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Moar Thanksgiving
Nov. 30th, 2012 11:35 amStuart deep-fried the turkey which should've tasted better but as he admitted, the turkey itself wasn't too good. As he said "Next year will be a Butterball!" Stuart's wife had two uncles there, Ken and David--I've met David before, when my niece was born, but never Ken--he and his wife brought crazy amounts of side dishes, including a delicious candied yams. Not that I really got to enjoy it--I piled my plate high with everything but after a few bites I felt something crack in my mouth. YUP. Another fucking crown broke off. I went to the bathroom and looked at the damage--just as before the crown didn't pop off, the post broke as well. Very luckily this was a different tooth, it was on the left and further back so it wasn't nearly as noticeable. Still couldn't eat much though! Gosh, my dental adventures are exciting--nothing like life on the edge, amirite? Can someone please explain why these things ALWAYS have to happen at the worst times--in the middle of a show, during my dentist's vacation, on Thanksgiving, in Spain while working on a cruise ship?? O universe, u so crazy, if I didn't laugh I'd have to scream at your perverse sense of humor.
I made it through the rest of the weekend without smiling too widely or laughing too much and went to the dentist on Tuesday. I have a new dentist, BTW--after years of going to the old one, I started to feel as though I were being...shall we say, pushed a little too much. Every single time I went, the hygienist pushed me--really pushed me--into getting the Arestin, which is an antibiotic shot for your gums. She would say "it's up to you," but whenever I demurred, she would really lean on me. "No, I really think you should get it." Here's the deal--each shot is $125. Not covered by insurance, either. I almost never got out of my visits there without dropping bank like that, even when I didn't have cavities. The problem two years ago with the crown snapping was another red flag--YOU put that crown in, you obviously used crappy materials, why don't you take responsibility for that? You know I grind my teeth--you should've used a thicker post. The thing about dentists is they're like plumbers or mechanics or even funeral directors--you usually consult them in a time of great need, you're often upset, and they're experts in something you know nothing about. They can easily screw you over. So I thought about it, and researched them and other dentists on Yelp, and finally settled on another dentist whom I trust and who has very high ratings on Yelp. He seems great so far and what little I've had done so far is MUCH less expensive than the other dentist.
Until Tuesday--he looked at the crown and tooth and showed me the X-rays. He can't redrill and put another post in because there's not that much tooth left. He's going to have to pull the whole thing and then we're looking at two options--a bridge or an implant. As I emailed to my family, it's really only one option--a bridge, because implants are so unbelievably expensive, even with coverage. I don't think my stepmother quite grasped the situation--she emailed me:
Yup, implants are expensive, but they are permanent, won't fall out, or scream IMPLANT like some bridge work.
I have an implant and am glad I went that route. A baby tooth that had been with me for 60 odd years, finally fell apart a couple of years back, so I went the implant route. If you decide to go implant, perhaps your dentist would work out a payment plan? Does your dental insur. pay for any of the work? Even if it pays for the extraction......The implant draw back is not having the new & improved "tooth" for several months. At least that was the deal several years ago, maybe that's not true now.
I replied:
Dental insurance pays for very little of the implant work, not least because there is a cap of something like $1500 per calendar year. Maybe when I really AM independently wealthy I can look at that option again but right now it's just not responsible--the price they quoted me was more than $8000, you can believe it.
My stepmother's response:
OMG!!!!! $8,000.00!!!!!!! That is RIDICULOUS! I think I paid about $3,000.00 and can't remember if any was insur. reimbursable and I thought that was AWFUL. Bridge sounds like a plan, for sure.
The bridge option is "only" about $1200, so not as bad, although still a chunk of change. This is all more complicated because my dental coverage is changing in January and I don't know if they'll let me treat what is essentially a pre-existing condition. And making a bridge takes months. Well, at any rate I can smile again--my dentist recemented the old crown, but I still can't chew on that side. O universe, you so funny!
I made it through the rest of the weekend without smiling too widely or laughing too much and went to the dentist on Tuesday. I have a new dentist, BTW--after years of going to the old one, I started to feel as though I were being...shall we say, pushed a little too much. Every single time I went, the hygienist pushed me--really pushed me--into getting the Arestin, which is an antibiotic shot for your gums. She would say "it's up to you," but whenever I demurred, she would really lean on me. "No, I really think you should get it." Here's the deal--each shot is $125. Not covered by insurance, either. I almost never got out of my visits there without dropping bank like that, even when I didn't have cavities. The problem two years ago with the crown snapping was another red flag--YOU put that crown in, you obviously used crappy materials, why don't you take responsibility for that? You know I grind my teeth--you should've used a thicker post. The thing about dentists is they're like plumbers or mechanics or even funeral directors--you usually consult them in a time of great need, you're often upset, and they're experts in something you know nothing about. They can easily screw you over. So I thought about it, and researched them and other dentists on Yelp, and finally settled on another dentist whom I trust and who has very high ratings on Yelp. He seems great so far and what little I've had done so far is MUCH less expensive than the other dentist.
Until Tuesday--he looked at the crown and tooth and showed me the X-rays. He can't redrill and put another post in because there's not that much tooth left. He's going to have to pull the whole thing and then we're looking at two options--a bridge or an implant. As I emailed to my family, it's really only one option--a bridge, because implants are so unbelievably expensive, even with coverage. I don't think my stepmother quite grasped the situation--she emailed me:
Yup, implants are expensive, but they are permanent, won't fall out, or scream IMPLANT like some bridge work.
I have an implant and am glad I went that route. A baby tooth that had been with me for 60 odd years, finally fell apart a couple of years back, so I went the implant route. If you decide to go implant, perhaps your dentist would work out a payment plan? Does your dental insur. pay for any of the work? Even if it pays for the extraction......The implant draw back is not having the new & improved "tooth" for several months. At least that was the deal several years ago, maybe that's not true now.
I replied:
Dental insurance pays for very little of the implant work, not least because there is a cap of something like $1500 per calendar year. Maybe when I really AM independently wealthy I can look at that option again but right now it's just not responsible--the price they quoted me was more than $8000, you can believe it.
My stepmother's response:
OMG!!!!! $8,000.00!!!!!!! That is RIDICULOUS! I think I paid about $3,000.00 and can't remember if any was insur. reimbursable and I thought that was AWFUL. Bridge sounds like a plan, for sure.
The bridge option is "only" about $1200, so not as bad, although still a chunk of change. This is all more complicated because my dental coverage is changing in January and I don't know if they'll let me treat what is essentially a pre-existing condition. And making a bridge takes months. Well, at any rate I can smile again--my dentist recemented the old crown, but I still can't chew on that side. O universe, you so funny!
