Dreaming
Had a cleaning done at the lovely dentist's office. The hygienist was a new person I hadn't met yet and she was a lot less amicable than the others. She asked a basic question about my appearance, one everyone asks, then nothing more. I had been feeling pretty good, my gums got hyped up by the previous folks at my previous appointment same with my flossing habits. I looked at a chart for healthy gums and revelled in, previous recessions aside, they looked just like those!
This was a good thing, I like kind people but I dislike talking. It may seem like a particularly tricky tightrope to walk but it mostly means that I can tolerate anyone who isn't loudly rude with some sacrifices on my end. Me being pretty quiet myself is why I would like to maintain that my first impression was that she was less amicable not that she was less kind- yeah, it's dumb but that distinction does matter to me.
Anyways she gave me one of the worst cleanings of all time. She went to town on my gums more than anything, she was jabbing the shit out of them left and right and all around. I could've sworn I had a lil' dentist in the back of my throat and the two had engaged in combat; swordfighting their little stabby-dentist things. It sucked atomic shit. At one point she jabbed my cheek pretty good and, like, my teeth are in the opposite direction, okay? (my cheek still hurts there...)
After everything was said and done she dropped a bloody tissue in front of me on the dentist table, this was the best look at one I've ever gotten, never once have they been positioned next to me and away from the dentist. She positioned a chair at my side and sat down like she was going to deliver a whopper of some news and told me, more or less, that I was fucked to pieces. She told me I was on the brink of death, that I had no teeth, no gums, no nothing. She described that she opened my maw and just saw a black pit where my mouth-space was meant to be. That is, of course, exageration but that's the gist.
"Do you floss?"
Heyyyyyy, the other dentists hyped up my flossing just after looking at my mouth!
"Your gums are fucked, your teeth are fucked, you're fucked."
Okay...?
"You need this. This stupid fucking cream, it'll cure gum disease!"
Well, alright. I wouldn't mind that. Some cream to keep my gums clean, it's not as if I'm scrubbing my gum holes or nothing. If you've got some gooze that oozes into my meaty pits then sure, leak it into my mouth. Well, she says she's going to pull up the prices on a screen in front of me. Okay. Yeah, I'd like to see.
$987
Huh?
$987
H-How much does my insurance cover?
"It doesn't. No insurance covers this. This cream is too new and too fancy!"
Is that so? Then, um, let me think on that. I'll compare that against my finances but for now, um, I should go...
"No. It needs to be after a cleaning. These only work if you start using them (they're a daily use thing) after a cleaning. There is an 18-month plan, though! And after paying off that ~1k you'd only need to come in to pay $20.75 every couple weeks for a refill!" (Yes, that's for real)
Well...I can't afford it. I mean, not even the 18 month pricing plan! (Of course! I ALSO WOULDN'T ON THE SPOT DROP 1K EVEN IF I COULD NOR WOULD I RANDOMLY INDEBT MYSELF TO A DENTIST WHO IMPALED MY CHEEK JUST HALF A MINUTE AGO FOR OVER A YEAR!!!!!)
After that she seemed bizarely open about being a bit fed up with me and she let me go. That was that. There's about half a million red flags here but to summarize my faves: A thousand dollar cream paid out of pocket with twenty dollar refills every few weeks that are both a cleaning product and also only work when my teeth have been cleaned by this hygienist (she's the only hygienist there) for gum disease that is both severe and doesn't exist and caused my gums to bleed (unrelated to the pretty constant and geniunely very painful stabs to my gums just moments ago (which still hurt btw!!))
I really do hate dentists. I mean, all doctors suck but dentists man... Like, I want to take care of my teeth! I want them to be healthy, but I don't even know what they need because every single dentist does weird stuff like this. Every dentist I go to is like "Ahhh your silver fillings must be removed and replaced with clear ones!" then the next is like "Ohhhh clear fillings look nice but don't work too well, we'll replace those with silver fillings!" and, like, guys, I've gone to soooo many different dentists. It's super obvious that you're making this issue up.
As we speak I'm envisioning a utopia in which one can spend money on goods and services...The spender will benefit by recieving the goods and services they need and the servicer will benefit by recieving money...Ahhh, maybe one day...