I survived the dentist today and actually feel pretty good about it. Perhaps it's the Darvon he prescribed for me? Well the gesture, as I haven't taken any yet. Ever since I sobered up 66 months ago, I haven't been too fond of that wasted feeling. Tonight if I can't sleep, maybe I'll take one. After my pacemaker was installed they gave me 20 Oxycodone. I think I took one in the hospital and don't remember what happened to the extra 19. (The hell I don't) I used them as a gift.
Here is what I accomplished at the dentist. Most people go to the dentist and wait for the bill. I KNEW I have a mouth that any dentist would look at and think about his retirement. I needed a LOT of work. It turns out my former dentist was the junk man of dentists. Two crowns fell off several times and I'd had them re-glued. Finally, the last time, my mouth had changed too much for them to be reused. I was forced to toss them into the garbage can. At a thousand bucks a piece, it made me cry, just a little. Those two lost crowns had also had root canals, as well. Yet they both need to be redone as he didn't get all of the roots out. The tooth that brought me there to begin with needed a root canal and a crown and was so inflamed still, that he couldn't touch it, even after 3 shots to numb it. (I cried like a little girl). I asked my new dentist, who by the way shared a lot of personal things with me. First that he's going through his second divorce right now, he showed me his 4 beautiful young daughters, one was there. That he's currently moving and he just lost his ass on a house "short sale". He inspects my mouth and looks at some of my work. He pointed out a rod sticking out of one of my crown's former stumps and pulls it out. He asks me, do you know what this is? No, I reply. It's a part of a file that broke off. I asked what a file is. It's a tool used to remove the root. It broke off when Frank, my butcher dentist that I used to have, was taking out the root. He just left it there, as a joke I'm sure because that's how Frank rolled. He probably looked at his assistant and winked and just covered it up. I told the new guy Lloyd to check for tin cans too!
I just spent 35 years in the car business and people that negotiated with me were never turned away. This is one of the reasons that I wanted to deal with another man. I asked him for an estimate of what it was going to cost me to get everything done. He brought me a print out saying $3750. That was when I pooped my pants. I kept looking at this proposal thinking, what would I do if I were some guy buying a car from me? I looked at him and said, I'll give you $3500 cash to do all of this work, plus whatever else we find with ex-rays and a teeth cleaning! He said, fine...
I immediately thought, I should have said, $3000! Damn. So Monday, and we both know it's a holiday, he's going to begin the work. I know it might have been foolish to pay that much up front, but we made the deal in front of his receptionist and 10 year old daughter. He works out of one of those high rent joints in Scottsdale at Scottsdale Rd. and Shea, but most importantly, he impressed me as honest.
At some point we were finished and I took out my trusty credit card and laid it on the counter and said, do it! Lloyd hit me up for the money and I left. Eventually, the blood returned to my white knuckles. God, I hate going to the dentist!
Here is what I accomplished at the dentist. Most people go to the dentist and wait for the bill. I KNEW I have a mouth that any dentist would look at and think about his retirement. I needed a LOT of work. It turns out my former dentist was the junk man of dentists. Two crowns fell off several times and I'd had them re-glued. Finally, the last time, my mouth had changed too much for them to be reused. I was forced to toss them into the garbage can. At a thousand bucks a piece, it made me cry, just a little. Those two lost crowns had also had root canals, as well. Yet they both need to be redone as he didn't get all of the roots out. The tooth that brought me there to begin with needed a root canal and a crown and was so inflamed still, that he couldn't touch it, even after 3 shots to numb it. (I cried like a little girl). I asked my new dentist, who by the way shared a lot of personal things with me. First that he's going through his second divorce right now, he showed me his 4 beautiful young daughters, one was there. That he's currently moving and he just lost his ass on a house "short sale". He inspects my mouth and looks at some of my work. He pointed out a rod sticking out of one of my crown's former stumps and pulls it out. He asks me, do you know what this is? No, I reply. It's a part of a file that broke off. I asked what a file is. It's a tool used to remove the root. It broke off when Frank, my butcher dentist that I used to have, was taking out the root. He just left it there, as a joke I'm sure because that's how Frank rolled. He probably looked at his assistant and winked and just covered it up. I told the new guy Lloyd to check for tin cans too!
I just spent 35 years in the car business and people that negotiated with me were never turned away. This is one of the reasons that I wanted to deal with another man. I asked him for an estimate of what it was going to cost me to get everything done. He brought me a print out saying $3750. That was when I pooped my pants. I kept looking at this proposal thinking, what would I do if I were some guy buying a car from me? I looked at him and said, I'll give you $3500 cash to do all of this work, plus whatever else we find with ex-rays and a teeth cleaning! He said, fine...
I immediately thought, I should have said, $3000! Damn. So Monday, and we both know it's a holiday, he's going to begin the work. I know it might have been foolish to pay that much up front, but we made the deal in front of his receptionist and 10 year old daughter. He works out of one of those high rent joints in Scottsdale at Scottsdale Rd. and Shea, but most importantly, he impressed me as honest.
At some point we were finished and I took out my trusty credit card and laid it on the counter and said, do it! Lloyd hit me up for the money and I left. Eventually, the blood returned to my white knuckles. God, I hate going to the dentist!
1 comment:
Your dentist sounds nice and very professional. I had a really bad experience with my dentist before. He butchered my mouth and wanted me to have braces when I really didn't need to! He overcharged me as well. As a result, I went ahead and looked for a new one. Now, I'm very happy with my dentist (Bloomington, IL based) and had been under his care for several years.
I truly enjoyed reading your blog. It was a good read and fun, too. Keep it up!
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