$1128 Milk Duds

Last Friday night I was watching a movie and munching on the traditional movie fare of popcorn and milk duds. A couple of hours later, I noticed temperature sensitivity in a couple of my teeth, ran my tongue across the area, and realized that the crown was no longer there! "Oh well, it's not too uncomfortable," I thought. "I'll get this taken care of on Monday."

Well Monday came, and I got an appointment with my dentist, and he installed a temporary crown. That's the good news. The bad news is the cost. $1128!! I gave the dentist a bit of a hard time, and knowing that boats are expensive, asked him if he had a boat payment due. He denied having a boat. I said that most of the work was already done, so why does the replacement cost as much as a new one? He said the labor wasn't all that much different, and the major cost is the crown itself. He said that if I had the crown, he could clean it up and re-install it. I told him that the crown must have gone through my digestive tract, and that I wasn't about to strain the digested remains of the milk duds and popcorn through a sieve to retrieve it.

Had I known then what I know now, it may well have been worth the effort!