Clark's Big Book of Bargains (8 page)

If you live in a large city, you should expect to pay $5,000 to $7,000 for your child’s braces, less in a smaller city. The more complicated the treatment, the more expensive it’s likely to be. Braces for an adult could cost more or less. If an adult just wants to uncrowd some lower teeth, it could run $1,000 or less for a simple retainer. But if the work is extensive, an adult could pay 50 percent more than a child. Since an adult’s jaw is no longer growing, moving teeth takes more time and adds cost. An adult might need to wear braces for three years for the same treatment that could be done on a child in two. Adults also tend to prefer invisible orthodontia, which is more exotic and more expensive—perhaps 50 percent more than the regular kind.

It’s a good idea to see what, if anything, your insurance may cover. Some policies may pay no more than $1,500 for braces. Others may not pay for braces for anyone over age twenty-one.

Cosmetic dentistry is big business today as well, particularly teeth whitening. But you don’t need expensive dental treatments to whiten your teeth. We tried an over-the-counter product, Crest Whitestrips, and they worked great. They cost about $34 for a series of treatments. You place this clear film over your teeth and it does a good job of whitening as long as you stick with it. Only one of our staffers, a heavy smoker, got no results. The Whitestrips couldn’t overcome the yellowing effect of heavy smoking. But for most people, the only reason they’d need to go to the dentist for teeth whitening is if they don’t have the discipline to follow the at-home regimen.

If you’re using the Crest Whitestrips, it’s good to have your teeth cleaned first by a dentist, so you don’t end up bleaching the plaque on your teeth, according to J. Crystal Baxter, a Chicago prosthodontist (reconstructive dentist). Dr. Baxter loves a new laser bleaching system dentists are using. It does a remarkable job in a single one-hour treatment, although it costs $600 to $800 to whiten all your teeth. Bleaching your teeth at home with a professional kit from a dentist can cost $300 to $500. I say try the Crest product for $34, and see if it works for you.

Dentists shift to cosmetic dentistry because the number of cavities people have been getting has been declining over the years. But the dental health of adolescents is declining again, in part because children and teenagers are drinking so-called sports drinks instead of water. Kids have been drinking soft drinks for quite a while. Sports drinks have made it worse, and that’s harming their teeth. So dentists may have a big business in repairing tooth decay again in the future.

One thing parents can do to protect their children’s teeth is have them sealed. The procedure seals tiny cracks and fissures in the tooth’s surface, so they don’t get cavities. It costs about $50 to $70 per tooth and lasts about five or six years. It’s an excellent value, because preventing cavities now can save your children from expensive crowns and root canals later.

Some people are electing to have their silver-mercury amalgam fillings replaced, fearing that they may suffer harm from the toxic mercury in the fillings. Dr. Baxter says the mercury in those fillings is inert, and she’s seen no definitive proof that it causes any harm. Having them removed should be considered only if you’ve had immune system problems, she says.

People ask about the price of dentistry because so much of it is uninsured. Even people who have dental insurance find it far less thorough than regular health insurance. For example, a policy might have a $1,200 annual limit, and provide only a 50 percent reimbursement for a $600 or $700 crown. If you think you may have more significant dental expenses in a year and have access to a flexible spending plan at work, you could use that to trim your costs. As I point out in the section on prescription drugs, flexible spending plans allow you to pay medical costs out of gross, or before-tax, dollars, so you get a substantial discount, usually 30 percent or more. You ask your employer to take a specified amount of money out of each paycheck, and you use that money to pay for dental work that isn’t paid by the company health plan. So if you need a $700 crown and insurance will pay $350, you can pay the other $350 from the flexible spending plan. Since $350 of your gross pay might be equal to $250 or less of your net pay, you save $100 or more. But you have to ask to have the money taken out of your paycheck before the year begins, and if you don’t spend it by year-end, you lose it. For that reason, flexible spending works best when you can predict your expenses in advance. Ask your dentist for an estimate of the next year’s expenses, and ask your employer to place that amount into your flexible spending account.

