<rant>
Ok, some of you may remember me freaking out in December because I had to have A LOT of dental work done and I am a TOTAL dental-phobe. It took me *literally* years (many, many years) to work up the courage to go see a dentist to even find out what all I had to have done. I managed to find a guy who practices sedation dentistry, meaning he was willing to give me heavy-duty drugs ("conscious sedation" - I'm not technically knocked out) even for simple things like cleanings. I spent $1800 - $350 of that just for the sedation - to get SUPPOSEDLY *everything* taken care of in December. It caused me a HUGE amount of anxiety, not to mention the money, and since I had 2 wisdom teeth pulled there was a significant recovery period.
So I went back a couple of weeks ago for a regular cleaning (by then it had been 8 months since they cleaned my teeth). I decided to do this with just the anxiety pill and laughing gas - no sedation this time. HUGE step for me. Worked out pretty well, I handled it ok. Except he tells me that my top right wisdom tooth has a pretty significant cavity and so he wants to just pull it. And since he's pulling that one, he thinks it's best to go ahead and pull the one on bottom, too. I was kinda high when he told me this so, while I was surprised and caught off guard, I was not lucid enough to really THINK about it and ask questions. I've called the office to try to schedule the appointment a few times but I keep missing the receptionist so I've not had it done yet.
My initial response, once the drugs wore off, was why in the hell didn't this come up in all the work I had in December? We were supposed to be taking care of EVERYTHING that was wrong with my mouth. I know that it's been 8 months since they did a FULL set of x-rays, but FFS if it's that significant of a cavity, I don't think it JUST popped up. Besides, I had A LOT of work done in December. I also had a couple of issues, so I was in and out of his office SEVERAL times that month. I have a VERY hard time believing this went unnoticed. This means I get to pay the $350 sedation fee all over again, and I get to get all worried and anxious about it again, and I get to spend another however-many-weeks recovering again.
Then, just about a half hour ago, I'm laying in bed and it occurs to me: the wisdom tooth on bottom - the one he wants to pull just because he's pulling the one above it - is a tooth he just FILLED IN DECEMBER. :wtf2 Um. Excuse me. Why in the HELL would he FILL A CAVITY in the lower wisdom tooth in December but 6 weeks later WANT TO PULL THAT SAME TOOTH?? I can't remember offhand what he charged for that filling, but I know it was at least $150. Between that and the sedation fee, that's $500 down the drain.
I DON'T THINK SO.
I am so mad right now I can hardly explain it.
I was so happy to find this guy. I sat down and had a meeting with him before he ever even looked in my mouth. He seemed incredibly compassionate and understanding (he had to have, or else I never would have gone back!). Now I feel like I've just been set up, schemed, taken advantage of.
My choices at this point seem to be:
* get the teeth pulled anyway. I believe the total cost for this is in the neighborhood of $630 (WITH a discount for paying in full at the time, since this guy isn't in my insurance network).
* get the tooth on top filled and don't pull either one. This is fine, except that means I have to decide whether or not I want to pay $350 in sedation fees just to have a filling done. If so, I'm still going to be looking at something like $450 in total fees and the anxiety will be almost uncontrollable.
* tell this guy to F off and go see another dentist. Part of me really wants to do this, but OH. MY. GOD. That means starting completely over with someone new, someone who won't give me the heavy-duty stuff when I really need it. I can probably get another dentist to prescribe the anxiety meds - I CAN'T get another dentist to almost knock me out for procedures. I feel pretty confident now that I don't need sedation for cleanings anymore (YAY ME) but I'm not so sure if I can handle other stuff on my own.
I don't know what to do.
I AM going to call his office and ask to speak to him and bring this up, but I'm not really expecting him to have anything useful to say. About the ONLY thing he could say that I'd find acceptable is that he'll waive the sedation fee whether I choose to have the tooth/teeth pulled OR filled, and if I have them pulled, he'll deduct the cost of the filling he just put in in December. Anything less than that and I will feel betrayed and ripped off.
Just when I felt like I was making some progress conquering this phobia, this crap happens. I'm so discouraged.
</rant>
On the plus side, Hubby comes home this afternoon so I get my laptop back.