Vacation dentistry.

"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97) 07/26/2019 at 00:52 • Filed to: None

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I’m supposed to leave on a short vacation to visit some friends and family in Western NE tomorrow, but not before having an unplanned root canal at 7:15 tomorrow morning. This should be interesting. Whatever happens, I doubt I’ll be driving the morning shift.

I also means RIP to my wallet and no chance of playing with the racecar this year. I did four crowns earlier this year that had been long expected and planned for, and they still have strained my budget. This blows a hole in it. Nuts.

To add insult, I don’t think my dental insurance is going to pay anything for this root canal and subsequent crown because I’m pretty sure I’ve already hit the max benefit for this year.

This year is going to end up being five dental crowns. I’ve bought good cars for far less money. My dentist (a long time family friend) suggests I should ask for a refund on the genetic lottery, as I inherited my Mother’s expensive dentition.

This is a molar that I broke a corner off of earlier in the year that also resulted in a crack and a subsequent cavity. We did a filling at the time, knowing there was a probability of needing to do a root canal and a crown at some point down the road. My dentist had hoped this would be a few years down the road, knowing the other four crowns were already on the books for this year. I wasn’t that lucky.

This tooth hasn’t really had an pain to speak of, but I noticed some swelling in my jaw when shaving on Wednesday. Knowing that nothing good was probably going on even if I didn’t have any pain, I made an emergency appointment to get seen this afternoon. The assistant noted the swelling and took an X-ray. As soon as it posed on the screen I could see filling, what looked like part of it cracked off up against the tooth next to it and a big black void under the tooth that wasn’t there on any of the teeth around it. I commented that it probably wasn’t good, and she responded with “I can’t tell you that’s an abscess, but the Dentist is probably going to come tell you that in a minute.”. It was at that moment my wallet wanted to burst into flames and hopes of two or four wheeled fun for this year evaporated.

Have a coworker’s happy Honda for your time.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/26/2019 at 01:52

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I feel your pain regarding the cost of dental work. I could use at least three crowns right now, and have another molar that is about to go if I don’t get it worked on. One tooth really isn’t there except for the roots. No real pain to speak of, but the sharp edge of one broken molar had been tearing into my tongue, but some temporary filling material has made that better.

I still owe various hospitals and doctors over $2700 for my cancer treatment, plus whatever other medical expenses occur in the next few months now that my FSA has been exhausted. Teeth will have to wait...

Snuze: Needs another Swede > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/26/2019 at 10:43

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I’m sorry! I feel your pain. I was deathly ill when I was like 2, they had to fill me full of anti-biotics. Apparently that can mess with the formation of adult teeth - I have about 30% as much enamel as I should have and my teeth are very pourous. I brush 3 times a day, floss, mouthwash, the whole 9 yards. I’ve had over 30 fillings and am now up to 4 crowns. I have a checkup in 2 weeks and I’m reasonably sure I’m going to need a 5th.

I’m well over $1k in out of pocket expenses this year already on dental. I had a crown done last year, but it never felt right, I even went back and they looked at it and assured me it was fine. In February I went in and they found another cracked tooth, it was the bottom tooth below the crown I was unhappy with . While they were making molds for it for the lower crown, the one above it FELL OUT! I guess I’m lucky it happened there in the dentists office? So then I got a tooth-er-one (see wh a t I did there?). It was not fun.