Show Me Your Teeth
My mouth got me in big trouble today.
So, this past Friday, I had a cleaning. My oral hygienist Paula (who confirms my belief that all women in the service industry named Paula are fiesty, sassy, and generally awesome) complimented me on my dental hygiene because, dammit, after several years of no dental care other than brushing and flossing and even more years of social-anxiety-my-teeth-are-falling-out dreams and two parents with dental issues, I AM FUCKING CRAZY ABOUT MY TEETH.
The tooth dreams are the worst, I swear. I'm always so humiliated in them as I scramble to keep my teeth from shattering any further.
Moving on past my crazy, I was told that even though my dental care was excellent, I still needed three tiny fillings. This was disappointing, as I am looking forward to having at least one cleaning that doesn't require more fillings, but not altogether surprising. I have very, very weak enamel, ruined by a childhood proclivity for eating lemons like they were oranges. That stripped a lot of the strength from my teeth and now I live in Worcester, home of the unfluoridated water--not that I drink Worcester water anyway because, well, eew.
Today, I hop in the chair and the dentist starts drilling. He is a new dentist, as my old one has left, and I like him. He's funny and very direct. He kept stopping to explain the why's and the how's to me and making sure I understood what was going on in my mouth. Considering how hard it was to get some of my medical doctors to treat me with that kind of courtesy (it was like pulling teeth *rimshot*), I immediately appreciated it from him. Even if I didn't like what I was hearing.
The X-rays had picked up tiny little spots on my teeth for him to drill. However, once he had started drilling, it turns out the spots were bigger on the inside. I have TARDIS tooth-decay. Somehow, not as awesome as I'd always imagined having my own TARDIS would be. In the first tooth he drilled, there was already a filling there (which was why they didn't pick it up on the X-ray, I think) but underneath the filling, there was more decay that needed drilling--turns out there was probably still some bacteria in there after the first cavity was drilled and filled.
I am unimpressed.
All three of my teeth needed more work that the X-rays had originally suggested. My dentists was very apologetic about that, but he wasn't about to half-ass it like the previous dentist had. Not one but two of my teeth needed him to pop out the filling that was already there to do more work beneath it. When I asked how that bacteria had already gotten there, since there was a filling in place, he mumbled something about it being hard to spot things sometimes how it was impossible to guarantee all the bacteria had been removed from a cavity first. I'm pretty sure he was just playing the CYA game, because when I asked if there was something more I could have done to prevent that from forming, he was all very, "Oh no! You've done everything you could. Brushing is very limited in what it can prevent." And he spent a lot of time grumbling over the drill as he was taking out the old fillings.
I feel the need to mention once again that I really do take good care of my teeth. As I'm typing this, I keep feeling like I'm giving the impression that my mouth is this filthy pit or something. And it is! But only verbally. Otherwise, I'm kind of crazy about my dental hygiene. In fact, in between fillings, my dentist asked if I knew what was wrong with my teeth. He said they were 'soft' and not as strong as they otherwise should be. I explained the lemon thing and he understood immediately, nodding and saying that would result in exactly what he was seeing.
We clear on this not being an issue through lack of dental concern on my part? Okay, good, we can move on.
To a slight digression that will make sense in a few minutes. Anyway, shogunhb has WageWorks through his company, where he can put so much money in pretax and we use it for appropriate medical expenses. This came in handy a few years ago when I basically exploded our medical bills sky high. Since then, we've slowly been decreasing the amount we sock away, as our out-of-pocket expenses lessen. We're still losing money, because any money unused at the end of the flitters away, but it's nice having a little nest egg so I don't have to worry about going without prescriptions because I don't have the co-pay or something.
Anyway, last night, shogunhb checked the account because he really wants a nightguard for his teeth. He grinds his teeth so hard that not only does he wake me up, but they lead to headaches and he's even cracked a tooth. Serious friggin' grinding here. It will cost $400. In our expense account, we have a little over $600.
