Thelma-Louise

I am assuming you mean getting the splints covered by medical health insurance and not dental correct? Some good tmj drs have an office staff that know how to handle this - even if the dr does not accept insurance payments - his office staff may submit the claims on your behalf using the proper diagnosis and procedure codes. Most time they will call your insurance co and find out what condtions are covered if tmj is not - often myofacial pain or orofacial pain syndromes or cranio facial disorders - or in your case degenerative joint diseases, may be covered and the office staff will submit the claims using those diagnosis codes - they will also ask the insurance co what treatments or procedures are then covered for those conditions and submit the claim accordingly or based on what is covered and what treatment the dr does provide. The insurance co may ask the dr to submit xrays or films supporting his diagnosis as well. Some tmj dentists on the other hand leave this up to the patient and unfortunately at that point you need to do the calling and asking and submitting the claim and any supporting documentation - its doable but time consuming. But if you pay premiums for health insurance then its worth it in the long run.

Probably the best thing to do is talk to your drs office mgr and see if there is anything they can do - some know the "system" quite well and do what they can to help patients receive whatever reimbursements they can. If none of this works the other option might be to consider asking the dr for a payment plan you can pay over time or if your credit is OK applying for a health care credit card with 0% financing over 12 mos - most drs have applications in their offices.