Teeth

One of my favorite scenes from Schitt’s Creek is from the sixth season, when David brought Patrick home from the dentist after his wisdom tooth extraction. Patrick, high-as-kite on anesthetics, declared that he was a “hungry hungry hippo~~” and now that I am facing a similar situation, everything makes sense so much better. The dentist told me that I can’t have any food or liquid when the clock hits midnight on the day of the tooth extraction surgery.

I have a big hole in my upper left wisdom tooth, which had grown outwardly at an odd angle. That needs to go—I sent a couple of pictures to Monica, our non-practicing dentist friend-cum-Covid-public-health expert, and she said as much. But an awkward oral x-ray session and $350 later at a dentist here revealed to me that I have two more impacted wisdom teeth in my lower jaw that grow horizontally. I might have had this told to me some years ago before I left for Japan but had absolutely forgotten about this.

I had also never interacted so much with the medical service sector since I was involved in the JKN research. And between this teeth problem, me participating in the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine trial since December, and semi-regularly going to a psychologist, maybe not even then. At the very least, my interactions were not ones where I had to pay for their services rendered. This time, I am looking to possibly spend at least $2,500 in total, and boy this is going to hurt in more ways than one. Here is the breakdown: $350 for initial comprehensive examination, $650 to remove each wisdom tooth in the lower jaw (so x2), $350 for the wisdom tooth in the upper jaw, $350 for put in fillings in two other different teeth, and $140 for the routine cleaning appointment. 

I had also been told that I grind my teeth, which now made me anxious. You grind your teeth when you are tense, and doing a PhD could definitely do that to you, more so in a pandemic year. But now that I was made aware about the severity of my grinding, this made me even more tense, because every time my upper and lower teeth make contact my mind immediately goes straight to think, I shouldn’t do that. (Then I think again that the cost estimate can go up and I tense up again, etc. etc. ad nauseam.)

Now I’m waiting to hear if my insurance will cover at least some of the cost. I hope they will.