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Unexpected Gratitude. . .

Why Did Brighter Dim?

Yesterday I received an e-mail message from my dental-discount plan, Brighter, informing me that their URL is changing from Brighter.com to Brighterplan.com :confused:

When I visited the new website, I learned that Brighter is no longer enrolling new members. :( Current members remain active; new members must purchase memberships directly from Brighter's contracted network, Careington, bypassing Brighter altogether.

Careington's prices are essentially the same as Brighter's. However, I really hope Brighter isn't inactivated in what insurers call "the foreseeable future" because Brighter is dental-only; Careington would require me to purchase access to other services I don't want and wouldn't use. o_O

Brighter is not a great option, but as I explained to Dr. Yes (who only participates in the lower-discount Brighter/Careington plan, not the higher-discount one), it "takes the edge off." Last year, I probably saved $500-750 on Dr. Yes's dental bills (my two RCTs with Dr. Endo were out-of-network). Working in healthcare, I know there isn't any such thing as "free lunch." Just as Brighter isn't even close to ideal, neither is Delta Dental nor its cousins. I really wish high-deductible dental coverage with higher annual maximums was available!

After internet research failed to answer my questions about recent Brighter changes, I sent Brighter customer service an e-mail asking, "Why did Brighter dim?" :hmm:

Last year, I estimated that approximately 40 million Americans were enrolled in Brighter, so I have reason to believe it was/is financially solvent. Did a dental or insurance professional association threaten some sort of obscure legal action if Brighter continued to enroll new members? Did Brighter founder and "serial entrepreneur" Jake Winebaum simply become bored with Brighter and move on to his next venture?

One of my favorite economic sayings is, "Capitalism only works when there's competition." Let's hope that Brighter wasn't dimmed by oligopolists who love to revere true free markets, but actually fear them! :devilish:
 
Brighter Update / Dental "Insurance" Rant

The Sun Also Rises, But Only in the West (For Now)

Most of the time when I send critical/compliment communications to businesses and politicians (especially the latter!), I don't expect responses, but sometimes I receive them. Today I had incoming e-mail and voicemail from a customer-service manager at Brighter who requested that I call him, which I did this evening. Here's the lowdown:

The Good News :)
Brighter is not in financial or legal trouble, they're restructuring their provider network. In brief, Brighter has contracted with the Careington network for over two years and wants to have more control over the quality of their providers, so they're building their own network. Since Brighter corporate is located in the Los Angeles region, they're starting by building a new network in the LA area and branching out one region at a time. First the West Coast, then probably the East Coast. Those of us who don't live near oceans may have to wait 1.5-2 years for Brighter's return.

The Bad News :cry:
Brighter members outside the LA region will be allowed to keep our Brighter memberships until their individual 2013 expiration dates, then it's goodbye. . .for now. Unfortunately, my Brighter membership expires in May.

Even though I intensely dislike the idea of buying a membership directly from Careington and having to subscribe to discounts on non-dental services I will never use (like LASIK), it seems I don't have any other options right now. :(

Interestingly, the Brighter customer-service manager mentioned the specific dental plan offered by my employer as a potential alternative without my even asking: when I told him I was very familiar with the coverage and what the premiums and annual maximum benefits were for our organization, he seemed surprised, and not in a positive way.


Do Dental "Insurance" Companies Think Most People Flunked Basic Math?

In 2012, I had some fun running searches on "high-deductible dental insurance." Essentially I learned that virtually no one appears to sell it, and that those policies available in the individual market have per-person maximum annual benefits of $1,000. Considering that the premiums are $500-$1,000 per year for two people depending on "basic" vs. "premier" networks, some people are paying $0.25-0.50 for every $1.00 of coverage, and very limited coverage at that! This is without even discussing the "managed care" issue and probable denials for certain services. . .

News flash to the ghost of Adam Smith: the "invisible hand" doesn't always work. Far from it!
 
iDent, have just read this whole thread - just to say, you are a brilliant writer and I am LOVING your blog :)
 
iDent, have just read this whole thread - just to say, you are a brilliant writer and I am LOVING your blog :)

iDent, what xanti said ^^^^

A really engaging read...thanks for sharing your story!

:respect::respect::respect::respect::respect::respect::respect::respect::respect::respect::respect::respect:

Cheers,
Steve
 
Unexpected Gratitude: Part XXI

Primal Premolar Fears: Dentistry, The Sequel (4.11.2013)

Since approximately late February, I have had a problem I did not want to admit on DFC.

