I’m sure I’m not the only one who has a healthy dislike of dentists. I go twice a year, cleaning and X-rays, and hope that’s the extent of my visits. I’m fortunate that I have dental insurance. Not everybody does.
Overview
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.
Backstory
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 12 months, she has had the flu three times and just recently was treated for an UTI.
Options
Fineena and I have written the equivalent of a book in kosmails to each other. In an attempt to answer as many questions and concerns as we can, I will list the main questions I had here.
- Is there a dental school where you could go and they could use you as practice? No, not in my hometown and my vehicle isn’t capable of making long trips.
- Is it possible to do just the “worst” of the five and come back later for help on the others? Not only would that increase the combined total (additional office visit and IV costs) but they are all equally infected and in need of removal.
- Is there a church or community sponsored dental clinic that might help with this? Unfortunately, there isn’t any that I have been able to find.
- What are you doing for your dental health going forward? I have located several nonprofits that may be able to assist in annual check ups, fillings and even partials moving forward.
$500 Match
We have a $500 match to get us started. A very generous and wonderful beginning. I can’t even imagine the pain, fear and misery that Fineena must be going through. I know there are a lot of wonderful and caring people here and I’m asking you to give what you can to help her meet her goal. Equally important are the recs and comments here to keep it visible and the shares of her story on social media sites. Thank you, in advance, for all you do.
PayPal is palskaren at aol dot com
Strong people stand up for themselves, but stronger people stand up for others.