Sue's Blog - Some assembly required.

Fingers, arms, legs & eyes crossed.

I haven't mentioned it but I have had a problem with a tooth for a while.
Well, ever since the dentist decided it needed a root canal and crown actually.

I needed a bridge.  This is a contraption that is attached to a couple of teeth to replace lost teeth.
You can have permanent ones or detachable ones.
My dentist designed a detachable one that would fix onto this particular tooth.
It has to be strong.
So, he did the root canal and crown and added a little thingy that would secure the bridge.
Then the bridge was started.
Many impressions and visits later, it was finished.
I loved it.
Trouble was the tooth it attaches to doesn't like it at all.  Now this tooth should not be able to hurt.  It should not have any nerve.
Well, the bloody thing has the nerve to hurt.
This whole pallarver has cost me a mint.  I am now totally out of any insurance help.
Not that it was much help anyway.
I have a tooth that hurts and a bridge which I cannot use.
I think it sits there smiling (laughing) at me.
My dentist after reviewing yet another x ray sent me to a specialist.
Oh now we are talking money.
But, what to do?
If I say bugger it and have the tooth taken out - then I have totally wasted all that money (over a thousand dollars....rather a lot over) on a bridge that will never, ever be usable because the tooth it attaches to will be gone.
Or, do I pay the specialist to figure out why the tooth is still hurting and to fix it (so I can wear the smart arse bridge)......only what if he can't fix it and then I have paid him a fortune only to have the poxy tooth out anyway?

I have been so worried about all this.
Anyway, I saw the specialist yesterday.
I have seen him before, some years ago  when I had a root canal fail.  The bone all around it was infected and in the end it had to go....the tooth not the bone.
He is a lovely guy and listened carefully to all my woes.
He thinks there must be a piece of nerve that my dentist missed.  He plans to do the canal again and try to fix it.
If that fails he says he can surgically cut the root off thus disconnecting it from the other nerves.
Now, all the time he is saying this, believe it or not, I was not concerned about the effects of the treatment rather than the cost of it all. 
So, I told him my insurance had run out and I was just going to ask if he could wait until January to  put in the bill, when he stopped me and said.............

"THERE WILL BE NO CHARGE !!!"
What???
"ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE.  THIS HASN'T BEEN RIGHT FROM THE START SO WE WILL PUT IT RIGHT.  TANTY (that is my dentist...the one who sent me to this guy.) CAN BUY ME A BEER."
I was so shocked and so relieved.
I told him, if he fixes it I will buy him a case of beer.

This is a like a weight lifted from me.  I may actually get to sleep at nights now.
I love this guy.
Now I really hope that it works and I can wipe the smile off of that smirking bridge.

posted by Sue Banks @ 2:28 PM