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Mummydreamer, where exactly are you? You can PM me if you like. In my town (West Wyalong) there is a school dental clinic that covers children up to the age of 18 with free dental treatment. They don't even have to be at school yet. There could be a service like that near you - this one operates out of the local school and travels to the next town as well.
I understand what you are saying though, but I think it's a bit of a media beatup to always blame it on what our kids eat. I have 4 kids, they all eat the same things and have a pretty good diet, yet two of them just have crappy teeth. Last year alone we spent $2500 on their teeth - both preventative and treatment for fillings etc and if we didn't have PHI that covered most of that cost we'd not be able to afford it either (I stopped using the free clinic once we got PHI - I didn't think it was right to keep using it). Even last week I took DS1 for a checkup and a mouthguard fitting and the dentist did some fissure seals on 4 of his teeth as a prevention and it cost over $600 just for that and that didn't include the cost of the mouthguard! So it is terribly expensive and I agree that often dental care is just unaffordable for many people. All you can do it make sure you brush their teeth the best you can and try to eat things that will also help.
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trillian $600 for 4 fissure seals whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?
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It was 4 fissure seals on his molars at $140 each and then a $50 check up and a $40 flouride treatment. I was actually left with a gap of $78, but the last two times I've been there we've not had to pay the gap. I guess he feels sorry for us LOL. It seems like I'm in there every week. Two weeks ago I had DS2 in there for a filling and a fissure seal, then L was on Friday and E is next friday for 2 more fillings. Last year E had 11 fillings and seals in a single session and it cost nearly $1300 - lucky the gap was only about $125.
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i cant believe they were $140 a seali know they would have gone up but when i was wroking only 4 years ago they were only $40 each
ETA i just made appointments for my girls and i asked how much Fissure seals are now at there $46 each,
Last edited by Olive; March 17th, 2011 at 10:30 AM.
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WOW! That is a huge difference. On the hi-caps receipt it had them down as fillings, so I'm guessing the item numbers are key hereNothing like a bit of profiteering hey? Maybe that's why they didn't worry about me paying the gap LOL.
ETA - Jols, just out of curiosity I phoned our dentist's surgery and said my child needed fissure seals and how much would it cost, and I was told $60 if there was no fillings needed otherwise it would be more. Now I know he didn't need fillings because after the checkup, the Dentist said to me that his teeth were fine, but he had deep groves in his 6yo molars so he would seal them to prevent decay etc. So I was definitely scammed LOL. But I'm thinking that I was charged more because he knows we have PHI.
Sorry to take this off track Mummydreamer!
Last edited by Trillian; March 17th, 2011 at 10:38 AM.
BellyBelly Life Subscriber
you're spot on trill and its wrong
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both of mine get yearly checks for free through the school dentist till they are 6 then the school covers them. infact they just went 2 weeks ago my 3 year old has the best teeth they had seen for ages
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