[sjwright]

> My bill for removing my wisdom teeth came to nearly $12K

Seriously? You could fly to Thailand or central Europe and get your dental work performed there for a fraction of the price. You could probably fly business class, stay at a swanky hotel, and absorb the loss of two weeks work and still come out ahead. I'm serious. Dental tourism is a thing.

I was an accidental dental tourist a few years ago while travelling around Europe. I had just arrived in Budapest, Hungary when a tooth I knew required root canal suddenly started hurting intensely. Wife found a local dentist, booked me in, the procedure was done over a couple of sessions and the total cost came in well under $1k AUD.

(Your bill seems excessive even by affluent Australian standards. I had four wisdom teeth removed – one of them impacted, requiring a dental surgeon – and the total cost was under $3k AUD at my local dentist. I bet it only "cost" $12k because it was covered by insurance rather than priced by the free market.)

[chimeracoder]

> Your bill seems excessive even by affluent Australian standards. I had four wisdom teeth removed – one of them impacted, requiring a dental surgeon – and the total cost was under $3k AUD at my local dentist. I bet it only "cost" $12k because it was covered by insurance rather than priced by the free market.

It's expensive by US standards as well. In NYC, which is a high COL area, the price I've seen quoted is around $200-250 per tooth.

$12K must mean that they were complications that are being included - insurance will always be more expensive than a free market self-paying system, but not that much more.

[deong]

I'm going next week to have one removed, and it's about $500, plus some extra costs that are covered by my medical insurance rather than the dental insurance whose deductible I haven't hit yet.

[chimeracoder]

> I'm going next week to have one removed, and it's about $500, plus some extra costs that are covered by my medical insurance rather than the dental insurance whose deductible I haven't hit yet.

Yeah, I'm quoting a lower end of the range, but the point is that OP was literally paying more than ten times that amount.