Well, it took (I think!) more than 15 years, but finally had something happen to me that I have been dreading for years and years and also have had nightmares about.
Had a normal day at work, it was my late shift and my last patient came in early, so yay! Got to leave early. With this "extra" time, even did a little grocery shopping for my last guests that are coming this weekend (another yay!), and everything going well so far, right?
Wrong!!
Had my boiled egg and a little almond butter (which darn it, am somewhat addicted too. So much fat though!). Then was diddly daddlying and saw my little fruit stash and plums, which I have become some kind of plum junky (they are so good!). Felt around and most were hard, but one was fairly soft so I thought to eat it before it gets that gross too soft and squishy. Soo... started eating it and then saw something hard and white around the core. Huh? Thought it was maybe some of the core on the boiled egg, looked exactly like that, but strange! I obviously peeled off the hard white part of the egg. Hmmm.. Then something didn't seem right. Something felt funny. All of a sudden I thought, "ooohhhhhh noooooo." Ran to the mirror, and yup, my front tooth vaneer - GONE!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Then started a whole mouth full of expletives, which I won't detail here.
Funny thing a friend of mine literally LAST week just told me of a story that happened to her that week that she bit into a chocolate and her side tooth cracked. It was late at night and she found a late night clinic (only open till 9pm) that "saved her" and had this great experience. So I called her right away and she is a sound soul and could hear my panic and tears (really! My front tooth! Since I cracked it when I was a kid, I have had nightmares of anticipation of something like this!!). So basically at this point it was 8:30pm and the place is all the way in Knowledge Village (super far) and she didn't know if he did temp vaneers so quickly and maybe wait till tomorrow to call my "regular" dentist... or see someone that was late late. Thankfully nothing was bleeding or signs of any trauma, it literally was a cracked vaneer, right in the middle and then my poor old cracked tooth underneath.
Next emergency call was my manager who gave me a couple of numbers to call that had late night hours, the first one I got a hold of and had quite a steep "emergency" fee, but he did vaneers and said he could be at the office in less than 30 minutes and could fix it. It was fairly close to me and I didn't even call anyone else (which would have taken more time). Also called one of my friends more in panic and again tears about my tooth, so bless, he came to pick me up and off we went to the Dental place to get it sorted. The dentist really did open it just for us and... although a bit of a jerk, really did a good job. It was a lot quicker than I thought and was already home at 10:30pm with a almost fresh and same looking tooth! Amazing!!! But boy was it exppppppppppppppeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnsssssssssssssiiiiiiiiivvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! It was a steep "emergency" fee just in itself, and with everything, jeez! Let's just say my ticket from Chicago to Dubai was cheaper (no joke!). Had a bit of anxiety all about it, but in the grand scheme of things, I thought this is one of the "good" things about Dubai, you really can find anything and everything at a short notice, it will just cost you!!!
So now I can shine my beaming smile! And now do some research on where to actually go for the real vaneer replacement! Eek!!!
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UPDATE:
Well, the title couldn't be more suitable. The thing with Dubai is you can find everything and anything. What you find a LOT is you pay a lot for things and it ends up being crap. Whether "new" apartments but they fall apart because they are quickly built with cheap material OR expensive fine dining food but tastes tasteless OR in my case, "high end" medical and dental services but they fall apart. It goes on and on.
Yup.
2 days later, Tuesday night to Friday morning, will be generous and count that as 2.5 days, my vaneer came off. I had just finished my last looooooong run for the marathon, 38km or 23 miles, was talking to my friend, and was nibbling on dried fruit, nothing spectacular, and poof! There it went off again. I could tell immediately when it happened and per the surprise of my friend, was as calm as a button. Just said, "don't mind me, my tooth just fell off." Funny things these things, a few days ago literally was in tears and completely in panic mode, now was so calm, it even surprised me. I continued chit-chatting with people, went to my yoga class, met some friends for lunch THEN started making phone calls. One that had been mentioned after the last incident was full Fri and Sat. Mind you, Friday is our version of Sunday, when most people are off, but I already had the decision to NOT may another exorbitant fee and just find a place for the next day.
