Gritting my teeth
Over the last year and a half, I sprouted a wisdom tooth. This was annoying on an ongoing and constant basis. It also involved frequent mouthsful of blood, as new areas of my gum were split by the emerging tooth. (This gave me great empathy for my daughter's teething miseries!) I always knew this tooth would be trouble. Its surface faces, not downward like all its upper-jaw brethren, but outwards so as to maximize friction against the inside of my cheek. This subsided over time as I developed a callous-like rough spot on the spot where the tooth rubs.
I always tried to keep this tooth clean, but it was hard given its odd angle and location in the way-back of my mouth. About a month ago, I developed a stinging pain in the wisdom tooth and in its next-nearest neighbor. After discovering that Sensodyne toothpaste was inadequate to the task, I gave in to the inevitable and went for a thorough dental exam for the first time in maybe 15 years. The x-rays revealed I have a cavity in the wisdom tooth, a larger/deeper one in the neighbor tooth, and a small cavity which hadn't yet revealed its presence in the neighbor's lower-jaw mate. The tab to get all this fixed? Depends on whether the neighbor needs a root canal, which of course the dentist won't know until he actually goes in to do the work. Without the root canal, it will be about $700. With the root canal, it will be $2,212!!!
For the record, the federal government (or at least my corner of it) does not offer dental insurance. I am on my own for this bill. Needless to say, I don't have $2,200 just sitting around collecting dust. My two options to pay for it are (1) borrow it from my home-equity line of credit; or (2) take out a special dental-work loan from a lender who is partnered with the dental clinic. (What sort of a comment is it on the sorry state of health coverage in this country when whole companies spring up to lend money specifically for dental work?)
You know, I resent the federal government for not picking up at least part of the tab on this one. Once upon a time, people took federal government jobs despite the low pay to get the great benefits packages. Now, we take both the comparatively low pay and the mediocre benefits, and try to just be grateful that we have jobs at all. Don't get me wrong, I really do like and appreciate my job. I have a fabulous and kind boss, a real peach (more about him on some other day), a reasonable work load, and hours that let me spend more time with my kid than any lawyer should reasonably be able to expect. I do good work, all of it done on time and to the highest standard of which I am capable. But would it kill the federal budget to provide dental insurance (and vision too, while they're at it) to their faithful employees?
Oh well. To be fair, when I used to work for a real law firm making really good money (and working insane hours), I *still* didn't have dental insurance. If big rich law firms and the federal government both stiff their employees on health insurance, then who the heck does? Or is dental insurance a complete thing of the past?
I always tried to keep this tooth clean, but it was hard given its odd angle and location in the way-back of my mouth. About a month ago, I developed a stinging pain in the wisdom tooth and in its next-nearest neighbor. After discovering that Sensodyne toothpaste was inadequate to the task, I gave in to the inevitable and went for a thorough dental exam for the first time in maybe 15 years. The x-rays revealed I have a cavity in the wisdom tooth, a larger/deeper one in the neighbor tooth, and a small cavity which hadn't yet revealed its presence in the neighbor's lower-jaw mate. The tab to get all this fixed? Depends on whether the neighbor needs a root canal, which of course the dentist won't know until he actually goes in to do the work. Without the root canal, it will be about $700. With the root canal, it will be $2,212!!!
For the record, the federal government (or at least my corner of it) does not offer dental insurance. I am on my own for this bill. Needless to say, I don't have $2,200 just sitting around collecting dust. My two options to pay for it are (1) borrow it from my home-equity line of credit; or (2) take out a special dental-work loan from a lender who is partnered with the dental clinic. (What sort of a comment is it on the sorry state of health coverage in this country when whole companies spring up to lend money specifically for dental work?)
You know, I resent the federal government for not picking up at least part of the tab on this one. Once upon a time, people took federal government jobs despite the low pay to get the great benefits packages. Now, we take both the comparatively low pay and the mediocre benefits, and try to just be grateful that we have jobs at all. Don't get me wrong, I really do like and appreciate my job. I have a fabulous and kind boss, a real peach (more about him on some other day), a reasonable work load, and hours that let me spend more time with my kid than any lawyer should reasonably be able to expect. I do good work, all of it done on time and to the highest standard of which I am capable. But would it kill the federal budget to provide dental insurance (and vision too, while they're at it) to their faithful employees?
Oh well. To be fair, when I used to work for a real law firm making really good money (and working insane hours), I *still* didn't have dental insurance. If big rich law firms and the federal government both stiff their employees on health insurance, then who the heck does? Or is dental insurance a complete thing of the past?
posted by Susan D. at 6:15 AM
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