On Wednesday, my husband and I traveled to a neighboring state for an appointment with a holistic/biological dentist for a cone beam scan. There is one dentist in our area who does this type of work AND also knows what to look for on the scan, and his office couldn’t get me in until the end of October. One of the offices I called in our area recommended a holistic/biological dentist in the neighboring state, and since that was better than paying to travel across the country (which was also recommended), we decided to schedule an appointment with the holistic/biological dentist in a neighboring state.
Why do I need to get a cone beam scan? My current doctor tries to find all of the reasons that a person is struggling with their health. One of the items on his list is having his patients who have had their wisdom teeth removed check for cavitation issues. So, we traveled to the neighboring state to have this specific scan completed AND to have someone who understands this problem look at the scan. We expected to have the scan and for this holistic/biological dentist to say that everything looked fine. Instead, he said that all four locations where my wisdom teeth were removed 23-ish years ago were indicating an issue. Basically, the tissue around the area where each wisdom tooth was removed never healed correctly on the inside, and now there was an underlying pathogen(s) and decaying tissue beneath the skin. I would need surgery on all 4 sites to remove the decaying tissue, use ozone and lasers to kill the pathogen(s), and use the platelets from the blood they collected from my body to help my tissue heal better and faster.
Apparently, having decaying tissue under the skin is a big deal to someone’s immune system. It is one of the many things that need to be removed from my very full illness bucket. Since we were traveling for the appointment, this office makes plans to do at least some of the procedure the same day if the patient requests it. When I made the appointment, they advised me that they could only block off a two-hour window of time for whatever possible treatment was necessary. If more treatment was needed, we would need to return at a later date. If I received treatment, then the recommendation would be to stay overnight in that city and not travel home that same day. If no treatment was necessary, then we would be sent on our way and could travel back home that same day. Due to my very restricted food situation, we rented a short-term rental for 1 night just in case. We also packed up what seemed like my entire life (food and meds) in case we would need to stay overnight. (The pictures included below are of our car packed for one night away from home, and the travel freezer packed with food. You can also see my husband getting my ice pack ready on the trip home.)
We were given the choice of doing the surgery/treatment that same day as I had requested when I made the appointment or going back at a later date. The dentist said that he could make time for all 4 treatment sites as long as I was willing to let him answer questions for other dentists during my procedure. We were given the billing estimate for the surgery/treatment, and they answered as many questions as we could think of in such a short time. I asked a variety of questions including if I should wait to do the surgery until my body was functioning better. This dentist said that, in his experience, doing this treatment now would help my body by having one less pathogen/issue to deal with, but he also understood if we wanted to come back at a later date. I also asked his nurse how often he does this procedure, and she said he does it at least once a day, and he has been doing it for many, many years. Say what?!? I hope this means I found a good one.
We had only a few minutes to make a decision about doing the surgery/treatment that day as I originally requested or going back at a later date. Since I wasn’t really expecting this to happen, I was in shock. My husband came close, grabbed my hand, and got down on my eye level. I asked him if he felt like my body could handle this right now. He said that he did, but that if I wasn’t sure and/or wanted to wait, that we could come back at a different time. He told me to do whatever I felt was right for my body right now. We didn’t even discuss the price of the surgery/treatment. We both knew it was just another cost that we would need to figure out.
I decided to go ahead with the surgery/treatment. My husband notified family of what was happening and that we would be staying overnight. He then researched and read more information about the procedure and treatment so that he would be able to provide the best possible post-surgery care for me.
The surgery took about 2 hours for all 4 sites. The dentist said that everything went well, we put $5315.00 (highly unlikely to be covered by insurance, of course) on our credit card, and then we headed to our short-term rental for our overnight stay. We had some clotting issues in my mouth, but other than that, my recovery seemed okay. The dentist called us the next morning before we left the area to check on me, and then we left for home.
I have many questions. Why didn’t either of my regular dentists for the last 20-ish years bring this issue up as a possibility? Why didn’t my regular dentist appointment with approximately 20 x-rays the week before indicate this problem? Why don’t more regular dentists know about this issue? Why is grinding teeth the only answer to gum problems and tooth pain from regular dentists? Why haven’t ANY of my doctors brought this issue up as something that needed to be checked prior to my current functional medicine chiropractor? Apparently, my current doctor has seen this enough to have me at least get it checked out, so why is this the first time it has been brought up to us? And, why is this not covered by insurance?
Back to my favorite venting statement: This is fucking bullshit! If you can’t already tell by the fucking bullshit we have endured, I will say it straight up: Our entire medical care system needs a huge overhaul.
My current doctor has indicated that finding and solving this issue is potentially a big deal in my healing journey. Yes, please!
I am currently doing visualizations for a normal recovery. So far, I look like a chipmunk that has been punched on both sides of my face. Please send positive energy and/or prayers our way for my body to be able to recover and heal in the best way possible and for my husband to not feel overwhelmed by the caregiving side of it all.
Brutal. A very broken medical care system. Another $5315.00 spent on my medical care not covered by insurance.
Beautiful. Removing one more item from my illness bucket. “Dates” with my husband. Unwavering support from my husband. Knowledgeable functional medicine chiropractor and holistic/biological dentist. A potential big deal in my healing journey!
Just another day of . . . This Brutiful Life: The Brutal & Beautiful Moments of My Life.
This Brutiful Life 