office in the end, ask for more quotes always
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IDK, it’s also jointly operated by the church, that owns half of rome anyways
>too poorLast I checked that’s the opposite of healthcare
were you able to figure something out?
Not really. Gonna try their free clinic day or whatever it is. Most pressing issue for me now is begging somebody to hire me lol. Teeth can’t wait, but I guess they have to.
That is so fucked up. Tbh, I have an ingrown nail yet the clinic I went to only gave me antibiotic pills and ointment. Like that’s ever going to stop the pain from spreading, its like cleaning a wound and not bandaging it. Fucking lovely state of health and how I learned that they purposefully make it difficult for getting proper medical attention. I really just hate the United States for what it is. Built on a lie…
