<p>Looks like my Mid is going to have to have his wisdom teeth removed. Does anyone have experience with the dental facilities at Mother B? We were thinking about having the work done at home over Christmas break. Any advice appreciated.</p>
<p>my understanding is that you cannot have your mid treated medically without permission from tricare. this is something that can be granted for emergency situations.
many mids had their wisdom teeth removed prior to i-day. the academy will schedule the surgery for your mid according to their convenience. best of luck!</p>
<p>Mine had his wisdom teeth removed while on leave and did not ask Tricare for permission. I payed for it and did not expect Tricare to pay. Brigade Medical did not have any problem when they saw him for routine dental care after it was done. You would have to have Tricare's permission if you are expecting them to pay. It may not be right but quite frankly when it comes to dental or medical care, as long as the Academy asks that I maintain insurance coverage then I still have a say in his care. Let the firing squad shoot...</p>
<p>Just one clarification so as to prvent confusion on the part of an applicant or his family. The Academy does not ASK that you maintain insurance coverage. It does not care one bit whether or not you maintain coverag.e
I don't recall that the Academy even recommends that you maintain coverage.
Some parents recommend that you maintain coverage in the event a mid is separated. </p>
<p>In any event, there is some doubt that a carrier would pay a claim in that your mid is not, technically, a full-time student at a DOE institution and is no longer a dependent of yours after the first year.</p>
<p>Carry the insurance if you want but the Academy does not care and does not require that you maintain personal health insurance coverage.</p>
<p>the insurance problem occurs when you want your private insurance to cover a major expense such as wisdom teeth extraction while they are your mid's secondary insurance. if your insurance company is aware that they are the secondary (and they should be) they will go after the primary company (Tricare) to cover the major part of the expense. it is not a good road to travel.</p>
<p>if you want to pay out of pocket for this surgery ($2000-$2500 in my part of the country), and all goes well with no complications (a potential risk factor), perhaps Tricare won't have a problem.</p>
<p>This advice is from the USCGA, but it would seem to apply to all academies as well:</p>
<p>*.... need to understand that they are in the military and that the military is responsible for taking care of their entire medical needs to maintain their fitness for duty. So, any treatment they receive that could have an impact on their fitness for duty needs to be placed in their medical record. </p>
<p>Second, any treatment other than emergencies that could affect their fitness of duty needs to preauthorized and copies need to be placed in their medical record. </p>
<p>Third, because the cadets usually do not know what could affect their fitness for duty, it is strongly recommended that all treatment be cleared through medical other than emergencies. </p>
<p>Fourth, even if the treatment does not have an immediate affect of fitness for duty, it could have an impact on readiness ( e.g. eye exams, Pap smear, HIV testing, DNA, dental examination etc ) all of which should be made available to their medical records. We use dental records to identify remains and if there has been dental work done that we do not know about could delay and even possibly prevent you from getting your son or daughter remains for burial. </p>
<p>Finally, some cadets think because they pay for or use their parents insurance that the government does not have a right to that information; that is not correct. Again, it would be hard for a cadet to know for sure what is or not needs to go into their military medical record, so they should check with medical to be sure. *</p>
<p>:cool:</p>
<p>Actually The Academy Does recommend that you maintain insurance. It was in the permit to report package.</p>
<p>Luigi is spot on. Cadet and Mids know this and parents should not try and usurp their military obligation. All medical care while on Active duty needs to be handled by the military. It needs to go on their military medical records.</p>
<p>The only reason the academy recommends (asks) parents to maintain health insurance is in case of separation, as there would not be Cobra available. </p>
<p>DistanceFan - I would strongly recommend you allow your son to receive his medical and dental care at the Academy. They will take care of him and why would you want to spoil his short vacation with you with wisdom teeth removal.</p>
<p>Parents of high school kids - have your dentist perform panoramic xrays now, and take action if wisdom teeth removal is indicated. Unless you don't have insurance coverage for it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the good information.</p>
<p>As a 12 year Navy veteran I have to go with suggesting that if possible you get it done before heading off to school. Recovery at home is a LOT easier than it wil be at the Academy or anywhere else in the military.</p>
<p>Outside of a toothache/cavity/etc. would a routine teeth cleaning and/or Xrays be scheduled annually while at USNA?</p>
<p>Cleaning is annually, which goes against any good dental practice.</p>
<p>the mids have to call to schedule their routine appointment. it doesn't happen automatically.</p>
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Cleaning is annually, which goes against any good dental practice
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<p>I don't know the exact clinic policy at USNA, but this would go against all other Navy dental clinic policies of cleanings twice a year. I would doubt that USNA would be different, but it may be possible. I might have your mid look into that a bit more.</p>
<p>You may be mixing this up with the annual exam which is called a T2 exam. This is an annual requirement that has to be scheduled in addition to any cleanings the service member would like. In the fleet you are lucky if you can get the T2 exam and cleaning done at the same time and then schedule another cleaning six months later. Usually you end up needing three seperate appointments which is a pain.</p>
<p>No not mixing it up with any other type of appointment. Mid specifically ask when he was in about a month ago to schedule the second cleaning this spring and was told Mids are only allocated one cleaning and one exam per year. That is when he asked If he could payout of pocket for just the cleaning and go to his home dentist - was told yes as long as there was no other Dental work performed.</p>
<p>In many cases Brigade dental will authorize you to get your wisdom teeth taken out at home due to so many mids needing them removed. It just depends on how busy they are at the time in most cases. When I needed mine taken out, they gave me a form the civilian dentist filled out and mailed to them, and I got it done at home with no problem.</p>
<p>well phooey (is that even how you spell it?) on the clinic for that policy.</p>
<p>Get 'em done at home. I never understood my parents' generation's fear of The Dentist until I had my wisdom teeth extracted here. And yes, you do get exactly one exam and one cleaning a year.</p>
<p>I've never heard of outside medical or dental work causing trouble for anyone. Just let Brigade Medical know about it and don't expect Tricare to pay for it. Of course, I've never tried, so please don't trust my advice.</p>
<p>This is my experience- my dd was supposed to have her wisdom teeth out at the end of HS years. We tenatively booked a possible oral sugeon appt for one of her vacations. The amazing thing is her jaw grew or something and when she went in for a checkup her wisdom teeth all were coming in perfectly! (and she was 19 at that point) Note-my husband has all his wisdom teeth so maybe this has something do do with it. Also, hers were straight on xrays, but they just assumed her jaw was too crowded. My friends and I all had ours out by age 16, (in the old days of course)</p>
<p>One of my dd's friends (at a SA) got up too soon after her w.t. surgery and fell, breaking her jaw. It would have been nice if someone could have helped her a little more when she was so groggy.</p>