April 4, 20180 found this helpful
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Free dental services are available (if you qualify) but it will take some "legwork" on your part. You will have to complete any questionnaires on sites that offer these services and most likely have to go in person to some.
- Just being on Social Security does not always qualify a person for free dental work.
- Are you receiving SS because you have reached retirement age? Are you on Medicare? (Medicare does not pay for routine dental work - only emergency care.) If not on Medicare what other type of medical insurance do you have?
- Do you qualify for Medicaid? Are you in/on any other government assistance program (food stamps/housing assistance)? Are you disabled and/or unable to work?
- These are some of the questions you will have to answer when requesting help with dental services.
- If you do or do not have medical insurance you may be able to get dental treatment through your local state/county/city health clinics. Just Google state/county/city health clinics with your zip code for locations.
- Here is a link that you can check to see if you qualify for help:
- dentallifeline.org/.../
15mhhm15
Diamond Post Medal for All Time! 1,298 Posts April 4, 20180 found this helpful
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Here is a good resource you can reference:
www.hhs.gov/.../index.html
You can try applying for some programs for low cost or even free dental (depending which teeth and if they find it a necessity to fix or if its cosmetic).
You can also try to look for local dental schools or clinical trials.
April 5, 20180 found this helpful
Using the dental facilities at a dental school can save someone money but the services are still expensive and getting accepted is not always easy.
- I am familiar with only one university dental school so this does not mean they all operate in the same manner.
- If you need dental work and a university dental school is within driving distance then you should check it out as they do sometimes have "special" clinics (usually close to graduation time) that prices change and many procedures are free. This is still on a first come first serve basis and ends when they have their "quota" for the day (and people arrive from many miles away).
- I live near one of the largest dental schools (universities) in the US and getting accepted is still not an easy task.
- The fees are "set" and everyone pays same prices for what type of work will be done.
- There are certain days of the week that "patients" are accepted and it is on a first come first serve basis - no appointments. Days of the week may change with time of year.
- I have taken friends to this "clinic" and even though we arrived very early there always seemed to be many ahead of us (some spend the night in the hospital waiting rooms). Rarely did we see anyone on our first visit. Sometimes they will take a list of names and if you are there the next clinic day, they will take those names first.
- On the first visit it is usually to only take your name and a short list of your problems. Then you are given an appointment to see someone to discuss your problem and see if it is possible for them to help you (different kinds of "specialty" work are only available at certain times).
- Routine dental work (fillings, simple removal) is usually done all year. Complex removals are considered "special" and may not be done but 2 or 3 times a year.
- On my last visit (several years ago) a "simple" filling cost was set at $135 which included x-rays but that cost had to be paid "up-front" before any work was done (actually this fee had to be paid before the work appointment was made). If you did not have the money you had to arrange "credit" in their finance department before the appointment was made.
- All of this may sound complicated but it is really "routine" for the dental schools as the students are in training and the work they do will be graded and they gain experience before setting up their own practice.
- All work is overseen by a dental professor so their is no reason to feel the work will not be the same (or better) than the same procedure in the "outside" world.
Emergency service (extreme pain) is not their department and those people will be sent to their regular dental clinic that is within the hospital. Cash (credit/debit card, check) is all that is accepted and if you cannot pay you must make arrangements with the hospital finance department which will usually arrange payments for a monthly payment (and they will enforce it).
April 6, 20180 found this helpful
Another way to get dental work is a Discount site called :
Dental Plans.com
www.dentalplans.com
They have several discount plans with pricing & providers who participate by zip code and plan
I work in a dental office & the savings with these plans is significant,especially with limited income.
Hope this helps
