Dental insurance

Last Friday, I had a little pain when flossing. Then I started having a little pain on Saturday. By the time I woke up on Monday, the tooth/teeth on my upper left back were very painful.  As I had been off work for almost a week to take mom and Mike to their respective doctor appointments, I intended to go to work on my regular schedule at 6am Tuesday morning. At 2pm on Monday afternoon, the pain was getting worse, so I took several advil and tried to get a dentist appointment. I have not used my dental insurance since the union changed our dental plan in 2011. I usually am very good about taking care of my teeth but this past couple of years has had me focusing on Mike and mom.
The first dentist I stopped by as they are right next door to the pharmacy we use. The receptionist there spent almost 30 on the phone trying to see if they accepted the insurance I have. After all that, they didn't have any openings till Thursday. Then I got online and checked the providers that were klisted on the insurance website. I called one, Monarch Dental. They were able to get me in right away. After x-rays determined I had an abcesses infected tooth. It is the tooth on one end of a bridge. Even though the dental office I was at was listed in the pages of providers, the clerk was unable to confirm my insurance or find out any kind of payment schedule. The dentist I saw wrote me a prescription for pain pills and anti-biotics. She told me that as soon as they could verify the insurance, they would call me and get some kind of treatment started. I didn't hear from them by the end of the business day.
I had planned on going to work at 6am Tueday morning. Then my dispatcher called me at 3:30am and delayed my run until 2:00pm. I got up and was in pain but didn't want to take any more pain pills as I would be driving. When I looked in the mirror, my face was all swollen up on the left side. It was so swollen that my left eye was squinting. I called the dental office and they said they didn't get the needed information from my insurance. I told them I NEEDED an appointment to get this thing taken care of. Then I called my insurance directly and asked them what the deal was with my dental coverage. They said that they had talked to a lady at the dental office and given her all the information needed. I don't know who dropped the ball but someone did. As much as I like time off work, I hate this as now I will have added expense.
Then when I called the dental office after talking to my insurance, they gave me the number of peridontist that is what I need. I called them and what do you know, they were already out of the office. So another day must pass before I can find out when and where I can get the work done.
As it was explained to me, the tooth with the abcess is the rear tooth on a bridge. They are going to have to cut the bridge and remove the tooth then get an implant.
So far I am not happy with the insurance changes. The old policy I had, I could go to whatever dentidt I wanted and they usually paid all of the charges after $50.00 deductible up till $3000.00 then 80% of any charges over that. I had not used any dental insurance since we changed. Maybe if I had used it for a cleaning or some other work, then as an established patient, they would have found it before the problem developed. They would have also been more agreeable to getting me in on an as needded basis. It is all my fault, I let my teeth go for too many other things taking priority.