As I sit here with a massive toothache (thankfully dwindling a little thanks to a dose of Advil 20 minutes ago), I felt the urge to share something with others who may not be covered with excellent dental care. My husband works on a contractor basis and I’m a freelancer so dental care is not in our budget other than the cleanings for our kids. Dentistry is appartently quite lucrative when you hear the prices. A few years ago I had an abcess and my old dentist’s office quoted me at a minimum of $350 for an extraction and a possible $600 for a root canal as my two options. Who knew I could laugh so hard while in so much pain?

I called around in the hopes that one of the schools teaching future dentists would have some suggestions. There may be other similar clinics at other hospitals by I ended up at the dental clinic in the basement of the Jewish General Hospital. For only $75 they opened a file, did a preliminary check of my teeth, gave me x-rays, and took care of my poor, aching molar. The even tolerated my extreme dentist phobia and willingly shot me up with three doses of novocaine so that I would let them near my mouth.

If you’re not rolling in money, have no or little coverage, and you need some dental care, I’d point you in that direction. It sure beats paying hundreds upon hundreds of dollars that you can’t spare. Meanwhile, I’m cursing my body’s timing since we are currently dealing with a long holiday weekend. Hooray for Advil. Ow.

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