Believe it or not, there are a very few back teeth in my mouth that lack dental restorations. I feared that two of them, my right- and left-lower premolars (most people have four, but two of mine were extracted years ago pre-orthodontia), were developing decay in the coronal/top areas. I'd suspected this once before when I was younger and thought I saw early-stage cavities; this time, I also experienced cold sensitivity, especially on the right. Dreading the worst, I went into full "remineralization" mode and began aggressively cleaning my lower premolars with hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, which at least once before has reversed the early-decay process for me.

Today is a "routine" six-month appointment. Had I needed (wanted) one, weather would have given me a reason to cancel: the equinox may be long past and remnants of our rabbits' molted winter coats have been clogging our dryer's lint filter for weeks, but today we're in the last throes of winter with borderline storm conditions: when I left home this morning at 6:00 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. appointment, I was in the pathetic state of wearing a winter coat and snowboots while carrying an umbrella! First sleet, then snow. . .

Because of the weather, I'm thinking more about arriving downtown without falling on my @%$& than what diagnoses may await me in The Chair. Due to freeway delays I'm a few minutes late, but I call Dr. Yes's office in advance and warn them. It's the first time I've been late, and really, I have a valid excuse!

Dr. Yes's office has a bell attached to the door, but Hope isn't at her desk and doesn't hear me enter. When she appears, she apologizes until I tell her I've only been there, at most, two minutes.

Olive summons me to the inner sanctum almost immediately and takes me to the prophy cubicle, the last one in the row. When she asks how things have been, I immediately tell her my concerns about lower premolar decay, figuring she'll see it soon enough anyway. After looking and not noticing any obvious signs herself, she says she will defer to Dr. Yes when she is finished with the cleaning.

As noted previously, my feelings about dental cleanings are essentially neutral: I certainly don't love them, but I don't hate them, either, except of course for the dreaded diagnostic examination. Fortunately neither Olive nor Dr. Yes notices anything new and interesting in my mouth (I would hope not, after only four months!). Once again, Dr. Yes reminds me that #15 and #12 are "crown watch," but at least he doesn't upgrade either tooth's status to "crown soon." He actually says #12, an upper premolar, is in worse condition than #15, a second molar: apparently #15 has one fracture line, and #12 has two. With some embarrassment, I tell Dr. Yes and Olive that I occasionally used to chew ice when I was younger because I really didn't know any better. It's not like I ever did it for pleasure, either. . .most of the time when I chewed ice, it was because I was very thirsty and restaurant servers couldn't refill my water glass fast enough!

Dr. Yes confirms some good news about my lower premolars: they don't have decay. The bad new is. . .they are cold-sensitive because I am still brushing too hard. But I thought I'd improved! Alas, I've apparently only worked my way up from F+ to C-.

To be continued. . .
 
F+ to C- is an improvement, so congrats!!!! :jump:
Glad your latest dental visit didn't give you any unwelcome surprises!!!
:XXLhug:'s!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
15 Days without a Safety Net

Our dental discount membership expires on May 16, 2013.

Yesterday we received our new dental discount membership cards in the mail, but Careington (even though it is the "parent" network with which Brighter previously contracted) isn't quite as flexible as Brighter.com: Brighter became effective the day of enrollment, whereas Careington abides by a first-of-the-month policy. Therefore, we are not officially Careington members until June 1st.

Granted, I could have made our membership retroactive to May 1st, but since I just had a "routine" appointment in April and am not scheduled for additional work at this time, I decided to live dangerously. . . ;)
 
1.) We made it to June 1st, so our new Careington dental-discount card is now in effect. As someone who occasionally seems to live a charmed life but more often feels like a favourite target of Murphy's Law (I think this is a given for anyone with ADD :rolleyes:), I was absolutely certain I would knock at least one incisor out while roller-skating or something before our new discount plan took effect. . .so I avoided roller-skating! Even though I pulled a leg muscle during the adventure sport of yardwork, I still have to admit that Memorial Day Weekend 2013 was much better than Memorial Day Weekend 2012, prelude to my first, dreaded crown prep. I really, really needed the long weekend off.