Going into my appointment today, I felt pretty good. I was getting three tiny fillings done, which shouldn't cost too much. shogunhb would have his money for his nightguard, I'd have a few fillings, everything would be shiny. Then the dentist starts explaining about how they're not so tiny and they spread across surfaces and how that's going to cost a little more. $20-$30 more. And this is true for all three teeth. Fuuuuuuck. So now I'm trying to figure out how much this is going to cost because I only have $200 to work with here. Between the second and third filling, he actually sends his assistant to get an estimate of how much this will cost because he can tell I am getting distressed (this is when we talk about my crap enamel).
The assistant comes back and tells me that, high-end, the out-of-pocket price will be $190 for all three teeth today, slightly more than double what I'd anticipated spending. (It's sad that I can ballpark filling costs). Believe me when I say that finding out my mouth will cost me double what I'd planned is THE BEST NEWS OF THE VISIT.
The first tooth that the dentist looked at? Because the decay was under the filling, it spread downwards instead, heading towards the nerve. Basically, that tooth is on watch for a root canal. That really sucked to hear, but, he did say that it's possible it won't spread further and the tooth will be fine. He had to get pretty close to the nerve to get at everything, but there's only so far he can go, so if he got it all, yay, I'll be fine. If there was more hiding near the nerve where he couldn't see, I'll need a root canal. Boo.
But still. Only a maybe. So, "Maybe you'll need a root canal, let's keep an eye on it" was the second-best news I got today.
Then we get to the third tooth. Another one with a filling he had to get rid of. And then, as he was drilling, I started twitching. He asked, "Can you feel that?" I made a slightly-incoherent noise to the affirmative, as they still have tools in my mouth. He adjusted slightly, kept working--and a few moments later, I twitched again. It didn't hurt exactly, but it was...twitch-worthy, I guess. He and his assistant exchange glances and nods and he's like, "We're too close to the nerve. But I can see decay there. This tooth definitely needs a root canal."
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I have the numbers in the car, because I asked Frank the receptionist about them so I can plan. I need a root canal, a cleaning, and a crown. Our insurance will pay 80% (up to their annual yearly payout) for the root canal, and 50% each for the cleaning and the crown. The estimated out-of-pocket amount for the root canal is $262, assuming the other 80% the insurance is paying out doesn't bump us up over our annual dental allowance. The cleaning and crown will be somewhere within the vicinity of $850-$900, again, assuming that the insurance will pay their half completely.
They said I could do the root canal this year and get a temporary crown, then do the rest next year, when our allowance is reset and our WageWorks account is refilled. That's all well and good, but I've pretty much killed everything in the WW account, already, save for the $400 for shogunhb's nightguard. The final total came to $165 for the day, $25 less than the high-ball quote, so I might have as much as $60 on the WW account left after the nightguard, but that card is for everything. Doctor co-pays, prescription co-pays, chiropractor visits. There's certainly not an extra $262 dollars in there for my root canal (plus however more for the temp crown).
There's always the option of just ditching the nightguard, BUT I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DO THAT. I don't want to go to shogunhb AGAIN and say, "Sorry, you know that thing you wanted? Well, we can't have that because I suck." We just had to do that last night, buying a replacement GPS instead of the MP3 player we were planning to get, because I left my car unlocked and the GPS in the glove compartment, not the trunk. For these past few years, shogunhb has done without because I was sick and I'm just TIRED of this bullshit. The one thing he needs is a nightguard and I'm not going to take that money. He's getting a fucking nightguard come hell or high water.
So there.
Fortunately, my tooth doesn't hurt. There's no pain and no sign that the decay has actually reached the nerve yet. There's no 'pulp' showing, for which I am both grateful to hear and vaguely concerned about. (Seriously! Pulp! That sounds so fucking creepy!) Hopefully, I can wait until January when everything is reset and go then. I have a temp filling on it (which is why there was a $25 difference, I think), so it's not like I'm wandering around with a gaping hole in my mouth. It's only 2 and a half months. I'll be fine.
I'm just...really upset about this. And angry. Mostly angry, because that's how my upset manifests. I try and I try and I try and yet I still end up fucking up somehow. I just feel like a really expensive liability sometimes and this just confirms it. I'mma just go and eat ice cream and take a nap and not brush my teeth because it's not like anything I'm doing is HELPING.
