Friday, September 5, 2014

Rich Dentists

Several years ago Norma was told she needed dental implants. Her dentist here in Campbell river referred her a pair of Danish brothers in Victoria and convinced her they were the best thing since sliced bread. Long story short, they gave her implants and dentures over a several month period at the cost of $30,000 (direct to them) and and additional $10,000 for travel and hotels. She had "insurance" but they had a limit of $1,500 per year and only paid $3,000 in total because it was over two years. This took a large chunk out of our retirement savings! Their method was to permanently attach the bottoms to her jaw and that has worked perfectly. They are as good today as when they were put in. Rock solid. The top jaw was done differently. They embedded four metal rods into the upper jaw and equipped the upper plate with four tiny strong magnets. When she put the denture in, the magnets snapped onto the posts and held solid. This worked well for three or four years before they started to loosen and wander a bit in the jaw, no longer lining up properly.

This was not a perfect solution but she had suffered with bad teeth for so long she was happy to get rid of at least most of the pain and inconvenience and lived with the results until she went back to see him five years after it was done and was told she should have been coming back once a year to have everything checked and tightened. He tightened everything and charged her $1,000.

Several months later we were in Mexico when she started gagging in the middle of the night and spit out one of the implants! She went into the bathroom to rinse out her mouth with Listerine and the Listerine came out her nose! There was a hole right through into her sinus cavity.That quickly healed over and she refused to go back to the over-paid Danish brothers.

Now everything on the top is loose again and yesterday she went to a local denturist for an opinion. He said she is not the first person who has come to him after seeing those jerks in Victoria. He had a look and sent her for X-rays. He is sure he can do something for her, hopefully using the same upper denture. The X-rays are next week. The saga continues.

16 comments:

  1. I really feel for her. I've recently had 4 root canals and I hate going to the dentist too.

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    1. I have had a few of those myself. Not a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon!

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  2. Awful story about those two Dentist brothers. I hope the denturist can solve the problem with a good fix.

    FYI: We met a few RVers who had complete mouth implants in Algodones, MX. $6,500 and they had a new set of teeth. I was sent to a BC Endodontist - a dental surgeon - for surgery following a failed root canal. Cosy for surgery? $4,000. Said no thanks. Had the surgery and new crown done in Algadones (@ awesome high tech clinic) three years ago for the grand total of $390 Canadian. No issues and tooth is great.

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    1. I was unable to talk Norma into going to a specialist in Algodones. She did not want to have surgery that far away from home and I had to respect her wishes after giving my best arguments. It would have saved a bundle. I am glad yours worked out!

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    2. Interesting topic Croft (and Norma). Appreciate your candor. I am facing some of these issues in the near future - ugh! Please keep us posted.

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  3. Canadian and American dentists are crooks. It would have to be a dire emergency for me to ever set foot in a Canadian dentist office again. I needed some bridge work done a few years ago. Went to two Canadian dentists who each quoted around $3,500. Went to an American dentist in New York State who said he wouldn't even do a bridge and wanted to charge $10,000 for implants.

    Had the bridge done in Chetumal for 6,000 pesos which at the time was about $550 Canadian. It's been almost five years now and the work is as good as the day I left the dentist chair.

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  4. That's an unsettling story, Croft. I'd be very curious to know who those Danish dentist brother are as I had a couple of sessions last year with 2 dentist brothers in Victoria whose last names began with an H and ended with an s as in Hxxxxxs. My quote was $30,000 for implants and I declined.

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    1. Rick, did you end up getting implants or are you thinking about Mexico? Rene's dentist there sounds like a good place to start.

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  5. Pretty sure you could FLY to Mexico, stay a couple days in a hotel, get your dental work done, and still come out ahead. Good luck with all that.

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    1. In Canada it took 7 or 8 appointments, in Mexico it would have to be done in 2 or 3. This seems to be the difference. But then, how many of those Canadian appointments were just to run up the bill?

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  6. My in laws had $11,000 Cdn worth of work done a couple of years ago in Algodones. He's happy, she, not so happy, but it would have been 90K in Canada, so that buffers the discomfort a bit. It seems they are pretty good at what they do there, but Norma's right, that much work all at once so far from home can be an issue.

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    1. That is quite a difference! Not many people would have $90K laying around.

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  7. For years I had bad teeth, a couple of abscesses every year, have them pulled, add teeth to my partial plates.
    About 10 years ago got full dentures $1,500. No more pain, no more bills, easy reasonable fix for me.

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  8. Not sure what is worse... the high cost or all the pain Norma has to endure. Hope it all works out.

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  9. I'm thinking very strongly about getting a full implant for my upper. I have some teeth still but I have a large prosthetic with about 6 teeth that is not very stable and is not very easy to eat on.

    Does anyone have a name of a known good Algodones clinic? I got the name of someone there who can do crowns but I'm not sure if she's the best place to get a full implant bridge.

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