When Teeth are Shattered

In my oldest son's eighth year, he had just gotten his permanant front teeth in.  They were so big and beautiful and big!  He was also experiencing the joys of the big kid playground at school and how glorious a game of tag could be with more room to run.  One such game of tag, ended the existence of his newly aquired teeth.  I imagine him laughing and running, then throwing his head back in glee, huge smile on his face as he looks over his shoulder to seen how close his attacker is only to then turn just in time to smash his beautiful smile into the pole of the outdoor patio cover.
The call I got from him at school was timid and I could hear that he had cried a little.  He was more concerned with whether I would be mad at him for causing careless damage to himself rather than the fact that he had shattered his two front teeth and they were barely hanging in his gums.  I wasn't mad and felt so bad for him.  They were as new and perfect as teeth get and now they were forever ruined.  I was sure he would have a broken face too, but the only damage was to his teeth.  He must have been having a marvelous time to have that big of a smile on his face.  The prognosis was that he had not only completely broken out a moon shaped section of his two teeth, but the part of the teeth that were left had microfractures all over them.  When the Dentist told me this, I was reminded of those cartoons where the character gets hit in the mouth and his teeth fall out in sections onto the ground leaving nothing but jagged shards.  That is kind of how he looked.
What did I learn?
First, when you go to the dentist with an emergency, they can bill it out under your medical plan usually.  This way, the cost is significantly less.  I had an emergency dental copay that was $60 instead of having to pay the 20% for the entire reconstruction.  My son needed two porcelin venirs for his teeth and the cost of that for us was going to be $1200 under our dental plan.  But under the medical plan we only paid two $60 copays.  One for the intial visit to have his teeth x-rayed and prepped and then the second visit to apply the venirs.  I wouldn't have known about this were it not for the dental office receptionist mentioning it.
The down side to going this route is the dental office didn't get paid for six months because the medical insurance requested more proof for the work than the dental plan would have.  The dental office was patient and I had to call the insurance company a few times to make sure they were processing the claim.  Ultimately, if the insurance company had denied the claim, I would have to pay the bill.  It is always the patient's responsibility to know what their coverage is and what their part of the bill will be.
If you find yourself in a dental emergency, check with your medical plan to see if the cost of the coverage is better than under your dental plan.