Dentist

Today was the day for going to the dentist. I hoped I could just get my bridge glued back in and it would be really cheap. Silly me! Why isn’t anything ever just simple?? I went to Dr. Melstrom in Kingman, who turned out to be a really good guy. When the bridge came out, so did the post that’s supposed to be anchoring the bridge in the front tooth. And the back tooth under the bridge had broken off. He was suggesting all kinds of expensive stuff (another root canal & post) and I just told him that I was trying to make it on Social Security and I only have $160 in savings. So he said he could glue it back on, but it probably wouldn’t stay. I said OK. Then he came back and said he’d put a pin in the back tooth & not charge me for it. They were unable to get the post separated from the bridge without damaging it, so then he said he’d replace the post for free too. The final cost was still $185, and they gave me some kind of “Ad” discount of $20 plus a Senior Discount! So it ended up costing $153. Sigh. I am so thankful that he did that other stuff for free but I was really hoping this dental visit would only cost around $100.  I found out the dentist grew up in Iron Mountain, MI and his whole staff was also from Michigan! (I grew up in Novi, MI)

This unexpected expense is really going to pinch, and it’s a bad time, when we are starting our group trip!  This next month is going to be a lot more expensive than just me sitting around in my camper alone……why, these people like to eat in restaurants!  And we’ll be driving a lot more, going to the Grand Canyon and all five of Utah’s National Parks, and spending more on campsites.  It might mean I can’t go on the Durango-Silverton train trip and I’ve been wanting to do that for years. I know I should have room in the budget for “unexpected expenses” since they actually happen pretty regularly, but I don’t have that much “wiggle room”. Oh well, no worries, I’ll figure it all out.

It’s cold and yucky today. It rained half the night and then off & on all day. I guess we’ve been really lucky so far that we hadn’t had much rain at all. The sun’s out now (6 pm) so I think tomorrow will be nice again.