So, this past Friday, I had a cleaning. My oral hygienist Paula (who confirms my belief that all women in the service industry named Paula are fiesty, sassy, and generally awesome) complimented me on my dental hygiene because, dammit, after several years of no dental care other than brushing and flossing and even more years of social-anxiety-my-teeth-are-falling-out dreams and two parents with dental issues, I AM FUCKING CRAZY ABOUT MY TEETH.
The tooth dreams are the worst, I swear. I'm always so humiliated in them as I scramble to keep my teeth from shattering any further.
Moving on past my crazy, I was told that even though my dental care was excellent, I still needed three tiny fillings. This was disappointing, as I am looking forward to having at least one cleaning that doesn't require more fillings, but not altogether surprising. I have very, very weak enamel, ruined by a childhood proclivity for eating lemons like they were oranges. That stripped a lot of the strength from my teeth and now I live in Worcester, home of the unfluoridated water--not that I drink Worcester water anyway because, well, eew.
Today, I hop in the chair and the dentist starts drilling. He is a new dentist, as my old one has left, and I like him. He's funny and very direct. He kept stopping to explain the why's and the how's to me and making sure I understood what was going on in my mouth. Considering how hard it was to get some of my medical doctors to treat me with that kind of courtesy (it was like pulling teeth *rimshot*), I immediately appreciated it from him. Even if I didn't like what I was hearing.
The X-rays had picked up tiny little spots on my teeth for him to drill. However, once he had started drilling, it turns out the spots were bigger on the inside. I have TARDIS tooth-decay. Somehow, not as awesome as I'd always imagined having my own TARDIS would be. In the first tooth he drilled, there was already a filling there (which was why they didn't pick it up on the X-ray, I think) but underneath the filling, there was more decay that needed drilling--turns out there was probably still some bacteria in there after the first cavity was drilled and filled.
I am unimpressed.
All three of my teeth needed more work that the X-rays had originally suggested. My dentists was very apologetic about that, but he wasn't about to half-ass it like the previous dentist had. Not one but two of my teeth needed him to pop out the filling that was already there to do more work beneath it. When I asked how that bacteria had already gotten there, since there was a filling in place, he mumbled something about it being hard to spot things sometimes how it was impossible to guarantee all the bacteria had been removed from a cavity first. I'm pretty sure he was just playing the CYA game, because when I asked if there was something more I could have done to prevent that from forming, he was all very, "Oh no! You've done everything you could. Brushing is very limited in what it can prevent." And he spent a lot of time grumbling over the drill as he was taking out the old fillings.
I feel the need to mention once again that I really do take good care of my teeth. As I'm typing this, I keep feeling like I'm giving the impression that my mouth is this filthy pit or something. And it is! But only verbally. Otherwise, I'm kind of crazy about my dental hygiene. In fact, in between fillings, my dentist asked if I knew what was wrong with my teeth. He said they were 'soft' and not as strong as they otherwise should be. I explained the lemon thing and he understood immediately, nodding and saying that would result in exactly what he was seeing.
We clear on this not being an issue through lack of dental concern on my part? Okay, good, we can move on.
To a slight digression that will make sense in a few minutes. Anyway, shogunhb has WageWorks through his company, where he can put so much money in pretax and we use it for appropriate medical expenses. This came in handy a few years ago when I basically exploded our medical bills sky high. Since then, we've slowly been decreasing the amount we sock away, as our out-of-pocket expenses lessen. We're still losing money, because any money unused at the end of the flitters away, but it's nice having a little nest egg so I don't have to worry about going without prescriptions because I don't have the co-pay or something.
Anyway, last night, shogunhb checked the account because he really wants a nightguard for his teeth. He grinds his teeth so hard that not only does he wake me up, but they lead to headaches and he's even cracked a tooth. Serious friggin' grinding here. It will cost $400. In our expense account, we have a little over $600.
