Help for my dad

[cakehead]

Here's the deal. My dad is 54 years old, retired with Social Security disability and pension, so he's not qualified for low-income help such as Medicaid or clinics. That doesn't mean he can afford full upper extractions and dentures, though! He has no credit and lives on a fixed income. We're in the U.S.

Problem is, he's a type 1 diabetic with severe gum disease, and ALL of his upper molars are broken/rotted below the gumline. He has black spots just above the gumline on the upper front ones, and he's so afraid those ones are next. This upsets him so bad because just 10 years ago, he went to the dentist's regularly and had a perfect hollywood smile. Long story short, his wife left him for the only dentist he ever liked/trusted and who never hurt him. So he quit going, and as his teeth began to break, he became even more scared. I should mention that he brushes and flosses religiously, always has and still does, even the tiny bit he has left.

Right now, we can barely figure out how we're going to come up with $3,000 needed just for my and my sister's wisdom teeth. Hy dad would need to be hospitalized and get it done under GA, as no safe amount of benzos or opiates can put him out. He's been on high doses of both since 1999.

Does anyone know if Medicare would at least pay for his hospitalization and GA? He definitely needs this for his health, as he suffered from sepsis last fall, but they never bothered with the cause. He doesn't have pain from his teeth because he's always on strong narcotics. He was very lucky to survive after 2 months in the hospital, and I can't imagine they would let him die just because of money

 

[Camisa]

Hi there,

Do reassure your father not to fear. Easier said than done, I know. I have to be put under deep sedation due to similar reasons of your father - long term use of benzodiazepines for seizures & anxiety and their nasty adverse effects have crippled me with phobia of the dentist and rendered me pretty tolerant to IV sedatives that are common.

I am also on Medicare as a primary insurance and Medicaid as a secondary.

I am guessing your father is only on Medicare with no secondary state aid.

Medicare does not cover dental work. It's quite sad because some generic versions of stupid meds are covered but dental work is not. Not unless it is some form of reconstructive jaw surgery.

That being said, what I would do if I were you is research "Special Needs" dentists. Also research Oral Surgeons who have an ambulatory outpatient procedure room where an anesthesiologist can administer deep sedation or GA while the dentist or OS works on your father's teeth. In some instances places like these may require some kind of payment but it never hurts to ask if they would accept a payment plan of monthly installments (say, 30 bucks a month).

It is more likely that your father would be a candidate for a Special Needs dental practice because often, special needs and high risk patients have poor insurance or no insurance at all.

I'm not sure what part of the USA you are from but I'd suggest calling the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and ask about their Special Needs clinic and tell them that your father is a high risk patient due to his drug dependencies on sedatives and narcotics. UPMC has a special unit of their hospital that deals with these patients but the waiting list is high; in which case they will often refer you to a nearby practice who deals with such patients and may be affiliated with their hospital.

Hope this helps - you can do this - be persistent.

 

[cakehead]

Thanks!! We live about 30 min. from downtown Pittsburgh and I had no idea about that. We'll check it out. My dad's been a patient at UPMC numerous times over the past few years. He has no problem affording payments, but it's just hard to save so many thousands of dollars within a reasonable time frame. Of course, none of us qualify for loans because my sister and I are self-employed and my dad's credit's not so good from hospital bills. We'll see what we can do.