Dental C&p Exam And Questions

[mriguy]

Hello all...great site! Currently 20% SC for wrist and thoracic spine, had a deferred decision on almost total numbness of face,from eyes to below chin after 10 hrs of jaw surgery at fort Gordon. First saw an old neurologist for C&P. He never even asked me about my face! talked to me for about 10 minutes, patted me on the back and said"you will hear something in a few weeks" and walked out! Anyhow, Finally got scheduled for Dental C&P at Durham VAMC. Could not have had a nicer Dentist to deal with. Spent almost 90 minutes with me. Very thorough history, xrays etc. He told me I "definitely" had compensation entitlement, and that he was going to recommend "at least 20% and maybe more" He has been VA dentist for 31 years, and said he has done thousands of those C&P exams. He said he was going to recommend full dental benefits as well. This was new to me..thought you had to be 100% for dental. He took a lot of time to talk with me about VA system, how to appeal for higher rating in the future. He made sure to tell me that he had answered "yes" to "symptoms getting worse" and "yes" to "are symptoms likely to continue to worsen" questions. I left feeling really good about things. now of course, the hard part...waiting! Now, the questions; Has anyone out there had experience with dental C&P exams? In general, do you all think that rater is likely to follow what he recommends fairly closely? What happens when my condition has no match in the rating schedule? Nothing even close? Durham VAMC seems to have a NICE dental wing. Thanks in advance for any input.

Todd

US Army

'82-89

[Abe111]

First I would use caution. A dentist cannot recommend 20% for a rating. They submit medical evidence and that is it. I had an experience with this in 1991. I got knocked in the mouth, wont go into detail about it but it was a line of duty injury. Thought I would get compensation for my condition when I was discharged. What the VA did in my case in assign 3 teeth that can be treated at the dental office at the VA and that is it. I get no compensation for anything accept the treatment, I am not 100% or TDIU either.

From what I know this area of compensation is very difficult to establish and or get treatment for. Many others may add to this but please hope for the best but dont get excited about a 20% rating. Again doctor and dentist cannot recommend a thing only submit medical evidence for evaluation by the rating specialist. I would bet if he did this your case would be sent back for another evaluation by a different dentist. I hope you get it though. Abe

[rentalguy1]

I don't know the first thing about dental, but I do know that you need to go to the FOIA office at the VAMC where you had the C&P done and pickup a copy of it as soon as you can. At least that way you'll know what he said and have a little better idea of what to expect. I'm not real clear on how you got a dental C&P for something that deals with facial nerves, unless you are missing teeth or they had to take part of your jaw bone. Maybe you could elaborate a bit for us. Good Luck!

38 CFR 4 Schedule of Ratings for Dental.

38 CFR 4 Schedule of Ratings for Neurologic Conditions

(scroll down to where it starts talking about paralysis of nerves)

Edited December 22, 2007 by rentalguy1

[Pete53]

Todd:

Dental is a strange animal and I hope that your Dentist is correct. If he links dental problems to your service I think that you can get what he said. Its a very big thing to have Dental Coverage cause it is very necessary to have work done as you get older.

Good Luck on this claim please let us know how it comes out.

[mriguy]

Thanks for the replies to my dental questions. I had my original C&P with neurologist, the same day I had exams for back and wrist. Neuro exam was a total waste of time. When I got my decision from VA, it said "This claim has been deferred. Sent to clinic of appropriate jurisdiction for action" two months later I had a dental C&P exam. I thought neurologist would be the one, but I guess that since problems originated after 10 hrs of extremely involved upper and lower jaw surgery, decision was made that dental was way to go. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Todd

US Army

'82-'89

[Abe111]

Todd -- Again a doctor cannot recommend a rating or give a rating. Just make sure he does a good job. You can pull a copy of a C&P exam somewhere on the VA webiste. I even believe you can find one here on this site, what they are suppose to do is well spelled out. When you get it go over your C&P exam from the VAMC as was recommended, make sure everything was done. You can get a real good idea by going over your C&P exam what is going to happen. If everything was not done make a real issue of it and you will probably get another C&P. If the doctor did a good job sit and wait and see what happens. It just makes me a little concerned when the doctor said he is going to push for a 20% rating or more.

One positive note maybe he knows the "language" to get you there or perhaps even a higher rating. Abe

[john999]

The main thing is that the dentist says your condition is service connected. Then the raters figure out the percentage. Having dental is good because it is expensive and insurance stinks for dental. You could easily spend 20,000 bucks on private dental work.