Ardath Rekha

So a while ago I noticed that my upper left bicuspid felt a little weird. This was a tooth that, a decade ago, required a root canal. I knew I needed to get it checked but a lack of time or money meant that I put it off (although I knew I shouldn't because postponing medical care of any kind is always A Very Bad Idea). But given how tight my schedule was and how many other things I had to budget for, I kinda hoped it could wait. And for a while, it did.

Then, last night, while I was having a pre-bed snack, I felt this CRACK! as I was chewing. Followed by a sense that the back part of the tooth was wiggling. That was pretty awful-scary. As you can imagine, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night, alternately worrying about losing the whole tooth and just what getting it repaired was going to do to my finances.

This morning, as I waited for the dentists' offices to open so I could call around and find out who could fit me in, I discovered that the need to be seen today was even more desperate than I'd expected -- I wasn't going to be able to eat. Chewing on the other side of my mouth did freaky things to that tooth. I logged onto my student health insurance site to see what options I had, discovered that there was a discount plan I could buy into for $25, that would go into effect the same day, and got the list of participants. One had an office just a few blocks from my house, easy walking distance. That was the first place I called and I am so glad I called there.

The receptionist initially told me that they wouldn't be able to see me until Monday because they were very heavily booked for the day. I told her that I'd need to call her back, then, if I couldn't find anybody else to see me today because I wasn't going to be able to eat. The next words out of her mouth were "can you come in at ten?" Awesome lady. Everybody in the office is awesome and sweet.

So I went in at ten, filled out some paperwork, listened to the other receptionist wrangle with the automated insurance system as she tried to verify my membership in the discount plan, but not give up until she had verification in spite of it being a real hassle... and then Dr. Orr took a look at my tooth.

The break, it turned out, was a fairly clean one, although it extended up through my gum and into the bone. It tapered to a point, and there was no tooth decay involved, so Dr. Orr was able to numb me and then draw it out with no trouble. He smoothed everything down, cut back the gum, and put "packing" over the surface. On the 24th, I'll return to have a post put in, be fitted for a crown, and have a temporary crown put on... four weeks after that I'll have my permanent crown put in. The cost is approximately half of what I was expecting, which rocks so hard. It was also $200 less thanks to the discount plan, so I am gladder than ever that I paid that $25 this morning. It's already paid me back in a MAJOR way.

I'm floating at the moment on the low-dosage vicodin painkiller he gave me, which has eased the discomfort but left me verrrrrrry sleepy all day, but in a happy-mellow sort of way that's a huge relief after all the anxiety I went through overnight. And I feel so incredibly grateful to everybody at Dr. Orr's office for fitting me into their schedules and being so careful and compassionate with me once I got there. I'm more than a bit doctor-phobic. I try not to be, but I had a lot of illnesses as a child, along with very painful major surgery, and sometimes I can't help it. They took great care not to trigger it. Dr. Orr's explanations of my various options were thorough; I can expect five to ten years of life out of my crown, and should then consider getting a dental implant; if I do it with his office at that time, he'll deduct the cost of the crown from the cost of that procedure. Barring some crazy development, he just guaranteed himself a faithful client for the next few decades.

There are probably a lot of wonderfully compassionate dentists just like him out there, of course, but I feel incredibly blessed that my very first call led to such a soothing result. I had knots in my stomach this morning, worrying just how I was going to pay for all of this and how the very appearance-dependent industry I'm involved in would close to me if I lost the tooth and couldn't afford to replace it (seriously, that alone could have closed so many doors to me) and now I'm feeling safe and secure again. Actually safer and more secure than I felt before the tooth even broke in half!

I am so totally referring people to him. And so totally going back to him on a regular basis. It's so nice to have that sense of comfort that makes me no longer hesitate when I think "I really ought to have a dental check-up." I know I'll be just fine in his hands.

:)