So I am going to share some details on my dentist relationships.
When I was a kid I had a terrible experience having teeth pulled. My therapist apparently told my Mom to lie to me about the date of the appointment, put me in the car and just dump me there.
No one thought about it: I'm a high strung kid with major anxiety issues and severe depression. I'm already scared of the dentist. But wait, let's go better and pull four teeth (to make room for braces) under a local, with no other medication.
It ended about how you'd expect me in the chair bloodcurdling screams of terror. Mom said I scared off all the other patients which is funny now. I can imagine! It's very funny, now.
I had an OK experience with the oral surgeon who did the wisdom teeth (four), I paid to be knocked out on that. So they put in an IV and then I woke up the nurse was trying to put my glasses on my face. It was interesting, both times I had surgery that was the worst part of it, the nurse trying to put my glasses on and stabbing me in the eye. Just hand them to me and let me put them on.
Then I found a nice Asian Dentist I'll call Dr Wong.
He had to do a horrible thing to my gums that is probably the worst pain I've ever had in my life. He numbed me up for it but when it wore off...remarkable pain levels I remember that 30 years later. I had better results using a now-banned gum care toothpaste. He did fillings mainly. Those fillings are still 100%. And some gum work he was very worried about my gums.
Then I moved. I remember he did one more filling before I left as I had a soft spot on one molar and he was worried I might lose my dental coverage after I moved. I had to change careers 6 weeks later so I was glad he did!
Nothing but 5 stars for him.
When you're self employed it is very difficult to get insurance. At least it was with what we made. Remember Ron basically kept all the money and gave me a small allowance he called "your pay".
So we found Dr Steve. He did an OK job on one bad cavity I had on molar #2 (more on that later). Ron's mouth was a mess. He had teeth snap in half, etc. I felt Ron wasn't getting good care but the dentist was nice and talked a lot.
Then I had #18 break. I knew I needed a filling and had been putting it off, I was eating pan bread at an Indian Restaurant and felt a crunch. The crunch is always bad. He put a "big old filling".
Apparently I was grinding my teeth a lot as the filling only lasted several months, I woke up in blinding pain and most of #18 gone. He said he had to pull it (he gave a big sigh) or do a root canal. I opted for the root canal. Back then we had the money. It was about $1,200.
The root canal came off (snapped off at the root) in August of 2021 and it has a little tuft of something sticking up. I play with it when I'm stressed, push my tongue into it.
I was eating taffy (!!! not smart!!!) at the bus stop waiting on the Crazy Train when the filling in #2 comes right out. It's a huge hole there.
I don't know if I can save it or not.
I need to get off my butt and call the dental insurance company for the card.
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