My Karma

so lucky

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I have always been very aware of people's teeth, and like Nyboy tend to make judgements about people who have horrible teeth, to my shame.
I have observed that people in the UK tend to have crooked teeth more often than we in the US. We here are an orthodontist's dream. Of course, I know that the health system in the UK has its limits, and probably orthodontics are not covered. And it may not be a big deal over there.
My youngest son walked in front of a truck when he was about 10, and knocked out a permanent front tooth, so he had to get a fake tooth. It has never looked natural, and I have wished over the years that he would get it (and the rest of his teeth) fixed properly.
Two of my grand daughters broke off their front tooth at the same park, a few years apart. While they were in my care! I won the "Bad Grandma" award for that.
One of them now has a cap on her tooth, and braces. The other one still has a snaggle tooth, but I have money set aside to pay for it too, when she gets it fixed.
People judge you by your appearance, sadly enough, and I agree that one needs to do everything they can to keep and protect their teeth.
 

flowerbug

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i broke a front tooth as a kid (hit my step-brother's ice skate as i dove over a snowbank and he was in front). took a long time before i finally had the badly done crown replaced a few years ago. looks nice now.

Mom has had a problem with her jaw and went as far as having bone chunks transplanted and then an implant done for one of her teeth. seems to be holding up ok now. it wasn't cheap, but it avoids having a missing tooth, partial and all that.
 

digitS'

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I wonder if insurance companies have problems with profit where there are few people with insurance.

When they have a job with insurance, they rush to have health care completed that should have been done months or years previously. Marketwatch says that Americans hold each job 4.2 years, on average. I would just bet that there is typically a quick rush to have needed care done each time it is available since intervening jobs may well have not had medical insurance.

Of course, no company, insurance or employers, will be losing money but it must be more expensive to be an employer in those communities. An impediment to offering the employment benefit ...

Steve
 

flowerbug

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@digitS' they just raise the rates same, for any other insurance program. the USoA has very expensive health care all around because it is very inefficient to have multiple plans/providers and all the redundant paperwork. it would free up a lot of people for doing more useful things if we just went to single provider/payer for everything. i used to think that the free market and competition were worth it, but after many years of seeing the other side of things and all the waste i'm no longer convinced we've gotten anything except a lot of wasted $, time spent arguing with insurers, etc. just a huge waste all around.
 

majorcatfish

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i lost my front lower tooth about 2 years ago, my dentist asked if i wanted a partial, why? you told me the other tooth is loss, when it's time to pull it will have implants put in....

try to spit.....:lol:
 

Carol Dee

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Be sure to check your Health insurance. Not your dental for the fix. When son had an accident that knocked out one completely and the other at gum level. He had an overnight hospital stay thinking a concussion too. Then trip to oral surgeon to remove the root of broken tooth. Followed by MANY procedures to prep for an implant. It looks great. Was the way to go as an partial often wears out or causes decay of the teeth it is anchored to making for more work and more fake teeth down the road :( So, you might want to think about an implant. And like I said, our medical insurance covered about 80% due to it being an accident.
 

Carol Dee

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Oops @Nyboy I just went back and read ALL the comments. Sorry to hear you had a failed bone graft in the past. Maybe this tooth will not require a graft 1st. :fl Hang in there.
 
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