Dental Adventures

I’ve had a not-so-fun time with my teeth over the past couple of months. It all started with a painful bite down on a piece of chicken, and I’ve now found myself down a rabbit hole filled with dentists, periodontists, and endodontists. This has been quite a shock to me because I thought I was fastidiously taking care of my teeth: I really do floss twice a day and I still wear my retainer at night. Despite my best efforts and intentions, I’ve spent more time the past two months with people prodding my mouth than I have since I was in braces. As a result of this experience, I’ve learned a few things about New Zealand dental care that are worth sharing:

First, despite my regular visits to get my teeth cleaned since moving here, I still ended up with problems because a check up here is not like a check up in the US. I mistakingly believed that as long as I was going in for my cleanings, all was good. It wasn’t. As it turns out, to get my teeth actually checked, I also needed to schedule a separate visit with the dentist, not just the hygienist. Lesson learned.

Secondly, dental insurance leaves a lot to be desired. It is an easy add-on to my Southern Cross medical insurance plan, but the “best” option for dental insurance will only pay for 75% of costs up to $750 per year. To put this in perspective, my first trip to the dentist after the painful chicken bite incident was a $550 large cavity fill charge. I have, however, gone ahead and added on the dental plan for me and the kids because it makes sense if I’m taking the kids for two dental checks a year plus me maxing out my $750 for the foreseeable future.

Third, dental specialists are hard to get into. There just aren’t enough of them. The first periodontist I called in October had their first available consultation appointment on February 1. I took the appointment, but asked for additional recommendations from the dentist. It took about a month to get in to see the endodontist - and this was the only appointment available within a two month window. As soon as I realized that I wasn’t getting the same level of American dental care that I thought I was getting, I also decided to move my daughter to the American-style paediatric dentist. My son is already a patient there, but this seemed like the wake up call I needed to get her enrolled as well. Their first appointment was two and a half months after I requested it. (Shout out to Kidz-Teeth in Meadowbank.)

However, it isn’t all doom and gloom. There were a couple of good surprises as well. The first has to do with the generosity of the the dentists. That $550 large cavity charge seemed excessive, especially since I just got a temporary fill after the dentists decided I really needed to see a specialist because there were some weird things going on in my tooth that she had never seen before. (For the record, that is never something you want to hear from a healthcare professional.) When the temporary filling came out about six weeks later, she properly filled it about two hours after I called and at no charge. When I was able to get in to see a periodontist, she waived the fee for new scans. I think she felt bad because she couldn’t figure out how to open up the ones from the endodontist. It was great to see some flexibility with pricing and generosity of spirit.

And even though there are long waits to get initial appointments, I found that by being flexible and open to cancellations, my wait times weren’t nearly as bad as I initially thought. Instead of waiting five weeks for a follow up with the periodontist, it was only two. A little bit of flexibility goes a long way.

Finally, every single person I’ve met with during this dental journey has been exceptionally kind. I haven’t experienced any of the doom-and-gloom-you’re-a-horrible-person attitude I found so frequently with American dentists. I’ve felt like everyone is communicating and working to make sure I get what I need.