Getting To The Root Of The Problem

So Tuesday I went to the dentist. I was praying for a clean bill of dental health, if for no reason other than finances. Much to my relief I had no cavities; however, a temporary stainless steel crown I've had for years had become loose and the tooth beneath it had started to decay. My options were to get a crown now or a root canal in Uganda. I opted for the crown now.

So Wednesday I went back in for crown installation part 1. The dentist started drilling. And drilling. And drilling. She started getting really close to the nerve, so close she took an x-ray to see just how close she was. And then back to the drilling. Then she got up and left. In the meantime an assistant came in to gawk at the stub of a tooth that remained. I took her bewilderment that I had been asymptomatic as a bad sign, as if my tooth becoming office gossip wasn't a bad enough one already. You never want to be the patient where everyone says "You've GOT to come look at this one!" Anyway, another dentist, the one that's done my parents' dental work for decades, came in and introduced himself as my second opinion. He took a "spoon excavator," the hand tool used to scrape out tooth decay back before then invention of dental drills, and started slowly, carefully, scraping away what remained. And then he got to the nerve. Root canal time!

The problem with root canal time, of course, being that root canal time costs significantly more than just plain ole crown time. However, the extent to which it's a problem for me is more of my own making than of happenstance. There's a few lessons to be learned here, and if you haven't already picked them up on your own, please do so before you repeat my mistakes. Trust me, it's for your own good.

Lesson 1: Don't Skip Out on Regular Dental Visits

So this was my first trip to the dentist in probably 3 years. What would have happened had I gone earlier? Well, the decay would have been caught long before it found its way down to the nerve, which would have meant just a crown, no root canal. Furthermore, that crown would have been covered by my parents insurance, which leads me to...

Lesson 2: Get the Most Out of Your Parents Insurance Before You Lose It

All I'd be paying is the deductible on the root canal if I had gone in before August 1, but now I've got to pay for 3 months of insurance coverage plus the deductible. I think you can figure out on your own which costs less. So use it before you lose it, or you'll be paying for it out your ears. Which wouldn't be as much of a problem, of course, if you...

Lesson 3: Manage Your Money Wisely and Avoid Credit Cards Like the Plague

If it weren't for poor fiscal decisions my first three (especially first two) years of college, this wouldn't be an issue. Sure, it would still cost the same, but I'd still have plenty of financial breathing room afterwards. The worst of those poor financial decisions, by the way, was the use of credit cards. If you have to decide between using a credit card or going a week without food, then fast. The first couple days can be horrendous, but you're much better of in the long term. Credit cards may seem like your friends, but they're really your enemies. Also understand that small expenses may seem small, but a lot of small expenses add up to be a real big expense, and because they're sneaky like that, they can pose even more threat to your financial health than big purchases. But even if you make these mistakes...

Lesson 4: Don't Regret Anything

Regret is like Worry's hindsighted cousin: just as you can't add a single minute to your life by worrying, you can't get back a single minute of your life by regretting. Learn from your mistakes, certainly. Teach others so they won't make your mistakes, definitely. But don't regret the mistakes you've made because all you can do is make the best of the situation you're now in, of the life you've got left. God forgives you; forgive yourself. I don't regret these mistakes; instead, "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).