Trillian: i wouldn't feel bad for using the free clinic even though you have PHI. You pay your taxes don't you? The clinic would be funded from government taxes. Or does it have a long waiting list and others might miss out if you use the clinic? We have PHI and yet i wouldn't feel bad about going to the public hospital if we needed to... my DH pays more in tax than most people in our rural town earn so if we are helping to fund a system then we should have access to it too.... unless, I guess, we were rolling in $$$ and weren't counting every dollar like we currently are. Go use the clinic if the private dentist is going to rip you off like that. We have had our kids' teeth sealed too and paid what Jols said... about $40 a tooth... but our PHI covered 80% of that. Dental is where we REALLY benefit from PHI... especially when you are a family of 5 and feel like the dentist is a "home away from home" some months!