Dental Drama

Piper went to her FIRST dentist appointment last week.  I was “supposed” to take her this summer (told her ped I would), but, frankly, I haven’t been in the mood.  And since her 30-month check-up is coming soon, I figured I needed to get in before then. 

The drama started when I was able to get an appointment with a dentist who does loads of work with the Ds population here in town.  Problem is that he’s located on the other side of the world.  As in, almost to Arizona (or at least it felt like it.)  But, I figured that, since you don’t go to the dentist all that often, I was willing to travel for someone who came so highly recommended. 

So, I called and got an appointment in less than a week.  I was surprised it was so fast, but it gave me less time to worry about it (I’m so not a fan of dentists…), so I was game.  The appointment was on Monday; Friday night, the receptionist called and said that she was unable to verify our dental insurance.  And so that we didn’t get stuck with a huge bill, she suggested we reschedule until we could figure out why she couldn’t find us in the insurance system (despite having all the information AND a copy of my insurance card.)  BUT, I did think it was a good idea to hold out until we got everything squared away.  So, we cancelled our appointment and FINALLY got the insurance card figured out (she had Luke’s birthday wrong.)  We rescheduled to last week. 

So we travelled to The Other Side of the World and had our appointment.  I dragged my mom with us so that she could sit with Adalynn (and we partook in a little retail therapy afterword- which cost me less than $3.)  The appointment took all of 15 minutes, tops.  The dentist and his hygenist, though, were super nice.  They came out and sat with Piper on the floor and talked for a few minutes before they took her back.  Piper was NOT in the mood to have her mouth looked at, but they were able to get everything done that they would have.  Her teeth are healthy (wahoo!) but there is a little crowding on the top; hoping that, as she gets bigger, it won’t be an issue any more. 

And, of course, we checked out and got the bill.  After the whole insurance debacle from before, I didn’t figure it was going to be an issue; I KNOW that we get free checkups/cleanings twice a year.  So when I got a bill for $57.50, I double-took.  She said that insurance took it from $75 to that.  So, essentially, it paid for 16%???  I still don’t understand.  She said that if it was an error, we’d get a refund (uh, thanks). 

For some reason, dental insurance is such a PAIN.  It isn’t as spelled-out as medical insurance is, and it’s almost impossible, at least for us, to figure out if a provider is “in-network” or not.  And I THOUGHT that was why the receptionist was insisting on verifying our coverage before seeing us- to make sure that we were covered there!  To say that I’m a little peeved is a little of an understatement…  So, I’m hoping that it’s a glitch.  We’re waiting for the statement of benefits to look at it, and then call the insurance company to make sure that everything was billed correctly.  But, looks like we may be in the market for a new dentist.  JOY.

And since Piper was having NONE of the actual dentist office, the only pictures I got were of her playing in the waiting room.  Let’s just say that it was a good thing she had time to play; after the hour-long drive down there, she was itchin’ to move!

Winnie the Pooh was playing; she’s never seen Pooh before, but DID like Tigger.  Once Tigger had bounced off the screen, though, she wasn’t very interested, and did her very own bouncing…  Off the walls…

She made her baby play dentist, too.  It wasn’t nearly as funny, though, as the tantrum she threw when I told her that ADDY had to sit in the car seat, and not her baby doll.  Oh, the drama!

Isn’t it time to go yet???