Re: Suddenly I need 6 Crowns?

I appreciate all who have answered my post.
Yes, this is a health plan; Cigna. I believe it is an HMO.
You all bring up excellent points. It seems that any tooth that has been filled earlier in your life will eventually require a crown. I suppose crowns are better than dentures or implants.
The thing that annoyed me was that I agreed to to fix only the broken tooth and when I went to pay the receptionist I was billed an extra $125 for the crown because Cigna allows an extra $125 per crown for 6 or more crowns and I just so happened to suddenly need 6 crowns. It just doesn't smell right.
Thanks again.
Rich

Dr Steve wrote:
No one can tell you anything about your teeth from the internet. We can tell you generalities and explain terms to you. In general, if you just broke one tooth, you *could* quite likely have 2-3 others ready to break as well. My experience is that this usually occurs in patients who clench with great force while sleeping. Very few of these patients are aware they are doing this until we show them all the signs of it. If the margins on the other fillings are beginning to chip, it may be wise to replace the others as well.

I can make some guesses here: As far as crown vs. filling. If you had the crown done on that tooth in 1968, it would (in most cases) still be fine. You would have avoided the three (counting now) subsequent re-treatments of this tooth. You now have 30 years of inflation to pay for, you have already paid two other times to re-fill it, you will need to pay for it to be re-filled prior to getting a crown now (unless you choose to get an onlay), and you still have to pay for the crown. Each time the tooth was retreated, more tooth was removed. It would have been much cheaper to get the crown back in 1968. Possibly the filling was not big enough in 1968 to need a crown, but I bet it was large enough in 1970 or 1975.

Who knows specifically about your teeth? Get another opinion if you like. Ten different dentists will come up with ten different treatment plans, so be prepared for differing opinions. When do we say a tooth should have a crown or an onlay done to protect it? That is a judgment call which is based on years of training and experience. Depends on lots of different factors.

I assume we are NOT talking about a PPO or HMO/DMO type insurance scheme which forces dental offices to upgrade treatment offerings to cover their cost of doing business.

.

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