To make a long story very short, it turns out that my wisdom teeth came in years ago without me noticing, which resulted in most of the crowding on my bottom arch and one even took place as a molar when I had one extracted years ago. The dentist wants to pull the remaining 3, plus another tooth that has been the result of an infection that has been on and off for a year now (did not know it was the tooth- thought I was just having issues with my lymphnodes and strep). It wasn't the tooth I was terribly concerned about- this one has a badly done filling though and is the real problem- pull and put an implant, they say. The one I thought would be the problem will need a crown and it won't be likely I'll need a root canal (whew!). Then there's a few fillings here and there and a handful of periodontal treatments needed along the way. They said THEN we can talk about orthodontics. Which had me in tears of course because that was the first visit and I didn't think my mouth was that bad and the dentist and assisstants were chatting over my head saying how bad it was without really addressing me. The dentist even said, "Wow. I looove my job." as he was poking around my mouth and could feel the sarcasm just oozing. I still made an appointment for the next day to get a panoramic x-ray the next day and a cleaning.
I guess the egg and cheese sandwhich I had before that appointment (
it just sounded good... and I was out and about town pre-appointment) didn't help matters much, but I arrived bright and early the next day for everything and he couldn't stop saying how much better my mouth looked... but still made another snide comment on how much he loved his job and there was still too much jargon thrown about with his assistants without too much involvement in the conversation on my part. At the end of the day I got my full treatment plan pre-braces and it comes to $15000.$15000!!
Uhm... well... that put a bit of a damper on things, to say the least. My poor boyfriend thought it might have been a mis-print of some sort and my gut was not convinced that there was this much wrong. It just didn't seem right, and usually I'm overly compliant with doctor's orders.A little research goes a long way though. I found a dental plan online and even though it means switching dentists, I can get most of that treatment at half the cost. Money is the issue here, but even if I could afford it I'd still only trust my mouth to someone who actually loved his job... or could hold back on saying things like that while poking my mouth with sharp objects. There are only 3 to choose from in my area (Fairbanks may be the 2nd biggest city in Alaska, but it's really just a tiny town), but I've heard great things about them from a lot of people. If they'll trust their kid's mouths with them, I'm assuming it must be a decent place. And I also found an orthodontist through a co-worker... she's one of his patients and says he's friendly, very good, and works with your income for a payment plan. So next week I start making phone calls again. Feels like I'm starting over, but maybe this next round I won't feel so out of place in a dentist office and maybe it isn't as bad as it seems...
We shall see.
((sorry so long... had to rant to some people that would understand.
i mostly lurk and research here, and you all are so supportive and awesome.))
And the ortho my co-worker was talking about I ended up looking up on the internet and from his site it says his specialty is adult orthordontics. He does work on a lot of the military wives and kids here, and now that I'm more aware of it- there are a lot of adults in braces in Alaska (I work with 4 twentysomething to thirtysomething women in braces). I still have to schedule a visit with both the dentist and the ortho, but I know I'll be better off in the long run. 