17 year old niece facing massive dental work $$$$

[mcsangel2]

This is just crazy. DH's nearly 18 year old niece (starting college in the fall) recently went to the endodontist, and they were told she needs.....17 root canals. (plus crowns).

SEVENTEEN ROOT CANALS. For a teenager.

As you can imagine, this set off a flurry of communication with their regular dentist, SIL's endodontist (don't know why they went to a different one), and today they actually had an inperson follow up meeting with SIL and BIL, the endodontist and the dentist at the dentists office, where niece's xrays were brought and examined by everyone.

The result as we heard seems to be that it's legit - she's got lots of calcification and damage. I've never heard of such a thing.

BTW, they are a relatively well off family, by lots of metrics. Always had regular dental and medical care. But the estimate for this work is nearly $50,000. O.M.G. 

They are going to try to get it all done before August when niece goes out of state (we assume) for school. 

I just. 

Has anyone ever heard of something like this for someone so young?

ETA: Niece has not experienced any tooth pain. Everyone is shocked by this turn of events.

[nicolewi]

WHAT??? I am totally confused and horrified for them. I have no dental experience, but WTF??

[flygirl]

I would get a second and maybe third opinion before I’d get $50k in dental work done. 😳

[mcsangel2]

May 27, 2020 15:10:21 GMT -5 flygirl said:

I would get a second and maybe third opinion before I’d get $50k in dental work done. 😳

Hopefully they will do a second opinion with someone who will take more xrays. But the consultation with the dentist and their other endodontist seems to back this Dx up.

[Jalapeñomel]

I hope she goes to another endo or four before doing anything.

[beerlover]

I'm curious how she went from zero to needing 17 root canals, especially with routine dental care. That does not seem normal, and seems like it would've been a much slower progression than that. I would also seek out multiple opinions!

[imojoebunny]

I would get at least a second opinion. Was she in an accident or something like that? That is over 1/2 of her teeth.

[Deleted]

May 27, 2020 15:14:05 GMT -5 beerlover said:

I'm curious how she went from zero to needing 17 root canals, especially with routine dental care. That does not seem normal, and seems like it would've been a much slower progression than that. I would also seek out multiple opinions!

This is what I don't understand either.

[readyin07]

May 27, 2020 15:22:07 GMT -5 @princessbubbleyum said:

May 27, 2020 15:14:05 GMT -5 beerlover said:

I'm curious how she went from zero to needing 17 root canals, especially with routine dental care. That does not seem normal, and seems like it would've been a much slower progression than that. I would also seek out multiple opinions!

This is what I don't understand either.

Tritto. I would be pretty concerned dentist hadn't noticed problems prior to her referral to an endodontist.

[wildrice]

sent is a dentist, maybe she can weigh in?

This sounds insane. At the very least, I think I'd do this in phases since she's not in any pain. What are the risks if she does 2 root canals at a time, or whatever?

[mysteriouswife]

😳. That’s insane.

We have a family member whose son had baby teeth come in with cavities. He was 3 and had to have most of his teeth capped or removed. Now he’s 12 and as far as I know his teeth are fine. Teeth are weird.

[wanderingback]

It seems like some part of the story is missing.
Why did she go to the endodontist in the first place? They're a specialist. Did her dentist recommend that she see a specialist?

[pugz]

this makes no sense. Presumably she had a cleaning in the last year but all the sudden they say this??

[preppy]

I would def get more opinions on this. PDQ but when I was in college I had an eating disorder (Bulimia) and I went from no cavities to tons in a very short period of time due to that and it was one of the first signs that tipped off my parents - no idea if that is the case here but wanted to mention it as something to look into as a possible reason.

[mcsangel2]

No, she wasn't in an accident. I'm also not sure what the dentist has been saying until now...DH says SIL said something about they'd been keeping an eye on it.

PDQ

I have been telling DH for awhile now that I think niece has an ED (based on changes in behavior at mealtimes at family gatherings in the last few years, other things that happened, and her appearance). DH asked SIL about it and SIL said she didn't, although niece sees someone for other anxiety issues. Anxiety issues affect almost everyone in DH's family. When Dh first told me about this, I did a quick google and couldn't find a connection (no acid erosion on her teeth); however another google this afternoon suggests there could be a link with anorexia. :-(

[mcsangel2]

May 27, 2020 15:33:08 GMT -5 preppy said:

I would def get more opinions on this.  I went from no cavities to tons in a very short period of time.

We were posting at the same time. But I strongly suspect this is the reason. ETA: deleted.

[preppy]

May 27, 2020 15:38:30 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

May 27, 2020 15:33:08 GMT -5 preppy said:

I would def get more opinions on this.  I went from no cavities to tons in a very short period of time.

We were posting at the same time. But I strongly suspect this is the reason. ETA: deleted.

If this does end up being the case I hope she gets the support and treatment she needs.

[purplepenguin7]

I can't comment on the ED part, but when I was around that age I had two root canals. The first I was in so much pain and went through years of dental visits before my dentist recommended a root canal. The second was a lot quicker because the situation was the same so he said save the time and root canal that tooth as well. Since it was months and months of pain and trying things to avoid a RC, I would suspect something more going in your niece's case.

[sent]

May 27, 2020 15:29:22 GMT -5 wildrice said:

sent is a dentist, maybe she can weigh in?

This sounds insane. At the very least, I think I'd do this in phases since she's not in any pain. What are the risks if she does 2 root canals at a time, or whatever?

