Worst case scenario?

mydearwatson

My sister hasn't been to the dentist in around 6-7 years. She's 24 now.

She doesn't have much pain with her teeth, but she has a few fillings already from her teens. And recently - she claims - the entire inside of her bottom back molar has just fallen out ( :eek::eek::eek: ) so obviously I am making her go to a dentist asap. Despite the lack of pain.

She's got a major phobia of dentists, and is currently jobless so unable to pay for any major work. So I'm going to help her out with this.

I'm just wondering, as regards costs. I'm going to assume her teeth are totally and completely fecked. (They look pretty normal from the front, but I assume they're in bits with the lack of dental care.) But, if they're really really bad, how much is she looking at to get them sorted?

Obviously I know it's impossible to say without seeing them -- I'm very much talking ballpark figures!

Thanks!

Oral Surgeon

Hey there,
Most general dentists will do an exam, scale and polish and xrays for about €80-€100
Next step is to treat "disease"

• gum disease (not likely or mild if 24) usually treated with the scale and polish already done and then some simple oral hygiene advice at the first visit
• extract all hopeless teeth, approx €80-100 for a regular removal, €150-€200 for a surgical removal(difficult) or €300 for a lower wisdom tooth
• Fill decayed teeth, back fillings (amalgam/silver) approx €100 each
• Root canal treatment may be an option if the tooth is decayed to the point of having a dead pulp but still has enough tooth structure to justify saving (can be €300-€700 or so, more expensive the further back it is) As these teeth need crowns afterwards, it can be expensive- extraction is the other option for these teeth

Once "disease" is treated and the mouth is in a good state of health you may look at;

• Crowns/bridges/implants etc

but not before all the above steps are complete and maintained (the last thing you want is expensive crowns and then to get decay around the margins or adjacent teeth because no one noticed that you drink a case of coca-cola a day....


May not be as bad as you think- get the initial exam done and you should then have a clear plan of what is involved- it may just be one tooth that needs work...

Good luck,
OS

swanangel

I just wanted to comment on how kind of a brother you are, lucky sister!