Dental work for a 7 year old €3,400 - REALLY !?!

mulhihillclan

Hi All,

I'd really appreciate your help with regards to my 7 year old sons dental issues.

~ My son is a sensory child (all his senses are heightened)
~ He needed 2 fillings and my dentist would not do them due to his health history & he did not cope well having a regular check up. I totally agreed with her.
~ I was told a pediatric dentist would be my best option for my son as they could sedate him.
~ I visited the recommended pediatric dentist. I paid €150 for the consultation (VHI will reimburse me €40)
~I was given a list of works that my son needed after all x-rays done:

Remove upper right back tooth and insert a space maintainer
Remove upper left back tooth and insert a space maintainer
Back Upper left tooth is "Abnormal" and needs investigating (something about a
nerve) and mentioned possible crown &/or plump therapy depending on tooth.
2 fillings someplace else.

After discussing the best treatment for my son, the dentist and I both agreed he would not cope with 5 dental visits to have the listed works done. We both agreed having the work done in hospital was the best option.

HOWEVER its just the cost that has "knocked me for 6" (all work on baby teeth BTW)

The hospital bed & anesthetic is €1,400 (VHI claim means I will pay €325 of this)
Dental work €1,960 - of which VHI will not cover.

I am looking at an out of pocket expense of €2,285 ....Yikes !!!

I have a medical card that my family received when my husband was out of work but we no longer use it (husband got a job 2 years ago) and instead took out VHI. The following day I rang the office to ask can the work be done through the medical card and I was told no ?

I guess my questionS if you can help are:

1. Why cant my son have the treatment done through the medical card?
2. I have paperwork from my sons Clinical Psychologist stating recommended dental work
is carried out at a hospital.
3. Why have I not got the option of going private or public at the dentist (just like a doctors)
4. If I visit my own dentist can she put him through as a public patient ?

I'm at my wits end. My son needs the work done, he is in pain and can't eat BUT I honestly do not have €2,285 to carry out the work, unless I take out a loan.

Any help or recommendations all welcome.
Thanks in advance.

helimachoptor

mulhihillclan wrote: »

1. Why cant my son have the treatment done through the medical card?
2. I have paperwork from my sons Clinical Psychologist stating recommended dental work
is carried out at a hospital.
3. Why have I not got the option of going private or public at the dentist (just like a doctors)
4. If I visit my own dentist can she put him through as a public patient ?

I'm at my wits end. My son needs the work done, he is in pain and can't eat BUT I honestly do not have €2,285 to carry out the work, unless I take out a loan.

1) The medical card is very limited, one of the dentists can clarify what a child can get but it may just be one filling per year or something like that. I would highly doubt it's going to stretch to a hospital visit.
2) Per point 1, I dont think it will make a difference to be honest
3) some dentists do HSE work some dont. Again from a laymans view, treating a child is likely to consume a lot of time compared to an adult, if a Paed dentist was getting paid the HSE rate he'd likely be broke given the reduced number of patients they'd be treating.
4) That may be fraud :eek:

Haithabu

I would to go back to your own family dentist and ask for their opinion on the treatment plan. Just to make sure it's all really medically necessary and that the prices are reasonable and customary. One has to assume that everythig is okay but I once went to a dentist in Swords after I moved there as I had a loose filling. The dentist said he needs to make an x-ray as he would need to check what the tooth looks like inside. I agreed to that. After the x-ray the dentist said that all my existing fillings would to be replaced as they will all fall out within the next year anyway due to poor quality when initially fittet. I went to another dentist in Swords who replaced my filling and who did not mention anything about the other fillings. That is about 8 years ago and I have not come across any issues about the other fillings yet. I never went back to the first dentist but thinking about it I should have reported this.

If all the treatment you describe is really medically necessary and the prices are okay, check your husbands VHI membership, he might be able to upgrade his VHI company plan to include more dental benefit (but you will have to wait until it's active, you can not backdate it unless someone made an error when setting his plan up). He might have to pay a higher fee but it might e less than the prize you have stated.

If that is no option reconsider the 5 dental visits if that is much cheaper. If any treatment is done as a public patient it might be 5 visits instead of the hospital stay anyway depending on the psychologist's certificate (does it say it is "recommended" that the work is to be done in a hospital or does it say it's "medically necesary"?)

I can't comment on the medical card as I don't know anything about that.

If worst come to worst, explain the situation to the dentist and see if they can do an interest-free payment plan over a longer time that saves you the costs of taking out a loan. Your husband might also get an interest-free loan which he pays back in installments deducted from his wage.

I also heard that dental work carried out in Poland or Hungary can be done at a much lower prize but I would not know where to ask for that.

davo10

mulhihillclan wrote: »

Hi All,

I'd really appreciate your help with regards to my 7 year old sons dental issues.

~ My son is a sensory child (all his senses are heightened)
~ He needed 2 fillings and my dentist would not do them due to his health history & he did not cope well having a regular check up. I totally agreed with her.
~ I was told a pediatric dentist would be my best option for my son as they could sedate him.
~ I visited the recommended pediatric dentist. I paid €150 for the consultation (VHI will reimburse me €40)
~I was given a list of works that my son needed after all x-rays done:

Remove upper right back tooth and insert a space maintainer
Remove upper left back tooth and insert a space maintainer
Back Upper left tooth is "Abnormal" and needs investigating (something about a
nerve) and mentioned possible crown &/or plump therapy depending on tooth.
2 fillings someplace else.

