This Day Did Not Go As I Planned

I've had an annoying tooth problem for a month or two.  It's a tooth that I had had a crown put on about 25 years ago, and had three root canals done about 10 years ago.  To make the long story short, the tooth is abscessed and needs to be pulled.  

I called my dentist last Friday to get an appointment, only to hear the voice mail recording saying that he retired the week before, and he was referring his patients to a dental clinic, which luckily for me is a mile from my office.  I called the clinic and they said they take walk-ins from 8 to 11.  So I was there promptly at 8:00 this morning.  

The fees are on a sliding scale, and they said I would need to pay $60 for today's visit.  I almost fell out of my chair.  I had to ask twice to make sure I was hearing the lady right.  I was more than happy to pay $60 for treatment that would probably cost me triple at a dentist's office. 

When I was finished paying, the lady said that the dentists were in a meeting and would start seeing patients at 9:00.  So I went back to work and then headed back down a few minutes before 9:00.  When I got to the dental clinic, I saw a sign that said that the dentists were in training and would be seeing patients at 10:30.  So back to work I went.  

I came back and was back up in the clinic at 10:20, only to be told that their computer system was down (after hearing them page IT on the intercom a few times) and I would have to wait.  So I waited and waited.  Finally after an hour of waiting, the system was back up, and they printed out my paperwork and then called me back. 

 After xrays and more waiting, the dentist finally came in and he was with me only about two minutes; long enough for him to tell me that the tooth was bad and needed to come out.  He then told me I had three options based on how big my purse was.  One was an implant, which is $$$$$.  The second option was a bridge, which was also $$$$.  Then he said my third option was a partial, which was a whole lot less.  But he also said I had a fourth option -- not doing anything and just chewing on the other side of my mouth. 

He gave me a prescription for antibiotics to clear up the infection, and said that when I ran out of the antibiotics to call and get an appointment to get the tooth pulled.  

So that's how my day went.  But you know?  In the whole scope of things, it could have been a hell of a lot worse.  I got a call this afternoon from a School Friend whose daughter lost her house in Hurricane Michael today.  She and her family are fine, but they still lost their house.  So yep, things could be a hell of a lot worse. 

Stay tuned.