Dental journey...




Well, after years of bad teeth, I finally bit the bullet and decided to get dentures. Tops, anyway, for now.  I went to a local dentist, and got a treatment plan with prices I could expect on each 'phase' of the project.

Luckily, I have funds available so I can pay without insurance (which doesn't pay much anyway, from what I hear).  I had all but 5 of my top teeth pulled a month ago. I had the front teeth pulled a few months before that, since they were on the verge of falling totally apart.

(Trust me, don't neglect your teeth.  I wasn't able to afford a dentist for many years, and I'm paying for that now.)

So I have no molars, no front teeth, only two on one side and three on the other side.  On the bottom, I have just one molar left: middle left side.  I have the rest of my bottom teeth. The dentist seems to think we can do a partial there. We'll see.

I went today for my denture impressions, the next 'phase' on my plan.  No problems.  Except that I had to pay $116 more than my plan called for.  Now, I know the plan says that that estimate is good for 30 days, but since I had started the work before that 30 days ended, I figure the price should be what I was told it would be when we began.

And I found out today that there's another 'phase' that wasn't mentioned on my plan: something about wax bite something.  Not sure how much I'll be charged for that.

I called them when I got home and checked my plan, and discovered the discrepancy in price. I called them back, and was told that they raised their prices (for the first time in a long time, supposedly), and that someone would call me back about it.

I got no call.  I'll call back tomorrow, but I hope they'll do the right thing. While I have the money to pay, I don't need 'surprises' like this.  I'm basically on a fixed income these days.  A set amount I get every month that I need to pay my household bills out of, along with making sure I can pay the dentist for his services.

I've discovered that I need to stop 'researching' on FB about dentures. I keep finding horror stories, and keep hearing people complain about their dentures.  I want to be able to eat real food again, not mushy stuff that's easy to chew. I've been eating soups and mashed potatoes and oatmeal.  I need something else. I did manage to eat a small order of french fries today.  So that's a win in my book.

I told Stacy that even if I hate the dentures, I'll use them to eat.

I'll keep you informed as to what happens next.