I am having some extensive dental work done, including the replacement of 6 crowns (my insurance pays a very small amount). I have been given the option of the following: porcelain fused to metal; porcelain fused to 65% gold, and CAPTEK. The 2nd option is $125.00 above my regular co-pay of $260 per crown, the CAPTEK is $525 above the regular co-pay. As a lay-person, how do I know if the hype is true, as I am facing up to $750-$2400 in addition fees to my regular co-pay. Obviously, there is a huge difference between $750 and $3,150!!!

Any input would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you

For those kinds of prices you may want to take a trip to Mexico. I've found that the dentists are very good and reasonably priced.

If one were to speak to a dental lab and ask what the cost of the gold is that is used in porcelain fused to 65% gold, you may be surprised at how much the gold actually costs.

I have also worked in offices where the gold option was offered to patients but the gold was never used, and there would be no way for a patient to determine that as the gold used under a porcelain crown will not have the yellow color that we associate with gold.

Then one has to ask a simple question. Do you think that any of these add ons are there to simply increase the profit to the dental office. It would be real interesing to see if these same options are offered to patients with a different plan, that pays better, or to cash patients.

In my experience, the office that I worked in that charged for gold but didn't do it, never gave that offer to patients that had plans that paid more.

I now that I am going off on a rant, but having seen the problem, and having dealt with these problems, I sometimes can be more pessimistic about some of these things, and will probably be so until shown that I am wrong.

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