Went to the dentist today. A dental clinic, actually- very good, very reputable, very cheap, very thorough. This is the first time in almost 4 years that I've been to a dentist- the last time being the whole Halcion Incident, which was noteworthy but costly. Since the Halcion Incident I have not been able to continue with the rehabilitation of my teeth- therefore, they have continued to decay and literally fall apart, not just the teeth experiencing decalcification, but pretty much every tooth in my mouth now has the beginnings of decay/cavaties.
Worse than being generally bad news for my health, this is extremely bad news for my pocket. And this is also where the clinic shines as my hero, my Knight in Shining Armor (tm).
The four decalcified teeth are too far gone for veneers to do any good, they must now be capped. This procedure, in a "normal" dentist's office, would cost upwards of $4,000. The clinic will charge me $880- quite a discount, eh? That's actually really good news. The only problem is that my income as a bouncer will not really supplement that. I will either have to get a new job, a second job or seek the financial assistance of my parents. I will, doubtless, pay my parents back if they agree to help with the costs, but I am fairly certain that I cannot afford this on my own, not right now. Certainly not on my meager income.
The rest of my work-up is relatively easy for me to manage financially. And I'm actually very eager to get it started. I'm just really, really, really curious to see how I'm going to pay for the more expensive aspect of the work, the caps.
My teeth are brittle and fragile. I do not smile half as much as I would like to. I feel that the condition of my teeth (and my smile) has a significant impact on both my dating life and my personal self-image. Getting those four teeth fixed is my top priority- the sooner the better.
This is part of the reason I have moved back into the cabin, the glorified and insulated tool shed. It costs a negligible amount of money to live there- the money saved on rent is money I can use to get my teeth fixed. The peace and quiet, while extremely nice, is actually my secondary motivation for moving there.
Getting these teeth fixed will also require, more than the money, a complete and total paradigm shift in my living/eating/health habits. I will have to smoke less, I will have to consume less coffee and Sprite, I will have to eat less fast-food. I will have to brush three times a day instead of the "normal" once a day that most everyone else is prone to. I will have to floss more regularly. I will have to take damn fine care of my teeth. If I don't, then they will need to be removed completely and replaced with "falsies"- a fate that I would like to avoid at all costs.
You should lose your teeth only once in life.