2/23/19 Ignoring Teeth Is Expensive?

    If I can pass on any good information, it would be to take your kids to the freaking dentist.  We have always been lax about this, not because we don't have dental insurance, we have always had some.  It just seems to slide past the usual things we worry about until they complain.  Well, Javalina complained, so we made it a priority and now we are going to pay out the old keister.
    He has been complaining of a problem on the left backside and at first we thought it was a cavity, but the pain would come and go and a cavity would not do that.  It turns out he had a pocket or something we were told in January when we took him the first time as an emergency.  We went in again for his first appointment and the dentist said his crown has gotten old and needs a replacement to a more permanent one.  That is going to cost almost $600.  He has a second crown which he suggested needs replacing, but because the insurance Wife has is shitty, it only covers 50% up to the first $1000 and then it leaves the rest up to us, the second crown would cost us over $900, so we will be waiting until the new year to do that one, which he isn't complaining about, yet.  He also needs his wisdom teeth removed and that is going to be another $1000.  That is the cheaper of the two kids.
    Boy, who is older and less caring of his teeth was not even touched by the dental hygienist.  He is going to need a scaling procedure which is going to attack the tartar buildup below the gum-line.  I did not understand why he (the hygienist) wouldn't scrub on the parts he could see, he just said it would be a waste of time to do that, considering how bad it is below the gum-line, it needs the scaling procedure.  Cleaning the parts you can see would be a waste of time.  This cleaning procedure is quickly going to get us over the $1000 limit for the year, and the process itself is going to be around $960.  Then he needs his wisdom teeth removed more urgently than Javalina because he has pockets where the bottom teeth are coming in sideways and this contributes to the funky smells apart from him having a hatred of toothbrushes.  If the scaling procedure works which we will have to be doing it every 3-4 months, then his bones below the gum-line might improve and strengthen to attempt to drill in the permanent tooth he lost back in high school.  This all will possibly only work if he commits to start spending time on his mouth, but we will have to spend within the next month or two almost $1200 on Javalina and over $2300 on Boy.  He tells us very calmly "if I was a full time employee, I would have 100% dental coverage."  This only makes me look at him and whisper "hurry your ass up and graduate, Fool."