Frustrated with the doctors

[Guest guest]

Hello all..

I'm 25 female, in Indiana, and have an underbite.

I had braces put on at the end of January.

My ortho told me I was ready for surgery in July. My next appointment

(August) they took my progress records (molds, x-rays, etc) for the

surgeon. I live in a small town and there's only 1 OMS office in

town. I got an appointment in September. A week before my appointment

I had a conflict and wanted to reschedule but the surgeon was so busy

that he didnt have time available for the next 4 weeks. I really want

to get this over with so I kept my original appointment.

So I went for my first consultation with the oral surgeon in September

(after almost 8 months in braces). He told me that my orthodontist

should have sent me to him earlier because all the paperwork and

insurance precert will take another 6-8weeks. And he said he'll need

to extract my wisdom teeth because that's where he's going to put the

screws during surgery? He recommended me to schedule an appointment

for that wisdom teeth extraction ASAP. I did. I went back to him the

next week. He said it will be around 6-8 weeks anyway before the bones

fill back that space and I could have the surgery. He said he will

dictate the letter for my insurance soon and I'll get a copy of it.

Anyway he'll operate on both jaws even though my problem is an

underbite. He'll move my upper jaw a little forward and up? and move

back my lower jaw.

I told my ortho about what the surgeon said and he said he couldnt

have sent me to the surgeon earlier because I wasnt ready for surgery.

He had to correct my alignment first... I'm just so frustrated with

both. I thought I would have the surgery done before the end of the

year.. and until now I still don't know when I'll have it.

Now.. the other problem is the cost and insurance coverage. This week

is the end of my enrollment period for health insurance for next year.

I want to set aside some money in my Flexible Spending Account. The

OMS office has told me that the surgeon fee will be around $20K and

they're not in my insurance network (Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield)

plus hospital stay fee which they don't know about. They couldnt tell

me how much my insurance will pay. They said either $2000/jaw or up

to 80% ?? That's a big difference.. If they only cover $2000/jaw.

I'll have to reconsider the whole surgery thing. I don't have that

kind of money. If they cover at least 50% maybe I want to put $5000

(max) in my FSP to save a considerable amount of tax. It's either

Yes or No to surgery for me.

It's been a month since I had my wisdom teeth removed. I've been

calling the OMS office every week asking whether the doctor has sent

the letter to my insurance and they haven't yet. How long are they

going to delay this ? I want to have a date for my surgery and really

really need to know how much money i have to prepare!

Now the other thing that frustrates me is the fact that I don't have

any family in town. I'm a foreigner here. My family live on the other

side of the world. My boyfriend of 6 years live in Texas (we see each

other every 6 months). He plan to be here for my surgery. But he's

also taking graduate classes so scheduling the surgery time is very

important for me. He can't be here just anytime. I am also planning

to move to Texas permanently next year to be with him. This whole

braces/surgery thing is holding me back here... The longer the

delay .. the longer I have to be in braces.. the longer I have to stay

here..

I almost think maybe I should just move to Texas and find new doctors

over there.. new ortho and OMS. Has anybody here move in the middle

of orthodontic treatment ?

Thanks for reading my rants guys !

I'm just so frustrated. I can't wait to be brace free and have a nice

smile !