I had a bad feeling about it, as mentioned the guy that fixed it was a total jerk, and dreaded calling him. In any normal country, they would have acknowledged the s*** job and give some kind of discount or redo it with a discount or for free. Again, a normal civilized legitimate world. But that's not the way things work around here. After a pep talk from my friend to be a bi-atch to him, I called and, lo and behold, "temporary are temporary, if we do it again, it will be exactly the same cost." Thank you very much, NOT! BUT as much as Dubai is Dubai, word of mouth goes a loooong way and that in itself is more powerful than anything. So although am trying to stay calm through all this and NOT think about the crazy amount of $$$ I spent for that emergency and temporary fix that lasted 2.5 days, I admit it does give me a high BP. Am trying not to think about it... too much.
Not all was not in my favor. By chance I called my regular dentist, American chap, and he was actually available the next day and at the perfect time for me. So that worked out. He was a lot more fair and communicative and did a MUCH better job. So now I have my temp tooth in again, being extra paranoid and careful, and in the next few weeks, hopefully before I go home, get all this stuff sorted. It is going to cost me an arm and a leg, but the rates are comparable to the US and is something I would be having to pay anyway and ... it was just a matter of time. Sigh. All these things never are convenient and although it is taking a big o dip in my budget, what to do? Hopefully I will have a beautiful smile when I cross the Boston finish line!
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UPDATE UPDATE:
Well, here we go again! Thursday (I think when I last updated this) I went to the dentist again and he did pictures and all the necessary templates for the perma vaneers. He advised me to do 6, my front teeth, buuuuuuuuuut, eek, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo expensive. Of course aesthetically it will look fab, BUT.... I was brought up (with 2 doctors) and me being in the medical profession, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." So.. might stick with the original 3 + crown (hopefully, because that is covered by insurance).
Anyhoo, I remember Thursday when I went to bed I was having anxiety about my teeth and the cost THEN also had anxiety because I had always seen (wrongly before bed) Gone Girl, a psychological thriller that unfortunately, is all about crazy thinking people, so those movies always get me antsy, hence I usually don't watch them. So didn't have a good sleep, BUT somehow was able to crank out a quick 27km in the morning with a faster group than usual. About 10km in literally was running along, took a swig of water, and... felt my vaneer come off. AGAIN! Boy, this one lasted 6 days at least, but I am just done and done with all this. Decided I have an appt on Wed to look at shapes and colors of the vaneers anyway and will take it from there and go toothless until then. It's both frustrating mentally and financially to get these temporary things that really are just a few days! So now am wearing a surgical mask telling patients "I feel I'm coming down with a cold" to avoid smiling my missing front tooth smile, which obviously is a bit scary. Sooooooooo annoying! I just hope it can get fixed before I go home!!!
Ughhhhhhhh
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UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE:
Well, down to the wire, but my teeth got fixed! PHEW!!!!! Literally the day before I left. I had this 2 hour appointment (no joke) the weekend before where they literally scrapped and sawed off my front 4 teeth (a bit traumatic looking in the mirror, but that's how they do vaneers!), and put on a almost retainer type thing that is temporary, but not as flimsy or weak as those other temps. It lasted until that last appointment and that appointment was just an hour. I have to say, I was skeptical at first by the ever-so-confident dentist, but really, they look great! The color matching is super natural and matches my other teeth and the shape and size is MUCH better than how mine were before, really looks natural! So I am SUPER happy with it and worth all the trauma I had suffered (I guess).
Even better is that somehow insurance paid for a good chunk of it! It is of course still super expensive, but was a fair amount less than what I was originally thinking.
Again, phew!!
Soo.... when you see (hopefully) my Boston finishing pictures and pictures thus following, I will have my beaming smile back!! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!
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