2.) It's almost time to return to the Architecturally Significant Medical and Dental Shrine to see Dr. Endo (not Dr. Yes) for a six-month post-RCT check on #2. I'm not having any known problems with it, but I'm procrastinating just the same, and not certain why. Maybe it's because I have an appointment with a new primary-care physician (PMD, the American equivalent of a GP) next week, and want to get it over with first. While I'm diligent about seeing my medical specialists (all but my ophthalmologist prescribe medication) and now my dentist ;), I admit I've been lax about primary care during the past few years, for a variety of reasons. My main reason for going now is that once healthcare reform/deform (depending on your perspective!) takes effect, it may be more difficult to find PMDs who are accepting new patients due to increased demand.

3.) At the request of Dr. Yes, I continue to do what I consider a half-@%$&ed job of brushing my teeth, hoping to prevent continued gum and enamel erosion. Is it half-@%$&ed enough to move up from C-? I won't know until October. . .unless Murphy's Law escorts me back to Dr. Yes's Chair sooner!
 
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Unexpected Gratitude: Part XXII

Smaller Than Fukushima
(10.24.2013)

Often, people whom I consider ideological adversaries want to combine religion and government. Personally, I favor the areas in life where religion and science meet. This tendency first emerged when I was a child in summer-theatre classes and became fascinated not only with stage lights, but with the multilevered resistance-dimmer board that controlled the rising and setting of dozens of small, multicolored suns: part of me wanted to know exactly how resistance dimming worked and part of me didn't, so that the process would remain mystical. Later, as an adult working in a medical center, I became fascinated by EKG (heart rhythm) and EEG (brainwave) tracings, blood-chemistry panels that reveal us at our most elemental, and imaging technologies, several involving radiation: seeing these messages from the body, simply yet profoundly holy, how could one doubt the existence of the soul?

Of course I knew radiation was dangerous. . .long before Fukushima, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island. However, today at a "routine" six-month appointment, I was reminded that even in the absence of core meltdown and uncontrolled fission, there are many reasons to fear small doses of radiation that have absolutely nothing to do with exposure.

* * *

Due to a new office responsibility that was added in the late summer (without a subsequent change in pay; this is "in process" with HR but certainly not guaranteed, and, even if granted, may take months), my overall stress levels have been higher than usual. Between work stress/consequent sleep deprivation, concerns about how ObamaCare is going to affect our employer-sponsored medical coverage, and seething at No Such Agency, I really haven't had much time to ruminate about my "routine" six-month dental appointment. It's one of the dubious blessings of my anxiety disorders. Just as nature abhors a vacuum (ever since childhood, I'm always attuned to some angst, whether it's work, money, family, politics and the state of the world, and/or whether I'm living a reasonably ethical life), my anxiety's RAM has a serial rather than parallel processer: it can only run/ruin 2-3 topics at a time. Since my last appointment in April I've stopped using mouthwash, and I think this has helped stabilize my periodontal erosion. Even though I'm scheduled for 18-month x-rays and generally concerned about what they might reveal, before today's dental appointment, I'm actually (relatively) calm.

Except for one thing. Minor cold sensitivity in #30 since late May.

When the pain first developed, I treated it with hydrogen-peroxide rinses and it improved to the point where it was tolerable. I know several DFC members would have returned immediately to Dr. Yes (after less than two months), and maybe I should have, but I am able to withstand minor dental pain fairly well. After years of living with it daily, it's what "normal" became. This isn't an excuse, but an explanation.

After treatment begins, dental avoidance isn't always about fear. Sometimes, we're just weary. We want to live chairfree lives, if only for a while.

In Dr. Yes's office, Hope and I have a lively discussion about healthcare reform before I am taken to the inner sanctum. To my surprise, the hygienist who summons me from the waiting area is not Olive but a new, even younger woman, Sierra. I wonder if it's confusing to have both a Serena (the dental assistant) and a Sierra in the same office; Sierra says they sometimes answer to one another's names. Hope explains that Olive is now working part-time so she can teach dental-hygiene students.

Although Sierra isn't unfriendly, I immediately don't react to her as positively as I did to Olive. Partly this is because Sierra mispronounces the name of one of my prescription medications, which I find unprofessional. In all honesty, though, Olive made me feel at ease and "clicked" with me within the first five minutes I met her. With Sierra, the personality compatibility, while adequate, just isn't the same. Nor, as I am to learn, is she quite as skilled at avoiding prophy pain. Sierra is generally fine, but she's a composite B compared to Olive's A average.

