Last spring I noticed that my truck was losing antifreeze. It was a very small, slow leak, just an occasional drip spot on the drive but I asked the service manager at my garage to check it. They specialize in brakes & exhaust systems but run a full service shop. They found the leak, small now. Ford trucks have a problem there but will not fix it with a recall so he sees that problem frequently. It could drip for a long time and it could blow out any time. He said “You don’t want to be far away in another time zone when it blows up.” and it made sense. The part would be $400 and labor about the same. I decided to watch and wait a while and take my chances.
My son is a good mechanic so I asked him what he thought. True, Ford trucks have that problem. He reached in beside and below the motor and found the wet, drippy spot and concurred, “Its leaking.” But he also said, “Eight hundred dollars os too much, let me check on it.” He made a few calls and got the part for $120, fixed the leak with hand tools in about half an hour. The shop manager has always been fair with me but nothing more serious than oil, filters and wiper blades. I don’t want to believe he was trying to gouge me and I don’t run a brick & mortar business. I still get my oil changed there.
Going on two years ago my dentist noticed something on an x-ray. “That tooth is going bad and cannot be fixed.” No rush, but someday it would have to come out. It is the big molar in the back on the bottom and it has never given me a moment of trouble. Then my dentist retired. His practice has grown exponentially from two to a tribe of dentists and all the technicians it takes to keep them busy. My new dentist is great but she is on maternity leave and her backup wants to pull that tooth now. “You don’t want to be out of town on a holiday and have that tooth blow up.” I thought about my truck and its leak. “The tires on my truck will wear out too and may blow up when I’m out of town.” She didn’t care for the analogy and said they were just concerned with my best interests, reminding me that oral/dental health is directly related to other major-serious conditions and bad teeth makes them all get worse. I already knew that but I’ve never had a bad bite with that old tooth. It still works and who knows how long it may keep working? “The tooth needs to come out.” I put that into street talk and came up with, “Pay me now or pay me later.” I have a few hours now before I leave to go get my tooth pulled. I don’t have any relatives who are dentists or I would check with them. I like my own teeth and the only option after one is pulled is a false tooth. I have two implants now and they are much more expensive than my meager insurance will cover, the equivalent of the $800 truck fix. Not wanting to wait for it to break, just the weight of knowing it will, someday: you don’t have to be a dentist to do the math. So I’m on my way to say goodbye to a tooth that has served me very, very well. I will be happy when my old, new dentist comes back off maternity leave. I think I trust her, like her better than the Toothologisgt I don’t even know his name yet but he surly needs a patient in his chair this afternoon. I bet he has a blue-water sailboat or an ex wife with expensive appetites and to leave him sitting on his hands when he could be pulling my tooth would be selfish of me.
My son is a good mechanic so I asked him what he thought. True, Ford trucks have that problem. He reached in beside and below the motor and found the wet, drippy spot and concurred, “Its leaking.” But he also said, “Eight hundred dollars os too much, let me check on it.” He made a few calls and got the part for $120, fixed the leak with hand tools in about half an hour. The shop manager has always been fair with me but nothing more serious than oil, filters and wiper blades. I don’t want to believe he was trying to gouge me and I don’t run a brick & mortar business. I still get my oil changed there.
Going on two years ago my dentist noticed something on an x-ray. “That tooth is going bad and cannot be fixed.” No rush, but someday it would have to come out. It is the big molar in the back on the bottom and it has never given me a moment of trouble. Then my dentist retired. His practice has grown exponentially from two to a tribe of dentists and all the technicians it takes to keep them busy. My new dentist is great but she is on maternity leave and her backup wants to pull that tooth now. “You don’t want to be out of town on a holiday and have that tooth blow up.” I thought about my truck and its leak. “The tires on my truck will wear out too and may blow up when I’m out of town.” She didn’t care for the analogy and said they were just concerned with my best interests, reminding me that oral/dental health is directly related to other major-serious conditions and bad teeth makes them all get worse. I already knew that but I’ve never had a bad bite with that old tooth. It still works and who knows how long it may keep working? “The tooth needs to come out.” I put that into street talk and came up with, “Pay me now or pay me later.” I have a few hours now before I leave to go get my tooth pulled. I don’t have any relatives who are dentists or I would check with them. I like my own teeth and the only option after one is pulled is a false tooth. I have two implants now and they are much more expensive than my meager insurance will cover, the equivalent of the $800 truck fix. Not wanting to wait for it to break, just the weight of knowing it will, someday: you don’t have to be a dentist to do the math. So I’m on my way to say goodbye to a tooth that has served me very, very well. I will be happy when my old, new dentist comes back off maternity leave. I think I trust her, like her better than the Toothologisgt I don’t even know his name yet but he surly needs a patient in his chair this afternoon. I bet he has a blue-water sailboat or an ex wife with expensive appetites and to leave him sitting on his hands when he could be pulling my tooth would be selfish of me.
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