Be even cooler if we had a gubmint-sponsored dental program to help pay for it.
I think a jawbone replacement would come under medical coverage. The health insurance industry views teeth as something people can live without and will not pay for preventive treatments or replacements. They only deal with teeth when there is sufficient infection to impact the actual jaw bone or other non-enamel parts of the mouth.
I had my teeth straightened as an adult, and the orthodontist created a rather big overbite. But, he said enthusiastically, it could be corrected with jaw surgery. And he had just the surgeon to do it….
My insurance did cover this jaw surgery.
Also, having my jaw wired led to loss of muscle mass and when I returned to work I picked up a copy paper box filled with hanging files to take to the car, as I’d been working at home, and…there was an audible crack in my lower back. And immediate pain. And that led to a whole new adventure in the world of health care, which I thought I’d transmitted well enough, but the return of the back issues with nasty sciatica causing my right foot to roll over is making this a continuing odyssey.
(My sciatica is better from the shots, but the pain in now more concentrated, in the hip/buttock area on my right, with occasional pains and nerve issues in the right leg continuing. The pain is more manageable with pain pills than before.)
The jaw surgery was not something I wanted to do, but my periodontist told me I really had to do it, as the situation I was left with would be very deleterious to my gum health.
The jaw surgeon asked me how I wanted my profile to look and whether I wanted my lips to meet completely when relaxed or did I want a slight parting of the lips. I said, very firmly, that I wanted the first option. The surgeon said he thought it was more attractive to have a slight parting of the lips when they were totally relaxed. I said, absolutely not.
Well, he did it his way, damn him. Plus, he also tried to correct another aspect of the orthodontist’s work (he’d moved my lower middle teeth slightly off center) and created a cross bite on my left side. I’d never heard of such a problem, but it means the lower teeth are to outside of the upper teeth. And it makes chewing dicey and, according to my periodontist, it leads to the very gum problems she had said I would get if my teeth were not straightened…. She was very disapproving of what I was told by the surgeons, who had said a cross bite was no big deal.
Oh, and the surgeon nicked the nerve going to my right upper front tooth, killing it, so I had to have a root canal….
What a mess! After I asked how the cross bite occurred, the two jaw surgeons had essentially stopped talking to me and would not answer my questions. I was sent back to the orthodontist and he moved my lower teeth inward, got a fit with the upper teeth on the left. But, it also tipped the roots of the lower teeth closer to the outer edge of my jaw, which may lead to problems in the future.
He also just wanted to get rid of me, and after a very short time told me the straightening process was completed and I was good to go. However, each time I had the retainer in and removed it, my teeth would hurt and feel…loose.
I complained that it seemed my teeth had not firmed up in my jaw and I was worried about future movement. He told me I would have to pay for any additional wirings as if it were a new straightening job. I was so furious –and hurt– I left and never returned. (Stupid move on my part.)
Then, a year or so later, my periodontist said she had referred another adult to my orthodontist and also the very jaw surgeons who had messed me over. I couldn’t believe it, but realized the medical professions are pretty tribal and protect their own. She’d maybe even forgotten about my issues? Or…just was part of the club. I stopped seeing her. (Another not so bright move….)
And, just this year, 22 years later, my teeth have begun to shift.
I should have tried to make the orthodontist do a correction. As it is, he got away with dereliction of duty, imho, and I get to worry about what’s going to happen with my teeth long term.
I am extremely leery of the dental field’s “professionals.”
And, of course, Medicare and the supplemental insurances do not cover dental. Only the Medicare Advantage (Part D) have any dental insurance coverage.
You’ll notice this happened in nasty ole socialist Europe. By allowing conservatives to participate in government in the US, technological innovation has come to a standstill and only Mittens, the Koch bros or some other of the 0.1% could afford to have the procedure done. No US insurance company would approve it.
Be even cooler if we had a gubmint-sponsored dental program to help pay for it.
I think a jawbone replacement would come under medical coverage. The health insurance industry views teeth as something people can live without and will not pay for preventive treatments or replacements. They only deal with teeth when there is sufficient infection to impact the actual jaw bone or other non-enamel parts of the mouth.
I had my teeth straightened as an adult, and the orthodontist created a rather big overbite. But, he said enthusiastically, it could be corrected with jaw surgery. And he had just the surgeon to do it….
My insurance did cover this jaw surgery.
Also, having my jaw wired led to loss of muscle mass and when I returned to work I picked up a copy paper box filled with hanging files to take to the car, as I’d been working at home, and…there was an audible crack in my lower back. And immediate pain. And that led to a whole new adventure in the world of health care, which I thought I’d transmitted well enough, but the return of the back issues with nasty sciatica causing my right foot to roll over is making this a continuing odyssey.
(My sciatica is better from the shots, but the pain in now more concentrated, in the hip/buttock area on my right, with occasional pains and nerve issues in the right leg continuing. The pain is more manageable with pain pills than before.)
The jaw surgery was not something I wanted to do, but my periodontist told me I really had to do it, as the situation I was left with would be very deleterious to my gum health.
The jaw surgeon asked me how I wanted my profile to look and whether I wanted my lips to meet completely when relaxed or did I want a slight parting of the lips. I said, very firmly, that I wanted the first option. The surgeon said he thought it was more attractive to have a slight parting of the lips when they were totally relaxed. I said, absolutely not.
Well, he did it his way, damn him. Plus, he also tried to correct another aspect of the orthodontist’s work (he’d moved my lower middle teeth slightly off center) and created a cross bite on my left side. I’d never heard of such a problem, but it means the lower teeth are to outside of the upper teeth. And it makes chewing dicey and, according to my periodontist, it leads to the very gum problems she had said I would get if my teeth were not straightened…. She was very disapproving of what I was told by the surgeons, who had said a cross bite was no big deal.
Oh, and the surgeon nicked the nerve going to my right upper front tooth, killing it, so I had to have a root canal….
What a mess! After I asked how the cross bite occurred, the two jaw surgeons had essentially stopped talking to me and would not answer my questions. I was sent back to the orthodontist and he moved my lower teeth inward, got a fit with the upper teeth on the left. But, it also tipped the roots of the lower teeth closer to the outer edge of my jaw, which may lead to problems in the future.
He also just wanted to get rid of me, and after a very short time told me the straightening process was completed and I was good to go. However, each time I had the retainer in and removed it, my teeth would hurt and feel…loose.
I complained that it seemed my teeth had not firmed up in my jaw and I was worried about future movement. He told me I would have to pay for any additional wirings as if it were a new straightening job. I was so furious –and hurt– I left and never returned. (Stupid move on my part.)
Then, a year or so later, my periodontist said she had referred another adult to my orthodontist and also the very jaw surgeons who had messed me over. I couldn’t believe it, but realized the medical professions are pretty tribal and protect their own. She’d maybe even forgotten about my issues? Or…just was part of the club. I stopped seeing her. (Another not so bright move….)
And, just this year, 22 years later, my teeth have begun to shift.
I should have tried to make the orthodontist do a correction. As it is, he got away with dereliction of duty, imho, and I get to worry about what’s going to happen with my teeth long term.
I am extremely leery of the dental field’s “professionals.”
And, of course, Medicare and the supplemental insurances do not cover dental. Only the Medicare Advantage (Part D) have any dental insurance coverage.
You’ll notice this happened in nasty ole socialist Europe. By allowing conservatives to participate in government in the US, technological innovation has come to a standstill and only Mittens, the Koch bros or some other of the 0.1% could afford to have the procedure done. No US insurance company would approve it.