A sad and shocking incident happened to me very recently. One of my front teeth broke. All I can say is "F*ck!!!".
I was offered a treat at work, home-made dried feijoa, and while I was biting off a bit of it my tooth snapped. I didn't realize it was my tooth actually because it didn't hurt. It was when I felt my tongue against the ceiling of my mouth that I noticed a hard non-treat thing. And then I felt a gap between my teeth! Aaacckk!
I went into shock instantly and ran to the toilet. There it was...not. My tooth was broken and I had the other half in my hand. I went back to my desk and tried to reach J frantically. I saw coworkers and gave a closed-mouth smile just to recognize them. Didn't even bother greeting them a good morning.
I called MANY dental offices and all of them were booked for at least 1 week! More f*ck! I finally contacted one but the earliest they could accommodate me was at 2pm. I was gonna settle, in fact I did for a while, until I realized that I really can't stay in the office for that long constantly thinking about my tooth and sudden loss of work interest. Called another dental office and got referred to another office that had a bigger practice. Got my appointment in half hour after the call.
J took me to the dentist and sat close to me. I needed support. Plenty of it in fact! My smile was at stake here! The dentist was nice and told me that he can put my tooth back temporarily. Now I have it back together, glued together that's good for a few months. We talked about long-term work that needed to be done.
If I were to go for implants, it would cost me between $6k and $7k. A lot of money!!! If I went for bridge, between $2k and $3k. If I chose to have a 1-tooth denture, at least $700 for that. I don't know what to do after having read the procedures for implants and bridges. They seem scary. I don't want to wear dentures either.
My dental work today cost me $174. Worth it for the next few months. I might travel back to my home town to get a cheaper deal. Ever heard of holiday + dental work? I'm in denial. Beauty is at stake here. Teeth!!! Our health insurance does not cover dental. Believe it or not, it's very costly in NZ to include it, and insurance companies put a lot of limit in their dental coverage so we chose not to have it.
What would you do if you were me?
That's awful, I'm sorry that happened to you! Good luck with whatever you decide, dental work is SO expensive. At least you stayed cool and managed to get an appointment quickly...it's your front tooth, you don't wanna mess around with that...
ReplyDeleteI should probably also update my guess....make it a round 26,000?
Thanks for that. It's just difficult not having the ability to be comfortable about a tooth. Like it can just fall off at any given time.
ReplyDeleteI updated my blog with your bet. I hope to beat that :) but with the tooth issue it's going to be a battle.