Dentist Saga Continues...

So I've decided to listen to everyone who has given me advice (I really really appreciate it) and to drop this scary dentist. Here's how today went.

I talked to my HR lady at work about the charges the dentist was talking about and she said that sounds strange. She gave me a game plan:

First, I called the mean dentist (that's what I'll call it from now on). I asked them why they charged me $10 when I have a $5 copay first. They said they charge everyone on every visit an "infectious control fee." Ok...I can buy that. Then I asked why they are charging me so much for a filling and I asked for the Insurance Codes they would be using. Apparently this filling was for a deep cavity I had a while back and they need to put a pulp cap on first to take care of any sensitivity near the root of my tooth and then a silver filling. They said the charge was $120. This is with insurance. How ridiculous!

I then called the insurance company to check on the coverage. Apparently they do not cover the pulp cap if it is done on the same tooth on the same day as the filling. The filling itself is covered. I asked her the cost and she did an average of what dentists in the Atlanta area charge for a pulp cap. The average...$75. That's a lot less than $120!

My next step was to call my trusty dentist back in Richmond. I called them one before when I was having issues and they are a great help. (If anyone needs a dentist in the Richmond area, I'll refer them!) The receptionist I talked to said that the dentist does sound a little weird. She said in her many years of working with dentists that she had never seen them use a silver filling for a bicuspid tooth. She thought that was strange. I also checked to see if I would be ok waiting another week or so since I can't make an appointment with my new dentist until Feb 1st. She said that as long as I'm not in pain and it's not swollen and I don't wait months to get it done, I will be ok. She took all my information and was going to double check with the dentist.

The next part of this felt really refreshing. I called back the mean dentist and told them I will not be able to make it to my appointment next Tuesday. She said ok and right as I was saying thank you very much, she hung up. Mean mean mean dentist. Ah, that feels better. Oh and another good thing! One of my coworkers also had this dentist down as their dentist and I told them to get that changed as soon as possible. I saved some person's poor mouth from being tortured!

My teeth do feel better today. It still hurts a little to chew. I feel really good about not going to the mean dentist again and I know that things will be better at the next place. Hey, it can't get any worse!