• Tips on Dentistry •

• Get a second opinion before undergoing any major dental work.
  

• If you want to whiten your teeth, try Crest Whitestrips before you consider professional bleaching. But get your teeth cleaned first. It doesn’t work well for smokers.
  

• Consider getting your children’s teeth sealed to prevent cavities.
  

• Don’t get silver-mercury amalgam fillings replaced. The mercury in the fillings hasn’t been shown to cause any harm.
  

• If you have access to a flexible spending plan at work, you can use it to save on dental expenses.
  

* PRIVATE SCHOOLS *

You may be wondering why, in a “book of bargains,” I would have anything about private schools, one of the most expensive choices parents can make regarding their children. I think a private-school education is one of the biggest bargains, because of the benefit you get in developing your child’s skills and earning power from sending your child to private school. Sometimes, very rarely, you have to spend money to have a big payoff, and this is one of those cases.

Whether you prefer a public school, private school, or a charter school, or even if you homeschool, there is nothing that’s right for every member of your family. Schools, like people, have personalities. So the school you loved as a child or the one that worked so well for one of your children might not be best for another.

My wife and I went to both public and private schools and my older daughter, Rebecca, went to public school for several years and now is in private school. Rebecca applied to six private schools and was fortunate to be accepted at five. So we had to figure out which one of the five would be best for her. I knew Rebecca would do best at a school that had more freedom and less conformity, while I can tell already that it’s going to be just the opposite for my younger daughter, Stephanie, who’s just two and a half. My brother, Neal, was thrown out of a school in eighth grade and ended up going to a military school. It was a perfect fit for him, just an ideal environment, and he flourished there. It was an experience that has benefited him all of his life, and he’s fifty-two now. But if you had put me in a military school, it would not have been the best fit at all.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of parents who now hire consultants to figure out what school would be best for their child. These consultants conduct psychological and academic tests and try to find the right school for your child.

Judith Greenberg, an educational consultant and “advocate for students,” says you evaluate any school, public or private, by determining how your child would fit in, educationally and socially. Are classes too large? Is your child a different kind of learner? Many schools have a kind of conveyor-belt mentality, Greenberg says. If your child can read about Argentina six times in a book but doesn’t understand unless he draws a map of South America, he will be lost in a school that doesn’t have a hands-on approach. If you have to fight with teachers and officials constantly about how to educate your child, it’s time to get out, Greenberg says.

On the social side, Greenberg has found that kids who don’t fit in, who have no friends, or become victims of bullying won’t be able to learn.

Not surprisingly, Greenberg says educational consultants can be very helpful. Some test your child and help with the application process. Others are very good at measuring the personality of a school to see if your child will be comfortable. Consultants cost about $600 to $1,200. You can find one by searching for “educational consultants” or “private school consultants” at your favorite search engine.

If you’re really lost and don’t have that intuitive feel for what would be best for your child, it’s okay to hire a consultant. But I think most parents can do this on their own. Whether you’re considering a private or public school, get permission to visit the school and observe for half a day. You’ll pick up the atmosphere quickly. Some parents will go to an open house at the school, but that’s an artificial atmosphere. Just go on a regular classroom day and figure out if you think your child will do well in that environment.

Looking back, I know that the public school Rebecca was in, although it’s fantastic academically, wasn’t a good environment for her. If I’d known then what I know now, I would have moved her.

There are plenty of private-school options for parents. Many parents put their child in public school through the elementary and middle school years, and then move them to a private high school. Others choose private school from first grade, or go with public school the whole way. I don’t like how school systems—to supposedly become more cost efficient—are moving kids into gigantic schools as early as sixth grade. Kids get lost in the education factory. It seems to me that public education does fine at the elementary-school level, but it fails children when schools become warehouses.