Update... First of all, I'd like to publicly thank Dr. R for posting to me. I've squared that away with a PM to him, but I wanted to let you guys, first hand, be able to "read" my gratitude for the kindness that he put forth-and I haven't even MET him yet! But I do have an appointment!!! To make a long story short, I had to have several injections of Lupron years ago. It was a necessity, and I hated the initial side effects enough-imagine when I found out that the drug started literally almost rotting my mouth (doesn't happen to everyone...it's one of those "your mileage may vary" kind of deals)!! I've always had good dental hygiene, and suddenly brushing, flossing, the whole bit just didn't counteract what was going on. A wonderful dentist in NJ worked with me when it started happening to try and counteract the situation. He, even then, told me that my outcome in the end could be losing all of my teeth...but I wasn't ready to give up! The fighter wanted to KEEP her teeth...what a concept, right? I ended up having the beyond saving teeth at that time extracted and replaced them with an upper partial. However, the breaking and such still kept going, no matter what. To call the situation embarrassing and emotionally tough to deal with was a mild description. I truly felt defeated, and in that defeat just sort of said "oh well" and let nature take it's course, knowing what did lie ahead in the future-having all of the teeth extracted and inserting a full set of dentures. My biggest issue was my age (not sure why!). I'm 33! Fast forward to now...things have gotten bad, and when my husband was laid off last year I sighed and said, "it's okay...we'll wait it out." Obviously that's not the plan that is meant to be. And like many things in life, the big picture plan doesn't always sit and wait for you to do something...instead it puts itself into action and you are left to sort of go along for the ride...but with the serious money crunch that we have, going to the dentist or any other serious situation was going to be one that would give us a lot of bills and more of a crunch. But like anything...you know when to say mercy! For the past two weeks I've barely eaten. The left side of my face feels SO awful. I'm on heavy antibiotics to knock this thing, but there are so many other emotional angry feelings wrapped up in this it just makes it all so much more annoying. NOW>>>>to my point...(sorry for the lengthiness) I grew up in a little bitty town in AR where everyone knew your name, your parents...heck, they knew your DOG! LOL! But everyone stuck their heads out for others, and when the going got tough the heart of the community was there to embrace you and get you through those hard times. The local doctors and dentists and such were those types of people! The beautiful part was that those in need many times were the ones that held the hands of others in need once they were on their feet again. Many doctors today wouldn't DREAM of doing what he did. He didn't have to personally contact me. He has a huge practice to run, many associates, and time probably doesn't come easy for him. But HE took the time to say "come see me and we'll figure this out." I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen anyone do that for anybody in the past twenty years! It's an amazing feeling just knowing those people DO exist. I cannot even put out here the gratitude that I have for what he did!! And on the other side of the wall...so many of you basically JUMPED to help me out, give me advice, anything that you could think of. I imagined posting and getting maybe five responses, if any. Instead I got an entire community that stood at attention (including the Dr) to help!! Talk about warm and fuzzy!! LOL! Everyone, please accept my sincerest THANK YOU for this. Even through all of this pain and yucky feeling I have been given a great big cyber hug and I will never forget this! WHAT A GREAT FORUM!!!!
I wish you the best with the issues you have at hand, I know pain and money can be very depressing to a person. Hang in there and let us know how you make out. {{{{O}}}}
If you want to make your dental visit at Dr. R's 40/42 office the most complete experience it can be, you should always ask for Denise, AKA "REBA". She goes above and beyond to make me comfortable and to make my visit as enjoyable as possible. She is truly an asset to that company and I ask for her to assist every time I have an appointment. In my humble opinion she is the shinning star of that practice. She really believes in his practice as well, when you see her out in the community she always has a good word about the doctors and the work they do there, and always says in all her years assisting that Dr. R is the best dentist she has ever worked for and that all the assistants pull together and help each other as if they were family. She is a positive force in that office and always has a great attitude no matter how busy they are, I look forward to my next visit.
i totally agree about Denise too. If she had not been there holding my hand through all the work i needed, & i am the biggest chicken on the earth when it comes to dentists, i don't think i could have stuck it out. Big thank you to Denise:hurray::hurray::hurray:
i understand what you are going through, our dentist told us we need many thousands of dollars just to deep clean our teeth(me and hubby), and that is with insurance, also more money for crowns etc that arent pressing. we are on disability and cant afford that, and we dont qualify for anything, we work hard for a living but not smart(not much money)i guess we will die from heart disease from our teeth. dr riccobeene, if you are still reading this can you tell me what you would charge and are we getting ripped off? we dont know what dentists charge since we arent able to go to them. thanks
Sounds like his $59 4042.com deal would be great for you and your hubby. A small price to get a good evaluation and action plan, and maybe get an application in on that Brush & Floss Foundation when its up and running.
I cannot tell you how excited I am to have run accross this post. I was just telling my fiance today that I really needed to get a cleaning but without insurance, I kept putting it off. I always went every 6 months growing up and up into my 20s but when I moved to NC, I no longer had insurance. Such a blessing to have Dr R in our community!! Can't wait to make my appt!!! :hurray:
Me too! I have been wanting to/needing to get another cleaning & dental check up, but without insurance, it kept getting put off and put off. I have already printed out the page and will be scheduling my cleaning!! Thank you soooooo much Dr R!! You really are THE BEST!!
It's hard to say what we would charge without seeing you. If you schedule an appointment, I'll be able to give you a good idea.
I have to tell you that hearing compliments about my staff and the other doctors in the office gives me more pleasure than hearing things about myself. Thank you for acknowledging their hard work and commitment.
Doesn't Dr. R do Extractions. He is my daughter and my dentist but they have referred us to an Oral Surgeon to have 3 wisdom teeth removed. There seems to be only 2 surgeons in her insurance plan and 1 of them has a monopoly of offices and charges $144 for a consultation. I don't have that kind of money. I can see it if the money was put to the surgery, but with Xrays in hand, why do you need that much money? You're not even doing anything. Frustrated. We both love Dr. R's office as well.
Have you tried Dr Cusomano? (sp) he was at Dr R's a few years ago, he did my extraction, he's now over by the Club House behind Food Lion.
Dr. Cusomano is really nice. He did an xray for free a few years back. I think he was just curious about the Christensen prosthesis I have and wanted to see it.
Just another option, Calamos and Marsh should be willing to work with you as well on a payment plan. I had EXTENSIVE dental work done after a dentist in Garner messed up my mouth. It took years of going in once every few weeks, but Dr. Emrich finally finished and as of today, people cannot tell how extensive my dental work really is. K
Last week I used the $59.00 dental cleaning offer that Dr R posted on here and the dental hygenist and the dentist who came in at the end of the cleaning to check my teeth were both soooo nice & thorough. I kinda wondered since it was a discounted visit if I'd get a quick mini teeth cleaning, 1 x-ray and no dentist visit, but NOPE!! I got the full service!! Scaling, polishing, 4-5 x-rays, and a full dental check at the end!! Thank You Dr R for extending that offer, that was a very kind and generous service to do for us!!
Anyone know if that 59 dollar deal is still good? I'm a stay at home mom of 2 disabled children and haven't been to a dentist in over 10 years (lack of insurance and fear). I have a broken molar that needs to be pulled. It is killing me. I have other problem areas but they aren't as bad (or at least don't feel as bad). It won't pay for the extraction I'm sure or the deep cleaning I need, but it would at least give me an idea of what condition I'm in and how much its going to cost to straighten me out.