There could be a lot of reasons. OP mentioned ED. Bulimia will erode the teeth badly. Other things can rapidly destroy teeth include drinking lots of acidic drinks like Gatorade or energy drinks or soda (“Mountain Dew mouth”). Also drug use (“meth mouth” but other drugs also). I had a 18 year old rapidly destroy her teeth in a year in front of my eyes. She was in Invisalign treatment with me and initially told me she wouldn’t take the trays out to eat. That can also cause quick breakdown of teeth. I also suspected she had drug usage. But being 18, I couldn’t exactly ask her parents and I never saw them anyways after her first consultation at age 17.

If she is otherwise healthy, they can always get a second opinion.

[mich1]

Yes, my husband.

They don’t know why, but when he was around 26 all of his teeth started losing all their enamel and decalcifying. So right now, about half his teeth have root canals and all 28 are crowned.

He is now 62, and has a few more root canals and had several crowns replaced.

[bcv513]

If she really does need all this work I would definitely suspect an ED and/or a calcium deficiency. I hope for her sake that it’s a mistake.

[wanderingback]

Yeah with the additional information I definitely think you're not getting the whole story.
I do hope all goes well with whatever care she needs.

[marie]

Oh my...that sounds like a lot. I also had a LOT of dental work that had to be done post an ED, but none of them were root canals, and I was older. The number of teeth needing correction you mention was in line with what I needed, but not root canals.

[marie]

Just posting again. You can spread treatment out, and they should. Not sure of their dental coverage, but I would ask what has to happen immediately and put some off to to the next coverage year

[sent]

May 27, 2020 20:04:14 GMT -5 marie said:

Just posting again. You can spread treatment out, and they should. Not sure of their dental coverage, but I would ask what has to happen immediately and put some off to to the next coverage year

That's a good idea if you need work on a few teeth. But dental coverage is usually like $1500 max. For a $50K case involving 17 teeth, the dentist usually wants to do the whole thing together for continuity & optimal results and not put things off. It's better for the dentist to just give the family a $1500 discount if that's what it comes down to. I do not see these kinds of cases in my office but a colleague once explained it to me this way when he gets people with these high dollar cases who still want to "maximize my insurance."

[basilosaurus]

May 27, 2020 20:14:20 GMT -5 sent said:

May 27, 2020 20:04:14 GMT -5 marie said:

Just posting again. You can spread treatment out, and they should. Not sure of their dental coverage, but I would ask what has to happen immediately and put some off to to the next coverage year

That's a good idea if you need work on a few teeth. But dental coverage is usually like $1500 max. For a $50K case involving 17 teeth, the dentist usually wants to do the whole thing together for continuity & optimal results and not put things off. It's better for the dentist to just give the family a $1500 discount if that's what it comes down to. I do not see these kinds of cases in my office but a colleague once explained it to me this way when he gets people with these high dollar cases who still want to "maximize my insurance."

I would also guess they just knock you out rather than a potentially painful piecemeal local approach? Get all your healing done in one miserable go rather than many.

[mcsangel2]

They are wanting it to be finished by August if possible (SIL previously said, before today's collaborative meeting, that they were thinking of breaking up and having her do some at a time now, then first break, Christmas, Spring break, etc, over a year) because she's going out of state for college. I'm assuming after today's meeting they've decided there's a need to get them all done faster than that. They are also concerned because niece is majoring in voice performance and they are wondering if structural changes in her jaw are going to affect her.

Obviously, I'm hearing everything third hand. But with the meeting today with the endo and the regular dentist, I guess it was proven that she has extensive calcification on the roots of her teeth, so I don't know how much time they're going to spend working on a second opinion vs. just getting started on it.

[sent]

May 27, 2020 20:41:49 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Obviously, I'm hearing everything third hand. But with the meeting today with the endo and the regular dentist, I guess it was proven that she has extensive calcification on the roots of her teeth, so I don't know how much time they're going to spend working on a second opinion vs. just getting started on it.

Calcification of the roots at that age would be really rare. Calcification usually happens naturally with age. I can't think of any conditions where the roots are calcified at a young age. 

Decalcification is more likely. The problems I described in my other post where teeth break down rapidly involve decalcification. 

[imojoebunny]

May 27, 2020 20:14:20 GMT -5 sent said:

May 27, 2020 20:04:14 GMT -5 marie said:

Just posting again. You can spread treatment out, and they should. Not sure of their dental coverage, but I would ask what has to happen immediately and put some off to to the next coverage year

That's a good idea if you need work on a few teeth. But dental coverage is usually like $1500 max. For a $50K case involving 17 teeth, the dentist usually wants to do the whole thing together for continuity & optimal results and not put things off. It's better for the dentist to just give the family a $1500 discount if that's what it comes down to. I do not see these kinds of cases in my office but a colleague once explained it to me this way when he gets people with these high dollar cases who still want to "maximize my insurance."

But would it still be $50K worth of work, if it is all done in one or two days?   You are only putting the the person under once or twice vs. 17 times, being able to use the same equipment without having to clean it for multiple teeth, though for longer, so that seems like a lot of cost savings.  IDK, but it seems to me, that it is sort of like having a tree taken out all together vs. trimming one limb at a time, which should not cost as much as having 17 individual root canals?  Maybe I am missing some aspect?  I know I was texting with my dentist uncle today, that he is not working, currently, and trying to come up with a plan to follow re-opening protocols, all of which are more expensive for his practice than, previously, just one piece of equipment he needs to buy for each of his treatment rooms is $7K, and will be able to see a lot fewer patient when he does open, but with the same rent and overhead, so there is that.  

[wanderlustmom]

Just an anecdote but our DD fell on playground equipment and needed root canals on two teeth and had to have a follow up root canal a year later on one, She will need an implant for the tooth that needed two root canals. I know your family member didn’t have trauma.