All Shiny and Bright... at a price

I've been sand-papered, emery'd, sand-blasted, scraped, rinsed and polished. And although I am sure my teeth look 10 times better than they did when I walked in the dentist's door this morning, I feel abused. I suffer from TMJ, I don't remember the technical words that go along with those letters but basically it means my jaw hurts, allot, at inconvenient times. So now I am sitting here at work and I have a headache, my jaw hurts and my teeth have those sharp little edges on them that cut at my tongue. And although I know better, I sadistically run my tongue back and forth over those newly sandblasted areas, just because it feels so naked and weird. I don't know why the dentist insists on removing the tartar build up behind my front teeth, I personally think my body lets it built up there on purpose for comfort reasons. Like an oyster makes a pearl because of those annoying grains of sand that rub against their innards. Now I have no choice but to get right to work on figuring out which food and substances cause the most tartar build up so I can get back to my normal topography.

Then to make matters worse, my daughter had been complaining about a molar the last few days so I asked if the dentist could do a quick check on that tooth and also to reassure me that the number of loose teeth she has is normal.

Lina, it turns out has EIGHT cavities (EIGHT!!!!) and FIVE loose teeth! Yikes, I am going to faint. She will have to be re-taught to brush her teeth. She has been brushing 2 - 3 times a day but not long enough, nor thoroughly enough. So much for letting her take responsibility for her hygiene, she has been insisting that she is a big girl and closes the bathroom door in order to brush her teeth herself and wash her face, etc. Not going to happen for a while now.

Today's appointment cost me $266.83 (I get 80% of it back from my insurance, but not before this weekend which is a paid holiday for me. Bad bad bad timing). So here is where the headache comes in. Her fillings will cost $1,192.00. Deep breath. And because my insurance has a maximum allowable coverage per family member I will probably be responsible for about $400 of that amount.

OK, no more.

Now I am going to have to help her prepare for two appointments where she will have 4 teeth filled at each. I already told her she has lost her first chance at taking good care of her teeth, now she will have to take conscientious care from here on in because she'll only have one more set. I think I was supposed to get a user's manual when I had a child, was mine lost in the mail?

Well I guess, if I am any example I should be somewhat mollified by the fact that I too, had all my teeth filled as a child and today I flushed with pleasure when the dentist informed me today that I have beautiful teeth (and only four of my adult teeth are filled, I have had only one cavity in the last 10 years). There's hope for Lina yet.

Then again maybe it’s our well water? I'd like to think there was some other excuse other than the real reason this happened. The time when she brushes her teeth usually coincides with me making her lunch, finding clothes for her to wear, feeding the dog, getting dressed, cleaning snow off the truck and warming it up so we don't freeze on the way to school, washing my hair, cleaning the dinner dishes, changing the sheets on the beds, answering the telephone, paying bills online, putting the dog outside, changing the cat litter, trying to find just one tampon so I can make it to the corner store, finding my husband's keys, finding my husband's socks, finding my husband's work book, writing payroll cheques for my husband's employee....

Just think, they want me to floss her teeth every day too. If I had that much time to devote to my OWN hygiene I would think I’d won the lottery. Well it's got to be done; it's a parent's job. I just shudder to think what other task will go unfinished in order to ensure she has perfect teeth. Hmmmm. I guess I could go back to sporting a bushy uni-brow.