According to an article in HuffPost yesterday, the average price paid by the Tooth Fairy was down last year to $4.13 per tooth.
The Original Tooth Fairy Poll (yes, that is a thing) from Delta Dental, which has been recording rates since 1998, saw an all-time high average in 2016. The fairy was forking over about $4.66 per tooth then, a 75-cent increase compared to 2015. For their latest results, Delta Dental surveyed 1,007 parents of children ages 6 to 12 in December 2017. Results showed the tooth fairy paid an average of $4.13 per tooth last year.
Geez, I was lucky if I got a nickel! Today I need much more than 5 cents & I need your help. I must have 5 teeth pulled (it hurts to even write that) & I have an appointment with an Oral Surgeon for Monday. The price is $2600 & it must be paid in full before the surgery.
Yesterday WYgalinCali was kind enough to write a diary to help me out. She tells it so much better than I, so please check it out.
www.dailykos.com/...$500-MATCH
and I’ve included some excerpts below.
After a visit to a local dentist, Fineena was told she needed five teeth pulled. This dentist said that he wasn’t qualified to do the extractions and referred her to an oral surgeon. This was the same oral surgeon who had performed her previous extraction and she felt like it’d be good to get a “second opinion.” The consultation was $131 (which she has paid). The diagnosis was, due to the infection and the weakness of these teeth, they would all need to be pulled and/or removed via surgery, The cost for all of this, including IVs and antibiotics is $2600. This does not even include a possible bridge or partial in the future.
This is something no one wants to have done. It's not an elective surgery. It's not cosmetic surgery. It’s being done because there are serious problems with the teeth and not having the teeth pulled will result in further pain and infection.
I’ve known folks who, all their life, have had perfect teeth. Perfect checkups. Perfectly straight teeth. I’m not one of them and neither is Fineena.
Fineena ended up in the hospital three years ago because of ignoring a tooth. She developed cellulitis and her throat began to swell up and close off. She spent five days in the hospital on IV antibiotics and pain killers followed by another two weeks at home on a lot of antibiotics. So, because she ignored that tooth, she ended up with a $25,000 hospital bill and a small fortune in prescription drugs (not to mention the bill for finally pulling the tooth). This is not a scenario that needs to be replayed again.
The oral surgeon said that Fineena’s immune system is spending most of it's time fighting off the infections in her mouth and leaving her vulnerable to other infections. In the past 3 months, she has had the flu three times and just recently was treated for an UTI.
Here’s where we are now — including your generous donations & the 2 matches we met, we raised $1200 yesterday so we’re almost half way there. We have another $500 match going right now & we have $95 toward that goal so far. That leaves us $405 to raise so we can get another $500 match. When we get those, we’ll have $2200. Then we need $400 more to reach the $2600 tooth fairy money. Confused? My head hurts from looking at these numbers. Bottom line, we Kossacks need to raise $805. I know we can do it!
In my wildest dreams, I could not imagine raising money to go to a dentist (well actually, an oral surgeon but close enough). I am one of those people who is terrified of a dentist. My childhood dentist scared the heck out of me & had no problem inflicting pain. At some point, he was arrested for driving under the influence of morphine — seems he was an addict — so I was finally saved from him. The terror remains but I know I must have these teeth extracted for my own well being. Send good thoughts my way!
If you can donate, my paypal is palskaren@aol.com
palskaren at aol dot com
It is just as important to recommend this diary, add your comments & also share with your own contacts & groups. We need lots of people to see this diary. Thank you for your help & for all the kindness you all have shown to me.
