The Dentist And The Crazy Amount Of Time I’ve Spent There

I’ve had more stranger’s fingers in my mouth at the Dentist than I’d care to admit

Back around September while we were dealing with our Neighbors from hell we both had to get dental work done which almost was put off because of severe stress caused by the NFH. We’d waited for months to get in for these appointments and we weren’t about to let some idiots ruin that for us, so we went in despite the huge amount of stress we were (and are still) under.

I haven’t been to the dentist for over 2 scores, yeah a long time ago. You see when I was just a kid I had a couple of bad cavities and my Mother brought me in to see the dentist. Let me tell you that today’s dentists and the dentist I saw back in the day are night and day. It was the most horrific experience I have ever had and ever since that day, I have had a fear of the Dentist.

The Dentist From Hell

I can remember this old dude grabbing my lower jaw and forcing my mouth open and he stuck his nicotine-stained fingers into my mouth rubbing around in there with them. Grose, I can almost taste it just thinking about it again. Yeah, they didn’t or he just didn’t wear any gloves.

He continues to jab a needle into my mouth to inject the numbing agent. Today they put numbing gel around the injection site to start the numbing before they stick you with the needle. He didn’t do that, he just jabbed me in the gum and immediately went to work. He didn’t even wait for the numbing to kick in.

He went in with the tools and started at the cavities. He broke one of the cavities into a bunch of pieces, either on purpose or by mistake, but all I can remember is being in a whole lot of pain. He kept saying, “Just be a tough boy.” as my fingers gripped the hard plastic armrest of the dental chair trying to divert the pain to my fingertips.

The attending dental assistant saw the tears and asked if I was OK but before I could say, “No!” the old man cut me off and said that I was just being a big baby. Yeah! That’s what he said and then chuckled as he continued to wreak havoc on my jaw and teeth.

After the ordeal I got into the car with mom, my eyes red from the tears, and my mouth filled with an already soaking wad of cotton saturated with blood. Mom gave me some kleenex from her purse so I spit the gobs of blood out of my mouth. I could tell by the look on her face that she even thought this dentist shouldn’t have a dental license.

It was because of that terrible and horrific experience that I never stepped foot into another dental clinic before last September of 2022. My girlfriend convinced me after I was in so much pain because of cavities and an impacted tooth. She assured me that it wouldn’t be anything like it was when I was a kid.

Dental work is definitely not cheap!

So the initial visit we both had was exrays and the dentist poked around to see what the damage was. Nothing too serious yet. We were told what needed to be done as far as cavities and fillings were concerned. We were told the expense and WOW! If we didn’t have Blue Cross we probably would have just turned around and I would just pulled our own teeth out.

Fortunately Blue Cross covered up to a certain amount and between September and October, we went way over that limit. We had to cancel all the rest of the appointments for the following 2023 year because the insurance would reset and we could use it again. But by that time we were out of pocket over $2K.

I was pissed off because instead of taking care of my initial reason for going in with the painful cavities and impacted teeth first, they blew out the budget on small fillings first. So we had to spend out of pocket to get the painful teeth taken out and then waited for the new year to get the rest of the fillings done.

So here we are into the new 2023 year and we’re back getting fillings done. I just had three done last week and another two today. I still have 4 more to go and luckily Miss Mac’s Opinion has hers all done as of last week, I think.

Today they froze my bottom teeth so much that my tongue was so numb I couldn’t taste anything all day and my lower lip and jaw were so numb that I bit into my lip having breakfast and didn’t even feel it. That’ll hurt like hell today when the numbing stuff wears off all the way I bet. I’m still drinking my coffee through a straw because I can’t feel my lip and if I sip it runs down my face and chest.

If you’re wondering if drinking coffee through a straw makes you more awake faster like drinking beer through a straw makes you drunker faster, the answer is no. Or I don’t think so anyway. However, I am typing faster than I normally do. Hmmm, maybe I’m on to something here you think?

Conclusion…

The lesson learned here should be that you should take care of your teeth so you don’t end up spending thousands of dollars on dental work. Too bad this wasn’t covered under our medicare and all we would have to do is show our Medicare Card instead of our credit card.

The government is actually talking about having that kind of service, but it’s for kids under 12 and for the people who don’t want to work or can’t work. So the government will cover a filling for a kid’s tooth that’s just gonna fall out in a couple of years anyway. Makes sense right? That’s a whole new post entirely.

Brush your teeth, floss them, and take good care of them. It’s not cheap to get dental work done even if you have some coverage.