Financial help for dental not covered by medical card?

caesura

Hi guys,

Just wondering if there's any support by the eastern health board or any other body for work which is not covered by medical card.

The reason i'm wondering is that I have to get a root canal which is going to cost me €300 - €350 which is not covered by the medical card. I need to get this job finished soon as my dentist said if i leave it too long with temp filling he put in it would most likely abscess so he's expecting me back in there in the next couple of weeks.

Someone mentioned that it might be possible to get further support for this by filling in some form or other...has anyone ever heard of this?

Is it possible?

I'd appreciate any information or guidance anyone could give me on this.

Thanks!
C.

meoklmrk91

Get a letter from your dentist stating what you need to have done and the cost. Then jess down to your local CWO show them the letter, there is something called an urgent needs payment which is for people in situations where they need cash fast, for instance if a funeral was to come up. Your CWO will be able to tell you what assistance you ate and are not entitled to. Best of luck.

caesura

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

Get a letter from your dentist stating what you need to have done and the cost. Then jess down to your local CWO show them the letter, there is something called an urgent needs payment which is for people in situations where they need cash fast, for instance if a funeral was to come up. Your CWO will be able to tell you what assistance you ate and are not entitled to. Best of luck.

Thanks meoklmrk91 - where would i find the CWO are they based in Eastern Health Board offices? Gonna look up that urgent needs payment thing now...hopefully it'll work out. Thanks again.

If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know as the more avenues I can follow up on the better.

Cheers

mp22

http://www.welfare.ie/EN/ContactUs/Pages/cwo_contact.aspx

snubbleste

You won't get Exceptional Needs Payment for medical/dental treatment from your CWO. If it is not covered by the medical card, your only option is to get a loan, ask the dentist if he will take installments or try a dental teaching hospital.

caesura

snubbleste wrote: »

You won't get Exceptional Needs Payment for medical/dental treatment from your CWO. If it is not covered by the medical card, your only option is to get a loan, ask the dentist if he will take installments or try a dental teaching hospital.

S**t...so essentially then there's nothing available?

Dentist won't take installments and I hear the dental hospitals have a fairly long waiting list (and besides my own dentist has already started the job) and there's no chance of getting a loan.

I'll go down to citizens info this afternoon and see if they know of any other service that might be available...it'd be great if the health board did a kind of loan thing for urgent situations even if i could get half the amount or something but don't want to approach them directly until i know of something as i've heard they can be pretty unhelpful unless you know exactly what you're talking about in terms of possible support or entitlement.