Doc wrote:

> I was advised by my DMO dentist that I needed a "full debridement" since it
> had been so long since my last cleaning. Admittedly, it's probably been over
> 3 years. I was told this full debridement was an aggressive cleaning below
> the gum line. They said I also needed an irrigation ( some sort of
> medication for gingivitis) and a probing. The probing, I was told was to
> determine the extent of any periodontal disease. The hygienist showed me a
> chart that showed a marked probe that's inserted into the gumline to
> determine the depth of the tooth pockets. Anything over 4 mm I was told is a
> problem.
>
> It was explained to me that this is caused by deterioration of bone and
> attachment tissue along the roots of the teeth. If it's more than 4 mm, it's
> too deep to treat with cleaning alone.
>
> So far, for the debridement, irrigation and probing - $105 out of pocket.
>
> After the probing I was told there were some areas in my rear molars where
> they found some pockets as deep as 5 & 6mm, which necessitated "scaling and
> root planing" to deep clean the teeth, along with several doses of Arestin,
> apparently a relatively new drug that's supposed to allow treatment of perio
> disease without resorting to surgery. As it was explained to me, it fights
> the bacteria and if all goes well, the pockets will actually rise back to an
> acceptable level.
>
> The scaling and root planing was done on 3 areas @ $85 each, plus 6 doses of
> Arestin @ $40 each - $495 of which $420 is out of pocket.
>
> So, for her to go poking around in my mouth today cost me $525. Holy
> s**t.... Oh and by the way, for your $525, we don't guarantee it will
> actually work, thanks so much, sign here please.
>
> I was told that once you have perio disease, you have it for life and need
> to come in for follow ups every 3 months - @ $85 a pop, and certainly this
> will go up over time.
>
> Several questions come to mind. A mere "cleaning" (mostly covered by the
> insurance) apparently wouldn't do, what's the distinction between this
> "debridement" they did (and charged me for) and "scaling" that they also
> charged me for? They used an ultrasonic pick, which is exactly what a
> previous dentist did and called it a "cleaning", and it was covered by the
> insurance.
>
> While I understand nipping something in the bud is important regarding your
> teeth, how is one supposed to know if you're getting sold a bill of goods?
> Do these sound like reasonable and customary charges for these procedures?
> (I'm in Central Florida) The doses of Arestin weren't enough to choke a
> gnat, just a minute dab of the stuff in these pre-loaded syringes - 40 bucks
> a pop! How much can this stuff possibly cost the dentist? It's taken months
> to get in for this, if I were to say I wanted to get a second opinion, it's
> going to cost me for another, non-covered exam, plus months more to get
> another appointment.
>
> I tried to call my DMO plan to verify the coverage on these procedures,
> since this same office made an error once before, claiming that a $150
> composite filling wasn't covered when it turns out, it was. I only found
> this out after calling the DMO provider, but now when you call them, you
> just get an answering service who takes a message to have someone call you
> back. I won't give odds on whether I'm likely to actually be in when they
> call.
>
> Thanks for any input.

Assuming you have a good periodontist, pretty much everything sounds
pretty kosher to me. The jury is out, IMO, about how effective Arrestin
will be long-term, but if it helps avoid a surgery it is worth it.

Steve

>
>

Yes - I agree with Dr. Steve.
Linda (hygienist)

"Steven Bornfeld" <> wrote in message
news:...

>
>
> Doc wrote:

it

over

below

a

is a

it's

pocket.

where

and

Arestin,

perio

fights

to an

doses of

need

this

the

your

goods?

procedures?

bucks

months

it's

you

they

>
> Assuming you have a good periodontist, pretty much everything sounds
> pretty kosher to me. The jury is out, IMO, about how effective Arrestin
> will be long-term, but if it helps avoid a surgery it is worth it.
>
> Steve
>

>

This kind of demonstrates what is needed ,,,,,,,, long term and large
epidemiologic studies to verify whether OR NOT the stuff works.


Whenever I look at the data, all I can find is the three time-worn
studies with the 44% improvement that is 0.38 mm improvement.

PS- One millimeter is around the thickness of a dime. 0.38 mm is less.


JOEL



On Wed, 12 May 2004 04:24:33 GMT, "Linda"
<> wrote:

>Yes - I agree with Dr. Steve.
>Linda (hygienist)
>
>"Steven Bornfeld" <> wrote in message
>news:...

>it

>over

>below

>a

>is a

>it's

>pocket.

>where

>and

>Arestin,

>perio

>fights

>to an

>doses of

>need

>this

>the

>your

>goods?

>procedures?

>bucks

>months

>it's

>you

>they

>