When she finishes, Sierra locates Dr. Yes, who has reviewed my x-rays. The good news is that he does not mention overbrushing/periodontal recession or my "crown watch" teeth, numbers 12 and 15. The bad news is indeed the cold-sensitive #30, which he says has "a small spot of decay." Because #30 has multiple amalgam fillings that were placed by Dr. New in the 90s and Dr. Maybe in the 80s and 70s (possibly even by the infamous :devilish: Dr. No :devilish: in the early 70s?), its dental work is significant and worthy of the "Antiques Roadshow." Dr. Yes recommends a crown.
Another $920. :( Worse, another risk of a root canal. :cry:

Last year, I knew that needing major work was the price I had to pay after a 16-year vacation from dentistry. I may have refused a consult for periodontal-grafting surgery, but otherwise I did everything I was told required immediate attention. I expected one root canal and eventually needed two.

I think about my childhood and adolescence, when nearly every "routine" dental appointment meant at least one return visit for drilling and filling.

But I deserved it then.
I loved chocolate.
I loved caramels.
I loved bubble gum.
I loved decorated birthday cakes with their load-bearing walls threatening to collapse under absolutely baroque amounts of frosting, always corner pieces (sheet cakes) or slices with roses (round cakes):
when I was an older teenager and my mother allowed me to order my own birthday cakes, I told the bakery to omit the words "Happy Birthday" and garland the entire tops with flowers, just so I'd have more frosting. . .:cupcake:
I didn't brush well enough.
Eventually I developed eating disorders.
I deserved it then.

Consider my life now:
I never drink soda (because I don't like carbonated beverages), and never have beyond tasting it as a child.
I never drink coffee, and rarely drink tea.
I've followed a low-sugar diet for 10 years.
I rarely eat anything that would be called "junk" or "fast" food.
I learned to brush so well as an adult that I eroded my gum tissue.
I now keep my "routine" dental appointments.
I don't deserve to have new tooth decay now. :innocent:

A few weeks ago, while shopping at the local food co-op, "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles came on the overhead music system. Although not an overall Bareilles fan, I really like the musical qualities of "Love Song," and since I hadn't heard it for months, I'd almost forgotten it existed. After my dental appointment, I play it on the internet over and over.

I still respect Dr. Yes and his staff. . .including the new Sierra. I'm grateful they are able to restore my teeth, and especially that they successfully eliminated about 75% of my dental phobia (including night-before anticipatory anxiety, something no other dental group had ever accomplished). But today I'm not going to write them a love song, even if they ask for it.

If they really, truly need one due to problems in their own lives. . .maybe.
 
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(Dental) Marital Woes / CEREC Controversy?

heDent's Story

This post is written on behalf of my husband, who is not phobic but earlier this month had a dental problem that may be of interest to this forum. I realize the topic could be controversial, but I believe it's important to introduce.

Sunday, December 8th. I am stirring a large pot of homemade potato soup (a cold-weather favorite) when my husband, whom I will call "heDent," expresses mild distress. Since heDent is using his laptop at the dining-room table, I figure he is having a computer problem. Instead, he walks into the kitchen with a CEREC crown in hand.:scared:

Although I do not remember the exact year (it was before we were married), heDent had two CEREC crowns placed on rear molars in the mid-2000s. One broke 2-3 years later, apparently also causing a deep fracture in the remaining native tooth, which had to be extracted. After losing the second CEREC today, he says he knows the tooth (#14) needs to be extracted because what remains is loose.

:hmm: Problem #1: It's Sunday. Most dental offices are not open, except for emergencies. Also, most dental offices that treat weekend emergencies will only see established patients.

:hmm: Problem #2: Although he is not phobic, heDent does not have an active relationship with a dentist. The dentist who placed the CEREC crowns was part of a DHMO network heDent used to be covered under, and is located in the suburbs on the other side of town near where he lived before we were married. heDent went to the DHMO dentist once after moving away, but distance was an issue. In 2010 we switched to my employer's non-DHMO plan; because I was still heavily phobic and didn't use it and heDent didn't either, for 2011 I waived dental benefits. In late 2011 I learned about dental-discount plans, and selected this (very imperfect, but for me preferable) alternative to traditional dental benefits.

