Last year, I mentioned about how my tooth hurt when I ate hard food like granola. The tooth was probably cracked but the dentist couldn't see anything. Being the frugal person I am, my motto is "it's not a problem, til it's a problem". So I did nothing, except maybe nurture that side of my mouth to avoid pain from biting on that cracked tooth. This worked for a while, but then last week it finally happened - a chunk of my tooth came out while I was eating cereal. In case you've never experienced your tooth falling out - its like eating rocks. You feel a funny tingle and then crunch. Then you wiggle your tongue over there and confirm it really happened. I pull out the little piece and rolled it around in my fingers, pondering how much the tooth fairy would give me for part of a tooth. Probably not much. Not enough to cover the bill anyway.
So, now we have a problem. And it must be dealt with. I've let the dental plan expire, but since I did let it expire they want us back. So they sent a 25% off coupon to get us to renew. Good thing I waited. Not. Now I have to wait a couple days for it to become effective. Meanwhile I have a partial tooth in the back of my mouth. Luckily my dentist could fit me in first thing Monday. Today it was. So I took the whole day off work to enjoy my new tooth. Except it started off with going to the dentist.
I generally have pretty good teeth, but I still don't really care to go to the dentist. Part of the experience that bugs me the most is the noise. And the big needle of Novocain. I brought my own Ipod to help cover up the drilling noises, but there's not much you can do to avoid the cloud of dust and debris flying out of your mouth from drilling. I gagged at the smell of the burning tooth dust and metal. What an absolutely terrible combination of noises and odors. At least there was no blood in the mix. I think. So what seemed like a really long time they finished the drilling and moved on to the impressions and packing the core to ready it for the temporary crown. I tried not to watch but did happen to see the guy lifting a small black slimy string thing that looked like a worm, and drop it into my mouth. Then with his tool he starts pressing it into the mold where my new tooth stump is. I almost passed out it was so gross. He added some other stuff with a caulk gun and starts pumping in cement and then eventually tugged the worm back out, but it was yucky.
All in all it went smooth. I didn't drool that much, and my gums are tender, but not bleeding from all the hacking they did. The worst is over, except for having to pay. As I said before I signed up for dentalplans.com and it cost $134 for 13 months of coverage for both DH & I. The plan dropped the cost of the core and crown from $1321 down to $753. Almost half price just because I signed up for a dental plan. Definitely a frugal idea.