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Home from the dentist
Yes, my appointment was on the books. No, they are not in-network for my new insurance- so I did have to pay the yearly deductible of $50 today.
But I'm glad I went. Instead of telling me I HAD to get a crown, my dentist ground off the cracked front of the molar, and rebuilt the tooth with amalgam. A crown would have been better, but $825 is a bit steep for me. If this fails, then the crown will have to happen.
There was a problem with the anaesthetic, though- my cheek and gum was plenty numb, but when he started removing the old filling to see what was going on, I discovered the tooth itself was very much still feeling! Yikes! So I got another shot of numbing, and that definitely did the trick. To the point where "now spit" was more a matter of leaning over and having the water and stuff dribble out of my mouth and down my face. So glamorous! AR AR AR!
Since he was rebuilding the entire grinding surface of the last molar, he said I might need to come in for tinkering to get the bite correct (because let's face it, "how does that feel?" isn't much use when only the top teeth are feeling anything). I'm still pretty numb, so I still can't tell.
At this point, I expect I will have to look for a another dentist, because out-of-network coverage would only give me 25% on a crown. But if this filling holds, I might just come back for my regular cleaning in June- they will cover that at 80%. I'll decide later.
But I'm glad I went. Instead of telling me I HAD to get a crown, my dentist ground off the cracked front of the molar, and rebuilt the tooth with amalgam. A crown would have been better, but $825 is a bit steep for me. If this fails, then the crown will have to happen.
There was a problem with the anaesthetic, though- my cheek and gum was plenty numb, but when he started removing the old filling to see what was going on, I discovered the tooth itself was very much still feeling! Yikes! So I got another shot of numbing, and that definitely did the trick. To the point where "now spit" was more a matter of leaning over and having the water and stuff dribble out of my mouth and down my face. So glamorous! AR AR AR!
Since he was rebuilding the entire grinding surface of the last molar, he said I might need to come in for tinkering to get the bite correct (because let's face it, "how does that feel?" isn't much use when only the top teeth are feeling anything). I'm still pretty numb, so I still can't tell.
At this point, I expect I will have to look for a another dentist, because out-of-network coverage would only give me 25% on a crown. But if this filling holds, I might just come back for my regular cleaning in June- they will cover that at 80%. I'll decide later.