so when i was in 3rd grade, i went to the orthodontist and got braces. yep, i don't know if you know many elementary school kids that wear braces, but i didn't. so until about the 10th grade, i had a mouth full of metal and got used to going to the dentist and orthodontist every 6 months.
the one thing i do know is my parents had dental insurance. now, i don't know how much dental insurance costs to get, but i know my work doesn't offer it because apparently it's expensive. but let me just tell you how much my childhood mouth deformities would have likely cost my parents without dental insurance. well, i don't know the number, but i'm pretty sure we would have had to apply for welfare and i'd probably learning to drive a semi truck right now with my GED education, and a fondness for pimento beans.
but alas, my teeth got fixed and my parents didn't have to mortgage our home. well since i haven't really lived at home since college, my visits to the dentist have been infrequent to say the least. i think my last visit was 3 years ago when they told me i needed a root canal, so you can imagine that last week when i went back to the dentist because i was unable to eat a bowl of froot loops without feeling like i was stabbing my teeth with a sword, i was a little nervous.
but i woke up at 9 am and went to the closest dentist office to my house and sucked it up. i knew i'd have at least 2 cavities, but wasn't expecting to hear that i had four. i also wasn't expecting to see a bill for $1,700, but um yea it was there. so now i understand why my dentist can afford to have 5 mexican receptionists working in the front room that's no bigger than my living room.
well after this week, i'm two fillings down, two more to go. i felt like a bells palsey victim from all the novocaine, and now i'm not even allowed to go a day without flossing, and jolly ranchers are strictly prohibited. i kinda feel like an old person with high blood pressure, you know you're gonna die eventually you just hope your medical bills don't go up so that you have to turn off the heat.
3 comments:
you really should get dental insurance, I pay for my own and it's only $300 a YEAR. I use blue cross blue shield anthem.
I got all 4 wisdom teeth out this july and it was gunna cost $1700. I only had to pay $400. and over half of that was because I wanted them to put me to sleep for the surgery.
it's well worth it in the end.
A) I testify to the accuracy of the picture you posted.
B) I have to go to the dentist soon. Like you, I've never had the insurance as an adult, and I fear the guy with the poker, the gouger and the pincher tools. Your blog both terrifies and motivates me. EEK!
I'm pretty sure that by now, you got your teeth back to 100% healthy again after getting through with the filling, drilling, and the painkillers. Today's dentists have newer things to offer that make their patients even more comfortable. Did you get yourself dental insurance, then?
- Elizabeth Cull
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