Lemon's drop-inn

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Are you talking about the x-ray that goes around your head?
I cracked a tooth eating something and had to have a crown done (so expensive! But he has a process similar to 3d printing which was cool to see and no more impression material in the mouth and the crown was ready in about 30 minutes!). They have a digital camera now too to take the x-rays and the radiation exposure is much less then the old style. I had the panorex ( full mouth xray) transferred over from my other dentist. If you had the full mouth one and go to a different dentist within 3-5 years you can ask to get the xray transferred. It's good as a base line to see the roots and the bone level and if you have any hidden teeth in your jaw.

[Watery Star]

That's really cool. I hate doing impressions and doing the xrays.
My problem is that I had done xrays last year and I can't really do anything about my teeth that need work. So the xrays were repeat information :/

[Lemon Cheesecake]

kind of...but they would be able to see if anything got worse - like abscess forming or decay getting worse. There is a new program that is kind of like a credit card but you use it just for dental or medical work. They pay off the dentist and you have I think 6 months to pay it off before incurring charges for interest (I am not sure on the details - is it called carecredit I think). Would something like that work for you to get your dental work done?

[Watery Star]

Trouble is I have doctors and specialists I need to see for my health issues too. That's tricky to do by itself.
I do plan getting my wisdom teeth pulled and getting a couple crowns but just not now.
It's tough but I have to determine what has the highest priority. Even with a payment plan, that's something I need to do for my specialist appointments too. I'm currently on a payment plan for the physical therapy that I had earlier this year. Working on getting back on medicaid but don't know how that will go with the state of politics.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

ugh, those really are tough calls...especially dental bills being so high! I feel for you for having to deal with the stress of making the call which to do. Sometimes the mouth affects the bodies health too though so keep that in mind, but it sounds like you are monitoring stuff. I am not sure how medicaid works or if health insurance is different between States. I get health insurance partially covered where I work and have a copayment when I go to the drs but it still ends up costing quite a bit with multiple visits. But my physical therapy has helped so much and I am not feeling like I have a 10 lb weight on my back hanging from my neck anymore so I am happy I am doing that.

[mdom]

/shudders at the thought of medical bills in the US

[Lemon Cheesecake]

the question is - other countries can provide good medical heath insurance without compromising service so why can't we follow suit with what they do? <Pharmaceutical and Insurance companies don't want it>
Why don't they reward us by lowering our premiums if we aren't using the insurance and maintaining our health? If I am paying out $350/month for healthcare and only seeing the dr once a year or every few years, then who is getting that money? Not the Dr who does the service! PLUS I pay a co-payment for a visit to the Dr which at the insurance negotiated price to the dr doesn't work out to too much less then what the insurance pays the dr anyway. It is screwed up. The only benefit is if I have to have surgery and I suppose ultimately that is what the insurance is for. But what if I NEVER ended up with surgery?Then they made a whole lot of money off me for my lifetime.

[mdom]

Yeah insurance companies are a mafia... they buy whatever law they want in Congress.

[Gingerale]

Don't get me started.... there is so much partiality it makes me angry.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

When I get angry I want to clean. Digging weeds is a good stress buster.

[mdom]

Our garden is so small

[Lemon Cheesecake]

go weed someone else's garden or a community garden?

[mdom]

I wish we had community gardens around here! But it's a concrete jungle.

[Lemon Cheesecake]

how about gardens on top of the buildings or on the balconies? I've seen those before, also a window box.

[mdom]

It's mostly houses in this neighborhood, and some commercial spots. I do have a friend who has her garden on her balcony. It has lots of green xD