New Teeth

Smokey, our special needs child, has somehow gotten my wife's ear warmer stuck round his middle.

I'm actually frightened to blog about this in case it turns out to be false. But I have it in black and white, right in front of me, so how can it be wrong? My dental insurance has indicated it will cover replacement of the veneers on my four front teeth!!!

Those veneers were put there about eighteen years ago and badly need replacing, they are chipped and cracked and they look awful. I hate smiling because I am afraid of what people will see. But replacing them has been prohibitively expensive (estimates for replacements have ranged from $3,500-$6,000) so I have simply gone through life trying not to smile, which pretty much sucks as a way to go through life.

My dentist told me that he thought that things had progressed to a point where a case could be reasonably made that I needed new veneers for medical and not cosmetic reasons. That was two years ago-so why didn't I have it done then? Because I needed so much other dental work at the time. So this year, for the first time, with no cavities, fillings, root canals, etc., I can finally take steps so that I can smile.

I have been planning charging $2,500 to a credit card to pay my portion of the veneers. Anyone who has glanced at this blog is probably aware that the idea of charging anything is anathema to me. Two years ago, my wife and I were $14,551 in credit debt. Today we are under $5,000 in credit debt. We have worked our asses off to pay off this debt and I do not want to charge a goddamn dime to a credit card if I can help it.

If I am reading this right, my insurance will cover about $1,000 of the replacement. That is very cool, but I expected that. What I did not expect was for the insurance to cap what the dentist could charge me. If-this is key-if that is correct, I will only owe $1,100, less than half of what I expected. Again, if this is correct, I would not have to charge a penny.

Look, I know there are much, much, much more important things going on in the world. People who are homeless and starving after the Tsunami, our soldiers being shot at, etc. I don't ask that you stop praying for those folks. But if you have a second, please feel free to pray to your Diety of choice that this be true. Thank you.

Blessed Be.