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.
![Sad :-(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
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.
![Sad :-(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
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...