A Toothy Problem

Problems tend to be problems when minor, but detrimentally related, circumstances collide with an unexpected incident.

As bad as my teeth are, it is stupid of me to not carry dental insurance.

As I don't have dental insurance coverage, it is stupid of me to not be scrupulously rigorous with my dental hygiene.

The unexpected incident was the apparent dislodging of a filling in one of my teeth, resulting in me pretty much spitting it out in pieces. This happened during the weekend. Having a gaping hole in my teeth is not a great thing to have, so I wanted to get it checked out.

I called around and got a few quotes from dental offices for a consultation. Got an appointment immediately this morning and came down their office. The place looked clean, and reputable, and they were willing to look at me for $70 and sixteen pages of paperwork.

Actually, I liked the dentist, Alexandra. She was straightforward, didn't try to sell me anythings, and was sympathetic to my concern about cost. She looked at my teeth and told me that she thought that the filling had come out, that would need a second filling on the side of the tooth, and asked me if I had sore cheeks in the morning, or if I knew that I was grinding my teeth at night. Apparently, my teeth show signs that I'm a grinder, which she thought, contributed to the filling coming out.

She said that I could either re-fill the fillings (probably costing me about $400 out of pocket) which would have a unknown time frame of use- (I think these lasted about five years) or she suggested I get a crown for the tooth, which could be as much as $1500, but would be a lot more permanent. And she also recommended I get a hard plastic night guard to keep me from grinding, like a plastic retainer.