I bet you never thought you’d hear someone say she loves root canal. Well . . . let me be the first.
I’ve experienced many changes in my lifestyle in the last 10 years. One of the most extreme differences is the decrease in my disposable income.
I’ve moved around and changed careers, along with places of employment. For six years, I’ve worked for a nonprofit organization. Many of us who choose to serve the community through nonprofit employment face a difficult internal struggle — service and satisfaction versus higher incomes and everything that comes along with them.
In addition, one of our challenges in life is that nothing happens on its own. While my love for giving back was growing exponentially, I also decided it was time to set up a plan to eventually live debt free, not an easy feat considering I was still paying for my MBA, medical expenses, moving costs, my previous lifestyle, and so much more.
Focusing on what I refer to as my financial freedom plan, my budget is tight — tighter than silver spandex disco pants.
I’m not complaining. I’ve chosen to give myself the gift of a future debt-free life, which will take time and a little sacrifice to achieve. I want to tackle this now, so 40 and beyond will not be a time of struggle and want.
Where I run into challenges are the areas that really shouldn’t be considered optional: car maintenance, allergy shots, and dental care to name a few.
I’m one of the fortunate ones who have dental insurance. Even so, the costs of dental care, other than routine checkups and x-rays, are astronomical.
Today, many of my friends and colleagues are in the same boat – regularly taking care of our teeth has become optional. Until the need is great. Until you have one cracked tooth on each side of your mouth. Until you can no longer chew anything. Until you’re in so much pain you can’t sleep.
Until optional becomes necessary.
Dealing with the dental insurance’s bureaucracy is a tedious chore, leading one to believe that it’s established to ensure people do not use its services.
Until . . . after weeks of increasing pain, four days of phone calls to assign an in-plan dentist who’d be willing to see me without waiting till the following month, an initial exam, and waiting two more weeks for authorization of services . . . I finally had the first of two necessary root canals.
It was great. I was in so much pain. After three shots of novocaine on both sides of the tooth being treated, I needed shots injected directly into the nerve. The dentist was kind enough to let me know how much it was going to hurt before he inserted the needle.
Ninety minutes in the dentist’s chair. Drilling. Killing the nerves. Sore gums. Sore cheeks. A temporary filling that didn’t last for the five minutes it took me to drive to the pharmacy. Eight days of antibiotics. $800.
Two days later . . . I'm passed the insurance company's red tape, I don’t hear the drilling, I’m not numb, and I don’t care about the missing temporary filling.
All that matters is I feel no pain, so let me be the first, or perhaps the only one, to tell you . . . I love root canal!
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