After discussing the best treatment for my son, the dentist and I both agreed he would not cope with 5 dental visits to have the listed works done. We both agreed having the work done in hospital was the best option.

HOWEVER its just the cost that has "knocked me for 6" (all work on baby teeth BTW)

The hospital bed & anesthetic is €1,400 (VHI claim means I will pay €325 of this)
Dental work €1,960 - of which VHI will not cover.

I am looking at an out of pocket expense of €2,285 ....Yikes !!!

I have a medical card that my family received when my husband was out of work but we no longer use it (husband got a job 2 years ago) and instead took out VHI. The following day I rang the office to ask can the work be done through the medical card and I was told no ?

I guess my questionS if you can help are:

1. Why cant my son have the treatment done through the medical card?
2. I have paperwork from my sons Clinical Psychologist stating recommended dental work
is carried out at a hospital.
3. Why have I not got the option of going private or public at the dentist (just like a doctors)
4. If I visit my own dentist can she put him through as a public patient ?

I'm at my wits end. My son needs the work done, he is in pain and can't eat BUT I honestly do not have €2,285 to carry out the work, unless I take out a loan.

Any help or recommendations all welcome.
Thanks in advance.

Hi op.

The answers to your questions unfortunately will not make good reading for you.

The HSE has responcibility for the treatment of children's teeth until 16 years of age, your medical card cannot be used to recieve treatment for your child with any dentist outside of the HSE. The HSE will not cover the cost outside of one of their own clinics. You can request that the HSE do treatment under GA but your child will be placed on a waiting list, they will only do extractions, no space maintainers, no restorative work on baby teeth. Unfortunately if you want this work done, you have to pay.

You have the option of going private or public at your dentist within the constraints of the public system which allows for one examination, two fillings and as many extractions as you need within each calendar year. If you need/want more than that you have to pay privately and that of course depends on whether your dentist is in the Med Card scheme, many dentists are not and are fully private. Children under 16 do not have that option, they either recieve free treatment as public patients in HSE clinics or have to pay private fees for any treatment recieved at non HSE run clinics.

There are only a few specialist paediatric dentists in the country, they get referred patients with special needs or disibilities. In a case like your son, he will probably be the dentist's only patient that morning/afternoon and there is a lot of treatment to be done so unfortunately there is a premium attached to the work.

senorG

Hi,

My son who has asd needed emergency dental work done, we rang the 'school' dentist who agreed to see him at fairly short notice when we explained the situation.
He was then referred to Crumlin Hosp where he was sedated to get the work carried out. This was done on the public system, the local dentist was great as were Crumlin, was all done in less than a month a couple of years ago..

davo10

senorG wrote: »

Hi,

My son who has asd needed emergency dental work done, we rang the 'school' dentist who agreed to see him at fairly short notice when we explained the situation.
He was then referred to Crumlin Hosp where he was sedated to get the work carried out. This was done on the public system, the local dentist was great as were Crumlin, was all done in less than a month a couple of years ago..

Unfortunately HSE policy has changed and they do not tend to do restorative treatments on baby teeth now, no fillings, no crowns, no space maintainers. They will however fill adult teeth but this may not help the op's son.

Sleeper12

mulhihillclan wrote:

I am looking at an out of pocket expense of €2,285 ....Yikes !!!

If you fill in a med 2 form (I think it's called) you can claim some of this back from revenue. I'm not sure how much but 20% springs to mind

davo10

Sleeper12 wrote: »

If you fill in a med 2 form (I think it's called) you can claim some of this back from revenue. I'm not sure how much but 20% springs to mind

No for "routine" dental treatments.

senorG

davo10 wrote: »

Unfortunately HSE policy has changed and they do not tend to do restorative treatments on baby teeth now, no fillings, no crowns, no space maintainers. They will however fill adult teeth but this may not help the op's son.

Is this the policy for kids with special needs too? My lad goes to the same public dentist every 3 months to keep him used to going and to nip any problems in the bud. He got a (very small) filling in a baby tooth in the last couple of weeks.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Yep OP, the work planned sounds very through, comprehensive and with though for his future dental needs. However the public system will not deal with this that way. In a system of limited resources it will happen slowly and only basic care is given. You can investigate with your local HSE dental clinic, however you will find the experiance somewhat different from the paediatric specialist.

I know some general dentist that have interest in this type of work, although they do not have access to a GA list, but they are cheaper. If a loan is an option, I can think of a lot of loans taken out for far more selfish, frivolous and useless reasons.

cloloco

HSE dentist can assess him but if he doesn't fall inside their parameters then you'll have to pay to have the work done yourself.

Having checked their guidelines it looks like teeth would need to be quite severe before they'll do (orthodontic treatment etc) anything and even if they agree to carry out the work you are still looking at very long waiting times that he might not be able to tolerate.

If he really needs it done and he is in pain then ask the dentist will they let you do a payment plan and then claim whatever you are allowed back for medical expenses through revenue (and cross your fingers that he won't need braces, I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the cost of those).

mulhihillclan

Thanks everyone for all the information and taking the time to reply to me - it really was very helpful and cleared up alot of my questions.
I applied for a bank loan today so all going well my little man will have the best set of teeth in Ireland within a month

Kristopherus

mulhihillclan wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all the information and taking the time to reply to me - it really was very helpful and cleared up alot of my questions.
I applied for a bank loan today so all going well my little man will have the best set of teeth in Ireland within a month

Best of luck with everything. But won't that lovely set of teeth fall out eventually? Hopefully the permanent replacements won't cause any issues.