Going into my appointment today, I felt pretty good. I was getting three tiny fillings done, which shouldn't cost too much. shogunhb would have his money for his nightguard, I'd have a few fillings, everything would be shiny. Then the dentist starts explaining about how they're not so tiny and they spread across surfaces and how that's going to cost a little more. $20-$30 more. And this is true for all three teeth. Fuuuuuuck. So now I'm trying to figure out how much this is going to cost because I only have $200 to work with here. Between the second and third filling, he actually sends his assistant to get an estimate of how much this will cost because he can tell I am getting distressed (this is when we talk about my crap enamel).
The assistant comes back and tells me that, high-end, the out-of-pocket price will be $190 for all three teeth today, slightly more than double what I'd anticipated spending. (It's sad that I can ballpark filling costs). Believe me when I say that finding out my mouth will cost me double what I'd planned is THE BEST NEWS OF THE VISIT.
The first tooth that the dentist looked at? Because the decay was under the filling, it spread downwards instead, heading towards the nerve. Basically, that tooth is on watch for a root canal. That really sucked to hear, but, he did say that it's possible it won't spread further and the tooth will be fine. He had to get pretty close to the nerve to get at everything, but there's only so far he can go, so if he got it all, yay, I'll be fine. If there was more hiding near the nerve where he couldn't see, I'll need a root canal. Boo.
But still. Only a maybe. So, "Maybe you'll need a root canal, let's keep an eye on it" was the second-best news I got today.
Then we get to the third tooth. Another one with a filling he had to get rid of. And then, as he was drilling, I started twitching. He asked, "Can you feel that?" I made a slightly-incoherent noise to the affirmative, as they still have tools in my mouth. He adjusted slightly, kept working--and a few moments later, I twitched again. It didn't hurt exactly, but it was...twitch-worthy, I guess. He and his assistant exchange glances and nods and he's like, "We're too close to the nerve. But I can see decay there. This tooth definitely needs a root canal."
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I have the numbers in the car, because I asked Frank the receptionist about them so I can plan. I need a root canal, a cleaning, and a crown. Our insurance will pay 80% (up to their annual yearly payout) for the root canal, and 50% each for the cleaning and the crown. The estimated out-of-pocket amount for the root canal is $262, assuming the other 80% the insurance is paying out doesn't bump us up over our annual dental allowance. The cleaning and crown will be somewhere within the vicinity of $850-$900, again, assuming that the insurance will pay their half completely.
They said I could do the root canal this year and get a temporary crown, then do the rest next year, when our allowance is reset and our WageWorks account is refilled. That's all well and good, but I've pretty much killed everything in the WW account, already, save for the $400 for shogunhb's nightguard. The final total came to $165 for the day, $25 less than the high-ball quote, so I might have as much as $60 on the WW account left after the nightguard, but that card is for everything. Doctor co-pays, prescription co-pays, chiropractor visits. There's certainly not an extra $262 dollars in there for my root canal (plus however more for the temp crown).
There's always the option of just ditching the nightguard, BUT I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DO THAT. I don't want to go to shogunhb AGAIN and say, "Sorry, you know that thing you wanted? Well, we can't have that because I suck." We just had to do that last night, buying a replacement GPS instead of the MP3 player we were planning to get, because I left my car unlocked and the GPS in the glove compartment, not the trunk. For these past few years, shogunhb has done without because I was sick and I'm just TIRED of this bullshit. The one thing he needs is a nightguard and I'm not going to take that money. He's getting a fucking nightguard come hell or high water.
So there.
Fortunately, my tooth doesn't hurt. There's no pain and no sign that the decay has actually reached the nerve yet. There's no 'pulp' showing, for which I am both grateful to hear and vaguely concerned about. (Seriously! Pulp! That sounds so fucking creepy!) Hopefully, I can wait until January when everything is reset and go then. I have a temp filling on it (which is why there was a $25 difference, I think), so it's not like I'm wandering around with a gaping hole in my mouth. It's only 2 and a half months. I'll be fine.
I'm just...really upset about this. And angry. Mostly angry, because that's how my upset manifests. I try and I try and I try and yet I still end up fucking up somehow. I just feel like a really expensive liability sometimes and this just confirms it. I'mma just go and eat ice cream and take a nap and not brush my teeth because it's not like anything I'm doing is HELPING.