Bracing Myself
About 3.5 years ago, I went to Europe with a major toothache. My dentist didn’t have time to perform a root canal before I left, so he gave me a big bottle of Percocet to hold me over during my month-long trip. That plan didn’t work out so well. A few days into my trip, I found myself in sub-zero weather somewhere in Germany with my entire face feeling like it had been battered repeatedly. I contemplated my options: cutting my trip short – highly unlikely, sucking it up and dealing with the pain – impossible, or going to a 24hr emergency dental clinic in the middle of rural Germany – OK ! It was around midnight when I arrived at the office. A few hours later, after dealing with language barriers and arguing my reasons for the drastic measure I was demanding, I finally got the staff to extract the right tooth. The rest of the trip was painful but bearable, unlike the alternative.
I came back to Sunny Florida to learn that dental implants, at the time, were not covered by insurance. I was bummed but really couldn’t afford the $3000 out of pocket cost. Eventually I switched over to a new plan that covered 50% of dental implants, but I procrastinated. Eventually I came to my senses, but it was too late. I now have to deal with bone loss and shifted teeth around the area. Having to chew on one side all this time has made my already bad bite worse. That is the reason why I will be getting braces on Monday. Once everything has been aligned properly, an implant will be placed where my tooth used to be and all will be happy-happy again. I will document my progress here.
More on Monday…
