What do you do when you have no money to fix your tooth?

[Breanna_nonbinary]

I broke one of my front teeth and found out it’s going to cost $5k to have it fixed. I don’t know what to do. 😕

[Skinhead-1979]

Oh FFS... this is exactly one of the reasons why I am happy I live in Europe...

While it is undeniable that our, British, National Health Service is collapsing due to deliberate, chronic underfunding... We still aren't being billed when we need medical care.(It'll come... the reason why the NHS is being destroyed is because the Politicians want to introduce an US styled insurance system).

But it has increasingly become more difficult to get the care you need.

I don't really care what happens to me externally... The only thing I do dread is teeth breaking or falling out. I was shocked to see how many people walk around here, in the UK, with only half a set of teeth and never had, or never could have, it fixed.

I have now 1 Molar which is very 'angry'... I have tried to find a dentist, but all the greedy pricks claim the same "We don't have any room for NHS patients" and then next they will say "But we will take you as a private patient"; yeah, fuck that... I am not paying hundreds of 'Quid' to have a Molar being pulled. Occasionally I am in excruciating pain, but so far, generally, Ibuprofen can keep the pain down.

I've got no other choice than to deal with it this way... Maybe I am lucky, the next time someone feels the need to attack me in town he can knock that Molar out for me right before I will knock him out

(No, I am not a violent person and I avoid conflict like the plague... but somehow it always finds me and people seem to think I am an easy target)

[Anonymous]

If you live near Mexico or Turkey take a short vacation and have it done basically for free compared to USA. But research the place you’re going to first. There’s good and bad doctors everywhere in the world irrelevant to prices so just do proper research where you’re going and save a bunch in a different country. USA is a thief when it comes to health and any surgeries cosmetic or not they steal from us.

[Opinion Owner]

Also sometimes if you probe that this is not just cosmetic, say you have pain to eat and do normal day life things, sometimes medical can cover it.

[DishLady]

See if they'll accept a monthly payment plan.

[Breanna_nonbinary]

Thanks but I’m unemployed and wouldn’t qualify for the loan. 🥺

[DishLady]

Yikes. :(

I'm so sorry.

The only other thing I can suggest, if you're willing, is to go to the local dental school and ask if the occasionally do some pro bono work.

[DishLady]

The teacher is a DDS and teaching the students, so it doesn't cost you, but you're the science project for the afternoon while the dentist trains his interns.

[Breanna_nonbinary]

Thanks. They said I needed a root canal on the tooth next to it and an extraction on the tooth I broke and then a bridge. It’s not fun.

[DishLady]

No, it's not. :(

Hang in there. Try the UNI dental school thing, ok? Should be either free or significantly less $$$.

[sage2021]

I don't know if you live in America 🇺🇸 but some of our Universities have a dental school there on campus.
You could probably Google some Universities and see if it has a dental school.
They need patients to actually work on. There are real dentists there and they inspect what their students are doing. They might even jump in there and do some of the work to show the student how its done.

[Apple1996]

For 5k they better be putting in a gold tooth lol. Really tho that is crazy expensive do you have dental insurance and are they covering any of it?

[Account]

I would try to save up as much as possible, in order to go to the dentist.

[NathanDavis]

insurance