expensive medical week continues ...

Please let me be clear before you read this. I am not complaining. Whining a bit, but not complaining. My brother Dave has serious and expensive dental issues. My friend Angel has serious dental issues due to an accident. Mine are small potatoes compared to them.

Today was dentist day. If you want to have a really bad week, just have two medical appointments in the same week.

About a week ago I noticed two rough teeth. That's usually a sign of trouble. She warned me last time to save my pennies it was x-ray time. True to her word we had x-rays today.

A bit of a backstory. My dad had no teeth. Lost them when he was young. My brother Henry had no teeth. Don't ever remember him with teeth, don't know when he lost them. Crappy teeth run in the family.

When I was in high school I hated our neighborhood dentist. I had stopped going in 8th or 9th grade. I thought the man was incompetent. The straw that broke the camels back was when he talked on the phone while working on my teeth. He told me my teeth had soft dentin and I would be toothless at 40. I figured why bother going if I was going to lose them anyway.

In high school and after, the cavities formed. I ignored them. Until the fateful date when they developed in my front teeth. I went to the dentist because I was vain. A different dentist. An apparently competent one. I trusted him....as much as I can trust anyone with a medical degree. I don't know how I found him.

It was the mid-seventies and he had his work cut out for him. I spent a small fortune. He filled to some degree probably about a dozen teeth. But as soon as my mouth was healthy again I fell back into the old pattern of only going when I was in pain.

Then I got the gift of high blood pressure. Apparently oral health is linked to it somehow and I've been a good girl for the last two or three years. Too little, too late.

When I called the dentist office to make that first appointment, I had found out the my dentist was gone and a woman had taken his place. Surprise. I didn't get the letter because I was inactive.

For the first time in fifty some years I had a dentist that I mostly trusted and more importantly liked. She told me that first day that I could be running into problems. Most of my fillings were close to 40 years old and they could begin to fail.

They are failing.

Bottom line. The molar in the top back can be repaired. There's enough tooth.

The one in the front is failing and quickly. Since it was repaired at least twice, repairs aren't an option. It's gotta be capped (Cha-ching!). And quickly. Or I could wake up one day looking like a toothless hillbilly.

She's strongly suggesting that I have the other front tooth done at the same time. She might be able to replace the filling. But ultimately the repair has a good chance of failing. If we cap it latter, the two teeth won't match. How vain am I?

I choose matching. It's going to cost (gulp) $1800. It will be all done by Christmas. All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth takes on a whole new meaning.