Boring, boring!

Yes, today I'm going to be extremely boring and mention the subject of my tooth woes again, hopefully for the last time. I have just signed on with a new and rather hard to get to (requires lift from Mr G) dental practice and I had my first appointment this morning. It coincided with my having a terribly upset stomach, so when the dentist (a gracious, stately, very attractive Indian lady who is head of the practice) welcomed me in and asked me how I was, I went into my nervous babble mode which I always do when ill at ease, and told her she wasn't seeing me at my best as I had a really bad tum. "Sorry to hear that, but we do have a loo!" she said with a big smile. At once, my nerves vanished and the two Immodium Melts I'd taken on the way kicked in and my tummy tumults began to settle down.

The long and short of it is that Denplan won't pay for the bridge, implant, whatever I want to fill the big gap, but the prices she quoted were so much cheaper than Dr Expensive, about a quarter of the price, that I immediately said, "Yes, please."

When I got home, I began to shake and quake again at the thought of having to ring Dr Expensive, with whom I had booked a 2-hour appointment next week, with a promise of lining his pocket with a £2,000 deposit, and tell him it was all off. I had just got through to the practice and was pressing buttons to connect me to 'If you wish to cancel an appointment...' when Mr G came back from the shops. Whew! A short stay of execution while I made him a cuppa to replace the cold one that had waited too long for his return.

I couldn't put off making the call forever, though, so ten minutes later I got through and explained to the very pleasant receptionist that I was having to cancel because I couldn't afford the treatment. "Have you had any further thoughts about joining one of our cheaper schemes? I was the one who gave you a leaflet last time you were here," she said. I gulped, then thought 'why not?' and spilled out the story of how I had tried to bring the subject up with Dr Expensive and he had talked me out of it. I didn't tell her the argument he had used... the fact that he said his colleagues used methods that were 20 years out of date and only he was up to speed and had all the latest equipment, as I didn't want to cause any ructions. He had young, keen-looking dentists working in his practice; no way would they be using antiquated root canal treatment methods! He was just trying to keep me as a private patient as long as he could.

I asked how much I owed, and she said there was nothing showing on the computer. I thought I owed him £100 for a demonstration false tooth he had used, simply so he could show me what my smile would look like with a false tooth in the gap. I thought that was a bloody cheek! He never asked me if I wanted to spend £100 on a piece of china or plastic that would only be used once for a photograph! He has my mobile number so I hope he doesn't start ringing me up to try and make me change my mind. That would be really embarrassing. I mentioned to the receptionist that I fully understood that Dr E needed to make a living and it must be hard for private doctors and dentists at the moment, as I wanted her to know I could see both sides of the story and I was very sorry to be depriving him of his next mortgage payment. What's the betting I get a call saying, "Very sorry, you do owe £100 after all"? Dr E would be doing it out of spite!

With any luck, I am now on the road to having a nice smile and a comfortable bite again (only two teeth meet at the moment when I close my mouth, and it's most uncomfortable). I am going back to my new dentist, Dr D (has anyone else noticed how more and more dentists are calling themselves doctors these days?) next Thursday to start the first stages of bridgework. I decided against an implant as I couldn't bear the thought of having a metal prong drilled into my jaw! Wish me luck...