Wednesday, October 18, 2006

I see bright lights ahead of me. I also see a pair of eyes peering down at me. 45 minutes later a revelation was revealed to me. This year’s dental visit set me back by RM425. Gasp, I reluctantly surrendered RM350 and promised to pay the remainder pronto. Can you imagine what that sort of money can buy? A nice hairdo and matching sunnies perhaps. Or maybe sitting in the bank collecting crummy savings interest. Oh well, what needs fixing should be fixed.

Why the exorbitant price? I had two upper jaw x-rays, scaling and polishing, fixed a cavity, fixed my braces wiring and of course Dr. T didn’t forget to charge me for consultation fees. So much for being a regular since aged six. Oh, this is a new chap and I’ve not seen my usual dentist for years since he became successful with the opening of another branch in some upscale community. The fees there are even more costly!

Since the mother of all my current problems (i.e. cavity, sore gums and pain) is caused by me three remaining wisdom teeth, I asked how much it would cost me to have them all extracted. Oh, about RM100+ each for the upper jaws (normal extraction) and RM600+ for the bottom left jaw. The latter will require some gum slicing and tooth sawing and crunching because it is growing sideways. Trauma aside, I don’t think I can afford this.

Sigh, I blame my bunny-sized jaws with horse-sized teeth. Since 12, I have had five permanent teeth extracted to alleviate overcrowding, endured more than four years of correctional braces and suffered speech impediment while on teeth retainers. At 19, I went through a relapse of crooked teeth, had my front teeth ‘filed’ because there was insufficient space still, went on braces for a year and finally, retainers with additional wires soldered onto the back of my front teeth for extra support.

I refuse to have the wires removed for fear of a third relapse. My front teeth are ‘for display’ only because I’ve not used them for years for eating purposes. Therefore I cannot bite a shiny apple, crack crab shells, crunch on bones, etc. So much for having teeth!

2:00 PM 3 comments hmm?