I could call my dentist, Dr. Yes, who leaves his emergency number on his office voicemail and would probably agree to treat heDent on the weekend, but Dr. Yes's office is located several miles away, closer to where I work than to where we live. Also, I know heDent hates paying for downtown parking. Although our discount network is limited, after we enrolled I identified what appears to be a good dental practice for heDent in the first suburb adjacent to our vintage urban neighborhood. Operated by a father-and-son dental team, I will call this practice Tech Dental.

Tech Dental's website gives a list of instructions to follow for various dental emergencies, but none of them relate to losing a CEREC crown (which Tech Dental offers) and needing extraction of the native tooth. I call the office phone, expecting voicemail; patients with dental emergencies are electronically instructed to call a mobile phone number. Since it's very cold outside, I tell heDent we should change into warmer clothes before we call: if one of the Drs. Tech agrees to see heDent today, we need to be ready to leave right away.

After I have changed clothes and return to the first floor, heDent tells me he wants to wait until tomorrow (Monday) to call Tech Dental, as he's not really in pain. The day continues, his pain increases from mild to moderate, and his culinary options are limited to (lukewarm) hot cereal, yogurt, and cottage cheese.

* * *

On Mondays, Tech Dental opens at 7:00 a.m. Because heDent knows I am much more comfortable dealing with medical-office situations (since I work with them), he has asked me to make the call. I give Tech Dental a few minutes to open and call at 7:05 a.m., putting heDent's mobile on speaker so he can listen.

"Tech Dental."

"Good morning, I'm calling on behalf of a potential new patient. First, I have a question: do you still participate in the Careington POS network?"

"Yes, we do."

"Thank you. My husband had a CEREC crown implanted a few years ago at another dental practice when he was covered by a DHMO and lived in the suburbs on the other side of town. It came off late yesterday morning, and the native tooth is loose. Based on his description, I think it's #14. He wasn't in pain at first, but he's in moderate pain now and knows it needs to be extracted, because he had the same thing happen with another CEREC tooth before. Do you have any openings today?"

"Yes, 8:00 and 8:15 a.m." Clearly heDent is not happy about the rushed appointment options, but he nods. He'll deal with it.

"He'll make the 8:15 a.m. work."

Part of me wants to call my office and say I need to deal with a family medical situation, but this is routine, not an emergency. heDent would probably like for me to come along and help with the new-patient paperwork, but he's perfectly capable of doing this himself. heDent goes to the dentist, and I go to work.

* * *

Later in evening, I listen to heDent's dental saga (reciprocity. . .or sweet revenge? Certainly he's had to listen to many of mine!). Considering the nature of this forum I won't go into full detail, except to say that heDent needed a complex extraction (involving root drilling) that he says gives him more sympathy for my chair time during the past year and a half: since childhood, my teeth have probably always been notably worse than heDent's, except that he needed his wisdom teeth extracted as a young man and mine all came in straight without any pain or drama. We both had braces, but I've had many more fillings and, even though he is a few years older, heDent has not yet been initiated into the Noble Order of the Root Canal. :rolleyes:

Not for the first time, heDent and I discuss CEREC crowns. heDent was impressed with CEREC technology and "same-day service" when his were initially placed, but after he lost the first one and cracked the remaining native tooth down to the roots, requiring extraction, he regretted ever having CEREC instead of a full crown. I don't know if he was even offered the option, since he was covered by a DHMO at the time and CEREC may be less expensive. Now that CEREC has led to the loss of a second tooth, heDent told his new dentist, Dr. Tech, that he never wants CEREC again.

I have researched the CEREC controversy, and it seems dentists are somewhat conflicted as to whether CEREC quality equals that of traditional crowns. However, they appear to agree on certain issues: there is a learning curve with CEREC, and some dental practices are clearly more skilled with CEREC technology than others. Also, certain patients, such as those with bruxism, are apparently less-than-ideal candidates for CEREC. heDent has bruxism; although he wore a nightguard before CEREC, he believes one of his CEREC crowns did not fit precisely (not unlike the Hubble Space Telescope's first lens!) and made his bruxism worse. Knowing he wore a nightguard, why did his DHMO dentist think he was a good CEREC candidate? Were CEREC bruxism risks only confirmed in later years after experience supplied sufficient data? :sherlock:

Dr. Yes doesn't offer CEREC, so I've never had to make a CEREC vs. traditional-crown decision. I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but based on heDent's experiences and the fact that I grind too (although not severely enough to need a nightguard myself), I don't think I'd want CEREC.

