How do people come up with the money (just curious)?

[Lauralee]

Oh also.. I live in Canada and jaw surg is NOT free. you have to pay 100%. Unless you have a good healthplan with your employment.

[Soph26]

In the Netherlands everyone pays a set cost for health insurance which is heavily subsidised by the government. It's illegal for insurers to refuse you healthcare or to impose restrictions. Oral surgery is covered under this I think. For SARPE, I know my surgeon had to request permission from the insurers to use an implanted surgi-tec expander (instead of the hyrax expander other people seem to have) but there was no problem. And no waiting around either! The whole thing was approved in a few weeks and I was booked in.

I pay a small premium every month for additional dental cover (outside of normal check-up costs which are covered under the standard health insurance) and this means my braces will be completely paid for too.

I come from the UK so I know I could have done this for free but the waiting times are astronomical back home.

Hats off to all you guys who save up a ton of money. Totally worth the commitment though.

[trossi]

Oh also.. I live in Canada and jaw surg is NOT free. you have to pay 100%. Unless you have a good healthplan with your employment.

My jaw surgery is covered and I live in Ontario. Everyone I know who has had jaw surgery in Ontario has had it covered. The only portion I pay for is surgical planning which is $3500 for my case. Maybe you live in a different province with different coverage. Otherwise I would re-evaluate your surgeon. I've also talked to people in Alberta who have had it covered.

[Lauralee]

I guess I'm just thinking of the "surgical planning cost" its about $6,000 for mine. Which is alott i think.

[redwine]

The only good thing about my mouth is that it is messed up enough that surgery will be covered under my medical plan. The surgeon had to provide test results and a letter of medical necessity. Good thing, 'cause I don't have a dental plan. Having SARPE & BSSO.

[CaliforniaKid]

I guess I'm just thinking of the "surgical planning cost" its about $6,000 for mine. Which is alott i think.

LOL. mine was over 50k. america ftw. 6,000 geez, that wouldn't even cover the operating room time.

[Skibunny]

I find this question baffling too! I just can't bring myself to refinance my house for the sake of my teeth, nor to put them on a credit card.

[CaliforniaKid]

I thought about letting Arnett/Gunson do it, but it's just so much money that it's ridiculous. The worst part however is that the hospital fee alone is more than what the total cost is to have it done by a top surgeon in Europe.

sometimes I wish I was european.

[hopeless20312]

I guess I'm just very lucky. I live in Philippines and braces cost like 800-1000 dollars. Crazy right? I had my braces like for free because my dentist is a friend of my mother's lol. But orthognathic surgery is not supported here in my hometown. I have to go to Manila to have an inquiry about orthog surgery. It would be like an hour flight though. But anyways, it's really hassle.

Orthog surgery costs 12k dollars here. It's expensive but I know it would be worth it. I'm 17 and I'm still in college and my plan is to save up until graduation and have my jaw done.

Cheers.

[jimmyjackson]

Hey, I'm new here.

I've been saving money for a few years now - cutting costs whenever I can.

I had a consult with Bloomquist in Seattle last year which was very reasonably priced ~15k. I had a consultation a year before that in San Francisco which they listed at 50-60k.

I just scheduled an appointment with Gunson next month. From what I've heard, the prices with Arnett and Gunson are upwards of 80-100k? I'm still going to do the consult. But at that price, I'm not sure how anyone could pay for this procedure without a lot of insurance assistance.


I'd like to ask anyone who went with Bloomquist for some info/pics, but I guess I have to find a reason to post 6-7 more times before I get forum privileges.

[Marisama]

I considered Bloomquist, but after giving their office a call, I was quickly turned off because Dr. Bloomquist does not operate on patients with any sort of TMJ issues. I would proceed with caution.

[CaliforniaKid]

I just scheduled an appointment with Gunson next month. From what I've heard, the prices with Arnett and Gunson are upwards of 80-100k? I'm still going to do the consult. But at that price, I'm not sure how anyone could pay for this procedure without a lot of insurance assistance.

my surgical fee was slightly more than 40, but the hospital really nails ya. it is private so the OR time is 10k. office told me arnett's fee is higher than gunson's.

[jimmyjackson]

Thanks for the replies.

CaliforniaKid: 40k (surgeon) + 10K (OR) + additional fee for days spend in the hospital = ??


Bloomquist was asking 15k for EVERYTHING. Of course, he doesn't have any before/after pictures online anywhere and I'm not sure how modern his approach is to the procedure. He seemed much more knowledgeable than the surgeon I met with in San Francisco though.


Something like 60-80K is just not really possible for me. I'm going to have to hope for insurance coverage or bust if that's the case.

[CaliforniaKid]

Thanks for the replies.

CaliforniaKid: 40k (surgeon) + 10K (OR) + additional fee for days spend in the hospital = ??


Bloomquist was asking 15k for EVERYTHING. Of course, he doesn't have any before/after pictures online anywhere and I'm not sure how modern his approach is to the procedure. He seemed much more knowledgeable than the surgeon I met with in San Francisco though.


Something like 60-80K is just not really possible for me. I'm going to have to hope for insurance coverage or bust if that's the case.

i honestly think you'll be fine. one question to ask is how many jaw surgeries he/she does in a year. surgeon fees and all his assistants is ballpark 40 (double jaw surgery). you have to stay one day in the hospital mandatory as part of the procedure. the 9-10k covers that. if you have to stay an extra day most insurance carries cover that. if not they'll just bill you but what can ya do.

[clockworkrabbit]

My ortho (and virtually all other orthos) have payment plans so you can space out the payments evenly throughout your entire treatment. For me, this works out to $200/month because my treatment is only 18 months long and my ortho is expensive ($7,800 for Damon braces). If your treatment is less costly and predicted to take longer than 18m, your monthly payment would be much lower.

For my surgery, I have Kaiser insurance and they paid 100% of the cost of my bi-jaw surgery and hospital stay. I only paid $80 for medicine co-pays. If I had to pay even 10%, it would have been between $3-5k out of pocket and we would have had to save up slowly.