Ooof
I had a throbbing toothache for a couple of days last week, so I made an appointment with the dentist.
When you say you're in pain they get you in right away, so Friday afternoon, even though it had stopped hurting, I left work early to get checked out. Frankly, I was feeling kind of silly seeing as the pain had stopped.
When I was in my early twenties, I broke a tooth quite badly and had a crown put in. X-ray showed that underneath that crown the tooth had decayed to the point where it was completely ruined. Nothing left to save. They were amazed it only just started hurting me now.
Emergency extraction time. Wonderful.
I remember having my wisdom teeth removed. It sucked, but not really a big deal. This wasn't like that at all. This was two and a half hours, two dentists, Repeated x-rays to find all the little bits of my mutant ruined tooth with extra roots in funny places that aren't actually supposed to be there. I was in the chair so long the freezing started to wear off. I'm sure it wasn't completely off because I didn't need to scream in agony as they dug around inside my gums searching for slivers of tooth, but I was definitely feeling it by the end. (I'm sure they would've done something if I'd complained, but I just wanted them to finish by that point.)
Anyway, now I have a big hole in the side of my tooth line. You can't actually see it unless I open my mouth way wider than I normally would, but this can't stand. I'm still hurting, but when I'm healed up, there is going to have to be an implant, or a bridge (I think those were the two options she mentioned) no matter what the cost. I have very little to be vain about. I'm an old skinny man with no hair. Being an old skinny man with no hair and missing teeth is just one step too far though. Can't handle it. That's just too much.
Also, the fact that we don't have universal insurance that covers everything dental is total bullshit. I have insurance from work that covers the extraction aside from a small deductible, but there's nothing for repairing crowns or implanting new teeth or whatever. It's garbage. No one in a rich country like this should have to go without perfect teeth because of money. I can afford it grudgingly. I bet 90% of my coworkers couldn't though. That's garbage.
When you say you're in pain they get you in right away, so Friday afternoon, even though it had stopped hurting, I left work early to get checked out. Frankly, I was feeling kind of silly seeing as the pain had stopped.
When I was in my early twenties, I broke a tooth quite badly and had a crown put in. X-ray showed that underneath that crown the tooth had decayed to the point where it was completely ruined. Nothing left to save. They were amazed it only just started hurting me now.
Emergency extraction time. Wonderful.
I remember having my wisdom teeth removed. It sucked, but not really a big deal. This wasn't like that at all. This was two and a half hours, two dentists, Repeated x-rays to find all the little bits of my mutant ruined tooth with extra roots in funny places that aren't actually supposed to be there. I was in the chair so long the freezing started to wear off. I'm sure it wasn't completely off because I didn't need to scream in agony as they dug around inside my gums searching for slivers of tooth, but I was definitely feeling it by the end. (I'm sure they would've done something if I'd complained, but I just wanted them to finish by that point.)
Anyway, now I have a big hole in the side of my tooth line. You can't actually see it unless I open my mouth way wider than I normally would, but this can't stand. I'm still hurting, but when I'm healed up, there is going to have to be an implant, or a bridge (I think those were the two options she mentioned) no matter what the cost. I have very little to be vain about. I'm an old skinny man with no hair. Being an old skinny man with no hair and missing teeth is just one step too far though. Can't handle it. That's just too much.
Also, the fact that we don't have universal insurance that covers everything dental is total bullshit. I have insurance from work that covers the extraction aside from a small deductible, but there's nothing for repairing crowns or implanting new teeth or whatever. It's garbage. No one in a rich country like this should have to go without perfect teeth because of money. I can afford it grudgingly. I bet 90% of my coworkers couldn't though. That's garbage.