Many DFC patients praise CEREC, but has anyone on the forum had a negative experience with it? What are the opinions of forum dentists?

Best wishes (including dental health!) for 2014!

:star::fireworks::star:
 
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Unexpected Gratitude: Part XXIII

Back to the Future / Forward to the Past
Your flux capacitor may very well be working, but this isn't time travel!:whirl:

I have not posted here in over 3.5 years for various reasons, the most prevalent being that all my reports from The Chair were beginning to sound essentially the same: in summary, I went to the dentist and dealt with it better than I did prior to 2012, but doubt I will ever be phobia-cured. Eventually, writing about these episodes became rather repetitive, and I suspect reading them did as well. . .

For those who reread my post #70 (Unexpected Gratitude: Part XXII / Smaller than Fukishima [10.24.2013]), you will note at that time I needed Coronation #4, and wasn't coping with it well because, unlike in 2012 (when I "deserved" dental problems), I had been keeping regular dental appointments and taking better care of my teeth. In summary, I had Coronation #4 and fortunately did not need a root canal, so I now have a 2/4 history of needing root canals. The good news (and bad news) is that aside from routine exams, I haven't had any dental restorations since late 2013.

What, you may be thinking, could possibly be bad about going 3.5 years without needing anything except routine exams? :dunno:

Minor phobia relapse! :scared:

Between my last series of x-rays and those taken in early August, I developed decay between #16 (crowned in 2012) and #15 ("crown watch" since 2012). Dr. Yes gave me the option of a crown or a filling. After a few days' deliberation, I decided to have a filling instead of a crown for several reasons:

  • Financial: At this time our HSA contains enough money to pay for a crown, but not a crown + root canal, and I definitely don't want to accumulate additional credit-card debt.
  • Adrenal fatigue: For nearly two years I have been dealing with "adrenal fatigue," caused by cumulative and chronic stress. One of the consequences of adrenal fatigue is being more susceptible to infection. . .which, if it occurred, would lead to another root canal!
  • It's #15: #16 needed a significant amount of work in 2012, including a root canal. Because #16 is difficult to access, this required an uncomfortable level of jaw gymnastics that I really don't want to repeat with #15.
  • "Handpiece" redux: I haven't been drilled in 3.5 years! Enough said.

To be continued. . .
 
Sorry for late reply lol. I personally would not want CEREC but I am advised that in UK thinking has moved away from full crowns after root canals in favour of onlays/inlays thereby preserving more tooth structure. These can be gold (conservative option) or porcelain.

Call me a cynic but if you have bought an expensive CEREC machine you are going to want to use it... IMHO doesn't have the track record of other methods yet and from forums I have read, I am sure operator skill plays its part too. (I am not a dentist)
 
Hello again, Brit! Thank you for your comment.

At the time I originally wrote about heDent's CEREC failure (December 2013), I knew CEREC crowns were popular with many commenters on DFC, presumably because they involve one appointment instead of two and (I think) tend to cost somewhat less. heDent, who is a self-described "geek/nerd," was originally impressed by CEREC technology (apparently similar to 3D printing), but not after two of his CEREC crowns broke, perhaps because he has bruxism and therefore never was a good CEREC candidate.

Although heDent had mixed positive and negative experiences at Tech Dental, the lead dentist eventually told him he needed approximately 4,000 USD of work. :stop: In 2017 heDent sought a second opinion from my dentist, Dr. Yes, who told heDent he only needed one crown: nearly 1,000 USD. Dr. Yes doesn't offer CEREC, perhaps for multiple reasons.

In the future, heDent will be a regular patient at Dr. Yes's practice, even though it's several miles from where we live (I work fairly close by) and, because it's downtown, heDent has to pay 20 USD for parking at each visit. Despite the parking expenses we are both happy with Dr. Yes, because he is a good dentist and also a good person.:friends:

For heDent and myself, it's strange (although not negative) for us to be seeing the same dentist: when we were children, neither his family nor mine had a "family dentist" or "family doctor." When I was a child, my mother took us to see her dentist, the infamous :devilish: Dr. No :devilish: (after Dr. No refused to treat me anymore when I was eight, we changed to Dr. Maybe), and my father went to his dentist; heDent's parents had separate dentists as well. When I scheduled heDent's first appointment with Dr. Yes's office, I said, "I know you can manage heDent (who has unfortunately acquired some "contagious" dental angst from me, but is not phobic), because you can manage me!"
 
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