The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: El Gringo on September 27, 2017, 03:48:30 PM
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The dentist tells me that my overbite is grinding my teeth away and suggests the clear aligners Invisalign. My insurance will pay $2,000 but it will still cost another $4,000 out of pocket. Does anyone know if there are alternatives?
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What about plain ol' braces? Would those be cheaper or about the same?
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Night guard? Don't get one that's called NTI. NTI would create an open bite, and you definitely will need orthodontia and possibly jaw surgery to fix.
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I recently completed 6 months using SDC (smiledirectclub.com), an they gave me 12 trays very similar to invisalign, and the cost was $1550 (invisalign had quoted $5500, even from a dental school!). I couldn't be happier. The most annoying process was the dental impressions, which took me 3 tries to get right, but each time they sent another kit for free. If you live near one of their 'smile shops' which are everywhere but the west coast, then you can get your mouth 3d scanned for free and you can avoid the imrpession process. There are good and bad reviews of them online, but mostly the bad happens if you don't wear your aligners for the whole 2 weeks like you should. There's a good facebook support group you can find for invisible aligners that has lots of tips. I was very satisfied.
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dental tourism.
Lots of places in the world where OOP dental costs are a fraction of what they are in the US, but the procedures are the same and the quality is on par.
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I went to the smiledirectclub.com, it said $87 payments for 24 months, thats $2088 + $95 for the impressions. Wish I had my $11,000 back for my two kids.
On the other hand, this doesn't bode well for my daughter going in for her 3rd dental school interview tomorrow. She is hoping to become an orthodontist. I guess the drop back is to be a dentist :-) Might save me a year of dental school tuition!
Editing to add, I found another page were it says $1850 or $87 payments for 24 months.
Discount for full payment.
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I went to the smiledirectclub.com, it said ...
Editing to add, I found another page were it says $1850 or $87 payments for 24 months.
Discount for full payment.
Please share the URL of that page.
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dental tourism.
Lots of places in the world where OOP dental costs are a fraction of what they are in the US, but the procedures are the same and the quality is on par.
Out of curiosity, how does that make sense for something like braces, which need to be looked at every couple of weeks? (This is not an attack - I'm seriously asking.)
I'm also curious about the ability of SDC to fix serious issues such as underbites/overbites/etc. I would assume they are limited and seeing an actual orthodontist/regular braces would be the best bet?
OP, if your teeth don't need to be aligned, a mouth guard may suffice.
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I am doing Invisalign. Have you looked at dentists in the area that are not right in metro DC proper to see how their prices compare? It might be worth a drive every 2-3 months if you could save $1000 on the devices.
Think Baltimore...
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What about plain ol' braces? Would those be cheaper or about the same?
This. Go see an orthodontist. I got braces about 5 years ago. The cheapest was braces on the front of your teeth, then lingual, then Invisalign.
I had lingual. I also didn't like Invisalign because you took them out to eat and couldn't put them back in until you brushed. I liked regular braces because they were working 24 hours per day.