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ENT or Oral Surgeon for removal? Health or Dental Insurance?
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When you guys had it removed, did you get it removed by a ENT or oral Surgeon? Which insurance did you use? Health or Dental? If i got to an ENT they will use my health and if I go to a oral surgeon they will only take my dental insurance...I think im goin with the ENT on this one.
I went to an oral surgeon, but it was covered by my then crappy health insurance. Sounds like the ENT is the way to go for you though!
I went to an oral surgeon for removing my mucocele and my health insurance worked for me.
I had mine removed by a plastic surgeon and my health insurance covered it. Sort of a twisty road to get there, but here's how it worked --
My dentist (who is also my father) had the first "diagnosis" - he called it a mucocele and said I should get it removed. He lives in another state though, and I have no dental insurance, so he said I should have my regular doctor check it out and ask for a referral to an appropriate surgeon. Well, my doctor mostly concurred with my dentist, but couldn't be sure. He said it really didn't matter though, whether it was a benign mucocele or something else, because he could either do a biopsy to make sure, or just get someone to cut it out and then test it. Either way, benign or not, the end result is the same, getting it cut out. So he mused over whether to send me to a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon (apparently oral surgeon didn't occur to him.) In the end, he referred it to a plastic surgeon and called it an "unknown lesion", and my insurance fully covered the removal.
I'm not fully healed yet, so I can't make any final judgment, but I am so far MUCH in favor of the plastic surgeon over the dermatologist. In addition to the mucocele, I had a few (unrelated) moles removed by the same surgeon. A few years back, I had a dermatologist remove a few troublesome moles as well. The dermatologist ones ended up healing poorly, leaving scars, and bleeding/oozing for quite a while, and quite frankly, just plain hurting. The plastic surgeon assures me that scarring is extremely unlikely. Just looking at the lip and the other wound sites, the plastic surgeon's stitching is cleaner and smoother, and I have virtually no pain except in the lip, and it's entirely manageable. I have no limitations on my movement either, which is not at all like with the dermatologist.
Bottom line, the mucocele removal is at least partly a vanity procedure. Some are bigger than others, and some are more uncomfortable than others, but they're usually not dangerous, just annoying and unsightly. That said, the basic discipline of a plastic surgeon just adds a little (or a lot) more focus on how it will look afterward, and I don't think (so far, anyway) that I gave up anything for that extra vanity concern. I'd say the surgeon spent most (almost all) of the actual procedure time doing the stitching. Internal and external stitches, ones that have to be removed and ones that will dissolve, the whole nine yards. I think there are six or seven external stitches(a combination of both types) on the incision site, which is WAY bigger than the mucocele was. My understanding from the surgeon though, is that more stitches makes for a better healing and reduces the risk of scarring. [Contrast that with the dermatologist who cut out a giant mole, threw TWO stitches in there, left me an oozing, bleeding wound for a few weeks, and gave me the gift of a permanent scar.]
My vote is for the plastic surgeon - if you get a referral from your primary care physician for the removal, it shouldn't matter to your insurance what type of doctor does the procedure.
My dentist (who is also my father) had the first "diagnosis" - he called it a mucocele and said I should get it removed. He lives in another state though, and I have no dental insurance, so he said I should have my regular doctor check it out and ask for a referral to an appropriate surgeon. Well, my doctor mostly concurred with my dentist, but couldn't be sure. He said it really didn't matter though, whether it was a benign mucocele or something else, because he could either do a biopsy to make sure, or just get someone to cut it out and then test it. Either way, benign or not, the end result is the same, getting it cut out. So he mused over whether to send me to a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon (apparently oral surgeon didn't occur to him.) In the end, he referred it to a plastic surgeon and called it an "unknown lesion", and my insurance fully covered the removal.
I'm not fully healed yet, so I can't make any final judgment, but I am so far MUCH in favor of the plastic surgeon over the dermatologist. In addition to the mucocele, I had a few (unrelated) moles removed by the same surgeon. A few years back, I had a dermatologist remove a few troublesome moles as well. The dermatologist ones ended up healing poorly, leaving scars, and bleeding/oozing for quite a while, and quite frankly, just plain hurting. The plastic surgeon assures me that scarring is extremely unlikely. Just looking at the lip and the other wound sites, the plastic surgeon's stitching is cleaner and smoother, and I have virtually no pain except in the lip, and it's entirely manageable. I have no limitations on my movement either, which is not at all like with the dermatologist.
Bottom line, the mucocele removal is at least partly a vanity procedure. Some are bigger than others, and some are more uncomfortable than others, but they're usually not dangerous, just annoying and unsightly. That said, the basic discipline of a plastic surgeon just adds a little (or a lot) more focus on how it will look afterward, and I don't think (so far, anyway) that I gave up anything for that extra vanity concern. I'd say the surgeon spent most (almost all) of the actual procedure time doing the stitching. Internal and external stitches, ones that have to be removed and ones that will dissolve, the whole nine yards. I think there are six or seven external stitches(a combination of both types) on the incision site, which is WAY bigger than the mucocele was. My understanding from the surgeon though, is that more stitches makes for a better healing and reduces the risk of scarring. [Contrast that with the dermatologist who cut out a giant mole, threw TWO stitches in there, left me an oozing, bleeding wound for a few weeks, and gave me the gift of a permanent scar.]
My vote is for the plastic surgeon - if you get a referral from your primary care physician for the removal, it shouldn't matter to your insurance what type of doctor does the procedure.
Did your lip pull in after the surgery? My stitches look clean, there are about five and I dont see any visable reason for them to have put more than that in, but my lip is drawn in making that side of my mouth look warped. People (friends) actually keep saying the non-affected side is just puffy and when it goes down the other side will look normal. But I know my lips and the untouched side is normal, maybe just a hair puffy but not so much so that it would reduce to the side that has the stitches on it.
Im hoping as the stitches come out that that side will come back to normal, but Im worried Im going to either have a lopsided lower lip, or Ill have to see a plastic surgeon to puff it back up to normal.
Yeah, Im being vain. But I dont care. I wouldnt have done this if I knew it would cause perminant indentation. I was doing fine with draining the thing periodically. I didnt get it removed for vanity sake. No one noticed it. I got it removed because I thought it was a bad thing to have, was annoying, and I kept biting it.
Im hoping as the stitches come out that that side will come back to normal, but Im worried Im going to either have a lopsided lower lip, or Ill have to see a plastic surgeon to puff it back up to normal.
Yeah, Im being vain. But I dont care. I wouldnt have done this if I knew it would cause perminant indentation. I was doing fine with draining the thing periodically. I didnt get it removed for vanity sake. No one noticed it. I got it removed because I thought it was a bad thing to have, was annoying, and I kept biting it.
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