Discussion about this post

User's avatar
SugarplumCheryl's avatar

There's no one to go see. My teeth are fucked; they all need to be pulled and I need dentures. Pulling one would just create an open wound for the others to infect. In theory, I have Medicaid and that's supposed to cover what I need done. But in reality, the cheapie denture dentist says that he can't do mine, because I need something that requires general anesthesia and an oral surgeon, which they don't do. And there isn't an oral surgeon within a 99 mile radius of me that takes adults on Medicaid. I know; I checked, and so did the Medicaid insurance people. (Never mind that a dentist 98 miles away wouldn't really be feasible either, since I don't have a car or anyone who can drive me.)

If an infection is bad enough, I can go to the ER and get antibiotics, although I really try to avoid that because I hate getting the lecture about how they aren't dentists and I should be going to the dentist instead of clogging up the emergency room. So mostly I just self treat. This latest abscess wasn't so bad. It's already gone down a lot. I've pretty much just accepted that I'm probably going to lose some number of years off my life because of constant tooth infections. That seems stupid, but everyone has to die from something, I guess.

Expand full comment
ahughes798's avatar

Jesus Christ. I'm so sorry, and I hope you didn't think I was being flippant. I responded as I did because I have had to self-treat bad teeth. I went w/o any health insurance at all for 20+ years, and when a tooth went bad, I begged or borrowed or pawned stuff for the money to have it pulled(screw even thinking about having it fixed), which cost a little over $100. I got a small chunk of money as an inheritance, and the first thing I did was buy myself some dentures. That was in 2010.

I am sad and enraged that you have to endure this. I am enraged that anyone in the richest fucking country in the world has to go through this or anything like this. Is there anything I can do? Does your county have days when dentists volunteer their services for low-income folks?

Expand full comment
146 more comments...

No posts