ORAL SURGERY AND OTHER PLEASURES

Well, I finally went ahead and found myself a dentist in Fredericksburg, Virginia (where I live) and went in yesterday morning at 7:30 a.m. (this is something more dentists should do) and got the tooth that's been messing up my life removed. It was actually a rather simple procedure and I was home by 9 a.m.

Now here's the thing. When this tooth first started kicking up a fuss last month and the right side of my face was swollen up (there's a look in which to go to work), I went to a dentist in D.C. who proceeded to quote me, please be sitting down when you read this, $1,775.00 to remove this tooth. Included in this exorbitant quotation were a drain in my right cheek, bone grafts and general anesthetic. When she realized I didn't have that kind of money, she suggested I go to the Howard University Dental School and have the tooth removed. But they were too busy to take me and if they'd had time, some time, the cost would have been over $200 for a student to remove my tooth.

Dr. Expensive had given me a prescription for antibiotics, so I filled that prescription and one she'd given me for pain pills and lo and behold, the swelling in my cheek started to go down almost immediately and by the next day, it was completely gone. I took the antibiotics
as directed and by the time I was done, my mouth felt fine. However, not being a complete idiot, I decided to find a dentist in my home area to get this and future dental procedures taken care of.

The Internet came through for me again and I now have a fantastic dentist, 20 minutes from home, who doesn't charge an arm and a leg - an important consideration since I haven't yet received my dental insurance card. Out of pocket for yesterday? $215.00. And the procedure was performed by a real dentist, not a student. To my mind, the $20.00 additional is money well spent!

Here's the thing: there really isn't a true health care crisis per se but there is a laziness crisis. At least that's my opinion. If you look around, ask lots of questions and show some common sense, that $1,775.00 procedure can be had for $215.00 without compromising professional care. Shop around, I'm just saying.