Trip to the Dentist - Sticker Shock!

This morning I received a reality check why I should keep my part-time job. I visited my dentist.

My bill for filling two cavities, replacing and old filling and fixing three small chips on my bottom teeth:

$868.00

Couple that bill with my bill of $121.00 for getting my teeth cleaned last week  and you have a grand total of $989.00. That is almost one thousand dollars!  That my friends is a lot of coupons.

Please don't misunderstand me, I have an excellent dentist.  For an old man (that would be me), my dentist has provided me with a pretty set of Pearlies.  And I also understand that this is what dental work goes for these days but...man oh man.  I'm still suffering from sticker shock.

Just yesterday I was talking to my long time friend who is the same age as me and is also retired about our mutual monthly living expenses.  My Social Security and three small pension checks just about keep me (and Bill) on par with our  monthly living expenses.  If it wasn't for my part-time job I would be digging into principal for those Extra Unplanned For Expenses which, as you know happen with regularity.  Even though we don't plan for these expenses in our monthly budget, they happen.

I would love to have all the money I've spent in dental expenses in my lifetime.  It would be thousands and thousands of dollars.  However, one thing I am thankful for (and I really am) is that I am in a position to afford going to an excellent dentist, even though he is VERY EXPENSIVE. (I hope he doesn't read this blog).

When I was a kid I used to fear going to the dentist because of the pain.  The dentist my Mother used to send me to never gave me any painkillers.  All that drilling was done sans novacaine.  Now there is no physical pain, not even the needle hurts now.  But man oh man, the bill sure does hurt.

The Smile is Back!

Ever since the filling fell out of my front tooth last week, I’ve been restricting my smiles. I have to admit it has been a little difficult because I’m the type of guys who smiles easily and I have the smile wrinkles to prove it.




This past Saturday I worked the front desk at the hotel. Just my luck the hotel was totally occupied with guests. We were sold out. Our hotel has a complimentary breakfast. To get to the breakfast the guests have to walk by the front desk. Guess whose all cherry smiles in the morning at the front desk to greet the guests first thing? If you guessed it was the writer of this blog, you would be correct.



A few times I forget and gave my normal, “Hello! How are you! Wide open Ron Special Smile (I do have a nice smile, everyone tells me so.) Maybe it was my imagination but I did detect a few recoils as I displayed the big hole in my front tooth. From there on out I tried to greet with a closed mouth but it wasn’t easy. In fact, greeting someone with a closed mouth is like a drunk trying to act sober. You only make it worse. I’m sure many of the guests thought I had the typical Sussex County native teeth and I was trying to hide it. Maybe I’m over thinking this whole thing.



Well, the problem was solved this morning. I couldn’t wait for the appointment my regular dental practice set for me next month, so I tried a new dentist in Rehoboth. This dentist has been recommended to me by several people whose opinion I respect.



With trepidation I headed out south on the rain soaked Route 1 to Rehoboth Beach. My new dentist’s name is Dr. Curtis Leciejewski. The pronunciation of that name will get some getting used to. Ironically the two previous dentists I’ve had for most of my life had very similar sounding names which were very easy to pronounce. Dr. Keil and Dr. KIing. Can you believe it? It’s true. For many years I used a Dr. Keil in Philadelphia. Then when Dr. Keil retired I used Dr. Kling in Downingtown, PA. My latest dentist was an HMO dentist, Dr. Patel. This is all probably very boring to most of the readers of this blog but I thought it was worth mentioning. I’ve always found names fascinating.



Well, all my fears were unfounded. Dr. Leciejewski and his staff were superb. There were absolutely outstanding in their friendliness, listening to me and efficiently and professionally resolving my tooth problem. Plus, they’re very close to where I live so now I won’t have to make that 39 mile one way trip to Dover to see my dentist. I didn’t feel like I was on an assembly line with Dr. Leciejewski. I think it is important to be treated as a person instead of a widget.



I now have my smile back. Watch out folks, Ron is back!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back




Yesterday was so wonderful I knew something had to go wrong. It did.



As I was stuffing my face with dinner last night, my tongue slipped into an empty space in my front tooth. Uh oh. I quickly swallow the crock pot pork and stuffing I was eating and repair to my bathroom mirror, fearing the worst. Uh huh. Yep. A filling was gone on the bottom of my left front tooth. Now I look like Alfred E. Neuman.



Here we go. In a few minutes I’ll call my dentist in Dover hoping to arrange an appointment as soon as possible to repair my front toothie.



I’m scheduled to work at the hotel tomorrow. I can’t be checking in the guests with my Hillbilly Grin.