He said it was time to put on the Hawley retainer and quoted it to me at $285. I told him I had not come prepared to pay that much (after having driven 2 hrs!), but was he not going to put on another bonded retainer? It was just a chain and glue after all.... He ignored me and kept pressuring me to get the Hawley. He also told me I could put half down today and they'd go ahead and make the mold. I told him I'd have to call my bank to see if I had half of that amount. He handed me my charts and told me to go see the receptionist.
I called the bank, I had enough for half the cost. So I tried talking to the receptionist about it and told her that he said I could pay half to get started. She sneered at me and said that was impossible.
I'm really not wanting to make two more trips for this crap, so I tried my case again. No dice. So I asked if this $285 was going to cover the cost of both the top and bottom permanment retainers. In the original paperwork I was given in March, it said that after one year, I would need $300 to get my permanment retainers, so this is quite the nasty surprise to find out that it is $300/each.
When I asked which was true, she wouldn't answer me and kept tapping the paperwork against the desk impatiently. So anyways, what is the correct answer? Is the retainer worth it? I'm barely living paycheck to paycheck here and it kills me that I spent a week's worth of gas money to be in and out of the office in under 7 minutes. I'm now stressed out and thinking this was not worth it after all that pain and time.
I should also note that one of the teeth on the bottom front has been edging forward. I saw on the Hawley wiki that this tooth could be sheparded back in place with a Hawley retainer which would be nice...