Not THAT kind!

I have spent many, many hours in the dental chair, and it's never fun. Today I finally had a checkup (it's been too long) and found out that a few of my fillings need to be replaced, and I need to replace my bridge, preferably with dental implants. Total cost for all of this? About $17,000. Right. $17,000. I asked what the first priority is, and it is to replace a filling that is cracked, then to replace another filling that is deteriorating, then a third that is also beginning to go. I go to a holistic dentist, too, which adds to the cost, but (hopefully) decreases the long-term cost. So when I get back from vacation I will take care of the first filling, and figure out what to do about the rest of it. I can take a bit of time in replacing the fillings, but it certainly would be easier to get them all out of the way at once, too. That is, if I have the nearly $2,000 it will cost to get all of them done. Ugh.

The dental implants are something I've been thinking about for a long time. I have a bridge as a result of a childhood accident - lost three teeth and broke my nose. I had a partial plate for years, and got a permanent plate when I finished growing. Replaced it about 12 years ago, and it has served me well and looks okay, too. The problem is that when you lose teeth, the jaw bone doesn't have anything to support, and deteriorates over time. It's been nearly 25 years since that bone had to support anything, and I need to think about getting the dental implants in the next couple of years for there to be a chance of being able to grow back enough of the bone to adequately support the implants. And they are incredibly expensive, and I've never seen a dental plan that paid for them. So I'm on my own for the $12-15 K they would cost. Yikes.

Other than THAT lovely little appointment, my day was fine. Had lunch with Gordon, slept well, and got up and did my normal mad dash to work.

Now to figure out how to pay for the dental work....