Dentistry - a license to print money!

[Number One]

Just had a tooth removed - Feels much better now it's completely numb but crikey my bank balance is still reeling!

Normally I'd have baulked at the concept of removing a secondary tooth but $$$ doesn't grow on trees and all the other options were going to cost at least 4 times the cost of the extraction AND I would still need to spend another 2.5K no later than 6 months after.

I don't think so! So now I have a very unattractive gap where once I had a gorgeous looking but pain ridden white tooth.....

Won't be belly laughing for a good while - tooth didn't look that big when it was in my mouth the hole looks fricken HUGE

Sad day but one I have brought on myself.

[Taz]

It is far too expensive to look after your teeth properly in NZ. I'm gonna be a gummy bear I think.

[007XX]

I hear ya sister...

I know now of a few people who have had to resort to the same extremes to be able to stop the pain.

Is it just me or is it that everything just seem to grow too expensive for comfort?

*touching wood* I haven't got problems with my teeth, but my son is going to need braces in a couple of years, and I've been saving a bit every week for that over the last 4 years.

[MisterD]

What's worse is that you know the dentist is a med-school drop out who didn't make the cut to be a doctor...

[Sofa]

What's worse is that you know the dentist is a med-school drop out who didn't make the cut to be a doctor...

I'm sorry to say, but its much harder to be a dentist than a doctor... There's only one institution in NZ that does dentistry (Otago) and I think only like 50 students a year get in from the how many hundreds applying... Maybe even thousands... Whereas don't they take about 200 or so med students a year?

[sunhuntin]

just come and see my mother!
she broke one of hers on a bit of toast a few months back. no money, plus having granddaughter for the day meant no dentist. she asked my assistance, i flat refused and hid on here.
she comes in not long after holding a pair of pliers wrapped in tissue and one bloody half tooth. got rid of the pain for free.

[Number One]

Dreading the examination when I go back!

Bin 12 years since I last went.

And before you all get on the bandwagon and say serves ya right - bite me!

I used to work in dentistry assisting oral surgeons. Let's just say that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing!

Any other mums out there also found that since having kids their teeth and gums have gone to pack?!

Kids - crikey! If I knew then what I now know they do to your body and mind I might not have been half so keen!

[MisterD]

I'm sorry to say, but its much harder to be a dentist than a doctor... There's only one institution in NZ that does dentistry (Otago) and I think only like 50 students a year get in from the how many hundreds applying... Maybe even thousands... Whereas don't they take about 200 or so med students a year?

Dunno. What I do know, though is that two of my mates dropped from med to dentistry when I was at Newcastle Uni...one wasn't intelligent enough, the other was on the piss too much...

[Number One]

got rid of the pain for free.

hmmm judging by the size of the roots I couldn't have done that myself.....

Oh and isn't the number of med students taken on each year a reflection of the realistic and expected attrition rate?

Dentistry actually ain't as hard as being a doctor either...teeth are actually pretty simple things

[sunhuntin]

desperation does strange things to an old lady, lol.

[Goblin]

Ooohhh I feel your pain! A couple of days before Xmas I broke a front tooth while chewing on a pork bone. It knocked my confidence as I could see even close friends and family stare at the gap with a look of disgust on their faces. Had 12 top teeth out in Feb at a cost of $1290. Denture was $1125 and I just had it modified this morning but that was included in the original price. In six months time it will need re-lining again which will cost $250...plenty of time to save for it.
All my dental problems were caused by one dentist. Every tooth he touched became infected and I had to pay for root canals. One tooth started to ache on a Good Friday so I couldn't wait for the long weekend to be over so had to pay through the teeth for treatment. After the front tooth broke I decided a denture would be the way to go and it's bloody marvelous! I can smile again but cant quite bite properly yet. It was a long and painful process but worth it in the end because I dont have to pay the rip off prices of dentists anymore.

[Number One]

Yup - the pain was starting to get the better of me but then I discovered that Diclofenac and nuerofen actually did provide relief! Codiene is still my fav though

[Mikkel]

Yep tooth mechanics are bloodsuckers alright. In Denmark quite a few people find out that they can save money by taking a weeks holiday in Poland and having it done there. Crazy eh?

Dentists and plastic surgeons need assistants - just to help shoveling the money in

[Goblin]

Any other mums out there also found that since having kids their teeth and gums have gone to pack?!

Kids - crikey! If I knew then what I now know they do to your body and mind I might not have been half so keen!

Yes! My third pregnancy was when my fillings started to fall out. I got them seen to straight away but within months the teeth got infected.

Lol...would have been better off swallowing eh!

[Number One]

Lol...would have been better off swallowing eh!

too true! Thank gosh it not just me - I did try to be really anal when preggers but I also spent the 10 months vomitting constantly and found it difficult to even get my toothbrush into my mouth (let alone moving it around in there) as for your comment above...I take it you don't mean swallowing the teeth.... and yes I now prefer to swallow