Perio
At my last dentist appointment, my dentist gave me a referral to a periodontist because apparently my gum is receding on one of my molars, so she thinks I should get a gum graft.
I went to the Perio appointment yesterday morning and as I drove up to the office I had an uncanny feeling I’d been there before. But it turns out that it was a canny feeling, because I *have* been there before. In 2012. Â Apparently when I had my braces, my orthodontist referred me there for an exam just to make sure my gums were OK during the ortho treatment. I had no recollection of this and even after seeing my original patient intake form (which they had me update in case info had changed, which it totally had) and the Xrays they took while I was there, I still have only the vaguest recollection of this. Apparently my memory is receding along with my gum line.
Anyway, the perio’s assessment was that my gum on the molar my dentist was referring to is receding, slowly but surely, and the molar behind it is starting to as well. She stressed that it was nothing I was doing wrong, my mouth is super duper healthy and well taken care of, just a result of anatomy and the unavoidable wear and tear of living. Her recommendation is to do the graft, though she said it’s not an emergency – everything is stable now, but it will continue to recede, and even though it’s a slow recession, eventually it will be problematic.
So I’ve asked them to do a preapproval with my dental plan – the receptionist said plans don’t usually cover gum grafts, but mine says something about covering a periodontist doing a tissue graft, which sounds like the same thing to me, so I figured I’d get them to find out for sure. Especially because it will cost more than $1300 and I’d pretty much rather do anything with $1300 than spend it on mouth surgery. $1300 would buy a nice holiday. Or would look really good coming off my mortgage. Or would be fun for the cats to play with. Seriously, giving my cats $1300 in cash for them to chew up seems like a more enjoyable use of $1300.
Anyhoo, I guess I’ll find out in a few weeks if my insurance company will foot the bill for this. And if I end up getting it, perhaps I’ll post some gross photos like I did when I had my last dental surgery!
I’ve had 2 gum grafts for the same reason and it was 100% covered. It also wasn’t that bad! I went to the work the next day was just sore. I’d recommend using your own tissue. It hurts more but apparently way higher success rate!
You can get a gum graft with someone else’s gums? That wasn’t even mentioned as an option to me – but I think I’d rather a bit more pain for the higher success rate!