I’m really starting to wonder if my family has offended some deity, and that is why my family keeps on getting kicked in the teeth! As I outlined in my last post, A Mixed Bag Life Update VII, my wife, Erin was made redundant from her job as a service coordinator and therefore lost her dental insurance, which turned out to be quite expensive with Erin developing a toothache just days after her insurance expired.
My wife tried to deal with the pain for a few days, before I told her to go see a dentist, knowing we’ll have to pay out of pocket. I have suffered from dental pain for the majority of my life and know it’s miserable. About 3 years ago, I had dental surgery myself, after fighting the pain for six months, I could not take it anymore due to the pain intensifying in the 3 weeks before I caved in and had it taken care of. So, I did not want to watch my wife endure that same pain when we have credit cards to at least defer the cost.
Yesterday, Tuesday, 12/16, my wife went to Wichita Family Dental, and they could not find anything wrong other than a couple of loose molars. I’m no orthodontist, but I would think that would be a good place to start in your diagnosis! Anyway, she was referred to a dental surgeon, who she saw today, 12/17 at Wichita Oral Surgery, and he extracted the two loose teeth and the pain subsided almost immediately.
As we were not covered by dental insurance, due to the end of Erin’s employment, the total cost was $661, which adds to our, what I consider out of control, credit card debt. $229 of that was to be told “we can’t see anything wrong”. At least we got some value from that visit, as the X-ray that was taken was used by the dental surgeon to identify and take care of the problem teeth, which cost a further $432.
As much as I didn’t want to spend the money, with around $1,100 less income each month, I could not sit there and watch my wife deal with dental pain. Anyone that has ever had dental pain that requires surgery, know’s how all-consuming toothache is. Right now, Erin is sleeping after three days of getting little to no sleep due to the pain, leaving me to my own devices, which is probably not a good thing.
This brings me to the American healthcare system, where your employer controls your healthcare, not you, the policyholder. Thankfully, our medical insurance is not through an employer, my wife’s medical needs cannot be met when our insurance is linked to a job. America desperately needs Medicare For All, like my home country of the UK has had for the past 72 years. But politicians in the US literally couldn’t give 2-fucks about their constituents who voted them into power, they’re beholden to their donors.
