Dental for the poor :(

terencej said:
I am commenting here with no experience. Merely ideas and questions from my side.
Have you tried denture adhesives? google it.
Also, you did say you can not find a better job because you have missing teeth. Having a mouth full of teeth(dentures) might help.
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Yes that is why I purchased the dentures, so that I could go to job interviews without getting judged, but sadly they all fall out when I talk to the person interviewing me.
I have tried the two types of dental adhesives that I can find here in EL but they don't work and all the food gets stuck under the dentures in with the denture cream, it is disgusting!
If the technicians could make the dentures so that they actually "hug" the top of your mouth then they would stay in or at least the denture cream would be able to hold them in but there is always a huge gap between the dentures and the roof of my mouth.
Also, the worst part is that I am constantly "getting sick" because the feeling of having something hard in my mouth makes me vomit so even though I have tried to wear these dentures for so many years I always get sick when they are in my mouth.
 
Lobodugald said:
Well had I known that when I started going to the dentist 30 years ago I would have rather spent my money doing exactly what you just suggested. Now all the crowns are starting to fall out so they need to be replaced with implants and I have R0 left at the end of each month. You see, the dentist lied to me saying that crowns last a lifetime, when in fact they only last around 5 years (you can google it), had I known this I would never spend R10 000 on something that only lasts 5 years!
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really? i had a TEMPORARY crown in for 5 years (whilst waiting to stop growing) and then had a permanent crown done, that must be like 10 years ago?
 
Steamy Tom said:
really? i had a TEMPORARY crown in for 5 years (whilst waiting to stop growing) and then had a permanent crown done, that must be like 10 years ago?
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Well I find it quite interesting because all the crowns I have on my bottom jaw are perfectly fine and most of them are older than 10 years BUT the ones on my top jaw are falling out all the time and some of them are just over 5 years old.
I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with gravity, ha ha ha...
 
Lobodugald said:
Well I find it quite interesting because all the crowns I have on my bottom jaw are perfectly fine and most of them are older than 10 years BUT the ones on my top jaw are falling out all the time and some of them are just over 5 years old.
I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with gravity, ha ha ha...
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probably more something to do with a shitty dentist :p ps. mine is on top
 
Lobodugald said:
Hi everyone. The basic answer here from all my many years of desperately trying to get dental help is no, there is NO dental care for the poor in SA! I live in East London and the free hospital here does not have a dental department as it burnt down over 15 years ago and was never rebuilt (I phone them every year to check). There is another free hospital about an hours drive away but they ONLY offer extractions, NO root canals, NO crowns and NO implants. Yes you heard me correctly, they will happily pull all your teeth out but they will NOT replace a single one of them! There are no dental schools here that can "practice" on the poor for free and no matter how many years you beg and plead with the rich people out there, there are no philanthropists here either. As for that train that goes around SA to help the poor with dental care, I have been contacting them for over a year now but they just ignore me. I have never seen them in EL before. Titanium implants are the best, they will last you forever BUT they now cost R20 000 each (AND that is ONLY if you do not need bone grafting!) and then after all that you still have to buy the tooth to screw into the implant which is another R10 000! I have spent over R200 000 on my mouth in my lifetime and I now have no money left and cannot get a better job because my front teeth are falling out so people take one look at me and just write me off because of the way I look. My dentist estimates that I need another R400 000 to re-do the entire front of my mouth with permanent implants and screw-retained implant crowns, and that is ONLY if I do it right now because the prices go up about 30% to 50% every year. NO please don't suggest dentures, I have wasted my precious money on these many times and I have tried every dental tech in EL but none of them can make dentures that work! Please if anyone has any idea how really good well deserving hard working people can get free implants and teeth to fit onto them please please post it here so we can all apply. I have tried every loan company and bank that I have come across but I cannot get a loan as I earn too little even though I work three jobs just to pay some of the bills and buy some petrol and try to fix the car every week. Have an awesome day everybody!!
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Not even NHS in the UK or Medicare in Australia pays for implants. Extraction only. And at R20k at a private dentist how would it be viable for free at a public clinic?

You used to be able to go to the universities to get it done as a guinea pig of the dental students.

An implant gone wrong is a lot of pain and hassle and money, it's not something I'd want to take the cheap route.
 
Ockie said:
I want to go for a good clean, but seems the going rate now is over R1000.00 :(
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The BF went for a clean last year and got a massive gum infection from it :( Choose your dental hygienist carefully!
 
Steamy Tom said:
probably more something to do with a shitty dentist :p ps. mine is on top
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Ha ha, well I hate them all because I have researched the cost of dentistry and they are charging us 950% more than what it costs them to do each job! This is shocking because in my line of work I am also a qualified professional but if I charge more than R100 PER HOUR for my work then my customers go elsewhere BUT dentists, maxillo-facial surgeons and dental technicians are charging between R250 and R19 000 PER TEN MINUTES OF WORK depending on the job! DISGUSTING!!!!
 
reactor_sa said:
Not even NHS in the UK or Medicare in Australia pays for implants. Extraction only. And at R20k at a private dentist how would it be viable for free at a public clinic?

You used to be able to go to the universities to get it done as a guinea pig of the dental students.

An implant gone wrong is a lot of pain and hassle and money, it's not something I'd want to take the cheap route.
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Yes you are correct, i'd love to go to a university and be their guinea pig though, i'd do anything to get out of this terrible situation but sadly there are no dental universities here. If only they could just make dentures that don't hurt and don't make you puke and that actually stay in your mouth when you eat and talk then the implants would not be needed at all. I am so sick of "professionals" who actually cannot do their jobs properly!
 
Lobodugald said:
The last time I went to them and I asked them they said they only do extractions and dentures but that was a few years ago so i'll ask them again. Thanks for this suggestion!
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It is possible. Sometimes they are limited and it also depends on the branch. I know ours do crowns etc. Still cost quiet a bit but not as expensive as the other denti$ts.
 
What a mercy the taxpayer is not (yet) required to subsidise dentistry. TANSTAAFL.

Sympathies with the OP, though. Hope you find a way to fix your teeth.
 
Lobodugald said:
This is shocking because in my line of work I am also a qualified professional but if I charge more than R100 PER HOUR for my work then my customers go elsewhere BUT dentists, maxillo-facial surgeons and dental technicians are charging between R250 and R19 000 PER TEN MINUTES OF WORK depending on the job! DISGUSTING!!!!
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So all qualified professionals should only charge R100 per hour because that's what you charge? Ridiculous argument if that's what you're saying.
 
Haven't been to a dentist in over 15 years IIRC. Still have my wisdoms. No fillings. No bar fights to lose my teeth with. I'm a lucky SOB.

Brush twice daily and am very particular about anything stuck between and around my teeth. Chew gum fairly often while driving as well. I guess its all paid off or I'm just lucky so far.
 
RedViking said:
It is possible. Sometimes they are limited and it also depends on the branch. I know ours do crowns etc. Still cost quiet a bit but not as expensive as the other denti$ts.
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Oh wow thank you so very much, I have made a note in my diary to phone them tomorrow when I get to a phone, really excited now and i'll post their prices on here if the branch in this town offers implants and crowns. Well I have dental insurance now but they will only pay out a quarter of the price but maybe just maybe Prime Cure will only charge a quarter of the price, in which case, yeehah!!!!
 
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