By skyforbes I am in Illinois and have Meridian Medicaid coverage only. The dental coverage is very minimal and doesn’t include orthodontics for adults.
Problem is I have jaw issues that I’m pretty sure are the root cause of a lot of my medical issues, but I can’t even get Medicaid to pay for visits to a dental specialist to properly diagnose them, let alone treat them….
Any tips on how to navigate this?
Like who do I go to or talk to, what specialist would be covered, what do I ask or how do I phrase things to get Medicaid to treat this like the medical issue it is?
I can’t afford to pay out of pocket.
The gist of it is I have a pretty pronounced overbite and TMJ dysfunction that aggravate or cause a lot of my pain and other medical issues. However my overbite is not severe enough to qualify for Medicaid’s restrictions. I suspect orthodontics and/or orthotic surgery would improve or solve a lot of my pain and issues but I have no idea how to get Medicaid to approve treatment.
Some of the issues are chronic migraines, tension headaches, very sore/tender muscles on my head and neck, tinnitus, jaw pain with loud crunching and popping, chronic disabling neck and shoulder pain, severe tension and huge muscle knots in my neck/shoulders, jaw clenching and teeth grinding in my sleep, insomnia, etc…
I have gotten some medical care for some of these problems but it’s stuff like pain management and migraine treatment — that doesn’t address the root causes.