Showing posts with label free dental clinic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free dental clinic. Show all posts

Monday, October 7, 2019

Low-Cost / Free Dental Care

Financial difficulties in relation to dental health may lead one to think they are at a dead end. However, to the contrary, this hindrance is mostly in the mind. The simple fact is, you have numerous options when it comes to getting your dental health needs met. If you'd like to find out more about these options, please continue reading on.

Whether you struggle with low-income, no insurance, no income, or a myriad of other setbacks, there is help for you out there. Some examples of little to no cost dental care include dental schools, free dental clinics, non-profit clinics, public dental clinics, some private dentists, and even government dental coverage. Today, I would like to share with you three of these ways in which you can take care of your dental health for pennies on the dollar.

I'd like to begin by discussing the option of receiving care at a college. Dental schools offer low-cost care due to students' need to gain experience. Frequently, colleges list this information on their dental department's home page. Services provided at colleges will typically consist of x-rays, routine care, fillings, emergency extractions, and some oral surgery. In this school setting, you can definitely get treatment that is enough to get you up and running again. However, expensive treatment that takes multiple dentists and numerous visits may be turned down. As an alternative, the school is likely to offer you a simpler substitute that is less resource-intensive.

Similar to a dental college, you could also go the route of government dental assistance. If you are in the United States and are a US citizen, there are a variety of government programs that can help you. Some of these include Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP. Medicare is a health program aimed at people sixty-five years or older while Medicaid is aimed towards those aged twenty-one to sixty-five. Both of these services offer dental emergency care. CHIP is another program that helps children under nineteen who do not have health insurance. Services covered by the CHIP program vary from state to state. To find more information about these government services, call 1-800-MEDICARE or visit https://www.hhs.gov/.

Just as important as government dental coverage, many people have received affordable dental care through even private dentists. There are many examples of private dentists who have charitably helped individuals that are in need of immediate dental care. For example, a wrongfully convicted man was given over $12,000 of dental care upon leaving prison. Seeing a private dentist should generally be a last resort as this route has the lowest chance of working, albeit, there is still a chance. To utilize this option, simply get in touch with your private dentists, explain your situation and they will let you know what options you have.

Being low on income or having no dental insurance can often leave one feeling hopeless. However, with a little research and calling around, you can vastly improve your chances of getting your dental problems fixed. If you struggle with dental maladies, do your research and call around to some of these places mentioned. That way you can reclaim your smile, and feel both happier and healthier.

If you struggle with an active infection you should immediately go to a hospital to receive antibiotics. Most, if not all, will be compassionate towards your predicament and provide you with at the very least some form of antibiotics until you can receive proper treatment.

https://dentasource.blogspot.com/2014/10/overcoming-dental-phobia.html

https://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/uninsured-free-low-cost-dental#2 https://www.hhs.gov/answers/health-care/where-can-i-find-low-cost-dental-care/index.html
"Dental Health"by Elaine_Smith is licensed under CC0 1.0

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Low-income vs Fear of the dentist

There is a large population of individuals who have untreated tooth decay. As you can see via the graph, tooth decay left untreated is often disproportionately higher in the less educated and minorities.  Why is this?



There are many places a person can go to get treated without breaking the bank. To experiment with this, one can do a simple web search for " free dental care  austin, tx", replacing Austin with your city. There on the first page for me is a clinic available a few minutes from downtown labeled as a low-income dental clinic, and they offer payment plans. With this in mind, perhaps the more legitimate reason more people wait until the last minute is a phobia of the dentist.

In a study done in the Netherlands in 2009, 1,959 Dutch adults aged 18-93 were surveyed as to individual phobias. Four of these phobias were dental fear, fear of snakes, heights, and physical injury. Each one particularly frightening in its own way no doubt. This information is helpful in understanding how phobic the average person is in getting dental caries treated.



The majority of subjects rated fear of snakes as one of their greatest phobias. However, dental fear comes in at a close second. Thus, according to the data gathered the average Dutch resident would prefer facing the dental chair than be faced with a snake.

 2009 Apr;117(2):135-43. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0722.2008.00602

"Dental Caries (Tooth Decay) in Adults (Age 20 to 64)." National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1 Jan. 2005. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/DataStatistics/FindDataByTopic/DentalCaries/DentalCariesAdults20to64.htm>