06 March 2009

Some Days

... you wonder why you even got out of bed.

This morning, I had a dentist appointment. I've had a sore tooth for a few weeks, but I hadn't gone to the dentist because I wanted to wait and make sure I would be covered under The Tim's dental insurance. Otherwise, I knew that it would cost approximately $478,933.00 just to walk in the door to the dentist's office (give or take a dollar).

So I got in the dentist's chair, and told him what the problem was. He determined that I needed x-rays. Then he did a hot/cold test. At this point I began to seriously reconsider my decision to see a dental professional, because to be honest my entire mouth now hurt more than the tooth had ever hurt. Then he looked at the x-rays, consulted with another dentist in the practice, and told me that I would likely need to see an endodontist, either for a root canal or to have my tooth pulled.

To my dentist's credit, he had his office call the endodontist's office to see how soon they could take me. Lucky me - they said to come over right away. So I walked the two blocks to the other office, with my teeny toothy x-ray of the sore tooth (#18 for those of you who number your teeth). Upon arrival, the person at the front desk told me that she had called The Tim's insurance, and they did not have me listed as receiving benefits. Sigh. I tried to quickly calculate how much it would cost to walk through the door of the endodontist and decided I couldn't count that high. I suggested that she call my dentist's office and talk to them about the insurance. She agreed, and gave me paperwork to complete.

(Tee-hee. Next to the questions 1. Have you ever had surgery? and, 2. Do you take any prescription drugs?, there was a single line to fill in. As if.)

Apparently the dentist's office assured them that I did in fact have insurance coverage, so I was ready to go. Wherein the endodontist - who I'm pretty sure was not old enough to shave yet - came in, and decided a) I needed x-rays, and b) he would do a hot/cold test. I mentioned that I'd already had both things at the other office, and did he not have the teeny toothy x-ray I had brought with me? Yes, but he wanted to check a few more teeth, so both would need to be repeated.

In the end, he determined that my last tooth on the lower left side was partially cracked. If the entire tooth had been cracked, I would have to have it pulled, but since it was only partial, he told me that he could "save the tooth." (He seemed pretty darn excited about this. Like he was part of Greenpeace or something.) And so we moved on to the root canal, after much injection of novocaine to make it numb.

Once he was finished, he gave me instructions and sent me home to "take it easy." The front desk informed me that with the insurance, I only needed to pay 20% of the $976,663,322 it cost to visit an endodontist.

On my way home, I stopped at the bookstore to alert The Tim to the whole insurance issue. He offered to buy me a tea or coffee, at which point I realized that I had left my wallet at the endodontist's office. So I went back and retrieved it (the receptionist was *very* annoyed because I don't have a cell phone and therefore she couldn't contact me right away), and headed home.

Finally, I was safely in our house. At which point I tripped on the steps going upstairs to change my clothes. I was sure that a cup of tea would make it all feel better. Except I burned my hand pouring it. Then Tess threw up.

After a nap, I was left with a REALLY sore jaw. Then I found this in a Google image search, called "middle-aged woman with toothache"

At least I look better than she does!

I think ...

13 comments:

Chris said...

Hmm. I think you need a stiff drink! Yowza. Hope your poor mouth feels better very, very soon.

Bridget said...

Excellent suggestion, Chris!

Except that we gave up alcohol for Lent ...

(I'm doomed.)

Jenn said...

Oh my, what a day! The mere thought of a root canal makes me want to go hide under the bed.

By the way, I had to have x-rays this week at the dentist as part of the check-up thingie. Apparently my mouth is very small (hahahaha) and the little x-ray film they put in there cut me. Hrmph. At least I point to this story the next time someone calls me a big mouth.

Bookfool said...

Wow, seriously, you're lucky to have any of that endodontist bit covered at all. Our so-called dental coverage will not touch root canals. Actually, they only give you a pittance for cleanings and that's about it, so we try to brush very, very thoroughly. I hope you recover quickly.

Anonymous said...

Nope, never liked dentists and all the insurance in the world can make me like 'em!

Kathleen Dames said...

Oh, boopie, I'm so sorry! Nothing like mucking around with teeth. It's amazing how much torture costs these days ;) Take it easy and knit something yummy to make yourself feel better.

Mariss said...

I hope you fell better soon! You poor dear :(

P.S. Thanks for your nice words about my Pi Topper Chemo cap. Very sweet.

teabird said...

Ooh, sorry. I'll be joining you on Monday, with my 8th root canal. Love the high-tech tests they do at the endotontist's office - hitting the tooth with a hammer, rubbing cold stuff on it. It makes you feel so... secure.

Anonymous said...

A terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day!

Anonymous said...

OMG!!(Seb HATES when I use teen text talk)
I am sooo very sorry to hear about this dreadful experience.As you have paid your dues,I do think that it means you will be exempt from ALL nasty,annoying things for a very long long time!!!
BTW ,my cousin, who is a devout Christian, somehow found out that whatever you give up for Lent does not apply to any Sunday in the season (?!?) so, have a drink tomorrow...
Hope you're feeling better soon :)

Karen

Danette said...

Oh My Dear Bridget~
What a day!!! I can't come out and say "I hate dentists", but that's ONLY because Scott's Best friend is our dentist! However, I do hate all this toothy trauma ~ been there done that!
And as for the whole cat puke thing: with 2 cats and 3 dogs {one being a pup} I'm always on puke/poop/pee detail. Constant clean up on aisle... you name it!
Today the little Girl Scout I buy cookies from came to deliver them & Phoebe {being the pup still} was so excited she wee~wee'd. The Girl Scout said, "I bet you get tired of cleaning that up every time she does it." You have NO IDEA!
Out of the mouths of Babes!!!
Please~~~ have a better day tomorrow!
Hope the tooth is pain free now.
Love, Danette

Turtle said...

ouch, what a day!

Ally Jay said...

There is always a bright side. Glad you're still able to see it. I'm sure dentists are very nice people really but I just don't like them. Not only do they always hurt you more than you hurt before you went in you actually have to pay for the pain.