I got rather irritated sitting at the dentist's office, waiting this morning. I showed up early - which I always do in case there are paperwork issues. The appointment was at 8am, I sat in that office for 41 minutes before the dentist finally showed up, no apology and just got right down to business.
I have a habit of leaving doctor's or any other such office if I don't get seen within 30 minutes of the appointed time unless they come along and tell me they are going to be delayed. They offered me no such amenities, which is why I got irritated. It brought back memories of other dentist's offices I have been in the far past - which is the last time I went to one - and them making you wait up to an hour without even giving an explanation, much less an apology.
Well, I was already there, I just swallowed that and then was examined by the dentist, who started reading off the problems in techno lingo to his assistant to write down on a pad. I didn't understand any of it, it was letters and numbers he was using as identifiers.
But he eventually got down to plain, simple talk to me and I was listening with - well I didn't figure I was going to get out of this easy, but it was far more work needing to be done that I had anticipated. I need a total of 6 crowns, 1 root canal and some other procedure. That does not include my front teeth, which are chipped, crowded together and basically a mess. He informed me that if I just let my front teeth go, they will eventually all fall out. Yikes.
I only have myself to blame. I have had dentist insurance for over 7 years and haven't used it. Haven't gone into the dentist because of my disdain for them and their apparent idea that only their time is worth money, yours isn't worth anything and yes, you will wait for that dentist to come into your room, it doesn't matter how long he/she makes you wait and you will like it.
The dentist started telling me that he can't really come to a conclusion on my front teeth until I have casts made of them and then he can look at them, compare them to the x-rays and come up with a plan. Well that's all fine and dandy, I am thinking, but I am not rich. I can only imagine the cost of all of this. Thousands and untold thousands of dollars to get all this stuff fixed, regardless of dental insurance that doesn't usually cover very much, anyway.
But, I've gone this far with it. So, they left the room, telling me they would get me a price and be back shortly. Well at least the insurance covered all of that, no charge to me this morning. They did the casts, filling my mouth with extremely cold gooey substance that gells after a few minutes and then made an appointment for Wednesday - next week. The dentist flatly stated he would have to do his homework. I'm glad he's at least acknowledging he will take the time to come up with a plan, but me? There is NO way I can afford all of this. Maybe spread out over the next several years but it is a foregone conclusion that, at least with the finances I have available currently, it's simply not going to happen anytime soon. It will have to be do one thing here, one thing there as I am able to save up for it and pay for it. It will be do the worst thing first and work backwards down the list.
I'm wondering if it's possible to sign up for another dental insurance plan on my own. My insurance will run out quickly with all of this. If they even cover 50% I would be happy. What do crowns cost nowadays? $800? $1,000? I have no idea. They're not cheap, I know that. So, I shook off the pall that tried to over come me in starting to go through the thought processes of how much this is going to all cost and where I would come up with the money. I will do what I can do and that's that. If I have to have teeth pulled, then pull them. I don't have any pain currently, at least I have that much going for me and they stated there is no bone loss, so that's a good thing as well. But, I am guessing to fix my front lower teeth, one of them will have to be pulled and the rest realigned, if that's possible, to make room and then several crowns.
Well, Happy New Year, lol.
No comments:
Post a Comment