We have no dental insurance. I have three broken teeth I can't afford to get fixed. We were lucky enough to get our teeth cleaned for free at the local Dental Hygenist School.

I have dental insurance, and have had it on and off for most of the past fifteen years. Cost of procedures have risen, I'm sure, but the benefit has always been the same. This means that while insurance may well cover 50% of major work (ex: a root canal costs $800, insurance pays $400) the amount insurance will pay out for is rarely higher than $1000 per year. If you're like me, living paycheck to paycheck and requiring a LOT of major work to keep your teeth, how can we be expected to maintain our dental health?

Two botched root canals, $800 out of pocket, a year later, and I will be losing two teeth (one molar, leaving me with none on the bottom.)

Because of this, I firmly believe dental should be included in HEALTH insurance, especially given the effects that poor dental health can have on your overall health. Maybe one day.

Many dentists do not view health insurance in the same way as other physicians. They prefer patients who pay cold cash, patients who have employer dental insurance, and patients who are under the age of 65 years.

Although I have dental insurance, I do not use it. The dentists on the approved insurance list are those with known bad service and high lawsuits; an excellent reason for not using my current dental insurance. My current dentist does not want to have to complete any forms other than the bill.

I don't understand why health insurance stops at the mouth. I find is sadly amusing reading the definitions that show where medical ends and dental begins.

I find it extremely cruel that dentist get away scott free from having to help people with their teeth with their outrageous prices. even if it is for looks, doesnt that matter to our mental health, and if its not just cosmetic, it usually isnt good for the rest of our teeth with one missing, or a crown not there cause you because your other teeth are affected when there is a gap because of a missing tooth. your gums start to drop, when you cant really care for your teeth when you cant afford all these extra things they charge you for. i really find them insensitive to people and i think its just as important as medical coverage. you could die from a abscessed tooth. Ive paid a lot of money over the years when i did have dental insurance and its never ending. when you go to a new job you have to wait three months or so if they even have dental insurance, and if you need a crown bottom line for one tooth its 500 dollars and if you cant afford it. oh well to them. it hurts me deeply that they dont help people like myself more. its all about greed with dentist. and noone ever even tries to change it so all people dont have to suffer or have to go around self conscious of their smile. I wont even go out to dinner because there are so many gaps in my teeth, my brother only has one tooth. all because we are poor. its just not right, how can they live with themselves. seriously, its not like implants for your chest, or lipsuction i would say thats cosmetic but not your dental health. when you are given the teeth because of genes and you cant get it fixed because of money just shows you how they pay it back.

As a dentist, I find comments like this very hurtful. The fees charged are not about greed, at least not for me. I owe $250,000 in student loans for my dental education and then I paid $400,000 to buy what was needed for a dental practice. The dental chairs, my employees, the rent, and even that crown you need are costing me a fortune. But I want to help people. That is the whole reason I went to dental school. If it was about the money, I would have been a lawyer (or a CEO for a big corporation!!) I often give my time away(do work where I do not get paid) but I must pay my employees and my creditors if I want to continue to care for people. I think dentists would love to do more to help people, perhaps if dental/medical education could be less costly? Or if the community would fund a clinic where we could just give of our time?

I have been told by the Texas Medicaid office, Amerigroup, Ombudsman office, HHSC office that I have to live with a severe chronic infection in my mouth, so bad that my tongue is swelling. Due to rotten teeth. I have been told so many stories about how it has to be life threating or I have to have AIDS, or cancer, or need an organ transplant in order to get help. I have been told to go stay in a shelter to get a piece of paper that says I am homeless even though I am not, so that I can go to the stew pot and get 18 teeth causing the infection out. I have been told oh if you go and break the law and go to jail I can get my teeth taking out so that I will not have the infection anymore. I now have had this severe infection causing my tongue to swell for 2 months. As of this moment I still have no way or help to get these rotten teeth out so that I can be infection free. There is so much more to this story, not enough space to type it all. Basically it goes back 3 years ago. When I was sent to Texas Oncology to be tested for Leukemia only to find out the constant infection was do to my teeth. Now the infection again I will say is so bad that I have bilateral swelling of the floor of my mouth under my tongue. Doctors and ENT and everyone I speak with claim there is nothing they can do to help me be infection free. Is this what health care in America is coming to.... Living daily with dangerous infection and pain, not being able to eat or sleep.....